Deoxys-S is one of the best late-game sweepers since it is very fast and hits the vast majority of Pokemon super effectively with little trouble. As such, Expert Belt works well on this set. Ice Beam will help revenge kill Garchomp and Superpower two-shots Blissey with little to worry about. Thunderbolt helps add Gyarados protection, but Shadow Ball is useful for hitting Dusknoir and Cresselia. Passing Nasty Plots or Calm Minds make this set even more devastating and can make teams go to extreme measures just to eliminate Deoxys-S. You can consider dropping some Attack EVs and using the remainder EVs somewhere else, even if it's in Speed. You can try Recover in this set if you're using Life Orb, but you may find that it's hard to find the time to use it, other than on switches of course.
Designed to be used as a lead, this set stops suicidal leads such as Aerodactyl or Azelf from being able to set up Stealth Rock, while setting up your own entry hazard as well as eight turn Light Screens and Reflects. Light Clay is the item of choice on this set due to the fact that Deoxys-S abuses both Light Screen and Reflect. Focus Sash is pointless for this reason, and with the ubiquity of Tyranitar leads, Light Clay is superior. With Reflect up, Deoxys-S is able to survive a Choice Banded Crunch or Pursuit from Tyranitar, and is only 3HKOed by Bronzong's Gyro Ball. The decision between Stealth Rock or Spikes depends on which is needed more. Stealth Rock is generally the preferred option as it only takes one turn of set-up. However, Deoxys-S is one of the few viable users of Spikes, so it is the preferred entry hazard if another Pokémon on your team knows Stealth Rock. However, if your only goal is to set-up a Light Screen or Reflect for your main sweeper, by all means use Recover. This allows Deoxys-S to continually switch-in and set-up a screen, while making up for the lack of Leftovers as a held item. Max Speed is required to, at worst, tie against opposing Deoxys-S. The rest of the EVs are poured into its abysmal HP to equally maximize Deoxys-S's defenses.
Deoxys-S also gets Spikes thanks to its alter-ego Deoxys-D. With Spikes on the field, the damage adds up quickly for your opponent. Psychic can always be replaced with Stealth Rock or Knock Off if you have Heracross taken care of, but is added there for the sake of an attacking move. Taunt works excellently with the set since it prevents Skarmory from setting up Spikes himself and also stops any other Pokemon that uses support moves such as Swords Dance or Substitute. Knock Off can also work in tandem with Taunt as Skarmory won't enjoy losing Shed Shell and later getting destroyed by Magnezone.
Before Deoxys-S's entry into standard play, the best possible answer to Gyarados, Garchomp, and Infernape was Starmie. In a nearly identical manner to Starmie, this Deoxys-S set allows for a great "counter" to all three of these devastating threats. Thanks to a much superior Speed stat, it is able to reach 455 Speed, allowing it to outrun Adamant Choice Scarf Garchomp. With the 252 HP EVs, it takes hits slightly better than the aforementioned Starmie. It can survive any unboosted attack from standard Life Orb Infernape, it can live a Dragon Danced Waterfall from Gyarados, and even live an Outrage from Adamant Choice Scarf Garchomp. As if that isn't enough, it can easily recover off the damage thanks to it's great Speed. Even the popular revenge killer Dugtrio fails to OHKO Deoxys-S with an Adamant, Choice Banded Sucker Punch, doing around 88% at max. Thunderbolt is necessary for taking down Gyarados, Psychic for Infernape, and Ice Beam for Garchomp. On the subject of Garchomp, it has more than enough Special Attack to guarantee the OHKO on standard Garchomp, hitting 272. The EVs could be subject to change should the user desire. 252 HP / 96 SpA / 160 Spe can be used to outrun Modest Choice Scarf Gengar, though you will definitely notice the lack in power. Pressure also aids this set a lot. Late game stall wars can be ended much quicker thanks to Pressure and Recover. The opponent's PP will be depleted extremely quickly. The main issue with this set is that the user must keep in mind that it is not a sweeper, and that it should really only be used for aiding your team in countering very potent threats. In any case, Deoxys-S gets the job done and does it well. Very well.
If you thought Deoxys-S could only be useful for support and offensive tactics, you're far from scratching its potential in the overused environment. Cosmic Power allows Deoxys-S to stall similarly to Deoxys-D in Ubers. This set works best with Toxic Spikes so you can stall with maximum potential. Taunt is there to prevent attempts at phazing and to halt opposing setup and support. Toxic can work on Pokemon that resist Toxic Spikes like Zapdos and Cresselia, while Night Shade or Seismic Toss help the damage to build up more quickly. You should pack a spinner or Poison-type without Levitate or a Flying subtype such as Tentacruel to help remove Toxic Spikes so that Deoxys-S isn't outstalled himself. Other OptionsWow; this thing's movepool is insane. Counter and Mirror Coat can be used on a set, but it is still quite risky due to the hard-hitters in the overused environment. Pursuit can easily help revenge kill weak Pokemon that attempt to escape with the "can run but can't hide" tactic. Deoxys-S also gets Grass Knot to hurt Swampert and Hippowdon harder than the rest of his movepool. Fire Punch or Hidden Power Fire hits Metagross, Jirachi, Bronzong, and Skarmory super effective and can always be used in the first set. Reflect helps Deoxys-S escape from Pursuit easier. Psycho Boost is special to Deoxys-S, only shared by his other alternate forms, and can always be used in a set such as the Spiker set or the Sweeper set. It can act as a double-edged sword however because after you've attacked with it, you will lose a lot of power, forcing a switch in many cases and leaving you vulnerable to your opponent. Calm Mind is available and can work well with Recover or Taunt, but Deoxys-S works much better as a hit-and-run attacker. EVsThere are many, many EV possibilities for this thing. 0 Speed EVs and a neutral nature always outspeeds base 130s with a positive nature. As far as anything else, the Speed EVs suggested in the first set will at least take out Adamant Garchomps that equip a Choice Scarf, and the 36 Speed EVs with a neutral nature will pick off Choice Scarf Heracross. 160 Speed EVs with a positive nature will outspeed Choice Scarf Gengar, so that too is a consideration if he is threatening enough to you. The whole 2HKO on Blissey is a problem, but if she steps into Stealth Rock the Attack EVs shown will put her to rest. Still, if you're seriously scared silly of being walled by her and want to guarantee a 2HKO on Blissey with an Expert Belt, use 208 Attack EVs. OpinionIn the overused environment, Deoxys-S can force any team into submission. Its gigantic movepool and decently distributed stats allow him to easily abuse any strategy that you plan to use him for, provided that you are not using Choice sets. What separates him from many special sweepers is that he's fast, and that doesn't mean Porygon-Z fast; it means with base Speed of 180. His real power is hitting super effectively and attacking first, but he is still vulnerable if he tries to hit healthy Pokemon that aren't weak to his attacks. He can easily become a sick sweeper or even stall opponents out with little effort. Despite some of the negatives given to him, Deoxys-S is an excellent consideration to an overused team that gets sick of Pokemon like Gengar and Garchomp from sweeping it. CountersSpiritomb is the number one contender here; it is immune to Psychic and Superpower and has anything from Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch to Pursuit to take down Deoxys-S; however, Spiritomb has no business with the stalling set as he is easily worn out by Toxic Spikes and Cosmic Power. Metagross, Jirachi, and Bronzong have the best situations here, as they can easily bully Deoxys-S since he usually doesn't pack Fire Punch. Metagross has Pursuit and Bullet Punch to shut down Deoxys-S while Bronzong has Trick Room as well as a powerful Gyro Ball that easily is powered up thanks to Deoxys-S's insane Speed. Lacking Shadow Ball leaves you trouble against Cresselia and Dusknoir; Dusknoir is worse because he commonly carries Shadow Sneak and also has Pressure working against you. Thunderbolt-less variants face troubles from Skarmory and even Gyarados to some extent. Paralysis is a status that works against Deoxys-S as far as the sweeping variants go while Toxic is something that the Cosmic Power Deoxys-S doesn't like. Cosmic Power Deoxys-S is hard to stop, but very hard hits from Pokemon like Tyranitar and Heracross will help keep stalling Deoxys-S out of the battlefield for a while. Finally, first priority moves will not be a good friend to Deoxys-S altogether, so a few of these hits can easily take Deoxys-S down. |
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