CP or IV's... what do you evolve? Dilemma when it takes a long time to get the candies you need.
Just a general question here because I'm always torn between what to evolve - the higher CP, or those with better IVs, especially as most things are pretty hard to come by for me e.g. Growlithe, Eggs, Rhyhorn, ....apart from the normal stuff and Eevee's... drowning in the damn things :) ..... for example I've got a 93% IV Rhyhorn but it's only 293... just caught a 1037 one but it's <50%. It's gonna take me a shed load of stardust / candies to get the 93% one higher ... what is your approach?
Answers
I never caught a 100%, but if < lvl 10, transfer...only need so many mons really and with hatches, anything < 20 is prob not worth it...
If high level, I evolve those more now...
If those 3 above are super rare, then you might want to evolve it, but personally, I don't bother...anything higher level is instantly usable assuming moveset and if not, have others that are serviceble too.
Also, evolving may lead you to bad moves so I tend to only do this when i already got a usable higher level one.
Personally, my quick answer is that I care more about CP.
The longer answer is that it's a complex calculation: the rarer the pokemon and the longer it takes to walk for buddy candies (5km vs. 3km), the more likely I am to choose the high CP/low IV one to evolve. That said, I usually choose a balance - I'll take the 70% IV 900 CP Rhyhorn, rather than a 90% 500 CP or 50% 1100 CP option. Also, it matters whether the pokemon will be a good attacker or defender, or whether if it's just to complete a pokedex entry (for the former I'll go with high CP/low IV choice, whereas for the latter I'll go for low CP/high IV).
Evolving CP is much more stardust friendly. That being said I'm still going for IV, even though it's probably not the smartest thing to do.
I have powered up a 700 CP 93% Exeggutor over a 1900 78% Exeggutor with the same moveset. It's probably really stupid, but that's how I need to play the game to keep it fun for me.
If it's rare and has high base stats I don't worry too much about the IVs. If t's common I'll wait for something decent (80%+ is good enough for me). If it's got really high cp and will be usable without powering up e.g. 800cp Evees, providing they are above 50% IVs I'll just evolve and use as is.
Somewhere along the line there's a point where it's moderately uncommon fairly high cps and I'll settle for 70% IVs :-)
IVs matter most for gym defenders. At level 30+, the difference between 0% and 100% IVs is a range of about 300cp for most pokemon. That can be a big difference for gym placement.
If I am evolving a pokemon that can be a good defender, then I look for pokemon in the 82%+ IV appraisal range. If I get a defensive moveset, then it will be worth spending dust to power up. If I get an offensive moveset, and it is less than about 1600cp then I will probably leave it for training.
By the time I find a good IV pokemon, I usually have enough candy to evolve it. ... At least before Halloween.
After the Halloween event, I have an overabundance of a lot of common candies so I have also been evolving pokemon close to max level with 66%+ IVs.
Also on the topic of training, when evolving two stage pokemon, like Venusaur or Blastoise, if the first evolution gets a strong offensive moveset, like Vine Whip+Solar Beam or Water Gun+Hydro Pump, then I will leave it there and use it for training.
It depends on your goal of playing the game. If you are looking to compete better in the short term go for the better CP. If you are looking to the long term then it's a no brainer to go with the better IV and the ideal move sets. Although it's more expensive you can eventually get more stardust and there is no limit on how much stardust you can collect. However, once you power up a low IV mon you can never improve it's IVs, ever.
