#8: Eevee & evolutions

Eevee is a very remarkable Pokémon in the world of Pokémon. This cute little doggy is the only Pokémon that can evolve into more than three different Pokémon! In fact, it evolves into either Flareon (fire-type), Vaporeon (water-type), Jolteon (electric-type), Umbreon (dark-type), Espeon (psychic-type), Leafeon (grass-type) or Glaceon (ice-type). Recently, Sylveon has been revealed for the upcoming Pokémon X and Y games. It is not yet known how to evolve your Eevee into the new fairy-type Sylveon, but it will probably be totally different from how to evolve Eevee into one of the previous seven. Each Eeveelution evolves from Eevee in a unique way, no way is the same. In the first generation it was fairly easy to evolve Eevee: you get Jolteon by using a Thunderstone on it, Flareon by using a Fire Stone and Vaporeon by using a Water Stone. It got a little harder in the second generation Eeveelutions: Eevee evolves into Umbreon by leveling it up one level at nighttime at a high friendship level and into Espeon by doing the same, except at daytime. In generation IV, Glaceon and Leafeon were introduced. Eevee wasn't available until after you have defeated the main game in Diamond and Pearl, but it was available early on in Platinum. To evolve it into Leafeon, just level it up nearby the moss-covered rock in Eterna Forest (Pinwheel Forest in generation V); to evolve it into Glaceon, just level it up nearby the ice-covered rock at route 217 (Twist Mountain in generation V). There is no doubt that Eevee is by far the Pokémon with the most evolutions.

By the way, here is a list of other Pokémon that can evolve into more than one Pokémon, with a maximum of three:

- Gloom (gen. I) evolves into either Vileplume (gen. I) by using a Leaf Stone or Bellossom (gen. II) by using a Sun Stone.

- Poliwhirl (gen. I) evolves into either Poliwrath (gen. I) by using a Water Stone or Politoed (gen. II) by trading it while having it hold a King's Rock.

- Slowpoke (gen. I) evolves into either Slowbro (gen. I) at level 37 or Slowking (gen. II) by trading it while having it hold a King's Rock.

- Tyrogue (gen. II) evolves into either Hitmonchan (gen. I) when its defense is higher than its attack, Hitmonlee (gen. I) when its attack is higher than its defense or Hitmontop (gen. II) when its defense and attack are equal, all starting at level 20.

- Wurmple (gen. III) evolves into either Silcoon (gen. III) or Cascoon (gen. III) at level 7, depending on its personality value.

- Kirlia (gen. III) evolves into either Gardevoir (gen. III) at level 30 or Gallade (gen. IV) when Kirlia is male and when you use a Dawn Stone on it.

- Nincada (gen. III) evolves into Ninjask (gen. III) at level 20 and possibly also Shedinja (gen. III) when you have at least one normal Poké Ball in your bag and an empty spot in your party.

- Snorunt (gen. III) evolves into either Glalie (gen. III) at level 42 or Froslass (gen. IV) when Snorunt is female and when you use a Dawn Stone on it.

- Clamperl (gen. III) evolves into either Gorebyss (gen. III) by trading it while having it hold a DeepSeaScale or Huntail (gen. III) by trading it while having it hold a DeepSeeTooth.

- Burmy (gen. IV) evolves into either Wormadam (gen. IV) at level 20 when it's female, while its cloak depends on the current surroundings, or Mothim (gen. IV) at level 20 when it's male.

So how do these Eeveelutions put up in the video games? Well, they're actually not bad at all! Let's start with the original three: Jolteon, Flareon and Vaporeon. Jolteon exceeds in special attack and speed and it even has some decent special defense, too! Its attack shouldn't be used and its defense is quite mediocre, but it makes up for that with some strong attacks like Discharge, Thunderbolt and Thunder. Unfortunately, it's not very diverse; the only special-based attack it can learn for some type diversity is Shadow Ball. It's capable of learning Signal Beam, but you'll have to go to the Move Tutor in generation V. Then Vaporeon is a little bit better: it has great special attack and special defense, learns strong moves like Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Shadow Ball and Signal Beam. You can say it has a little more diversity than Jolteon, but watch out for its defense stat. It's not absolutely terrible, but Vaporeon doesn't often hit first due to its low speed. Finally, we have Flareon. It has some great attack stat and a decent special attack stat. It's a shame it doesn't learn the appropriate moves to make use of that great attack stat. The only one of its type is Fire Fang, and it can learn Superpower and Iron Tail through the fifth generation Move Tutor, but that's about it except for Dig. Flareon does learn Overheat, Heat Wave, Shadow Ball, Flamethrower and Fire Blast and its special attack is good enough to make use for it, so go ahead if you want to use it. You can also teach it Return, too.

One letdown about all Eeveelutions, though, is that they learn their strongest moves in such high levels that you have to get through the game with mediocre, if not bad, moves (altough that issue was fixed in Black 2 and White 2). The only one who gets around that is Espeon. It has a great special attack stat and it even learns Confusion and Psybeam early on, making it a strong and fast (it has a very good speed stat, too) STAB-hitter early on. Later on, it has access to Shadow Ball, Grass Knot. Psychic and Signal Beam, making it a diverse enough Pokémon to use. Espeon is definitely the best Eeveelution to use, although its defense is not that good, so watch out for physical-based attacks. As opposed to Espeon being the best Eeveelution, Umbreon is by far the worst to use. It has a lack of good moves, its attacking stats are mediocre and it's quite slow, too. Umbreon is meant to use as a tank, however, with great defenses to take quite some hits. It is more capable of being a supporting Pokémon and there are several ways to set up a battle with Umbreon, with it having moves like Toxic, Protect, Confuse Ray or Double Team, and a strong attacking move like Dark Pulse (taught by a Move Tutor). It's not my kind of strategy, but feel free to use it if you want to. I personally like Espeon more...

Lastly, we have Leafeon and Glaceon. Now, there are more Pokémon that evolve by using a certain stone on it or by leveling it up at a high friendship level, at nighttime or at daytime. However, Glaceon is obtained by leveling up Eevee nearby a ice-covered rock and Leafeon by leveling Eevee up nearby a moss-covered rock. It's worth it, though, because Leafeon has a good attack stat, an even better defense stat and quite some decent speed. Its special attack and special defense are not that good, however, but that's not in the least a problem. It has access to some good moves like Razor Leaf, Leaf Blade, Return, Dig, Seed Bomb, X-Scissor, Iron Tail and even Take Down and Double-Edge (learned by Eevee), although Leafeon will get recoil damage in return. Not bad! Glaceon is a little worse, though, even though it has a great special attack stat. It barely learns any good moves by leveling up, except for its last move Blizzard. It learns Ice Beam, Shadow Ball and Signal Beam for some type coverage, but that's about it. And that's exactly the problem with most of the Eeveelutions: the lack of diversity. They learn some good moves indeed, but some of them are hard to get and some are learned at ridiculously high levels. The benefit of Eevee having so much evolutions is that each Eeveelution has its own strategy, with more strategies to come in generation VI. Sylveon (see image below; click on it to enlarge it, or drag it to another tab) is one of them, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were one or two more new Eeveelutions to be waiting for us.

But if these Eeveelutions disappoint me so much battle-wise, then why do I like Eevee and its evolutions so much? Well... Firstly, Eevee is so damn cute that it almost kills me. Yeah, I know I'm a guy and all, but I have a thing for incredibly cute Pokémon and Eevee is definitely one of them. I even had an Eevee plush, which was my favorite Pokémon plush doll. Second, the fact that Eevee evolves in so many Pokémon, with even more to come, makes it one of the most unique Pokémon ever. There are so many choices to evolve your Eevee into nowadays, that it isn't even funny anymore. Well, I know which one Eeveelution I'm never gonna get myself. And if you paid attention, you know which one I mean. Finally, the last reason that I like Eevee and its evolutions are their designs. Curious how an apparently normal dog-like Pokémon evolves into dog-like creatures resembling the type Eevee evolves into. It's easy to see that Jolteon is electric, Flareon fire, Vaporeon water, Espeon psychic, Umbreon dark, Glaceon ice and Leafeon grass. Only I don't really get Sylveon's design and typing, but it's without a doubt an awesome new Pokémon and I'll eventually get used to it, anyway. Anyhow, Eevee and its evolutions definitely deserve a high spot in my list of favorite Pokémon. That was number eight, seven more Pokémon to go!