Alakazam is kind of a weird Pokémon; he is like a mini-Chansey that also happens to be a sweeper. Generally its main job is to spread paralysis. He is extremely good at this, as its main attack, Psychic, aside from being a STAB 90 power special attack running off the highest non-Uber Special in the game, has the awesome attribute of a 30% chance of lowering the target's Special. This forces people to switch, allowing you to paralyze more. Even the monster special sponge Chansey will struggle to survive against an Alakazam after a Special fall or a couple of CHs. However, looking at his stats, one thing becomes obvious: Alakazam's Defense blows. His 313 HP is low, and that 188 Defense is lower. On the other hand, most physical attackers don't like getting hit with a Psychic. It sometimes 2HKOs Rhydon, and with absolute max damage, Psychic will 2HKO Tauros. However, when you consider the CH Rate and the 30% chance of Special fall, switching in a physical attacker into Alakazam will always be a huge gamble. Also its defense is not actually that bad. He has about a 1 in 3 chance of surviving a Tauros CH Body Slam and approximately an 80% chance of surviving Snorlax's non-CH Hyper Beam. Also, adding Reflect makes him quite the tank (just hope you CH before they do). The problem with Reflect, however, is that it exposes another weakness of Alakazam. Psychic only has 16 PP, and with the amount of Pokémon running around with resistance to it (as well as Chansey who is more resistant to Psychic than most Psychics are), it can be easily PP-wasted by switching out of the Special falls. This is obviously the reasoning behind the inclusion of Seismic Toss. It won't really outpower Psychic against anything, but it will protect you from running out of PP for a while. Kinesis is just a useful move for dealing with Chansey. It prevents her from trying for a freeze (to a degree), and can make a switch in for a physical attacker easier. It can also be useful first turn against a Sleeper, possibly forcing a switch/keeping yourself from being put to sleep, and protecting you from accidentally paralyzing something you don't want to. Finally, it can come in very handy in desperation scenarios and against your opponent's final Pokémon. Other OptionsCounter can be used to surprise Normals, while Mimic can be nice if you get stuff like Thunderbolt, Sleep Powder or Ice Beam. OpinionAlakazam is one of the most feared Pokémon in all of RBY as not many things like switching in on his Psychic and having to take another one before they can move. He can even take other Psychics due to his Speed, his CH rate, Special falls, and the highest non-Uber special in the whole game. He's an option you should consider for any of your teams. CountersChansey and Snorlax are fairly good counters considering their large amount of HP, in particular Chansey since its Special is great and it has a recovery move. Paralysis and switching to Rhydon or another strong physical attacker is a good way to handle Alakazam. If you can get a heavy hitter switched in safely against a paralyzed Alakazam, then you are in a great position. Slowbro can be a counter as well, since it resists Alakazam's Psychics and can Thunder Wave it (not so much against the Kinesis version, but Slowbro can still wall it decently, save for critical hits or Special falls). Most Normal-types using good physical STAB moves such as Slash, Body Slam and Hyper Beam can also take him on if you sacrifice a Pokémon and Alakazam is paralyzed, or if you get lucky and it gets fully paralyzed on the switch. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
