With so many different Pokemon to test for competitive formats, some plays resort to hacks to spend less time rising, more time battling. This has the Pokemon community split.

Obviously, Pokemon hack methods go against Pokemon Company’s terms of service. Using hacked Pokemon in tournaments runs the risk of being disqualified. A fate that many a player was subjected to at Pokemon’s Worlds. Some players even found themselves under bans for Pokemon in their other boxes being hacked. Another was handed a game loss for referencing the most popular Pokemon hack client: PKHeX.

PKHex is How Most People Hack Pokemon

Source: Project Pokemon Forums

PKHeX, the C# based Pokemon save editor is how most people get their hacked Pokemon. Pokemon made in PKHeX can be generated to have perfect IV and EV values, natures and other helpful stats at the exact level needed to get to practicing. These Pokemon can then immediately be used for battle and trade, and to many, would be indistinguishable from legitimate Pokemon.

Why Do People Hack Pokemon?

The main reason, and the reason that allegedly many pros turn to this option for their played teams or at least practice teams, is time.

Raising a Pokemon takes time, especially with correct EVS and IVS. Some trainers raise hundreds of Pokemon chasing down the correct stat line. Sometimes, just a single point in one stat can be the difference between victory and defeat. The less time spent doing this, and the more time spent practicing and making adjustments to teams, likely leads to better results. Some content creators dedicate their time to showing how much a chore raising championship winning teams can be, and even then, they have optimizations.

Legit practice online?

Pokemon Showdown is an unofficial battle simulator. Separate from the game, players can fine tune their Pokemon teams there with generated Pokemon. It’s one of the best ways to practice. It is speedy, with short animations, and doesn’t require a copy of the game. Players using this instead of the official in-game ladder can often practice matches with teams while raising their legitimate Pokemon in game.