[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 7-8 points
**Overview**: Hey guys, did you know that Vaporeon is a solid bulky pivot that can take strong hits thanks to its great special bulk and hit back hard with its commendable Special Attack? With access to great support moves including Flip Turn, Roar, and Scald, it seems like it should be a great fit for a lot of teams, and truthfully it would be if it weren't for its pitifully low Defense. It also tends to suffer from being unable to fit every move it needs in a game, as Protect + Wish is almost mandatory in most scenarios. Couple these with being relatively slow, Vaporeon finds itself outclassed by many other bulky Water-types, which tend to offer further role compression or are less exploitable, leading to it being very hard to justify slotting into most drafts.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Bulky Pivot**: The classical Vaporeon set, bulky pivot sets come in to take a big hit for an ally before safely pivoting to another. Commonly, it will be paired with Wish; although this is primarily for its own healing, it may be useful for teammates as well.
**Setup Sweeper**: Thanks to Calm Mind and Acid Armor, Vaporeon can turn into a threatening setup sweeper that many foes struggle to KO, as its great natural typing along with the defensive boosts turn it into an incredibly potent threat. These sets tend to struggle into teams carrying multiple forms of disruption and thus shouldn't be considered unless adequate ways exist to remove them.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Scald, Surf, Hydro Pump
**Setup Moves**: Calm Mind, Acid Armor
**Utility Moves**: Wish, Protect, Roar, Haze, Flip Turn, Yawn
**Coverage**: Ice Beam, Alluring Voice, Shadow Ball, Stored Power, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Icy Wind**: Speed control is valuable, and while the power loss from Ice Beam is noticeable, being able to prevent Speed-boosting setup threats while also dealing damage makes Icy Wind a solid option.
**Whirlpool**: Whirlpool can allow Vaporeon to trap a foe and try to eliminate it from the game, and while it usually comes at the cost of most of its health, it can be useful in certain matchups.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Given Vaporeon's role as a pivot, it appreciates Heavy-Duty Boots negating entry hazard damage, allowing it to consistently enter the field without taking excess damage.
**Leftovers**: Functionally a sidegrade to Heavy-Duty Boots, Leftovers can work on teams with strong entry hazard removal or against teams with poor hazard setting options. It also works well with Protect, which is frequently run on Wish sets.
**Rocky Helmet**: Vaporeon can hold a Rocky Helmet to punish the opponent for spamming U-turn while also being able to completely shut down any attacker using Triple Axel.
Niche Items
========
**Rindo Berry**: Given its good bulk, Vaporeon can act as a lure to Grass-types, surviving a hit and revenging them with Ice Beam.
**Choice Specs**: Vaporeon can catch opponents off-guard with its deceptively strong Choice Specs-boosted Hydro Pump and Ice Beam, allowing it to act as a wallbreaker.
**Mental Herb**: Disruption moves such as Encore and Taunt can shut down Vaporeon consistently given its low Speed, so Mental Herb can allow it to bypass this.
Tera
========
Vaporeon can make for a solid secondary Tera Captain. While it doesn't need Tera by any means to perform its functions, Tera can allow it to turn into a frustratingly hard-to-break wall with Tera Fire and Grass completely flipping its defensive matchups while also being able to use Tera Ground, Steel, and Fairy both offensively and defensively. Notably, Tera Fire and Ground synergize well with Water Absorb, as they keep their great defensive properties without the Water-type weakness. Tera Poison also gets a special mention, as it can remove one of the easiest ways around defensive setup Vaporeon in Toxic.
Draft Strategy
========
While Vaporeon is rarely the first choice of a Water-type, it doesn't require much specific support, making it a relatively easy Pokemon to pick up on the fly. It does work best when the following criteria are met, though:
**Water-weak Drafts**: Vaporeon sports a Water immunity thanks to Water Absorb, allowing it to act as a check to most offensive Water-types. While it can't effectively break through them, they also can't break it, and it can outlast them thanks to its reliable recovery that most of them lack.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Item flexibility is incredibly important for Vaporeon, and having strong entry hazard removal allows it to run items that aren't Heavy-Duty Boots more consistently. Some examples of these include Great Tusk, Corviknight, and Mandibuzz.
**Frail Pokemon**: A bulky pivot works best when it can safely bring in frailer threats that need the free turn. Vaporeon can thus enable Pokemon such as Darkrai, Weavile, and Cinderace to avoid them having to take excess damage.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ogerpon Formes**: Two of the best Pokemon in the format are Ogerpon formes, with the other two still seeing respectable usage. Vaporeon struggles massively into them, since they comfortably OHKO it, allowing them to use it as a free setup turn or a chance to regain momentum in the game. It can threaten to punish them with Scald, but this is risky at best.
**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types end up in a stalemate against Vaporeon, since neither can break one another. At least that's the theory, but in practice a lot of bulky Water-types have ways around it, such as Toxic Toxapex, Psyshock Slowbro, and Unaware Dondozo. Vaporeon rarely finds itself coming out on top and is thus forced out more easily.
**Disruption**: Vaporeon is incredibly prone to moves such as Encore and Taunt, which can both prevent it from being able to reliably heal with Leftovers + Protect or Wish.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scribble.356084/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 7-8 points
**Overview**: Hey guys, did you know that Vaporeon is a solid bulky pivot that can take strong hits thanks to its great special bulk and hit back hard with its commendable Special Attack? With access to great support moves including Flip Turn, Roar, and Scald, it seems like it should be a great fit for a lot of teams, and truthfully it would be if it weren't for its pitifully low Defense. It also tends to suffer from being unable to fit every move it needs in a game, as Protect + Wish is almost mandatory in most scenarios. Couple these with being relatively slow, Vaporeon finds itself outclassed by many other bulky Water-types, which tend to offer further role compression or are less exploitable, leading to it being very hard to justify slotting into most drafts.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Bulky Pivot**: The classical Vaporeon set, bulky pivot sets come in to take a big hit for an ally before safely pivoting to another. Commonly, it will be paired with Wish; although this is primarily for its own healing, it may be useful for teammates as well.
**Setup Sweeper**: Thanks to Calm Mind and Acid Armor, Vaporeon can turn into a threatening setup sweeper that many foes struggle to KO, as its great natural typing along with the defensive boosts turn it into an incredibly potent threat. These sets tend to struggle into teams carrying multiple forms of disruption and thus shouldn't be considered unless adequate ways exist to remove them.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Scald, Surf, Hydro Pump
**Setup Moves**: Calm Mind, Acid Armor
**Utility Moves**: Wish, Protect, Roar, Haze, Flip Turn, Yawn
**Coverage**: Ice Beam, Alluring Voice, Shadow Ball, Stored Power, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Icy Wind**: Speed control is valuable, and while the power loss from Ice Beam is noticeable, being able to prevent Speed-boosting setup threats while also dealing damage makes Icy Wind a solid option.
**Whirlpool**: Whirlpool can allow Vaporeon to trap a foe and try to eliminate it from the game, and while it usually comes at the cost of most of its health, it can be useful in certain matchups.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Given Vaporeon's role as a pivot, it appreciates Heavy-Duty Boots negating entry hazard damage, allowing it to consistently enter the field without taking excess damage.
**Leftovers**: Functionally a sidegrade to Heavy-Duty Boots, Leftovers can work on teams with strong entry hazard removal or against teams with poor hazard setting options. It also works well with Protect, which is frequently run on Wish sets.
**Rocky Helmet**: Vaporeon can hold a Rocky Helmet to punish the opponent for spamming U-turn while also being able to completely shut down any attacker using Triple Axel.
Niche Items
========
**Rindo Berry**: Given its good bulk, Vaporeon can act as a lure to Grass-types, surviving a hit and revenging them with Ice Beam.
**Choice Specs**: Vaporeon can catch opponents off-guard with its deceptively strong Choice Specs-boosted Hydro Pump and Ice Beam, allowing it to act as a wallbreaker.
**Mental Herb**: Disruption moves such as Encore and Taunt can shut down Vaporeon consistently given its low Speed, so Mental Herb can allow it to bypass this.
Tera
========
Vaporeon can make for a solid secondary Tera Captain. While it doesn't need Tera by any means to perform its functions, Tera can allow it to turn into a frustratingly hard-to-break wall with Tera Fire and Grass completely flipping its defensive matchups while also being able to use Tera Ground, Steel, and Fairy both offensively and defensively. Notably, Tera Fire and Ground synergize well with Water Absorb, as they keep their great defensive properties without the Water-type weakness. Tera Poison also gets a special mention, as it can remove one of the easiest ways around defensive setup Vaporeon in Toxic.
Draft Strategy
========
While Vaporeon is rarely the first choice of a Water-type, it doesn't require much specific support, making it a relatively easy Pokemon to pick up on the fly. It does work best when the following criteria are met, though:
**Water-weak Drafts**: Vaporeon sports a Water immunity thanks to Water Absorb, allowing it to act as a check to most offensive Water-types. While it can't effectively break through them, they also can't break it, and it can outlast them thanks to its reliable recovery that most of them lack.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Item flexibility is incredibly important for Vaporeon, and having strong entry hazard removal allows it to run items that aren't Heavy-Duty Boots more consistently. Some examples of these include Great Tusk, Corviknight, and Mandibuzz.
**Frail Pokemon**: A bulky pivot works best when it can safely bring in frailer threats that need the free turn. Vaporeon can thus enable Pokemon such as Darkrai, Weavile, and Cinderace to avoid them having to take excess damage.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ogerpon Formes**: Two of the best Pokemon in the format are Ogerpon formes, with the other two still seeing respectable usage. Vaporeon struggles massively into them, since they comfortably OHKO it, allowing them to use it as a free setup turn or a chance to regain momentum in the game. It can threaten to punish them with Scald, but this is risky at best.
**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types end up in a stalemate against Vaporeon, since neither can break one another. At least that's the theory, but in practice a lot of bulky Water-types have ways around it, such as Toxic Toxapex, Psyshock Slowbro, and Unaware Dondozo. Vaporeon rarely finds itself coming out on top and is thus forced out more easily.
**Disruption**: Vaporeon is incredibly prone to moves such as Encore and Taunt, which can both prevent it from being able to reliably heal with Leftovers + Protect or Wish.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scribble.356084/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
