You'll have to bring in Pikachu when your opponent is not attacking, because it cannot take a hit at all. Rest, switches or after one of your other Pokémon fainted is a good idea. After that, you should use Substitute to check what your opponent is going to do. If they switched, you get to launch two powerful attacks before they hit you. Hidden Power Ice is for Salamence, Celebi and Flygon in standard and for any Grass-type in UU. Hidden Power Grass, however, gets Lanturn in two hits and OHKOs Swampert and Quagsire. Surf will OHKO Gligar, so no need to worry about that. It will take care of Camerupt as well as any other Ground that isn't mentioned already. The IVs are for Hidden Power Ice. Surf cannot be used with Volt Tackle, so Encore is another good option. Surf also won't see much use in OU play, because between Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice and Thunderbolt, what's it going to hit? In UU, however, foes like Gligar, Steelix (in BL allowed tournaments), Camerupt, and friends can give you a bit of trouble otherwise, and Encore isn't as useful, because things like Curselax and Softboiled Blissey don't exist. Encore is also nice to, say, Substitute against Blissey Thunder Wave, and then Encore it, forcing them to take a very powerful hit with a non-Special wall. Other OptionsUsing Thunder Wave on the switch can prove to your advantage, as you will be able to use Substitute 4 times to try if your opponent gets fully Paralyzed, and get to launch a free attack if they do. Watch out for Tyranitar's Sand Stream when using Substitute the fourth time! If the only things that are in the way of Pikachu are faster, Agility can prove useful; Agility on the switch to, say, Aerodactyl or Dugtrio, and then KO them. Light Screen can aid your team, but there are a lot of better pseudo-passers out there. Sweet Kiss can work in tandem with Thunder Wave to force switches and preventing opponents from attacking, but is really risky (Teeter Dance is superior if you aren't using Surf, Encore, or Volt Tackle, due to the 100% accuracy). EVsPikachu dies to just about everything and is all about hitting the opponent—obviously max Speed and Special Attack and use Timid, because you can't risk being outsped. You might want to make sure to have HP that's not divisible by four, so you can use Substitute four times. OpinionLight Ball makes Pikachu usable, in the sense that it isn't a completely inferior Pokémon. However, I would never consider this on a serious team since it won't switch in on anything and most teams have their Raikou and Zapdos counters who usually eat up Pikachu as well. In UU, it's a considerable choice, though the first-priority moves (see Counters section) are everywhere there, and lots of things resist Electric there. It's too strong to be classed with things lower than good UU Pokémon, though. CountersFor standard, best switch-ins are Blissey, Lanturn (if it doesn't have Hidden Power Grass), Snorlax, and Steelix (if it doesn't have Surf). On a Thunderbolt, you can bring in Dugtrio and utterly destroy the lightning mouse. Ludicolo can be sort of counter, but will probably die sooner or later as it takes just under 40% damage, so try to bring it in on Surf or Hidden Power. If Pikachu is carrying Hidden Power Grass, Flygon and any Grass like Celebi and Venusaur beat it. If Pikachu's using Hidden Power Ice, Swampert and Lanturn own it. Other than that—be either faster than Pikachu or survive a hit from it, use a physical attack, and Pikachu will faint. Extremespeed, Fake Out, Mach Punch and Quick Attack can do a nice number. In UU, Grumpig and Hypno wall it nicely, and so do Vileplume and Meganium (less so for Hidden Power Ice versions). If Pikachu is using Hidden Power Ice, use Whiscash or Quagsire. And again, remember that Pikachu is very fragile and that it cannot exchange attacks with anyone without dying. With all these counters, remember to try to switch in on the attacks that do less damage. For example, if your only counter is Grumpig, you may want to switch to Gligar first to take the Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle, then go to Grumpig for the weaker Surf or Hidden Power Ice. If you use an offensive team, the only way Pikachu is coming in is if something on Pikachu's team dies, so as long as you've got something faster than it, you can force it out after it kills something, so you'll always be one up on it, especially if you can abuse immunities with smart chain switching. |
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