Sylveon [Singles]

[Nix_Hex]

Overview
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-One of the most powerful and easiest-to-use Pokemon in the format.
-Very specially bulky and can run a decent Calm Mind set to counter many special attackers and Porygon2.
-Slow and physically frail, loses to most Steel-types unless played carefully.

Choice Specs
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name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Psyshock / Shadow Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Baton Pass / Sleep Talk / Hyper Beam
ability: Pixilate
item: Choice Specs
evs: 36 HP / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
nature: Modest

Moves
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-Hyper Voice gets STAB and boost from Pixilate with great neutral coverage. Substitute users are not safe from it.
-Psyshock is significantly less powerful but provides a solid physical attack.
-Shadow Ball hits Aegislash harder than Hidden Power.
-Hidden Powers hit Aegislash; Fire beats Scizor while Ground beats Heatran.
-Baton Pass is a low-risk pseudo U-turn.
-Sleep Talk is viable so sleep doesn't completely ruin it.
-Hyper Beam is incredibly powerful with the Pixilate boost and is a great finisher.

Set Details
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-Very tough to switch into; Hyper Voice does a ton of damage to offensive Pokemon who don't resist it, while Sylveon's coverage moves make up for it.
-Modest + 252 SpA + Choice Specs makes Sylveon hit ridiculously hard.
-Hyper Voice OHKOes all Dragons, offensive Landorus-T, Thundurus, (Mega) Blaziken, and Rotom-W, and 2HKOes the bulkiest of Rotom-W.
-Severely weakens Mega Kangaskhan.
-3HKOes defensive Suicune and Cresselia
-2HKOes more offensive Suicune variants.
-Hidden Power Fire OHKOes Scizor and Mega Scizor.
-Hidden Power Ground OHKOes offensive Heatran.
-Psyshock OHKOes (Mega) Gengar, 2HKOes Talonflame, and dents Mega Venusaur.
-Shadow Ball has a high percentage of 2HKOing offensive Aegislash in Shield Form. Very good to spam in case of incoming Steel-types. Chips away at Scizor if running Hidden Power Ground, Heatran if running Hidden Power Fire.
-Hyper Beam is unfathomably powerful and OHKOes stuff that Hyper Voice misses out on like Mega Kangaskhan. Just for kicks, it always OHKOes 252/252+ Rotom-W.
-Listed spread spread maximizes damage output while outrunning 0 Spe Rotom-A.

Usage Tips
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-Usually, select Hyper Voice and watch the damage roll in against all but resists and very bulky Pokemon.
-Use a coverage move otherwise.
-If you predict your opponent switching to something Sylveon can't hit, use Baton Pass to switch out to something better.
-Only use Hyper Beam in the most dire of circumstances (last Pokemon), as the recharge turn is pretty detrimental otherwise.

Team Options
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-Anything that can beat Sylveon's counters makes a great partner, especially when using Baton Pass.

Calm Mind + Rest
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name: Calm Mind + Rest
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Hyper Voice
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk / Hidden Power Ground / Shadow Ball
ability: Pixilate
item: Chesto Berry
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
nature: Bold

Moves
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-Calm Mind takes advantage of Sylveon's great natural SpD which in this case is uninvested, and gives Sylveon some fire power.
-Hyper Voice is a great STAB when Sylveon needs to attack. Puts pressure on Pokemon who use Substitute.
-Rest gives Sylveon a method of recovery.
-Sleep Talk allows Sylveon to boost some more our attack, like the classic CroCune but runs the usual risk of hax by picking Rest.
-Hidden Power Ground gives it the ability to do decent damage to Steel types like Heatran but it's underpowered otherwise.
-Shadow Ball is rather weak but can damage Aegislash better than Hyper Voice.

Set Details
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Usage Tips
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-Set up on unboosted special attackers - Especially Porygon2 forever bar freeze or endless full paralysis from Tri Attack.
-This makes it one of the best defensive Porygon2 counters in the format.

Team Options
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Other Options
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-Pixie Plate is a viable alternative on an offensive set. For instance, it lets you bluff Choice Specs, allowing Sylveon to switch moves if it needs to while still being able to spam Hyper Voice. You can even run an offensive Calm Mind set. Unfortunately, everything outside of Hyper Voice becomes significantly weaker without a Specs or Pixilate boost.
-Quick Attack works best with Pixie Plate. It is very weak but it lets Sylveon get rid of anything with a broken Focus Sash or just at really low health.

Checks & Counters
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-Heatran takes a pittance from Specs Hyper Voice or Psyshock.
-Porygon2 is only 3HKOed by Specs Hyper Voice and can use Recover to stall it out.
-Aegislash can capitalize on its resistance to Hyper Voice while doing heavy damage with Flash Cannon or Iron Head
-Kangaskhan has a tough time switching in, but if it does manage to do it, gets a guaranteed KO with Fake Out + Return.

 

[skies]

Hey there, I know this is WIP and really doesn't have much on it, but I feel that Baton Pass needs either a.) a slash or b.) a large mention in Moves. Baton Pass lets Sylveon pivot into a teammate and acts a pseudo U-turn to get out of a tricky situations. It's really low prediction to use as well, and I think it's a pretty good move on Sylveon n_n.

 

[Nix_Hex]

I do like that idea also, especially since slow U-turns are a commodity in any singles format. I like it before Shadow Ball tbh.

 

[Nix_Hex]

Theorymon and I have had countless discussions regarding Sylveon over the past few weeks. I have been editing the OP bit by bit after these discussions, so this analysis is far from dead, if anyone was wondering. Here are some of the results of these discussions.

1. Calm Mind owns Porygon2 (and defensive Rotom-W / special attackers).
   Modest is the most common nature on P2 and I ran a nice calc:
   252+ SpA Porygon2 Tri Attack vs. +1 252 HP / 4 SpD Sylveon: 34-42 (16.8 - 20.7%) -- possible 5HKO
   (34, 36, 36, 36, 36, 37, 37, 37, 39, 39, 39, 39, 40, 40, 40, 42). Outside of Freeze or endless FP hax from Tri Attack, Porygon2 really cannnot beat Sylveon. Rest is the real clincher, preventing Toxic (16% usage) and Tri Attack burn from killing Sylveon. As for Rotom, it of course has to rely on 8 PP 80% acc Hydro Pump and once Sylveon has one boost, it really doesn't care.
2. Pixie Plate is a viable option.
   There are two ways you can spin this:
   -you will be clicking Hyper Voice 99% of the time so Specs is a better offensive option. -you will be clicking Hyper Voice 99% of the time so it's no big deal if you aren't getting a boost on Shadow Ball & Friends and it allows you to do something else if need be like Wish, Baton Pass, or.....
   
3. Quick Attack.
   It is piss weak (lol Modest), we know, but that is not the point. The real point is that it screws up anything that depends on a Sash from messing with it. It's very situational, but it is an option.
4. We will start with two sets.
   Choice Specs and Calm Mind are the obvious ones. Anything regarding a Pixie Plate, be it offensive or defensive or what have you, we can add at a later time.

Also I have a fully trained Bold Sylveon, a fully trained Modest Sylveon, an untrained HP Ground Sylveon without Baton Pass, and an untrained HP Ground Eevee with Baton Pass. The former I will raise with the 220 spread, and the latter I will run 252 HP / 0 Spe to give Sylveon the option of more bulk and to have a slower Baton Pass. If anyone is interested in having one of these, let me know and I'll hook you up.

 

[Jibaku]

Psyshock mainly hits Mega Venusaur, as you can't really dent it with its other moves
Sleep Talk on Specs set can work
Wouldn't say Sylveon is that splashable. Slow + physically frail means it can fall prey pretty easily to the high numbers of physical attackers in this format.
Hyper Voice's Sub blasting should to be mentioned. This is especially strong vs Gliscor

 

[Nix_Hex]

Mentioned Mega Venusaur, slashed Shadow Ball with Psyshock and slashed Sleep Talk between Baton Pass and Hyper Beam to avoid 4-move slash. Got rid of the splashable part, your point makes sense.

 

[Ares]

NixHex when will this be finished? you seem to be just about done with everything, altho the first set has a bit of slashitis.

PS: Bullet points are better :^)

 

[Nix_Hex]

I really do want to finish this, it's just that I don't have much experience with the Calm Mind set. I have also been incredibly busy with work. For the sake of getting this up, can I just write up the Specs set (after fixing the slashitis)? I promise I'll get some practice in with CM Sylveon, it's just been a while since I've gotten a chance to even turn on my 3DS lol. Thanks Montsegur for the reminder.

 

[DragonWhale]

NixHex do you still want to work on this?

 

[Nix_Hex]

I'll only give it up if someone else promises to write a Sylveon analysis because I think it's deserving of one

Read: No, I don't want to be the one who finishes this. Go ahead and lock it.