Pokémon GO IV stats explained: raids, lucky, shadow, research and more

IVs (Individual Values) are hidden stats in Pokémon GO that determine how strong a Pokémon can become when powered up. Each Pokémon has three IVs — Attack, Defense, and Stamina — each ranging from 0 to 15. A Pokémon with 15/15/15 is called a 'hundo' (100%) and is the best possible.

What makes Pokémon GO interesting is that different ways of obtaining Pokémon have different minimum IV floors — meaning some methods give you a much better starting point than others.

Wild catches — fully random

Wild Pokémon found on the map have completely random IVs. Each of the three stats can be anywhere from 0 to 15, giving a range of 0% to 100%. Most wild catches cluster around the middle, and getting a 90%+ IV from a wild encounter is rare.

Weather-boosted wild encounters are the exception — if you catch a Pokémon in weather that boosts its type, each IV is guaranteed to be at least 4. It's a small boost but noticeably improves the average.

Raid catches — 10/10/10 floor

All Pokémon caught from raids — including 1-star, 3-star, 5-star legendary, and Mega Raids — have a guaranteed minimum of 10 in every IV. This means the worst you can get from a raid is 10/10/10, which is 66.7%. The best is still 15/15/15.

This is why raids are the preferred way to hunt for high-IV copies of desirable Pokémon like legendaries. You're never rolling completely randomly — you always start from at least two-thirds of the way there.

Mewtwo

Lugia

Rayquaza

Zacian

Zekrom

Raikou

Egg hatches — 10/10/10 floor

Pokémon hatched from eggs also have the same 10/10/10 minimum as raids. This applies to all eggs — 2km, 5km, 7km, 10km, and 12km. Since egg pools rotate with events, eggs can be a good source of high-IV Pokémon that are otherwise rare in the wild.

Research task rewards — 10/10/10 floor

Pokémon rewarded from Field Research tasks (the stamp-based encounters) also have the 10/10/10 IV floor. This makes them a reliable source of high-IV copies of Pokémon that feature regularly in the research pool — like Spinda, event-exclusive Pokémon, and Community Day-adjacent species.

Special Research and Timed Research rewards (the story-based questlines) also follow the same floor, including Mythical Pokémon like Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi.

Spinda

Mew

Celebi

Jirachi

Milotic

Shadow Pokémon — random IVs, but purification adds +2

Shadow Pokémon caught from Team GO Rocket grunts and leaders have fully random IVs — just like wild catches, any stat can be 0 to 15. This means a Shadow Larvitar could be terrible or near-perfect.

The key mechanic is purification: when you purify a Shadow Pokémon, every IV increases by 2 (capped at 15). A shadow with 13/13/13 IVs becomes a perfect 15/15/15 hundo when purified. Shadow hunters often look specifically for shadows with 13+ in each stat so purification pushes them to 100%.

Shadow Larvitar

Shadow Beldum

Shadow Deino

Shadow Gible

Shadow Dratini

Shadow Horsea

Lucky Pokémon — 12/12/12 floor

Lucky Pokémon are obtained through trading. When two Pokémon are traded and one (or both) become Lucky, their IVs are rerolled with a guaranteed minimum of 12 in every stat. This means the worst a Lucky Pokémon can be is 12/12/12 (80%), and they cost 50% less Stardust to power up.

Trades between friends who have been Best Friends for a long time have a higher chance of producing Lucky Pokémon. There's also a mechanic where if either player's oldest Pokémon in their storage (caught in 2016 or 2017) is included in the trade, the Lucky chance is greatly increased.

For expensive-to-power-up meta Pokémon — like Mewtwo, Rayquaza, or Garchomp — getting a Lucky version is often more practical than hunting for a perfect IV copy through raids alone.

Lucky Mewtwo

Lucky Rayquaza

Lucky Garchomp

Lucky Dragonite

Event Pokémon with boosted IVs

Certain special events have featured Pokémon with guaranteed higher IVs. For example, some GO Fest and GO Tour raids have offered legendary Pokémon with a minimum IV floor of 10/10/10 as standard, but certain ticketed or special encounters have had higher guarantees.

Pokémon obtained from GO Battle League rewards have a floor of 10/10/10 like raid rewards, but at Rank 20 and above the floor increases to 12/12/12 — the same as Lucky Pokémon. This makes high-rank GBL rewards a great way to get strong PvP-relevant Pokémon.

IV floors at a glance

• •Wild catch — 0/0/0 minimum — fully random
• •Weather-boosted wild catch — 4/4/4 minimum
• •Raid catch (all tiers) — 10/10/10 minimum — 66.7%
• •Egg hatch (all distances) — 10/10/10 minimum
• •Field Research / Special Research reward — 10/10/10 minimum
• •GO Battle League reward (Rank 20+) — 12/12/12 minimum
• •Shadow Pokémon (Rocket encounters) — 0/0/0 minimum — random like wild
• •Purified Pokémon — Shadow IVs +2 per stat (capped at 15)
• •Lucky Pokémon (from trade) — 12/12/12 minimum — 80%

How to check IVs in Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO has a built-in IV checker — tap the three-dot menu on a Pokémon's page and select 'Appraise'. The game gives a rating (Amazing, Impressed, Exceeded Expectations, or Not Likely to Succeed) and shows star ratings for each stat. It doesn't show exact numbers.

For exact IVs, most players use a third-party IV checker app like Poke Genie (iOS/Android) or Calcy IV (Android). These read your screen and calculate the exact IV spread from the appraisal data.