-
Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
-
Congrats to the winners of the 2023 Smog Awards!
Pokémon Alolan Raichu
- Thread starter Martin
- Start date
- Status
So, Focus Blast, Volt Switch, Grass Knot(because frikkin Gastrodon) come to mind. Also, Hidden Powers and maybe Fake Out/some physical option. It is a member of the Pikachu Line, it's movepool is way better than it has any right to be, so you'll find something.
Because I have little to no hope of ever getting my hands on a Pikachu with surf? If this was Pokemon showdown that would be one thing, but this is on my cartridge.
My bad about this. But I'd say you're lucky. There are tons of things to fill the Surf-void, and GameFreak will likely do some SurfChu events soon. I personally think Grass Knot is better, cause it lets A-Raichu defeat the few Ground-Types Pelipper can't beat (read: any Water-Ground type).
For a Gen VII native on cart, would Hidden Power Water work as a substitute for Surf (assuming it's on a Rain/ET team that is)? It has 50% lower BP, but it still hurts Alolan Marowak and ground types.
Alolan Raichu won't be able to get any transfer moves though, because no Pokémon transferred from previous generations would evolve into Alolan Raichu, it would just evolve into a regular one, since they wouldn't be from Alola
Already proved you're wrong.
I'd still run Timid on Alolan Raichu even with Koko Support. With a neutral nature and 252, Raichu only hits 319, which puts it below a couple crucial speed tiers (it's below the equivalent of Base 96 Positive 252), which includes tying other Base 110's, Garchomp, Base 100's like the Zards and Manaphy. While by no means a power house, Raichu is fast enough that it can make a difference being able to win a turn outside Electric terrain, especially against the latter two mons, who either exploit or push away Rain, something Raichu and Koko synergize very well with.
A 0 Atk IV is to reduce confusion and Foul Play damage.
A 29 HP IV is to minimize Life Orb recoil while keeping as much HP as possible and keeping an odd IV (if you wish to use a Hidden Power).
Timid Alolan Raichu is bad. Part of what makes RaiKoko rain threatening is the sheer destructiveness of modest Raichu, and you shouldn't be using Rai outside of the terrain anyway, as unless you know Rai is gonna complete the sweep or Kingdra/whatever can clean up you shouldn't be saccing off Tapu Koko before Raichu, meaning that it is a lot more likely to be the non-fieldspeed cleaner than Raichu is going to be.
Run Modest nature. With Electric Terrain support, A-Raichu is fast enough to outspeed the majority of the threats anyway and the extra SpA is useful in many situations.
You don't outspeed a +1 Pheromosa under Electric Terrain, that's it.
A Timid nature is required without Tapu Koko support...but, let's be honest, A-Raichu without Electric Terrain support is underwhelming or you can try a Nasty Plot set (you can force a first switch towards many Water and Flying types). 110 base Spe is high, but A-Raichu is frail and lacking power without support/Nasty Plot.
Last edited:
Ok thank you
I've been playing around with Raichu-A and I've come to the conclusion that this is the best set in OU (in my opinion):
Raichu-A
Timid/Modest Nature
Life Orb
-Thunder
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
-Nasty Plot/Grass Knot/HP Ice
Game Freak set up Raichu to be a niche destroyer. Counterpicking mainly Celesteela, Pheromosa, and Toxapex using its tools.
The Nature could go either way, really. Modest is really great for letting Raichu hit harder overall, but timid lets you outspeed +1 speed Pheromosa, which is good because Pheromosa is the definition of wallbreaker. It's situational, but it works.
Life Orb's obvious. You just hit harder. No Choice Specs because it limits you, and no Choice Scarf because you're already the fastest thing in the game with Tapu Koko. Aloraichium Z is also pretty good, but... you have to lose power overall just for the sake of ONE really powerful attack. Thunder has to go to Thunderbolt in order for the Z-move to work, and your other moves lose their extra 50% power.
Thunder hits hard, gets 1/3 chance for paralysis, and is basically 100% accuracy with Pelipper around
Psychic is of course there just for Psychic-type STAB. Psyshock could also work, but it's very situational for when it does. (It's only pretty much optimal for Chansey)
Focus Blast is there to hit Steel and Dark types hard.
Nasty Plot may be debatable, but I find it to be great. With Tapu Koko having Terrain Extender, it's a way to deal with set-ups on the opposing team. Mainly leech seed users and protectors that try to stall a turn are in this category. They stall, you Nasty Plot. You have enough power to kill Garchomp with Psychic. Most things fall to Thunder, Psychic, and Focus Blast anyways when +2 boosted. However, I strongly advise that you do not run Nasty Plot on Raichu when your Koko is running another item. Use Grass Knot or HP Ice for coverage instead
Raichu-A
Timid/Modest Nature
Life Orb
-Thunder
-Psychic
-Focus Blast
-Nasty Plot/Grass Knot/HP Ice
Game Freak set up Raichu to be a niche destroyer. Counterpicking mainly Celesteela, Pheromosa, and Toxapex using its tools.
The Nature could go either way, really. Modest is really great for letting Raichu hit harder overall, but timid lets you outspeed +1 speed Pheromosa, which is good because Pheromosa is the definition of wallbreaker. It's situational, but it works.
Life Orb's obvious. You just hit harder. No Choice Specs because it limits you, and no Choice Scarf because you're already the fastest thing in the game with Tapu Koko. Aloraichium Z is also pretty good, but... you have to lose power overall just for the sake of ONE really powerful attack. Thunder has to go to Thunderbolt in order for the Z-move to work, and your other moves lose their extra 50% power.
Thunder hits hard, gets 1/3 chance for paralysis, and is basically 100% accuracy with Pelipper around
Psychic is of course there just for Psychic-type STAB. Psyshock could also work, but it's very situational for when it does. (It's only pretty much optimal for Chansey)
Focus Blast is there to hit Steel and Dark types hard.
Nasty Plot may be debatable, but I find it to be great. With Tapu Koko having Terrain Extender, it's a way to deal with set-ups on the opposing team. Mainly leech seed users and protectors that try to stall a turn are in this category. They stall, you Nasty Plot. You have enough power to kill Garchomp with Psychic. Most things fall to Thunder, Psychic, and Focus Blast anyways when +2 boosted. However, I strongly advise that you do not run Nasty Plot on Raichu when your Koko is running another item. Use Grass Knot or HP Ice for coverage instead
- Status