Pokémon X and Y/Species Strategies (Generation III Families)

This page contains information on every Pokémon family first introduced in Generation III, including stats, recommended movesets and evolutionary lines. All evolutionary lines are put together, even if an evolution or pre-evolution was not introduced in the same Generation as other members of its evolutionary family.

Deoxys
Deoxys is an interesting legendary Pokémon in that there are four different forms it can take, which it can freely switch between by checking the meteorites in Ambrette Town's fossil research center. By default, Deoxys is a simple glass cannon, boasting high attack stats and high Speed but poor defenses. Attack Forme Deoxys emphasizes these traits even further, letting Deoxys hit very hard but gives it the toughness of a Rattata. Defense Forme Deoxys inverts these stats, turning it into a defensive behemoth, but leaving it with below average attacking stats and Speed. Finally, Speed Forme Deoxys gives it a pretty balanced set of stats, but boasts the highest Speed of any Pokémon in the game.

Due to the sheer difference of stats between formes, it is obvious that every Deoxys forme has a different playstyle. Normal Deoxys is mostly outclassed by Attack Deoxys as they're both built as glass cannons, with Attack Deoxys being stronger in this regard, though Normal Deoxys has the advantage of actually being able to survive some attacks. Defense Deoxys is obviously made to tank attacks and wear down the opponent, but its high defenses also lets it support its team by setting up entry hazards or spreading status ailments while shrugging off attacks. Speed Deoxys is purely supportive, using its unrivaled speed to use as many entry hazards and status effects as possible before it goes down. However, the popularity of priority attacks really hinder it from doing this role effectively, so it struggles a bit to compete with Defense Deoxys in this role.

Deoxys's movepool is not shabby at all, with plenty of good moves that are usable for every one of its formes. Deoxys has a different level up movepool depending on its forme, but since it can switch between them any time it wants, you can actually get moves learned by one forme to be used by the other. For Normal and Attack Formes, there are tons of attacks it can choose to cover a wide range of types, including access to the strongest Psychic-type attack in the game, Psycho Boost, as well as Extreme Speed to guarantee that it hits first against priority attackers. A stalling Defense Forme Deoxys can utilize Toxic and Recover very well. Support moves for both Defense and Speed Formes include Taunt, Knock Off, Reflect, Light Screen, Spikes, Stealth Rock and Thunder Wave, all of which are reasonably effective on either forme.