Experience points, abbreviated Exp. Points in the games, is how much experience a Pokémon has. When you make a foe's Pokémon faint, all of the Pokémon who didn't faint, and participated in the battle will split the Exp. Exp. can also be gained training on wild Pokémon. However, until Generation VI, one was unable to gain any Exp. when a wild Pokémon was caught.
The stronger the fainted Pokémon, the more Exp. will be earned. The higher level a Pokémon, the more Exp. it needs to level up.
Experience points types are: Erratic (600,000), Fast (800,000), Medium Fast (1,000,000), Medium Slow (1,059,860), Slow (1,250,000) and Fluctuating (1,640,000).
If Exp. Share is enabled (Generation VI onward) or a Pokémon in the team holds an Exp. Share (before Generation VI), it will gain Exp. even if it doesn't participate in a battle. A popular strategy, when you don't have an Exp. Share, is to put a weak, or low level Pokémon at the front of your party, and then as soon as the battle begins, switch it out. The Pokémon will gain Exp. even though it didn't attack. Since it was in battle for a turn, it counts as participating. It will have to split Exp. with the Pokémon that did the real work though. It is also preferable to have at least one Revive or other revival item in the bag, so that the weak or low-level Pokémon can be revived if the opponent hits with Pursuit. In Generation VI, if the Exp. Share is turned on, all party Pokémon receive experience points, even if they do not participate in battle; however, they can still gain more experience points if they participate in battle. Specifically, the Exp. gain is halved for those that did not participate while those that did participate get the full amount.
If an Exp. Charm is present in the player's bag, the amount of Exp. Points the player's Pokémon earn will be larger.
In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon (series)[]
In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, Pokémon can be classified by experience growth as in the core series. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness and Sky, the majority of Pokémon have the same experience growth rate as Bulbasaur, with each level's requirement multiplied by a constant factor. Unlike in the core series, there is a wide diversity of constant factors that are used, but like in the core series, Pokémon that are related by evolution (such as Bulbasaur and Venusaur) have identical growth rates (the constant factor is exactly one). This also applies to Pokémon that are branched evolutions, such as the Eeveelutions, as well as Vileplume and Bellossom. Mesprit and Azelf also have identical growth rates, but oddly enough, Uxie has a distinct growth rate.
For example, at any given level, the Charmander line requires 1.0360948 times the number of experience points the Bulbasaur line requires at the same level, rounded to the nearest integer; for example, Charmander needs 1773 and 39,919 experience points to reach Levels 10 and 20, respectively, compared to Bulbasaur's 1711 and 38,528, respectively. [1]
All Pokémon related by evolution have the same leveling rate, with the following exceptions:
- Pidgeot and Pidgeotto have distinct leveling rates.
- Magikarp and Gyarados have distinct leveling rates.
- Although Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, and Glaceon have identical leveling rates, their base form, Eevee, has its own leveling rate. Specifically, all seven evolved forms require 1.029559 times the EXP that Eevee needs.
- Mantyke and Mantine have distinct leveling rates.
- Corphish and Crawdaunt have distinct leveling rates.
- Combee and Vespiquen have distinct leveling rates.
- Murkrow and Honchkrow have distinct leveling rates.
- Although Togepi and Togetic have identical leveling rates, Togekiss has a distinct leveling rate.
- Nosepass and Probopass have distinct leveling rates.
If a Pokémon evolves at Luminous Spring, its EXP will be adjusted to the EXP requirement for the new species, even if it differs from the old species. For example, a Magikarp that is evolved at Level 20 using the Luminous Spring will have exactly 34,806 experience points (Gyarados's EXP requirement) after evolution instead of 25,194 (Magikarp's requirement).