Why does Smogon recommend 252 HP EVs instead of 252 Speed EVs for Archen?

Jan. 31, 2021

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

Also what item and moves did you put on the Archen? I’m pretty sure the recommended spreads are based on the moves.commented 1 hour ago by sumwun

What sumwun tells is true. I tested it on the teambuilder, and it worked this way:

I tested it again using an offensive set. Then, it showed:

Thus, we may conclude that Smogon recommended 252 HP EVs instead of Spe EVs, due to your set and item most likely defensive instead of offensive.

Hope this helps!

This is the most likely option. I looked at Archens stats, and it has amazing attack for a pre-evolved form. But it is very, very frail. So you need to have it sweep as much as it can before getting knocked out. And it’s speed is exceptional for a pre-evolved form as well, so I bet that he put the EVs into HP to make it less frail, because it already has ok speed. However, in my opinion, those EVs should be devoted to speed, or at least split up between the 2.

Hope I helped!