[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 6-7 points
**Overview**: On paper, Delphox has quite a few things going for it, with a strong STAB combination and a decent Speed tier to help accomplish burning down foes in its path with its good Special Attack stat. Delphox also has a few utility options such as Will-O-Wisp and Encore to support its team. Sadly, Delphox is very frail and not fast or strong enough to overcome this weakness, leaving it prone to getting revenge killed. It is also very weak to common offensive types like Dark and Ground, so it struggles finding opportunities to switch in. Finally, Delphox is weak to entry hazards, which is very detrimental because it prefers running offensive items instead of Heavy-Duty Boots.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Revenge Killer**: Delphox can excel as a revenge killer by using a Choice Scarf to pick off weakened foes, surprise faster threats, or ruin a defensive foe's capabilities with Trick when it can enter the field safely.
**Wallbreaker**: Against slower teams, Delphox can act as a wallbreaker with either Choice Specs or other damage-boosting items for an immediate burst in power to whittle down foes and support its team.
**Setup Sweeper**: With access to moves such as Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, and Agility, Delphox can act as a setup sweeper to clean through weakened teams if it finds the right opportunity to do so. Due to its fragility, this set requires a lot of support from Delphox's teammates to make it work, such as needing specific foes to be weakened first.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Overheat, Psychic, Psyshock, Psychic Noise
**Setup Moves**: Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Agility, Flame Charge
**Utility Moves**: Will-O-Wisp, Trick, Switcheroo, Encore
**Coverage**: Shadow Ball, Grass Knot, Dazzling Gleam, Focus Blast, Tera Blast, Scorching Sands
Niche Moves
========
**Hex**: Delphox can use Hex if its paired with Will-O-Wisp or status-inflicting teammates in order to deal more damage to problematic foes.
**Future Sight**: Delphox can use Future Sight as a means to help its team break defensive switch-ins that otherwise make it hard for Delphox to break through foes.
**Mystical Fire**: On bulkier sets, Delphox can make use of Mystical Fire to slow down opposing Special Attackers and give it more opportunities to deal damage.
**Endure**: Endure can be used alongside Salac or Petaya Berry to boost Delphox's Speed or Special Attack whilst activating Blaze to elevate its wallbreaking power.
**Reflect / Light Screen**: Delphox can use Reflect and Light Screen in an emergency to give its teammates more opportunities to set up.
Common Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf allows Delphox to get the jump on faster foes and guarantee damage on them. It can also use Trick or Switcheroo to ruin setup sweepers or defensive foes that may try to tank its hits.
**Choice Specs**: Delphox can use Choice Specs to scorch foes with massive damage and break through defensive pieces. While Choice Specs makes Delphox incredibly powerful, it also makes it easier for foes to revenge kill Delphox.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots allows Delphox to enter the field more safely if Stealth Rock is up and find more opportunities to set up and stay healthy.
Niche Items
========
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: Items such as Life Orb, Charcoal, and Twisted Spoon can give Delphox more power to break through foes if it doesn't need to equip a Choice Scarf. It can also use Expert Belt if it expects to go up against multiple foes that Delphox can hit with its decent coverage.
**Eject Pack**: Delphox can use Eject Pack in conjunction with Overheat to act as a one-time pivot for a teammate that can finish a foe after it has taken massive damage. By using its item this way, Delphox can also steal a foe's item the next time it comes in with Magician.
**Focus Sash**: Delphox can bait offensive foes that expect to KO it with a strong attack and fire back a Will-O-Wisp or strong attack in return.
**Assault Vest**: Delphox has decent special bulk and coverage, so an Assault Vest can increase its Special Defense further to sponge hits against specially offensive foes in a pinch.
Tera
========
Delphox appreciates being your secondary Tera Captain of choice when no others are suitable so that it can utilize its strengths and patch up its mediocre defensive typing. Tera Fairy is its best defensive typing to flip its matchup against Dark-types, resist Sucker Punch, and boost Dazzling Gleam's power. Tera Water, Fighting, and Ground are also generally good options to hit problematic foes with Tera Blast.
Draft Strategy
========
Delphox should be drafted as a secondary offensive option to keep up pressure alongside faster teammates and bulky walls. Its frailty and weakness to Stealth Rock mean that it often struggles to find the best opportunities to switch in, and it needs support from its teammates to help in this regard.
**Entry Hazard Control**: Delphox's glaring weakness to Stealth Rock and frailty mean that it needs help from teammates to keep hazards off the field. Pokemon such as Great Tusk, Terapagos, and Excadrill are good teammates to consider.
**Slow Pivots**: Delphox often needs to be shown the way onto the battlefield by its teammates, as it struggles to do so on its own. It would appreciate Pokemon such as Alomomola, Corviknight, and Milotic that can pivot to Delphox safely.
**Dark-types**: Delphox appreciates Dark-type Pokemon such as Zarude, Ting-Lu, and Roaring Moon, as they can switch into attacks aimed at Delphox and resist Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak.
**Faster Teammates**: Delphox's Speed is good, but it needs faster teammates such as Greninja, Sneasler and Darkrai so that it is not forced to use Choice Scarf in every match.
Checks and Counters
========
**Entry Hazards**: Delphox is very vulnerable to hazards, especially Stealth Rock, as it prefers to not run Heavy-Duty Boots, which limits how often it can switch in.
**Priority and Faster Foes**: Delphox is weak to common priority attacks such as Aqua Jet, Shadow Sneak, and Sucker Punch, which means it is prone to being revenge killed if it is weakened enough, which does not take too much effort due to its poor physical bulk. It can also struggle to deal with faster foes that can revenge kill it easily, forcing it to run Choice Scarf if it wants to get the jump on these foes first.
**Offensive Dark-types**: Dark-types such as Meowscarada, Greninja, and Weavile can use their STAB attacks to revenge kill Delphox. Dark-types are also very prevalent in the metagame, which makes it hard to fit Delphox on a team.
**Bulky Water-types**: While Delphox has access to Grass Knot, it still struggles to deal with bulky Water-types such as Primarina, Tentacruel, and Empoleon that can easily set up against Delphox or cripple it with status.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/furyy.529077/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/a-blue-banana.649096/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 6-7 points
**Overview**: On paper, Delphox has quite a few things going for it, with a strong STAB combination and a decent Speed tier to help accomplish burning down foes in its path with its good Special Attack stat. Delphox also has a few utility options such as Will-O-Wisp and Encore to support its team. Sadly, Delphox is very frail and not fast or strong enough to overcome this weakness, leaving it prone to getting revenge killed. It is also very weak to common offensive types like Dark and Ground, so it struggles finding opportunities to switch in. Finally, Delphox is weak to entry hazards, which is very detrimental because it prefers running offensive items instead of Heavy-Duty Boots.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Revenge Killer**: Delphox can excel as a revenge killer by using a Choice Scarf to pick off weakened foes, surprise faster threats, or ruin a defensive foe's capabilities with Trick when it can enter the field safely.
**Wallbreaker**: Against slower teams, Delphox can act as a wallbreaker with either Choice Specs or other damage-boosting items for an immediate burst in power to whittle down foes and support its team.
**Setup Sweeper**: With access to moves such as Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, and Agility, Delphox can act as a setup sweeper to clean through weakened teams if it finds the right opportunity to do so. Due to its fragility, this set requires a lot of support from Delphox's teammates to make it work, such as needing specific foes to be weakened first.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Overheat, Psychic, Psyshock, Psychic Noise
**Setup Moves**: Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Agility, Flame Charge
**Utility Moves**: Will-O-Wisp, Trick, Switcheroo, Encore
**Coverage**: Shadow Ball, Grass Knot, Dazzling Gleam, Focus Blast, Tera Blast, Scorching Sands
Niche Moves
========
**Hex**: Delphox can use Hex if its paired with Will-O-Wisp or status-inflicting teammates in order to deal more damage to problematic foes.
**Future Sight**: Delphox can use Future Sight as a means to help its team break defensive switch-ins that otherwise make it hard for Delphox to break through foes.
**Mystical Fire**: On bulkier sets, Delphox can make use of Mystical Fire to slow down opposing Special Attackers and give it more opportunities to deal damage.
**Endure**: Endure can be used alongside Salac or Petaya Berry to boost Delphox's Speed or Special Attack whilst activating Blaze to elevate its wallbreaking power.
**Reflect / Light Screen**: Delphox can use Reflect and Light Screen in an emergency to give its teammates more opportunities to set up.
Common Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf allows Delphox to get the jump on faster foes and guarantee damage on them. It can also use Trick or Switcheroo to ruin setup sweepers or defensive foes that may try to tank its hits.
**Choice Specs**: Delphox can use Choice Specs to scorch foes with massive damage and break through defensive pieces. While Choice Specs makes Delphox incredibly powerful, it also makes it easier for foes to revenge kill Delphox.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots allows Delphox to enter the field more safely if Stealth Rock is up and find more opportunities to set up and stay healthy.
Niche Items
========
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: Items such as Life Orb, Charcoal, and Twisted Spoon can give Delphox more power to break through foes if it doesn't need to equip a Choice Scarf. It can also use Expert Belt if it expects to go up against multiple foes that Delphox can hit with its decent coverage.
**Eject Pack**: Delphox can use Eject Pack in conjunction with Overheat to act as a one-time pivot for a teammate that can finish a foe after it has taken massive damage. By using its item this way, Delphox can also steal a foe's item the next time it comes in with Magician.
**Focus Sash**: Delphox can bait offensive foes that expect to KO it with a strong attack and fire back a Will-O-Wisp or strong attack in return.
**Assault Vest**: Delphox has decent special bulk and coverage, so an Assault Vest can increase its Special Defense further to sponge hits against specially offensive foes in a pinch.
Tera
========
Delphox appreciates being your secondary Tera Captain of choice when no others are suitable so that it can utilize its strengths and patch up its mediocre defensive typing. Tera Fairy is its best defensive typing to flip its matchup against Dark-types, resist Sucker Punch, and boost Dazzling Gleam's power. Tera Water, Fighting, and Ground are also generally good options to hit problematic foes with Tera Blast.
Draft Strategy
========
Delphox should be drafted as a secondary offensive option to keep up pressure alongside faster teammates and bulky walls. Its frailty and weakness to Stealth Rock mean that it often struggles to find the best opportunities to switch in, and it needs support from its teammates to help in this regard.
**Entry Hazard Control**: Delphox's glaring weakness to Stealth Rock and frailty mean that it needs help from teammates to keep hazards off the field. Pokemon such as Great Tusk, Terapagos, and Excadrill are good teammates to consider.
**Slow Pivots**: Delphox often needs to be shown the way onto the battlefield by its teammates, as it struggles to do so on its own. It would appreciate Pokemon such as Alomomola, Corviknight, and Milotic that can pivot to Delphox safely.
**Dark-types**: Delphox appreciates Dark-type Pokemon such as Zarude, Ting-Lu, and Roaring Moon, as they can switch into attacks aimed at Delphox and resist Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak.
**Faster Teammates**: Delphox's Speed is good, but it needs faster teammates such as Greninja, Sneasler and Darkrai so that it is not forced to use Choice Scarf in every match.
Checks and Counters
========
**Entry Hazards**: Delphox is very vulnerable to hazards, especially Stealth Rock, as it prefers to not run Heavy-Duty Boots, which limits how often it can switch in.
**Priority and Faster Foes**: Delphox is weak to common priority attacks such as Aqua Jet, Shadow Sneak, and Sucker Punch, which means it is prone to being revenge killed if it is weakened enough, which does not take too much effort due to its poor physical bulk. It can also struggle to deal with faster foes that can revenge kill it easily, forcing it to run Choice Scarf if it wants to get the jump on these foes first.
**Offensive Dark-types**: Dark-types such as Meowscarada, Greninja, and Weavile can use their STAB attacks to revenge kill Delphox. Dark-types are also very prevalent in the metagame, which makes it hard to fit Delphox on a team.
**Bulky Water-types**: While Delphox has access to Grass Knot, it still struggles to deal with bulky Water-types such as Primarina, Tentacruel, and Empoleon that can easily set up against Delphox or cripple it with status.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/furyy.529077/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/a-blue-banana.649096/
Last edited:
