Pikachu
[Overview]
- hello mascot of the game!!!
- first look at its base stats make you go wtf, base 55 or under for everything except speed
- even its speed is medicore, base 90 makes stuff like garchomp outspeed and kill it
- however, with light ball it becomes a total monster and can really get some sweet KOes
- nevertheless, even with light ball, you need to make sure pikachu is partnered well because with a base 90 speed, it will often just get KOed before even getting to do anything
- therefore pokemon that can induce sleep / paralysis (here's looking at you, cresselia/thundurus/amoonguss) or use moves like icy wind can really help out pikachu
- use pikachu right and it'll get good KOes on almost everything good in the metagame. use it the wrong way and it'll just be dead weight!
[SET]
name: Fake Out Lead
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Thunderbolt / Thunder
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Protect / Hidden Power Ice
item: Light Ball
ability: Lightningrod
nature: Naive / Rash
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- fairly simple moveset
- fake out lets pikachu's partner use setup moves (like t-wave, icy wind, spore, reflect/light screen, etc.)
- thunderbolt is pikachu's STAB attack, hitting everything that doesn't resist it for a lot of damage. it also hits water-types (politoed, jellicent, etc.) and flying-types (tornadus) for super effective damage!
- thunder can be used to hit rain teams even harder, or just for a stronger attack, but the 70 accuracy is really risky and not recommended
- grass knot hits rock-type and ground-type Pokemon that otherwise resist Pikachu's thunderbolt like tyranitar
- HP Ice gives Pikachu even more coverage by hitting pokemon like landorus, garchomp, and dragonite for super-effective damage, but you might want to use protect to just let Pikachu live longer. (incredibly useful when partnered with a Pokemon like Amoonguss that spores everything, allowing Pikachu to take out threats one by one.)
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- ev's are self explanatory, you want to be fast and deal as much damage as possible
- with poor defenses, naive/rash let you do slightly more damage with fake out. timid is not necessary because there's nothing pikachu needs to be outspeeding, base 90 speed is rather rare in terms of VGC pokemon
- light ball is obvious
- lightning rod to increase its special attack even more, and can be partnered with discharge users (thundurus, zapdos) to hit both of the opponent's pokemon while boosting pikachu
- pokemon that partner well with pikachu, as stated before, are pokemon that can either slow the opponent down or put them to sleep. anything with access to spore or sleep powder (amoonguss, breloom), cresselia, t-wave users are all excellent
- tailwind support is also really excellent, doubling pikachu's speed and allowing it to outspeed pretty much everything (tornadus and zapdos are the two main tailwind users that come to mind)
- you can even partner pikachu with a pokemon that is weak to electric like gyrados to direct hits away from it :D
[Other Options]
- not much really, it pretty much needs to use that moveset to be good...
- static can be used to potentially paralyze pokemon like hitmontop that use fake out on it
- rain dance, substitute, nasty plot, helping hand can be used but pikachu's role is a sweeper, not to use assisting moves
[Checks and Counters]
- horrible defenses make it easy to kill
- just hit it with any strong STAB attack (latios's draco meteor, garchomp's earthquake, hitmontop's close combat, etc.)
- anything that outspeeds it also gives it trouble, which is why pikachu needs proper support for it to actually do something
- common spread moves (rock slide, eq, heat wave) can easily deal with pikachu
- if you do not run HP Ice, pokemon that either resist grass knot/thunderbolt or take neutral damage from it can normally take a hit and return with a KO
- bulky Pokemon that can tank hits
