Every Pokémon has one of 25 Natures. A Nature raises one stat by 10% and lowers a different one by 10%, and HP is never touched. Five Natures are neutral and change nothing.
Natures came in with Generation 3 (Ruby and Sapphire). The full chart is below, followed by what a Nature is worth in real numbers and the ways to control one.
The Natures chart
Read the row for the stat a Nature raises and the column for the stat it lowers. The bold names are the 20 Natures that change something; the five neutral ones sit on the diagonal.
| Raises ↓ / Lowers → | Attack | Defense | Sp. Atk | Sp. Def | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +Attack | Hardy (neutral) | Lonely | Adamant | Naughty | Brave |
| +Defense | Bold | Docile (neutral) | Impish | Lax | Relaxed |
| +Sp. Atk | Modest | Mild | Serious (neutral) | Rash | Quiet |
| +Sp. Def | Calm | Gentle | Careful | Bashful (neutral) | Sassy |
| +Speed | Timid | Hasty | Jolly | Naive | Quirky (neutral) |
The neutral Natures are Hardy, Docile, Serious, Bashful and Quirky. They raise and lower the same stat, so the changes cancel, and they have no flavour preference.
All 25 Natures with flavours
Each Nature also has a liked and a disliked flavour. The liked flavour always matches the stat the Nature raises, and the disliked one matches the stat it lowers.
| Nature | Raises | Lowers | Likes | Dislikes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adamant | Attack | Sp. Atk | Spicy | Dry |
| Bashful | – | – | – | – |
| Bold | Defense | Attack | Sour | Spicy |
| Brave | Attack | Speed | Spicy | Sweet |
| Calm | Sp. Def | Attack | Bitter | Spicy |
| Careful | Sp. Def | Sp. Atk | Bitter | Dry |
| Docile | – | – | – | – |
| Gentle | Sp. Def | Defense | Bitter | Sour |
| Hardy | – | – | – | – |
| Hasty | Speed | Defense | Sweet | Sour |
| Impish | Defense | Sp. Atk | Sour | Dry |
| Jolly | Speed | Sp. Atk | Sweet | Dry |
| Lax | Defense | Sp. Def | Sour | Bitter |
| Lonely | Attack | Defense | Spicy | Sour |
| Mild | Sp. Atk | Defense | Dry | Sour |
| Modest | Sp. Atk | Attack | Dry | Spicy |
| Naive | Speed | Sp. Def | Sweet | Bitter |
| Naughty | Attack | Sp. Def | Spicy | Bitter |
| Quiet | Sp. Atk | Speed | Dry | Sweet |
| Quirky | – | – | – | – |
| Rash | Sp. Atk | Sp. Def | Dry | Bitter |
| Relaxed | Defense | Speed | Sour | Sweet |
| Sassy | Sp. Def | Speed | Bitter | Sweet |
| Serious | – | – | – | – |
| Timid | Speed | Attack | Sweet | Spicy |
The five flavours map to stats like this: Spicy is Attack, Dry is Special Attack, Sweet is Speed, Bitter is Special Defense and Sour is Defense. A dash means the neutral Natures have no flavours. Since HeartGold and SoulSilver, the summary screen shows the raised stat in red and the lowered one in blue.
Natures by the stat they raise
Four Natures raise each stat. Attack is raised by Lonely, Adamant, Naughty and Brave. Defense is raised by Bold, Impish, Lax and Relaxed. Special Attack is raised by Modest, Mild, Rash and Quiet. Special Defense is raised by Calm, Gentle, Careful and Sassy. Speed is raised by Timid, Hasty, Jolly and Naive.
Within each group, the Nature differs only in which stat it lowers. Adamant and Modest, for example, both lower the opposite attacking stat: Adamant lowers Special Attack and Modest lowers Attack. A Pokémon that only uses physical moves loses nothing from Adamant's drop, while one that uses special moves wants the opposite. Check the lowered stat before you pick.
What 10% looks like
The table shows Garchomp at level 50 with 31 IVs and 252 EVs in Attack and Speed. Only the Nature changes between rows.
| Garchomp at level 50 (31 IVs, 252 EVs in Attack and Speed) | Attack | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Neutral Nature (Hardy) | 182 | 154 |
| Adamant (+Attack, −Sp. Atk) | 200 | 154 |
| Jolly (+Speed, −Sp. Atk) | 182 | 169 |
| Brave (+Attack, −Speed) | 200 | 138 |
Adamant adds 18 Attack over a neutral Nature. Jolly adds 15 Speed. Brave gets the same 200 Attack as Adamant but drops Speed from 154 to 138. For how stats are built from base stats, IVs and EVs, see base stats explained and the stats, IVs, EVs and Natures guide. The site's own Natures page has the same data in one place.
How to get the Nature you want
Three methods matter, and which ones you can use depends on the game.
Synchronize is an Ability. From Emerald, a lead Pokémon with Synchronize gives wild Pokémon a 50% chance of having its Nature. In Sword and Shield it's guaranteed. In Scarlet and Violet, Synchronize no longer affects the Nature of wild Pokémon, so don't plan around it there.
Breeding works with an Everstone. In Emerald, a Ditto or a mother holding one has a 50% chance of passing its Nature on. From HeartGold and SoulSilver a father can pass it too, and from Black 2 and White 2 onwards the Everstone parent always passes its Nature. See the breeding guide for the rest of the process.
Mints, from Generation 8, change which stats the Nature affects. The Nature on the summary screen and the flavours stay the same, and so does what the Pokémon passes on in breeding.
Toxel is a special case, and a reason to check the real Nature before using a Mint. It evolves into Amped Toxtricity if its Nature is Hardy, Brave, Adamant, Naughty, Docile, Impish, Lax, Hasty, Jolly, Naive, Rash, Sassy or Quirky, and into Low Key Toxtricity otherwise. Mints do not change that. Look at the Nature before you evolve Toxel into Toxtricity.
Where to look next
Natures pair with the other parts of a Pokémon's build. Abilities explained covers the other trait every Pokémon has. For Speed, which Natures like Jolly and Timid raise, the fastest Pokémon ranks every species by base Speed.