The Box Trick

As we all know our Pokémon's stats increase when they gain a level. What you may not know is that they can also increase without gaining a level ( and without having to use a booster item like Protein or Iron ), and indeed can continue to increase even after your Pokémon reaches level 100.

How it works;

In short hand, all you have to do to get the box trick to work is fight some battles (10 or more) and then chuck the pokémon you battle with into the P.C. You can withdraw it straight away and its stats will have been recalculated, improving its stats.

So what?:

Before the box trick had been discovere it was thought that once a pokémon reaches level 100 its statistics could no longer increase and that stat boosters, such as irons and proteins, were the only way to increase a pokémon's statistics at L.100. However, pokémon could only take a certain amount of stat boosters and this meant that because that pokémon could no longer gain levels or take stat-booster it was left with bum stats (although your pokémon were at their maximum level they were not at their maximum potential only determined by their genes). Therefore your pokémon are much weaker than they should be. These are not small diferences either; I once trained a Jolteon without boxing it and when it reached L.100 it's speed was only 312 (max = 351). Now you can see how important the box trick is. However, since the box trick forces a recalculation of your pokémon's statistics that its stats can increase when sufficient stat Exp. is gained, regardless of its level. Therefore the box trick can be applied to any level of pokémon and because it can be done to any level of pokémon you can the box trick to improve your pika, petit or poké cup team without gaining levels and violating the competiton rules. Additionally, due to stat Exp. the box trick can make up for bum training, including lack of battling and statboosters, the use of piggybacking, rare candies, the day-care centre, etc.

How it works (long story):

The box trick is made possible because a Pokémon's current stats are dependent on 4 factors:

(1) it's genes

(2) it's level

(3) the amount of stat experience it has accumulated.

(4) the last time its stats were recalculated.

I've already discussed how genes determine a pokémon's max potential. A pokémon's level and stat Exp. are simple enough modifiers based on that potential. The modifiers do not enter the equation until the statitistics are recalculated. At L.100 this can only be done using the box trick.

Pokémon who are raised using only rare candies ( or in day-care) have poor stats because thay haven't done any battling and so have not gained any stat Exp.

The more stat Exp. a pokémon gains the higher its reward ( stat-wise) will be when its stats are recalculated. The more battles you fight the higher the pay-off will be from the box trick.

Note this: the types of opponent your pokemon defeats directly affect the benefits your pokemon will receiving from box tricking, due to the way stat Exp. is earned. The base stats of each defeated pokemon directly affect how much stat Exp. is earned for each of your pokémon's statistics. Individual pokémon have a distinct stat Exp. total for each statistic.

So, if your pokémon fights nothing but chanseys its HP statistic will rise higher than if it had been fighting Cloysters. On the other hand if your pokémon fights nothing but cloysters its defense stat would rise higher than if it had been fighting chanseys.

Noticee that it is the base statistic of the opponent that are important, not the actual current statistics. Because of this the level of pokémon is also inimportant. This means that there is no difference to stat Exp. gain (and the subsequent affect of box tricking) between fighting L.5 pidgeys or L.15 pidgeys.

Research Data 1:

To demonstrate this for yourself, take a Pokémon who has recently gained a level. Jot down its stats then fight a few fights with it and then chuck it in the computer (it should at least be of a high enough level that it will be able to fight about a dozen other Pokémon without gaining another level). Now remove that Pokémon from the box and check its stats. The following examples show what can happen.

The first example shows a L10 Mewtwo (caught using a Gameshark), raised to L30 naturally, and Rare candied the rest of its levels to L.100 (10 of each stat booster was also used). Its stats at L100 were:

HP: 387

Att: 279

Def: 261

Spd: 335

Spc: 358

After that it battle thirty Pokémon in the Cerulean cave.

The Mewtwo was then deposited in the P.C and then withdrawn. It had the following increase in its stats:

HP: 389 (+2)

Att: 280 (+1)

Def: 263 (+2)

Spd: 338 (+3)

Spc: 364 (+6)

Now try a smaller amount of battles....ten or so.

Now his stats are:

HP: 390 (+1)

Att: 280 (+0)

Def: 264 (+1)

Spd: 340 (+2)

Spc: 364 (+0)

Not much Improvement but the more battles it fights the better its stats become.

Research Data 2:

But, although the previous examples demonstrate how your Pokemon's stats increase depending on how many battles it's won, we haven't yet explored the other factor. The stats of the defeated Pokémon. Say you pitted a slow Pokémon, Parasect, against a fast Pokémon, electrode. The Parasect's speed would vastly increase above any other of its stats because Electrode's best stat is its speed. In laymens terms the stats of your opponent rub off onto your own pokémon, its best stat primarily. If you battle a Rhydon you defense and attack will increase at a much greater rate than your speed or special, whereas if you battle an Alakazam your speed and special would rise quickly.

So to prove this theory (using a gameshark) I put a Level 100 Parasect against 80 L2 electrode using a game shark. Its stats before it started battling were;

HP: 292, Att: 249, Def: 221, Spd: 109, Spc: 237

After battling its stats were:

HP: 296 (+4), Att:252 (+3), Def: 223 (+2), Spd: 117 (+8), Spc: 243 (+6)

Not a bad improvement eh? Also notice how its speed increases the greatest. This is because that is electrode's best stat.

Next the Parasect was pitted (again, through the use of a game device) against 80 dittos who ranged in Level from 22 to 30. Ditto was deliberately selected because it has pretty lousy stats. Here's how Parasect's stats changed:

HP:  307 (+3)
Att: 266 (+2)
Def: 239 (+2)
Spd: 118 (+3)
Spc: 245 (+3)

There are several things to note here. First, despite the fact that the same number of battles was fought, stat gain was much worse against Dittos than against Mewtwos. Second, the pattern of improvement across the 5 stats roughly mirrored the stats of the defeated Pokémon: Ditto's stats are all relatively even, as were Parasect's gains when fighting them exclusively. Third, consider that the Dittos were much higher in Level than the Mewtwos. In terms of actual stat values, a L22 Ditto will far surpass a L2 Mewtwo. Instead, it is the relative (or base) stats of the defeated Pokémon that matter.