Pokemon GO's Eevee evolution update and future news
Now that Gen 2 of Pokemon GO has been released, Eevee is no longer the star of the game. Or at least that would be true if Gen 2 didn't include two more Eevee evolutions in Espeon and Umbreon – but there we have it. While more powerful Pokemon exist, and easier-to-catch Pokemon exist, there's no more pervasive Pokemon base and evolution combo that's better captured the imagination of the masses that play Pokemon GO. Part of the reason why is in the seemingly random (but not actually random) nature of Eevee's evolutionary forms.
Vaporeon Still Dominates
At the beginning, there was Vaporeon, and Vaporeon was good. Too good to stay the same as it was at the start. Vaporeon dominated Pokemon Gyms throughout the Pokemon GO universe to the point that its powers were slightly nerfed. Vaporeon will never be as singularly powerful as it once was – but it remains one of the most powerful Pokemon in the game.
Vaporeon can be gotten with a trick ONCE per player in Pokemon GO. Users can choose to evolve a single Pokemon into Vaporeon by naming that Pokemon a certain name. If the name is spelled incorrectly or there's a space before or after the name, this trick will not work. This trick also works with Jolteon and Flareon, the electric and fire-type Pokemon that evolve from Eevee.
• Sparky turns into Jolteon• Rainer turns into Vaporeon• Pyro turns into Flareon
Of note: a non-named Eevee evolved without ever having been used as a Buddy Pokemon will never turn into Espeon or Umbreon. Only Jolteon, Vaporeon, and Flareon can be evolved at random. Other than the first two names (shown in the next section), Espeon and Umbreon need Friendship (Buddy Friendship).
Gen 2 Names, Too
Additional names work to evolve Eevee into the other two evolutionary forms not included in Gen 1. These names work the same as the first three names, all of them coming from one Pokemon TV show or another – anime for the lot. These names also require correct spelling and no spaces before or after the name before evolution.
• Sakura turns into Espeon• Tamao turns into Umbreon
Espeon and Umbreon
While both Espeon and Umbreon are required to attain the entirety of the Pokedex, they do not (as yet) seem to trump the power of Vaporeon. Between the two of them, Espeon has the greatest potential. A perfect CP Umbreon can only reach 2052 while a perfect Espeon can reach a whopping 3000. Unfortunately that only counts for so much, as Espeon's strengths lie in fighting bug, dark, and ghost types, which aren't that common in Pokemon Gyms at the moment.
Vaporeon can reach a perfect CP of 3157, Jolteon can reach CP 2730, and Flareon – believe it or not – can reach 2904 CP. So while Flareon is often overlooked as a powerful Pokemon, it has large potential for placing high in a Pokemon Gym.
The Friendship Route
The original appearances of Espeon and Umbreon included a requirement of Friendship to evolve. In Pokemon GO, the equivalent of Friendship is carrying along (or walking along with) a Pokemon as a Pokemon Buddy. Through sheer force of will (and many trials and errors), the combination of Buddy Pokemon walking distance and evolution time has been uncovered.
Eevee Buddy Candy
• 5km per 1 Candy
• 5km = 3.1-miles
• 2x is 10km or 6.2-miles
Espeon requires that the user walk with Eevee as a Buddy Pokemon for two full cycles – 6.2-miles – to attain two Eevee Pokemon Candy. Once the second candy has been attained, that same Eevee should be evolved as a Buddy Pokemon. To attain Espeon, this Eevee should be evolved during the day.
The same distance and method is required to get Umbreon, save the tim of day. If this Pokemon is evolved as a buddy at night, it'll instead turn into Umbreon. No naming is required to make these couple of evolutions happen. As far as we've been able to tell, this walking Buddy Pokemon trick works as many times as the user wishes to make it work, over and over again.
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