Experience gain in battle
The amount of experience that a Pokémon gives when it is defeated depends on its level and its species. The higher the level of the defeated Pokémon, the more experience points it yields. However, numerous factors can influence how much experience any individual Pokémon actually gains.
Any Pokémon that is sent into battle against an opponent will receive experience points when that opponent is defeated, provided the Pokémon is not fainted. Prior to
Generation VI, if only one Pokémon participates in battle, it will gain "full" experience points, but if more than one Pokémon participate in battle, each Pokémon will be allotted an even portion of the full experience. In Generation VI, however, this was changed so that all Pokémon that participate in battle receive "full" experience.
The
Exp. All and Exp. Share are ways for a Pokémon that does not directly participate in a battle to still gain experience from it. Prior to Generation VI, it also affects how much experience the direct participants are allotted.
- In Generation VI: if Exp. Share is turned on, any Pokémon that did not participate in battle will receive half of the "full" experience.
- From Generations II to V: if a Pokémon in the player's party is holding an Exp. Share, the Pokémon that participated directly in the battle will receive half of the experience they normally would have, and any Pokémon that were holding Exp. Share will be allotted an even portion (depending on how many are holding an Exp. Share) of 50% of the "full" experience. If a Pokémon both participated in the battle and held Exp. Share, it will receive two separate messages awarding its share of experience from each of those allotments.
- In Generation I: if Exp. All is in the Bag, the Pokémon that participated directly in the battle will receive half of the experience they normally would have, and every Pokémon in the player's party also receives experience equal to the amount that a battling Pokémon received (before any bonuses) divided by the number of Pokémon in the player's party (this method of calculation appears to be an error).
In Generations V, VII, and VIII, the amount of experience a Pokémon gains is also scaled depending on how its level compares to the opponent's: the higher a defeated opponent's level is compared to the "winner", the more experience points the winner will gain.
If multiple opponents are knocked out by the same move:
- From Generations III to V, the experience is gained separately for each Pokémon that was knocked out, in sequence. In Generation V (where the experience gained depends on the recipient's level), if gaining experience from the first fainted Pokémon causes the player's Pokémon to gain one or more levels, subsequent experience gains are calculated using that increased level (i.e. award less experience than they would have if awarded first).
- From Generation VI onward, the experience is gained for all Pokémon at the same time. In Generation VII and VIII (where the experience gained depends on the recipient's level), this means that experience gained is based on the user's level before gaining any of the experience.
Various other factors may boost the amount of experience a Pokémon receives. These factors include:
- If the Pokémon is an outsider (was traded); furthermore, in Generation IV onward, it gains even more EXP if it is additionally from a different language game
- If the battle is a Trainer battle (Gen I-Gen VI)
- If the Pokémon is holding a Lucky Egg (Gen II+)
- If the Pokémon has high enough Affection (Gen VI-USUM)/friendship (PE onward)
- If a positive Exp. Point Power (Pass Power [Gen V], O-Power [Gen VI], Rotom Power [Gen VII], Exp. Charm [SwSh]) is active
- If the Pokémon is at or past the level where it would be able to evolve but has not (Gen VI+)
The only negative factor that may affect experience gain is a negative Exp. Point Power from the
Entralink in Generation V.
From
Generation VI onward, experience is also obtained by
catching a
wild Pokémon.
