Do individual values (IVs) really matter at lower levels?

Obviously at some point having Pokémon with higher IVs will matter, but until then does it really make that much difference?

At some point we'll all have too much stardust and candies to know what to do with, at which point we can power up all the Pokémon to maximum level. At the moment, however, stardust and candies are a limited commodity. At lower levels, when stardust and candies are scarce. Does it make sense to evolve higher CP Pokémon, even if they have lower IVs?

As an example. I'm currently level 24. I have enough candies to evolve a Jigglypuff, and two Jigglypuffs to choose from. The first has 494 CP, 144 HP, is level 22, and is 55.6% perfect. The other has 268 CP, 107 HP, is level 11, and is 77.8% perfect.

I'm assuming that as I continue to play, I'll earn more Jigglypuff candies (especially with the Buddy System). So I'll be able to evolve more Jigglypuffs in the future (possibly even a 100% perfect one). Is it worth it to evolve a higher level, less perfect Pokémon now?

Solution 1:

The IV total doesn't matter at all at lower levels. The only things IVs actually influence is the Pokemon's maximum CP. As such, unless you're powering the Pokemon up as much as possible whenever you level up, IVs make no difference at all. Higher CP means the Pokemon is better, and the Pokemon's level has a much higher impact than the IVs.

One thing to keep in mind is the stat distribution. A Pokemon with 15/0/0 has rather bad IVs, but its attack will be maxed out for its respective level, so if you have 2 Pokemon with the same CP, but one has a better attack IV, that one will do more damage while also taking more damage and/or having lower HP.

While it's certainly a matter of personal preference which Pokemon you'd rather evolve, both have clear dis-/advantages:

• Evolving the higher level, lower IV Pokemon means you'll spend fewer Candies and Stardust to get a specific CP total.
• Evolving the lower-level, higher IV Pokemon means you will have to spend significantly more Candies and Stardust to get it to the same CP as the other one, but if you go for maximum level (which is you Trainer level + 1.5), it will have a higher final CP.

Assuming you barely have enough candies to evolve your Jigglypuff (otherwise you could simply evolve both), it's likely you won't even be able to fully power up the lower level one, meaning you'll end up at a lower CP overall if you go for that one. It's thus the better choice to evolve the higher level one now and keep the higher IV one for the future (until you get one with even better IVs), when you might have an abundance of Jigglypuff candies.