Espeon/Umbreon guide

If you want to get your very own Espeon or Umbreon, this is the place to look.

General Advice

Eevee generally evolves into Espeon or Umbreon if it levels up when its happiness (or "friendship") value is 220 or more (pre-Sw/Sh) or 160 or more (post-Sw/Sh). Whether it becomes Espeon or Umbreon depends on the time of day - roughly, during the night it becomes Umbreon, and during the day it becomes Espeon, although exactly where the game draws the line between day and night varies somewhat by generation.

Thus, the process of evolving an Eevee into Espeon or Umbreon usually involves trying to raise its happiness up to or above 220/160 and then simply leveling it up at the right time. It does not matter when you raise Eevee's happiness; only the time of that final level-up matters.

In all games, the following methods will raise your Eevee's happiness:

• Simply walking around with Eevee in your party
• Feeding it a vitamin (Hp Up, Protein, Iron, Calcium, Zinc, Carbos, PP Up or PP Max)
• Leveling it up

Additionally, note that Pokémon start at a higher happiness level if hatched from an egg - if you want to evolve your Eevee quickly, you'll generally be better off breeding one than evolving one you receive from a non-playable character or capture in the wild.

The details beyond that vary depending on the game, however, and the way the game interprets the time of day is not always the same, so here's a brief rundown of how to evolve your Eevee into an Espeon or Umbreon in each set of games.

Red, Blue and Yellow

Unfortunately, Espeon and Umbreon don't exist in R/B/Y. Eevee can only evolve into Vaporeon, Jolteon or Flareon.

Gold, Silver and Crystal

In G/S/C, night lasts from 6 PM to 4 AM, so that's when you can get an Umbreon, whereas other times will get you an Espeon.

In addition to the general methods, you can raise your Eevee's happiness by giving it a haircut with the haircut brothers in the Goldenrod Underground. The older brother is there on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, whereas the younger brother runs the shop on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, leaving Mondays as the only day of the week where you can't use their services. Regardless of which brother is active, you're going to want to save in front of the desk with your Eevee first in your party and then reset until Eevee gets the maximum number of happiness points that brother can give it, signified by the message "EEVEE looks delighted!" (as opposed to "EEVEE looks a little happier" or "EEVEE looks happy"). This happens more easily with the older brother, but when the younger brother manages it, he actually gives double the points, so don't give up even if it takes a lot of tries.

Daisy, Blue's sister, will additionally groom one of your Pokémon every day between three and four in the afternoon at her house in Pallet Town. This also raises happiness.

Ruby and Sapphire

Since there is no day and night, you might be puzzled by how you can evolve your Eevee in R/S/E, but even though there are no visible day and night, Eevee will evolve into Espeon from noon to midnight, and into Umbreon from midnight to noon.

Be sure to make Eevee hold a Soothe Bell, an item that increases the points you get when doing any of the things that raise happiness.

Emerald

Emerald is the same as Ruby and Sapphire, except that it adds the effort-lowering berries, which in addition to lowering effort points in a specific stat also raise the happiness of the Pokémon they're fed to. The berries in question are Pomeg Berry for HP, Kelpsy Berry for Attack, Qualot Berry for Defense, Hondew Berry for Special Attack, Grepa Berry for Special Defense, and Tamato Berry for Speed. The effort-lowering effects are also convenient to undo any unwanted effort you might pick up from training your Eevee, if you go for leveling up as one of your main happiness-raising methods.

FireRed and LeafGreen

There is no clock at all in FR/LG; unfortunately this means that you have to trade your Eevee to R/S/E to evolve it into an Espeon or Umbreon.

Pokémon Colosseum

Just start the game: in Pokémon Colosseum you start out with both an Espeon and an Umbreon. If you wanted more, however, it is not possible to evolve an Eevee into Espeon or Umbreon in this game.

Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

You start with an Eevee here, and while the game has no time of day mechanic, you can evolve it into Espeon or Umbreon simply by choosing the Sun or Moon Shard respectively from the man in the Machine Parts Shop in Gateon Port and then leveling it up when it's happy enough. You might be tempted to go with the stones so that you can evolve your Eevee immediately instead of waiting, but don't be fooled: your starter Eevee should normally already be happy enough to evolve at the point you get the shard in the game! It will probably evolve as soon as it levels up, which will likely be after the very next storyline battle, against Chobin.

Diamond, Pearl and Platinum

Day and night are back, and thus Eevee again evolves into Espeon in the morning or day (which the game now defines as 4 AM to 8 PM) and Umbreon at night (8 PM to 4 AM). However, as Eevee can now also evolve into Leafeon or Glaceon, be sure not to level it up in Eterna Forest or on Route 217, as you'll get the wrong evolution if you do.

In D/P/Pt, you can capture a wild Eevee in the Trophy Garden behind Pokémon Mansion if it is one of the Pokémon Mr. Backlot has released in the garden (only possible after obtaining the National Pokédex). If you do so, capturing it in a Luxury Ball will cause its happiness to increase faster, similar to having it hold a Soothe Bell, although you may prefer to breed an Eevee for the advantage the higher initial happiness gives.

You can get your Eevee groomed once a day each in Veilstone City in the second building on the left from the Game Corner and at the Ribbon Syndicate in Resort Area (the latter is considerably more effective). Additionally, the Soothe Bell and EV-lowering berries are still around.

HeartGold and SoulSilver

Getting an Espeon or Umbreon in HG/SS is mostly the same as in G/S/C, except that the time-of-day durations are the same as in D/P/Pt, and the Soothe Bell and EV-lowering berries are yet again available.

Black and White

The original fifth-generation games are mostly the same as D/P/Pt in this regard, although you must trade for an Eevee. The daily massage NPC this time around is found on Castelia Street in Castelia City.

Additionally, the Befriending Pass Power makes happiness rise faster while it is active.

The duration of day and night also now varies by the in-game season: in spring, the day lasts from 5 AM to 8 PM; in summer, it lasts from 4 AM to 9 PM; in autumn, it lasts from 6 AM to 8 PM, and in winter, it lasts from 7 AM to 7 PM. Thus, those are the times when your Eevee will evolve into an Espeon, whereas at other times it will evolve into an Umbreon.

Don't evolve your Eevee in Pinwheel Forest or the basement of Twist Mountain, unless you want it to become a Leafeon or Glaceon instead.

Black 2 and White 2

The happiness mechanics are exactly like in B/W, but the massage therapist is now at the Medal Office in Castelia City, and in B2/W2 you can capture wild Eevee in Castelia City, if you like the Luxury Ball method.

X and Y

X and Y expand your options for raising happiness a bit. First of all, you can now breed an Eevee into a Luxury Ball and get the best of both worlds: by capturing a female Eevee in a Luxury Ball and then breeding it with a compatible male, the offspring will also end up in a Luxury Ball, while starting with a higher happiness value as usual with breeding. The traditional daily Pokémon massages are still around, this time in Cyllage City. And the Befriending O-Power works similarly to its Entralink equivalent from the fifth-gen games.

In addition to that, however, you can raise happiness a lot by beating up a Soothing Bag on the bottom screen while in the Super Training app, and the Juice Shoppe in Lumiose City sells juices that also raise happiness.

In the sixth generation, the day once again lasts from 4 AM to 8 PM, so you'll get an Espeon between those hours and an Umbreon at other times.

Leveling up Eevee on Route 20 or in Frost Cavern will net you a Leafeon or Glaceon instead. Additionally, it will become a Sylveon if it has two Pokémon-Amie affection hearts and a Fairy-type move.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Happiness evolution in OR/AS works much the same as in X/Y. The massage therapist is in Mauville this time, whereas the Moss and Ice Rocks that evolve Eevee into Leafeon or Glaceon are located in Petalburg Woods and Shoal Cave.

Sun, Moon, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

This time, you'll find a massage therapist in Konikoni City. You can also raise happiness by getting Friendly Lunches, Friendly Combos and Friendly Drinks from food stalls in the Festival Plaza or leaving your Eevee in the Isle Avue hot springs in Poké Pelago.

Eevee will evolve into a Leafeon if you are in the Lush Jungle, or into a Glaceon if you are at Mount Lanakila, and still becomes a Sylveon if it has two affection hearts from Pokémon Refresh and knows a Fairy-type move.

Sword and Shield

Happiness and affection have been consolidated into one system here. You only need 160 happiness to attain a happiness evolution, and can attain this goal through similar methods as in previous games. However, playing with or feeding your Pokémon in Pokémon Camp will also raise this same value, and can raise it higher than 160, while most other methods (other than effort-lowering berries) cap out there. Thus, you don't need to use Pokémon Camp to raise your Eevee's happiness, but it certainly helps!

The only difference now between Eevee evolving into an Espeon or Umbreon or a Sylveon is whether or not it knows a Fairy-type move, so for your Espeon or Umbreon, make sure it doesn't (Eevee learns the Fairy-type Baby-Doll Eyes and Charm by level-up, so make sure you don't learn or delete them before you try to evolve Eevee). Meanwhile, you no longer need to worry about Leafeon or Glaceon - Sword and Shield changed them to require a Leaf Stone or an Ice Stone respectively.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

BD/SP don't do the Sword and Shield thing of capping non-Camp methods of raising happiness at 160 - sensibly, given there is no Pokémon Camp. The various old methods of raising happiness from the original Diamond and Pearl should still be around. You don't have to worry about Eevee evolving into Sylveon, since Sylveon isn't in these games, but the Moss Rock and Ice Rock are back where they were.

Scarlet and Violet

Scarlet and Violet's happiness mechanics appear pretty similar to Sword and Shield. Picnics and sandwiches replace Pokémon Camp and curry, but the usual methods from Sw/Sh and previous games should still work otherwise.

Page last modified May 1 2023 at 12:05 UTC

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