• Since the first Pokemon games came out in 1996, players have enjoyed collecting and battling. But with so many hidden stats determining the outcome of every battle, Pokemon can be a difficult game to master. Arguably the most important stats are evasion and accuracy. With a high enough evasion, even the most disadvantaged Pokemon can still manage a victory.
  
  

Beginning of a Battle

• Unlike most stats such as strength or special, the ability to dodge is not monitored by a concrete statistic that raises each level. Rather dodging attacks are based on the constantly resetting stats of evasion and accuracy. The evasion and accuracy of both your Pokemon and your opponent's will be at 0 at the beginning of every battle. That means that every move has an equal chance of landing regardless of where it's directed or what Pokemon used it at a battle's start. However, once the battle is under way, both accuracy and evasion can be either buffed or weakened to six levels above or below the initial 0 for a total of 13 levels of both.
  
  

Improving Evasion

• To improve your chance of dodging attacks, you must use items or abilities that will keep your Pokemon's evade stat higher than your enemy's accuracy stat. Some Pokemon have abilities that boost evasion (such as double team) while others lower the enemy's evasion (such as sweet scent). Another way of improving your evasion is with items such as lax incense. Some abilities and items are more effective at raising your evasion than others.
  
  

Reducing Accuracy

• Another effective way to dodge attacks is to reduce your opponent's accuracy. As with boosting your evasion, reducing an enemy's accuracy is possible with various abilities. Different abilities are more effective in reducing an enemy's accuracy than others. However, there are no items that can reduce an opponent's accuracy.
  
  

Goal

• Ultimately, you want to have a higher evasion than your opponent's accuracy. Even if your evasion is at the maximum level, if your opponent's accuracy is equal, your likelihood of being hit with an attack is the same as if the battle had just started. You must work to both boost your evasion as you reduce an opponent's accuracy. Also note that if you switch Pokemon, any boosts you've placed will not apply to your new Pokemon, although your Pokemon's boosts will not disappear should you decide to cycle it back into the fight. The same applies for your enemy's reductions. All Pokemon games from the original Red and Blue for the GameBoy all the way to the latest releases operate on the same system, so these tips apply for any edition of Pokemon you own.