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Eevee is the first Pokémon you receive in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, making your choice of evolution one of the most significant decisions you’ll face during your playthrough. Each of the five Eeveelutions offers unique type advantages and stat benefits, but you can only evolve your Eevee into one form per playthrough — so your choice is final for that run.
When you reach a certain non-player character (NPC) who unlocks this decision, it can be a tough choice. This guide covers the benefits of each Eeveelution in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and suggests which one might be the best to use overall.
How to Obtain Each Eeveelution
Early in the game, once you arrive at Gateon Port, enter the shop on the left side of town, where you’re collecting a machine part for the story. Inside, you’ll find an Eevee expert sea captain. Talking to him will offer you one evolution item, and your choice determines which Eeveelution you can get. The options are Water Stone, Thunderstone, Fire Stone, Sun Shard, and Moon Shard.
Vaporeon
To get Vaporeon, select the Water Stone and use it on Eevee. This process is straightforward and works exactly like in other Generation 3 games such as Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. You can evolve Eevee whenever you want after choosing the stone.
Tip: Vaporeon is a safe choice if you want a bulky Pokémon that remains useful throughout most of the story. It requires no extra setup beyond selecting the correct item and becomes a powerful Water-type quickly.
Jolteon
Choose the Thunderstone and use it on Eevee. Like Vaporeon, this is an instant stone evolution, with no friendship or timing requirements. Jolteon is excellent for early-game speed and offensive power, making it a swift attacker right after evolution. It’s perfect if you need a fast Electric-type Pokémon that can hit hard and often move first.
Flareon
Select the Fire Stone and use it on Eevee. Similar to the other stones, Flareon evolves immediately once the item is used, without any additional conditions.
Note: Flareon is still usable but generally the least favored among the three stones. It’s effective early on, but later Fire-type options like Vulpix or Growlithe tend to outperform Flareon in terms of speed, attack, and move pool.
Espeon
Pick the Sun Shard and raise Eevee’s friendship while the shard is in your bag. Once the friendship level is high enough, leveling up Eevee will cause it to evolve into Espeon, consuming the Sun Shard. Unlike in mainline games, where Espeon evolves during daytime, here it evolves based solely on friendship with the Sun Shard, since XD doesn’t utilize time-based events.
Extra: Eevee’s friendship can reach a high enough level to evolve into Espeon or Umbreon fairly early, often before you finish your second battle with Chobin at Kaminko’s House.
Umbreon
Choose the Moon Shard and similarly raise Eevee’s friendship while the shard remains in your bag. Once the required friendship is met and Eevee levels up, it will evolve into Umbreon, consuming the Moon Shard.
Note: Unlike the main series, this evolution does not depend on nighttime; the Moon Shard is used instead.
Can You Get All Eeveelutions in One Playthrough?
In Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the only Eevee you can acquire is your starter, meaning you cannot get multiple Eeveelutions in a single run unless you trade or start new saves. The game only provides one evolution item in Gateon Port, so your starter Eevee can only become one form. To get other forms, you need to either start another playthrough or trade Eevee from other compatible Generation 3 games like Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, or Sapphire. However, since the Nintendo Switch version of Pokémon XD isn’t currently compatible with Pokémon Home or other trading services, trading with other games isn’t possible at this time. The only real way to get more than one Eeveelution in a single game remains restarting or trading through external methods not supported in this version.
Which Eeveelution Is Best?
Objectively, Espeon is considered the strongest Eeveelution in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. It’s a potent Psychic type with solid stats, and its move pool remains useful throughout most of the campaign. From early on, Espeon offers a fast special attacker capable of defeating many of the weaker, lower-level Pokémon encountered in trainers’ teams with moves like Confusion and Psybeam. Although its defenses are modest, its Special Attack is high enough to score one-hit KO hits against many Pokémon, especially Poison-types used by Team Snagem.
Alternatives: Jolteon and Vaporeon are also excellent choices. Jolteon excels if your team needs a speedster with Electric coverage, while Vaporeon provides bulk and staying power for longer battles.
Less Recommended: Umbreon tends to be harder to justify as a main choice because, although very resilient, it is slower and has a more limited offensive movepool. Many other Dark-type Pokémon later in the game outshine Umbreon in terms of power. Flareon, in particular, doesn’t stand out as much since other Fire-types later in the game, like Growlithe or Arcanine, outperform it in speed and attack.
Your Eevee’s evolution in Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness depends on your item choice and friendship level, but it’s limited to your starter Eevee unless you find ways to trade or restart. Espeon generally offers the best overall performance, but Jolteon and Vaporeon remain strong functional options for specific roles.
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