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I have two Beldum and I'm trying to decide which one to evolve into a Metagross. Their stats are....

Beldum #1). 15 attack, 15 defense, 14 stamina
Beldum #2). 15 attack, 14 defense, 15 stamina

So they are basically identical except for one has better defense and one has better stamina (or HP).

The site gameinfo.io shows that Metagross's stats are...

Attack  257
Defense 247
Stamina 160

So it looks like its strengths are Attack and Defense. Maybe that means I should focus on those and evolve Beldum #1? Or should I shore up the weakness and choose Beldum #2, which has slightly better stamina?

Vemonus
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b10hazard
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  • The Minmaxer in me would say to prioritise to the Pokemon's strengths, but even still I don't know how much a one point advantage would bring to the table. Both Beldums would probably perform very similarly. – Robotnik Apr 07 '18 at 14:42
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    Voting to leave open. Yes, op used the magic word "should" but there is an objective answer here. – Comic Sans Seraphim Apr 08 '18 at 14:19

1 Answers1

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Considering how small the difference is here, any effect will be barely noticeable...

...which is not going to stop me doing the maths.

The damage formula was discussed in this answer. It looks complicated but the bit we need is that incoming damage is proportional to 1/defense.

The hp formula I found here was a lot simpler than expected. The important part is that it's proportional to stamina.

Defense and stamina do basically the same thing- they increase the amount of incoming damage you can take without fainting. As mentioned above, damage taken is proportional to 1/defense. This means that virtual hp is proportional to defense*stamina.

IVs are added to base stats to get the total stats. Yes, they matter this little.

So, for the above:

  • 15 def, 14 stam gives us 262*175. 45850 vhp
  • 14 def, 15 stam gives us 261*176. 45936 vhp

The Metagross with higher stamina is 0.19% tougher. An unbelievably tiny amount.

In general, this shows that when dealing with defense vs stamina, higher IVs in your lower stat have a more noticeable effect.

The same is true of attack, but choosing attack over defense or stamina may be more situational.

Comic Sans Seraphim
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