Pokémon Nature: Effects and How to Choose

Among the mechanics that affect Pokémon stats in Pokémon X and Y, Nature is probably the least complex, while still providing very significant gains.

In this article, find the specifics of every Nature, along with a helping hand to choose the right ones for your Pokémon.

Quick access:
• A boost and a drop
• Influencing a Pokémon’s Nature
• The 25 different Natures
• Choosing the right Nature

A boost and a drop

A Pokémon’s Nature greatly affects its stats, since it grants a 10% gain in one stat and a 10% loss in another! Every stat can be affected, except HP. These changes are also applied after the other factors (IVs and EVs), which makes the gain even more significant. You can spot the modified stats on a Pokémon’s summary screen in the game: the one shown in red is boosted, and the one in blue is lowered.

On top of that, there are neutral Natures: they do not modify Pokémon stats at all. Avoid them if possible; the gains are far too strong to ignore, and besides, there is often a stat that is useless to your Pokémon, as you will see in the Choosing the right Nature section of this guide.

Nature is a trait of every Pokémon, decided when it is created (when you encounter it or when its Egg is formed). However, while it is impossible to change a Pokémon’s Nature, it is possible to influence it before it is set.

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Influencing a Pokémon’s Nature

A 1 in 25 chance of finding the right Nature for your Pokémon is really not great. Fortunately, there are two methods that make getting the desired Nature easier:

• when breeding: if one of the parents you use already has the right Nature, find an Everstone and give it to that parent (house to the northwest of the Pokémon Center in Geosenge Town, or on wild Nodulithe and Geolithe). The Pokémon that hatch will then have a 50% chance of having the same Nature as the parent holding the Everstone.

• when meeting wild Pokémon: put a Pokémon with the ability Synchro at the head of your team. The wild Pokémon you meet will then also have a 1 in 2 chance of having the same Nature as your Pokémon. The best approach is to build, for example, a series of Kadabra or Gardevoir with different Natures that might interest you.

Admittedly, a 50% chance in both cases is not perfect either, but these two methods are far less random than the usual 4% chance of getting the Nature you want.

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The 25 different Natures

There are twenty-five different Natures in total. Twenty of them affect stats, and five are neutral (which can be read as a 10% gain and a 10% loss in the same stat, and therefore have no effect):

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Choosing the right Nature

When you think about building a strategically sound Pokémon, you will quickly realize that an offensive stat is often not used by the Pokémon. Depending on its stats and its moves, a Pokémon is often good at either Attack or Special Attack, and you therefore have to choose one of the two. Let’s look at a few examples:

• Bruyverne is an offensive Pokémon with a well-developed Special Attack. There is no point giving it physical moves, so that stat is useless. You can therefore take advantage of this to give it a Nature that lowers Attack, which will have no negative consequence for it.

• Likewise, on a defensive Pokémon such as Airmure, you will often only give it a single offensive move, which will be physical. A Nature that lowers its Special Attack is therefore perfectly suitable.

As for the stat to raise, that is up to your play style and preferences. In any case, it is often preferable to train the EVs of a stat boosted by the Nature, since the 10% bonus also applies to the gains from EVs. On offensive Pokémon, it is often appropriate to raise an offensive stat or Speed, whereas defensive Pokémon will prefer a Nature that improves one of their defenses. In practice, with our previous examples:

• For Noivern, this Pokémon is a special sweeper whose principle is to hit fast and hard. It is therefore best to have a Nature that improves one of these two stats, as you see fit. If you find that it hits a bit too weakly, you may as well improve its Special Attack (that is, choose Modest). If you want to be sure it is faster than your opponents, favor its Speed instead (that is, choose Timid).

• Skarmory, for its part, is there to take hits. If you want to be sure it withstands every physical move, prefer a Nature that improves its Defense (that is, Bold). If you still want it to hold up against special moves as well, it can be worthwhile to boost its Special Defense (that is, Calm).

Finally, these are simple examples. Reality is sometimes much more complex, for instance with Pokémon such as mixed sweepers (offensive Pokémon hitting on both the physical and special sides). In those cases, even though defensive stats are still useful, it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice one of them to make the Pokémon more competitive. Likewise, it is sometimes better to reinforce a defensive stat even on an offensive Pokémon, for example on those with moves that can boost their stats, to make them more durable and more powerful in the long run.

Try different configurations of a Pokémon to see which one suits you best. In truth, there is often not a single right Nature, but several Natures that could suit each Pokémon. It all depends on your play style and your patience.

If you ever have doubts, don’t hesitate to take a look at the teams in our TopTeams or to ask for expert opinions on our Forums: 6th Generation Tactics Topic!

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