You know all about stats in Temtem, and now you want to manipulate them to give your team the advantage. Base Stats are unchangeable and SVs can only be nudged, so that leaves TVs. They can be minutely controlled through careful planning of combat encounters, as well as items that directly alter them. In other words: TV training. TV training can get very complicated very quickly, so we’re only going to cover the basics here. Here’s everything you need to get started TV training in Temtem.
What is TV training?
TV training is an advanced form of training wherein a Temtem attains optimal TVs for certain stats, and no others. It’s about balancing your Tem’s 1,000 TVs to refine their combat. They’ll perform perfectly in their best stats, while their weaknesses will be shored up by their teammates. No jacks-of-all-trades here.
Proper TV training can have a huge effect on a Temtem’s combat prowess. Although Temtem does include some tutorialization on TV training, getting good TVs takes some advanced knowhow. Getting perfect TVs is even more complex, requiring extensive knowledge of Temtem and their movesets, stat calculations, and trial & error.
Believe it or not, this is the short version.
How do you TV train Temtem?
There’s not necessarily a right or wrong way to TV train your Temtem, but it’s best to max out their most “important” stat at 500. Whatever you want your Temtem to do the most — be it attacking, taking damage, or outspeeding their opponents — you should pick just one stat to max out to begin with. That will determine where the other 500 TVs should go.
As you might’ve gathered from the size of those numbers, TV training is quite slow. There are only two methods to gain (and lose) TVs: items and combat.
There are several items that influence your Tems’ TVs. The most straightforward of these are fruits, candies, and smoothies. These are one-time use items that raise or lower specific TVs a set amount. They can be purchased infinitely at the Mokupuni Fruit Co-op in Omninesia, the FreshFruit Candy stand in Uhuru, and Smeralda’s Smoothie Shop in Arbury, respectively. Here’s how many Pansuns it costs to maximize or minimize a single stat with fruits, candies, and smoothies:
| Item type | Cost to raise from 0-500 | Cost to lower from 500-0 | Amount of item |
| Candy | 25,000 | 17,500 | 500 |
| Fruit | 12,500 | 8,750 | 20 |
| Smoothie | 9,000 | 6,000 | 10 |
While candies allow for the most granular adjustments to TVs, they can add up very quickly. Smoothies are by far the most cost efficient, but can’t be accessed until the sixth and final island. Fruits provide a great middle ground for players looking to get some quick TV training in, since the Mokupuni Fruit Co-op is easily accessible to even early game players.
Perhaps more importantly than these are held items that modify the ways your Tems receive TVs after defeating opponents. Holding the Proteins gear doubles the amount of TVs a Tem receives, while Eraser and Eraser+ cause them to lose those TVs instead.
In addition to these are eight types of Patches. Seven of them correspond to a stat. Equipping them will prevent your Tem from earning TVs for that stat. The eighth is the Oblivion Patch, which prevents your Tem from earning any TVs at all. Patches are most helpful when fighting Tems that give TVs for two different stats when you only need one, or helping another Tem TV train.
All those items will quicken your combat-based TV training, but you’ll still have to do the combat part. In that sense, all you can do is find which Tems have the TVs you need and fight them over and over. Finding the correct location is a huge part of TV training.
The best TV training locations in Temtem
I choose my TV training locations based on only two factors. Firstly, there needs to be easy access to a Temtem species that yields at least two points of the TVs I need. It should have a 100% encounter rate, but I’ll settle for 80% if the location is otherwise perfect. Secondly, I like it to be somewhat close to a (Mini-)Temporium. In my opinion, these are the best TV training locations in Temtem:
| Stat | Location | Location Details | Temtem | TVs | Rarity |
| HP | Iwaba, Neoedo | The cliff where you enter from the Airship Terminal, with the Mini-Temporium. | Scarawatt | 2 | 100% |
| Sillaro River, Deniz | The grass around Pasiphaë’s house to the south, before the entrance to Turquesa. | Saipat | 3 | 100% | |
| Stamina | Jino Gap, Kisiwa | The grassy cliff on the far west side of the screen below Nuru Lodge. | Tateru | 2 | 80% |
| Speed | Corrupted Badlands, Tucma | The large, donut-shaped grass patch to the south, just above the entrance to the Wreck of the Narwhal. | Mushi & Orphyll | 2 | 90% |
| Attack | Mac Aed’s Crags, Arbury | The small patch of grass just north of the bridge to Properton. | Mitty | 3 | 100% |
| Defense | Mines of Mictlan, Tucma | The mining paths surrounded by water below Ocelotl’s house. | Lapinite | 2 | 80% |
| Special Attack | Xolotl Reservoir, Tucma | The grass patch in the center of the sun-shaped area to the north. | Toxolotl | 2 | 100% |
| Special Defense | Sillaro River, Deniz | Across the river from Briçal de Mar, in the grass patch next to the Mini-Temporium. | Fomu | 2 | 100% |
Choosing TVs for your Temtem
Now we know what TVs are, as well as how and where to get them. Next, we can figure out how many of each TV a Temtem needs. Let’s use Smazee, the Melee starter, as our example. We can see from their Base Stats that Smazee and its evolutions are very fast, offensive Temtem. As such, Smazee should have lots of TVs in both Speed and Attack. Your first instinct may be to put 500 into each of those stats, but that wouldn’t quite be right.
Firstly, you’d be overlooking Stamina. Without the right Stamina TVs, Tems lose turns left and right, either by having to rest or becoming overexerted. Because this is the Beginner’s Guide to TV Training, I’m going to take the liberty of grossly oversimplifying them.
Why? The most efficient TV spreads require very complicated calculations for Stamina. You’d have to know your Temtem’s exact moveset and its optimal use ahead of time. You should also factor in other combat scenarios for flexibility. Then, you’ll have to take into account the Stamina regeneration that comes at the end of every turn, as well as any Stamina-affecting Gear they’d be holding. Add their Base Stats and SVs to the mix and you can figure out their ideal Stamina TVs. Some optimal TV spreads include as little as 0, while others can reach as high as 130.
That’s… way too much for a beginner’s guide. Unlike other stats, almost all Temtem need some Stamina TVs to get the job done. Generally, Temtem want to use three techniques before needing to rest. But because of all those factors listed above, there’s a lot of variance.
To this end, I’d recommend you train all Tems with 70 Stamina TVs and adjust from there. As movesets and levels change, you’ll get a feel for how your Temtem want to fight and how much Stamina they need as a result.
Secondly, we do have to consider Smazee’s other stats. While Speed and Attack seem like the most efficient ones to invest in, maybe you’ve been using Smazee less as a full-out attacker and more as a Tem who can take as many punches as they give.
A high damage, high speed Tem is usually referred to as a sweeper or fast attacker. If you’re familiar with classes in other games, they’re your DPS. If we wanted it to give and take damage in equal measure, Smazee would have high damage as well as high health. These are bulky attackers, or as I call them, bruisers.
For Sweeper Smazee, you’ll want 500 Attack TVs, 430 Speed TVs, and 70 Stamina TVs to begin with. For Bruiser Smazee, there are a few more options. You could go in the opposite direction with 500 Attack, 430 HP, and 70 Stamina. However, Smazee’s evolutionary line has one hell of a Speed stat. It’d be a bit of a waste to completely ignore it. You could modify this build and go for 500 Attack, 215 Speed, 215 HP, and 70 Stamina.
Ultimately, this decision will be one of preference. And remember that TVs are very easy to manipulate once you have a few of the items listed above and a little bit more money. You’re not stuck with one build forever.
As I mentioned earlier, there’s not a right or wrong way to TV train. There are no rules! If a build feels right for your team and is working, then hey, it works.
Moving on, let’s briefly go over those “classes.” We already talked about sweepers and bruisers, but there are a couple others worth mentioning. A Temtem built to take damage is called a wall, while in other games, that’s your tank. Lastly, we have the support role. Supports in Temtem almost always want a high Speed stat so they can buff their allies or debuff their opponents before any damage is done.
Here are some quick TV spreads to use now that you understand classes:
- DPS: 500 Attack or Special Attack, 430 Speed, 70 Stamina
- Bruiser: 500 Attack or Special Attack, 430 HP, 70 Stamina
- Tank (Single Type): 500 HP, 430 Defense or Special Defense, 70 Stamina
- Tank (Full): 500 HP, 215 Defense, 215 Special Defense, 70 Stamina
- Support: 500 Speed, 430 HP, 70 Stamina
With that all said and done, you know everything you need to know to begin TV training your Temtem. It’ll take quite a while before you can TV train quickly, easily, and without limit. Throw in dozens of mandatory battles and your main roster’s TVs will probably be a mess. That’s okay. Any amount of TV training will cause a noticeable difference in your Temtems’ efficacy. Good luck!
