|
-
Synchronize
- When statused, the enemy is also statused. Can pass nature to wild Pokémon.
-
Inner Focus
- Prevents flinching.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
55
|
- |
251 |
314 |
- |
| Atk |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
| Def |
45
|
113 |
126 |
189 |
207 |
| SpA |
135
|
275 |
306 |
369 |
405 |
| SpD |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
| Spe |
120
|
248 |
276 |
339 |
372 |
Alakazam does well with a basic Calm Mind set; it has low defenses, but is fast enough to OHKO many Pokémon. You'll always want Fire Punch for Metagross. ThunderPunch helps for Starmie, Slowbro, and Gyarados. Ice Punch helps against Salamence and Flygon, but a Calm Minded Psychic takes care of them as well. It's handy for Claydol though. Hidden Power Water is good for the very same Claydol as well as Houndoom and Tyranitar.
Recover can be good as well. You won't be able to Recover against much, but with a few Calm Minds under its belt it can handle Ice Beam Blissey, Milotic, and other random special attackers. You might want to use a Lum Berry so freeze and paralysis don't stop you.
Trick your Choice Band to the Blissey that will most likely switch in, and proceed to destroy it. If you have Recover, you can Psychic it until it dies even while it Seismic Tosses. If you have Substitute, you can block status effects and Psychic it until it dies. Substitute is always nice to see what that Choice Banded Tyranitar, Snorlax, or Metagross is going to do. Macho Brace can be used as well to screw over fast Pokémon, but it slows down Alakazam before the Trick. You can always use some kind of filler item like Amulet Coin and it will work like Thief, except you will be able to swap items with something else later.
Substitute when you think Blissey will Thunder Wave or Snorlax will Curse, Encore it, and proceed to either set up with Calm Mind or attack away. Encore Alakazam is a pain, and he really ruins stuff like Umbreon with nothing to hurt its Substitute. It works well against Celebi too, being one of the very few things you can switch into a Calm Mind, Baton Pass Celebi consistently. Use Recover to make it last longer in such situations.
Physical Alakazam. Focus Punch stuff like Tyranitar, Blissey, and Snorlax on the switch, and when you are done, Trick some unsuspecting special Pokémon. It nearly always works, because these aforementioned Pokémon are the safest switches into Alakazam. Psychic is still there because it will need it without Choice Band, and it helps in not giving the surprise away too early.
Other Options
Alakazam can Barrier, and if you set it up right it can survive physical attacks enough to Recover more often. It's kind of risky, though, and needs to be executed flawlessly or it won't work. Thunder Wave can catch Metagross and Tyranitar on the switch and is a nice alternative. Safeguard + Recover always beats Blissey one on one, and Taunt works against Blissey as well as Celebi. With Knock Off you can really hurt the tanking potential of Blissey and Snorlax, and it gives away whether your opponent is using Choice Band Tyranitar or not if they switch that in. Toxic works on about anything; on Alakazam, it helps against Claydol and Tyranitar mostly.
EVs
Usually Alakazam should have about, if not max Speed, as much as possible to get in these crucial hits when it needs them. It helps it a lot in some battles, as he ties with Sceptile and Dugtrio. Other than that, usually just stack Special Attack. Alakazam's only defense is offense: KO before it is KOed. Physical Alakazam needs lots of Attack EVs to make that surprising Focus Punch hurt.
Opinion
Alakazam has the most options of almost any special sweeper in the game. It is one of those Pokémon that can do anything on the special end, and do it well. He has awesome strategic choices such as Encore and Trick which can totally screw over your opponent for the rest of the match. Alakazam is a force to be reckoned with and you should consider him when making a team. The highest Special Attack of all the non-Ubers in the game is nothing to mess with. It does suffer a little from the moveslot syndrome though—it can mess up everything in the game, but only has four moveslots to do it with.
Counters
Blissey, the best special wall in the game, is a good way to check on Alakazam's moveset. She beats most Calm Minding versions (namely, those without Recover), and can Thunder Wave Alakazam to make it impossible to sweep anything with him. However, unorthodox moves like Focus Punch, Trick and Knock Off will be very annoying. Snorlax takes more damage from these Psychics and cannot Softboiled like Blissey, but he doesn't mind being Tricked on a Choice Band as much, and he can usually kill Alakazam in one or two hits, depending on Snorlax' moveset and the EVs Alakazam and Snorlax run. If Alakazam carries Recover, Blissey's only way to beat Alakazam is status. Thunder Wave will prevent Alakazam from sweeping, but Blissey still won't be able to beat Alakazam unless she gets lucky with full paralysis. A Toxiced Alakazam is going to die sooner or later, and you can always try for the freeze with Ice Beam. The problem with Ice Beam is that Alakazam carries Lum Berry more often than not, which means you will have to freeze it twice. On average Ice Beam freezes once in 10 turns, and Ice Beam has either 10 or 16 PP, so usually Blissey will lose this unless she has Serene Grace. Note how if you paralyze or Toxic Alakazam, Blissey will suffer from the same status problem until you switch her in and out with Natural Cure, or use Aromatherapy.
Houndoom is immune to Psychic and resists or is immune to Fire Punch (depends on which ability Houndoom has). His Crunch KOs Alakazam, so Alakazam will often switch out. Houndoom happens to learn Pursuit which instantly kills Alakazam if he switches out. However, if Alakazam has Hidden Power Water or ThunderPunch, Houndoom will get 2HKOed all the time (OHKOed if Alakazam uses Calm Mind first).
Tyranitar can Pursuit as well and is a safer bet. He isn't OHKOed by anything Alakazam can throw at him, he wouldn't mind a Tricked Choice Band much, and he can Rock Slide Alakazam for the OHKO. Metagross has 4x Psychic resistance and can OHKO with Meteor Mash and Shadow Ball, and sometimes Earthquake. However, he is weak to Fire Punch, making him a shaky counter. He can survive a Calm Minded Fire Punch though, but beware of being worn down, CHed, or burned. Jirachi has the same typing problems as Metagross, but is more durable on the Special side. He won't be able to OHKO Alakazam without some novelty though, like Choice Banded Shadow Ball or Doom Desire. Celebi resists Psychic and can Recover all day long, and annoy Alakazam with Leech Seed. Usually Celebi gets beaten up by Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Trick, Substitute and/or Encore though. Claydol makes a good resist as long as he stays out of super effective Hidden Powers or Ice Punches. But his Psychic resistance, nice Special Defense and 2HKOing Earthquake or Shadow Ball make him quite a reliable counter. Dusclops doesn't really resist anything, but with about 36 Attack EVs, he can KO Alakazam with Shadow Ball. He won't be OHKOed by anything. Sableye is immune to Psychic and can Recover off unboosted hits, and with STAB Shadow Ball he KOs Alakazam more often than not. Calm Minded Fire Punch is a 2HKO on him though.