How to unlock Pheromosa
Pheromosa is not sold directly, so the only route is the Alola banner, where it occupies a 4★ slot. The 4★ band takes 6.5% of all pulls and holds 211 partners, so one specific Pheromosa works out to about 0.0308% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Pheromosa has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Pheromosa refunds 120 coins at the 4★ rate.
Pheromosa stats and rank
Pheromosa reads 102 HP, 141 speed, ×1.45 attack, ×1.45 physical, ×1.45 special, 37 defense and 37 special defense, for a 570 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 82.7 out of 100, which puts Pheromosa at rank 55 of 966 and in tier S. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is speed (99th percentile) and its weakest is defense (7th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Pheromosa's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Karate Chop at 46.2 damage per 0.38s (178.6 effective DPS, ×1.45 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (153.9 effective DPS, ×1.45 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (129.9 effective DPS, ×1.45 multiplier). 11 of its 17 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 6 with the special one, alongside 4 support moves. Its physical and special multipliers are identical at ×1.45, so the pool decides the build. The top option beats the second by 24.8 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. Effective DPS is damage over cooldown times the matching multiplier; it ignores range and area, so a lower-DPS cone can still clear faster than a single-target melee.
Evolution cards for Pheromosa
Its starting move, Bug Bite, evolves into X-Scissor once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. Menu upgrades use a separate system and never stand in for Power. 17 of its 21 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Karate Chop at 178.6 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Pheromosa compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Deoxys (-10 HP, +0 speed, +0.07 attack, +30 total) and Sharpedo (+0 HP, -23 speed, -0.09 attack, -110 total). Against Deoxys, the two are level on speed and Deoxys hits harder by ×0.07, and the rank gap is 109 places. Read those deltas as swap costs, because a gain on one line is usually paid for on another, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.