Raikou [OU Analysis QC 0/3 OPEN FOR QC]

[corrupt vergil]

i used raikou plenty of times and he is great, he deserves an OU page​

QUALITY CONTROL [3/0]

OPEN FOR QC CHECKS

[if anybody saw a rejected raikou set- its a SET not a complete analysis which raikou deserves]

REWRITED

RAIKOU [OU analysis]

[OVERVIEW]:​

-After thundurus has been banished from the OU metagame to the uber family, raikou becomes once again a premier choice as one of the deadliest electric types in the current metagame.​

- Blistering speed, above average sp.atk and access to calm mind makes raikou a powerful special sweeper.​

- Rikou's bulk is no slouch either- unlike any other special sweeper he is not frail on the special side, and he can afford to take some hits like a hydro pump from the standard rotom-W set.​

-Raikou's limited movepool stops its awesomeness, as he will get walled by a host of pokemons like: sp.defensive heatran, jirachi, tyranitar [if lacks aura sphere], gliscor [if lacks HP ice] and gastrodon and swampert [if it lacks HP grass].​

-Also, due to its pure electric type being, entry hazards will make raikou's life hard, as they will slowly worn raikou down, limiting its sweep.​

-Regardless, raikou is a great pokemon, and if you will ignore its presence, your team will pay a huge price.​

[SET 1]
Name: offensive calm mind
Move 1: calm mind
Move 2: thunderbolt
Move 3: shadow ball/ aura sphere
Move 4: HP ice/ HP grass
Item: life orb/leftovers
Ability: pressure
Nature: timid/rash
Evs: 252speed/252sp.atk/4 HP​

[SET COMMENTS]
-with blistering speed, above average sp.atk and access to calm mind, raikou can pull off a mid-game or a late-game sweep without sweat.​

-using this set is simple: switch into a bulky water, like vaporeon and jellicent. They will flee at your sight, allowing you to set up.​

-100 base sp.def is no joke-and after a CM or two, raikou will become hard to stop.​

-thunderbolt is your main attack, as it provides STAB and hits hard after a calm mind to anything that does not resist it, and even worse to those who are weak to it, such as skarmory, vaporeon, politoed and such….​

- After thunderbolt, there is shadow ball, which can hit psychic and ghost type for super effective damage like celebi, gengar and reuncilus. However, if your team can handle these pokemons, you can use aura sphere, which can hit Tyranitar [who can wall this set if raikou lack aura sphere], magnezone, scarfty and terrakion, but if you want to use aura sphere, you will have to use rash nature.​

-the final slot goes for the hidden power dilemma: HP ice can hit gliscor, salamence, dragonite, landorus and breloom for super effective damage. But HP grass gets rid gastrodon, rotom-W and swampert.​

[ADDINTIONAL COMMENTS]
-life orb is the preferred item due to the power it supplies, but leftovers will help you to stay at the battlefield a bit longer.​

-you can use balloon for a free switch on an earthquake, but once you got hit, you don’t have it anymore, and that’s not helpful​

-if you will choose timid nature, you will be able to get a speed tie with starmie, but, with rash nature, not only that you can use aura sphere, it gives you more power.​

-if you are using this set on a rain team, then you should run thunder instead, as its stronger then thunderbolt.​

-the evs are simple: 252 sp.atk for the max, 252 speed is there so you could reach max speed [with timid nature], and the rest goes for HP.​

-blissey could be a pain, as she can take aura sphere with an ease and cripple you with Thunder wave or toxic, so a strong fighting type can give you a great help.​

-also, hazards can be a downer for raikou, so a spinner would be great too.​

-hitmontap, in fact, makes a great teammate, as he can get rid of blissey, and the hazards!​

- If you're running HP ice, you will be threatened be gliscor and landorus, so bulky water like rotom-W will handle them.​

-however, if you are using HP grass, gastrodon,swampert and quagsire will wall you, so a grass type like celebi or breloom can threaten them.​

[SET 2]:
Name: choice
Move 1: volt change
Move 2: thunderbolt
Move 3: aura sphere/shadow ball
Move 4: HP ice/ grass
Item: choice specs/choice scarf
Ability: pressure
Nature: timid/rash
Evs: 252 speed/252 sp.atk/ 4 HP​

[SET COMMENTS]
- With choice scarf, raikou can become an amazing revenge killer, as he is capable revenge killing every single dragon dancer in the game and most notably- shell smash cloyster.​

-with choice specs, however, raikou will become an amazing hard hitter, capable of 2HKO sp.defensive jirachi, bronzing with STAB thunderbolt.​

-volt change is your best attack, as you can scout to a counter and learn about the rival's team.​

-thunderbolt is a powerful STAB that can hit hard anything that doesn’t resist it.​

- Shadow ball can be used to finish off psychic types like the lati twins, reuncilus, gengar and more. But with aura sphere you will be able to hit tyranitar,heatran and terrakion for super effective damage.​

- the dilemma of the HP makes an appearance once more- if you will choose HP ice, you will be capable of revenge killing threats like choice scarf landorus, gliscor, salamence and dragonite [both after a DD], but if you will go with HP grass, you will get rid of rotom-W, gastrodon and swampert.​

[ADDINTIONAL COMMENTS]​

-timid is recommended for the choice scarf set, so you could outspeed as many threats as possible, but if you want to use rash nature, then choice specs is much more suited.​

-the evs are [again] simple: 252 sp.atk so you can hit hard as possible, 252 speed is there so you can outspeed as much as you can, and the rest basically goes to HP.​

-whether you choose choice specs or choice scarf, this set is a hit and run, so spikes in your field can really hurt, a spinner would be a great partner.​

- landorus is a great partner for raikou, as raikou can scout to him when he has trouble with special walls, and landorus can scout with U-turn to raikou in order to scare a bulky water away from the battlefield.​

-blissey is a pain for raikou, so a fighting type can solve this problem.​

- is you choose choice specs, then raikou would appreciate a cleaner like latios, who can fire off a powerful draco meteor at weakened enemies.​

-like any other sweeper, hazards of your own would be appreciated, so a pokemon like skarmory, who can set up stealth rock and spikes can help, as it synergies with raikou pretty well. ​

[SET 3]
Name: sub CM
Move 1: substitute
Move 2: calm mind
Move 3: thunderbolt
Move 4: HP ice/ aura sphere
Item: leftovers
Ability: pressure
Nature: rash/ timid
Evs:128 HP/ 76 def/ 52 sp.atk/ 252 speed​

[SET COMMENTS]
-once he is behind a substitute, raikou can set up a few calm minds and become an unstoppable pokemon.​

-with this set, raikou is capable of beating walls that counter him usually like blissey.​

-substitute is your main move, as it gives you cover from status problems, or protects you from a powerful attack​

-after that there's calm mind, which, once you are behind a sub, you can set up a couple of times on walls.​

-thunderbolt is your main STAB, which can hit the opponent hard if it doesn’t resist it after a few CM.​

-aura sphere can be used if you wish to hit blissey for super effective damage, but HP ice gives you more coverage against salamence, dragonite, gliscor, landorus and more.​

[ADDINTIONAL COMMENTS]​

-if you wish to use aura sphere, then you will have to go with rash nature, but if you want to go with HP ice, then timid could give you a lot of help, as you will be able to beat gengar and infernape.​

-with 128 HP and 76 def, your opponent will have some hard times breaking your sub. 252 speed is there for max speed, and the rest goes for the sp.atk.​

-leftovers is there so you can regain health and make a sub over and over.​

- This set works really great with toxic spikes, as it helps wear down walls who will try to desperately break your sub, so forretress could really assist you. ​

- Again, you will have to get rid of hazards, so a spinner would be great for raikou.​

- If you will not use HP ice, then bulky ground types [most notably gliscor] will wall you, so bulky waters can really help, like jellicent.​

- however, if you don’t pack aura sphere, then tyranitar and terrakion can give you some problems, so gliscor can give you some help against those two.​

[SET 4]
Name: rain abuser
Move 1: thunder
Move 2: weather ball
Move 3: aura sphere
Move 4: HP grass/HP ice
Item: life orb/expert belt/ leftovers
Ability: pressure
Nature: rash
Evs: 252 speed/ 252 sp.atk/ 4 HP​

[SET COMMENTS]​

-in a metagame that is being dominated by weathers like rain, raikou makes an excellent abuser of the rain.​

-under the rain, raikou has amazing coverage, which combined with his great speed; he can take many pokemons in the current metagame like volcarona.​

- raikou's thunder under rain is extremely powerful, and can take a big chunk out of a pokemon who doesn’t resist it.​

-weather ball can threaten heatran, volcarona, , infernape and such…​

-aura sphere has a great value as well, as it threaten one of rain's biggest nemesis:tyranitar.​

-HP grass is used so you will be able to deal major damage to gastrodon, quagsire and swampert.​

-HP ice however, helps you with dragons, hippodown and grass types who can give trouble to rain teams.​

[ADDINTIONAL COMMENTS]
-rash nature is the only nature you can use, as weather ball and aura sphere are illegal with a different nature.​

-the evs aren’t complicated: 252 sp.atk is invested so you could reach max sp.atk, 252 speed for max speed without a boosting nature, and the rest goes for HP.​

-shadow ball can be used but its coverage isn’t high as aura sphere or any other attack.​

-expert belt is you best item because this set has an amazing coverage and therfore, expert belt is best used with this set ​

- Rain support is required for this set; politoed is capable of it as it can summon rain thanks to its ability drizzle.​

-besides rain support, you will also need entry hazards, so a pokemon like skarmory can help, as it provides spikes and stealth rock which can help raikou's sweep.​

-once again, the pink blob blissey, can sponge raikou's attacks and cripple it back, a strong physical hitter like scizor or a fighting type can take that bitch down.​

-celebi is another pokemon who resists raikou's coverage, latias can come in and set up on her face, latios works well too, as it can take celebi out with a strong draco meteor.​

-finally, if HP ice was chosen, then gastrodon and swampert can wall you for good, so a grass type like celebi or virizon can threaten them with a STAB grass attack like giga drain or leaf blade.​

- but if you chose HP grass, then dragons and grass types can bring you lots of pain, so a steel type like jirachi or bronzing can wall plenty of grass types and some dragons.​

[OTHER OPTIONS]
-charge beam can be used in order to boost raikou's special attack.​

-signal beam can be used to hit celebi for super effective damage, but it has little use besides that.​

-hidden power rock can be used for volcarona, but outside of that its useless. ​

-a rest talk set can be used, but it's outclassed by other pokemons like spiritomb or gyarados.​

[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
-volcarona is a good counter, since he resists raikou's attacks and can set up a butterfly dance or strike him with a bug buzz.​

- blissey, raikou old nemesis, can sponge all raikou's attacks and can cripple it with thunder wave or toxic, but she must be careful from the sub-cm set.​

- defensive steel types like jirachi or bronzong can sponge raikou's attacks and can cripple it with thunder wave or threaten it with an EQ​

- scarfed physically based pokemons can outspeed raikou and kill it like: landorus or terrakion.​

- If raikou packs HP grass, then it will be countered by gliscor, landorus and bulky ground types [they must beware, however, from the rain abuser set].​

-If raikou use HP ice, then ground/water types will wall it, most notably, gastrodon.​

- all the three kinds of entry hazards can worn raikou out, as toxic spikes cripple it and spikes can hurt raikou on a switch.​

[DREAM WORLD]
- raikou's unreleased dream world ability is volt absorb.​

- This ability is obviously better then preassure, as it can help raikou to get into the battlefield more easily.​

- Not only that, it can also give raikou immunity against thunder wave, any sweeper's worst nightmare.​

-it can also counter the volt-turn combo, as it absorbs volt changes and recovers him.​

- However, it's not a win-win: with his dream world ability, raikou will lose aura sphere and weather ball, means you will not be able to use the rain abuser set.​

so, what do you guys think ?

tell me if i forgot somthing about him

EDIT: i added two sets [rain abuser by pocket and the subCM set] and did it by the format [dream world section and checks and counters& other options]

 

[bugmaniacbob]

3 things:

1. Wrong format

2. Raikou already had an analysis that was for some reason never uploaded despite being moved to the finished analysis subforum, and it's been advertised for a while that it requires an update, since the original was, to be blunt, not very good. That thread is here if you want to see an example of a fully approved Raikou analysis. Most of the points there should apply here too.

3. For the love of God run this through a spellchecker or something, I know it's only a skeleton but you really need to make this easier for people to read

EDIT: Silly chanazn, your first analysis was Toxicroak. I don't forget these things.
EDIT2: That is, if you don't count Samurott, which never actually went on-site...

 

[Braseg257]

and also remember that raikou with aura sphere must be rash

 

[Rakan]

lol BMB that was my first analysis don't be too mean xD

also you should add a SubCM set

and fix up all the formatting issues -__-

http://www.smogon.com/forums/announcement.php?f=148&a=181

Edit: BMB, I guess that one wasn't too well-written either... :x

 

[corrupt vergil]

sorry, i just had plenty of homework, i will add the sub CM set, and the aura sphere slash, and will rewrite it so there wont be any format problem. it will take me some time but i promise it will be here soon [by a couple of days, il work on it as much as i can]

 

[danilo]

Goodness... As bugmaniacbob said, run this through a spell check. I think adding Thunder on all the sets would be nice since it allows you to use Thunder as a legitimate STAB move on rain teams. As was previously mentioned, add a sub calm mind set.

 

[erisia]

I thought the general policy was we only slashed Thunder if the pokemon was a particularly good abuser of the move as something other than STAB, for example Jirachi or Dragonite. It's like Blizzard vs Ice Beam, you shouldn't pre-suppose that the player is going to have weather up in the analysis unless the set is specifically geared towards weather. Raikou is more or less unchanged apart from the change in base power.

 

[corrupt vergil]

I think adding Thunder on all the sets would be nice since it allows you to use Thunder as a legitimate STAB move on rain teams.

i dont think that would be necessery, because that option will be valueble only on rain teams, not on every team, if a weather changer comes up then thunder will be kinda usless
however i will mention it on the addintional comments.

 

[Pocket]

Raikou is a particularly great Rain Sweeper - here's the set:

Raikou @ Expert Belt / Leftovers / Life Orb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
~ Thunder
~ Aura Sphere
~ Weather Ball
~ Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Grass]

STAB Thunder coming off from 361 SpA is no joke. Anything that can take its STAB are taken out by its coverage moves. Weather Ball provides Raikou virtually another powerful STAB move to destroy Jolteon, Heatran, and Gliscor (if you chose HP Grass). Aura Sphere 2HKOs all but the most specially-defensive Chople Tyranitar. HP Ice is for Grass, Dragon, and Hippowdon, whereas HP Grass nails Gastrodon. The amazing type coverage of these moves allow Expert Belt to be a good fit as an offensive item with little drawback. Chansey, Blissey, specially-defensive Celebi, and Gastrodon (if Raikou goes HP Ice) are the only mons that are not afraid of sponging hits from this Raikou.

 

[corrupt vergil]

sounds great, il test it very soon =]

as for anybody who think i wont make it, dont worry ^^
im working on the format right now, and im following the guide so it will take slightly some time, but it will be here, i assure you ^^


edit: i have finished the rewriting and added the DW section, checks and counters, other otpions, sub CM and the weather abuser [all by the format].
sorry it took me so long ^^

 

[asterat]

How you should use weather ball
-thunder
-weather ball
-volt switch
-HP ice
Timid, 252 Spe, 252, SpA, 4 HP
Choice scarf
This set can revenge a lot of things as other sets can, but importantly can kill off chlorophyll sweepers with the adapted fire type weather ball in sun, being able to outspeed venasaur. Aura sphere is a pain and makes you slow, tyranitar can ge volt switched and bring in a fighting type. Or water types, considering this is for a rain team

 

[corrupt vergil]

....
weather ball and timid nature are ileagal, so you cant use this set

 

[asterat]

....
weather ball and timid nature are ileagal, so you cant use this set

:evan:
I realized that about 5 minutes after posting... But still, aura sphere is not the greatest option and volt switch s generally better.

 

[corrupt vergil]

aura sphere still has its benfits:
it can hit terrakion, revenge kill scarfed Ttar and scarf hydreigon [i know you have HP ice but it wont KO hydreigon since it has enough bulk to take a HP ice]

 

[Pocket]

Asterat, Volt Switch is always nice for momentum, but you cannot deny the awesome coverage that Aura Sphere provides, preventing Raikou from becoming utterly walled by Tyranitar or Ferrothorn. If you're going Rash with Weather Ball, mine as well give it Aura Sphere, too.

corrupt vergil, I prefer Expert Belt being the primary slash, since Raikou does have usable defense that will be hindered by the LO recoil. As I mentioned before, Raikou already packs enough punch with high-powered moves and excellent coverage, so Expert Belt is more desirable imo. You can remove Leftovers, b/c of slash-itis.

 

[Chou Toshio]

uhhh thunderbolt hits Rotom-w harder than hp grass...

talk about where raikou's speed tier falls if it uses aura sphere...

 

[corrupt vergil]

ok pocket, will do

as for chou toshio, even though it does, it provides better coverage.
but it wont matter in the choice scarf set, as it outspeeds cloyster after a shell smash boost with a boosting nature [preety amazing, right?]

 

[Charge]

Tbh, I think Scarf Raikou does completely different things when compared to Specs. Specs is more like a Wallbreaker imo

 

[corrupt vergil]

yea, i mentioned that, but they act like the same: they hit as much as possible, and run when they are walled.
so yea...

 

[Charge]

Yeah sure I get that they try to hit as much and hard as possible, but the fact thatwith Choice Specs, Raikou hits significantly harder than that of a Scarf so the Scarf sounds like a revenge killer set.

And revenge killer is not a Wallbreaker. It's the same for Scarf Haxorus and Band.


...

But nvm kind to think of it it's dumb since they are walled by fucking same things and Choice doesn't do anything much to Blissey / Chansey too.

Btw, should HP Ice gets the main slash on every set? Because I feel that you will be attracting bulky Ground types more than anything else.

 

[corrupt vergil]

hmmm, on the offensive,choice and the sub cm sets. but not on the rain sweeper, mostly because it lures gastrodon,so yea...

 

[Oglemi]

There is just so much wrong with the OP, and the OP has failed to address these problems even after being told by other members. I'm reassinging this analysis to SDS for now, and he can decide what to do with it from there.

Locking.