Role Rumble: Ubers - Pheromosa vs Deoxys-A

The bells ring as the competitors get ready to rumble for the first time ever in the Articles subforum. No, this isn't your usual street brawl. This is a ROLE RUMBLE! I'll discuss what makes the threats similar and what makes them different, including their strengths, weaknesses, niches, strategies, and everything in between. We aim to help both noobs and pros alike so that they make the better choices when it comes to their teams!

In Role Rumble, we'll be pitting two Pokémon with similar roles against each other to conclude which one is the better threat.

The Title: Best Nuke in Ubers

The Challengers :

• Pheromosa
  • A.K.A. UB:02 - Beauty
  • Bug / Fighting typing
  • 137 / 137 / 151 Offences
  • Also likes piña coladas

• Deoxys - Attack
  • A.K.A. user @E.T.
  • Pure Psychic typing
  • 180 / 180 / 150 Offences
  • Don't ever mention the nickname in front of it, or be prepared to tank a Psycho Boost.

Round 1 - Similarities​

• Both possess excellent offensive capabilities. They are also especially fast at 151 and 150 base Speed, respectively—making them solid mixed glass cannons and extremely powerful revenge killers.
• As a tradeoff for the nuclear offences, their paper-thin defenses often make these hunters the hunted against opposing revenge killers like Arceus, Rayquaza, or opposing Deoxys-A with Extreme Speed. Threats with Bullet Punch like Mega Lucario and Mega Scizor aren't uncommon as well. Choice Scarf users like Xerneas and Lunala can revenge kill them with ease.
• That's not all. If both Deoxys-A and Pheromosa are at unboosted Speed, they are both outrun by Dragon Dance Mega Salamence at +1, Primal Groudon at +2 with Rock Polish, and the ever so threatening Geomancy Xerneas.
• Even with the awesome Fighting-type coverage they have, they still end up struggling against several of the Steel-types in the tier such as Celesteela and Aegislash.
• Both are prone to getting worn out due to the recoil damage from Life Orb; chip damage from Sandstorm; and, of course, the entry damage by hazards—making their usage a liability against fast paced teams or against stall.

Round 2 - Individual Lookup

DEOXYS - ATTACK
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• While it's pure Psychic typing isn't something that is that special, its combination of extremely high offences and high-powered moves in its arsenal more than makes up for it.
  • Psycho Boost is a strong special Psychic-type move with 140 base power that is a staple on every Deoxys-A. It is, after all, the strongest STAB move in its movepool. The side effect of sharply decreasing its Special Attack can be ignored, as it still has moves on the physical side as well. That said, it is very easy to switch Deoxys-A out unless there is a Pursuit trapper against it—Alolan Muk being a very good example.
  • That said, with Psychic Terrain support from Tapu Lele, Deoxys-A can now go for Psychic or Psyshock to wreck threats and continue the carnage, Deoxys-A will be hitting with more intensity due to the terrain boost.
  • It doesn't lack in coverage. The next three moves can be chosen according to the team's requirements.
  • Superpower is used to take care of the blobs and Steel-type walls in the tier. It additionally hits Darkrai and Arceus-Dark for heavy amounts. However, the rib-crunching stat drops makes it a liability against teams with heavy offensive presence. Low Kick also works out well for a tier filled with heavy-ass Pokémon, but it becomes less useful against lighter foes.
  • Knock Off is a heavy utility move even in Ubers. It can be used to nail threats like Mega Gengar and Lunala, and deal heavy damage against the likes of Arceus-Ghost and Giratina.
  • Ice Beam is an excellent move in the tier that contains many Pokémon that either take super effective damage or take neutral damage from it. It is also a great move alongside Psycho Boost, as it can be freely spammed without any backlash. Ice Beam gets Landorus, Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, Arceus-Ground, Yveltal, and Shaymin-Sky for great loads of damage.
  • Extreme Speed is a great priority move for Deoxys-A. While Deoxys-A's Extreme Speed is substantially weaker than Extreme Killer Arceus's Extreme Speed due to not being a STAB move or possibly being Swords Dance boosted, it does help it to pick off weakened threats like the very common Geomancy Xerneas.
  • Pursuit is often used nowadays to specifically trap Ghost-types that rarely stay on Deoxys-A. The best examples are Calm Mind or Choice Specs Lunala or Mega Gengar.
  • Other uncommon moves include Fire Punch, which hits Ferrorthorn and Mega Scizor for doubly super-effective damage. It also reliably hits Skarmory and Celesteela for super-effective damage as well. Hidden Power Fire can be used in this place to generate more damage from its Special Attack stat as that more often than not has more investments on EVs. Meteor Mash or Flash Cannon are used to hit Fairy-types without having to go for a Psycho Boost.
• As for the items, the most well-known and probably the best item for Deoxys-A to hold is the Life Orb, as the 30% boost in the base power of every move is highly appreciated. The 10% recoil can easily be ignored, as nukes such as Deoxys will die the moment a move touches them.
  • Focus Sash is always a good thing to have. As a trade-off for damage output, it actually gets to live for a turn or two without having to succumb to a hit that'll eventually KO if it doesn't KO the opposition first. And if damaging weather and hazards are controlled, then Deoxys-A gets multiple chances to switch out and come back to reek havoc again. Additionally, it can also work as a suicide lead as it has moves like Stealth Rock, Spikes and Taunt. While Deoxys-S is better off for suicide leading, Deoxys-A can actually pose a threat as well as lay rocks against the opposing team.
  • If you are in a wild mood, then you can go for Psychium Z with Psycho Boost (maybe Psychic) for a one-time nuke on a poor soul. As you might know, Psycho Boost's stat drops won't be added when you go for a base 200 power Shattered Psyche, so have fun!

PHEROMOSA
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• Pheromosa has a few tricks up its sleeve (Wings? Thorax?) that makes Pheromosa slightly different from Deoxys-A.
• The first being its obvious dual STAB moves. It has access to a stronger Low Kick and has access to High Jump Kick, which is stronger than Deoxys-A's Superpower due to the 10 BP difference and the STAB boost. It also has no stat negating side effects, but it does have the miss chance and the 50% recoil on missing. Considering the existence of bulky Ghost-types likes Giratina and Arceus-Ghost in the tier, High Jump Kick, can be a liability.
• The next moves include U-Turn. It gives Pheromosa an edge over Deoxys-A for being a scouting move which also gets the STAB boost. This helps greatly in getting chip damage on threats that can be taken care of by Pheromosa's teammates.
  • Continuing on STAB moves. Pheromosa also has Focus Blast (lovingly known as Focus Miss) which is still a good Fighting-type alternative compared to, you know, High Jump Kick.
• Then comes the coverage!
  • Ice Beam comes next as that is an extremely important move to have around in Ubers. Think of it, it nails monsters such as Mega Salamence and Zygarde-C. Not just that, it deals heavy damage to the likes of Arceus-Ground and Yveltal. There are more to add to this list, but lemme be a bit lazy and tell you to scroll to the Ice Beam section of Deoxys-A.
  • Poison Jab is another useful move to take on the notorious Fairy-types like Xerneas or Tapu Lele. If that's not enough, it also has a 30% chance to poison incoming switch-ins, and that is great isn't it?
  • Other options include Fling and Rapid Spin. With an Insect or a Fist Plate, Fling becomes a 90 BP move. It is mainly used as catch a Giratina or an Arceus-Ghost off-guard, but it also OHKOes Mega Gengar after Stealth Rock damge.
  • Deoxys-A has hazards setup, and Pheromosa has hazard control. Yes, you heard it right, it gets Rapid Spin to spin out any hazards on the user's side. However do note, that you'll have to be very careful while using it.
• Moving on to items, Life Orb and Focus Sash are a given. There shouldn't be any need to explain it in depth here, frankly speaking.
• However there are other items that differentiate it from Deoxys-A. It is completely able to use all three of the Choice items to varying degrees. The Choice Band, especially when combined with Beast Boost, is especially hard to stop by if your priority killers are dispatched, making Pheromosa an especially useful late-game cleaner. Also, the U-Turn from a Choice Band Pheromosa really hurts.
  • A bit of EV tweaking to make Pheromosa's Speed lower than either Attack or Special Attack combined with a Choice Scarf basically turns it into a Moxie monster that cannot be easily stopped once it has taken down even a single opponent.
  • The Choice Specs set works similarly as the Choice Band set while keeping U-Turn for scouting out threats, but it obviously hits harder specially.
• Fightium Z combined with Focus Blast or High Jump Kick gives you a one-time turbocharged and fully accurate move to totally finish an opponent that could have taken a hit or two (Looks at Celesteela).

RESULTS. RESULTS. RESULTS.



Time to judge!
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Well, well, Deoxys-A does win. While Pheromosa is great due to having a usable ability in comparison to Deoxys-A, as it has a non-risky way to boost its stats. Pheromosa is also faster and can run more sets in comparison to Deoxys-A but why did it lose? Pheromosa is offensively strong, but for a tier like Ubers with its pantheon of hard hitters, Pheromosa just doesn't hit hard enough all the time, unlike Deoxys-A!

Deoxys-A's 180/180 attack spread along with its assortment of moves lets it hit everything in the tier for a good amount of damage. Pheromosa, on the other hand, struggles against Ghost-types way too much, and some of the very bulky Steel-types, like say Celesteela or Solgaleo, can take a hit or two (and somewhere in it's castle, Aegislash guffawed at the thought of a High Jump Kick connecting). Pheromosa's lack of priority attacks are also a negative, and sadly, Pheromosa has a very limited movepool, which makes it very predictable at times—ultimately making Deoxys-A the better 'mon. Deoxys-A can just circumvent this problem with Knock Off or Dark Pulse. Well the only thing truly stopping Deoxys-A would be, wait for it, Mega Sableye.

Deoxys-A and Pheromosa are both strong nukes to have around. One is a tried and tested Man O' War, and the other is a wannabe superstar. When it comes to Ubers, Deoxys-A should always be the better choice to use. As such, Pheromosa is at best, a niche option over Deoxys-A.
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Deoxys-A takes the title of the very first Role Rumble!
THE BEST NUKE IN UBERS!


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What are your thoughts and opinion on Deoxys-A and/or Pheromosa in SM Ubers? How have you used them? How do you battle against them? Got other Pokémon to clash in the next Role Rumble? I am all ears, and so is everyone here at the Articles subforum! Don't be shy; go ahead and post!
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Spoiler: Special Thanks

Joyverse - Writer
Annoying Orange - QC, Banner
Mysterious M - QC
E.T. - QC, Grammar
Spoovo The Pirate - QC
Sobi - QC
gengar17 - QC

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