These Pokemon Go Defense Forme Deoxys Raid counters will help you catch this variant when it appears in appears in Raids between Thursday, September 1 until Tuesday, September 13. As the name suggests, the Defense Forme Deoxys can take a beating and it best tackled by a group of Pokemon Go trainers to take it down faster.
This guide will help trainers do just that, with some Pokemon suggestions to bring into battle as well as the moves that Defense Forme Deoxys will use to help you prepare. We've got similar info on all all formes of Deoxys as well with Normal Forme Deoxys Counters, Attack Forme Deoxys Counters and Speed Forme Deoxys Counters, so you're prepared for anything.
How to get Shiny Defense Forme Deoxys in Pokemon Go
Like Attack Forme, the Defense Forme Deoxys will be available in its shiny variant for the first time.
There is no truer way to get a Shiny Deoxys except by battling as many as possible. To help with that, Niantic is giving out two free Raid Passes per day just by spinning Gym Photo Discs. Use those Raid Passes to battle up to two Defense Forme Deoxys in Raids for free. Of course, there are other ways to get more Raid Passes.
Premium Raid Passes are available to purchase for 100 PokeCoins each in the in-game shop, which allows trainers to enter Raid battles. Remote Raid Passes are also available for 100 PokeCoins each, which allow trainers to enter a Raid from anywhere. There is a deal for three Remote Raid Passes for 250 PokeCoins.
Shiny Deoxys’ coloring is a stark contrast from the usual. It goes from Red and blue to a bright yellow and green. It’s hard to confuse the two.
Defense Forme Deoxys Counters
Defense Forme Deoxys is a pure Psychic-type Pokemon, like its other formes, making it weak to Bug, Ghost and Dark-type attacks.
There are plenty of Mega Pokemon that can help take down Defense Forme Deoxys. However, the moveset of this type of Deoxys could prove tricky to deal with. While we’ll get into more detail in the next section, just know that Dark types may not be the best course of action against this Deoxys. There's also Mega Scizor to consider, providing a boost Bug-type teams while its Steel typing resists many of Deoxys’ attacks.
Dark types like Mega Houndoom, Gyarados and Absol will help deal a lot of damage and boost the Dark-type attacks of your team, but they may not last as long as trainers would like because Defense Forme Deoxys may know a Fighting-type attack.
However, because of this move, Mega Gengar and Mega Beedrill have more viability in this battle. Both take advantage of Deoxys’ Ghost and Bug weakness but are glass cannons that can take super-effective damage from Defense Forme Deoxys if it has a Psychic-type move.
Tyranitar, Darkrai, Weavile and Hyrdreigon are some of the strongest Dark types in the game, but suffer the same problems as Mega Gyarados, Absol and Houndoom. Chandelure and Giratina should be paired with Mega Gengar to take advantage of Deoxys’ Ghost weakness and can resist many of Defense Forme Deoxys’ moves.
Here’s a list of optimal counters for Defense Forme Deoxys.
| Pokemon | Moveset |
|---|---|
| Mega Gengar | Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball |
| Mega Houndoom | Snarl and Foul Play |
| Mega Absol | Snarl and Dark Pulse |
| Mega Gyarados | Bite Crunch |
| Giratina | Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball |
| Chandelure | Hex and Shadow Ball |
| Tyranitar | Bite and Crunch |
| Mega Scizor | Fury Cutter and X-Scissor |
| Weavile | Snarl and Foul Play |
| Hydreigon | Bite and Dark Pulse |
Defense Forme Deoxys Moveset
The biggest difference between Defense Forme Deoxys and the others is that it has access to Counter as a Fast Attack. Counter is one of the best Fighting-type attacks in Pokemon Go and can give Dark types plenty of problems.
Mega Absol, Gyarados and Houndoom will all take super-effective damage from Counter. While they do resist Defense Forme’s other Fast Attack, Zen Headbutt, there’s a 50 percent chance they will be ineffective against this Deoxys.
That’s where Ghost types excel in this battle. Ghost types resist Fighting moves so Mega Gengar and others like Giratina and Chandelure can really take advantage of Defense Forme who use Counter. Trainers who bring in Bug types like Mega Beedrill will also resist this attack.
Zen Headbutt will hurt Mega Gengar and Mega Beedrill, so be careful.
Psycho Boost, Deoxys’ main Psychic-type Charged Attack will destroy Fighting and Poison types. However, it’s Deoxys’ other moves that trainers need to know. Thunderbolt is a powerful Electric-type move that will damage Flying and Water types. That means Mega Gyarados users will have another attack to watch out for.
Rock Slide, the Rock-type Charged Attack, will also damage Ice, Fire and Bug types. That means Mega Houndoom users have to be wary. Chandelure will also have to worry about Rock Slide.
Here’s a list of moves Defense Forme Deoxys can know in Pokemon Go.
| Fast Attack | Charged Attack |
|---|---|
| Zen Headbutt | Psycho Boost |
| Counter | Thunderbolt |
| Row 2 - Cell 0 | Rock Slide |
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