Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
130
|
- |
401 |
464 |
- |
| Atk |
65
|
149 |
166 |
229 |
251 |
| Def |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpA |
110
|
230 |
256 |
319 |
350 |
| SpD |
95
|
203 |
226 |
289 |
317 |
| Spe |
65
|
149 |
166 |
229 |
251 |
A pure Baton Passing set. Vaporeon is a very, very durable Baton Passer. You can easily bring it in on Metagross to support the team or to heal yourself. Remember to keep the health high before you switch it out. Vaporeon's Substitute has more than 100 HP, so Seismic Toss will not break it. This Vaporeon combines really nicely with heavy hitters, as they will have more turns to hurt their counters or to set up and sweep. Examples are Gengar, Heracross and Rhydon.
This set is easier to keep alive, and dishes out more diverse damage. With the EVs recommended, you can survive two Choice Band Salamence hits, so you should have an easy time coming in on it and Ice Beaming it back to hell. Or you could Toxic them. Protect and Wish form a makeshift Recover for you, except that Wish will help you heal other members of the team. Protect also helps to see what Choice Banders will do, and to extend Toxic damage.
Vaporeon makes a great Hazer or pseudo-hazer. Haze gives more security against Suicune, since Suicune is faster and it could Roar you away before you can do the same to him. It actually works against Soundproof Pokémon, too. However, with Roar you can blow away Substitutes, and do Spikes damage. This choice and the last move are up to you.
This is the set you should use on a Baton Pass team. It contributes Acid Armor, to defend yourself against nasty Salamence, Snorlax and other threats. The closest thing you will have to a Choice Band counter if you don't have Scizor or Mawile. If you have Wish on something else, use Substitute. Easily the strongest Substitute you will ever find, your team members will sure like it served with some Calm Minds and Acid Armors. Wish is important to have on your team, though.
Other Options
Charm can be frustrating for Cursers and Dragon Dancers. Rest is not as supportive as Wish, but Vaporeon really hates being statused, so it's an option. Vaporeon can Baton Pass Curse, if you must. Hidden Power Electric is the only way Vaporeon beats Taunting Gyarados, and helps against other Waters. Vaporeon does have a respectable Special Attack stat to work with.
EVs
You will want to focus on HP and Defense, since Water types are excellent at beating non-Choice Band physical attackers. Max out Defense and make it Bold for a perfect Salamence counter. Any Vaporeon, especially ones with Substitute, want lots of HP—at least 405, but preferably 417 or 433. The rest should go into Special Attack or Special Defense, you won't make a lot of use with Speed. If you have Wish and Baton Pass, you might want to make it as slow as possible, so that Vaporeon will take the hit on the turn you Baton Pass, instead of the Pokémon that's going to be healed with Wish. In that case, use Relaxed nature, and reduce its Speed DV to 0. If you have Ice Beam (and possibly Hidden Power Electric), you should consider Modest as your nature, as Vaporeon has a rather high Special Attack stat to work with.
Opinion
Vaporeon is probably the best team player of all Waters, thanks to Wish and Baton Pass. Its stats are high all around, and with Haze and Water Absorb, it makes one of the best Suicune counters. It passes the strongest Substitutes in the game to whatever you want, as well as Wish and Acid Armor, making it a great asset in Baton Pass chains.
Counters
Gyarados can Taunt it and Dragon Dance up with little risk to itself, unless Vaporeon has Hidden Power Electric. Quagsire is better than immune to Vaporeon's Surf, and can set up Curses against those that lack Haze or Roar. Tentacruel has high Special Defense and is resistant to both Surf and Ice Beam, and would just love to set up Swords Dances on Vaporeon. Snorlax can start Cursing up (or just wall its hits and prevent it from successfully passing a Substitute). Celebi can Calm Mind in its face and Baton Pass to something else, or slam it with boosted special attacks. Suicune can Calm Mind up and Roar out Vaporeon, but unless there are Spikes down, Vaporeon can just come right back in and be more than immune to Suicune's Surfs.
Lanturn resists Surf and Ice Beam, and has STAB Thunderbolt to smack it with. Raikou, Jolteon, and Zapdos can easily 2HKO it (but Zapdos has to watch out for Ice Beam if you don't stack Special Defense).
Porygon2 has the stats to take Ice Beams easily, can Trace Water Absorb to make Surf more than useless, and can nail it with Thunderbolt, and it's much the same with Gardevoir (except replace Recover with Wish and add the threat of it Calm Minding up). Venusaur and Meganium can take on those without Ice Beam, assuming they have a Grass move.
Then again, Vaporeon can still Baton Pass to counters of these on the switch; an example of a great partner to Vaporeon is Dugtrio—just see what it beats out of these.
