What are best levels to evolve Eevee into each evolution?

Question

Unless you have 2+ Evolutions with the same number, please list them separately. I am working on an Eeveelution team in X, and I want to have the best movesets on them.

Comments

All of Eevee's level up moves can be learned as soon as you want with the move "reminder", so there's no need to delay the evolution unless you're playing a game other than SM.

Answer 1

In most cases, you should evolve Eevee as soon as possible, which will let you benefit sooner from its much better stats after evolving.

In general, the only (strategic) reasons to consider delaying a Pokemon's evolution are:

1. The pre-evolution learns an important move that you can't get anymore after evolution
2. The pre-evolution learns an important move considerably earlier than the evolved Pokemon
3. The pre-evolution has an ability or type that it loses after evolution, and is useful in some specific purpose for a limited time

Depending on the game you're playing (and excluding events) Eevee can learn the following moves that its evolutions can't: Covet, Baby-Doll Eyes, Growl, Bite, Swift, Refresh, Take Down, Charm, Baton Pass, Double-Edge, Trump Card

I could see a person wanting Baton Pass and maybe Double-Edge as neutral coverage for a physical attacker (here's at least one Smogon analysis recommending it). Otherwise, nothing here is notable.

Eevee doesn't learn any important moves earlier than its evolutions in any game.

Eevee sometimes comes with Adaptability, which is one of the better abilities in the game and is lost when Eevee evolves. However, Eevee's low stats compared to its evolutions mean it's not worth delaying evolution for that purpose. I would say the same about any potential advantage you might glean from Eevee's Normal type.

Answer 2

This is my opinion (Using gen 6 movesets because you said you were doing this in X)

Vaporeon: Level 16. After one level up, you receive Water Pulse which is 20 power higher then Water Gun, and with a confusion chance. Plus, 4 levels later you receive Aurora Beam, which can provide coverage against Ramos. Later on, it can learn Surf by HM, giving it it's strongest STAB move and you one less need for a HM workload. If we're talking coverage it lacks in that department when it comes to facing Electric Types, Grass Types can be dealt with by Ice Beam or Aurora Beam but Vaporeon's only move that's good against Electric Types is the physical move Dig, by TM which isn't good for the special attacking Vaporeon.

Jolteon: If I had to give you a proper answer to this, it'd be level 8, By level up, Jolteon only learns three special electric type moves. Thunder Shock, which is weak and Discharge, which is decently strong but is learnt at level 37 in X/Y! You can also count Thunder, but we all know how inaccurate that move is when there's no rain. + learnt late. (Yes, there's also Thunder Wave, but that's a status move) And TMS don't even help, Thunderbolt is after you beat Clemont, Charge Beam is only 40 power and found on route 13 and Volt Switch is in the battle maison!,

Flareon: if I had to give you a proper answer, level 19. One level after, it learns Fire Fang which uses it's superior physical attacker (Unless you wanna use it's weaker Ember). Level 47 gives you Flare Blitz but that does recoil. And that's it! All it's STAB Fire TM moves are special. If you're set on using it, teach it Rock Smash. It helps with rock types.

Espeon: Level 8 (Again). Learns Confusion at level 9 and that'll be your STAB until level 20, where you get the (slightly better) Psybeam. Though, you'll be stuck with that for STAB until level 37, unless you want to use the two-turn Future Sight, which it gets at level 25. Once you hit Terminus Cave, you can get the TM for Shadow Ball for coverage against Ghost and Fellow Psychic types. Once you beat Olympia and Valerie, you get the TM's for Calm Mind and Dazzling Gleam respectively, the latter being helpful for coverage against Dark Types

Umbreon: Since it's more bulk focused, I say evolve it at level 16. It gains Confuse Ray at level 17 then at level 20, it gains Feint Attack. You can find the Rest TM pretty early, in Cyllage City, to make use of it's bulk. Also, Toxic can be found on Route 14, if you like stall.

Leafeon:It's only physical attacking moves via level up are Razor Leaf at level 9 and Leaf Blade at level 47! And like Jolteon and Flareon before it, TMS don't help. Because all STAB Grass Moves it gets by TM are special! Though, if you're set on using it, go for level 28, it gains Swords Dance at level 29 which can pair well with Leaf Blade (When you eventually get it). Plus unlike Vaporeon, it can take advantage of the Dig TM because Dig uses it's physical attack, adding coverage against Fire-types.

Glaceon: If you want to trudge through with a Eevee until you reach the Ice Rock. Like it's counterpart from Sinnoh, it only learns two ice special STAB moves by level up. Icy Wind at level 9 and Blizzard at level 45 but that's inaccurate. Unlike Leafeon, though, it does get good TM choices like Frost Breath (which is located in the same cave the ice rock is) and Ice Beam. (After you beat Wulfric) As a default, go for level 8.

Sylveon: Level 19. It gains Draining Kiss at level 20, which also recovers HP making it better then Fairy Wind. Though you'll be stuck with that for STAB for 13 levels until you reach Moonblast. Once you reach Pokémon Village, you'll get the Psyshock TM for coverage against Poison types

TLDR:
Vaporeon -16
Jolteon-8
Flareon-19
Espeon- 8
Umbreon-16
Leafeon-28
Glaceon-8
Sylveon-19

Comments

Is there a reason to delay evolving Eevee in any of these cases?

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I'd say delay evolving Flareon would be helpful since Eevee does get more physical  STAB  moves (Extra helpful if the Eevee has Adaptability)

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Flareon has a significantly higher Attack stat than Eevee that will leave it dealing more damage even with Adaptability.

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Yes but have you seen Flareon's physical STAB movepool in XY? In Kalos, It has to hit level 20 for Fire Fang as stated above. You're better off with a weaker Eevee then a useless Flareon IMO

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why wait evolving eevee into leafeon until 28? wouldn't it be better to evolve eevee asap so that it learns razor leaf and has better stats while battling? i don't see a reason to delay leafeon at all.

is there any reason to delay any of them at all? i feel like this answer could be better if you worded it "its best to evolve eevee into x BEFORE this level because you want this move" rather than say to delay. delay would only be valid if you want an eevee exclusive move imo.

Answer 3

You know... I may not be as knowledgeable as the rest of you guys... and I may not have a set strategy when it comes to creating layouts and stuff.. but.. as long as you have the right TMs.. I'm pretty sure the best time to evolve Eevee in general is if the Eevee reaches Lv. 29-31.. for any of the mainline games.. the slight variation just depends on the game you decided to play.. and the main reason is due to the difference in the Moves Learned.. though, the first move is, usually, useless compared to Eevee's current move pool, on some Eeveelutions, the first move can come quite handy, at least in status... but this change solely depends on the game you're playing. Though, due to the time of evolution, you won't have to miss out on any of that evolution's moves, then you can still teach the Eeveelution different TMs to make a nice overpowered Pokemon.. instead of having to spend a while relearning all of the moves the specific evolution could of had.... remember that this is just from my novice knowledge of playing Pokemon.. so please correct me if I'm wrong.

Answer 4

Well, when looking at Pokemon on any website, the smaller the value of the Pokemon's base exp, the faster it would be to get that Pokemon to lvl100.

Since Eevee's growth rate is much less than either eeveelution, it is much more beneficial to train an Eevee to as high of a level as necessary, before you evolve it to your prefered choice. After evolved, you can use relearn the Eeveelution's new moves from the Move Relearner/Reminder. But, different eeveelutions should be evolved at different times.

Flareon/Vaporeon/Jolteon: Since these three evolve using an evolution stone, it is best to get an Eevee to level 100, and then use the stone, as Eevee doesn't need to gain a level with a stone to evolve.
Espeon/Umbreon: Using the time of the day to evolve can be slightly tricky, but it shouldn't be as hard in the newer games as you can physically see the difference in brightness outside. For these evolutions, you can evolve them from getting Eevee from 99-100, but you may want to settle a couple levels earlier, in case you get Espeon instead of Umbreon, and vice versa.
Leafeon/Glaceon: These evolutions use a particular rock found ingame; Mossy Rock from Leafeon, Icy Rock for Glaceon. This method isn't very complicated, so you should be able to evolve it when getting Eevee from lvl 99-100.
Sylveon: This eeveelution also needs to gain a level in order to evolve, so getting it from 99-100 shouldn't be an issue. You do however that you make sure you have an Eevee with 2-heart affection - otherwise, it wouldn't work. So, you should also consider evolving a couple levels earlier.

As for all these Pokemon, after evolved, you can relearn your preferred moves for your eeveelution from the move relearner. If you do however need to evolve early for a gym, definitely do that - it shouldn't be that much of a bigger difference to get the eeveelution to lvl100 in comparison to Eevee. If you do have Rare Candies, definitely utilize them for the eeveelutions who need a level up for evolution, that way you can ensure everything is right, and evolve it right away.

Hope I helped! :)

Comments

First, base exp. you're referring to is the base experience YIELD, or how much experience the Pokemon yields when defeated. This is obviously not a factor when training your own Pokemon, as Pokemon only yield experience when wild or owned by an NPC. How fast a Pokemon reaches level 100 is determined by GROWTH RATE, which never changes when a Pokemon evolves. Second, you're assuming that the question asker wants a level 100 Pokemon. A level 100 Pokemon is only ever useful for Wifi battles, and most people don't care much about winning Wifi battles, so this isn't a very safe assumption.

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Ok, I accidentally mixed up the base exp with growth rate. With the lvl to evolve, they are allowed to decide whenever to evolve the pokemon, as I mentioned in this last paragraph if they might need it for the gym, or in the first paragraph where I said they can go as high of a level when "necessary". It's just the 99-100 lvl up is where the limit is set, in terms of the time-frame from which they are able to safely evolve and learn their preferred moves.

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As I said before, growth rate never changes when a Pokemon evolves, so it's not "much more beneficial to train your Eevee to as high of a level as necessary, before you evolve it". Also as I said before, raising a Pokemon to level 99-100 is a waste of time unless they're being used for Wifi battles. Even if the Eevees were for Wifi battles, it would be much easier to evolve them earlier and train their evolved forms to level 100. Moves shouldn't be a concern either, because he can simply take the Eevee to the move "reminder" so it can learn all its desired moves before it does anything else.