Is Cute Charm a useful ability for Sylveon?

Question

I just got a perfect Eevee but it has Run Away, so when I evolve it into a Sylveon it will have Cute Charm. Is this a good ability?

Comments

If you’re looking at this from a competitive standpoint, no. Sylveon is much better with Pixilate. Cute Charm is a bad ability in competitive as it’s luck-based and inconsistent, and does nothing against half the Pokémon you face.

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It's definitely much less reliable than pixilate if you want to use your Sylveon in competitive battles. Your Eevee will get a good ability if you evolve it into Jolteon or Umbreon, so you can do that with your Eevee and use a different Eevee to get Sylveon.

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Can you switch the ability using the ability capsule?

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No, since Pixilate is her HA.

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Competitively speaking, it's hidden ability Pixellate is better in my opinion, but if you want a defensive Sylveon, like one with Wish and Protect, then go for Cute Charm, and make it physically defensive. Any Pokemon that hits your Sylveon with a contact move, such as Take Down, and said Pokemon is the opposite gender, they may end up not being able to attack because they're in love.

But since the Attract condition isn't very common in competitive battling, with things like Swagger or Confuse Ray being much more popular, I still believe Pixelate is better, especially with Choice Scarf/Specs.

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I think the reason why nobody ever uses defensive Sylveon is that Blissey does the exact same thing but better.

Answer 1

Cute Charm infatuates your opponent (but doesn't infatuate genderless Pokémon or Pokémon of the same gender as you). Outside of battle, if Sylveon is in the front of your party, the chance of encountering a Pokémon of the opposite gender is 2/3 (66.6%).

Also, infatuated Pokémon have a 50% chance of being 'immobilized by love' each turn and unable to attack.

It's useful if you want to hunt for a boy/girl Pokémon outside of battle while your Sylveon is a girl/boy.