[OVERVIEW]
Pheromosa has a small niche in DOU as a fast, strong attacker mainly used to pin down the metagame's many offensive threats. Notably, it boasts the highest unboosted Speed in the metagame, outrunning even the likes of Naganadel, Dragapult, and Zeraora. Pheromosa also possesses a potent STAB combination alongside Ice Beam, both of which come off its high attacking stats—this entire package makes it a predator to the likes of Naganadel, Landorus, Kyurem-B, Rillaboom, Mew, and Heatran, excelling in an all-out attacking role to check fast, offensive team archetypes. Its strong STAB U-turn particularly comes in handy, as it also lets Pheromosa safely break down defensive backbones, and it keeping momentum lets strong offensive teammates maintain pressure, such as Naganadel and Heatran. Still, Pheromosa is ultimately flawed because of its frailty. It essentially cannot come onto the field safely if not a lead or replacing a KOed teammate, though slow pivots such as Incineroar and Rillaboom mitigate this weakness. Pheromosa is also vulnerable to priority attacks, particularly the omnipresent Fake Out, which often forces it to play defensively, though Tsareena, Tapu Lele, and Indeedee-F do alleviate this. Its most glaring weakness, though, is its ineffectiveness when outsped, as even average attackers can OHKO it through its paper-thin defenses. Choice Scarf attackers, such as Urshifu-R and Genesect, and opposing speed control, such as Tailwind or Trick Room, easily invalidate Pheromosa.
[SET]
name: All-out Attacker
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Naive
evs: 244 Atk / 12 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Close Combat is Pheromosa's main attacking option, its high power used to secure KOs and the Fighting typing particularly handy for checking Incineroar, Kyurem-B, and Heatran. However, the Defense drop and the Life Orb recoil do make Pheromosa easier to pick off with priority moves such as Rillaboom's Grassy Glide and Urshifu-R's Aqua Jet.
* U-turn safely deals significant damage in positions where Pheromosa can't secure a KO, and its coverage especially threatens Rillaboom and Psychic-types such as Necrozma and Mew.
* Ice Beam easily OHKOes Ground- and Dragon-types such as Landorus, Zygarde, and Naganadel.
* Protect keeps Pheromosa safe for a turn, giving opportunities for teammates to switch in and cover threats, as well as letting it safely stall out opposing speed control such as Tailwind and Trick Room.
* A Naive nature lets Pheromosa outrun Dragapult and Zeraora without weakening any attacks or its defense against most priority attacks, such as Rillaboom's Grassy Glide and Urshifu-R's Aqua Jet. The 12 Special Attack EVs guarantee the OHKO on Naganadel with Ice Beam.
* A Naughty nature is an interesting option to let Pheromosa gain Attack boosts from Beast Boost, but risking getting outrun by Dragapult and Zeraora is detrimental to its primary job of checking fast threats. Its frailty and playstyle of requent pivoting also make any boosts it gains rarely long lasting.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Focus Sash is usable in order to hide Pheromosa's frailty, letting it safely trade damage with a foe once, but without a Life Orb, Pheromosa's damage output is significantly lower. Speed Swap can be a cheesy option to give a teammate a surprise boost, with Pheromosa's Speed stat being at the top of the metagame, but giving up either Ice Beam or Protect negatively affects Pheromosa's performance as an all-out attacker. Triple Axel can be used to get around Focus Sash and Substitute from the likes of Naganadel and Landorus, but these niche scenarios are typically not worth the inconsistency.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Memoric, 215000]]
- Quality checked by: [[emma, 294304], [Yoda2798, 243661]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
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