Everything You Need To Know About Hidden Stats In Pokemon Go

You ever wonder why your Snorlax in Pokemon Go is inferior to that of your friend's, even though they appear to have all of the exact same stats? Well, some folks with a bit of time on their hands have provided a few answers, explaining that a Pokemon's hidden stats actually have a pretty big impact on the game. But while they're hidden, you can still do a bit of math to find out how useful your favorite Pokemon actually are when it comes to gym throwdowns.

Some folks do better in gym battles than others. But if you compared your Pokemon Go critter to theirs, you may actually discover that you are both at the same level, the Pokemon have the same CP and they're both maxed out in stats and offer the same move set.

Still, sometimes their pocket monsters are tougher than yours and vice versa. So why is that?

Well, according to the IGN wikia, just like in the regular Pokemon games, the creatures in Pokemon Go offer both standard stats and what are known as Individual Values, or IV for short.

Thankfully, a lot of the leg work for figuring out these IV stats has been done for you. That is, of course, assuming you even want to bother with optimizing your Pokemon Go collection. You could always just keep playing the game like normal and accept the fact that not all Pokemon are built equal and, as such, one player's Pikachu will be stronger than another's.

Actually, that individuality is exactly why these hidden stats exist. What fun would it be if every maxed out Pokemon was the same as its counterparts?

Long story short, if you're interested into diving into all of this deep Pokemon jibba-jabba, you'll want to head on over to SilphRoad. They've put together a great little "Species Stats" list for every character currently available in Pokemon Go, showing off their base stats in the areas of attack, defense and stamina. Attack is, obviously, how hard the Pokemon typically hits, defense is how big of a beating they can take, and stamina is how long their health points will last.

But, while you can see these base stats for your Pokemon, the IV stats are more difficult to pin down. They are plugged into each of those base stats and range from zero to 15, which is why the critters are so varied when used in gyms.

In order to get a rough idea of your Pokemon's hidden stats, SilphRoad also offers a convenient calculator. You'll have to enter your Pokemon's current CP, their hit points and how much Stardust is required to power them up. From there, you'll be given an assortment of values to expect if you were to evolve said Pokemon.

Again, probably not something more casual players are going to dive into with Pokemon Go but, if you want to be the very best, it should help cut down on some guess work and optimize your evolutions and stats.