Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee

So, you’ve been catching a bunch of Pokémon and you’re wondering which ones are actually the strongest, right? It can feel a bit overwhelming trying to figure out which Pokémon is truly worth investing your time in. Luckily, there’s a built-in way to get a good idea of a Pokémon’s potential, and it’s called the **Judge function**!

To unlock this handy feature, you first need to have recorded at least 30 different Pokémon in your Pokédex. Once you’ve done that, head over to the gate building that sits between Route 11 and Route 12. Find Professor Oak’s aide there, and after a quick chat, they’ll activate the Judge function for you. Easy peasy!

Now, whenever you’re looking at a Pokémon’s summary screen, you can press the Y button. This will bring up a special screen that shows you a hexagonal chart, kind of like the one you see for stats normally. But this chart? It’s all about your Pokémon’s Individual Values (IVs)! The closer the blue shape gets to the edge of the chart, the better that specific IV is. Plus, there are statements around the edges that give you a general idea of how good the IVs are.

Individual Stats

When you’re looking at individual stats, here’s what those statements mean:

Sum of all Stats

The Judge function also gives you an overall picture of your Pokémon’s potential by looking at the total of all its IVs. This is super helpful for a quick assessment:

So, while you might not always need to know the exact number for every single IV, the Judge function gives you a really solid way to tell if you’ve got a potential powerhouse on your hands. Happy judging!

By default, Pokémon you catch or obtain will be assigned completely random IVs. While you could keep catching Pokémon until you get one with high IVs, this could take a very long time. Fortunately, there are methods to manipulate IVs:

1. Catch Combo

If you achieve a high Catch Combo, the Pokémon you catch will have a certain number of guaranteed “Best” (31) IVs. The higher the combo, the more “Best” IVs you’ll get. This benefit caps out at 4 guaranteed “Best” IVs. If you want more than that, you’ll need to rely on luck or Hyper Training.

2. Hyper Training

Hyper Training, introduced in Sun and Moon, allows you to alter a Pokémon’s IVs after you’ve obtained them, but it requires effort. First, you need to defeat the Elite Four. Afterwards, Mr Hyper will appear in the Daycare Center on Route 5. If you have a Bottle Cap, he’ll max one of the IVs for a Level 100 Pokémon. Defeating Mina will net you a guaranteed Bottle Cap each day.