Among the new capable contenders in Pokemon UNITE, fan-favorite Eevee finally made its debut in early October, evolving into Sylveon as a Ranged Attacker. Let’s take a look at this new fairy friend, and how its damage output and surprising resilience help it frolic along to victory.
As Pokémon UNITE launched into the gaming community, trainers rejoiced at having a new way to admire and experiment with the popular franchise. As from the start it was implied that new Pokémon would be added to the originally small roster of playable characters, many were eager to theorize about what new additions would soon make their debut. A promising aspect of the game so far has been the large variation in playstyles and mechanics displayed through many different Pokémon and their moves, and Sylveon is no different. A surprisingly durable Ranged Attacker, Sylveon freely floats between two identities—a mid-range damage-over-time specialist and an anti-Special Attack duelist.
For starters, let’s examine Sylveon’s stagnant abilities. Through levels one through three as Eevee, its passive ability is Adaptability, granting it bonus Special Attack for a short time whenever Eevee deals or receives damage. When Eevee evolves into Sylveon at level four, this becomes Pixelate, tacking on an additional bonus to Special Defense while functioning the same way. As for basic attacks, every third attack from Eevee simply deals increased damage, while Sylveon’s adds a boost to its movement speed for a short time upon connecting.
Moving on, at Level 1, Eevee gets to choose between the moves Swift and Baby-Doll Eyes, receiving the other upon reaching Level 2. Swift shoots out star-shaped rays in a straight line that moves with Eevee over a few seconds, dealing damage to the first enemy they hit, if any. Baby-Doll Eyes is a more basic single projectile, simply being fired out once in a straight line to deal damage and briefly lower the Attack stat and movement speed of a struck opponent. These two moves persist until Level 4, when Eevee evolves into Sylveon and is required to choose between improved replacements for Swift.
Upon evolving into Sylveon, Swift is replaced by one of two moves: Mystical Fire and Hyper Voice. Using Mystical Fire causes Sylveon to dash in a designated direction, creating small flames that shoot towards enemy Pokémon when they are nearby. When a flame hits an opponent, they take damage and have their Special Attack stat lowered for a short time, and Mystical Fire’s cooldown is reduced slightly. When upgraded, one additional flame is released upon activation. Hyper Voice is much more similar in use to Swift, sending out soundwaves in a single direction for a small amount of time that deal damage to any and all opposing Pokémon they pass through. The farther away the opponent is when a soundwave hits them, the greater the damage it deals to them, and when a soundwave hits a target, the next soundwave deals increased damage. Upon being upgraded, Hyper Voice sends out an additional soundwave.
At Level 6, Baby-Doll Eyes is upgraded into either Calm Mind or Draining Kiss. Calm Mind increases Sylveon’s Special Attack, Special Defense, and movement speed for a short time. When upgraded, activating Calm Mind allows Sylveon to avoid all damage from an opposing Pokémon’s move exactly one time during the moves duration, granting a shield in the process. Draining Kiss, alternatively, creates a visible tether connecting Sylveon with an opposing Pokémon. A small heart will travel from Sylveon to the opponent and back multiple times, dealing damage and slowing the target upon hitting them and healing Sylveon upon returning. If the maximum range of the tether is surpassed at any point during the move, then the tether will break, and the move will cease. When upgraded, this move’s healing to Sylveon is increased.
Finally, Sylveon’s Unite Move, Fairy Frolic, unlocks upon reaching Level 8. Upon activating it, Sylveon will leap into the air, briefly becoming invincible before landing down on the ground. As it does so, damage is dealt to all opponents within a wide-ranged circle around it, and a portion of Sylveon’s own HP is restored in a quick burst. Following this landing effect, Sylveon’s HP is healed by a set percentage whenever it deals damage for a short time after. As a side note, during Sylveon’s leap upon activating the move, the player may control Sylveon’s movement in the air, and can even hop over walls in doing so, making the move incredibly versatile.
While it can be somewhat difficult to pilot, Sylveon is incredibly powerful if done so correctly. Predominantly, Sylveon falls into two categories of play: seeking to output heavy damage over time alongside the team, and leveraging pushing power as an anti-Special Attack duelist. Both of these strategies are effective with the tools Sylveon has at its disposal, particularly its high damage output and surprising amount of survivability, particularly against Pokémon that utilize Special Attack.
While both Hyper Voice and Mystical Fire do more than sufficient damage, the way in which they utilize this potential differs, and as such they become useful in these two different strategies. When playing alongside your teammates for the majority of the game, sitting behind a front line of Defenders like Snorlax and Slowbro makes Hyper Voice very ideal. While your teammates lock them in place with their own abilities, Hyper Voice shreds their HP bars due to it being very easy to land consecutive long-range soundwaves. Utilizing Calm Mind in this setup works wonders, as it will buff the damage of your Hyper Voice even further and allow you to maintain your ideal positioning alongside your teammates. Even if opposing melee Pokémon charge at you, not only do they have to get past your teammates first, but they also must keep up with your increased movement speed and the healing granted by Fairy Frolic. In this setup, playing off of teammates is key; crowd control is your best friend, as it will allow you to maximize your damage while using Sylveon’s inherent mobility to avoid any threats that manage to sneak through.
This strategy lends particularly well to playing around large objectives like Zapdos, Rotom, and Drednaw. As teams close in on the contested objective, they are often forced to cram into much smaller spaces to do so. This allows for battle lines to be more easily drawn, with Sylveon having less angles to be threatened from and an easier line of sight to where the opponents will likely be. Allies will also be more able to manipulate the opponents with crowd control, making them have to choose between ceding the objective entirely or perishing to Sylveon’s damage output. In addition, Hyper Voice is extremely potent in securing the objectives themselves, doing heavy damage due to the targets being entirely stationary. If the opponents are out of position or the opportunity otherwise presents itself, felling these giants is incredibly quick with a Sylveon on your side.
On the other hand, if the ally team does not have as much supportive potential to accompany Hyper Voice and protect Sylveon, the fluffy fairy can take matters into its own hands. Mystical Fire does loads of damage, but it can be a bit hard to control which enemies the flames spread to. As such, utilizing it while pushing alone can be very useful, as there will be far fewer targets in your way while the enemies deal with your team elsewhere. In a situation such as this, where Sylveon must largely fend for itself, the built-in dash provided by Mystical Fire is also incredibly useful, and unlike Hyper Voice, the damage the flames deal does not vary with range. This means that Sylveon can be far more flexible in how it deals damage to a single target encountered while pushing.
When Sylveon operates with little support to protect it, the decision between Calm Mind and Draining Kiss can be largely varied. If the opposing team has mainly Special Attack-oriented Pokémon to threaten you, then Calm Mind’s Special Defense buff goes a long way. Alongside Mystical Fire’s Special Attack debuff to enemies, this combination can make dealing with Sylveon incredibly difficult for such opponents. However, if the opposing team is largely Attack-based and mobile enough to keep up with you, then Draining Kiss can offer a better alternative.
Draining Kiss’ tethered heart moves back and forth between Sylveon and the opponent at the same speed regardless of the distance between them, and so the closer the opponent is the faster the heart will reach the edges of the tether. This means that the more the opponent encroaches upon you, the more quickly Sylveon will be able to restore its own HP bar, meaning that Speedsters and other dive-oriented Pokémon will have a significantly harder time finishing Sylveon off—and that’s not even accounting for Fairy Frolic’s brief invulnerability and burst of healing. In addition, if you are winning the duels very handily, the dash from Mystical Fire and slows from Draining Kiss can help you relentlessly chase your opponent down, even using Fairy Frolic to follow over a wall if necessary, or if not using the Eject Button item.
On the topic of items, they are often where more minute adjustments can be made to one’s strategy. Of course, this includes both battle items and held items, but the former is often a bit more easily decided. For Sylveon specifically, Eject Button is universally acceptable; it is a versatile safety valve and follow-up tool that is unbelievably useful on any Pokémon. However, there are some more exotic options available for the more adventurous player. For example, X-Attack has been utilized in the more push-heavy dueling builds for the extra firepower that it provides. Meanwhile, Potion is a healthy alternative to Eject Button if you are utilizing a more stationary and safe playstyle. Depending on the game and the allied team composition at hand, many different options are available, so feel free to experiment and find your own preferences!
On the other side of the spectrum, held items are an incredibly integral part of Pokémon UNITE’s strategic planning. As was noted earlier, Sylveon has a high damage output and a bevy of survivability tools alike, and so both aggressive and defensive options are legitimately valid. As for the former, common options include Wise glasses and Choice Specs to maximize Sylveon’s Special Attack stat and subsequent damage output. Similar to the X-Attack option, Muscle Band is sometimes utilized for aggressive dueling builds, but this is less standard.
As for defensive items, Focus Band is extremely good for Sylveon. Sylveon’s sustainability over time can sometimes be avoided through bursting its HP bar down rapidly, but Focus band prevents this by allowing for large amounts of healing when HP becomes low. Additional common items are Buddy Barrier for teamfight-oriented Sylveon builds, and Assault Vest for doubling down on Special Attack tankiness. Finally, an interesting hybrid option is Shell Bell: this item not only increases Special Attack, but also provides additional healing when moves hit an enemy, adding even more sustainability to Sylveon’s kit. However, like with the battle items, various options are available as far as held items are concerned, so play around with these tactics and use the one that speaks to you!
Due to Sylveon’s flexibility, a wide variety of competitively-viable build paths are available to players of the frolicking fluffball. This remains true even despite the balance patch that came out not long after Sylveon’s release—in which both Hyper Voice and Mystical Fire saw their damage outputs reduced. Both of these moves still provide ample effectiveness in their own right, and due to how differently they function as core damage options Sylveon can find itself useful both in a lane and in the central jungle. Let’s take a look at some popular moveset and item builds for Sylveon, and how they can operate to maximize the fairy’s potential.
This build centers around doing large amounts of damage whilst fighting alongside your teammates. Hyper Voice is your main outlet in doing so, spamming out soundwaves from a distance to ravish the opposing team. Calm Mind accentuates this style, not only upping your damage output but also helping you re-position with bonus movement speed to maximize your efficiency. Choice Specs provides a solid base for damage amplification as far as items are concerned, but Wise Glasses or Special Attack Specs can be added in cases where more Special Attack scaling is desired. Defensively, Focus Band helps aid survivability and synergizes well with Sylveon’s natural beefiness through Calm Mind, while Buddy Barrier is a natural fit for Fairy Frolic. The latter helps to shield nearby teammates as they work to support Sylveon, keeping the unit as a whole alive so you can continue to dish out the damage. As for Battle Items, Eject Button is more than sufficient in this build, allowing for a quick change of position if ever found to be necessary. For those simply looking for extra healing instead, Potion can help mitigate enemy burst damage as well. This is a simple, standard build for Sylveon, and it works well when battling alongside other Pokémon that like to stick together and teamfight.
More of a solo act build that can be used in both the lanes and the jungle, this option takes advantage of Sylveon’s inherent mobility and sustain to take trades and win skirmishes against solitary targets. Mystical Fire works well here, providing ample damage to close-up targets as well as a dash to avoid enemy abilities. Draining Kiss aids this more up close and personal style by allowing Sylveon to both quickly sustain in trades and latch onto opponents trying to get away. Again Choice Specs is a solid base for damage here, and Focus Band is a great item for surviving duels with burst-heavy Speedsters. The third item slot is a bit flexible, however. Shell Bell adds a little bit of a kick alongside boosting Sylveon’s already potent sustain, while Wise Glasses leans more into pure damage and offense. Muscle Band also works surprisingly well here, as this build often takes extended trades where large amounts of basic attacks are employed. Finally, Assault Vest works wonders as a defensive alternative, especially when dueling against enemies heavy in Special Attack. As far as Battle Items go, Eject Button is standard and more than serviceable, but Fluffy Tail can be substituted for jungle purposes. This build is highly versatile, and can be effective both pushing in the lanes and prowling in the central jungle due to its high sustain and one-on-one prowess.
Finally, this slightly unorthodox build seeks to take advantage of Sylveon’s inherent counters to Pokémon reliant on Special Attack to deal damage. Mystical Fire is utilized for its reduction of opponents’ Special Attack stats, while Calm Mind provides additional survivability through increased mobility and buffing up Sylveon’s own Special Defense. Despite Sylveon’s lack of hard crowd control, it still can function as a serviceable frontline through its pesky sustain and unavoidable damage output, making it a necessary threat to deal with but a difficult one to pin down and punish with this defensive item set. As always, Focus Band is a wonderful asset to Sylveon’s kit, while Assault Vest provides even more struggles to opposing Special Attack carries. Finally, Buddy Barrier allows Sylveon to take full advantage of Fairy Frolic’s potential, both keeping Sylveon healthy and protecting the allies behind it from possible dive threats.
This build is a bit less flexible in terms of item substitutes, however Shell Bell can provide a bit more oomph and sustainability to Sylveon’s kit if necessary, while Rocky Helmet can be a somewhat decent substitute for Assault Vest in the case of opposing basic attack carries. Battle Item usage again points to Eject Button as the gold standard, however in some cases X Attack functions nicely for those finding the damage output to be lacking. All in all, where this build shines brightest is against heavy Special Attack opposition, so employing it specifically for this purpose is highly recommended.
In the end, Sylveon is a satisfyingly powerful, surprisingly flexible, and delightfully adorable Pokémon. Its heavy damage output together with its bevy of defensive options makes it an excellent teamfighter and proficient duelist alike, allowing for varied, interactive gameplay that utilizes very different strategies. As a result, build paths for Sylveon can range from incredibly offensive to surprisingly defensive as well, allowing for even further specialization as you frolic around the stadium with glee. Whether you’re a team player or eager to pilot this fluffball alone, Sylveon is a somewhat challenging yet exceptionally rewarding Pokémon to play. Take this cutie out for a spin, and get ready to kiss the competition goodbye!
