Umbreon Movesets & Competitive Sets

Foul Play hits many physical attackers that try to take advantage of Umbreon such as Metagross, Golurk, and Flygon. Protect enables Umbreon to heal from Wish safely and scout Choice-locked Pokemon such as Gardevoir, Chandelure, and Heracross. If the team already has a cleric, Toxic is a good option over Heal Bell to punish common counters such as Togekiss, Incineroar, and Suicune. Since Umbreon is affected by every entry hazard, Heavy-Duty Boots gives it more switch-in opportunities and makes it less dependent on entry hazard control. Alternatively, Leftovers is a good choice for some passive recovery if the team has reliable entry hazard control. Balance, semi-stall, and stall teams appreciate Umbreon's defensive qualities to check threatening Pokemon such as Polteageist, Chandelure, and Nidoqueen. Defensive Pokemon without reliable recovery such as Registeel, Stakataka, Bronzong, and Diancie appreciate Umbreon's Wish support. In return, they check Togekiss and either check troublesome Fairy-types or take the role of cleric to relieve Umbreon. Since Fighting-types such as Heracross, Bewear, and Pangoro heavily pressure Umbreon, checks to them such as Crobat, Dhelmise, and Galarian Weezing are very important. These Pokemon also give reliable entry hazard control if Umbreon runs Leftovers. On more defensive teams, Quagsire is a good choice to keep setup sweepers such as Reuniclus, Lucario, and Suicune in check, while Choice Scarf Ditto is a reliable offensive check to them. Reuniclus and Suicune are great setup sweepers on more semi-stalling teams and appreciate Umbreon's ability to check Ghost-types and keep them healthy with Heal Bell and Wish. Physical walls such as Gastrodon, Vileplume, and Galarian Weezing check troublesome physical threats such as Pangoro, Stakataka, and Sharpedo, which can overwhelm Umbreon.

Moves Wish is the biggest reason to use Umbreon, as it lets it heal itself and teammates that need it, along with Protect, which guarantees that Umbreon gets recovery from Wish alongside passive recovery from Leftovers, gives the enemy an extra round of Toxic damage if they're poisoned, and scouts for moves and Choice-locked Pokemon. Heal Bell is a good option to get rid of harmful status for Umbreon and its team, but Toxic can be used over Heal Bell if it's not needed, as it can allow Umbreon to cripple bulky Pokemon such as Slowbro and Milotic, which it otherwise wouldn't be able to. Foul Play is the only way that Umbreon can do any meaningful damage, so it's chosen as the fourth move. Set Details Maximum HP and Special Defense investment is used to maximize Umbreon's special bulk and let it check threats such as Nidoqueen and Swellow. However, a physically defensive spread is a viable option to let Umbreon act as a better check to the likes of Honchkrow, Zygarde-10%, and Metagross. Leftovers is used for passive recovery and goes really well with Protect. Synchronize is the only ability worth using, as inflicting the same status to the foe is more helpful, and it also synergizes with Heal Bell. Usage Tips Use Umbreon to check threats such as Nidoqueen and Swellow throughout the game while utilizing Wish to heal Umbreon as well as pass it to other teammates that need it. However, be careful when using the Wish + Protect combination when healing Umbreon, as your opponent could easily see the Protect coming and take advantage of it by gaining momentum or setting up. Heal Bell only has 8 PP, so use it conservatively. For example, if you have a Pokemon that is burned but doesn't mind the Attack drop, saving Heal Bell for when other Pokemon get poisoned or burned might be better. Team Options Nidoqueen can set up Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes and is also able to check the Fairy-, Fighting-, and Bug-type attacks and Pokemon that Umbreon's weak against while appreciating the Wish support and Umbreon's ability to switch into Psychic- and Ice-type attacks. Mantine is also a good teammate for the nice synergy that it provides, and it can also provide support with Defog. Diancie can pack Heal Bell to allow Umbreon to carry another move and benefits from the Wish support. In general, any bulky Pokemon that appreciates Wish or Heal Bell support, such as Mega Blastoise, Gigalith, Rhyperior, Bronzong, and Escavalier can be a nice option for a teammate.

Moves Wish is a reliable recovery move for Umbreon and its teammates. Protect ensures that Wish succeeds while allowing Umbreon to scout for common Choice item users such as Hydreigon and Mienshao and gain more Leftovers recovery. Moonlight provides Umbreon with a more reliable form of recovery, allowing it to stay healthy without having to stay in an additional turn to receive its own Wish. Heal Bell provides Umbreon's team with cleric support. Foul Play is a reliable move that causes a lot of damage to many of the physical attackers in the tier. Set Details A Calm nature alongside the listed EV spread maximizes Umbreon's special bulk. Synchronize is a useful ability alongside Heal Bell, providing Umbreon with opportunities to cause some chaos Pokemon such as Empoleon, Tentacruel, and Sableye. Leftovers provides passive recovery and increased longevity. Usage Tips Umbreon can stand up 1v1 against a great number of attackers of UU; examples are Gyarados, Mega Aerodactyl, Metagross, Mega Sceptile, Mamoswine, and Mega Sharpedo. Umbreon is best used to sponge a variety of high-powered hits in order to provide excellent team support. While it can handle many all-out attackers and Choice item users fairly easily, Umbreon struggles against several setup Pokemon such as Nasty Plot Celebi, Nasty Plot Infernape, Swords Dance Cobalion, and Bulk Up Conkeldurr. Foul Play alongside Wish + Protect allows Umbreon to be self-reliant in certain situations. Team Options Umbreon functions well alongside Pokemon such as Crobat or Gligar, as they can take on some of its Fighting-type counters and provide utility and pivot support with Defog and U-turn. Umbreon works well alongside Swampert, as most Taunt users, such as Aerodactyl, Krookodile, and Crobat, are frail or fear Swampert's typing. Umbreon appreciates Rapid Spin and Defog support, as this makes its job a little easier.

This set capitalizes on Umbreon's team-supporting potential. Umbreon can switch into many special attackers in the tier and can comfortably use one of its team-supporting moves. Wish can restore 197 HP to a teammate and keeps Umbreon's team in a good fighting condition. Foul Play is Umbreon's best attacking option, as even special attackers like Raikou and Zapdos have higher Attack stats than Umbreon. Furthermore, Foul Play can deal significant damage to physical attackers that try to exploit Umbreon's lower Defense stat. It OHKOes Darmanitan after Stealth Rock damage, 2HKOes all Flygon, and can even score a solid 3HKO on Choice Scarf Heracross. The ability to remove status with Heal Bell is very useful, as it can give a crippled sweeper a second chance to sweep. This also works very well with Synchronize, as Umbreon can heal its status condition after inflicting it on the opponent. However, Umbreon can trade the ability to clear status for the ability to inflict it with Toxic. Between Wish and Protect, Umbreon can quickly build up Toxic damage and wear down Pokemon that can't deal significant damage to it. Yawn can shuffle the opponent's team and can render a Pokemon useless for the remainder of the match. Protect allows Umbreon to scout the opponent's next move, take better advantage of Wish and Yawn by negating the charging turn, and build up Toxic damage. However, if your opponent predicts your Protect turn, they could use it to set up a sweep. The EVs on this set allow Umbreon to be a reasonably effective special wall, which is how it switches into battle to support its team. Pursuit can be used in the third moveslot to trap special attackers with a weakness to Dark-type attacks, such as Victini and Azelf, but Umbreon's poor Attack makes this ineffective. Moonlight can be used to instantly restore HP, but it detracts from Umbreon's role as a team supporter. Umbreon should be paired with Pokemon that resist the Fighting-type attacks that are often aimed at it. Crobat is one of the safest switches into the common Fighting-types of the tier, Heracross and Mienshao. Defensive Ghost-types like Sableye and Cofagrigus also counter Fighting-types effectively and can drain the offensive pressure Fighting-types put on Umbreon. Slowbro and Mew can check Fighting-types, but they also lose to Heracross, one of the biggest threats in the tier. Using Umbreon alongside a Fighting-type of your own is also effective, as Steel-types such as Cobalion and Bisharp may try to take advantage of their Dark-type resistance to start a sweep, and the former can even gain an attack boost via Justified if it switches into Foul Play. Heracross is a good partner as it can provide some much needed offensive pressure for Umbreon's team.

Moves This set is capable of enhancing Umbreon's strengths and weaknesses while also giving it more longevity. Curse boosts the power of Payback, which allows Umbreon to hit the foe with a move that has an effective Base Power of 150, since Umbreon generally tends to move last because of its low Speed, which Curse lowers even further. Curse also helps Umbreon boost its physical bulk, which is what most Pokemon will try to target, since physical moves such as Superpower and Close Combat are what usually can OHKO Umbreon. Wish + Protect helps Umbreon heal while also being able to heal up its teammates or scout for a set on an opposing Pokemon. A lot of bulky offense teams will also rely on Explosion to stop a Curse Umbreon, and Protect can be helpful in such a situation. Set Details Leftovers helps keep Umbreon healthy and negate sand damage. A Careful nature with maximum HP and Special Defense investment allows Umbreon to not worry about special attackers; very few Pokemon are capable of threatening Umbreon with a special move, and one of that would be, Focus Blast Gengar, can be OHKOed with Payback. Pokemon such as Infernape and Lucario can also carry Focus Blast, but they more commonly run the physical counterpart, Close Combat. Usage Tips It is possible for Umbreon to set up versus special attackers like Starmie and non Will-O-Wisp-Rotom or against a Tyranitar that is Choice-locked into a move like Crunch or Pursuit. If the opponent uses a move that causes limited damage to Umbreon, like Crunch or Pursuit, the best option would be to set up with Curse at that point. However, if it is a move that is capable of inflicting 30% or higher damage, it would be better to use Wish. The goal is to keep setting up while using Wish to heal Umbreon from any damage it takes and then potentially sweep an opposing team. Umbreon can also use Latias as a Pokemon to set up on, but it needs to be wary of Toxic or Trick. It is important that if the opponent runs a Skarmory or another Steel-type, you need to take it out before you reveal that your Umbreon is running the Curse set, as that would cue to your opponent to try to preserve their Steel-types longer than they should. Team Options Steel-types are what heavily punish Umbreon, as they will always be able to safely switch into it as Umbreon is passive and cannot affect them due to Umbreon being passive and unable to affect them with a status move like Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp. Magnezone aids Umbreon in this regard by trapping Skarmory and Scizor, as well as Lucario if Lucario is running a physical set and Magnezone is using Choice Scarf. Umbreon could pair itself with a Heal Bell or Aromatherapy user in order to remove a status like burn or poison, which will prevent it from potentially sweeping by reducing its damage output or gradually causing it to faint. Other Pokemon that can safely switch into Umbreon would be Breloom and Leftovers Heatran. The former can threaten it with Spore or a combination of Substitute + Focus punch, so having a Pokemon to absorb the Spore and the hit would be nice. Zapdos, Latias, and Celebi are among a few that can take on Breloom, but make sure that they don't take the Spore. By looking at what all Pokemon your opponent has revealed and by predicting what the unrevealed Pokemon, if any, of your opponent would be, you can determine what Pokemon in your team would have the least impact against the opposing team and let that Pokemon absorb the Spore. Heatran can be handled by Milotic and Clefable. Clefable especially is a good option to handle the Leftovers variant with Knock Off, limiting the number of times Heatran can come onto the field. Since physical Fighting-types are quite common in the tier, Umbreon with teammates to take on such users is helpful. Bold Rotom and Jolly Gliscor can take on Lucario, but they still would need to worry about Lucario running Crunch or Shuca Berry with Ice Punch, respectively. Latias can handle Infernape. Nidoqueen is especially a nice option, as it helps absorb Toxic Spikes on the field.

Wish is yet another useful tool with which Umbreon can use Baton Pass to support its teammates. The 0 Speed IV and Speed-lowering nature ensure Baton Pass goes last so that Umbreon--and not its recipient--takes the incoming hit.

This set can be exceedingly difficult to stop if used in conjunction with Magneton to eliminate Skarmory; Poison-types will still shut Umbreon down completely though. Houndoom is also a nice partner for this set as it can Pursuit Poison-types such as Gengar and Weezing. All Umbreon has to do is switch in safely; it can then begin a cycle of misery for the opponent by trapping the foe with Mean Look, hitting it with Toxic, and blocking recovery with Taunt, healing off any damage taken in the process with Moonlight or Wish.

Umbreon can also Baton Pass Curse boosts. Once again, it can block any attempts at phazing from the likes of Aerodactyl with Taunt and set up Curse to better tank physical hits while relying on its amazing Special Defense to sponge special attacks. Once it is done setting up, Umbreon can Baton Pass to a fast sweeper with a White Herb for a winning sweep.

This set is best used with Perish Song Celebi and boosting sweepers. Once you get Umbreon in safely, Taunt phazers and stat-boosters, use Mean Look, and pass to a counter. This strategy is harder than it seems, but it can be extremely effective in the hands of a skilled player. Wish is better if you can use it with proper prediction, especially as it can potentially heal a teammate, but Moonlight's instant healing is also highly useful. However, note that Moonlight's healing is halved in sandstorm. 224 Speed EVs enable Umbreon to outspeed Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Maximize HP and dump the rest in Defense.

Set Description Charm is one of the main reasons why Umbreon is so hard to break through. The purpose of this move is to stop Curse sweepers like Snorlax in their tracks. It can also be used to soften the blows of Explosion and other physical attacks from slower Pokemon like Exeggutor, Rhydon, and even Machamp—though in Machamp's case, Umbreon must beware of Cross Chop's high critical hit rate. Pursuit allows Umbreon to wear down Pokemon like Exeggutor, Gengar, and Misdreavus, none of which can hit it very hard without using Explosion, punishing them with hefty damage if they try to switch out. Rest is Umbreon's preferred recovery option, since it allows it to get rid of poison or paralysis, which both pose a severe threat to Umbreon and limit its effectiveness. Rest also notably enables Umbreon to check threats like Body Slam Snorlax more effectively. However, it puts Umbreon out of commission for two turns, making it more vulnerable to offensive pressure. Therefore, Sleep Talk is recommended so Umbreon keeps fulfilling its tasks when asleep. However, Toxic is also a great option to weaken the foe, force switches, and threaten non-Rest variants of Snorlax, Zapdos, and Tyranitar. In conjunction with Pursuit and Spikes support, Toxic can wear down opposing Pokemon quite quickly. Alongside Toxic, Umbreon's more flexible recovery option in Moonlight can be given consideration if Umbreon can avoid or be cured of status and the low amount of PP isn't problematic despite the fact that Umbreon is an entirely stall-based Pokemon. Team Options Outside of its defensive utility, the main reason to use Umbreon is its ability to reliably weaken any Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon with Pursuit, something greatly appreciated by Pokemon such as Machamp or mono-attacking Snorlax. Umbreon is also a good option for Spikes-based teams, since it's the only viable Pursuit user that fares well against what is arguably the best spinner available, Starmie. Even though Starmie takes fairly low damage from Umbreon's Pursuit and has plenty of Recover PP, constant residual damage from poison and the threat of Pursuit will eventually see it struggling to keep Spikes off the field. If Umbreon happens to pack Sleep Talk instead of Toxic, your Spikes setter should be able to inflict Starmie with poison so Umbreon can still heavily pressure it. Both Cloyster and Forretress can struggle against Gengar and Misdreavus, so once again Pursuit is a great help. However, keep in mind that Umbreon's Special Attack is so lackluster that Rest Misdreavus can stall it out. As Umbreon relies on Charm to handle boosting Snorlax, its worst nightmare is Belly Drum Snorlax. It is therefore a good idea to use it alongside Skarmory on more defensive teams, as Skarmory is much better suited to handling Belly Drum Snorlax, whereas Umbreon can stave off Snorlax variants that Skarmory struggles with, such as Fire move Curselax.