How to unlock Archeops
Archeops is not sold directly, so the only route is the Unova banner, where it occupies a 4★ slot. The 4★ band takes 6.5% of all pulls and holds 211 partners, so one specific Archeops works out to about 0.0308% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Archeops has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Archeops refunds 120 coins at the 4★ rate.
Archeops stats and rank
Archeops reads 104 HP, 124 speed, ×1.47 attack, ×1.47 physical, ×1.32 special, 65 defense and 65 special defense, for a 567 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 83.7 out of 100, which puts Archeops at rank 48 of 966 and in tier S. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is physical multiplier (98th percentile) and its weakest is defense (44th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Archeops's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Gust at 31.2 damage per 0.26s (158.6 effective DPS, ×1.32 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (156.0 effective DPS, ×1.47 multiplier), then Ancient Power at 31.2 damage per 0.28s (147.2 effective DPS, ×1.32 multiplier). 10 of its 17 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 7 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its physical multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.47 against ×1.32), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 2.6 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. Range, area and knockback are not in the DPS number, so a nova can beat a melee on clear speed despite a smaller figure.
Evolution cards for Archeops
Its starting move, Rock Throw, evolves into Stone Edge once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. If Power never appears in that run's level-up offers, the move stays at level 5 and unevolved. 17 of its 21 moves carry an evolution card, across 5 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes and Armor). The strongest of them is Gust at 158.6 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Archeops compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Azelf (+0 HP, +2 speed, -0.08 attack, +13 total) and Enamorus (-1 HP, -1 speed, -0.03 attack, +13 total). Against Azelf, Azelf is 2 speed faster and Archeops hits harder by ×0.08, and the rank gap is 21 places. Those differences are what you actually trade when swapping partners, not a straight upgrade path, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.