Hi guys, today I want to discuss a very underrated mon in the metagame and it is Sylveon!!!, I know it has already been discussed in other versions, but I feel that it is underrated after home dropped, i will also discuss the other eeveelutions (I have seen that they are very good)
Let's see.....
HP 95 / Atk 65 / Def 65 / SpA 110 / SpD 130 / Spe 60
Ability: Cute Charm / Pixilate
Main Moves: Hyper Voice, Toxic, Mystical Fire, Wish, Heal Bell, Yawn, Shadow Ball, Psyshock, Protect and Calm Mind
Description: Sylveon may seem like a bad version of Clefable because the latter has better abilities, Soft-Boiled, TeleWish and Stealth Rock, so Sylveon Wish may seem to have no place, but while Clefable has trouble choosing his abilities, if he chooses Unaware, you have the problem that you have problems against Stealth Rock and if you choose Magic Guard, you have a worse match up vs Hydreigon, Sylveon has a better match up against Kyurem and Hydreigon naturally, because Hydreigon needs if or if Nasty plot to beat her. Now we have Specs Sylveon, this kitty with bows hits the whole metagame, breaks cores like Toxapex / Clefable / Corviknight easily and her only real counter for this set is Melmetal, but you can use cores like Rotom-H + Sylveon Specs and it solves Sylveon has a lot to love and I think he deserves more love than he has, he is a threatening power and a very good Wishpasser and thanks to Duggy's Ban, he no longer has to be pressured and even with Melmetal, is great, Yawn is good too, can pressure switch ins and even pressure Melmetal.
HP 130 / Atk 65 / Def 60 / SpA 110 / SpD 95 / Spe 65
Abilities: Water Absorb / Hydration
Main Moves: Scald, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, Haze, Toxic, Roar and Ice Beam
Description: Vaporeon is a great Dracovish Scarf counter, because it can withstand even Outrage, it can also be a good check from Melmetal and Aegislash Swords Dance and doing all this in one slot is quite valuable, although it competes with Seismitoad, Vaporeon has two really important niches , the first is that it can be a cleric wisher and the second is its best overall bulk, although it does not have ground typing, the support of Wish and Heal Bell is very important, I also want to mention that it has very good utility moves like Haze , Roar and Yawn, which definitely gives him a place in the current metagame, all of these moves are to stop setup sweepers, you can even bring Toxic if you have problems with other bulky waters other than Toxapex, Vaporeon definitely deserves more exploration in this metagame, because it has very interesting things to try.
HP 95 / Atk 65 / Def 110 / SpA 60 / SpD 130 / Spe 60
Abilities: Synchronize / Inner Focus
Main Moves: Foul Play, Toxic, Yawn, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, Moonlight and Taunt
Description: Umbreon has Yawn to pressure many setup sweepers like Hydreigon and Rotom-H that Mandibuzzz does not stop and both are really common threats, also Umbreon has a better MU against Kyurem and Dragapult, because Mandibuzz is defeated by both (Kyurem with Ice Beam / Freeze-Dry and Dragapult with Thunderbolt), Umbreon is a mon with a respectable niche that I see well, he was also benefited by the Duggy Ban, because this was a mon very difficult to beat for our friend Umbreon Although the Melmetal Unban doesn't benefit him much, but at least he presses it with Yawn and this is useful, Umbreon and Mandibuzz are comparable mons, but they are different, although Umbreon probably has some competition with Hydreigon at times, I also mention that his ability is quite circumstantial, but good, because most threats think twice before using an attack like Toxic, making it a mon harder to wear down.
HP 65 / Atk 130 / Def 60 / SpA 95 / SpD 110 / Spe 65
Abilities: Flash Fire / Guts
Main Moves: Flare Blitz, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, Curse, Mystical Fire, Roar and Yawn
Description: Flareon is undoubtedly the most benefited by the Duggy Ban and although it does not have many relevant things, it still has a niche, it is a great counter of Corviknight, Zeraora, Clefable, Jirachi Scarf, Melmetal (it can 1v1 because it can burn it) and Aegislash Specs Especially if you wear a Physical Defensive EV Spread to hold 3 Zeraora's 3 Plasma Fits and 3 Corviknight's Brave Bird, it is also very useful with Wish, Yawn, Heal Bell, Will-O-Wisp and Roar and can do all this in 1 single slot, I know you have competition with Arcanine, but I suppose your Cleric Wisher set should be enough to justify yourself in some teams, this is great, because most defensive pokemon have no direct recovery (Seismitoad, Ferrothorn, Rotom Mow, Hatterene, Rotom Wash and Sylveon Specs are examples), it also has Mystical Fire as a niche move to easily count Sub CM Jirachi and Sylveon Specs, Flareon is a mon that although not as viable, has an interesting niche in some teams, even Curse is good.
Notice: From here we will see eeveelutions with smaller niches, but they are not bad.
HP 65 / Atk 65 / Def 60 / SpA 130 / SpD 95 / Spe 110
Abilities: Synchronize / Magic Bounce
Main Moves: Psyshock, Psychic, Grass Knot, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Ball, Trick, Reflect, Light Screen, Yawn, Wish, Heal Bell, Protect, Toxic and Weather Ball
Description: Espeon is a mon with a limited niche, because it is difficult to justify about Hatterene and Grimmsnarl and there are better trick scarfers, but despite this, it still has a niche, about Hatterene it has Trick and a higher speed that does not depend on trick room, for which is freer to carry something like Specs and Grimmsnarl on the set screens, it still has Yawn and Magic Bounce, Yawn is used to press the setup sweepers and Magic Bounce revives the state movements and Espeon is fast, so it It depends on prankster so much, I mean, prankster is useful, but Magic Bounce still has a niche and on the other trick scarfers, because I will have to mention one by one. Over Jirachi he has basically better offensive stats, so he can hit harder and is also fast enough to overcome Venusaur in a modest sun if Espeon has Scarf and over Rotom Wash, because both are quite different, one is faster and offensive and the other more defensive and more useful, we have a mon that has a decent niche that is usable in few teams, but that's fine.
HP 65 / Atk 110 / Def 130 / SpA 60 / SpD 65 / Spe 95
Abilities: Leaf Guard / Chlorophyll
Main Moves: Solar Blade, Knock Off, Dig, Synthesis, X-Scissor, Protect and Swords Dance
Description: It only stands out in sun, but it can destroy if used well, if it is under sun and its threats have been eliminated, it can easily sweep especially if we pair it with mons such as Venusaur, Torkoal and Darmanitan, it may not benefit as much with the Duggy Ban and less with the Melmetal retest, so it is still difficult to use, but Leafeon is a good late game cleaner that has decent coverage, Knock Off is for removing items and this serves to remove things like Band Melmetal and make it destroy less Leafeon is a mon with a niche in the sun, but it is only viable there.
HP 65 / Atk 65 / Def 60 / SpA 110 / SpD 95 / Spe 130
Abilities: Volt Absorb / Quick Feet
Main Moves: Thunder, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Volt Switch, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, Yawn, Roar and Weather Ball
Description: Jolteon still has a very small niche for very specific teams, because there are certainly better options like Zeraora, Rotom-H and Rotom-W, but it still has niches, Weather Ball is one of them, because it benefits you in all climates, in Sun it kills steels, in rain it can kill Rotom-H, Sand does not really benefit him and Hail gives him excellent Bolt Beam coverage, it really is the only niche he has on Zeraora, but he only fits in climate teams except in sand and not I see it a consistent option outside of these, I also mention that it does have some defensive utility with Wish and Yawn, so it can still do Wish + Volt Switch, but there really isn't much else it has.
HP 65 / Atk 60 / Def 110 / SpA 130 / SpD 95 / Spe 65
Abilities: Snow Cloak / Ice Body
Main Moves: Freeze-Dry, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball, Water Pulse, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, Blizzard (only in Hail) Yawn, Substitute and Weather Ball
Description: Glaceon doesn't have a lot of niches over Kyurem, he only has three niches that are worth it, on one hand the pure ice type gives him a better match up against Sylveon and Clefable, Specs Glaceon with Blizzard can 2HKO to Clefable and under Hail and after rocks It can 2HKO Sylveon too, it also has a better match up against Hydreigon, because it can withstand a Draco Meteor and can weaken it from any of its ice attacks, the second niche is its defensive utility with Wish, Roar, Yawn and Heal Bell, this is Probably what gives niche to all eeveelutions, although Glaceon full defensive is unfeasible, you can put some of these attacks depending on what you need in some HDB set, Wish if you want to recover, Roar and Yawn to force switch ins and Heal Bell To recover from the problems of the state, you can even take protect to scout the Melmetal Band and the third niche is Ice Body, if it were not for this, Glaceon with Substitute would not be viable, Leftovers + Substitute + Protect + Toxic + Blizzard + Ice Body in Hail is a set that should be explored further, although it is not a solid niche, it is definitely a mon with a certain niche in the metagame.
In case you want to know the top of eeveelutions it would be like this:
1. Sylveon
2. Vaporeon
3. Umbreon
4. Flareon
5. Leafeon
6. Espeon
7. Glaceon
8. Jolteon
And well, these mons have benefited from the Duggy ban, now let's see that mons are going to go down
HP 100 / Atk 134 / Def 110 / SpA 95 / SpD 100 / Spe 61
Abilities: Sand Stream / Unnerve
Main Moves: Stone Edge, Ice Beam, Snarl, Stealth Rock, Dragon Tail, Earthquake, Hydro Pump, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Dragon Dance, Foul Play, Crunch and Taunt
Description: Tyranitar has benefited from the Duggy Ban, but Melmetal's unban made its use drop, it is that now they are really preferred to things like Hippowdon and Mandibuzz, various unranked mons like the mentioned unranked eeveelutions, Flygon and Heliolisk are much easier to fit into a team than Tyranitar, if unranked mons are easier to fit than Tyranitar, it really does not have a place, on paper it looks like a fantastic mon with excellent stats and excellent ability, but does not count anything useful, to start it does not achieve do nothing against the cores Clefable or Sylveon + Seismitoad + Corviknight, Sand does not win, Sun does not win because Venusaur defeats him with Giga Drain, Rain does not win, it is terrible, there is no team that is not prepared against him, teams have a minimum of 3 -4 Tyranitar counters, I just see him going down to Under Used, don't make him suffer any more in OU pls, even Umbreon is better, because Wish + Yawn is good, but Tyranitar is unviable in the OU metagame actually.
There really isn't much else, maybe Mandibuzz goes down a little and Jirachi goes up, but now let's get down to business, Melmetal:
HP 135 / Atk 143 / Def 143 / SpA 80 / SpD 65 / Spe 34
Ability: Iron Fist
Main Moves: Double Iron Bash, Rock Slide, Superpower, Thunder Punch, Earthquake, Acid Armor, Iron Defense and Body Press.
Description: Melmetal is great, basically very few things wall Melmetal, you depend on certain niche monsters and scouts with Protect, since its good coverage allows Melmetal to be difficult to wall, TPunch + DIB + Superpower + Earthquake is a difficult set to deal with Only sand cores and little else can weaken this mon. On the other hand, this mon has no direct recovery and is very slow and this in such an offensive metagame I honestly do not see something in its favor, its special defense is not so high, so it is 2HKO for things like Seismitoad Earth Power and 4HKO by Scald Vaporeon and can burn it, so Melmetal is an easy mon to wear that depends on a wisher like Clefable and Sylveon, however it is excellent and hits hard, also Body Press + Iron Defense / Acid Armor + DIB + Thunder Punch It is great, he is not beaten for many things either and although he needs more support, he is still fine.
Is broken?: It is debatable, but at the moment it is not broken, at first I thought it was broken because it was not walled by anything, but the metagame is getting a little used to it, using things like Vaporeon, Rotom-H, Seismitoad and Golisopod and with this post, maybe Flareon is more explored, who knows.
Bye guys :)