Question

Is it best to put a pokemon in daycare holding an IV boosting item (power band etc) or to train them yourself?

I tested it by putting my Rhydon in the daycare holding the item that boosts sp.def and it gained 7 points from one level.

Comments

I voted the question down because: a)IV boosting items dont exist(Ev boosting items exist)
                                                    b)You cannot IV train(only Ev train)
                                                    c)Individual Values (IVs for short) are the key to determining your pokemon's stats. IVs are randomly assigned when you encounter any wild pokemon (or receive it as a gift or egg). They consist of six numbers corresponding to HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. Each range from 0-31 and the higher the number, the better your pokemon's stat will be.
Pokemon earn EVs.As Pokemon battle, in addition to gaining experience points they also obtain Effort Values (usually referred to as EVs), which are special hidden values in each stat (HP, Attack and so on). Each Pokemon you battle against gives off EVs in one or more stats.


IVs are different from EVs.

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@Boronicolas: That doesn't make the question "wrong" or against the rules. You should explain what the OP got wrong or confused about. Also you can "IV train" in a way by passing down good IVs.

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I took away the downvote. But the only way anyone can IV train(its not actually training) is with the day care. When the parent passes its IVs down to the child.

Answer 1

I'm going to clear up the confusion in your question. Firstly, IVs are hidden values that you cannot "train" as such. Once you have a Pokemon the values are fixed. EVs are the ones you can train - you start with 0 and gain them as you battle. The idea is to try and gain specific EVs in stats, e.g. Attack and Speed.

The Power items have a couple of different uses. As a hold item when BATTLING, the Pokemon gains 4 EVs in a particular stat, plus the EVs the Pokemon you're battling gives.

As a hold item in DAYCARE, the Pokemon passes down its IV stat to the baby. This is the only way to influence what IVs a Pokemon has. Once they have hatched from the egg you will need to EV train the Pokemon.

Pokemon that are left in daycare to just level up do not gain EVs and obviously their IVs never change.

Answer 2

It is better to train them yourself, as your Pokemon will not get important EVs in Daycare. If Rhydon gained SP. DEFENCE EVs with the SP. DEFENCE band, It could have increased anything up to 10 in one level.

If you're lazy and don't care about EVs then the Daycare is better, but it all depends.
In other words It is better to raise Pokemon with bands yourself rather than Daycare