Natures Are Free Now: With IVs Locked at 31, the Only Question Is "What Does This One Need?"

BASIC — Hook: You're standing on the nature screen. What are you actually deciding?

You open a Pokémon in the builder, the nature field pops up — and this is not a form to fill in. This is the in-battle read this lesson sharpens: for this one Pokémon, do I want it a speed tier faster so I move first, or do I give up that speed for more bulk or more damage?

In older games that decision was heavy, because getting it wrong meant breeding a brand-new egg — hours gone. So people guessed, then never touched it again. Now that Champions has cut the cost of changing a nature to almost nothing, the decision actually matters more — because you can, and should, tune it against the specific opponent you're trying to beat.

BASIC — Core: the smallest correct model

Two facts you can use immediately:

1. Every Pokémon has all six IVs permanently locked at 31 (the max). No breeding, no IV checking, no Hyper Training. The one you recruit today has the same stat ceiling as one a tournament player has run for three months.
2. A nature shifts one stat +10% and another −10%, changed any time from the menu for a small in-game cost. Moves work the same way. Pick wrong, change it back, no penalty.

So preparing a Pokémon — once a long chore — comes down to two things now: Stat Points allocation (last lesson) and the held item. The nature isn't "locked for life" anymore. It's a reversible dial.

INTERMEDIATE — Worked → Faded: turn that 10% into real numbers

"+10%" means nothing until you run a real one.

Worked example — Garchomp, base Speed 102, Lv 50, IVs locked at 31, Speed maxed (32 Stat Points):

• Neutral nature: Speed 154
• Speed-boosting nature (e.g. Jolly): Speed 169
• Speed-lowering nature: Speed 138

That's a 15-point Speed swing between boosting and neutral. And 15 points isn't abstract — it decides who outruns whom. Look next door: Salamence, base Speed 100, boosting and maxed = 167.

Here's the moment that matters:

• Your Garchomp with a boosting nature → 169 beats that boosting Salamence's 167. You move first.
• Your Garchomp with a neutral nature → 154 gets outrun by the same 167 Salamence. You move second and eat the hit.

Same Garchomp, only the nature changed, and who-moves-first completely flips. And in Champions that switch is free and reversible.

Your turn (faded) — take Hydreigon, base Speed 98. Boosting + maxed lands at 165, neutral + maxed at 150. Ask yourself: in your meta, is there a key opponent sitting in the 151–165 band? If yes, the boosting nature exists for exactly that. If everything you want to outspeed is already under 150, those 15 points are wasted — spend the 10% elsewhere. Work that out before you touch the nature field.

INTERMEDIATE — When / Decision: when to actually move the dial

Read it as if-then:

• If a specific opponent sits between "your neutral Speed" and "your boosted Speed," then run the boosting nature to grab the jump on that one threat.
• If everything you want to outrun is already slower than you, or so fast that even boosting can't catch it, then that 10% in Speed is wasted — flip the nature into offense or bulk instead.
• If this one is a slow attacker that doesn't live on Speed (say, a Trick Room piece that wants to be slow), then run a Speed-lowering nature on purpose — dump the −10% into Speed and bank the +10% on Attack.
• If the meta shifts and a new speed threat shows up, then just go back to the menu and re-pick the nature. That's the freedom Champions hands you that older games never did.

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED — Exceptions: where the simple rule breaks

1. The +10% multiplies the final stat, not the base. It's applied after your points are in. So the same boosting nature gives Dragapult (base Speed 142, boosting-maxed = 213) a far bigger absolute gain than it gives a sluggish mon. The value of a nature scales with how large that stat already is.
2. HP is never affected by any nature. No nature raises or lowers HP. Want more bulk through HP? That's Stat Points only — don't expect the nature to do it.
3. Mega Evolution changes base stats, not the nature. A Pokémon holding a Mega Stone via the Omni Ring can have a completely different Speed base after Mega. Price the nature off the post-Mega form, not the base form.
4. Physical attackers must not take an Attack-lowering nature. Putting the −10% on your main attacking stat is pure loss. Sounds obvious, but it's the exact trap people fall into while chasing a speed nature — which brings us to the autopsy.

INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED — Mistake-Autopsy: the one beginners blow

What happens: A player wants their physical Garchomp faster, grabs a Speed-boosting nature without checking what it lowers — and ends up with −Attack / +Speed. The Garchomp is faster, sure, but every Earthquake now hits 10% softer. A KO that was a clean 12/16 roll can slide into a non-KO.

Why it happens: In old games a wrong nature was catastrophic, so people learned to "pick something close enough and never touch it." That habit actively hurts you in Champions — because changing the nature is free here, there is zero reason to tolerate a −10% sitting on your main attacking stat.

The fix: Always read the −10% first, then the +10%. A physical attacker's −10% must land on Special Attack (the stat you'll never use); a special attacker's, the reverse. Confirm the drop is harmless, then confirm the boost lands where you want it. Two seconds of checking, a whole game of damage saved.

INTERMEDIATE — Predict-then-Reveal: guess before you flip

Your Garchomp (base Speed 102) is currently neutral nature, Speed 154. Across from you sits a Salamence (base Speed 100) that's Speed-maxed with a boosting nature, 167. You want to Earthquake it first.

Q: Is the neutral nature fast enough to move first? If not, what's your Speed after flipping to a boosting nature, and does it get you there?

A: Not fast enough. Neutral 154 < their 167, so you move second. Flip to a boosting nature and you're at 169, beating their 167 — you've stolen the jump back. And as long as you keep the −10% on Special Attack (which you never use), your Attack loses nothing. That's the real point of "natures are free": it's not about saving time, it's that you can precision-grab a speed tier against one specific opponent — and re-flip it when the meta moves.

ADVANCED — Now-Do-This: run it on your own team

Open the builder, pick a key attacker on your team, and walk these four steps:

1. Set its Speed to the amount you plan to run, then note its Speed under neutral and boosting natures (roughly ±15, depending on the base stat).
2. List 3–4 opponents in your meta whose speed order actually matters to you, and check who your "neutral Speed" and "boosting Speed" each beat.
3. If an opponent lands exactly between those two numbers — run the boosting nature, and make sure the −10% sits on the attacking stat you'll never use.
4. If nobody does — flip that 10% into offense or bulk. Don't waste it on Speed.

The allocator below lets you feel exactly how Stat Points distribute and what each step buys — use it alongside the nature read above:

The muscle memory you'll walk away with: a nature isn't a form you fill once at the start. It's a dial you tune to the opponent. That's what Champions actually handed you when it zeroed out the prep grind.