TL;DR: Should You Pull?
Should You Pull Score: 4.5/6
Fantastic self sufficient sun setter and damage dealer.
- + As of current debut, only unit with MPR on Sunny Day.
- + Fantastic self sufficiency, damage multipliers, and Sync compression.
- - Mediocre base Attack and slight 3/5 dependency.
Scoring Criteria
1 - No discernable niche, or so totally outclassed in what it does have that it could never conceivably be worth F2P gems.
2 - One or two applications on gimmicky, sub-optimal team comps that are nevertheless occasionally worth using (due to fun factor or highly specific situations).
3 - Fulfills a viable niche on at least one viable team comp, but kept from anywhere near "must-pull" status by limited versatility or stiff competition.
4 - Dominant in its primary role or flexible enough to see use on variety of teams, this is where the pairs worthy of serious f2p consideration begin to appear.
5 - An excellent choice for a huge plethora of compositions and/or the defining force behind a top-tier archetype, this pair's power and versatility make it a great pull for almost anyone.
6 - Poised to take a centralizing role in the meta, this undisputedly top-tier pair is the kind of game-defining force that can be seriously compared to a member of the Sygna Suit Kanto trio or Hoenn Ancients in its sheer dominance over whatever situation is thrown at it.
What Does It Do?
Sun cores finally have their MPR Sunny Day setter! As an enabler, Passive Skills like Solar Propulsion 2 and Speeding Sun 3 are fantastic for grinding out Sync Moves, whether it be from Leafeon itself or another teammate.
A list of the important nodes on Sygna Suit Erika’s Sync Grid is listed below:
- Top Left Sector
- Superduper Effective 1 (2-10): Expensive standalone, even more expensive to reach, for a minor boost in damage output.
- Attack +20 (3-7): Important node to boost Leafeon’s mediocre Base Attack
- Top Right Sector
- Solar Blade: Fast-Track 9 (3-7): Best stand-in for X Speed MPR and improvement on Speedy Entry 1
- Ramming Speed (3-10)
- Speedy Entry (2-6): Decent but unnecessary starter for Inertia and Ramming Speed
- Bottom Left Sector
- Inertia 3 (3-10)
- Healthy Power-Up 1 (3-10): Expensive investment for a minor boost that only triggers when Leafeon is at full HP
- Bottom Right Sector
- Super Infliction 9 (3-10): Great for Grass weak stages
- Sunny Day MPR 2 (2-7)
- Solar Flare 5 (2-8)
As a damage dealer, Leafeon is highly self-sufficient, capable of maxing its own Critical Hit Rate and Attack (in 3 moves). Its Sync Grid extends this further, with Solar Blade Fast Track 9 filling in the gap left by X Speed. These then feed into Inertia and Ramming Speed for even more damage multipliers. Top this up with Super Infliction 9, and Leafeon is suddenly threatening a maximum power Tech Sync Nuke right from the start.
Solar Blade being its only damaging move is a source of concern. Fortunately, Leafeon sets up the Sun necessary to skip the charging turn on its own, so as long as players manage the duration of Sun well, this should not be too big of an issue. This is also where that aforementioned MPR on Sunny Day comes in handy when it comes to longer matches where two regular waves of Sun isn’t enough, or when the opponent intends to start a Weather War.
Its true problem lies in its mediocre Base Attack (only 224 at Level 140), which is a huge shame that keeps Leafeon from running away with its fantastic set of multipliers. Sunny Day MPR is shackled behind one duplicate, while its best assets require one more to unlock. Fortunately, Leafeon at 1/5 is still very much usable either as a stand-in or alongside Brendan’s Sceptile or other Sun abusers.
Sunny Day MPR alone makes Sygna Suit Erika an asset in Battle Villa and/or longer formats like the Legendary Arena and Full Force Battles. However, it is very clear that, as a Sync Nuke, Leafeon’s strengths lie in short battles like the Champion Stadium, where its boosted Sync is hopefully enough to secure the KO on the boss.
How To Use It?
This Sync Grid build runs Leafeon as a DPS option to use even against regular stages.
This Sync Grid build is tailored for maximizing Leafeon’s damage output on its Sync Nuke.
As a Sun setter, Sygna Suit Erika works alongside any Fire Type and or Grass Type unit that have Sun based nodes on their Sync Grid. A quick Kanto based core would include Sygna Suit Red and Sygna Suit Leaf, though this does mean utilizing Mega Venusaur as the team’s damage sponge.
As a Sync Nuke option, Leafeon’s best partner is actually Meganium. The ideal move order between the two would be: X Speed > Dire Hit All > Sunny Day > Sunny Side Up > Soak Up The Sun > Sunny Side Up. At the end of this chain, Leafeon will have maxed out its Critical Hit Rate, Attack, and Speed, enabling a devastating Sync Nuke. This also leaves Leafeon with at least one use each of its Status Moves so as to reapply Super Infliction 9. When Sun runs out and MPR has been exhausted, Meganium can then take over Sync responsibility to reapply Sun.
Other good teammate options to consider include, but are not limited to: Brendan’s Sceptile (another self sufficient unit for a hyper offensive core), Groudon’s Maxie (extended Sun, start with Sun, plus Attack boosting Master Skill), or Kiawe’s Alolan Marowak (Potion Master Healer and Defense lowering with Shadow Bone).
Is It Worth Pulling?
An undoubtedly fantastic unit that provides a long awaited asset in Sunny Day MPR. Most of its drawbacks are manageable, too. However, the fact that Sygna Suit Erika isn’t a Poke-Fair severely cuts into her pull urgency, since players can still get her (albeit at a much lower rate) after her banner has ended, and/or through the Kanto Ticket Scout when she eventually gets added to the pool. With her debut banner stuck between Classic Red and the Fall 2021 season, players aren’t hard pressed to pull for her against those “better” options.
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