Sure, Pikachu is officially considered unviable, and sure we (the PU chat) have been drilling into your heads that every pokemon ranked in E is unviable. But maybe you guys could take a second to actually think about it for a second rather than just jumping on anyone who suggests it?
I'm not a fan of Pikachu, but it does have some redeeming traits. Special attacking Pikachu seems to be totally outclassed by its evolution Raichu, because it only hits slightly harder while it. However, physically offensive Pikachu has something pretty notable- a powerful and recoil-less Extremespeed. Pikachu's Espeed is not enough to OHKO most of the offensive pokemon in the tier, but it does a hefty chunk to the likes of Floatzel, Zebstrika, and the Simis. (
252+ Atk Light Ball Pikachu Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Floatzel: 180-212 (57.8 - 68.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO) When so many pokemon in PU are worn down a lot by hazards and recoil, that should not be taken lightly. So basically you have something with an ok speed tier, and with decent power to break through some balance pokemon, that also has a nice powerful priority.
Something like this moveset below I could see being feasible:
Pikachu @ Light Ball
Ability: Static
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Wild Charge
- Knock Off
- Extreme Speed
- Surf/Brick Break
Of course, it really isn't powerful enough to break walls like Gourgeist and Tangela, and it still dies to an one hit, so I don't think it would be enough for me to rank it. But I can see where people like
Shouting are coming from. A strategy that could be really interesting with Pikachu could be SD pass Mawile to Pikachu. When Pikachu has a +2 it is able to OHKO just about every offensive pokemon with its powerful Extreme Speed. I've tried this strategy with SD pass Mienfoo as a gimmick, and it's actually fairly dangerous. It still needs a bit of support to get past the likes of Stunfisk and Tangela, and you need to predict against normal resists with priority like Mawile and Golem, but it seems like a workable strategy. I think this might be enough to give Pika a D-ranking, combined with the fact that it's not totally awful in normal situations due to Espeed bailing it out a lot. Still, I would have to try it out though before making an actual nomination and I encourage others to do the same!
I'm not saying necessarily you have to agree with me, but just keep an open mind before dismissing every single thing about something that is in E-rank.