Your team leader will tell you all about your Pokemon's fighting qualities.
Alina Bradford/CNETPokemon Go has finally gotten another update and those elusive team leaders finally have a job after a couple months of rumors and hopeful wishing from players.
Team leaders now teach players about a Pokemon's attack and defense capabilities. Niantic calls this new ability a "Pokemon appraisal." Luckily, you don't need to find a gym to speak with your team leader.
How to get your appraisal
Go to your Pokemon screen and tap on the one you would like to know more about. Tap the round button in the lower right-hand of the screen to open the menu. Instead of trading the Pokemon in for candy, tap the Appraise option.
Your team leader -- Candela, Blanche or Spark -- will pop up on the screen and will ask if you want to know more about the Pokemon.
Tap the screen. After reading the text, tap the screen again to continue the conversation. Your team leader will tell you the Pokemon's strengths and weaknesses through various screens. They hint at the creature's hidden individual values (IVs), underlying stats that govern how powerful the Pokemon can become.
The team leaders will also tell you if your Pokemon is large or on the puny side. Some believe that heavier Pokemon hit harder while smaller Pokemon dodge better, though this hasn't been confirmed by Niantic. There are some achievements for capturing small Pokemon, so knowing the size can be helpful.
Decoding the appraisal
What the team leaders say can be somewhat vague, though. GamePress thinks they broke the code. They posted a list of all the comments a leader may say and the Individual Value (IV) that relates to the comment.
Here are a few examples in the video:
Do your own Individual Value (IV) appraisal
There are several calculators out there that allow you to figure out the strength of your Pokemon IV yourself. Some of the better calculators are Poke Assistant, Go Hub or PokeFind. All you need to do is put the Hit Points (HP) and other stats you find when you tap on your Pokemon into the calculator. The calculator does the rest of the work for you.
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