The Pokemon League: A brief analysis of the Eeveelutions from the Dream World

So you think you have a team ready to battle your friends and their Pokemon? If you think you've got all your options figured out, it's time to clear the wax out of your ears! The Dream World is coming and the official Pokemon website has started the launch process for it.

While Dream World's official launch is still on hiatus due to Japan's earthquake, the official website has launched a flash game called “Befriend a Pokemon” which is basically Breakout and you can receive an Eevee form with a unique Dream World ability.

But you can only pick one and there's no going back once you decide to take what you earn. So which forms should you consider and which are forms you're better off getting in the standard game?

Vaporeon – Dream World ability: Hydration – Vaporeon has always been known as a great special wall that can also hit hard with Surf and support team mates with Wish and Baton Pass. Vaporeon's base ability, Water Absorb, definitely gives you free switch ins with some moderate prediction.

With Hydration, Vaporeon gains more solidarity. If you can get rain up with another Pokemon, using Rest while it's raining makes it very difficult to kill Vaporeon, let alone cripple with poison or paralysis.

Catch value: Catch it! Hydration seriously rivals Water Absorb in terms of usefulness.

Jolteon – DW ability: Quick Feet – Jolteon's niche has always been speed, speed, and more speed. Unfortunately, lots of other electric Pokemon have an easier time hitting harder than Jolteon with just enough speed. Jolteon has always found success utilizing its speed to get boosts Baton Passed around through Charge Beam and Agility as well as getting revenge kills. Its ability, Volt Absorb, also lets it switch in on electric attacks.

Quick Feet boosts speed when suffering from a status ailment. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense on Jolteon. Unlike the four other attributes, you're either faster or you're not and the effects of Quick Feet can't be BP'ed. What's the use of outspeeding everything when you already outspeed everything?

Catch value: Leave it! Unless you're afraid of attacks like Stun Spore or Glare, Volt Absorb is better. It even absorbs Thunder Wave, the most common method of inflicting paralysis.

Flareon – DW ability: Guts – Ah Flareon. Forever the weakest of the Eeveelutions. So long as Flareon will never get Flare Blitz for Same Type Attack Bonus (shortened as STAB), it'll always be outclassed by every other fire Pokemon on the market. Fire Fang just doesn't cut it. Even with its ability, Flash Fire, allowing Flareon to switch in on fire attacks, Fire Fang once again isn't terribly threatening.

Guts boosts the user's Attack attribute by 50% when suffering from a status ailment. This is just begging for Flare Blitz but once again, Flareon just can't get any good mileage out of it. Guts is functionally better than Flash Fire however. You can exploit Guts to boost whatever other physical attacks Flareon can learn like… Bite?

Catch value: Think on it! Guts is a good ability but Flareon can't use it well. If you absolutely love Flareon, go for Guts and see how far you can go!

Espeon – DW ability: Magic Bounce – Espeon has been overshadowed by Alakazam for years. They're both similar in many ways but Alakazam boasts a more diverse movepool. Synchronize was also more of a revenge ability then something you can plan on using. But Espeon may see more use this generation as it gains a new DW ability and an egg move Alakazam can't get: Stored Power. This makes Espeon a gimmicky but powerful ender to your BP chains as it's base power increases for every boost the user has. For example, Ninjask is a popular Swords Dance and Speed Boost Baton Passer. Even though Espeon can't use those attack boosts, it still increases the base power of Stored Power!

Espeon is the sole user of Magic Bounce with usable stats distribution. The only other two users of Magic Bounce are Natu and Xatu, who have terrible stats. Magic Bounce reflects all non-damaging, target moves like Thunder Wave, Toxic, and even Stealth Rocks and Spikes! With Magic Bounce on Espeon, it can function as an anti-lead to reflect hazards and as a switch in when you predict something like a ghost Pokemon using Will-o-wisp.

Catch value: Catch it! Espeon pretty much has a monopoly on a great ability!

Umbreon – DW ability: Inner Focus – As the generations passed, the metagame put more and more focus on offense and it made Umbreon's job as a wall harder. It has incredible bulk and can easily wall lots of things but many Pokemon these days carry effective fighting moves like Close Combat or Superpowe that just dent Umbreon too hard.

Inner Focus is kind of a funny but situational ability. On one hand, its ability to prevent flinch stops annoying problems like a Serene Grace boosted Air Slash. On the other hand, people who use moves that cause flinch are extremely rare.

Catch value: Leave it! Flinch isn't very common. Certainly not as common as status afflicting moves like Thunder Wave, which Umbreon can Synchronize.

On the next page, the last and newest Eeveelutions, questions, and my personal choice!

Glaceon – DW ability: Ice Body – Ice has always been a strange type to me. It's weak to a lot of attacks many Pokemon can carry and is strong against very uncommon types. However, Ice is the one reliable type to counter dragon types, the type that's home to some of the most powerful Pokemon in the metagame. Glaceon is really only as good as your team. If you build a team that revolves around ice Pokemon and the hail weather condition, you'll have a powerful team. Put Glaceon anywhere else though and it'll flounder. Snow Cloak gives Glaceon an annoying boost in evasion but that's of course relying on luck.

Ice Body on the other hand is much more reliable. Glaceon also has very tough physical defense, so couple Ice Body in hail with Leftovers and 100% accurate Blizzard and you have something your opponent may genuinely fear.

Catch value: Think on it! Ice is a very situational type to use but if you have team mates to support Glaceon, it can be worth it!

Leafeon – DW ability: Chlorophyll – Leafeon has powerful attack attribute in common with Flareon. Unlike Flareon however, Leafeon gets Leaf Blade as a reliable STAB. Plus it learns Swords Dance to make it hit harder. These are things Flareon would kill for. Leafeon's ability, Leaf Guard, can be nice in preventing status afflictions, but it doesn't work like Hydration which can heal self-induced sleep from Rest. It prevents status ailments; It does not heal them!

Leafeon is a simple Pokemon and Chlorophyll is a simple ability. In strong sunlight, the user's speed doubles. It's as simple as getting sun up, using Swords Dance, and spamming Leaf Blade or X-scissor for type coverage. It's not flashy but Leafeon isn't flashy. It gets the job done and that's what it wants.

Catch value: Catch it! Lots of grass types have Chlorophyll but Leafon definitely has the bulk to survive a stray hit and the speed to truly outspeed most threats.

So there you have it. All the Eeveelutions and their Dream World abilities spelled out for you and given context for competitive battle. For you Pokemon trainers out there, has this changed your mind on which you'll pick? Will this change any teams you've already constructed? And are you excited by the prospect of the Dream World shaking up the metagame a bit with new abilities that haven't been legally introduced yet?

Personally, I've already chosen Vaporeon. It'll easily fit into my Rain Dance team as Hydration requires very little alteration on my team to get it to work well. Vaporeon's ability to take hits and Rest it off will be a great value where the rest of my team focuses on hitting hard and fast while the rain continues to fall. Espeon is an honest runner up though, because the prevelance of entry hazards like Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Stealth Rocks gives you a huge advantage if you can reflect them and weaken the target who's using it at the same time.

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