Honestly, I don't think your comparisons are really correct. As a staunch user of Raikou I'd argue that your stance is a bit too biased. Raikou isn't something you use to damage things that are at full. Most of the time, Raikou's role is either to a) revenge kill or b) gain momentum. All your above calcs are undeniably correct, but in what world will a Raikou stay in on a Garchomp? Shadow Ball is often used to hit the Lati twins as well which you didn't address. Torn-T and Raikou are very much different in their roles. For one thing, Raikou is actually a very good flyspam check on offence that want to run another mega other than M-Mane. The next thing is that Raikou actually allows you to have a neat Twave absorber with all that shit about Twave Clef running around (seriously guys, Tele started running this when he built his dual scarf team and that was fucking long ago. This isn't some new shit that suddenly popped up so why the crazy hype?) Next, why in the name of Zeus are you using HP Ice on things like Torn-T? Use a better comparison please. I can easily bias and say that Raikou is S Rank material by putting a whole bunch of calcs with Raikou beating the things that it can beat, but that would serve next to zero purpose now wouldn't it?Huh? So it can beat Keldeo which is also one of the best mons in the tier, does that mean it is instantly good now? This is such a skewered statement. That's like saying "oh Clef can't beat a +2 Occa Berry Scizor, Clef is shit". Let me up the game, Raikou speed allows it to outspeed common fast threats in the tier such as Keldeo, Lati twins and it's strong speed allows it to hit fast and chip off opposing mons without getting too much damage on itself. Alright since you want to compare Zam to Raikou, let me show you the most accurate version of the calcs.
252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Celebi: 101-119 (29.6 - 34.8%) -- 11.8% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Alakazam Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Celebi: 99-117 (29 - 34.3%) -- 2.1% chance to 3HKO
idk wtf you're on but this bias against the doge is really insane. keep the fucking dog at where it's fucking at.
ok you are a staunch user of raikou and u call me out for bias thats nice. im biased against choosing this in team building
as for the calc im sorry i meant barely weaker not slightly stronger, it should be obvious when you see that the number is less. but the rest of your points i can refute
"Most of the time, Raikou's role is either to a) revenge kill or b) gain momentum."
I'm arguing that it isnt even good at its role. btw torn-t can revenge kill and gain momentum too, so idk why you say it is a very much different role.
yes shadow ball hits latis, but by hit you must mean physically do damage to because this is the calc from av
252 SpA Raikou Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 148-176 (49.4 - 58.8%) -- 98.8% chance to 2HKO
that means roost latias can shrug off the damage until you spdef drop
252 SpA Raikou Shadow Ball vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Latias: 128-152 (40.1 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Torn-t can kill them from this range too
0- Atk Tornadus-T Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latios: 152-180 (50.8 - 60.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- attack nature and still more damage! so even if they have different roles torn-t is still better than raikou at its own job
"For one thing, Raikou is actually a very good flyspam check on offence that want to run another mega other than M-Mane."
Except eelektross fills the role better :? even jolteon is as strong as raikou with the same ass coverage (ok 5 spa weaker but faster than torn) so you are very biased in saying that it is a "very good" flyspam check.
"The next thing is that Raikou actually allows you to have a neat Twave absorber with all that shit about Twave Clef running around"
ok this i concede but i dont think about twave because it is a strategy more broken than baton pass and i avoid thinking about it instead of using limber stunfisk just to avoid paras (and speaking of segways, id rather use stunfisk than raikou as well)
"Next, why in the name of Zeus are you using HP Ice on things like Torn-T? Use a better comparison please. I can easily bias and say that Raikou is S Rank material by putting a whole bunch of calcs with Raikou beating the things that it can beat, but that would serve next to zero purpose now wouldn't it?Huh? So it can beat Keldeo which is also one of the best mons in the tier, does that mean it is instantly good now? This is such a skewered statement. That's like saying "oh Clef can't beat a +2 Occa Berry Scizor, Clef is shit". Let me up the game, Raikou speed allows it to outspeed common fast threats in the tier such as Keldeo, Lati twins and it's strong speed allows it to hit fast and chip off opposing mons without getting too much damage on itself."
Wait torn-t can beat all the things mentioned better than raikou can (provided that hurricane hits) and you say they have very different roles? I don't get you. Also Zeus? dont use such an archaic god lol. i spelled out the whole scenario of why you click hp ice vs torn, it was in the hide tag. maybe just a few examples dont prove my point but zam is faster and as strong as the specs set and can switch up moves and is immune to hazards! I dont think you can be a better pivot than one immune to hazards. Eel has better coverage and torn-t fulfills all the roles you posted besides fly spam check.
tl;dr torn-t eel and zam are better, depending on the role you want. The dog is ass drop it to uu