Alakazam

[breh]

Originally Posted by Fat Lee

Counter and Magic Guard aren't even close to being legal. Counter is a third gen move tutor and Magic Guard is a fifth gen DW ability.

'Tis a pity; as I was reading this board I was thinking "Oh cool it can actually do something big to tomb now"... Well you just killed that lol EDIT: Herp derp Spiritomb is ghost-type herp derp xD

Magic Guard is also slightly irritating because it forces it to use 70% accurate Focus Blast for Dark-types instead of 100% accurate Signal Beam.

Zam got some cool new toys but not any that are enough to beat its counter, spiritomb.

[M BLADE]

I was going to suggest a CM Recover anti staller because i love bulky set up things...
But i got a call, and some person said to me on the phone Kazam can't take hits. And that Espeon is way better for this.


So, here's my Kazam set:

Alakazam (unissex) @ Focus Sash / Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Calm Mind / Substitute
- Psycho Shock
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power Ice / Shadow Ball

Simple: set up, attack.
Substitute goes with Life Orb of course. Calm Mind can go with both items.

[Focus]

Originally Posted by Fat Breludicolo

'Tis a pity; as I was reading this board I was thinking "Oh cool it can actually do something big to tomb now"... Well you just killed that lol

Magic Guard is also slightly irritating because it forces it to use 70% accurate Focus Blast for Dark-types instead of 100% accurate Signal Beam.

Zam got some cool new toys but not any that are enough to beat its counter, spiritomb.

Counter, a Fighting move, could not hit Spiritomb anyway. Scrappy would have been nice, though. But that is irrelivant. As it is, Alakazam is poorly suited for a Counter set (unless you like gimmicks).

I really don't see Alakazam running many sets other than straight attacking sets. Its awful defenses and typing mean it is likely not even going to benefit much from even Magic Guard (aside from using a Focus Sash set).

[domeface]

Originally Posted by Fat Soda

Counter would definitely OHKO Scizor. :P

And Zam wouldn't die to rocks after switching in again, with its speed it could still be useful.

Also you could give Alakazam some wish support, he has such low HP and lots of the wishers (Vaporeon, Blissey) have gigantic HP, he could get fully recovered.

Good idea, just a shame Focus Sash only works once. Still, 100%>1%.

Seriously, why does Focus Blast have 70% accuracy? It's totally unnecessary anyway, and it's the only one of the 120/70 moves that doesn't have some way to boost it to --% (Thunder in Rain, Blizzard in Hail). Thunder at least has 10PP and a 30% paralysis chance. I suppose a Gravity set could work, but it's a lot of effort just for boosting the accuracy of one coverage move.

However, CounterSash is a very nice way to deal with TTar and other pursuiters.

[Celest]

Originally Posted by Fat Immaterial

I'm just going to copy-paste a Guard Share set I posted in the old thread:

Two things - one, Life Orb > Leftovers, since you don't really want to take too many hits anyway. Two, Jolly nature on Alakazam? No.

I have no idea why I put jolly... I meant Modest. Musta been the sleep deprivation talking.

But I figured leftovers would be good to recover from Sub, but then I just remembered, Magic Guard = No Life Orb damage! I completely forgot that...

Edit:

Originally Posted by Fat Focus

I really don't see Alakazam running many sets other than straight attacking sets. Its awful defenses and typing mean it is likely not even going to benefit much from even Magic Guard (aside from using a Focus Sash set).

Supporting is possible with access to Encore and ThunderWave. Screening is possible, but there are better Pokemon to do that. I could see it running a gimmicky set with Guard Share though. It'd be a long shot, but it could definitely mess up some of the walls you might come up against.

Alolkazam@Leftovers/Life Orb/Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Spe/ 4 SpAtk
IVs: 0 Def/SpDef
Natures: Hasty(+Spe/-Def), Mild(+SpAtk/-Def), Naive(+Spe/-SpDef), Rash(+SpAtk/-SpDef)
~ Guard Share
~ Recover/Substitute/Encore
~ Focus Blast/Substitute/Encore
~ Psycho Shock/Psychic(I don't know why you'd want to, but just for the halibut)

Now, the lower your defenses, the better. With Guard Share, you're taking both of the defense and averaging them. Kinda like Pain Split, but with stats. So even though your defense will be lower, your enemy will be suffering as well. I feel like this could really hurt a lot of walls, especially Physical Walls, because Alakazam has TERRIBLE defense. Lets do some simple math.

With a defense lowering nature, and no EV/IV investment, Zam can reach a horrendous 85 Def. Now, Max Def Skarmory can get 416 Def, with 252 Defense EVs and a defense increasing Nature. Combine the two, and you'll be looking at Skarmory with only 250.5 Def. Even more than that, your Zam will ALSO be sporting that 250.5 Def. Good trade, if you ask me.

The only trouble lies with Alakazam having decent SpDef. But with Psycho Shock you'll be hitting them on the lower side anyways. Focus Blast takes care of the pesky Dark/Steel types that irk you, but if you are don't think it's really worth it, you could opt for another move. Any of the extra moves I listed have some type of use on this set, so it's hard to really pick one to go with it. Personally I'd go Guard Share/Sub/Encore/Psycho Shock. But Recover could be useful since your Alakazam might get some decent defenses.

Leftovers is the item of choice, letting you regain the Hp you lose from Subbing, or any attacks you might take with your bolstered defenses. Life Orb is an excellent choice as well, as it obviously lets you hit harder, and with Magic Guard, you don't lose your HP. Focus Sash doesn't really fit the set, but at least secures you one switch in or Guard Share, if you're iffy.

It may come off as a gimmick set, but I could really see this working. Not many people go around Taunting Zam. With his defense, everyone just says "LolOHKO". The main problem I see would be Mischievous Heart users. But then again, they screw with basically everyone.

Also, this Zam loves Sandstorm/Hazards. I can see some switches especially with Encore on this set.

[Emperor]

Might as well

LeadZam
Ability: Magic Guard
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Timid
Evs: 252 speed 252 Sp attack
Moves: Taunt, Encore, Thunder Wave, Psychic

Wish it could use magic coat with magic guard :/ bouncing back MH user's taunts would help a lot. Efruun obviously does this style waaaay better.

[JeffreyLebowski]

Theorymonning around here, but lets try a trick or set

Alakazam @ Toxic/ Burn orb
Timid/ Magic Guard
252 sp att/ 252 Speed/ 4 Hp
Trick
Psychic/ Phsyco Shock
Focus Blast
Protect/ Shadow Ball

Alakazam is one of the few pokes to retain Trick through the generation barrier, and it seems he can use it effectively. The orb depends on what you want to cripple; toxic screws over walls, even blissey, while burn can screw over pokemon like Tyranitar coming in to pursuit. The STAB move depends on which of these orbs you pick. If you opt for toxic, Phycho shock is less preferable because you have a way around blissey. The choice between protect to activate your orb, and shadow ball for perfect coverage, is up to you. You might also opt for a hidden power in that last slot, depending on your team

[Granstafer]

I'm just spitballing here so bear with me:
Alakazam@ choice scarf
magic guard
timid nature
252 Sp.atk/252 spe/4 hp
-focus blast
-shadow ball
-hp ice/fire
-psychic

essentialy alakazam filling the role of revenge killer. due to magic guard, he won't have to worry about entry hazards. I'm really too lazy to think of anything else right now...

[Celest]

Originally Posted by Fat Granstafer

I'm just spitballing here so bear with me:
Alakazam@ choice scarf
magic guard
timid nature
252 Sp.atk/252 spe/4 hp
-focus blast
-shadow ball
-hp ice/fire
-psychic

essentialy alakazam filling the role of revenge killer. due to magic guard, he won't have to worry about entry hazards. I'm really too lazy to think of anything else right now...

Psycho Shock definitely deserves a spot on here to deal with those dedicated special walls.

Also, this is pretty generic. Any particular reason for HP Ice/Fire?

[Granstafer]

Originally Posted by Fat Celest

Psycho Shock definitely deserves a spot on here to deal with those dedicated special walls.

Also, this is pretty generic. Any particular reason for HP Ice/Fire?

ice is mainly for dragons, I really don't know why I put hp fire.
you could run psycho shock instead of energy ball, as focus blast/shadow ball provide perfect coverage.

[Emperor]

I'd rather have fire imo. You really must okho scizor and friends when you can

[Colonel M]

Except HP Fire is only nailing Scizor (and Focus Blast does a fair amount anyway).

Using a Scarf set with Alakazam is mildly suicidal. With Shandera running around, HP Ice / Fire lock or Focus Blast lock means you're in big trouble if Shandera steps into the field. Of course this is assuming we have the Shadow Tag Shandera around. Really, there is two ways to go with Alakazam if you're doing this: Focus Sash or Life Orb.

Psycho Shock definitely deserves a spot on here to deal with those dedicated special walls.

Except Psycho Shock doesn't do great damage to Blissey. Max HP / Max Def takes 34.2% - 40.3%, barely a 3HKO. Aside from that, you lose your best attacking STAB for something... yeah... Not that it's exactly a terrible option.

At least this is better than the gimmick Counter leads.

[onkive]

I loved using this set I made up in 4th Gen.

"Hocus Pocus!"

Alakazam @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Synchronize
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EV: 252 Spe, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 DEF
- Protect
- Disable
- Encore
- Psychic

Info: A great interrupting lead and a check for Choice users.

Strategy: Protect on the first turn, if the move they use is a damaging move, Disable it on the second turn. If it's a non-damaging move, Encore it. Protect again after Disabling, then Encore their second move. They'll probably switch out after being Encored so you have a free turn to Psychic the oncoming Pokemon or you can blast the Pokemon with multiple Psychics should they choose to remain.

Notes: Speed is important, you must out speed the opponent in order to make this set effectve, but that's not a too much of a problem for Alakazam. It has very weak defenses, so priority moves will take it out quick. Great with entry hazards since it will force switches.

Oh one more thing, Poochyena walls this set. :|

[Granstafer]

Originally Posted by Fat onkive

I loved using this set I made up in 4th Gen.

"Hocus Pocus!"

Alakazam @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Synchronize
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
EV: 252 Spe, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 DEF
- Protect
- Disable
- Encore
- Psychic

Info: A great interrupting lead and a check for Choice users.

Strategy: Protect on the first turn, if the move they use is a damaging move, Disable it on the second turn. If it's a non-damaging move, Encore it. Protect again after Disabling, then Encore their second move. They'll probably switch out after being Encored so you have a free turn to Psychic the oncoming Pokemon or you can blast the Pokemon with multiple Psychics should they choose to remain.

Notes: Speed is important, you must out speed the opponent in order to make this set effectve, but that's not a too much of a problem for Alakazam. It has very weak defenses, so priority moves will take it out quick. Great with entry hazards since it will force switches.

Oh one more thing, Poochyena walls this set. :|

Scarfgon=instant death t-tar= death.
there's probably more counters to this but those are the ones i immedeatly noticed. And Twisted Spoon? Really? this seems to be one of those "gimmick" sets.

[prenceofdarkness]

Here is the set I plan to run.


Life Orb / Lum Berry
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Sp.Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Nature: Timid
- Calm Mind
- Psycho Shock / Psychic (i need to check Psycho Shock calculations more since it doesn't kill Blissy)
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball / HP fire

Okay reaching 1.95 x Special attack there wont be much that you will need to worry about when it comes to resisting you. Psychic is only resisted by steel and other Psychic type pokemon (dark type pokemon are immune). Focus blast will insure a neutral hit on all steel type pokemon while also hitting and killing all dark pokemon after a calm mind + life orb boost. Psychic type pokemon will be taken care of with shadow ball. Hidden power fire is there just to do more damage to things like Metagross / Scizor and so you don't need to spam focus blast for every steel.

If your going to use calm mind you might as well invest the last 4 EVs into Sp.Def just so if you double calm mind you get +2 special defense. You can drop 40 EVs from speed if I remember correctly to out pace the next speed tier. I would add those into Sp.Def.

Finally You can still run a Lum berry. Don't forget that magic guard doesn't make you immune to sleep or paralysis which are to major banes to Alakazam. Althought the power drop is noticeable it has saved me many times. +1 Alakazam is scary and in my experience (being someone who has used Alakazam from Gen 1) it's enough and I don't want to lose my sweep to a T-wave or Spore.

[BurningMan]

^Lum Berry is totally outclassed by Flame/Toxic Orb.

Also LO is preferred for the extra Power to just plow through things even without an extremly hard to get Calm Mind Boost (seriously on what do you want to set up? i can`t think of any OU Poke that don't gets a move to OHKO Kazam)

[Darkamber8828]

Nobody expects you CMing. They expect you to outspeed and OHKO something important and Psychic-weak. You CM on the switch and start killing stuff.

[BurningMan]

Well he suggested pumping Evs into SDef so i thought he wants to set-up multiple times wich is honestly near to impossible 90% of the time.

and getting one calm mind still isn't that easy there aren`t that many things Kazam forces out in current OU.

[masterful]

I don't know how likely I would be to run psycho shock on this thing, as really the only good special wall(s) in the game are weak to Fighting, and will take a good amount from Focus Blast either way

[BurningMan]

Originally Posted by Fat masterful

I don't know how likely I would be to run psycho shock on this thing, as really the only good special wall(s) in the game are weak to Fighting, and will take a good amount from Focus Blast either way

the things is that 2HKOing Blissey with Focus Blast is always a gamble, because of the shaky accuary. Psycho Shock however will always 2HKO (or even OHKO) 100% of the time and this way Blissey can't come in on your main stab.

[Zoom]

Timid Alakazam @ Focus Sash
Magic Guard
4SDef / 252SAtk / 252Spd
- Psychic
- ShadowBall
- FocusBlast
- Encore / Taunt / HPFire / ChargeBeam / CalmMind / Screen

Alakazam is not a good Pokémon but nowadays it's always good to have strong psychic STAB (for Robushin) and well with MagicGuard (immune to entry hazards + sand / hail) and FocusSash it can "check" top threats like Doryuuzu and pretty much every sweeper that doesn't wall Alakazam. Unfortunately Counter + MagicGuard is illegal - would be ideal to punish faster U-Turns without overpredicting your switch in. The last slot decides whether you want to make Alakazam able to provide some support, prevent of being set up or maybe enable some sort of a mini sweep.


Alakazam always struggle to beat Blissey as FocusBlast / PsychoShock will usually only 3HKO / 4HKO Blissey depending whether you run LO, modest nature and how Blissey spread her EVs. MagicGuard Zam with CM and Recover usually laughs at Blissey, especially those with Toxic. I'm not saying that it's worth running it, because this set usually sucks in most situations.

As for Psychic vs PsychoShock it seems to me that Psychic is the better option in most cases. The only reason I would use an offensive psychic type Pokémon is to have a check / counter to Robushin who usually is an annoying Pokémon to take out especially without strong special attacks. With PsychoShock you will often fail to OHKO Robushin. You still won't deal easily with Blissey and well, most special walls are already weak to fighting (hi Focus blast). The only time I miss Psycho Shock is when I'm getting swept by an offensive CMer.

[Camara]

I've come up with another annoyer Alakazam set:

Alakazam @ Flame Orb
Magic Guard
Timid
252 Sp Attack 252 Speed 4 HP
~Taunt
~Encore
~Trick
~Psychic/Psycho Shock

Taunt/Encore combo works wonders if possible, but anyway Alakazam is very fast and can pull off one or other alone effectively, Trick to screw up something and Psychic can OHKOs some things.

[elchupo]

I think people are trying too hard to deviate from what Alakazam is good at. Its fast, frail as fuck, and hits like a truck (Zam's new catchphrase?).

Bar a fast dual screener, I don't think theres a better set than:

Timid/ Modest Alakazam @Life Orb
252 SpA/ 252 Spe
Magic Guard

-Psychic
-Psycho Shock
-Shadow Ball
-Focus Blast

With Magic Guard, 'Zam has suprising survivabilty, with Life Orb recoil, entry hazards and passive damage from status' like burn and poison being negated. It can come in on any status bar T-wave, Psychic type moves or the plethora of fighting types around, giving it plenty of chances to switch in. Not only does it get perfect neutral coverage with Shadow Ball and Focus Blast, but STAB Psychic and Psychic Shock allow it to hit hard on both sides of the spectrum, making it a suprising wall breaker. I've OHKO Blissey switch ins with Psycho Shock, which is amazing for a special attacker.

I don't know what people are smoking this gen, but Alakazam is amazing, and is probably going to be at least BL, depending on what is in UU (zukin and metalman would put a stop to that).

[Lork]

whoa whoa, magic guard negates lo damage?

[Emperor]

Originally Posted by Fat Lork

whoa whoa, magic guard negates lo damage?

Indeed it does as well as normal recoil from moves (though zam doesn't have any of those)