Experience

The amount of **experience** an individual Pokémon has is an indication of how much it has battled. It is quantified as **Experience Points**, which a Pokémon can gain in battle by defeating an opponent Pokémon without fainting. After a certain amount of experience points have been gained, a Pokémon will grow a level, all the way up to level 100, where a Pokémon will no longer gain experience.

## Overview

Experience is normally gained by all Pokémon who have been sent out against an opponent's Pokémon, divided evenly among them. Experience is gained upon the opponent Pokémon fainting and its amount is calculated as a function of the fainted Pokémon's level, as well as species. Certain items can affect the distribution and amount of experience gained, as can other conditions, such as whether or not the Pokémon was caught by another person.

### Relation to level

The amount of experience points a Pokémon has is tied directly to its level. Though the amount varies depending on species, always remaining consistent throughout an evolutionary family, a given amount of experience points will always set a Pokémon at the corresponding level. Wild Pokémon of any level will always have the base amount of experience required to reach that level when caught, as will Pokémon hatched from Eggs.

All Pokémon fall into one of six experience groups. The main difference between these experience groups is the amount of experience points required to reach level 100, and thus, the amount required to reach each level. Four of them are only polynomial functions of the level, while the other two operate as piecewise functions, changing the equation depending on the level range.

The functions for the Fast, Medium Fast, Medium Slow and Slow groups are cubic. The Erratic and Fluctuating ones, however, are made by multiplying the cube of the level by a linear function of it (a negative slope one in the case of Erratic, going from 2 to 0.6; and a positive slope one in the case of Fluctuating, going from 0.48 to 1.64), making those functions effectively quartic.

Although the various experience groups' level-up rates can be calculated using an equation, the game uses a lookup table. This ensures that the Medium Fast, Medium Slow, and Slow experience groups have 0 experience at level 1, preventing a glitch associated with the Medium Slow formula at level 1.

The amount of experience gained is dependent on both Pokémon's levels: the lower the victor's level is compared to the defeated Pokémon, the more experience points the victor will gain.

#### Erratic

E
X
# P

{

n

3

(
100
−
n
)

50

n
<
50

n

3

(
150
−
n
)

100

50
≤
n
<
68

n

3

⌊

1911
−
10
n

3

⌋

500

68
≤
n
<
98

n

3

(
160
−
n
)

100

98
≤
n
<
100

{\displaystyle EXP={\begin{cases}{\dfrac {n^{3}(100-n)}{50}}&n<50\\{\dfrac {n^{3}(150-n)}{100}}&50\leq n<68\\{\dfrac {n^{3}\left\lfloor {\dfrac {1911-10n}{3}}\right\rfloor }{500}}&68\leq n<98\\{\dfrac {n^{3}(160-n)}{100}}&98\leq n<100\end{cases}}}

The Erratic experience group features the lowest level 100 value for experience, at only 600,000 points. Nearly all Pokémon in this experience group are from Hoenn, with most of them being Bug or Water types.

Receiving its name due to the highly erratic experience point requirement to reach the next level from level 68 to level 98, Pokémon in this group level up rather slowly in their lower levels, requiring the most experience to grow from level 1 to level 10 (1800 as compared to 1250 for Slow, the next highest requirement), and increase the rate of their growth at higher levels, requiring the least experience to grow from level 90 to level 100 (108654 points as compared to 216800 for Fast, the next lowest requirement).

Due to the erraticness of this function, it actually takes fewer experience points to go from level 99 to 100 than it does to go from level 66 to 67.

For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Erratic experience group.

#### Fast

E
X
# P

4

n

3

5

{\displaystyle EXP={\dfrac {4n^{3}}{5}}}

The Fast experience group requires 800,000 experience points for a level 100 Pokémon. Many Normal- and Fairy-type Pokémon are in this group.

For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Fast experience group.

#### Medium Fast

E
X
# P

n

3

{\displaystyle EXP=n^{3}}

Among all Pokémon, the most plentiful experience group is the Medium Fast group. Requiring Pokémon to have an even 1,000,000 experience points to be at level 100, it is by far the most average of the experience groups and the one with the simplest equation: to be at a given level, any Pokémon in this group requires experience equal to that level cubed. This group is also often called "cubic", due to its function being a simple cube of the level.

This experience group actually grows more slowly than the Medium Slow group up until level 68 (level 46, if considering amount of experience required to reach the next level).

For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Medium Fast experience group.

#### Medium Slow

E
X
# P

6
5

n

3

−
15

n

2

100
n
−
140

{\displaystyle EXP={\dfrac {6}{5}}n^{3}-15n^{2}+100n-140}

The Medium Slow experience group, like the Medium Fast group, accounts for many Pokémon, containing the second largest amount of them. Most of the Pokémon in this group are part of three-stage evolutionary lines. This group also contains all of the regional starter Pokémon trios. Requiring 1,059,860 experience points for a Pokémon to reach level 100, it is the only experience group whose level 100 experience is not evenly divisible by 10,000. Pokémon in this group level up relatively quickly in their lower levels, requiring only 11,735 experience to reach level 25 (as compared to 12,187 for Fluctuating, the second lowest requirement).

The inflection point for this polynomial function is between levels 4 and 5 instead of at level 0. Thus, it actually takes more experience points to go from level 2 to 3 than it does to go from 4 to 5. Additionally, according to the function, level 1 Pokémon in this group are calculated to have -54 experience points. This would cause a glitch, if not manually fixed. For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Medium Slow experience group.

#### Slow

E
X
# P

5

n

3

4

{\displaystyle EXP={\dfrac {5n^{3}}{4}}}

The Slow group features the second highest amount of experience required for a Pokémon to reach level 100. Containing many rare, powerful and Legendary Pokémon, Pokémon in this group are typically very hard to raise; all pseudo-legendary Pokémon, by definition, are in this experience group. At level 100, a Pokémon in this experience group will have 1,250,000 experience points.

For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Slow experience group.

#### Fluctuating

E
X
# P

{

n

3

(

⌊

n
1

3

⌋

24

50

)

n
<
15

n

3

(

n
14

50

)

15
≤
n
<
36

n

3

(

⌊

n
2

⌋

32

50

)

36
≤
n
<
100

{\displaystyle EXP={\begin{cases}n^{3}\left({\dfrac {\left\lfloor {\dfrac {n+1}{3}}\right\rfloor +24}{50}}\right)&n<15\\n^{3}\left({\dfrac {n+14}{50}}\right)&15\leq n<36\\n^{3}\left({\dfrac {\left\lfloor {\dfrac {n}{2}}\right\rfloor +32}{50}}\right)&36\leq n<100\end{cases}}}

A direct opposite to the Erratic group, the Fluctuating experience group contains the Pokémon which grow the slowest of all, reaching level 100 with a whopping 1,640,000 experience points. It is also, unsurprisingly, the smallest of the experience groups, containing only 14 species. All of these species, minus Drifloon and Drifblim, are introduced in Hoenn as well. Pokémon within this group require the least amount of experience to grow from level 1, needing only 540 points to reach level 10, as compared to 560 for Medium Slow, the next lowest requirement. They also require the most experience points to go from level 90 to 100—517,340 as compared to 338,750 for Slow, the next highest. Like the Erratic function, the Fluctuating group's level-up equation is calculated in a piecewise fashion.

Also like the Erratic experience group, the Fluctuating group gets its name from the wildly fluctuating requirement for each level to go to the next level, from Level 36 to Level 100.

For a list of all Pokémon in this group, see Pokémon in the Fluctuating experience group.

### Experience at each level

Below is a table; on the left side of the level is the minimum number of experience points required for a Pokémon to be at that level, and the amount of experience points a Pokémon of that level will have when caught from the wild; on the right is the number of experience points required to advance from the respective level to the next level.

### Experience gain in battle

The amount of experience that a Pokémon gives when it is defeated depends on its level and its species. The higher the level of the defeated Pokémon, the more experience points it yields. The amount of experience a Pokémon gains is also scaled depending on how its level compares to the opponent's: the higher a defeated opponent's level is compared to the "winner", the more experience points the winner will gain. However, numerous factors can influence how much experience any individual Pokémon actually gains.

Any Pokémon that is sent into battle against an opponent will receive experience points when that opponent is defeated, provided the Pokémon is not fainted. All Pokémon that participate in battle receive "full" experience.

The Exp. Share is a way for a Pokémon that does not directly participate in a battle to still gain experience from it. If a Pokémon in the player's party is holding an Exp. Share and did not participate in battle, it will also receive "full" experience.

If multiple opponents are knocked out by the same move, the experience is gained for all Pokémon at the same time. This means that experience gained is based on the user's level before gaining any of the experience.

Various other factors may boost the amount of experience a Pokémon receives. These factors include:

* If the winning Pokémon is an outsider (was traded)
* If the player is in a Trainer battle
* If the Pokémon is holding a Lucky Egg
* If the Pokémon is at or past the level where it would be able to evolve but has not

Experience is also obtained by catching a wild Pokémon.

#### Gain formula

The game uses one basic scaled formula, where the difference between both opponents' levels affects the amount of experience the winner receives.

The scaled formula is

Δ
E
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(

b
×
L
×
f
×
v

5
×
s

×

(

2
L
10

L

L

p

10

)

2.5

)

×
t
×
e
×
p

{\displaystyle \Delta EXP=\left({\dfrac {b\times L\times f\times v}{5\times s}}\times \left({\dfrac {2L+10}{L+L\_{p}+10}}\right)^{2.5}\right)\times t\times e\times p}

.

Where:

* *b* is the base experience yield of the fainted Pokémon's species; values are listed here
* *e* is equal to...
	+ 1.5 if the winning Pokémon is holding a Lucky Egg
	+ 1 otherwise
* *f* is equal to 1
* *L* is the level of the fainted/caught Pokémon
* *Lp* is the level of the victorious Pokémon
* *p* is equal to 1
* *s* is equal to 1
* *t* is equal to...
	+ 1 if the winning Pokémon's current owner is its Original Trainer
	+ 1.5 if the Pokémon was gained in a domestic trade
* *v* is equal to...
	+ 1.2 if the winning Pokémon is at or past the level where it would be able to evolve, but it has not
	+ 1 otherwise

Depending on the order of multiplication and where rounding down is done, these formulas may produce slightly different results than are seen in-game.

## Trivia

* The Pokémon with the highest base experience yield is Blissey, with a yield of 608. The Pokémon with the lowest base experience yield is Sunkern, with a yield of 36.
* The Medium Fast experience group is the only group not to have either the highest or the lowest total experience requirement at any level, being bounded by the Slow and Fast functions. The Medium Slow group is the only one to have both the highest and the lowest total experience requirement in at least one level before level 50.