Espeon and Flareon as defenders
Just now, I was prestiging a gym with a CP 1349 Espeon and CP 1454 Flareon at the bottom.
CP 1349 Espeon had Zen Headbutt/Psychic. I used my CP 1285 Snarl/Foul Play Umbreon to prestige. I was surprised that Umbreon managed to take down Espeon 4 times before fainting!
CP 1454 Flareon had Fire Spin/Flamethrower. My CP 1242 Vaporeon couldn't take him down twice before fainting.
I also found out Flamethrower was no joke. The animation came at the same time as the attack, I kept getting hit. Even if I dodged it, I couldn't take it down a third time even dodging all moves.
If Umbreon had the same attack stat as Vaporeon, it might be a better generalist attacker than Vaporeon or Flareon.
I didn't expect Flareon to be such a good defender. Would you consider Flareon with that moveset a good defender, and place them in gyms after the rework?
Answers
I will be the first as it seems. Flareon has low stamina, although its attack stat is very high along with a bulky defence stat. If gym rework considers the defensive stat as the most important I would place Umbreon who is a very bulky defender. Flareon has weakness to water, ground and rock and everyone has Vaporeon, Rhydon, Sandslash or Golem. Hence, I do not consider him an interesting choice. Espeon with Confusion/Psybeam is not bulky but hits very hard and his moveset is unresisted by many mons.
That was me, and I did. My Scizor was a much higher level than some of his opponents though.
In regards to the statement by the previous poster though, there aren't many great dark moves mons. The only one is Tyranitar and he's super rare and hard to get. I don't think dark mons hurt Espeon's defensive ability much.
It could of course be that the Espeon did not have the optimal defensive move set, and I likely dodged the special move. But if someone can take it out with an Umbreon, with low attack stat and good HP, why not with a Crobat+Bite/Shadow Ball, even without STAB its attack is stronger than Umbreon, and its HP is similar too (but defense weaker).
Shadow Ball is a ghost move, 2 bars of 100 Power, and Psychic types are weak to it.
I do not claim I can take out 4 Espeons, though.
Both can be solid defenders, but I must point out that there is a huge difference between prestiging against these pokemon and actually trying to take them out. Pokemon like Flareon or Arcanine with flamethrower can hit for some serious damage, which can make them tricky to prestige against. However, you will notice that you fare much better with a higher level Vaporeon or Rhydon. That being said, flamethrower can be tricky to dodge and if people are underestimating Flareon or Arcanine, they can get hit for some big damage. Arcanine is actually a better defender than Flareon.
Espeon is the same as Flareon, in that he can do some serious damage if underestimated. ZH is an alright move, but you really want it to have confusion. You already highlighted the more impressive pokemon...Umbreon...
Umbreon is a beast. I have an 1800 cp Umbreon that I use as my dark attacker (no good Tyranitar yet.) He can roll through any two high level psychic attacker with minimal dodging. With dodging, it wouldn't surprise me if he could get through four pokemon. He is one of those pokemon that greatly out-performs his cp. Normally I only need him to face one pokemon, so after that he becomes a generalist, and he does well, as far as survivability goes, but is more comparable to something like Blissey in terms of his damage output.
I just maxed out a 93% (12/15/15) Flareon with FS/Ft at level 36.5 (CP 2727) to use as both an attacker and defender. Just for poops and giggles really. It's a cool mon, Ft hits like a truck, and I have something like 2000 surplus Eevee candies. Plus the gyms here aren't Blissey towers yet, lots of Vapes, and I like the idea of dropping a beasty Flareon right between two Vapes just to wreck someone's Venusaur or whatever grass mon they run against Vapes.
