Espeon
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
Espeon’s arsenal of Psychic-type moves proves to be a valuable asset, both in Fighting-type raids and as an early-game generalist. In the absence of other counters, Espeon is the good old reliable Machamp counter while also contributing to Poison-type raids such as Gengar or Venusaur.
Espeon’s impressive Attack stat is enough to turn heads, but its success is more due to the accessibility of Eevee. In the long run, it's badly outclassed when compared to the titans of the Psychic Types. Still, it's a great way to break into select Tier 3 solo runs!
Offense
- Confusion deals superior DPS, but dodge-inclined players may prefer Zen Headbutt.
- Psychic is the optimal choice by every relevant metric.
- Future Sight hits hard, but is inferior to Psychic in practice.
- Psybeam is the inferior option.
- Shadow Ball is strong but lacks STAB and general synergy with Espeon's Psychic-type role.
- Last Resort performs close to Future Sight in neutral scenarios and makes Espeon a decent generalist in partly cloudy weather, but isn't Super Effective against anything.
- Psychic Fangs is meant for PvP.
Defense
- Confusion can pile on the hurt with its high base power, with Zen Headbutt trailing behind.
- Shadow Ball is generally considered the best Charge Move for defense due to its coverage against Ghost-types.
- Last Resort is the only move that isn't resisted by Dark-type attackers.
- Psychic is preferred to Psybeam and Future Sight due to stronger performance.
- Psychic Fangs can be spammed frequently on defense, but its damage output is poor.
Confusion dents anything that doesn't resist it. Zen Headbutt is a very poor move for PvP.
Psychic Fangs is recommended for its low energy cost, helping Espeon to bait shields, while also debuffing the opponent so Espeon's Fast Moves deal even more damage. Shadow Ball is generally the more favorable coverage move, allowing Espeon to fight back against Ghost-types while also having an advantage against other Psychic-type Pokemon. Last Resort has less damage output, but is still considerable due to its neutral hit against Dark-type Pokemon. Psychic is now redundant, due to the lack of coverage and moderately high energy cost.
Espeon's stats are just not very well distributed for PVP. It fails to have much of an impact on the meta, and probably shouldn't be used. Psychic Fangs improves its moveset efficiency, but Espeon needs more tools to become a bigger threat against the meta.
