The world of Pokémon battling has grown increasingly complex since the days of Generation 1. Mechanics like abilities and held items have added to the depth of gameplay. Generational mechanics like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamaxing, and Terastallizing result in additional changes with each new set of games.
Since Generation 3, all monsters that trainers can catch in the wild have had a specific trait known as their nature. This determines their capabilities in battle, giving trainers the opportunity to optimize their battle strategies with a bit of hunting. Here’s an overview of all of the Pokémon natures and the stat changes of every nature.
How natures work in Pokémon games
The purpose of natures in Pokémon games is to slightly adjust the values of two of the affected Pokémon’s stats. While natures never change HP, they can cause adjustments to the Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed stats.
Ultimately, all natures operate as a trade-off. Every Pokémon receives a 10% boost to one of its stats and a 10% nerf to another. The monster’s nature determines which of its five stats will be affected. As a result, players will want to look for specific natures, since they will want to increase their team members’ important stats while dropping stats that aren’t important to each team member’s game plan.
It is worth noting that there are five neutral natures that cause neither a stat buff nor a stat drop. Basically, these natures exist because they both raise and lower the same stat at once, resulting in a net neutral outcome. As a result, these tend to be the safest natures a trainer can hope for when hunting for wild Pokémon to use in a regular playthrough.
Stat changes of every nature
Here are the names of all of the Pokémon natures and what stats they change:
- Hardy – plus Attack, minus Attack (neutral)
- Lonely – plus Attack, minus Defense
- Adamant – plus Attack, minus Special Attack
- Naughty – plus Attack, minus Special Defense
- Brave – plus Attack, minus Speed
- Bold – plus Defense, minus Attack
- Docile – plus Defense, minus Defense (neutral)
- Impish – plus Defense, minus Special Attack
- Lax – plus Defense, minus Special Defense
- Relaxed – plus Defense, minus Speed
- Modest – plus Special Attack, minus Attack
- Mild – plus Special Attack, minus Defense
- Bashful – plus Special Attack, minus Special Attack (neutral)
- Rash – plus Special Attack, minus Special Defense
- Quiet – plus Special Attack, minus Speed
- Calm – plus Special Defense, minus Attack
- Gentle – plus Special Defense, minus Defense
- Careful – plus Special Defense, minus Special Attack
- Quirky – plus Special Defense, minus Special Defense (neutral)
- Sassy – plus Special Defense, minus Speed
- Timid – plus Speed, minus Attack
- Hasty – plus Speed, minus Defense
- Jolly – plus Speed, minus Special Attack
- Naive – plus Speed, minus Special Defense
- Serious – plus Speed, minus Speed (neutral)
Related: Read about natures and their effect in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet on Prima Games.
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