What is the best EV spread to receive as little damage as possible?

Question

Like the question says. Use Celebi as an example since it has the same stats. The moves in question that would hit the example Celebi would be Close Combat and Focus Blast and the attacking Pokemon would be Mew. Ignore the type effectiveness and assume the two moves would deal neutral damage since this is just for some research. Also, assume that Mew has both of those moves and on turn one ,uses close combat and on turn two, uses focus miss. So, what is the best EV spread in these scenarios:

Scenario one - you have all 510 EVs to spare. How would this be spread in order to receive as little damage as possible from both attacks?

Scenario two - you only have 258 EVs to spare and the other 252 went to Celebi's attack stat. How would the remaining 258 EVs be spread in order to receive minimal damage from both attacks?

Do not put the 252 hp / 252 Def or SpD because that is not what I am looking for

Also I am aware that most Pokemon do not have the same Def and SpD stats. This is just for research and I'll do the adjusting myself

Comments

This is incredibly specific. Why do you need to know this?

---

The answer is already here. https://pokemondb.net/pokebase/15881/

---

That answer is kind of hard to read through if I'm honest, and the questions are different anyway, just came about to a similar answer. I'll let someone else weigh in on it though.

---

Aren't they both asking about how to use EVs to minimize damage when base attack, base defense, and base power are all equal?

---

I asked this because my Scizor and Aegislash somehow take a lot of damage from fairy attacks despite having 252 hp EVs. I was only planning on asking how to spread the other 258 EVs but when I typed this I decided to ask the 510 EVs scenario in case I might need it. I didn't wanna ask just the two of them specifically because I also have other pokemon with the same problems

---

I'm going to clear flags because I think these are different enough. This question has extra parts to it that wouldn't be addressed on the original thread.

Answer 1

Assuming that Mew's attack and special attack are the same (maxed EVs) and both Poke we can see how much damage Mew will do with different EV spreads. For the purpose of this experiment, damage will be measured in percentage of total HP.

To start, let's do 252 HP, 128 defence, and 128 special defence. If Mew uses Focus Blast, it will do from 11.8% to 14.1% damage. This, times 2, will make Celebi take 23.6% to 28.2% damage.

Despite what you say, let's do 252 HP, 252 defence/special defence, and 4 defence/special defence. When Mew attacks, it will do 10.6% to 12.6% damage to the 252 EV stat, and 13.3 to 15.8% damage to the 8 EV stat. Combined, this makes Celebi take 23.9% to 28.4% damage, slightly higher than the previous option.

Next, let's try 252 defence, 252 special defence, and 4 HP. Each move Mew uses will do 12.5% to 14.9% damage. This, times 2, will make Celebi take 25% to 29.8% damage. This is much more than to previous two options.

The last test will be with 172 HP, 168 defence, and 168 special defence. Celebi will take 11.9% to 14.3% damage per attack, making it 23.8% to 28.6% damage for two attacks. This is slightly lower than the other 3 options.

As you can see, the option of 252 HP, 128 defence, and 128 special defence provides the best defence to this scenario. It is miniscule, with about 1 or 2 HP being saved.

Now for scenario two. Let's start with 128 defence and 128 special defence. For each attack, Celebi will take 14% to 16.7% damage. That's 28% to 33.4% damage for 2 attacks.

Next, let's do 252 defence/special defence and 4 defence/special defence. Celebi will take 12.6% to 14.9% damage in the stronger stat, and 15.8% to 18.7% damage. Combined, this is 28.4% to 33.6% damage, once again slightly more than the first option.

As you can see, doing 128 defence and 128 special defence is the best option, but only saves about 1 to 2 HP. I hope this all helps.

Site used: https://calc.pokemonshowdown.com

Comments

Thanks a lot. This is exactly what I was looking for. Even though it only saves one or two hp, I've come to realize that a single hp can decide the fate of the battle. I'm gonna readjust some of my pokemon to this ev spread

---

Are you sure 128 Def/128 SpD is better than 252 HP?
252 Atk Mew Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celebi: 109-129 (26.9 - 31.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO

---

@Savitar Be very careful doing that, though, because it potentially reflects a misunderstanding of the Pokemon you're using. There are not many scenarios where the most optimal, meta-savvy EV spread for your Pokemon is equally bulky on both sides (which is the practicable result of what you're asking for here). It is usually optimal to invest heavily in either Defence or Special Defence instead of splitting between the two, unless a key matchup for your Pokemon necessitates that.
Players much better than you and I have already put a lot of thought into this. They would be using 252/128/128 far more often if it truly was a good EV spread -- and when they do use it, it's not because it prevents the same theoretical attack from doing slightly more damage on both defensive stats. Certainly do not use 128/128 defensive stats without the 252 HP investment to go with it, for the reason sumwun is leading on.

---

@Fizz yeah I'm aware. There are only about two of my pokemon I wanna try this type of EV spread on. I'm not gonna use that on all of my pokemon. Aside from that I also asked for future reference in case I need it