‘Pokémon GO’ Guide, Tips & Tricks In Creating A Strong Pokémon; How Vital Combat Power & Individual Values Are In Gym Battles

It's every "Pokémon GO" trainer's quest to have a strong Pokémon geared up for battle. When creating a powerful Pokémon, it's important to take note of their two most important strength indicators: Combat Power (CP) and Individual Values (IVs).

CP is commonly visible in "Pokémon GO" and is found above your Pokémon's avatar, according to Business Insider. Essentially, CP indicates how powerful a Pokémon's attack and defense statistics are in battles.

A Pokémon with CP that goes beyond 1000, for instance, is regarded as really strong. But the Pokémon with the highest available CP in the game is Dragonite, reaching a whopping 3500.

Each Pokémon has a designated CP upon capture, but they don't have the same CP stats, Niantic wrote. A "Pokémon GO" trainer's level determines a Pokémon's CP. You should also know that evolving a Pokémon will boost its overall CP, but the percentage of their power remains the same, IGN noted.

The website PoGoToolkit calculates an evolved Pokémon's CP based on the creature's previous evolution stage. For instance, a Growlithe with 150 CP requires 50 Growlithe candies to evolve into an Arcanine, which has a CP between 340 and 354.

That CP, however, doesn't come close with the 2983 maximum CP of Arcanine. So you need a combination of Stardust and Candy to power up the Pokémon further.

PoGoToolKit also offers a reverse calculator that lets you know what Growlithe you need to have to get an Arcanine with 2983 CP. It says that you need to evolve a Growlithe with 1264 - 1315 CP to attain the strongest possible Arcanine in "Pokémon GO."

IVs help determine the power of your Pokémon as well. Each Pokémon hides three IVs that consist of Attack, Defense, and Stamina statistics -- factors which all affect a Pokémon's performance in Gym battles.

You can check out your Pokémon's IV by using Poké Assistant's IV calculator. To do that, you must indicate the Pokémon's current CP, HP, and the number of Stardust it needs to power up.

If a "Pokémon GO" trainer wants to succeed in Gym battles, it is best that they have Pokémon starting with the highest possible CP and IVs. With that, you only need to achieve power-ups and evolutions to get your Pokémon primed for battle.

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