"Dr. Strange-IVs or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about IVs and Just Evolve"

#PokemonGO: TL;DR: IVs, especially Attack and Defense, play less of a role in combat strength than CP suggests. Depending on the Pokemon and their level, the difference between a 15/15/15 and 9/9/9 Pokemon in battle can be indistinguishable.Analysis: Due to a lot of effort by smarter people than I, we have a really good idea of the damage formula in Pokemon Go (http://ift.tt/2blrjDN).Damage = Floor(½∗Power∗Atk/Def∗STAB∗Effective)+1The floor operator makes any value ranging from X.0 to X.9 equivalent. For example, a Pokemon with a "damage" of 5.9 will do the same damage as one with 5.0. The extra 0.9 of "damage" is wasted. This leads to a lot of waste in the contribution of Attack and Defense IVs.Power = strength of move Atk = (Base Attack + Attack IV)CPM Def = (Base Defense + Defense IV)CPM STAB = 1.2 if the move is the same type as the Pokemon, 1 otherwise Effective = 1.4 if the move type is super effective, 0.714 if not very effective, 1 if regular effectiveness. Note these multipliers are added for each type, so a double super effective move is 1.4 x 1.4=1.96.For the sake of simplicity, let's assume all Pokemon are the same level, so the Damage formula is reduced to:Damage = Floor[½∗Power∗(Base Attack + Attack IV)/(Base Defense + Defense IV)∗STAB∗Effective]+1Unfortunately, the floor operator cannot be simplified for a nice and easy solution. However, with patience, we can find the answer for any particular match-up.Example 1: Consider an Alakazam with Confusion and Future Sight. Its base attack is 271. Suppose you're fighting a Machamp with base defense 162. We'll let Machamp have above-average IVs (12/12/12). For an Alakazam with perfect IVs: Damage(Confusion) = Floor[½∗20∗(271 + 15)/(162 + 12)∗1.2∗1.4]+1 = 28 Damage(FS) = Floor[½∗120∗(271 + 15)/(162 + 12)∗1.2∗1.4]+1 = 166If you had settled for an Alakazam with only 14 Attack IV, your damage would be: Damage (Confusion) = 28 Damage(FS) = 166Exactly the same as 15 Attack IV. What about for the full range of IVs?Attack IVConfusionFuture Sight152816614281661328165122816411281641028163928163827162727162627161527160427160327159227159127158027157The difference between a 9 Attack IV and 15 is 0 damage on the quick move and 3 damage (<2%) on the charge move. But what about defense? Suppose Machamp knows Counter and Close Combat. How well does Alakazam take a hit?Defense IVCounterClose Combat1575114751137511275111752107529752875277536753575347533754275417540755Regardless of defense IV, Counter will deal 7 damage. Close Combat can have its damage reduced by 2% by going from 8 to 15 Defense IV.Finally, how sensitive is HP to Stamina IV? HP=Floor((BaseStamina+StaminaIV)∗CpM). For a level 30, CPM = 0.7317.Stamina IVHP159114901389128911881087987886785684584483873822811811080At least for Alakazam, the Stamina IV plays a larger role than either Attack or Defense; however, this too is slightly misleading. What's the difference between 91 HP and 87? Nothing unless Alakazam ends up with less than or equal to 4 HP after any attack from Machamp. Definitely possible, but not very frequent.So what does this all mean? A 15/15/15 Alakazam has a CP of 2474. A 9/8/9 Alakazam has a CP of 2324. A super effective Confusion against an above average Machamp does the same amount of damage. Future Sight does 2% less. Machamp's quick move does the same amount of damage. Close Combat does 2% more. 15/15/15 Alakazam ends the fight with 56 HP. 9/8/9 ends with 52. What's the appraisal of 9/8/9? "Overall your Pokemon is above average/a decent pokemon/pretty decent. Its stats are noticeably trending to the positive/it'll get the job done/it's definitely got some good stats".Example 2:Lvl 30 Tyranitar (Bite/Crunch) against Lvl 30 12/12/12 Alakazam (Confusion/Future Sight).Attack IVBiteCrunch1577614776137761277611775107759775877477746774577447733773277317720772Defense IVConfusionFuture Sight1584614846138461284611847108479847884778476848584848483848284819490949Stamina IVHP1515714156131551215511154101539152815271516150514941493148214711470146You wouldn't notice a difference between a 15/15/15 and 12/12/12 Tyranitar. In fact, damage given and taken would be identical with only a 2 point decrease in HP. CP drops from 3146 to 3068. "Overall, your Pokemon has certainly caught my attention. Its stats are noticeably trending to the positive".Example 3:Lvl 30 Draognite (Dragon Tail/Outrage) against Lvl 30 12/12/12 Blissey (Pound/Hyper Beam).Attack IVDragon TailOutrage15117714117613117612117611117610117591175811757117461174511744107431073210731107301073Defense IVPoundHyper Beam1535914360133601236011360103619361836173626362536243623363236313630364Stamina IVHP1514414143131421214111141101409139813971386137513641363135213411330133In this battle, a 15/15/15 and 8/8/10 Dragonite deal and take almost the exact same damage, with <3% smaller HP. Dragonite's CP falls from 3070 to 2906. "Overall your Pokemon is above average. Its stats are noticeably trending to the positive".Conclusion: IV's have received heightened importance given their role in calculating CP; however, finding Pokemon with great IVs can be time-consuming, and sometimes a waste of stardust to level one up. For some Pokemon, in some battles, IVs could be the difference between victory and defeat. However, with stronger Pokemon in common matchups, an average IV Pokemon can serve just as well as a perfect IV Pokemon. via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2w8OS8k