- This article is about the evolution family of Eevee. For the Theme Deck released with the Skyridge expansion, see Eeveelution (TCG). For the deck archetype, see Eeveelutions.
An Eeveelution (Japanese: ブイズ Vuis) is a term used for the current group of eight Pokémon that evolve from Eevee. It is a portmanteau of the words "Eevee" and "evolution". Its definition may be extended to include Eevee itself. It originally was an unofficial term used by fans, but the term eventually passed into the realm of official usage first as a pun in the official guide of Pokémon Stadium 2,[1] and then later in the TCG Theme Deck Eeveelution, as well as in the game Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia.
Eevee and the eight Eeveelutions
In the games
Generation I
In Generation I, the Eevee obtained at the Celadon Mansion could easily become a helpful partner to the player's own starter Pokémon, especially considering the high Special stat of 110 shared by the three then-known evolutions, and the ability to cover for the weaknesses of the starters' final forms. With relatively few Pokémon of each respective type available until late in the games, Jolteon, Flareon, and Vaporeon were a staple to complete the game.
One may notice that only Eevee and its evolved forms from Generation I have the distinctive ruff-like collar. The Eeveelutions released afterward do not possess this feature. Likewise, all Eeveelutions from this generation evolve via exposing Eevee to an evolutionary stone, unlike future generations.
Eevee
- Main article: Eevee
Since its debut, Eevee has been considered a popular Pokémon, appearing in many teams as a core Pokémon. It is the rival's starter Pokémon in Pokémon Yellow as well as the starter Pokémon for both Michael in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and the Hero/Heroine in Pokémon Conquest.
Vaporeon
- Main article: Vaporeon
Vaporeon, the first of the Eeveelutions in National Pokédex order, is a Water-type Pokémon. Like most other Pokémon of its type, its highest stat is its HP. Evolving from an Eevee that is exposed to a Water Stone, Vaporeon now has the ability to use the HM move Surf, among other powerful Water-type moves, to take down its foes. This is particularly advantageous, considering its relatively high Special stat (and later Special Attack stat) of 110.
Among Vaporeon's special abilities are the moves Acid Armor, which raises its low Defense stats, and the lesser-known Aurora Beam, which lowers the opponent's Attack. Vaporeon's Water Absorb also helps it by recovering HP any time it is hit by a Water-type attack.
Jolteon
- Main article: Jolteon
Jolteon is the second of the Eeveelutions, and is an Electric-type Pokémon. Much like Vaporeon exemplifies the Water type's generally high HP, Jolteon exhibits its type's extraordinary Speed. Like Vaporeon, its Special Attack (formerly Special) is its second-highest stat, making it a good choice as an Electric type in games prior to Generation IV.
Like Vaporeon, Jolteon has an Ability that heals it when it is hit by attacks of its own type, Volt Absorb, as well as several moves that are rare and nearly exclusive to it. Among these is Pin Missile, a move once praised as the best way to take down a Psychic type in Generation I.
Flareon
- Main article: Flareon
The final member of Generation I's Eeveelution trio is Flareon, a Fire-type Pokémon, evolving from Eevee when it is exposed to a Fire Stone. Flareon's highest stat is its Attack. However, this high Attack is not without its drawbacks: many of the moves that Flareon learns are special moves, and since, unlike Vaporeon and Jolteon, Flareon fell on the other side of the Special split, its formerly formidable Special became its Special Defense; its Special Attack is somewhat lower. In addition, it learns only two physical STAB moves, Fire Fang and Flame Charge, both of which have moderately low power.
However, its Ability, Flash Fire, gives it a great boost if a Fire-type move is used on it. The ability to resist against the mostly-Special Water type's powerful moves also gives it a slight advantage.
Generation II
The addition of two additional evolutions in Generation II did much to boost Eevee's popularity, as well as give it a reputation of continued versatility. With yet another Eevee available relatively early on in the game, the new evolutions of Espeon and Umbreon were easily obtained; in fact, it now became possible, even, to get multiple Eevee with just one game, rather than requiring at least two coordinated games to get all three evolutions as was the case in Generation I, due to the introduction of breeding.
Generation II Eeveelutions are obtained when Eevee is leveled up with high friendship at certain times of the day. Due to this, and the lack of a clock in certain Generation III games, Eevee cannot evolve into Espeon or Umbreon in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Each of the Kimono Girls now owns one Eeveelution.
Espeon
- Main article: Espeon
As a Psychic type, Espeon is well known for a common trait among Pokémon which share its type: a rather high Special Attack and somewhat high Speed. It also has high Special Defense, another common trait among Psychic types. Taking advantage of the time and friendship features introduced in Generation II, Espeon evolves from Eevee when it is raised to maximum friendship and gains a level during the daytime.
Espeon takes advantage of the wide amount of special moves available. With its Ability, Synchronize, it can easily discourage the use of status moves that give it a status ailment, as that condition would then come back at the Pokémon attacking it. With its Dream World Ability, Magic Bounce, it can even protect itself and its team from indirect damage through entry hazards. It, alongside Umbreon, is the starter Pokémon for Pokémon Colosseum.
Umbreon
- Main article: Umbreon
Umbreon is the second of the two Generation II Eeveelutions, a Dark-type Pokémon. Somewhat uniquely, it was the only pure Dark-type in the generation it was introduced in, and also uniquely, is the only Eeveelution better suited to defending rather than attacking. With its two highest stats in Special Defense and Defense, respectively, and its two lowest in the respective offensive stats, Umbreon is much more often used to cause status problems than damage. Umbreon evolves from Eevee when it gains a level during the nighttime with maximum friendship.
Like Espeon, Umbreon has the Ability Synchronize, causing other Pokémon that attempt to use its defensive, status-causing strategy against it to suffer as well. It, alongside Espeon, is the starter Pokémon for Pokémon Colosseum.
Generation IV
Though no new Eeveelutions were seen in Generation III, possibly because of the unavailability of Eevee in Hoenn, Generation IV added another pair of new Eeveelutions, Leafeon and Glaceon. Unlike their evolutionary cousins, they were not available early on in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. They are, however, available early on in Pokémon Platinum; this makes Eevee available before the player has received the third Badge.
Generation IV Eeveelutions are obtained by leveling Eevee up in certain areas, another departure from the methods of evolution in previous generations.
Leafeon
- Main article: Leafeon
A Pokémon often theorized and hoped for over the history of the franchise, Leafeon, was finally the realization of the Grass-type evolution of Eevee. Like Flareon, Leafeon has a relatively high Attack stat, however, its strongest stat is in Defense. Unlike Flareon, it has a diverse movepool, with the rare Leaf Blade counted among its STAB moves. As with the Generation II Eeveelutions, Leafeon takes on a new manner of evolution: when an Eevee is leveled up where a large, mossy rock lies, it will evolve into this Pokémon.
Leafeon has the Abilities Leaf Guard and Chlorophyll. Teamed up with a Flareon, which also gets bonuses from sunny weather, these Abilities can be used advantageously, despite the vulnerability to a Fire-type move.
Glaceon
- Main article: Glaceon
Glaceon is an Ice-type evolution of Eevee. Like Espeon, its highest stat is its Special Attack; however, unlike Espeon, it has a higher defense, a common trait among other Ice types. Similarly to Flareon's problem with physical moves, it has a relatively small movepool to work with regarding special moves. Glaceon evolves from Eevee when it is leveled up where an ice-covered rock lies.
Like Leafeon, Glaceon's special Abilities, Snow Cloak and Ice Body, has to do with the weather, making it more evasive in hailstorms or healing during them. It is the only Eeveelution to learn one of the two countering moves, with Mirror Coat being one of its moves.
Generation VI
Eeveelutions once again skip a Generation and introduce a new evolution in Generation VI: Sylveon.
Sylveon
- Main article: Sylveon (Pokémon)
Sylveon is a Fairy-type evolution of Eevee. It evolves when leveled up with 2 Affection hearts in Pokémon-Amie, and a Fairy-type move. It debuted in PK25, joining its evolutionary relatives.
It is capable of using the new Fairy-type move: Moonblast.
Similar movesets
Base stats comparison
In the anime
Eevee and seven of its evolutions in the anime
In the anime, the Eeveelutions have been featured together in several episodes, most specifically in The Battling Eevee Brothers under the possession of the Eevee brothers, which focused on the three Generation I Eeveelutions, as well as Eevee itself, and Trouble's Brewing under the possession of Sakura and the Kimono Girls, which focused on the five Eeveelutions there were as of Generation II, although Sakura' Espeon was still an Eevee during this episode. The seven Eeveelutions were first featured together with an Eevee as a small cameo at the beginning of Giratina and the Sky Warrior.
Several important characters have owned Eevee which have gone on to evolve; other Eeveelutions have also been featured separately from their cousins.
Gary's Umbreon
Gary Oak owns an Umbreon which he caught as an Eevee sometime before Ash returned to Kanto from the Orange Islands.
It is one of his main Pokémon, having appeared nearly every time he himself has, and being quite skilled in battle.
Sakura's Espeon
Sakura, one of the five Kimono Girls, is the owner of an Espeon, while the rest of her sisters own the four other Eeveelutions that were known in Generation II.
May's Glaceon
Ursula's Vaporeon and Flareon
May, who is the first — and so far only — main anime character to have owned an Eevee, evolved hers into Glaceon on a visit to Sinnoh for the Wallace Cup.
Johanna's Umbreon
Johanna has an Umbreon that debuted in Strategy Begins at Home!. It joined Glameow to help train against its Trainer's daughter: Dawn. It later did the same in SS024.
Zoey's Leafeon
Zoey has a Leafeon that debuted in Double-Time Battle Training!. It was used in a practice tag Double Battle with her Kirlia. It reappeared in Coming Full Festival Circle! alongside her Mismagius in the semi-finals of the Sinnoh Grand Festival where it defeated Nando's Kricketune and Lopunny.
PK25 promotional art featuring Pikachu, and all of the Eeveelutions so far
Ursula's Vaporeon and Flareon
Ursula used two Eevee in her appeal for the Grand Festival in the Last Call, First Round!. She evolved them into Vaporeon and Flareon as part of the act.
Volkner's Jolteon
Volkner used a Jolteon in The Eighth Wonder of the Sinnoh World! in Ash's Gym battle, it battled and lost to Infernape. It is the only Eeveelution to be used by a Gym Leader in the anime.
Cynthia's Glaceon
Cynthia used a Glaceon in All for the Love of Meloetta! to freeze part of a river. She and Ash then broke up the ice so it could be used to cool down a sick Meloetta.
Virgil's Team
Virgil owns an Eevee and every one of its then-known final forms. They debuted together in Team Eevee and the Pokémon Rescue Squad! where he used them in his mountain rescue duties. He also used them to fight through the Vertress Conference, which he won.
The Pikachu short for Genesect and the Legend Awakened featured every Eevee evolution, including the newly revealed Sylveon.
In the manga
In the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
In the chapter To Evolve or Not to Evolve, That is the Question!, Ash and Mikey fight together against the Eevee brothers so that Mikey and his Eevee may be accepted into the secret fellowship, The Knights of the E Stone. Each of Mikey's brothers owns one of Eevee's evolutions which was known at the time (Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon), and Mikey's Eevee must fight each of its evolutions to prove its worth despite being an unevolved Pokémon.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
Vee was featured as a Pokémon Team Rocket experimented on with the use of the Eevee Bio-Engineering Scheme. This allowed Eevee to freely evolve into any of the Generation I Eeveelutions. After some time under Red's ownership however, Vee evolved into an Espeon, and the ability was eliminated.
In the TCG
In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, many sets featuring the Eeveelutions have been released. Commonly, all of them will be released within the same expansion set, much as Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon were originally released in the Jungle expansion.
Included with the Skyridge expansion, also, is a Theme Deck by the name of Eeveelution, which features the original three Eeveelutions as the focus. However, the deck only includes the three Generation I Eeveelutions: whereas Umbreon was released in the set, Espeon was not.
There have also been several deck archetypes that revolve around the Eeveelutions, mostly due to their versatility and their lack of a unanimous weakness. One of the most recent is Eeveelutions, which utilizes Pokémon-ex variants of all five then-known Eeveelutions. The use of this archetype has been assisted by the release of a great many Energy cards that provide more than one type of Energy, such as Rainbow Energy. In Majestic Dawn, Glaceon and Leafeon were introduced to the TCG, as well as including all previous Eeveelutions. The most recent expansion to include the Eevee family is Plasma Freeze, including all but Sylveon.
Trivia
- All of the Eeveelutions learn a new move every four levels up to level 45 in Black 2 and White 2. In Generation IV and Black and White, they each learned a new move every seven levels up to level 71DP or 78PtHGSSBW.
- Each Eeveelution has identical base stat totals, as well as the same 130-110-95-65-65-60 amounts. What differs among them is which amount is allotted to which stat.
- Espeon and Glaceon both have their highest base stat in Special Attack, as well as the same stats in HP and Special Defense. The other stats, however, vary.
- Leafeon is the only Eeveelution whose base stat in Special Defense is lower than 95.
- No Eeveelution so far has either HP or Special Defense as its lowest base stat.
- In the TCG, out of the seven Eeveelutions, only two share a type: Glaceon and Vaporeon, which both appear as Water Pokémon.
- Eevee and all of the Eeveelutions each have a catch rate of 45.
- Vaporeon is the only Eeveelution that does not share any weakness with another. Flareon and Jolteon are weak to Ground-type moves, Espeon, Umbreon and Leafeon are weak to Bug-type moves, Umbreon and Glaceon are weak to Fighting-type moves, Leafeon and Glaceon are weak to Fire-type moves, Leafeon and Sylveon are weak to Poison-type moves, and Glaceon and Sylveon are weak to Steel-type moves.
- Flareon is the only Eeveelution who has a type advantage over more than one other Eeveelution (being Leafeon and Glaceon).
- Espeon is the only Eeveelution not to have a type advantage over another at all (Vaporeon is strong against Flareon, Jolteon is strong against Vaporeon, Flareon is strong against both Leafeon and Glaceon, Umbreon is strong against Espeon, Leafeon is strong against Vaporeon, Glaceon is strong against Leafeon, and Sylveon is strong against Umbreon).
- A chapter of Magical Pokémon Journey, Eevee-Lu-Tion, parodies this term. (Eevee and Lu are the names of two characters from the Magical Pokémon Journey manga).
- The remakes for Generation I and Generation II are incapable of obtaining any Eeveelutions that were introduced after that particular generation. The lack of a clock system prevents Espeon and Umbreon from being obtained in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, and the lack of the Moss Rock and Ice Rock prevents Leafeon and Glaceon from being obtained in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver.
- Despite Eevee being obtainable before the Pokémon League in Black 2 and White 2, it can not evolve into Leafeon or Glaceon until after the Elite Four is defeated, unless it is traded to Black and White, evolved, and then traded back. This is because Twist Mountain and Pinwheel Forest are inaccessible.
See also
References
