This is the most common Raikou set and by far the most effective. After a Calm Mind, almost no special attacks will break its Substitute, allowing you to Calm Mind more while protecting yourself from threats like Dugtrio and Thunder Wave. After stalling for Calm Minds, Thunderbolt everything in sight. Hidden Power Ice helps for Dragons and Grasses, and Hidden Power Grass is for Swampert. I usually suggest Grass. Thunderbolt will do enough to Salamence (2HKO without Calm Mind) and Dragonite, generally, so that's another point in Hidden Power Grass's favor, but Hidden Power Ice hits Celebi and other Grass-types much harder (but doesn't OHKO Rhydon 100% of the time after a Calm Mind).
Reflect when you believe any sort of Physical attacker is coming and Calm Mind away. If it's Dugtrio, OHKO it with Hidden Power Grass. With a Reflect up, Raikou can beat Snorlax 1 on 1. Just watch out for Blissey. Lum Berry is an option, since you lack Substitute to block status, but most Pokémon that can status will not be 2HKOed by Raikou, so they'll just status again next turn if you leave it in, anyway.
The idea behind this set is to Calm Mind up with enemy Raikou, Celebi, Jirachi, and the like, and then, when you have around 4 Calm Minds or so (so they don't have a chance to start attacking and possibly get a critical hit or paralysis), use Roar, and wish them good luck fighting a boosted Raikou with their unboosted Pokémon that comes out. This set is particularly effective with a few layers of Spikes on the field, much like it is with Suicune, and pretty much any pseudo-hazer, really, since you can also predict a special wall like Blissey coming in and Roar it out, so it takes Spikes damage and so does whatever comes out.
GSC style Raikou has a chance to do well in ADV. The most common special attackers in the game are Electrics and Waters. Raikou can take on any Electric save other Raikou, and easily beats Water-types hands down. This set no longer has to worry about switching into Milotic Hypnosis, and is quite possibly the best Gengar counter in the game, again thanks to not caring about Hypnosis. It can outstall Blissey with Pressure, but has a bit more trouble with Dugtrio than the other two sets, thanks to not having a Substitute / Reflect to hide behind, and to generally being more defensively EVed, lowering the chance of a OHKO. The only special attackers getting through this are other Raikou (with Calm Mind), Jirachi, some Jynx, and possibly Sunny Beaming Exeggutor (the Rain Dancers don't resist Thunderbolt). This is kind of like a special version of Snorlax, in that it takes hits and dishes damage right back, rather than Blissey, who takes hits even better than either of them, but has little in the way of offense. Other OptionsProtect is for annoying the hell out of Blissey's PP. Thunder Wave because Paralysis is always nice, however it isn't the best choice for Raikou. Psych Up is for grabbing some Calm Minds from Suicune. Crunch can be used over Hidden Power Ice / Grass to hit the targets of both for a little more damage, but what this usually ends up meaning is that you won't be able to kill either Swampert or Flygon, so it ends up just being a slightly stronger version of Hidden Power Ice against Celebi. EVsEither 329 or 352 Speed, max Special Attack, rest in HP for the two Calm Minding sets. At least 300 or so Speed for the Sleep Talk set, or 352 with Timid, a ton of HP, with a bit in Special Attack to give it more of a punch. OpinionThe best special sweeper in the game, with the possible exception of Jirachi. Raikou is one of the Pokémon that forces people to use standards. CountersDugtrio has difficulties switching in (as it does with switching into anything else, really), but can trap it and OHKO it. Since most Raikou are Timid, a Dugtrio with 44 Special Defense EVs (48 with Hidden Power Bug) can take one max damage Hidden Power and kill it with Earthquake. This allows Adamant Dugtrio to switch into Thunderbolt and not get OHKOed next turn, and it allows Jolly Dugtrio to switch into anything at all, except Modest Hidden Power Ice / Grass, and even then, Raikou only has a 60% chance to OHKO. Of course, if Dugtrio has Spikes down on its side, it has a bit more trouble. Venusaur with Sludge Bomb or other physical moves will beat Hidden Power Grass versions (the most common). Swampert takes massive damage (it's OHKOed by Calm Minded Hidden Power Grass, or 2HKOed otherwise), but it can take on the rare Hidden Power Ice Raikou, or switch into Thunderbolts and try and OHKO it with Earthquake. Flygon is much better at this, however, due to how much rarer Hidden Power Ice is in comparison to Hidden Power Grass. Steelix and Camerupt are immune to Thunderbolt, and both common Hidden Powers are only neutral, while they can attack it back with STAB Earthquake. Claydol works to an extent, thanks to its Thunderbolt immunity and high Special Defense, but it's 2HKOed by Calm Minded Timid Raikou, so it can only come in so many times. Blissey and Snorlax can wall its hits all day and then kill it with ease. Registeel can Seismic Toss it or Earthquake it, while Raikou has to retreat in humiliation of being walled by Registeel. Psych Up or Seismic Toss Regice beat Restless Raikou 1v1, by virtue of its high Special Defense. If it lacks one of those two moves, however, Raikou can Calm Mind up and set up an unbreakable Substitute. Although Marowak is 2HKOed by Hidden Power Ice or Grass, it can come in on Substitute and kill you with Bonemerang, so you need to watch out for that. If Marowak has 156 HP EVs, it survives a Calm Minded Hidden Power from Timid Raikou every time, and a max HP Marowak with 12 Special Defense EVs does the same to Modest. So Marowak, while not a reliable counter, is a very important threat to be wary of, so do not assume you are safe behind your Substitute, or that you can OHKO it. Chances are, if they are switching in, they either don't know what they're doing or they are EVed right, so it's better to save Raikou until you've hit Marowak with anything before trying to KO it. If Jolteon has Roar, it can somewhat counter Raikou, and Thunder Wave can cripple your Raikou, as well, since Jolteon is fast enough to get it in before you can Substitute again. |
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