Deoxys Weaknesses and Raid Counters in Pokemon GO

According to the Pokedex, Deoxys’ existence came about when a spaceborne virus landed on Earth aboard a stray meteorite. Exposure to local elements caused the virus to mutate and take on a proper Pokemon form. Barring hypothetically alien Pokemon like Clefairy or extradimensional Pokemon like the Ultra Beasts, Deoxys is the only Pokemon confirmed to not be of this Earth. Needless to say, such a creature is not one to be taken lightly, though it is an excellent asset if you can catch it. Here are Deoxys’ weaknesses and Raid counters in Pokemon GO.

Deoxys Resistances and Weaknesses

Deoxys is a bit of a tricky sort because its form and stats aren’t static. Deoxys can appear in one of four different formes:

• Normal Forme: High attack, mediocre to average defense and stamina
• Attack Forme: The highest attack in the game, virtually no defense or stamina
• Defense Forme: High defense, average attack and stamina
• Speed Forme: Above-average attack and defense, average stamina

All four of Deoxys’ formes share the same typing, pure Psychic, which means its resistances break down like this:

• Resistant to: Fighting, Psychic
• Weak against: Bug, Ghost, Dark

Here’s where things get complicated: all of Deoxys’ Formes have their own unique movesets to keep track of. Starting with Normal Forme, here are the moves in Deoxys’ kit.

Deoxys Moves

Normal Forme

Quick Moves

• Zen Headbutt (Psychic)
• Charge Beam (Electric)

Main Moves

• Hyper Beam (Normal)
• Thunderbolt (Electric)
• Psycho Boost (Psychic)

Attack Formes

Second, here are Attack Forme Deoxys’ moves:

Quick Moves

• Poison Jab (Poison)
• Zen Headbutt (Psychic)

Main Moves

• Dark Pulse (Dark)
• Zap Cannon (Electric)
• Psycho Boost (Psychic)

Defense Forme

Thirdly, here are Defense Forme Deoxys’ moves:

Quick Moves

• Zen Headbutt (Psychic)
• Counter (Fighting)

Main Moves

• Rock Slide (Rock)
• Thunderbolt (Electric)
• Psycho Boost (Psychic)

Speed Forme

Fourth and finally, here are Speed Forme Deoxys’ moves:

Quick Moves

• Zen Headbutt (Psychic)
• Charge Beam (Electric)

Main Moves

• Swift (Normal)
• Thunderbolt (Electric)
• Psycho Boost (Psychic)

Deoxys Counters

List of Deoxys Counters

• Tyranitar – Bite/Crunch
• Houndoom – Snarl/Foul Play
• Gengar – Lick/Shadow Ball
• Darkrai – Snarl/Dark Pulse
• Giratina – Shadow Claw/Shadow Ball
• Absol – Snarl/Dark Pulse

Let’s go down the line here and prepare for every possible contingency. First, for Normal Forme Deoxys, you want a Pokemon that can exploit its weaknesses without exposing its own. Even in Normal Forme, Deoxys has a very high base attack, so a weak shot could be an instant knockout. For this Forme, Chandelure would probably be your best bet. Chandelure’s Ghost attacks can exploit Deoxys’ weaknesses, while it isn’t weak to anything in Deoxys’ kit. It helps that Chandelure also has a pretty high base attack, so you should be able to wrap the fight up quickly.

For Attack Forme, the name of the game is absolute defense. Attack Forme Deoxys’ base attack is, quite frankly, absurd. Where Normal Forme’s weak shots are potential knockouts, Attack Forme’s weak shots are all but guaranteed knockouts. This means that anything weak against one of Deoxys’ moves is a no-go, Psychic weaknesses especially. For this Forme, I would recommend Houndoom, Mega Houndoom if you can manage it. Mega Houndoom as a respectable base attack, Dark moves to exploit Deoxys’ weaknesses, and perhaps most importantly, double-resistance to Psychic moves.

For Defense Forme, we have to flip the script. We need a Pokemon with high DPS to pierce Deoxys’ defenses, so it’s okay to sacrifice a bit of safety in this regard. For this Forme, Gengar’s your guy, and Mega Gengar especially. While Gengar’s partial Poison typing does make it weak to Psychic attacks, its DPS potential vastly outmatches Defense Forme Deoxys’, so it can beat it in a DPS race with no problem.

Finally, Speed Forme is actually the least threatening Forme because it doesn’t have any particularly weird tricks or stats. A standard weakness-exploitation strategy will work just fine here. Once again, our ideal pick is Chandelure. Pummel Deoxys with Ghost attacks and bring the fight to a swift, decisive close.

Incidentally, Darkrai, Giratina, and Shadow Rider Calyrex are all excellent Legendary counters to Deoxys in just about any of its Formes.

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