Flareon

Flareon is the third of Eevee's eight evolutions, and generally gets the least respect of all. Regardless, they have several advantages that none of the other Eeveelutions have, and combined with the general usefulness of Fire-type attacks Flareon make good counterparts for any of the other seven evolutions.

Pokedex Information
Flareon evolves from Eevee using a Fire Stone or after spending a significant amount of time in a hot area (such as around a volcano or in a very hot, very dry desert). As a result, Flareon are the most common of the three elemental-stone-evolving evolutions, although not by a very large margin.

Flareon have a very limited ability to control fire, and they also are almost completely immune to Fire-based attacks and to being burned. Their ability works in a different way than Vaporeon's Water Absorb and Jolteon's Volt Absorb in that instead of converting similar energy attacks into health and energy, Flash Fire simply absorbs any Fire attack a Flareon is hit with, and stores that fire energy to power up their next fire attack. In general, it is less useful than Water or Volt Absorb, but there is also less of a risk of being overcharged and taking damage. Sadly, however, there are plenty of other Fire-types with Flash Fire as well, so Flareon really isn't anything special.

Flareon's heigh and weight are mid-range compared to the others. They are 2'11" tall, which is about 0.9 meters and the same as Espeon. Their weight is 55.1 pounds, or exactly 25 kilograms, which is the third lightest of all the evolutions. With their long, fluffy tail and fluffy mane, however, they usually appear considerably larger than an Espeon does.

Flareon's specialty is its high Attack stat, and it also has a very good Special Defense stat and a respectable Special Attack stat to help out. However, their Defense stat is very low and their speed is only slightly higher, making them less useful at close combat than their amazing physical strength may imply- although they are still much better at this role than any other evolution apart from Leafeon.

Flareon in the Eevee Elite
With their high offensive stats, Flareon generally only excel at attacking. Even still, just as with Vaporeon and Jolteon, there are three general fighting styles that most Flareon can be categorized as- close combat, mixed range, and support.

Close Combat is the most common of the three, and the vast majority of Flareon are part of this group. Basically, a Close Combat Flareon uses every physical attack they can think of (or copy from someone else) to get rid of their opponents. They often augment their strength with short-range Flamethrower, Fire Blast, or Wildfire attacks, but these moves usually take a back seat to any kind of attack that involves tackling, biting, slashing, punching, kicking, or tail-slamming.

Mixed Range Flareons are much less common, and can often be hard to tell apart from the Close Combat specialties. The main difference is that these Flareon usually try to put some distance between themselves and their target, allowing them to more effectively defend themselves with their slow speed. Their fire attacks generally emphasize range over power, and they aren't physically as strong as the other specialties. In exchange, however, they are generally also much harder to get rid of. However, due to the nature of fire-based attacks, their maximum range is much shorter than that of a water-,lightning-,light-, or ice-based attack. As such, extended-range concentrated fire attacks such as Wildfire are expcially common among this group.

The smallest of the three specialties is the Support group. Usually numbering only around one in ten Flareon, they usually support the longer-ranged Eeveelutions by hanging back and defending them instead of attacking. By protecting them, the longer-ranged allies can spend more time putting various energy attacks into their foes and less time worrying that someone might be trying to flank them and get in close, where they are unable to defend themselves. These supporting Flareons are usually best at close-quarters, and they also tend to be somewhat faster than the other Flareons, but their ranged attacks are often weak since they rely on whomever they are protecting to get rid of anyone else with ranged attacks.

Extremely high-skilled Flareons have one extra ace to play in battle, should they need a little extra power to win- plasma. By concentrating their fire attacks to the point where they can't be concentrated any more, the particles within the attacks change from burning gases to plasma. This increases the temperature of those attacks considerably, allowing the user to effectively blow away anything they wish. Plasma attacks are a whole new type of attack, and thus don't have the normal weakness or strengths that Fire attacks have- rather, they are equally effective against everything. They are also uneffected by Flash Fire or other fire-based abilities the target may have. Plasma burns also take longer to heal and are more damaging than fire-based burns. Any fire attack can be turned into a Plasma attack, but ranged attacks tend to be easier to concentrate than physical ones- and as they are essentially a concentrated fire attack, they require much more energy than a regular attack. The ability to melt a tank generally outweighs the extra energy requirement, though.