Pokebattler’s Comprehensive Deoxys Raid Guide!

Release History:

• Sep 9nd ➡️ Sep 16th 2019
• Sep 19 ➡️ Dec 20 [EX] [2018]

 Deoxys in the Meta

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Raid Attacker – Charge Beam/Thunderbolt

Deoxys is an absolutely bizarre electric type attacker. Even without dodging, it is viable as an Electric-Type attacker, especially against Raid bosses that don’t have the most impressive attacking force. It fatal flaw is it’s fragility however. So it will do better against the wet tissue attacks of Togetic rather than the tsunamis of Kyogre.

Something else to consider is the relative brevity of Legendary Raid bosses where it is top tier. Many Bosses weak to electric have double weakness to Rock/Ice that are preferable. Kyogre and Lugia are the real standouts. Against Lugia Weavile and Tyranitar’s Double Resistance to psychic eliminates any edge I was hoping to get from that.  Against Kyogre it’s lack of resistance to Thunder also sets it back.

Ideally it would want a raid boss weak to Electric Types that can hit Electric-Types for weakness. But Flying and Water pokemon don’t typically run Ground Attacks. This is an off Type Niche that is very unlikely to become prominent soon. It also would get advantage where it’s Psychic resistance comes in handy- but against -Flying/Psychic Types Tyranitar and Weavile benefit more. One if it’s best niches is against Water/Psychic pokemon with dodging. Coming in at #3 against Starmie. It has narrow situations where it’s top tier, but regardless is does have viability in Electric Weak raids. Just be sure to lead with it to offset the frailty.

 

Raid Attacker – Zen Headbutt/Psycho Boost

As a Psychic-Type Attacker however, Deoxys actually does far worse than Electric!

Despite STAB Bonus, Psycho Boost is absolutely awful a charge move. Their fragility doesn’t do any favors against Fighting-Types, and the most common Poison-Type pokemon you will attack is Gengar.  Who has a Fast Move that hits you super effectively.

Deoxys does however do significantly better here with dodging factored in. But even so, it is inferior in every way to a pokemon like Espeon and it’s hard to find arguments for its use. Deoxys fantastic attack stat is left impotent when the best it can use is Psycho Boost sadly.

 

Gym Combat – Zen Headbutt/Thunderbolt

Deoxys is a pretty niche Gym Attacker, but doesn’t do that bad overall. It makes the top 20 if you go Windy or Rainy weather on your side. Its performance only improves with your dodging skills.

It does best against Pokemon like Togekiss and Milotic, and worst against Pokemon like Steelix Umbreon and Metagross.

 Raid Advice

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Top Raid Counters

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Giratina Origin

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Giratina-Origin was released April 2019. While it is legendary, it is the best Ghost-Type around and an Okay Dragon-Type, so a worthwhile investment!
With Level 35 Giratina Origin, you need 2 players.

2xResists: Normal
Resists: Electric

Mewtwo [Legacy]

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Mewtwo is pretty inaccessible, as the useful form hasn’t been released recently. Trading for one is probably the most likely way you’d be able to get one of these, and you can use the candy you got from catching Armored Mewtwo to power it up. That said, if you weren’t lucky enough to get an Ex Raid back during its era Shadow Ball period-you can’t get it now. When Mewtwo was released from its EX shackles for a global event-that move was removed from it’s TM pool. This used to be more unfortunate, but there are quite a lot of alternative Ghost-Type options at this point so don’t sweat it too much.
With Level 35 Mewtwo, you need 2 players.

Resists: Psychic

Tyranitar

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Accessibility will be a bit tough if you are only starting now as Larvitars do not nest and are rare.  Tier 4 Tyranitar Raids were a staple for quite a while, however. Larvitar can be found in ‘Make 3 Excellent Throws in a Row’ Quests, but you won’t be able to get the legacy move this way. The family was last in raid bosses during Water Festival in Sept 2019. Larvitar community day (the only time you could get Smack Down) was June 2018.
With Level 35 Tyranitar, you need 2 players.

2xResists: Psychic
Resists: Normal

Gengar [Legacy]

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐☆☆☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Gengar isn’t too difficult to acquire with Gastlys nesting and being a common night spawn, as well as being featured in the recent Go Fest global spawns. The main issue comes with Legacy Move Shadow Claw, but Lick at least was made available relatively recently in Gengar Raid Day. Gengar is still great without the legacy move, but much less likely to be optimal. 
With Level 35 Gengar, you need 2 players.

2xResists: Normal
Weak: Psychic

Weavile

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Weavile evolves from Sneasel, which is an uncommon Pokemon (that does still nest) and is an occasional 2-star raid boss. It requires a Sinnoh Stone to evolve, which can be acquired at random from your first daily trainer battle. Sneasel has been featured in Winter Time events and Dark Events. Weavile has been a reward from “Catch 5 Poochyena or Houndour” quests. Sneasel can also spawn from Glacial Lure Modules. It’s fantastic as both a Dark and Ice-type, so don’t let its frail appearance fool you.
With Level 35 Weavile, you need 2 players.

2xResists: Psychic

Banette

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Supports are uncommon but not too hard to find- and they nest, so getting some hopefully wouldn’t be too outlandish. They aren’t boosted in a common weather like Gastlys though. It’s an ok Ghost-Type but almost always inferior to Gengar.
With Level 35 Banette, you need 2 players.

2xResists: Normal

Weather Counters 

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 Clear Weather is the hardest, with the best counter winning with 2.2 players. Partly Cloudy Weather is the easiest, with the best counter winning with 1.7 players.
here is a list of Pokemon that can perform similar or better than the typical #1 option (in this case, Rampardos) with weather bonuses:

 

Pokemon		Weather		Fast Move		Charge Move		Estimator @ L35
	Rampardos		PARTLY_CLOUDY		Smack Down		Rock Slide	1.71
	Kyogre		RAINY		Waterfall		Hydro Pump	1.75
	Kingler		RAINY		Bubble		Crabhammer	1.78
	(Legacy) Swampert		RAINY		Water Gun		Hydro Cannon	1.90
	(Legacy) Feraligatr		RAINY		Waterfall		Hydro Cannon	1.94
	Crawdaunt		RAINY		Waterfall		Crabhammer	1.99
	Gyarados		RAINY		Waterfall		Hydro Pump	1.99
	(Legacy) Tyranitar		PARTLY_CLOUDY		Smack Down		Stone Edge	2.00
	Rhyperior		PARTLY_CLOUDY		Smack Down		Stone Edge	2.05
	Rampardos		NO_WEATHER		Smack Down		Rock Slide	2.05
	Kyogre		NO_WEATHER		Waterfall		Hydro Pump	2.11
	Kingler		NO_WEATHER		Bubble		Crabhammer	2.12

 

 

Alternate Raid Counters

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Scizor

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Scyther and Scizor have also been featured a couple of times recently reducing the difficulty to acquire one. You need a Metal Coat to evolve Scyther into Scizor, which can be acquired either: VERY rarely from spinning a poke stop, in a pool of other evolution items on your 7-day streak spinning Pokestop (guaranteed to get at least one item), or from the Celebi Special Research 4/8 rewards.
With Level 35 Scizor, you need 2 players.

Resists: Psychic, Normal

Absol

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Absol is a Raid (and very rarely, Field Research) exclusive Pokemon. That means you can only get its candy from Raiding usually or walking it as a 5k buddy. Rare candy is an option too but a bit inefficient. The family was last in raid bosses during Sept 2019 (Tier 4).
With Level 35 Absol, you need 2 players.

2xResists: Psychic

Raikou

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Raikou was recently available during it’s Raid Day, so it’s actually very likely you are holding onto one right now. That said, it is a legendary pokemon, which are expensive to get candy for. But it’s the best Electric-Type in the game right now, and even an okay Ghost-Type!
With Level 35 Raikou, you need 3 players.

Resists: Electric

Houndoom

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It’s got the benefits of being a Dark-type that doesn’t involve a ton of extra work to evolve and find as a high level, and Houndours can be found weather boosted in the common Sunny weather. It’s also a relatively common research reward as well.
With Level 35 Houndoom, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Psychic

Mismagius

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Mismagius is pretty expensive to acquire. Misdreavus are uncommon, and you need a Sinnoh Stone to evolve one. You can get it from Trainer Battles, but most of Mismagius use cases are covered by Honchkrow and Weavile.
With Level 35 Mismagius, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Normal

Pinsir

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pinsir is one of the most accessible pokemon, that is nonetheless top tier in it’s typing. You don’t need to evolve them, they can be found at high levels in the wild, they nest- they got a lot going for them. The Legacy Moveset while often a smidge better isn’t something to stress over.
With Level 35 Pinsir, you need 3 players.

Cacturne

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cacnea can be found in the common Sunny weather-but is almost non-existent outside of it. If you somehow don’t see much sun, it will be hard to get.
With Level 35 Cacturne, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Psychic
Resists: Electric

Muk – Alola

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
• 📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• 🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Alolan Grimer can only be acquired from 7k Alolan Eggs. You can get them if you open a Gift when you have an available Egg Slot, but it is not guaranteed. While at first rare hatch, now it is in the most common category of 7k hatches. Its candy is the same as normal Grimer. Alolan Grimer came to eggs in June 2018.
With Level 35 Muk – Alola, you need 3 players.

Resists: Psychic

Salamence

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
• 🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Salamence Community Day was April 2019. It’s not really the best at any of the things it can do, but it’s still a top tier Dragon with powerful off-type movesets.
With Level 35 Salamence, you need 3 players.

Cancelled: Electric

Lucario

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Riolu is an egg exclusive pokemon sadly, one of the absolute rarest and highly desired ones in fact. It was added October 2018th. It isn’t easy to power up and has a walking distance of 10k. There are increased chances of finding one in a 7k Alolan egg instead of normal 10ks. You also have better chances if you get difficult Adventure Sync eggs. if you collect your weekly adventure sync reward and have earned the 50k distance, AND have an available egg slot, you will get an egg with a skewed hatch pool.
With Level 35 Lucario, you need 3 players.

Resists: Normal
Cancelled: Psychic

Yanmega

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Yanmega is a Sinnoh Stone Evolution of an uncommon Pokemon, so not the easiest thing to get your hands on from scratch.
With Level 35 Yanmega, you need 3 players.

Weak: Electric

Shiftry

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Shiftry evolves from Seedot, which is common in a variety of areas. Shiftry itself has also existed as a Tier 4 Raid Boss. It also gets weather boosted from the very common Sunny weather.
With Level 35 Shiftry, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Psychic
Resists: Electric

Sharpedo

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Carvana was available in the Quest “Water Festival: Defeat a Team GO Rocket Grunt” in Sept 2019. It also had boosted spawns during Water Festival 2019. The family was last in raid bosses during Water Festival in Sept 2019.
With Level 35 Sharpedo, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Psychic
Weak: Electric

Metagross [Legacy]

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Metagross is a rare pseudo-legendary and doesn’t nest. Beldum can be found in 10k eggs, however. It was made very common and given the legacy move Meteor Mash during its community day in October 2018.
With Level 35 Metagross, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Psychic
Resists: Normal

Mew

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Available from completing the “A Mythical Discovery” Special Research. Which might not be that easy if you are just starting the game. Requiring earning 7 candies walking your buddy, hatching 3 eggs, battling in 12 raids, being level 25, having the Gold Kanto Medal, Catching a Ditto, Evolving a Magikarp, among other trials. On the other hand, its something very accessible to anyone regardless of where you live and it’s likely many have acquired their Mew. Even so, after you get it you need to get the right moveset on it, which is a massive ordeal in itself and could take significantly more than your entire stockpile of TMs to get. No 20 TMs of each type is not nearly enough to have a high chance of this moveset.
With Level 35 Mew, you need 3 players.

Resists: Psychic

Garchomp

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Garchomp while a top tier Dragon-Type and Ground-Type,-is very difficult to acquire for now. No nests, no events, very rare, very new. Gible are a lot of people’s white whales for now. When it inevitably gets it’s community day, however, expect that to change.
With Level 35 Garchomp, you need 3 players.

3xResists: Electric

Spiritomb

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐☆☆☆☆

Spiritomb was only available Halloween 2018 as a special research reward. It is likely it will return annually, but that has yet to be confirmed. While everyone only has at most 1, it CAN be traded.
With Level 35 Spiritomb, you need 3 players.

2xResists: Psychic, Normal

Alakazam

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆

Abra nest, are a common egg hatch and is boosted a ton during windy weather. Alakazam has a long history in raid bosses as a 3 star,
With Level 35 Alakazam, you need 3 players.

Resists: Psychic

Rayquaza

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rayquaza despite being beloved by fans has been very rarely available and re-released compared to most legendaries. Then there’s the candy cost to consider on top of that. Still, Rayquaza was featured in Raids last August 2019 which is recent at the time of writing.
With Level 35 Rayquaza, you need 3 players.

Cancelled: Electric

Dialga

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Dialga’s Steel typing gives it nice resistances usually so it comes up a lot as a hefty Steel or Dragon-Type. It’s legendary tough, so expensive to trade for and acquire candy for. It is an excellent attacker in recent Team Rocket invasions so powering one up is not the worst idea in the world.
With Level 35 Dialga, you need 3 players.

Resists: Psychic, Normal, Electric

Rampardos

• ⚔️ Raw Damage: ⭐☆☆☆☆
  🛡️ Survival/Bulk: ⭐⭐☆☆☆
  📉 Consistency: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
  🌐 Accessibility: ⭐⭐☆☆☆

Rampardos is very difficult to acquire being fairly new and only having been featured briefly in one quest as Cranidos. It’s the highest DPS Rock Type.
With Level 35 Rampardos, you need 3 players.

Resists: Normal

 

Closing Thoughts

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 Deoxys is an extremely min-maxed pokemon. If you don’t dodge in raids, you honestly aren’t going to get much use out of owning ones.  But it’s a pokemon that does have utility with a little extra work.

That said, if Niantic ever blesses it with a competent Psychic-Type Charge Move however, we might need to change our tune here.

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