Characters / Pokémon: Eevee Line

Main Character Index > Pokémon: Generation I Families > Bulbasaur to Parasect (1-47) | Venonat to Cloyster (48-91) | Gastly to Tauros (92-128) | Magikarp to Dragonite (129-149) | Eevee Line | Mewtwo and Mew (150-151)

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Eevee and Eeveelutions

Center: Eevee. Clockwise from top: Sylveon, Glaceon, Umbreon, Flareon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Espeon, Leafeon

Espeon and Umbreon debut in Gold and Silver, Leafeon and Glaceon debut in Diamond and Pearl, Sylveon debuts in X and Y, and Gigantamax Eevee debuts in Sword and Shield

Eevee voiced by: Aoi Yūki ^note  Gen II - Gen VIII

Eevee is an adorable mammalian Pokémon that is unique in the Pokémon world as it has the potential to evolve into many branching evolutionary paths, some through evolution stones, other by bonding with their trainers. Originally it had three, but has steadily increased in number and now there are currently eight known members. They are collectively called Eeveelutions by fans, and later in the games and other official material. Eevee and all of its evolutions are designed with a very cute, basic sort of appeal and remain fan-favorites.

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Shared Tropes

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Pokémon GO has events where featured Pokémon can be caught wearing accessories. On two separate occasions, Eevee could be caught with either a party hat or a flower crown, the latter of which was able to evolve so that all the other Eeveelutions could also inherit said crown. For the 2021 Christmas event, Glaceon could be caught wearing Christmas attire.
• Action Initiative: Eevee and all of the Eeveelutions can learn Quick Attack. Eevee also learns Baby-Doll Eyes, while Glaceon also gets Ice Shard.
• Adorable Fluffy Tail: Eevee and Flareon share big, bushy tails in contrast to other Eeveelutions’ slim or nonexistent tails.
• Armored But Frail: Leafeon and Glaceon have excellent Defense, but their base 65 HP does them no favors. Flareon has the same problem, but on the Special Defense side.
• Badass Adorable: The Eeveelutions are small, cute dog- or cat-like creatures... with a base stat total of 525 (which is the same as Lucario's, and very slightly lower than most fully evolved starter Pokémon).
• Boss Battle:
  • In Pokémon Yellow, Blue has one of the three available Eeveelutions depending on your battles with him at the start. If you lost to him, he'll use Vaporeon, which your starter Pikachu has the advantage against. If you win, but skip or lose the optional Route 22 battle, he'll use Flareon, which Pikachu is neutral against. And if you beat him in both locations, he'll use Jolteon, which resists Pikachu's Electric-type attacks.
  • In Pokémon Gold and Silver, the Kimono Girls use every available Eeveelution at the time against you. The Sage Trio of Pokémon Crystal also use Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon.
  • Penny in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet uses a full team of Eeveelutions in her fights, with Sylveon serving as her ace (though she doesn't have Espeon or Glaceon).
• Breaking Old Trends: Up until Sword and Shield, every even-numbered generation introduced more Eeveelutions (and even that gave Eevee a Gigantamax form). Sylveon is also the only one to be introduced without another alongside it, and due to the nonexistence of the Fairy-type before X and Y, the only one belonging to a type not classified as special prior to the split in the fourth generation.
• Breakout Character: Eevee is one of the most popular Pokémon, and Eevee and its evolutions get marketed almost as much as Pikachu, Lucario, and the starters. In Yellow and several spin-offs, including Pokémon Conquest, Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, and Pokémon Quest, an Eevee or Eeveelution is even used alongside or in place of other, usual starter Pokémon. Another spin-off, Pokémon GO, turned Eevee into one of the more common Pokémon to find in the real world, though it's still far from being a Com Mon.^note Depending on where you are; in some areas, Eevee is more common than Caterpie! Several important characters in the anime, such as Ash's companions and rivals, have or had an Eevee on their team at some point before evolving them into one of their forms. It eventually got to the point where Eevee co-stars alongside franchise mascot Pikachu in the Nintendo Switch title Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. Heck, for the 95th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2021 held in New York City, they decided to debut a brand new Christmas-themed Pokémon balloon. Instead of making another incarnation of the Pikachu balloon, they decided to create a new Pokémon balloon featuring Eevee and Pikachu together◊.
• Cartoon Creature: It isn't clear what kind of animal they're supposed to be based on, but they take inspiration from dogs, foxes, cats, rabbits, and, in Vaporeon's case, fish. Flareon in particular acts a lot like a dog in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh and Jolteon apparently has quills, given it can naturally learn Pin Missile. According to Motofumi Fujiwara, the artist who designed Eevee, its design is based on an unidentified forest creature he met in childhood and was deliberately made to not resemble any particular animal, reflecting Eevee's evolutionary potential.
• Combat Medic: Umbreon, Espeon, and Leafeon are capable of both battle and self-healing, and their moves are effectively identical, with different names^note Synthesis, Morning Sun, and (unintuitively) Moonlight all heal 1/2 HP in normal weather and 2/3 HP under heavy sunlight, and only 1/4 HP during other weather. The entire family is also capable of learning Wish to pass healing to a teammate, and can be tutored Heal Bell to get rid of status conditions.
• Diverging Evolutionary Phases: The Trope Codifier, Eevee has a total of eight alternate evolutionary forms (Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon, Espeon, Umbreon, Leafeon, Glaceon, and Sylveon).
• Elemental Powers: Eevee itself is a Normal-type. It changes to one other type, based on its elemental affinity. Vaporeon is Water. Jolteon is Electric. Flareon is Fire. Espeon is Psychic-type, but also has an association with the sun and light. Umbreon is Dark and more closely associated with the moon and darkness compared to most Dark-types, although it still learns some of the underhanded moves typically used by them. Leafeon is Grass. Glaceon is Ice. Sylveon is Fairy (or just magic in general).
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Eevee's Gen 1 Eeveelutions all incorporate its mane in some way, and they all have the same dark eyes. This pattern was dropped for all the other Eeveelutions, which lack manes and have distinct eyes.
• Elemental Absorption: Jolteon and Vaporeon get healed from Electric and Water moves, respectively, thanks to Volt Absorb and Water Absorb. Flareon uses Flash Fire to power up its own Fire-type moves.
• Family Eye Resemblance: All Eeveelutions have distinctive almond-shaped eyes with white highlights.
• Foil:
  • Gen II's Espeon and Umbreon. Both are friendship-based Eeveelutions with Synchronize as their main abilities who revolve around day and night and specialize in Special Attack and Special Defense respectively. Espeon looks more cat-like, while Umbreon looks more dog-like. Espeon is a Fragile Speedster and Glass Cannon combo built around making use of its offensive potential, while Umbreon is a Stone Wall with middling offensive stats who is rather skilled at causing debuffs. This is perhaps why they make an excellent starting combination in Colosseum.
  • Gen IV introduced Leafeon and Glaceon. Both of these Eeveelutions come to be when leveling Eevee up near a certain rock: a moss-covered rock for Leafeon and an ice-covered rock for Glaceon. Leafeon is more physical-based and works well in Sunny Day while Glaceon is special-based and works better in Hail. Leafeon has a scruffy look, while Glaceon looks sleeker.
• The Gimmick: Eeveelutions introduced after Pokémon Red and Blue rely on game mechanics that debut alongside them — Espeon and Umbreon rely on the time of day, Leafeon and Glaceon rely on special locations, Sylveon relies on affection.
• Later-Installment Weirdness:
  • The later Eeveelutions that debuted since Gen IV have incorporated distinctively color-pointed paws, which earlier Eeveelutions lacked.
  • The Gimmicks that Eeveelutions debut with don't always reappear in later generations, requiring workarounds. The Gen III remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue had no clock and so couldn't produce an Espeon or Umbreon at all, which necessitated trading into Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and Pokémon XD had to make unique sun- and moon-shard items to allow it; Leafeon and Glaceon eventually were just allowed to evolve via stone. The affection mechanic that Sylveon used to evolve in Gens VI and VII was later phased out and merged with the friendship mechanic, so starting in Pokémon Sword and Shield Eevee just requires high friendship while knowing a Fairy-type move to evolve into Sylveon.
• Lunacy: Umbreon and Sylveon are both strongly associated with the moon, the former evolving through high happiness at night and being capable of learning Moonlight, while the latter, like many Fairy-types, shows its lunar association through Moonblast. Both of them also resemble the mythical Moon Rabbit.
• Make a Wish: They can all learn Wish through breeding, but Vaporeon and Umbreon do the best job of passing Wishes to their teammates due to having the highest HP stats.
• Min-Maxing: All Eeveelutions have the same base stat values: two very good stats, one okay stat, and three bad ones. The different distributions of these stat values means that all Eeveelutions play very differently from each other despite having the same base stat total.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: They borrow many traits and features from different mammalian creatures, like cats, dogs, foxes, and rabbits, among many others, owing to Eevee's volatile evolutionary makeup.
• Polar Opposite Twins:
  • The three original evolutions fit the classic Fire, Ice, Lightning trio, with Water instead of Ice. Jolteon is a Fragile Speedster, Vaporeon is a Mighty Glacier, and Flareon is a Glass Cannon. All of their abilities are Elemental Absorption in some form, and they all evolve with stones.
  • The Gen II duo is themed on Solar and Lunar, with near opposite palette. Both evolve with friendship, and share the same ability, Synchronize. Umbreon is a Stone Wall with poor offenses, while Espeon is a Glass Cannon.
  • The Gen IV duo are heavily associated with weather conditions, and Hail and Sun are roughly mirrors to one another. Both evolve in specific locations. Leafeon is a Magically Inept Fighter, while Glaceon is a special attacker with good defenses.
• Poor, Predictable Rock: An underlying problem for all of these Pokémon, who are all hindered by having utterly pathetic movepools. Outside of Shadow Ball, Iron Tail, and two of their Egg Moves (Stored Power and Synchronoise), they don't get many strong options outside of their STAB moves. While some can use Hidden Power to make up for this, those with low Special Attack (namely, Umbreon and Leafeon) are left out of luck.
• The Power of Friendship: With a high enough happiness level, Eevee can evolve into either Espeon, Umbreon, or starting in Gen VIII, Sylveon. Espeon and Umbreon require it to be daytime or nighttime, respectively, while Sylveon requires Eevee to know a Fairy-type move. However, the latter overrides the former two, meaning Eevee cannot evolve into Umbreon or Espeon while knowing a Fairy-type move beforehand.
• Power of the Sun: Espeon and Leafeon both have a strong association with the sun, the former due to evolving from max happiness during the day and knowing the move Morning Sun, while the latter have both its normal and Hidden Abilities be associated with Sunny Day. Both of their Pokédex entries state that they need sunlight, the former for its powers and the latter for its nutrients.
• Retcon: As part of Generation 8 altering location based evolutions, Glaceon and Leafeon were changed to evolve using the Ice and Leaf Stones respectively. Likewise, Sylveon became able to evolve via high friendship while having a Fairy type move, due to affection and friendship being merged.
• Signature Move: Oddly, Shadow Ball tends to be associated with them a lot in the anime specifically, likely because of its notability as one of the few coverage moves the entire family can learn. The entire family is notably associated with Baton Pass and Wish. The Partner Eevee in Let's Go can learn moves of all the types of the Eeveelutions with their own unique effects, but they have yet to be available to the Eeveelutions themselves outside of those games.
• Starter Mon: In a couple of games, such as Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD, Pokémon Conquest, and most notably Let's Go, Eevee!, Eevee is the starter Pokémon rather than the typical starters (which are a trio of Grass, Fire, and Water Pokémon). This works well since Eevee is able to evolve into a number of types. They also appear as the rival's starter mon in Pokémon Yellow and Let's Go, Pikachu!.
• Squishy Wizard: Vaporeon, Jolteon, Espeon, and Sylveon all have excellent Special Attack, but poor physical defense.
• Super-Scream: All of them are able to learn Hyper Voice, and Sylveon in particular can boost the move with its Pixilate ability to really hammer its foes' eardrums.
• Theme Naming: Each Eeveelution follows of the naming scheme of appending the suffix "-eon" to an element or association with that element in English. A similar scheme is used for French,^note uses the suffix "-li" German,^note uses the suffix "-a", both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese,^note before Gen VII, Mandarin Chinese used the suffix "精靈", meaning fairy, elf, spirit, etc.; Cantonese and post-Gen VII Mandarin simply append their localization of Eevee's name as a suffix and Italian and Spanish,^note which share names with the English version but the suffix scheme is absent in Japanese^note which only uses element description names with no shared suffixes and Korean^note which has unique names for Vaporeon and Jolteon (샤미드/Shamid and 쥬피썬더/Jupithunder, respectively) but shares Japanese names for all the other Eeveelutions.
• Third-Option Adaptation: In spinoffs which don't use the official starters, Eevee or one of its evolutions have been used as a starter Pokémon instead.^ExplanationThis makes a surprising amount of sense: with its diversity of evolutions, Eevee gives players a wide range of types and playstyles to adapt to, allowing multiple playthroughs to feel different. The Eeveelutions also have deceptively impressive stats that can easily hold up to the end of an in-game run. And, of course, they're all very popular with the fandom. This even carries over to the main series; Blue starts with an Eevee in Yellow rather than Charmander, Bulbasaur, or Squirtle.
• Uniqueness Decay: Pokémon Sword and Shield tossed out the more unique mechanics needed for later eeveelutions and Retconned them into using more basic mechanics used by earlier ones.
  • Leafeon and Glaceon both debuted in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl to show off the new location-based evolution mechanic, but were later made to use evolution stones like the original Flareon, Vaporeon, and Jolteon.
  • Sylveon was a big advertiser of the Affection mechanic new to Pokémon X and Y, but was later made to use Friendship like Espeon and Umbreon. It at least retains its unique distinction of requiring a Fairy move.
• Useless Useful Spell: Due to all eight of them sharing the same pre-evolution, some of Eevee's egg moves do not translate well between the Eeveelutions. For instance, Curse would work very well with Umbreon, but is completely useless for Espeon and Jolteon.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Eeveelutions generally have barren movepools, but they have just enough to be effective.

Eevee

0133: Eevee / Eievui (イーブイ iibui)

Eevee

^{Gigantamax Eevee}

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: The Partner Eevee in Let's Go! Eevee can be dressed up in outfits & given different fashion accessories, like glasses or crowns.
• All Your Powers Combined: Eevee's unique Z-Move "Extreme Evoboost" has it be empowered by all the Eeveelutions and doubles all of its stats (with the exception of Evasion and Accuracy). Granted, Eevee's base stats still stink, making the boosts not too useful... but that's where Baton Pass comes in.
• And Call Him "George": Gigantamax Eevee becomes even friendlier as a result of Gigantamaxing, and wants to play with anything it sees — only to end up crushing them because of its immense size.
• Balance Buff: To make up for its inability to evolve, your partner Eevee in Let's Go Eevee has a stat buff of 435. That's 110 more than a normally caught Eevee.
• Cute Giant: The huge amount of fluff around Gigantamax Eevee's neck puts even Flareon to shame.
• Gentle Giant: When Gigantamaxing, Eevee gets friendlier, so it wants to play with anyone it can find. Sadly, because of its immense size, it ends up crushing anyone it tries to play with.
• Magikarp Power: Zigzagged. Naturally, Eevee are encouraged to be evolved and are more average and underpowered compared to their evolutions. They do, however, learn a small Normal-type movepool of their own in case you want to keep them as they are, which expands in later installments. Also, since a large part of all the Eeveelutions' attacks are Normal-type anyway, they profit more often from same-type attack bonus.
  • In Sun/Moon, Eevee (and only Eevee) has access to an exclusive Z-Move, Extreme Evoboost, that raises all of its stats by two levels.
  • Eevee itself leaves much to be desired... until it learns Last Resort, a 140 Base Power move. Which it gets STAB from, being a Normal-type, and does double damage if said Eevee has Adaptability. To put this in perspective, Adaptability-powered Last Resort has 30 more base damage than Explosion. Sure, its base stats hold it back a bit, and Last Resort requires using the rest of Eevee's moveset first, but few Pokémon ever get a move with that much punch.
• Master of None: Unlike most Normal-typed Pokémon, Eevee is normally unable to learn most elemental attacks outside a few exceptions. This is mostly to prevent its evolutions from learning attacks outside of their types. The biggest exception is the Partner Eevee you get in Pokémon: Let's Go Eevee, who has access to a number of elemental moves exclusive to it. However, this Eevee cannot evolve into its many forms.
• Pokémon Speak: Eevee is notable for being the second Pokémon to be given a voiced Pokémon Speak cry in the actual games, after Pikachu.
• Power Up Let Down: Gigantamax Eevee in Sword and Shield is a whole new form with a unique G-Max Move that infatuates opponents. However, even setting aside infatuation not working on opponents of the same gender and ones with no gender (while Max Strike's Speed drop works on everything), Eevee's base stats are poor all around and this particular one can't evolve, meaning it falls off compared to a Dynamaxed Eeveelution and is really only for collectors.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Eevee itself has always been popular due to its adorable looks. This trait isn't lost on its evolutions, though they're more elegant than cuddly.
• The Rival: Meta-wise, Eevee in particular is this to Pikachu. In Pokémon Yellow, Eevee is the Rival's starter, and it or its evolutions oftentimes take the role of starter in spinoff games where Pikachu isn't (Like Colosseum, XD: Gale of Darkness and Conquest, for example), to the point where it is considered an 'honorary' starter just like Pikachu, their Z-Moves were revealed together as well as their Gigantamax Forms, and, of course, Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! exist, which further cements the rivalry. Eevee and Pikachu are also the only two Pokémon whose cries are actual Pokémon Speak.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: In Sword and Shield, all female Eevee now have the heart-shaped tail markings previously exclusive to the Partner Eevee from Let's Go, Eevee!.
• Secret Art:
  • Apart from Pikachu, they are the only Pokémon to have been given away at events knowing Celebrate.
  • In Sun and Moon, Eevee gains the unique Z-Move "Extreme Evoboost". Unlike most Z-moves, it sharply raises all of its stats instead of dealing any damage. (This is made even odder in that the move required to use it, Last Resort, is a damage-dealing move.)
  • The Partner Eevee in Let's Go, Eevee! has no less than nine of these, which can't be learned by any other Eevee (nor their evolutions, as Partner Eevee cannot evolve). First is its Limit Break, Veevee Volley, the power (and flashiness) of which increase as the player's friendship with Eevee grows. The remaining eight are damaging moves that each share a type with one of Eevee's evolved forms. Next is Bouncy Bubble, based on Vaporeon, a Water-type move that heals Eevee for 50% of the damage dealt. Then there's Buzzy Buzz, based on Jolteon, an Electric-type move that always paralyzes the target. After that is Sizzly Slide, based on Flareon, a Fire-type move that always burns the target. Fifth is Glitzy Glow, based on Espeon, a Psychic-type move that also sets up Light Screen. Sixth is Baddy Bad, based on Umbreon, a Dark-type move that also sets up Reflect. Seventh is Sappy Seed, based on Leafeon, a Grass-type move that also inflicts the target with Leech Seed. Eighth is Freezy Frost, based on Glaceon, an Ice-type move that eliminates all active Pokémon's stat changes, and last is Sparkly Swirl, based on Sylveon, a Fairy-type move that heals the status conditions of all Pokémon in the party, including itself and any active teammates.
  • Gigantamax Eevee in Pokémon Sword and Shield has its G-Max Cuddle, which infatuates its targets; gender dynamics still apply. G-Max Cuddle replaces Gigantamax Eevee's Normal-type moves. The Gigantamax form used to be exclusive to an Old Save Bonus from Let's Go, Eevee!, but a Wild Area Event that ran from May 18, 2020 to May 25, 2020 made Gigantamax Eevee able to be fought and captured in Max Raid Battles (fittingly enough, directly following on from the previous event, which instead revolved around Gigantamax Pikachu).
• Series Mascot: Like Charizard, Eevee is one of the most marketed Pokémon just behind Pikachu, though unlike 'Zard it's treated as a bona fide secondary mascot because of its similarities to Pikachu and being a direct counterpart to it, as especially seen in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!.
• Shoulder Teammate: Eevee like to ride on its trainer's shoulder in both GO and Lets Go Eevee.
• Super Mode: Some Eevee are capable of Gigantamaxing. In this form, Gigantamax Eevee can use G-Max Cuddle, which not only damages the opponent but can infatuate them if they're the opposite gender.
• Uncatty Resemblance: According to Ultra Moon's Pokémon entry for Eevee, because of how its form is influenced by its surroundings, "Even its face starts to look like that of its Trainer."
• Uniformity Exception: In Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!, there's a special female Eevee, if picked as a starter, with a larger light patch on the tips of her tail that resembles a heart shape, similarly to female Pikachu (and Cosplay Pikachu). This trait is unique and isn't carried over to other female Eevee. However, it became the standard design for all female Eevee in Sword and Shield.
• Uniqueness Decay:
  • In the earliest games, Eevee was a coveted Pokémon, as you could only receive one per playthrough of a given game. In Gen II, it was still rare, but you can now breed them. Gen IV allowed you to find wild Eevee under specific circumstances, and in Gen V, even this restriction was removed and you can encounter them like any wild Pokémon.
  • In Gen I, it was the only Pokémon with a branching evolutionary family. Later generations took away this distinction, but it still has the most branches by far.
• Unstable Genetic Code: Eevee's DNA is naturally highly irregular, which led to it having many evolutions.

Vaporeon

0134: Vaporeon / Showers (シャワーズ shawaazu)

Vaporeon

• Ear Fins: Vaporeon has fins on the sides of its head.
• Healing Factor: If Vaporeon has the Hydration ability and heavy rain is in effect, it will be cured of Status Effects at the end of each turn. It also learns the move Aqua Ring, which gives it a small amount of HP each turn.
• Invisibility: Vaporeon is able to camouflage in water.
• Mighty Glacier: Vaporeon boasts excellent special bulk and ok physical bulk thanks to its high HP, while also hitting hard with its Special Attack, but has poor speed.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Vaporeon is a mermaid fox cat sea-lion...thing.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: Vaporeon has a finned tail and is often mistaken for a mermaid In-Universe. Its Pokédex entry in Legends: Arceus suggests that Vaporeon is the source of mermaid folklore.

Jolteon

0135: Jolteon / Thunders (サンダース sandaasu)

Jolteon

• Bare-Fisted Monk: Jolteon can learn Double Kick.
• Fragile Speedster: Jolteon is one of the fastest Pokémon in the series with a good Special Attack to boot, but it can't take hits well.
• Glass Cannon: Jolteon hits extremely fast and fairly hard with its 110 base Special Attack and 130 base Speed, but its bulk is mediocre at best.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Jolteon's Hidden Ability Quick Feet boosts its godly Speed when afflicted with a status condition.
• One-Steve Limit: Jolteon's Japanese name is almost the same as Zapdos'^note Thunders and Thunder respectively, the only difference being the letter "S".
• Power Up Let Down: Jolteon gets Quick Feet as its Hidden Ability. Jolteon is already immune to paralysis as an Electric-type to begin with, and is also already between the top 10 fully evolved non-legendary fastest Pokémon. Meanwhile, Volt Absorb outright blocks and heals Jolteon against any Electric move.
• Uniformity Exception: Jolteon appears to be tailless. However, it actually does have a tail — it's just very small. It is most prominent in some of its 2D back sprites. In the main 3D games, it's also the only Eeveelution with a modeled mouth (the others have textures for their mouths instead).
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Jolteon has never had the most diverse movepool, with its only good coverage moves being Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, and Tera Blast. However, due to Jolteon's great offensive stats and the ubiquity of enemy Flying and Water-type Pokémon, it generally doesn't need variety.

Flareon

0136: Flareon / Booster (ブースター buusutaa)

Flareon

• The Artifact: In Pokémon Red and Blue, Flareon had a reputation for intense flames thanks to having a high Special stat, but when Pokémon Gold and Silver retooled the stat system, Flareon's high special became high special defense, preventing it from living up to that reputation.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Flareon can learn Superpower through Move Tutors or via an Elite TM in Pokémon GO.
• Crippling Overspecialization: Some Eeveelutions have their best stats distributed in such a way that they can't take advantage of them — Flareon in particular is a notorious offender, since it lacks both the speed to take advantage of its excellent attack power and the stamina to make good use of its high special defense.
• Determinator: Flareon's Hidden Ability is Guts, which boosts its Attack when afflicted with a status ailment.
• Feed It with Fire: Flareon's ability Flash Fire makes it immune to Fire attacks and powers up its own.
• Glass Cannon: Flareon hits like a nuke with its Guts-boosted physical attacks, but it's slow and its good Special Defense is let down by its poor HP. Its strongest techniques also require it to cut into its own survivability even further — it has to carry a Toxic Orb to activate Guts, so poison will rapidly wear down its HP, and Flare Blitz, its strongest physical Fire-type move, is Cast from Hit Points.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Flareon's Hidden Ability Guts boosts its godly Attack when afflicted with a status condition.
• Inconsistent Coloring: Flareon's fur is either reddish-orange or bright red, while its collar, head-fur, and tail are either cream or bright yellow.
• Kill It with Fire: Flareon in the wild like to roast their prey before snacking down on them.
• Mage Killer: Flareon's good Special Defense allows it to switch into most special attacks relatively easily, while few special attackers can withstand its sky-high Attack stat.
• Magic Knight: Flareon has a decent Special Attack stat that it prefers to use on more defensive sets, as its special movepool provides better defensive utility. For many generations it pretty much had to lean on its Special Attack due to lacking any good physical Fire moves.
• Power Up Let Down: Poor Flareon... it received Guts in Gen V and finally received the coveted Flare Blitz in Gen VI, but because it is a Fire-type, it cannot be Burned to activate Guts, making it rely on Poison or the inconsistent Paralysis and Sleep. Poison damage combined with the recoil from Flare Blitz with its already poor HP stat means that even though Guts-boosted Flareon can hit like a truck, it can't do so for very long before knocking itself out.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Flareon in particular was hit hard by this, lacking any real good Fire-Type moves to make use of its sky-high Attack. It finally received the long-coveted Flare Blitz in Gen 6, and it was what it needed to become effective.

Espeon

0196: Espeon / Eifie (エーフィ eefi)

Espeon

• Anti-Magic: Espeon's Hidden Ability, Magic Bounce, reflects all non-damaging moves aimed at it back to the user.
• Bakeneko and Nekomata: While it's not officially classified as a cat Pokémon, Espeon is based on a nekomata.
• Berserk Button: Touching Espeon's forehead gem in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh will result in a Death Glare.
• Boss Battle: In Pokémon Gold and Silver, Sabrina uses Espeon.
• Carbuncle Creature: Espeon sports a red jewel on its forehead.
• Glass Cannon: Espeon has a huge Special Attack and good speed, but has poor bulk aside from an okay Special Defense.
• The Greys: Espeon's face resembles a stereotypical grey alien.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Espeon Synchronize causes an opponent who burned, paralyzed, or poisoned them to suffer with them. Espeon's Hidden Ability Magic Bounce reflects status moves back at the attacker.
• Inconsistent Coloring: The insides of Espeon's ears have been shown as either dark blue or purple.
• Secret Art: Morning Sun, a restorative move.
• Uniformity Exception: Espeon has no toes on its front paws and only two toes on its back paws; the other Eeveelutions have three toes on each of their paws.
• Useless Useful Spell: During Gen II, Espeon was the only Pokémon capable of learning Morning Sun. Aside from Espeon being a bit too squishy to be able to effectively use the move, Morning Sun originally depended on both time and weather to calculate how much health it restored. The problem is that, outside of harsh sunlight (which Espeon can't really abuse), it worked best when used in the morning^note 4:00 AM to 9:59 AM, restoring a paltry 1/4 total HP under other circumstances. Not only did its counterparts have longer windows of time during which they were useful (Synthesis had eight hours and Moonlight had ten, compared to Morning Sun's seven), Morning Sun's active hours mostly took place at times when most people were still asleep. Later generations distributed the move to Mons more capable of using it than Espeon and also made it purely dependent on the current weather.

Umbreon

0197: Umbreon / Blacky (ブラッキー burakkii)

Umbreon

• The Artifact: In the Spaceworld 1997 build of Pocket Monsters 2, Umbreon was a Poison-type. In the final version (as Gold and Silver), Umbreon's type had changed to Dark, yet its Pokédex entries still mention its "poisonous sweat".
• Berserk Button: Touching the yellow bands on Umbreon's ears in Pokémon-Amie/Refresh will result in a Death Glare.
• Boss Battle: In Pokémon Gold and Silver, Karen of the Elite Four uses Umbreon.
• Combat Pragmatist: Umbreon likes to throw its poisonous sweat in enemy eyes, as well as going for the throat.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Nowhere is it stated that Umbreon is malicious, cunning, or evil in general like most Dark-types. It even evolves with high happiness.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Back in Pokémon Stadium 2, Umbreon's gold bands could flicker between gold and blue, while its shiny form had bands that flickered green and its fur was dark purple instead of black. In every other game, Umbreon's shiny form has blue bands that never change color.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Umbreon's Synchronize causes an opponent who burned, paralyzed, or poisoned them to suffer with them. Umbreon also gets the move Foul Play, which can use an opponent's high Attack stat against it (quite useful considering Umbreon is a Stone Wall whose own attacking prowess is underwhelming).
• Informed Ability: Umbreon are supposedly able to spew toxins from their pores, and they even boast about it Mystery Dungeon, but the only Poison move they're able to learn is Toxic, and only via TM. This is actually a remnant from a certain point in development. Umbreon was originally intended to be a Poison-type, but they didn't change the Pokédex entries when its type was switched to Dark. ^note This was discovered in 2018 when an old Gold demo was leaked online.
• Moon Rabbit: Umbreon is based on the legend about it.
• Nocturnal Mooks: Umbreon can show up at night as a rare encounter when wild Eevee do an SOS Call, making it and Espeon (during the day) the first Eeveelutions that can be found in the wild.
• Odd Name Out: In Japanese and Korean, Umbreon stands out from the rest of the family, as unlike the Elemental Theme Naming, it's simply Blacky, which only refers to its appearance (and possibly lucky or tsuki ["moon"], though it's not clear). This is fixed for all other languages.
• Poisonous Person: Umbreon is not a Poison-type, but the Pokédex states that it has the ability to spray poison sweat from its pores. It can learn Toxic, but then again, so can pretty much every other Pokémon in existence capable of using TMs prior to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Umbreon would become one of the few non-Poison-types to be able to learn Toxic through TM in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. This was eventually explained by the release of a very early version of Gold, in which Umbreon was originally a Poison-type that evolved with a Poison Stone; when subsequent development changed Umbreon to a Dark-type that evolved by friendship at night instead, these mentions became the only remnant of the earlier design.
• Power Up Let Down: While Espeon received Magic Bounce, one of the best abilities in the game, as its Hidden Ability in Gen V, Umbreon was left with... Inner Focus, which is highly situational at best, and worse than Synchronize at worst. At least Umbreon is slow and sturdy, and thus has lots of chances to flinch during battle (which Inner Focus prevents), making Inner Focus not an outright Useless Useful Spell for it.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Umbreon has red sclerae and black pupils, which gives it a menacing look to it. It is also the only Eeveelution with visible pupils because it would be legitimately creepy if it had the same kind of eyes that its relatives have.
• Secret Art: Moonlight, a restorative move.
• Stone Wall: Despite not looking particularly bulky, Umbreon has surprisingly high HP and defenses. In exchange, it has mediocre offenses and speed.
• Tron Lines: Umbreon's yellow marking glow. It's especially evident in the Stadium series.
• Uniformity Exception: Umbreon is the only Eeveelution with clearly visible black pupils, compared to the rest of the family where the pupils appear to blend in with the rest of the the eye.
• Uniqueness Decay: Umbreon in particular suffered from this. In its debut generation, it had the coveted Dark-type, and was an excellent tank, but as time has gone on, its poor offenses and the introduction of more Dark-types has led to Umbreon becoming eclipsed by other Dark-types.
• Useless Useful Spell: Through breeding, Umbreon can use Synchronoise. Synchronoise only inflicts damage on Pokémon of the same type. Synchronoise is also a Psychic-type move, which Dark-types are immune to. It's not impossible to do that, though.

Leafeon

0470: Leafeon / Leafia (リーフィア riifia)

Leafeon

• Lightning Bruiser: Leafeon can take physical hits well with its high Defense, and retaliate in turn with its good Attack and Speed. However, it will buckle in the face of special attacks.
• Magically Inept Fighter: Leafeon bucks the usual stat trends of Grass-types by having high physical attack and defense. Its special stats are quite mediocre, leaving it prime picking for special attackers.
• Planimal: Leafeon has leaves growing on its body and its ears and tail are made of leaves as well.
• Weak to Magic: Leafeon's base 130 Defense is its highest stat, but its low base 65 HP and Special Defense means that special attacks will drop it in a few hits at most.
• Weather of War: Leafeon's abilities are heavily associated with Sunny weather.

Glaceon

0471: Glaceon / Glacia (グレイシア gureishia)

Glaceon

• Boss Battle: Candice, the Snowpoint Gym Leader in Pokémon Platinum, uses a Glaceon as the last and strongest member of her team in rematches.
• Clothing Appendage: Its crest with two flaps somehow resembles an ushanka, fitting for a Pokémon in a cold habitat.
• Healing Factor: If Glaceon has its Hidden Ability, Ice Body, it will regain some HP at the end of each turn during Hail.
• Hime Cut: Glaceon has a crest on its head with two flaps that resemble bangs and sidetails. It makes Glaceon resemble a yuki-onna.
• Icy Blue Eyes: This trait fits as it's an ice-type.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Glaceon like to cover themselves in very sharp icicles, then rush their enemies.
• Late Character Syndrome:
  • Thanks to Ice Rocks being location-specific, and the general late-to-endgame availability of Ice-types and ice-themed areas, poor Glaceon often ends up coming in at too late a point for most players to consider using it on their team. So far, the rawest deal it has yet is in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, where the Ice Rock isn't accessible until after beating the game. This was fixed in Pokémon Sword and Shield, which instead changed Glaceon's evolution condition to using an Ice Stone.
  • The spinoff Pokémon Conquest actually incentivizes this: you are given multiple options to evolve your partner Eevee, but it is only by conquering the second-to-last Kingdom Nixtorm and levelling up Eevee in the area that it evolves into Glaceon. It just happens to be super-effective against the Kingdom of Big Bad Nobunaga, which prioritizes Dragon-types.
• Mighty Glacier: As with many Ice-types, Glaceon pairs its high Special Attack with solid defenses, but isn't going to win many races.
• Weather of War: Glaceon's abilities are heavily associated with hailstorms.
• Youkai: Glaceon has some hints of the Yuki-onna, with the Sword description suggesting they create snowfalls that captivate people until they freeze to death.

Sylveon

0700: Sylveon / Nymphia (ニンフィア ninfia)

Sylveon

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Subverted with Sylveon, since its accessories are actually part of its body; the trailing ribbons are feelers.
• Boss Battle: Gym Leader Valerie of Pokémon X and Y has Sylveon as her Signature Mon.
• Cuddle Bug: Sylveon love to snuggle their trainers' arms with their ribbon feelers.
• Darker and Edgier: Sylveon, of all mons, got this in Pokémon Sun and Moon's Pokédex entries which describe it as using its ribbon-like feelers and calming aura to hunt prey. USUM and later games bring back the calming aura and wrapping feelers around trainers with the later games also saying that Sylveon is quite good in battle, especially against Dragon-types.
• David vs. Goliath: Sylveon's Ultra Sun Pokédex entry states that it's known to pick fights with dragon Pokémon much bigger than itself. Being a Fairy-type, it'll probably win.
• The Fair Folk: Some Dex entries and comments in other places showcase that Sylveon can have a manipulative and sadistic side, much like with classic depictions of fey.
• Mighty Glacier: Sylveon boasts excellent special bulk, and can hit harder than its already-good Special Attack might indicate thanks to Pixilate, but lacks speed.
• Moon Rabbit: Sylveon has hints of this, being rather rabbit-like and associated with the moon.
• Mundane Utility:
  • Sylveon seems tailor-made to deal with Horde Battles in Gen VI. It learns Skill Swap at a much earlier level than anything else that gets it naturally, letting it scan each individual member of the horde to find out what abilities they have, and thus if there's something worth catching in this group. If not, it has Swift and Dazzling Gleam, which, with its high Special Attack, will wipe out all enemies instantly, letting you move on to the next battle.
  • Sylveon's normal Ability is Cute Charm. While its usefulness in battle is very situational due to requiring the opponent to be the opposite gender to take effect, it has the useful property of causing Pokémon of the opposite gender of the owner to appear in wild encounters (if the user is in front of the party) more frequently. It is also the only Pokémon with this ability that is predominately male, making Sylveon very useful if you need to find Pokémon with low female/male ratios like the starters in the Friend Safari.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Male Sylveon are very capable fighters despite their pastel colors and ribbon-like feelers.
• Resistant to Magic: Sylveon's high base 130 Special Defense lets it shrug off most special attacks, but with a low base 65 Defense, it's quite vulnerable to physical attacks.
• Secret Art: The removal of Mega Evolutions in the aforementioned game means that Sylveon is the only Pokémon with Pixilate.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Sylveon loves to cling onto its loved ones with its feelers, which it also uses to becalm other Pokémon. Along with its serene, airy appearance and pastel color scheme, you really wouldn't expect this thing to be a vicious predator or an absolute tank when it comes to its special stats.
• Super-Scream: Pixilate Sylveon's primary weapon is Hyper Voice, a sound-based Normal-type move that bypasses Substitutes. Pixilate turns it into a Fairy-type move, giving Sylveon STAB, and further increases its power. This allows it to significantly outperform Moonblast, the otherwise standard attack for special-attacking Fairy-types.
• Uniformity Exception: Sylveon is the only Eeveelution whose ears are rounded rather than pointed.
• Useless Useful Spell: Sylveon's normal ability (Cute Charm, which infatuates an opposite-sex opponent that used a contact attack) is very situational due to requiring the opponent to be the opposite gender and hit Sylveon with a contact move. Even then, it only activates 30% of the time and Sylveon's bulk on the physical side (almost all contact moves are Physical attacks) is pretty average, so it can't try to fish for the effect without the risk of getting KO'd — and if it does get KO'd, any infatuation it has inflicted automatically ends (which also means that the attack which KOs Sylveon can't trigger Cute Charm^note unlike similar Abilities, such as Static and Rough Skin).

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