Niantic
Deoxys is the newest EX Raid boss in Pokemon Go. Players are starting to fight the Mythical Pokemon in EX Raids starting today, according to our previous report.
If you’re struggling with fighting the Mythical Pokemon, then look no further. Here are Deoxys’ best counters and moves in Pokemon Go.
Deoxys is currently only encountered in its normal form, according to Niantic. It has an attack stat of 345, a defense stat of 115, and a stamina of 100 according to GamePress. It has the Quick Moves Charge Beam and Zen Headbutt and the Charge Moves Thunderbolt, Hyper Beam, and Psycho Boost.
Deoxys has stronger attack than Mewtwo but weaker defense and stamina. However, since the two Pokemon share the same psychic typing, Deoxys has many of the same counters as Mewtwo.
From comparing different guides we found across the web including GamePress, Pokemon Go Hub, and The Silph Road Subreddit, we concluded that Mewtwo with Psycho Cut and Shadow Ball is the best counter against Deoxys. Mewtwo has the second highest ghost-type damage per second (DPS) and second highest generalist DPS in the game, according to GamePress. Since Deoxys is weak to ghost-type moves, it should fall pretty quickly to Mewtwo’s Shadow Ball. In this case Psycho Cut would be preferable over Confusion because while Confusion deals more DPS, Deoxys resists both moves anyway and Psycho Cut is easier to dodge with and builds up more energy for Shadow Ball according to GamePress. However, Mewtwo can only learn Shadow Ball if caught in an EX Raid. In addition, Mewtwo resists both of Deoxys’ psychic-type moves and takes neutral damage against its electric-type moves and Hyper Beam.
Other excellent counters include Tyranitar with Bite and Crunch and Gengar with Shadow Claw/Hex and Shadow Ball. Tyranitar is currently the strongest dark-type in the game and makes short work of Deoxys with its dual dark-type moves. It also resists Hyper Beam and double resists psychic-type moves. And unlike with Mewtwo, you don’t have to worry about Focus Blast. Meanwhile, Gengar tears apart Deoxys with dual ghost-type moves and double resists Hyper Beam. However, Gengar takes super effective damage against psychic-type moves due to its poison typing. The same goes for Absol thanks to its high attack and dual dark-type moves.
As Pokemon Go Hub suggests, strong bug-type Pokemon like Scizor and Pinsir are also good picks since Deoxys is weak to their dual bug-type moves. Scizor has the added benefit of resisting Deoxys’ psychic-type attacks and Hyper Beam.
Strong dragon-type Pokemon like Rayquaza or Dragonite are also great to use. While their dual dragon-type moves aren’t super effective against Deoxys, they have just enough attack to take a significant bite out of the Mythical Pokemon. They also take neutral damage against all of Deoxys’ attacks.
Other good counters are just weaker yet still viable versions of the best counters. Alakazam is only slightly behind Mewtwo thanks to its very high attack stat and access to Psycho Cut and Shadow Ball. Banette is a weaker version of Gengar but accomplishes the same thing with Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball with the added benefit of only taking neutral damage against psychic-type moves. While Houndoom has less attack than Tyranitar and only takes neutral damage against Hyper Beam, it can still do well with its dual dark-type moves.
Pokemon you shouldn’t use include those weak to Deoxys’ psychic- and electric-type moves as well as Pokemon too frail to survive Hyper Beam. So while Machamp is a fantastic Pokemon, it wouldn’t be as useful in this Raid.
According to Pokemon Go Hub, Deoxys is weather-boosted in Windy weather which means it will be stronger but have a higher CP when you catch it. Fog weather is best for counters that use dark- and ghost-type moves while Rainy is best for counters that use bug-type moves.
Here’s a handy graphic from Reddit user ANDROIDboosts you can refer to. Keep in mind that you can only encounter Deoxys in its normal form.
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