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| Natures |
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To start with, an obvious one - Natures. Introduced in 3rd Gen, a Pokemon can
have one of twenty-five natures. Natures boost one stat and hinder another by
ten percent each, though five boost and hinder the same stat, having no effect
to the Pokemon's stats at all.
The twenty-five natures are:
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| Nature || Boosted Stat || Hindered Stat |
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| Hardy || Attack || Attack |
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| Lonely || Attack || Defense |
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| Adamant || Attack || Sp. Attack |
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| Naughty || Attack || Sp. Defense |
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| Brave || Attack || Speed |
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| Bold || Defense || Attack |
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| Docile || Defense || Defense |
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| Impish || Defense || Sp. Attack |
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| Lax || Defense || Sp. Defense |
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| Relaxed || Defense || Speed |
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| Modest || Sp. Attack || Attack |
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| Mild || Sp. Attack || Defense |
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| Bashful || Sp. Attack || Sp. Attack |
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| Rash || Sp. Attack || Sp. Defense |
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| Quiet || Sp. Attack || Speed |
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| Calm || Sp. Defense || Attack |
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| Gentle || Sp. Defense || Defense |
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| Careful || Sp. Defense || Sp. Attack |
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| Quirky || Sp. Defense || Sp. Defense |
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| Sassy || Sp. Defense || Speed |
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| Timid || Speed || Attack |
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| Hasty || Speed || Defense |
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| Jolly || Speed || Sp. Attack |
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| Naive || Speed || Sp. Defense |
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| Serious || Speed || Speed |
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Remember when I said that five natures don't affect the Pokemon at all? Those
are Hardy, Docile, Bashful, Quirky and Serious. So you should avoid these
natures because if you have a Pokemon with them, you're wasting this dynamic
value.
Practically, one must aim for a nature that benefits a stat the Pokemon will
most likely use, and hinder one that the Pokemon wouldn't. For a Physical
Sweeper, one should either go for Adamant (boosting Attack, the stat a Physical
Sweeper abuses, and hindering Special Attack, one that it never uses) or Jolly
(boosting Speed instead, because with the fourth generation, speed has become
more important). Likewise for a Special Sweeper, one should go for either
Modest (boosting Sp. Attack and hindering Attack) or Timid (boosting Speed and
hindering Attack).
You might be wondering if there's a way to influence the nature of your
preference when you obtain your Pokemon, and there are two specific ways, one
for Wild Pokemon and the other for Breeding
