About Comparison Battles

Comparison Battles are a premium feature in PVP IV. They allow you to enter two Pokemon then have both Pokemon battle against a selected meta (e.g. Great League or a Premier Cup). Any battles where the outcome (win, loss, tie/random) is different between the two Pokemon are shown as either a “Better Matchup” or “Worse Matchup” for the first Pokemon. You can tap on any row or outcome to see the corresponding 1 vs 1 battle.

Each row in the results shows two outcomes; the one on the left is for the first Pokemon in the comparison and the one on the right is for the second. Unlike 1 vs All battles, lag turns are not considered in these outcomes. The outcomes are:

• Win (green plus)
• Tie or random/bait-dependent (white circle)
• Loss (red minus)

Breakpoints & Bulkpoints

If both of the Pokemon being compared are the same species and have the same fast move, differences in breakpoints and bulkpoints are shown below the differences in matchups.

• A different breakpoint means that one Pokemon does more fast move damage than the other to an opponent, because of its IVs.
  • In this case, higher damage is better.
• A different bulkpoint means that one Pokemon receives more fast move damage from an opponent, because of its IVs.
  • In this case, lower damage is better.

While it’s often the case that a different breakpoint or bulkpoint corresponds to a different outcome of a matchup, this isn’t always true. Checking for different breakpoints doesn’t remove the need to check for different matchups, or vice versa. Both matchups and breakpoints are good starting points for investigating how different IVs affect a Pokemon’s performance. Here are some sample scenarios to demonstrate this:

• A breakpoint/bulkpoint is different but it doesn’t change the outcome of the match.
  • For example, in ML, Giratina Altered takes 21 damage from Togekiss Charm if it has 14 defense, but only 20 damage if it has 15 defense. However, Giratina still faints after the same number of Charms either way, so it does the same amount of damage to Togekiss either way.
    • Note that in some cases, it still may be preferable for Giratina to take less damage, since if Togekiss starts with a damage/energy disadvantage, the outcome of the match may still be affected.
    • On the flip side, it may theoretically be preferable to take more damage in some cases, for example by limiting how much Togekiss can farm down a damaged Giratina that’s close to fainting.
    • In this case, I would be aware of the difference, but would probably still power up a 15/14/15 Giratina despite this missed bulkpoint.
• A breakpoint/bulkpoint is different but only changes the outcome of an uneven shielding scenario, which isn’t shown in the matchup comparison.
  • For example, Kyogre with 14 attack misses a breakpoint against Swampert, which makes it lose the 1 vs 2 shield.
• A matchup is swung by differences in HP and charge move damage, even though the breakpoints and bulkpoints are the same.
  • For example, 15/14/15 Groudon loses against Landorus Incarnate in the 1 shield while 15/15/15 wins (bait-dependent). However, this is because Landorus does more damage to the former with its charge move, not its fast move.
• A 1 vs 1 matchup isn’t affected, but the damage dealt in the larger context of a game might be.
  • For example, Groudon with 0 attack has a guaranteed win vs Melmetal, just as Groudon with 15 attack does. However, it does 5 damage with Mud Shot rather than 6. If it loses to Melmetal because it started out damaged, it will leave the Melmetal with more HP than a perfect Groudon would.

Unlike differences in matchups, which are often close and can swing depending on the opponent’s energy/HP/IVs/move selection/etc anyway, breakpoints and bulkpoints are very stable. They apply whenever a fast move is used, although they’re not always relevant to the outcome of a match.

Suggested Uses

These battles have many uses. For example, they’re used on the IV Ranker tab to show how many matchups are different between your IVs and the Rank 1 IVs. Often, lower-ranked IVs can win some matchups the Rank 1 IVs can’t because they tend to have higher attack. However, Rank 1 IVs usually still win more matchups overall.

Here are some other ways you might use comparison battles:

• Compare two different movesets on the same Pokemon.
• Compare a regular Pokemon with its shadow form.
• Compare a best buddied Pokemon with the non-best buddy equivalent.
• Compare two Pokemon that fill similar roles (e.g. Giratina-A vs Giratina-O).
• Compare optimized charge move timing with non-optimized timing.
• Compare how differences in initial damage/energy impact overall matchups.
• Anything else you can think of!

I hope you enjoy this feature in PVP IV, and thanks for being a pro subscriber! As always, you can contact me if you have any questions. Cheers!