Espeon [QC 1/2] [GP 0/1]

[Oathkeeper]

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Dazzling Gleam
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Specs
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Espeon solidifies itself as a powerful wallbreaker in RU due to its excellent Speed tier, ability in Magic Bounce, and raw special attacking power, but it lacks Gardevoir's Steel-type coverage and Indeedee-F's raw power. Dazzling Gleam lets Espeon hit Dark-types like Scrafty, Drapion, and Umbreon for decent damage. Shadow Ball nails threats like Bronzong, and is Espeon's best attack against Copperajah and Steelix. Trick cripples special walls like the aforementioned Bronzong, Porygon2, and Umbreon. While Choice Specs Espeon does hit hard, threats like Swords Dance Drapion and Dragon Dance Scrafty can take advantage of it being locked into Psychic or Shadow Ball.

Since Espeon cannot reliably hit Steel-types, a Fighting-type like Passimian, Bewear, and Scrafty can come in and offensively pressure them. In return, Espeon handles the Poison-types like Dragalge, Vileplume, and Salazzle that they struggle with. These same Fighting-types can erase Dark-types that Espeon struggles with like Umbreon and Choice Scarf Drapion. Partners like Golisopod and Klefki that can set Spikes, help wear down Steel-types for Espeon. In addition, Spike-stack teams appreciate Espeon's ability to keep opposing hazards off the field. Faster threats like Choice Scarf Passimian and Drapion, along with naturally faster threats like Barraskewda and Lycanroc, all OHKO Espeon. Therefore, Vikavolt works as a partner to provide Sticky Web support to slow them down as well as function as a slow pivot. Tangela and Seismitoad are both able to check most of these threats while providing support with status or hazards and Knock Off. Lastly, special walls like Porygon2 and Umbreon easily switch into Specs Espeon's attacks and can recover lost HP reliably. The aforementioned Fighting-types work as partners here as well and these walls can also be crippled by Trick.

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Dazzling Gleam
move 4: Morning Sun
item: Kee Berry / Leftovers
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Thanks to its decent Speed tier, ability in Magic Bounce, and access to recovery, Espeon functions as a decent setup sweeper in RU. Calm Mind further boosts its already good special stats while Magic Bounce prevents direct status moves to it like Thunder Wave, Taunt, or Toxic. Dazzling Gleam is a good way to hit Dark-types like Drapion and Scrafty that wall Psychic. Morning Sun gives Espeon much-needed recovery should the need arise. Kee Berry will boost Espeon's poor physical defense after a physical hit if not knocked off and can further help Espeon's sweeping capabilities; alongside 252 HP EVs, this makes it harder to revenge kill. If running Kee Berry, 252 HP EVs is preferred, if Leftovers is used, Espeon can run either 252 HP EVs for bulk or 252 SpA EVs for instant power.

This set, in general, is walled by Steel-types, so having a Fighting-type teammate like Bewear, Passimian, or Virizion to handle them is something Espeon appreciates. Spikes and Knock Off support from partners like Klefki and Golisopod can help wear said Steel-types down, making it easier for Espeon to eventually break through them. While Dark-types like Umbreon and Drapion can be hit by Dazzling Gleam, they have ways of either recovering lost HP or OHKOing Espeon. The aforementioned Fighting-types can help here by switching into Umbreon's Foul Play or Drapion's choice-locked Knock Off, or a Fairy-type partner like Silvally-Fairy can step in and give Espeon a hand. Silvally-Fairy is more notable here since it can eat up Knock Offs, U-turns, as well as pivot out into teammate that can beat Steel-types. Teammates that appreciate Steel-types being weakened like Tauros, Dragalge, Goodra, and Heliolisk make great partners to make each other's jobs easier. Offensive pivots like Passimian, Barraskewda, and the aforementioned Heliolisk can do this on passive defensive Pokemon that Espeon can set up on.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Oathkeepre, 83980]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]

 

[Oathkeeper]

This is ready for QC!

 

[Expulso]

espeon

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Dazzling Gleam
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Specs
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Espeon solidifies itself as a powerful wallbreaker in RU due to its excellent Speed tier, ability in Magic Bounce, and raw special attacking power, but it lacks Gardevoir's Steel-type coverage and Indeedee-F's raw power. Dazzling Gleam lets Espeon hits Dark-types like Scrafty, Drapion, and Umbreon for decent damage. Shadow Ball nails threats like Bronzong, Sigilyph, and even 2HKO Assault Vest Galarian Slowbro [mention that this is its best attack against Copperajah and Steelix]. Trick cripples special walls like the aforementioned Bronzong, Porygon2, and Umbreon. Choice Specs augment's Espeon's breaking power, however, it can leave Espeon susceptible to being exploited when it has locked into a move. [readers will know how specs works, add some specific examples of things that can take advantage of it -- mostly DD Scrafty and SD Drapion].

Since Espeon cannot reliably hit Steel-types, a Fighting-type like Passimian, Bewear, and Scrafty can come in and offensively pressure them. In return, Espeon handles the Poison-types like Dragalge, Vileplume, and Salazzle that they struggle with. These same Fighting-types can erase Dark-types that Espeon struggles with like Umbreon and Choice Scarf Drapion. Indeedee-F makes for a good partner to pair with Espeon given that Indeedee-F can provide Psychic Terrain support for Espeon to boost its Psychic STAB and prevent Espeon from getting harmed by priority moves like Golisopod's First Impression and Toxicroak's Sucker Punch. [I would almost never run this combo of Pokemon due to their defensive weaknesses; [type]-spam teams are niche and not worth a mention here.] [Add a mention of Spikes, which are really effective to wear down those bulky Steel-types; Golis and Klefki deserve a mention. Spike-stack teams also appreciate Espeon's ability to keep opposing hazards off the field.] Faster threats like Choice Scarf Passimian and Drapion, along with naturally faster threats like Barraskewda and Lycanroc, all OHKO Espeon. Therefore, Vikavolt works as a partner to provide Sticky Web support to slow them down as well as function as a slow pivot. Tangela and Seismitoad are both able to check most of these threats while providing support with status or hazards and Knock Off. Lastly, special walls like Porygon2 and Umbreon Snorlax easily switch into Specs Espeon's attacks and can recover lost HP reliably. The aforementioned Fighting-types work as partners here as well and these walls can also be crippled by Trick.

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Dazzling Gleam
move 4: Morning Sun
item: Kee Berry / Leftovers
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Thanks to its decent Speed tier, ability in Magic Bounce, and access to recovery, Espeon functions as a decent setup sweeper in RU. Calm Mind further boosts its already good special stats while Magic Bounce prevents direct status moves to it like Thunder Wave, Taunt, or Toxic. Dazzling Gleam is a good way to hit Dark-types like Drapion and Scrafty that wall Psychic. Morning Sun gives Espeon much-needed recovery should the need arise. Kee Berry will boost Espeon's poor physical defense after a physical hit [Note that Kee Berry does not activate if Espeon is hit by a Knock Off] and can further help Espeon's sweeping capabilities; alongside 252 HP EVs, this makes it harder to revenge kill. Mention that 252 HP Evs should be used with Kee Berry; leftovers sets can opt to run either 252 HP EVs for better bulk or 252 SpA EVs for instant power.

This set, in general, is walled by Steel-types, so having a Fighting-type teammate like Bewear, Passimian, or Virizion to handle them is something Espeon appreciates. Spikes and Knock Off support can help wear them down, making it easier for CM Espeon to eventually break through them [give examples]. While Dark-types like Umbreon and Drapion can be hit by Dazzling Gleam, they have ways of either recovering lost HP or OHKOing Espeon. The aforementioned Fighting-types can help here [mention how they help: by switching into umbreon's foul play / drapion's choice-locked knock and setting up or attacking], or a Fairy-type partner like Silvally-Fairy or Gardevoir can step in and give Espeon a hand. Silvally-Fairy is more notable here since it can eat up Knock Offs, U-turns, as well as pivot into something that neither it or Espeon can handle [huh? what does this mean??]. Teammates that appreciate Fighting-types being gone also work well with Espeon. These potential teammates include Scrafty, Exploud, and Sneasel. I disagree with this statement; nobody is just going to leave their fighting-type in for Espeon to kill, so it doesn't remove them for scrafty/sneasel. Psychic Terrain helps Espeon greatly due to boosting Psychic moves as well as preventing priority damaging moves, so Indeedee-F works well here to pair with Espeon. No, this set is not about instant power so this support wouldn't really be useful for it at all.

add mention of:
- teammates that appreciate steel-types being weakened or can help weaken them (dragons, tauros, helio, basically anything steelix walls)
- offensive pivots like pass, helio, barraskewda that can bring it in against passive defensive mons it can set up on

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Oathkeepre, 83980]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]

The teammates section of each of these requires a lot of work. I think the way you approach it is out of line with how the mon is used; you can't just say "dark-types appreciate its ability to kill fightings", for example, because who just sacks their fighting-type to espeon? think of what it would force damage onto and then what would benefit from that.

 

[Oathkeeper]

Expulso, ready for this to be looked over again!

 

[Expulso]

Looks good! QC 1/2

 

[Oathkeeper]

Ready for QC #2