Sync Spotlight/Should You Pull?: Lusamine & Pheromosa

Pheromosa is all about one thing and one thing only: damage. Dealing as much of it as fast as possible is its god-given purpose, and it doesn’t fanny about with ridiculous gimmicks like “defensive utility”. Thankfully, the power of combination Support/Tanks like Alakazam and Blastoise work with the amazing Positive Reinforcement to give Pheromosa users plenty of space to compensate for the pair’s lack of bulk while taking full advantage of its offensive power. 

Pheromosa’s sheer dps more than makes up for its lack of bulk in getting it through most types of matches, but it generally prefers faster-paced formats like Champion Arena and Full Force Battles to drawn out Legendary Arenas and the Battle Villa. This is because in longer matches, late game Strikers like Metagross and Alolan Sandslash have time to match the pair’s damage, at which point their survivability and other forms of utility come into play to outclass the one-note Pheromosa. Still, this isn’t to say the Lusamine isn’t a perfectly viable option for these modes, especially against stages with vulnerabilities on both sides of the physical/special split. The only mode for which I would recommend against using Pheromosa is Co-op, where without heavy dedicated redirection Support it’s mostly outclassed by the setup speed and survivability of other early game titans like Golisopod and Lycanroc.

Pheromosa’s Grid is very straightforward and contains little room for major changes to the pair’s playstyle, but the extra damage and quality of life improvements it offers are still varied enough to provide a good amount of choice and warrant the investment of your hard-earned Orbs. The key nodes any of the pair’s owners will be looking to pick up regardless of how they plan to use it include Power Flux 3 (a simple, solid damage boost), Speedy Entry (more free dps buffs), and Bug Buzz On A Roll (right beside Entry and a useful addition to your main move in its own right). Beyond these essentials, Move Gauge and Mp Refreshes on Bug Buzz and “There, There…” provide smaller boosts, but are still relevant enough to be worth picking up for players going the standard Bug Buzz route. Alternatively, enterprising Hail users making use of Blastoise ’s sheer bulk to anchor an Alolan Sandslash/Pheromosa mixed offense core can pick up the Blizzard nodes to make a solid Ice Striker of the latter. 

Team options can vary greatly for a pair as self-sufficient as this, but its reliance on teammates to shore up its issues with survivability make the normally advisable tank-healer-striker comp all but necessary here. As to the specific healers and tanks it works best with, the ubiquitous Blastoise -Venusaur, or its F2P counterpart Mew-Swanna will work wonders. Finally, Alakazam can also fill in as a tank on Pheromosa comps, sacrificing the survivability of a more defensive pair for the immediate buffing power of “Sixth Sense!”.

Yes! The ability to deal supereffective damage against foes weak to two of the game’s less common types and the pair’s sheer offensive power make it a great investment for anyone looking to grab a versatile early game Striker. Really, as soon as you see a Striker with the offensive stats of Metagross, especially right from the start of the match, you should know it’s time to pull. While it only truly excels in the niche of high-powered early game attacker, this role is so widely applicable that the huge variety of team comps involving it will collectively clear most of the game’s content on their own.