Pokémon Pheromosa

[Trinitrotoluene]

Celticpride, TDK, and bludz are the best for letting me reserve my favorite addition to ou :]

NAME //

Pheromosa
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TYPE //

Bug / Fighting
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POKÉDEX # //

795, a.k.a.: UB-02 Beauty
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BASE STATS //

HP // 71
Atk // 137
Def // 37
SpA // 137
SpD // 37
Spe // 151
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ABILITY //

Beast Boost | The Pokémon's highest stat (excluding HP) is boosted when it KOes a Pokémon.
note: all three of pheromosa's ability slots are occupied with beast boost.
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LEVEL UP MOVES //

1 // Quiver Dance
1 // Quick Guard
1 // Low Kick
1 // Rapid Spin
1 // Leer
1 // Double Kick
7 // Swift
13 // Stomp
19 // Feint
23 // Silver Wind
29 // Bounce
31 // Jump Kick
37 // Agility
43 // Triple Kick
47 // Lunge
53 // Bug Buzz
59 // Me First
67 // High Jump Kick
73 // Speed Swap
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TECHNICAL MACHINE [TM] MOVES //

TM06 // Toxic
TM10 // Hidden Power
TM12 // Taunt
TM13 // Ice Beam
TM14 // Blizzard
TM15 // Hyper Beam
TM17 // Protect
TM19 // Roost
TM21 // Frustration
TM27 // Return
TM31 // Brick Break
TM32 // Double Team
TM41 // Torment
TM42 // Facade
TM44 // Rest
TM47 // Low Sweep
TM48 // Round
TM49 // Echoed Voice
TM52 // Focus Blast
TM54 // False Swipe
TM56 // Fling
TM68 // Giga Impact
TM84 // Poison Jab
TM87 // Swagger
TM88 // Sleep Talk
TM89 // U-turn
TM90 // Substitute
TM100 // Confide
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EGG MOVES //

N/A
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PHEROMOSA ANALYSIS //

as befitting one of the "ultra beasts", GAME FREAK has gifted pheromosa with a lethal base 137 attack and special attack stats. a ludicrous base 151 speed stat ties these offenses together by giving it the ability to outpace threats up to 252+ mega aerodactyl without a boosting item of its own. pheromosa's access to high jump kick + just the right coverage options in its relatively barren movepool makes switching into it a difficult task for the bulk of the tier.
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POTENTIAL MOVESETS //

sweeper (white moth anthem) //
Pheromosa @ Expert Belt / Life Orb / Choice Band | Beast Boost
Naïve | 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
• High Jump Kick
• Ice Beam
• U-turn
• Poison Jab / Rapid Spin / Lunge

description // this is the obvious sweeper moveset that comes to mind when looking at pheromosa's stats and movepool. the 4 options listed provide pheromosa the most coverage possible in its 4 moveslots, while the evs + nature ensure that pheromosa gets its speed boosted from beast boost after it scores a ko. rapid spin or lunge are options if the extra coverage from poison jab is unnecessary. expert belt means that pheromosa isn't wearing itself out so soon while life orb makes pheromosa hit even harder while cutting its hp down. choice band enables a more hit-and-run playstyle from pheromosa, sacking its ability to sweep in exchange for even stronger u-turns and high jump kicks.

choice scarf (beautiful lies) //
Pheromosa @ Choice Scarf | Beast Boost
Naughty / Rash | 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe or 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
• High Jump Kick / Focus Blast
• U-turn
• Ice Beam
• Poison Jab / Bug Buzz

description // pheromosa is fast, but it's not "swift swim lmao" fast. with choice scarf, pheromosa can now revenge kill every threat below 601 speed, which includes pretty much every threat at +1 and even some threats at +2, such as adamant sand rush excadrill, timid swift swim kingdra. the usage of a rash nature over a naïve nature ensures that pheromosa gets a special attack boost after koing a threat, making it progressively harder to switch into. the choice of high jump kick or focus blast depends on what you want pheromosa to hit harder: most other mons or chansey.

quiver dance (cello suite) //
Pheromosa @ Life Orb / Expert Belt | Beast Boost
Rash | 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
• Quiver Dance
• High Jump Kick
• Ice Beam / Bug Buzz
• Hidden Power [Electric] / Hidden Power [Ground] / Bug Buzz

ignore the slashitis, but this lists many of pheromosa's coverage options. quiver dance is the obligatory boosting move. high jump kick is given the nod over focus blast on this set since it bashes most special walls (read: chansey) harder than a +1 focus blast would have. for the third slot, ice beam gets better neutral coverage, but bug buzz can be used to score a harder hit on mega venusaur and starmie. the last slot is dedicated to smacking certain pheromosa switch-ins. hp electric decimates pelipper, mantine, and gyarados on the switch while hp ground ruins alolan marowak, toxapex, and tentacruel. alternatively, if you have countermeasures against these mons, you can run both bug buzz and ice beam together.
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PERSONAL OPINION //

i love pheromosa. it far and away is the best of the new non-cover pokémon to be added in sun and moon, and easily is the most lethal of the ultra beasts. this mon is one of the major factors that brought me back to the competitive scene after i stopped playing in oras because of its obscene offensive potential. aegislash and mantine wall it, but good teammates that beat the two (*cough* cb hoopa-unbound *cough*) aren't hard to come by. i'm expecting people to demand a quickban for pheromosa (and aegislash) and for the new ou council to ban both of them in short order. enjoy having pheromosa in ou while it lasts.

 

[Swagodile]

I've been using her, and played against her, and I can safely say that she's cancer right now. The most cancerous thing about her is her trollish 151 base Speed; she outspeeds Mega Alakazam by one point, U-turns out and OHKOs it in the process.

Maybe she won't be so bad once the meta settles, but right now, I wouldn't be opposed to her being removed from the meta.

She's very low risk/high reward; if you don't think you can OHKO something, just U-turn out. If she does get a KO, she gets a Speed boost and becomes even harder to check.

Though I do suppose she's good for checking fast sweepers without having to rely on priority.

 

[HC]

If Aegis is banned first, then this thing is going to be absolutely monstrous in the tier, considering it's bad enough as it is. It absolutely annihilates offensive teams, and is an incredible momentum grabber due to its ridiculous speed. All teams need a designated counter this, which unfortunately is limited to only a handful of mons, and as such, it'll be way to much of a strain on the tier.

Beast Boost works before multipliers right? So if you ran a Scarf set, with a Modest nature, it's SpAtt would go up each turn as it ends up higher than its Speed... This mon is just straight up busted

 

[New World Order]

This thing is just bonkers. It's overwhelming even with Aegislash on every team right now. Any mon you can't OHKO you just U-turn out to safety, Helmet users like Landorus-Therian don't dare switch in due to Ice Beam so it's not even punishable, so many games are decided by "first Aegislash to go down" because this thing will usually clean up the game right after.

 

[Random Passerby]

What I'm more interested in is why wasn't this thing quickbanned? Its just as broken as Mega Kangaskhan / Mega Salamence last generation. Nothing can hope to stomach Ice / Bug / Fighting coverage outside of Aegislash so the game becomes "whose Aegislash dies first".

 

[Fireburn]

Taunt requires some prediction, but it is kind of a neat option to put Aegislash in an uncomfortable checkmate position. If Pheromosa manages to Taunt Aegislash on the switch, Pheromosa can U-turn freely: if Aegi stays in, you can go to a Pursuiter and kill Aegi without the risk of it using King's Shield, or if it decides to switch out you get a strong U-turn smack onto something else. Pretty nifty.

That being said, this mon is ridiculous and probably should be banned lol

 

[Colonel M]

Choice Band feels like a poor option when Life Orb exists. Choice Band kills the "versatility" factor.

That being said I don't see it lasting in OU too much longer considering it can simply U-turn out of Aegislash switch-in to a more appropriate Pokemon. Motherfucking U-turns alone hurt.

 

[UltiMario]

Contrary to pretty much the rest of this thread, I've been running a stall team with Aegis and Toxapex (I know, I'm the emodiment of fun here) and Pheromosa is pretty trivial to counter. Even against Duggy + Xerkitree + Pheromosa cores (which should allegedly slam stall) I haven't really had issues with it. Aegi being there is a huge boon to this playstyle, and without it Toxapex becomes a lot more vulnerable, but at least as of right now, Pheromosa is very easy for stall to handle in the current metagame. If this meta was (somehow) supposed to be the standard for SMOU, I probably wouldn't suggest a Pheromosa ban, but since this isn't the case this mon can fuck right off when Aegi leaves the tier.

 

[13_luckynumber]

Contrary to pretty much the rest of this thread, I've been running a stall team with Aegis and Toxapex (I know, I'm the emodiment of fun here) and Pheromosa is pretty trivial to counter. Even against Duggy + Xerkitree + Pheromosa cores (which should allegedly slam stall) I haven't really had issues with it. Aegi being there is a huge boon to this playstyle, and without it Toxapex becomes a lot more vulnerable, but at least as of right now, Pheromosa is very easy for stall to handle in the current metagame. If this meta was (somehow) supposed to be the standard for SMOU, I probably wouldn't suggest a Pheromosa ban, but since this isn't the case this mon can fuck right off when Aegi leaves the tier.

i think the problem with Pheromosa is how much it invalidates offence. It hits wayy to hard + beast boost are too much for anything on that archetype to stand a chance. Bulkier teams might not find it as troublesome with aegi/ toparex / maybe venu, moon / sth else maybe, base 137 with LO hit hard but can be tanked. Though U-turn troubles those team too

 

[Seamus Eso]

This should just be insta-banned. Offense has enough M-Manectrics, M-Lopunnys and Weaviles annoying it already, regardless of whether stays or not. Heck it's not even comparable, running stupid things like Toxapex isn't any solution. That being said, running anything except the LO mixed set is just pointless, it's stand alone STABs are pretty bad for choiced options. Sub+3 attacks would be pretty cool set too, considering the primary process of dealing with it would be saccing something then sending in a Priority or Scarf user.

 

[Swaggy-G]

Considering how fast its speed already is, I think it's a bit redundant to have beast boost it. Instead having a positive nature for attack would make it higher than speed, which I feel is a better option for sweeping.

 

[Colonel M]

Considering how fast its speed already is, I think it's a bit redundant to have beast boost it. Instead having a positive nature for attack would make it higher than speed, which I feel is a better option for sweeping.

Neutral Speed nature sacks the pivotal reason to use Pherosma - it's so fucking fast it outspeeds almost every non-Scarf user in the game.

 

[Kilgrave]

I find that a good counter to Pherosma is Buzzwole. It resists its STABs and has high defense to boot. This is only from a couple of AG matches I've had but it seems to work.

 

[Olly]

Considering how fast its speed already is, I think it's a bit redundant to have beast boost it. Instead having a positive nature for attack would make it higher than speed, which I feel is a better option for sweeping.

You have to run positive speed nature given this thing is so relevant itself that games will come down to speed ties on this thing. Positive speed nature also allows you to outspeed anything base 135 speed and over which you don't otherwise. That is only really mega Pokemon, but all those mega's got better this gen due to the new mega mechanics.

 

[SketchUp]

I can see Naughty being used over Naive. Mega Lopunny, Mega Alakazam, +1 Gyarados and opposing Pheromosa will be annoying for sure, but the attack boost instead of a speed boost after a KO is definitely worth it. A +1 Naughty HJK OHKO's Mantine after Stealth Rock damage for example (that's 22% stronger than MMedi's Adamant HJK). The biggest issue with an attack boost instead of a speed boost is probably that the metagame is really offensive, and with the speed boost Pheromosa can't be revenge killed by Choice Scarf and Swift Swim users.

Kilgrave
Buzzwole is a great check indeed, but Ice Beam shouldn't be underestimated. Even without any investment, Ice Beam has a good chance to 2HKO Buzzwole and Physical Defensive Pelipper. Buzzwole, Pelipper, Mantine, Aegislash, and Toxapex are pretty good checks/counters, and if you want to try gimmicky stuff: Jellicent, Cofagrigus, Alolan Marowak, Chandelure and SpD Weezing also counter it.

 

[PK Gaming]

It's a shame Aegislash exists because I really wanted to use it at its full potential before it got banned

Eh, it's still amazing even w/o Aegislash. Ya'll better use this cutie ASAP before it's gone for good

I'm talking first come first serve ♪

 

[antemortem]

and y'all thought Genesect and Hoopa-Unbound were toxic

I think that running Substitute on this would be interesting: threaten a revenge kill, instead set up Sub and get at least one free kill followed by another, and if you don't get an opportunity for a second, just U-Turn out of the threat. this beast comes with such little opportunity cost, I can't imagine it remaining unbanned very long. get your licks in.

 

[Voltage]

If you want the counter that you've been looking for, just use Shedinja. I'm serious. Shedinja is the hardest stop to this thing at the moment since none of the moves Pheromosa uses can touch it. Sure Shedcan't do a TON to it, but given that it's so frail, Shed can maybe set up on it or whatever. I digress, fact is that Pheromosa can't do shit to Shedinja.

 

[Kakimori]

Mega-Scizor seems like a decent check. It can take any hit that Pheromosa wants to dish out and do good damage back with Bullet Punch.

Problem is that most Pheromosa will be running with Tapu Lele for Psychic Terrain, I imagine...

 

[HappyHoopa05]

Definitely the best UB. It 1 / 2HKOs the entire Viability Rank with the exception of only 3 Pokemons (2 If Aegislash gets banned first). If this isn't the definition of BROKEN then I don't know what it's. But even those pokemons can be burst if you run a gimmick HP X set. Hidden Power Fire KILLS Bulky Mega Scizor and Deals enough damage to Aegis to it not 24/7 wall you.

 

[viol and bass]

If you want the counter that you've been looking for, just use Shedinja. I'm serious. Shedinja is the hardest stop to this thing at the moment since none of the moves Pheromosa uses can touch it. Sure Shedcan't do a TON to it, but given that it's so frail, Shed can maybe set up on it or whatever. I digress, fact is that Pheromosa can't do shit to Shedinja.

This is true, but with Aegislash in the tier, a mon who's way less high-maintenance and way more effective in general, there's just no reason to use Shed over it.

 

[Kejmur]

SpD Weezing probably do the trick in checking this thing.

Max SpA Ice Beam from Choice Scarf vs Max HP / Max SpD+ Weezing

27.54% -> 32.63%

4 SpA Ice Beam Life Orb vs Max HP / Max SpD+ Weezing

26.95% -> 31.74%

Max Atk High Jump Kick Life Orb vs Max HP Weezing

30.84% -> 36.53%

I don't think I made mistakes with those calculations, but just in case correct me. With all those new fairy, fighting and grass (and few poison) types around, this SUPER niche Weezing may see some use and thankfully he has access to Haze to stop set-up sweepers. Probably +Def nature would be better here ? But it's sad how you must look for truly obscure things to at least check this thing :D. Although so far I think outside of Aegislash this is best bet I guess ?

Plus good luck using this outside of super dedicated stall team. But hey, it's an option I guess ? :P

 

[Machi]

Plus good luck using this outside of super dedicated stall team. But hey, it's an option I guess ? :P

The stable core of Aegis / MSable / Toxa more or less covers her in a stall team, and a lot of others too. Stall doesn't really have issues with Phero, it becomes very evident quickly she can't touch the obnoxious core mentioned above. She is just cancer against hyper offensive teams, who don't have a lot of options. Bulky offense does moderately better, but still struggles.

 

[Kejmur]

The stable core of Aegis / MSable / Toxa more or less covers her in a stall team, and a lot of others too. Stall doesn't really have issues with Phero, it becomes very evident quickly she can't touch the obnoxious core mentioned above. She is just cancer against hyper offensive teams, who don't have a lot of options. Bulky offense does moderately better, but still struggles.

I said that stuff about Weezing in a way that it would be hard to fit him in any other team archetype with how passive it is and as you said - there are better options for pure dedicated stall. I just posted additional, REALLY obscure option if someone is truly desperate. Weezing actually has good typing for this meta as he checks some new Pokemon or ones which show up in meta like Tapu Bulu, M-Venusaur, Pheromosa, Buzzwole as examples on top of my head. I would hardly consider it as an option, but maybe someone will find use for this ? This is why I posted this idea.

 

[Funbot28]

Ya this thing is beyond busted in the current metagame. I have actually been running a Scarf Modest set so that Beast Boost gets the Sp.Atk raise while still being able to outspeed the entire metagem. Pair this with Tapu Lele and its basically GG lol,

Hide

Pheromosa @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Bug Buzz
- Focus Blast
- Ice Beam
- U-turn

Busted ass mon but fun to use :)

Oh just realized that the set was in OP, oh well then,