
[OVERVIEW]
* Sylveon is a great Pokemon in Series 1 thanks to a strong Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice, potentially further boosted by Throat Spray and Calm Mind.Its Fairy typing is especially strong in a metagame with plenty of good Dark-, Dragon-, and Fighting-types like Grimmsnarl, Hydreigon, Hariyama, and Annihilape.
* Sylveon's Speed means that it can effectively take advantage of both Trick Room and Tailwind from Pokemon like Amrarouge and Murkrow; 212 Speed EVs can be run on Tailwind teams to outpace Dragapult.
* Sylveon can struggle against Fire-types like Ceruledge and Armarouge, which makes Pokemon like Rotom-W, Paldean Tauros-A, and Dragonite good teammates. Sylveon also appreciates Pokemon like Ceruledge and Garchomp that can handle Gholdengo.
[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Protect
move 3: Tera Blast / Calm Mind
move 4: Substitute / Calm Mind / Quick Attack
item: Throat Spray / Life Orb / Leftovers / Safety Goggles
ability: Pixilate
nature: Modest
tera type: Fire / Fairy
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
* Tera Blast + Fire Tera type gives Sylveon a strong matchup against Steel-types like Gholdengo and Tera Steel Hydreigon. When not Terastallized, Tera Blast is boosted by Pixiliate and is still useful for dealing damage when faced by Wide Guard users like Armarouge. Fairy Tera type makes Sylveon's Hyper Voice even more powerful, letting it 2HKO even naturally bulky Pokemon like Kingambit and Hatterene; this can be used over Fire Tera type on teams that can afford the loss in effectiveness against Steel-types like Gholdengo. Ground Tera type is an option that lets Sylveon hit opposing Fire-types like Ceruledge and Armarouge hard, retain good damage against Steel-types, and avoid a burdensome weakness to Garchomp, though Sylveon strongly values the resistance to Steel that a Fire Tera type grants.
* Substitute is good for blocking Amoonguss's Spore, preventing its Clear Smog from resetting Sylveon's stat boosts, and taking advantage of defensive play. Quick Attack is an option that can prove particularly useful against Tailwind teams, picking off Pokemon brought down to their Focus Sash like Murkrow and Kilowattrel, as well as other weakened Pokemon.
* Calm Mind is an option that can be particularly potent on bulkier teams with damage mitigation from Pokemon like Gyarados and Grimmsnarl to help Sylveon set up.
* Throat Spray is a no-drawback way of improving Sylveon's offense; a +1 Hyper Voice will 2HKO most offensive Pokemon that do not resist Fairy. Life Orb lets Sylveon immediately 2HKO or nearly 2HKO most offensive Pokemon at the cost of recoil that could put it in range of attacks like Tera Ground Garchomp's Earthquake. Leftovers is good alongside Calm Mind on bulkier teams where Sylveon wants to stick around longer. Safety Goggles grants Sylveon immunity to Amoonguss's Spore.
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Tera Blast
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Hyper Beam
item: Choice Specs
ability: Pixilate
nature: Modest
tera type: Fire
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
* Choice Specs is Sylveon's most immediately powerful set, it can 2HKO most offensive Pokemon that do not resist Fairy. It's much more immediately powerful than Throat Spray Sylveon and a bit stronger than Life Orb Sylveon without wearing itself down with recoil, helping it stay out of range of attacks like Tera Ground Garchomp's Earthquake.
* Tera Blast + a Fire Tera Type lets Sylveon hit Fairy-resistant foes like Gholdengo and Amoonguss hard, and the typing is defensively useful against the former. Tera Blast is also useful by itself in the face of Wide Guard, giving Sylveon an option besides Hyper Beam, which has a turn of recharge, for a single target Fairy-type attack.
* Shadow Ball hits Armarouge, Ceruledge, and Skeledirge, which resist Fairy, and is a strong option against Gholdengo and Gengar if Terastallizing is off the table.
* Hyper Beam OHKOes bulky Pokemon like Rotom-W and Kingambit that can take Hyper Voice.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[yuki, 294287]]
- Grammar checked by: [[autumn, 384270]]
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