Pokémon Natures: What Each Nature Changes

Pokémon Natures are one of the main ways two Pokémon of the same species can develop different stat profiles. Most Natures increase one stat by 10 percent and reduce another by 10 percent, while a small group are neutral and do not change the final stat values.

Choosing the right Nature is mostly about matching the Pokémon’s role. A fast physical attacker usually wants help with Attack or Speed, while a special attacker normally has no reason to boost its unused physical Attack.

How Pokémon Natures affect stats

Pokémon Natures Image The Pokémon Company International.

Pokémon Natures can modify Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed. HP is not raised or lowered by Nature. Of the 25 Natures, 20 increase one eligible stat and decrease another, while five effectively cancel themselves out by targeting the same stat in both directions.

In modern games the summary screen often makes the effect visible by colouring the boosted and reduced stat names differently. That gives you a quick way to check the practical effect even if you do not remember every Nature by name.

The official Pokémon training features explain that Mints can change the stat-growth effects associated with a Nature without changing the Nature recorded on the Pokémon.

Common offensive Pokémon Natures

Adamant raises Attack and lowers Special Attack, so it is a common choice for Pokémon that deal almost all of their damage with physical moves. Modest does the opposite, increasing Special Attack and lowering Attack for special attackers.

Jolly raises Speed while lowering Special Attack, which suits physical attackers that need to move first. Timid raises Speed and lowers Attack, making it one of the standard choices for fast special attackers. These four Pokémon Natures appear constantly because they boost a useful offensive stat while reducing one the build may barely use.

Defensive and mixed Natures

Defensive Pokémon Natures can be more situational. Bold raises Defense and lowers Attack, Calm raises Special Defense and lowers Attack, Impish raises Defense and lowers Special Attack, and Careful raises Special Defense while lowering Special Attack. Which one is best depends on the Pokémon’s move set and the attacks it needs to survive.

Mixed attackers can make Nature selection trickier because both offensive stats may matter. In those cases some players use a Speed-boosting Nature that lowers one defensive stat, or a neutral Nature when they do not want either attacking stat reduced. The trade-off is that a neutral Nature gives up the chance to strengthen a more valuable stat.

How Mints change Pokémon Natures in practice

Mints let you apply the stat effects of another Nature without changing the Nature recorded on the Pokémon’s summary. The official Pokémon Sword and Shield site explains that a Mint changes the stat-growth pattern while the Pokémon’s actual Nature itself remains unchanged.

That distinction matters for breeding and flavour details that read the original Nature. For battle stats, though, a Mint is an extremely convenient correction. If a rare Pokémon has the wrong Nature but everything else is good, you can usually fix the stat effect rather than hunting for another copy.

How Nature works with EVs and IVs

Pokémon Natures multiply the final affected stats after the rest of the stat calculation. That means Nature works alongside Pokémon EVs and Pokémon IVs rather than replacing either system. A strong Nature cannot compensate for completely untrained EVs if you are comparing optimised builds.

The easiest order is to decide what the Pokémon is supposed to do, choose a Nature that supports that job, check the important IVs, then train the EV spread. If a Nature is wrong, a Mint is normally much easier than rebuilding everything else.

How to choose between Pokémon Natures

Start with the move set. If every damaging move is physical, reducing Special Attack is usually painless. If every damaging move is special, reducing Attack is usually painless. If Speed decides whether the Pokémon acts before common opponents, a Speed-boosting Nature can be more valuable than a direct damage boost.

For bulky Pokémon, think about what type of damage it is expected to take. A wall designed for physical attackers may prefer Defense, while a special wall may prioritise Special Defense. Pokémon Natures are most useful when they reinforce a clear role instead of being selected because one particular name is popular.

Do you need the perfect Nature for story play?

For a normal playthrough, not really. Level, moves, type matchups and basic team balance have a much larger effect than optimising every Nature. Pokémon Natures become much more important when you are squeezing value from a finished raid build or competitive team.

If you do decide to optimise later, modern training tools make it forgiving. Mints can correct the stat effect, Hyper Training can repair important IVs, and EVs can be retrained. That makes an existing favourite Pokémon far easier to improve than it was in older generations.