Effort Values

Effort Values are once again present in Pokémon Sword & Shield and haven't really changed much. To check your EVs, you simply have two options. The first is to go to Hammerlocke and get the Effort Ribbon to see if your Pokémon have maxed out your EVs. However, if you go into a Pokémon's summary screen, go to stats and press X, it will show you your Pokémon's EVs as well as the current stats. If the second chart is dark yellow then there is still training that can be done but if it's blue, that means the stat is maxed out.

Click here for a full rundown on EVs

Training

The main way to improve EVs in the game is through battling wild Pokémon. Each Pokémon gives a certain amount of EVs so, if you go there teamed with the usual combination of PokéRus and other items and you can just farm various Pokémon to get your stat done quickly

Stat	Area	Pokémon
HP	Route 1	Skwovet
Attack	Route 2 Lakeside	Chewtle
Defense	Galar Mine/Giant's Cap	Rolycoly
Special Attack	Watchtower Ruins	Gastly
Special Defense	Route 3	Gossifleur
Speed	Route 1	Rookidee

Poké Jobs - Effort Values

There is also a special PokéJob set of jobs that is available at all times. These allow for you to send up to 10 Pokémon on a job to boost their Effort Values. This boosts each Pokémon up by 4 EVs for every hour they are on the job, but with a twist. If the Pokémon has got PokéRus or any of the Power Items attached, the points are increased accordingly.

If you put a Pokémon in for a day, then it will get +96 Effort Points. However, if it has PokéRus, this means it gets +128 Effort Points and if it has an item attached then it should max out that stat in a day. The actual value your Pokémon is boosted by is shown when the job ends

Task	Description
HP seminar in session!	We've started offering a seminar that'll increase HP base points! We're looking for students to prove its effectiveness!
Attack seminar in session!	We've started offering a seminar that'll increase Attack base points! We're looking for students to prove its effectiveness!
Defense seminar in session!	We've started offering a seminar that'll increase Defense base points! We're looking for students to prove its effectiveness!
Sp. Atk seminar in session!	We've started offering a seminar that'll increase Sp. Atk base points! We're looking for students to prove its effectiveness!
Sp. Def seminar in session!	We've started offering a seminar that'll increase Sp. Def base points! We're looking for students to prove its effectiveness!
Speed seminar in session!	We've started offering a seminar that'll increase Speed base points! We're looking for students to prove its effectiveness!

Vitamins

Another change in Pokémon Sword & Shield is the ability to use Vitamins all at once. Rather than just taking it to 100 EVs in each stat, you can use 26 Vitamins in order to get a stat from 0 to maximum with just the use of the item