Most Raid Boss counter lists assume that you have maxed out versions of each Pokémon on it, but in reality, the majority of people do not. With our Defense Forme Deoxys Heat Map, however, you can identify whether, for example, a lower level Pokémon will do more damage to the Raid Boss than a higher level one, due to it having a better and more effective moveset. An excellent example of this is how a level 25 Gengar with Lick & Shadow Ball will do more damage to a Deoxys Raid Boss than a level 40 Mewtwo with Psycho Cut & Shadow Ball (given the same amount of time).
There are several different methods for ranking Raid Boss counters, but the one we’ve selected to use is TTW, which stands for ‘time to win.’ This data tells you which Pokémon would potentially beat the Raid Boss in the shortest amount of time – if you’re short of Trainers and are trying to beat the clock, this will give you the best chance of doing so. Not only that, but doing more damage can mean more Premier Balls with which to try and catch the Raid Boss!
So to supplement our Defense Forme Deoxys Raid Guide, here’s the Heat Map that we’ve made. Below, we’ll explain how to read and use the Heat Map to get the most out of your Raid squads:
Defense Forme Deoxys Heat Map
(Shoutouts go to Pokebattler.com for the data, Redditor u/Rayunge for his guidance in compiling the data, and GOHub Artist OrangeHeart for creating the Defense Forme Deoxys Heat Map info-graphic)
*This data assumes that you don’t know the moveset of the Raid Boss, that no moves will be weather boosted, and that you aren’t getting a friend damage bonus, so basically, almost the worst case scenario; unless the weather boosts the Raid Boss’ moves, things can only get easier.
While Attack Forme Deoxys and Haunter were both high on the list of TTW counters, they’ve been omitted from the heat map due to their fragility – both will be knocked out way too quickly to warrant using the excessive amounts of resources needed to power them up to a useful level.
How to use our Heat Maps
As detailed at the bottom of the graphic, to use a Pokémon GO Hub Heat Map, you first need to identify which of the listed Pokémon you have, whether they have the specified moveset (If not, you can of course use some TMs) and what level they’re at. As a rough guide:
- If your Pokémon is fully powered up, it’s at Level 40.
- If it costs around 8000 Stardust to power up, it’s at about level 35.
- If it costs around 5000 Stardust to power up, it’s at about level 30.
- If it costs around 4000 Stardust to power up, it’s at about level 25.
- If it costs around 2500 Stardust to power up, it’s at about level 20.
Try to identify your 12 best counters so that you can fill two Battle Parties because if Deoxys defeats your first Party and you don’t want to use Max Revives, you’ll then have your next-best-optimized one ready to go straight back in with.
Once you know which of these Pokémon you have and roughly what level they are, it’s time to put them in order of best to worst; The numbers in the grid represent how long that counter, at that level, with that moveset would take to beat the raid boss if the counter had unlimited HP. So the lower (and greener) the number, the better.
When you have ordered your Pokémon from best to worst, you can make a couple of battle parties so that you’re ready for every encounter you have with the Raid Boss.
Best of luck in your battles with Defense Forme Deoxys, and if you have any feedback, suggestions or changes you’d like to see in our future Raid Boss Heat Maps, please Tweet @GoHubQoncept or join us on the GO Hub Discord and tag @Qoncept with your comments.
