Pheromosa #795: The Beauty from Ultra Space

A haute couture cockroach. Pheromosa (Cancrelove in French) stands 1.8 m tall and weighs 25 kg, runs at a speed no one had ever measured before, and yet refuses to touch anything in our world. This creature from another world remains one of the most baffling in Alola.

Contents

• Who Is Pheromosa?
• UB-02 Beauty, an Ultra Beast
• Typing, Ability and Extreme Stats
• Evolution: none, and no Mega Evolution
• Quiver Dance, Pheromones and Bursts of Speed
• Pheromosa Fact Sheet
• Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is Pheromosa?

Listed as #795 in the National Pokédex, Pheromosa is the "Lissome Pokémon" of the seventh generation: 1.8 m tall and barely 25 kg, Bug and Fighting type, and number 295 in the Alola Pokédex.

Poképédia describes it as an anthropomorphic, feminine-looking cockroach with a slender white body. Its torso is made up of four thin disks that sag slightly; its long neck rises from a golden, egg-shaped growth, and its arms and legs are attached by golden joints.

Its small, flattened head bears a golden, crown-shaped growth, and long, very thin antennae stream from its two highest points. At the back of its skull, two transparent growths resemble insect wings and brush the ground; its small purple eyes have bright blue pupils.

UB-02 Beauty, an Ultra Beast

Pheromosa belongs to the Ultra Beasts, a family of eleven Pokémon discovered in Alola. The archipelago's old legends say they come from other worlds known collectively as Ultra Space, from which they burst out through Ultra Wormholes.

The UB Task Force investigators gave each of them a code name: Pheromosa's is UB-02 Beauty. It shares it with Buzzwole, a.k.a. UB-02 Absorption, and the two creatures have exactly the same types, too.

The two never cross paths in the same game. Pheromosa is exclusive to Pokémon Moon and Ultra Moon — Verdant Cavern at level 60, then the Ultra Desert — while Buzzwole belongs to Sun and Ultra Sun. In Moon, in fact, you can encounter only four of them in total.

For these captures, the Aether Foundation designed a dedicated Ball, the Beast Ball, not to be confused with the Ultra Ball. Its catch bonus climbs to 5 on an Ultra Beast, but drops to 0.1 on any other Pokémon.

Typing, Ability and Extreme Stats

Like all Ultra Beasts, Pheromosa has only one Ability, Beast Boost — whenever it knocks out a Pokémon with a move, its highest stat goes up by one stage. It has no hidden ability, and this Ability does not reduce any damage.

Its Bug and Fighting combination costs it dearly: Flying-type moves deal quadruple damage, while Fire, Psychic and Fairy deal double damage. On the other hand, it halves damage from Fighting, Bug, Grass, Ground and Dark, and it has no immunity.

Its stats are unusually brutal: 137 in both Attack and Special Attack, 151 in Speed, but 71 HP and just 37 in both Defense and Special Defense, for a total of 570. In other words, a porcelain sprinter.

No Fighting-type Pokémon has a higher base Speed; only Mega Lucario Z matches it, also at 151. A delightful detail: its six stats are all prime numbers, like those of almost all its fellow Ultra Beasts — only Naganadel's Speed (121) is the exception.

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Evolution: none, and no Mega Evolution

Let's be blunt: Pheromosa has no evolution and is not the evolution of any Pokémon. Its chain has a single link, with no stone, no trade and no level to reach — Poipole is, in fact, the only Ultra Beast that can evolve.

It doesn't Mega Evolve either. The only Mega Evolutions of the seventh generation belong to Crabominable, Golisopod, Drampa, Magearna and Zeraora. Genderless and placed in the Undiscovered Egg Group, Pheromosa cannot breed either.

Its only change in appearance comes when it is Shiny — its lower body turns black and its golden parts turn gray. In Sun and Moon, the Ultra Beasts were all Shiny-locked, a lock that was lifted in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Quiver Dance, Pheromones and Bursts of Speed

Pheromosa knows Quiver Dance, the famous Bug-type dance that raises the user's Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed by one stage. It has the move from the start in Sun and Moon, and learns it at level 65 in Sword and Shield.

The move is far from exclusive: twenty-two Pokémon know it, from Butterfree to Frosmoth. But once you cross-check their evolutionary lines, only Pheromosa and Oricorio learn it without ever evolving; all the others are either evolutions or Pokémon that go on to evolve.

According to Wicke of the Aether Foundation, its slender body can hit bursts of acceleration that instantly propel it to over 200 km/h, a feat never observed before. It also gives off a pheromone unknown to science that stuns everyone around it.

Its name reportedly comes from cancrelat (French for cockroach) and love, at least for the French Cancrelove, while the English Pheromosa blends pheromone and hermosa, Spanish for "beautiful." A cockroach species, Nocticola pheromosa, was even named after it — reason enough to give it a place among your Pokémon figures and your Pokémon plushies.

Pheromosa Fact Sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

• Does Pheromosa evolve into another Pokémon?
  No. Pheromosa has no evolution and is not the evolution of any Pokémon: its evolutionary line has just one link, with no stone, no held item, no trade and no level to reach. It has no Mega Evolution either. Of the eleven Ultra Beasts, only Poipole can evolve, into Naganadel.
• What is Pheromosa's Ability?
  It has only one, Beast Boost, shared by all Ultra Beasts, and there is no second Ability and no Hidden Ability. Beast Boost raises the Pokémon's highest stat by one stage every time it knocks out an opponent or an ally with a move. Watch out for a common mix-up: this Ability does not reduce any damage. The Ability that cuts damage from super-effective moves to 0.75× is called Prism Armor, and it belongs to Necrozma.
• What are Pheromosa's weaknesses?
  As a Bug and Fighting type, it takes quadruple damage from Flying, its big weakness, and double damage from Fire, Psychic and Fairy. On the other hand, it halves damage from Fighting, Bug, Grass, Ground and Dark. The other nine types deal normal damage, and it has no immunities. With just 37 in both Defense and Special Defense, even a single well-placed attack hurts a lot.
• Which games can you catch Pheromosa in?
  Pheromosa is exclusive to Pokémon Moon and Pokémon Ultra Moon; its counterpart Buzzwole, which shares the UB-02 code, is exclusive to Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Ultra Sun. In Moon, you find it in Verdant Cavern at level 60, and only four are available. In Ultra Moon, it appears in the Ultra Desert in Ultra Space, also at level 60. It can also be found in Dynamax Adventures in the Max Lair, in the Crown Tundra.
• Is Pheromosa the only Pokémon that knows Quiver Dance?
  No, twenty-two Pokémon learn this Bug-type dance, including Butterfree, Venomoth, Bellossom, Lilligant, Volcarona, Vivillon, Ribombee and Frosmoth. Pheromosa does, however, share one quirk with Oricorio: they are the only two that learn it without ever evolving, since all the others are evolutions or Pokémon destined to evolve. Quiver Dance raises the user's Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed by one stage.
• Where do Pheromosa's names come from?
  Its French name, Cancrelove, reportedly comes from cancrelat, another word for cockroach, and the English word love. The English name Pheromosa combines pheromone with hermosa, Spanish for "beautiful," and formosa, Italian for "shapely." The Japanese name, Pheroache, blends pheromone, feroce (Italian for "fierce") and cockroach. Its design is inspired by the American cockroach and by copepods.

In short

So fast that no Fighting-type Pokémon outpaces it, so fragile that it goes down at the first well-placed hit, Pheromosa single-handedly sums up what the Ultra Beasts are: stunning and utterly impossible to pigeonhole.