What Are SVs in Temtem, Are They Significant, and Which Are the Most Important?

Being a creature collector, a lot of the systems within Temtem aren't properly explained — in large part due to the assumption from the community that players will know everything due to Pokémon. To avoid scarcity of knowledge, I wanted to write a little bit about SVs, and whether they're vital for you to keep in mind.

What Are SVs?

SV is short for Single Values, and it's a set of seven stats that every Temtem will have that defines how "good" they naturally are. Ranging from 1–50, these dictate a natural stat that your Temtem gets and gives you a good idea of how strong your Temtem is; the higher each value is, the better.

If you were to capture two Temtem of the same species, it is improbable (one in 781,250,000,000, to be exact) that these two will have the same SVs. SVs affect a Temtem's:

• Health Points (HP)
• Stamina (STA)
• Speed (SPD)
• Attack (ATK)
• Defence (DEF)
• Special Attack (SPATK)
• Special Defence (SPDEF)

Are they important?

Competitively, SVs are a massive boost of power that ensure you are doing as much damage and receiving as little as possible in every fight, and it is undeniable that they are imperative. Outside of competitive play, it really depends on whether you like your Temtem performing well in combat, but I'd be inclined to say yes.

Although it isn't crucial that you demolish every random encounter and trainer that crosses your path, having a Temtem faint continuously due to lack of defence is cumbersome at best, having low ATK and SPATK can make fights feel extended far beyond their welcome, and having a low amount of STA can be frustrating whenever you want to cast your favourite strong ability. I personally really enjoy watching my favourite Temtem perform well in combat and having them carry a battle that is otherwise perilous, and having low SVs simply makes that impossible; the difference between a low SV Temtem vs a high one is far too large to disregard.

Which Are the Most Important?

Having seven SVs, surely not all of them are imperative whenever talking about random encounters as you try to complete the main campaign, and I'd argue you're right. Although defensive stats are critical for competitive battles (HP, DEF, and SPDEF), foes often won't cast their most potent abilities, and you can get away with having some of these lower. Likewise, while it'll lead to healing your Temtem due to constantly receiving blows, you can compromise on SPD to ensure that the other three stats (STA, ATK, and SPATK) have a more significant boost to your battles. Most notably, STA is one of the most influential stats that a Temtem can have, as it'll allow you to consistently dish out your most devastating abilities without having to overexert your Temtem or rest until you can do it again.

Having these three at a green level is sufficient, but it's still unlikely you'll get the exact combination you'll want. Additionally, you don't often need both ATK and SPATK to be high, as most Temtem will focus on one type of strength; very few have enough abilities in their kit that benefit from both to justify having them high. Finding which type your Temtem benefits from is simple, as all you'll have to do is check their abilities and see whether they have the ATK symbol (a five-pointed star) or the SPATK symbol (a rose-looking mark), indicating which stat they benefit from.

In verdict: you never want to skimp out on STA, as it essentially works as your resource to cast your strongest abilities. Having only STA and the most important of the two attack functions for your Temtem (ATK or SPATK) will suffice, though the more greens you can have, the better.

How to tell which attack stat to focus on?

If you're unhappy going out of your way to search on Temtem's official wiki featuring all of the characters, your best bet will be looking at your Temtem's natural stats. Aside from their SVs and TVs, every Temtem has a set base of stats that they have from the get-go, and these will often facilitate knowing what kind of ability they use. Checking on your Squad and clicking on your Temtem, you can see the first set of numbers (the ones in white) are their base stats going up incrementally per level. If your Temtem has a higher ATK than SPATK, it's safe to say that most of their abilities are ATK.

 

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Now you're an SV expert! Make sure you check out any Temtem you might have caught before to ensure that they have appropriate SVs, and, if not, consider re-catching them — I know I have to go and get a new Saipat...