SYLVEON STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Every time we receive a new Eevolution it becomes something interesting for Competitive Pokémon and with the release of the sixth generation we were finally going to receive the Fairy type, Sylveon . While other evolutions of the iconic Eevee are great supports like Umbreon , in the case of the Fairy Pokémon we will see that it is a great sweeper capable of dealing a lot of damage and taking good hits.

It can be argued that Sylveon probably has the best type of all of its siblings, which coupled with great ability and tremendous moves gives us a Pokémon that you want to know how to play, both for your teams and to know how to face it. . Let’s see how.

? SYLVEON STATS

Its stats add up to a total of 525 points , average for a good Competitive Pokémon. Let’s see its distribution:

Health: 95.
Attack: 65.
Defense: 65.
Special Attack: 110.
Special Defense: 130.
Speed: 60.

Sylveon has a good Health and Special Defense stat, so if we offset those 65 points in Defense a bit we will have a very difficult Pokémon to take down. Its high Special Attack means that its damage is not something to ignore, although due to its low Speed we are dealing with a Pokémon that does not stand out as a classic sweeper . But with his great skill and movements you will see what he is capable of; keep reading.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Sylveon is a Fairy-Type , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

He is immune to Dragon.
It is resistant to Fighting, Bug and Dark.
It is weak to Poison and Steel.

Fairy is the anti-Dragon type and that immunity comes in handy to protect our Dragons. His resistances to Dark and Fighting are fantastic, both very common and awkward types, while Bug is a minor resistance.

Let’s see finally its weaknesses:

Poison : Although it is a rare type, there are dangerous Pokémon in this type, mainly Venusaur and Gengar .
Steel : It is the most dangerous weakness. Pokemon like Gholdengo , Scizor, and Kingambit are some of the most dangerous.

SYLVEON ABILITIES

Even though Sylveon has two abilities, we will always use one of it. Let’s see what they are:

GREAT CHARM

If an opposing Pokémon hits our Pokémon with a contact move (such as Point Blank) and they are of the opposite gender, it has a 30% chance of falling in love and has a 50% chance of not attacking our Pokémon. This is a very inconsistent ability and quite weak.

FAERIE SKIN (HIDDEN ABILITY)

The Normal-type moves used by the Pokémon become Fairy-Type, boosting them by 30%. This ability is tremendous and the one we will always use.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

Since we are not dealing with a very fast Pokémon, it will be more interesting to increase its survival:

EV’s : We will increase his Health and Defense as a priority, giving Special Attack a value at ease. As a guideline we recommend 252 in Health, 252 in Defense and 4 in Special Attack, but below in the sets we leave you some option that we have been testing.
Nature : A Bold (+Defense, –Attack) or Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack) Nature are the best choices. We’ll use Mansa (+Special Attack, -Speed) on VGC, we’ll explain why below.

BEST MOVES FOR SYLVEON

These are the best moves for Sylveon:

Big Voice : Normal, Special, 90 power and 100% accuracy. Hit both opponents in Doubles. Thanks to his Fairy Skin ability this will be his most important Fairy STAB, hitting Dragon, Fighting and Dark really hard. It will be fantastic to deal with Pokemon like Dragapult , Annihilape , or Tyranitar .
Quick Attack : Normal, Physical, 40 power and 100% accuracy. It has high priority. Even though it is a physical attack, it will be very useful to finish off Pokémon thanks to the ability, which will give us good damage.
Rattlesnake Cura : Normal, State. Cures burns, poison, sleep, frostbite, and paralysis for all Pokémon on Team. Tremendous movement in Singles.
Yawn : Puts the opposing Pokémon to sleep on the first turn and puts it to sleep at the end of the next. We can use this movement repeatedly, forcing several changes in the opponent. It’s a great option against Pokemon that want to stay in play for multiple turns like Blaziken .
Wish : The Pokémon uses the first turn to make a wish and at the end of the next it recovers half of the PS to the Pokémon that is in its place. Very useful to heal our damaged teammates.
Shadow Ball : Ghost, Special, 80 power and 100% accuracy, with a 20% chance to lower the target’s Special Defense by one level. Very effective against Ghost and Psychic. Great option for Pokemon like Skeledirge or Hatterene , for example.
Mental Peace : Psychic, State. Our Pokémon will increase its Special Attack and its Special Defense by one level. Great boost move .
Protection : Normal, Status, high priority. The Pokémon prevents all damage or status moves this turn.

SYLVEON STRATEGIES

Thanks to its resistance, damage and its versatility in movements, Sylveon is capable of performing many functions in our teams. Here we leave you the sets that have worked best for us:

SYLVEON OFF WALL WITH DAMAGE (SINGLES)

IVs: Perfect.
EVs: 252 Health, 252 Defense and 4 Special Attack.
Nature: Bold.
Object: Remains.
Skill: Faerie Skin.
Movements:
- Big Voice.
- Wish.
- Rattlesnake Cure.
- Protection/Yawn/Quick Attack.

This set is very uncomfortable for the opponent; If we avoid being Taunted (which will prevent us from using status moves), Sylveon will be on the field for many turns and will be able to damage and heal our Pokémon. Wish is one of the best moves in this set ; we can use it to heal ourselves, using Protection to avoid taking damage or switch to our Fairy to heal a teammate. With Cascabel Cura we will be able to remove the states of our team and with Vozarrón we will hit really hard, threatening the opponent’s Dragons a lot.

We give you the option of Yawning for walls that want to lengthen games, forcing them out of the field, or the use of Quick Attack to finish off Pokémon that expect to hit before our Sylveon.

SYLVEON BULKY SWEEPER (VGC DOUBLES)

IVs: Perfect.
EVs: 164 Health, 4 Attack, 252 Defense, 84 Special Attack and 4 Special Defense.
Nature: Mansa.
Object: Mouth Spray / Baribá Berry.
Skill: Faerie Skin.
Movements:
- big voice
- Fast attack.
- Shadow Ball/Yawn.
- Protection.

First of all, we use Meek Nature for two reasons: to not lower our Attack by boosting Fast Attack, and to be faster in Trick Room . Mouth Spray will give us a lot of damage after using Big Voice , which can make Sylveon a great offensive threat. We use the berry to cover the confrontation with Gholdengo and some Pokémon that can hit us hard with Steel.

The choice between Shadow Ball and Yawn is for coverage, although we recommend Yawn to have more versatility and cover the Ghost and Psychic types with other Pokémon.

SYLVEON TERACRYSTALLIZATION

Teracrystallization Fire .

Sylveon’s great rival is Steel, so if we teracrystallize Fire we will not only resist it well, we can also hit it very hard with Terablast.

Teracrystallization Fairy .

Although we don’t recommend it, as it will still be very weak to a possible Steel or Poison attack, the damage from Big Voice will be very high and the damage from Quick Attack will surprise more than one person.

HOW TO DEFEAT SYLVEON AND COUNTERS

As we have seen, Sylveon is a very tough Pokémon with a good variety of moves to adapt to. Let’s see how we can play against him:

Weak It Down : Even as a tough Pokémon, a STAB hit from a Steel or Poison type can knock the Fairy Pokémon down. Several have been mentioned, but Gholdengo with his exclusive move hits very hard, and Scizor on the physical side is the best there is. You can also surprise with a Teracrystallized Hydreigon in Poison.
Taunt : If we manage to use Taunt on Sylveon, it will lose its entire arsenal of status moves for 3 turns, greatly weakening its function in Singles. Pokemon like the mighty Incineroar or Umbreon are great options.
Mist / Clear Mist : These moves remove all stat mods from the target, removing the effect of the Mouth Spray. Even though it’s not as decisive, Clear Mist will deal good damage to Sylveon as it’s very effective. Amoonguss would be a clear example.

SYLVEON STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

? SYLVEON STATS

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES