Pokémon Alolan Raichu

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Well, there is only one kind of Pikachu, so it makes sense that it evolves depending on the version.
And hackers made one from Kalos for example and il evolved in Alolan Raichu.
 
On a side note,
if this thing is to be found in battle tree, it would be much worse a threat to durant spam than those regular raichus we have had, since it can now threaten instant kos against blaziken/scolipede or even heracross with its psychic stab.
 
I think we can now say that A-Raichu is pretty much this gen's Pokémon that is just as good as we thought it would be. Which means it is very good as long as it is near Tapu Koko.
 
What I got off Serebii...

Raichu is one of several Pokémon that have Region Forms. If caught or bred from a parent that originates in Alola, it will have its Alola Form.
Which means it's possible to breed non-Alola Raichu in Alola as long as you have 2 Raichus who do not originate from Alola... if they are correct. Again, no pokebank means we can't know for certain.
 
I think Alolan Raichu is great. Surge Surfer makes it a great foil to rain teams, and the main thing of note is unlike a lot of Swift Swimmers it has a decent speed tier to begin with. With Nasty Plot and Psyshock, you can easily bust through special walls like Chansey (though I'm not even sure how relevant Chansey is, with Misty Surge leaving stall teams a little dead in the water). I think the main problem is there's only the one mon, Raichu, that benefits with additional effects from Electric Terrain (the doubled speed) - but otherwise with the decent speed tier and a decent extra STAB it's a nicely viable mon.

What I'm trying to say is, I like it.
 
There is a reason to run Timid on A-Raichu: opposing A-Raichu. Being such an offensive playstyle, Eletric Terrain's Glass Cannons do a surprising amount of damage against themselves, especially if it's also a Rain Team. As such, Timid A-Raichu has a niche being able to kill itself through Surf/Other coverage, especially if your team doesn't have something that Counter/Checks other Electrics that well.
 
Hey everyone, Just a quick question... Does anyone know if it is even possible to get a Pikachu/A-Raichu to learn electric terrain yet?

I don't think it can breed with any of the current pokemon in Sun/Moon that actually learn the ability. If anyone knows a way to get this ability currently, I would be very thankful :)

Thanks!
 

Martin

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There is a reason to run Timid on A-Raichu: opposing A-Raichu. Being such an offensive playstyle, Eletric Terrain's Glass Cannons do a surprising amount of damage against themselves, especially if it's also a Rain Team. As such, Timid A-Raichu has a niche being able to kill itself through Surf/Other coverage, especially if your team doesn't have something that Counter/Checks other Electrics that well.
My issue with this is the same as why jolly Excadrill was constantly going in and out of favor in gen 7. Timid Alolan Raichu is only useful over modest in matchups against itself, and as such it is only worth widely considering use in a metagame where Alolan Raichu teams are common. In the current state of the metagame, these are not particularly common and as such it is kind of difficult to justify using it when it's only going to come into play occasionally.
 
HP Ice should receive a mention in the Rain Attacker set, because that set is walled easily by the Lati Twins and, to a slighty lesser extent, Decidueye(maybe Tapu Bulu as well, I guess).
 
I would like to repeat the admiration for the Pelipper+Tapu Koko+Alolan Raichu combo. Very fun.

Am curious why Psychic is so universally preferred over Psyshock. Are there crucial KOs is get?
 

Martin

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HP Ice should receive a mention in the Rain Attacker set, because that set is walled easily by the Lati Twins and, to a slighty lesser extent, Decidueye(maybe Tapu Bulu as well, I guess).
A resisted Thunder in elec terrain is stronger than a super effective HP Ice tho lol

252+ SpA Alolan Raichu Thunder vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latias in Electric Terrain: 95-112 (31.5 - 37.2%) -- 85.7% chance to 3HKO
252+ SpA Alolan Raichu Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latias: 92-110 (30.5 - 36.5%) -- 55.3% chance to 3HKO

Also Thunder has a nasty 30% paralysis rate every time they come in on you.
 
Am curious why Psychic is so universally preferred over Psyshock. Are there crucial KOs is get?
You got it in the opposite sense. It's not that Psychic gets KOs that Psyshock doesn't. It's that Psyshock doesn't get any notable KOs that Psychic doesn't.
 

Martin

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Am curious why Psychic is so universally preferred over Psyshock. Are there crucial KOs is get?
Better immediate power. Shock could probably work over Psychic on NP to retain Psychic-type coverage while 2HKOing Chansey but even then you're prolly better with Psychic 90% of the time anyway + NP isn't that good relative to the rain attacker set anyway.
 
I am quite shocked to see a Raichu equivalent doing such work. In electric terrain this thing is really scary. It's coverage is limited but quite good. If I ever get over using Murder duck (Porygon-Z)/want to use a different z-move I'll probably give this boi-o a look.

Better immediate power. Shock could probably work over Psychic on NP to retain Psychic-type coverage while 2HKOing Chansey but even then you're prolly better with Psychic 90% of the time anyway + NP isn't that good relative to the rain attacker set anyway.
This. Psychic is still by far the better choice in most situations. Especially in OU. OU is over run with defensive mons over specially defensive mons, so all in all it will likely do more work for you with Psychic.
 

jc104

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I was quite excited about this thing from everything I'd been hearing, but I must say that in my hands Raichu was quite underwhelming.

Specifically, I was trying out the rain version of the set. It was fairly strong when I had both rain and electric terrain set up, but actually doing that required me to go substantially out of my way. Raichu is very similar to Tapu Koko, so when I have my Koko already in I'm hardly going to take the time to switch out to Raichu (Volt switch being somewhat risky with all the electric-immune Pokemon running around). Couple that with Electric Terrain only lasting 5 turns, and Raichu became a total waste of space. The only way I could get it to work was to put a Terrain Extender on the Tapu Koko, which just seemed such a waste of a powerful mon. Even then, I often found myself outside of rain and missed quite a few Thunders. In the end I just decided to drop Raichu and attack with Tapu Koko instead. If I needed something really fast I could just use Kingdra or another Swift Swimmer.

Seems like it would probably be more effective outside of a rain team. Less setup would be required, and there is no equivalent of a swift swimmer available.

I also think that Timid might be better than Modest on Raichu. Sure, under Electric Terrain you are faster than almost everything (I suppose it might make a difference against +2 Gene/Lando and beast-boosted Pheromosa), but keeping electric terrain up is not always practical. Raichu has better coverage than Tapu Koko, so there are some circumstances where it makes sense to send it out first. In the absence of terrain, Timid makes a HUGE difference. There's a reason why no-one runs modest Latios or Gengar.

It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a use for the signature Z-move. That would be a serious threat on most other pokemon, or if the move was any other type, but Tapu Koko is so scary that everyone is quite well prepared for electric moves. Without a LO, Raichu basically couldn't touch the electric immunes.
 
I was quite excited about this thing from everything I'd been hearing, but I must say that in my hands Raichu was quite underwhelming.

Specifically, I was trying out the rain version of the set. It was fairly strong when I had both rain and electric terrain set up, but actually doing that required me to go substantially out of my way. Raichu is very similar to Tapu Koko, so when I have my Koko already in I'm hardly going to take the time to switch out to Raichu (Volt switch being somewhat risky with all the electric-immune Pokemon running around). Couple that with Electric Terrain only lasting 5 turns, and Raichu became a total waste of space. The only way I could get it to work was to put a Terrain Extender on the Tapu Koko, which just seemed such a waste of a powerful mon. Even then, I often found myself outside of rain and missed quite a few Thunders. In the end I just decided to drop Raichu and attack with Tapu Koko instead. If I needed something really fast I could just use Kingdra or another Swift Swimmer.

Seems like it would probably be more effective outside of a rain team. Less setup would be required, and there is no equivalent of a swift swimmer available.

I also think that Timid might be better than Modest on Raichu. Sure, under Electric Terrain you are faster than almost everything (I suppose it might make a difference against +2 Gene/Lando and beast-boosted Pheromosa), but keeping electric terrain up is not always practical. Raichu has better coverage than Tapu Koko, so there are some circumstances where it makes sense to send it out first. In the absence of terrain, Timid makes a HUGE difference. There's a reason why no-one runs modest Latios or Gengar.

It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a use for the signature Z-move. That would be a serious threat on most other pokemon, or if the move was any other type, but Tapu Koko is so scary that everyone is quite well prepared for electric moves. Without a LO, Raichu basically couldn't touch the electric immunes.
I take it was a Special Tapu Koko? I find the Physical set more useful for Terrain Setting, since it doesn't desperately need a boosting item. Anyway, even if needing quite some support, I think A-Raichu will be a valid option this gen, even if only near Koko.
 

jc104

Humblest person ever
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
I take it was a Special Tapu Koko? I find the Physical set more useful for Terrain Setting, since it doesn't desperately need a boosting item. Anyway, even if needing quite some support, I think A-Raichu will be a valid option this gen, even if only near Koko.
Yes, it was special. But I think special is just better really, never mind the item. You need the coverage. Ground types tend to be physically based, and running a physical set makes it even harder to hit them.

And don't get me wrong, Raichu definitely has its place.
 
I was quite excited about this thing from everything I'd been hearing, but I must say that in my hands Raichu was quite underwhelming.

Specifically, I was trying out the rain version of the set. It was fairly strong when I had both rain and electric terrain set up, but actually doing that required me to go substantially out of my way. Raichu is very similar to Tapu Koko, so when I have my Koko already in I'm hardly going to take the time to switch out to Raichu (Volt switch being somewhat risky with all the electric-immune Pokemon running around). Couple that with Electric Terrain only lasting 5 turns, and Raichu became a total waste of space. The only way I could get it to work was to put a Terrain Extender on the Tapu Koko, which just seemed such a waste of a powerful mon. Even then, I often found myself outside of rain and missed quite a few Thunders. In the end I just decided to drop Raichu and attack with Tapu Koko instead. If I needed something really fast I could just use Kingdra or another Swift Swimmer.

Seems like it would probably be more effective outside of a rain team. Less setup would be required, and there is no equivalent of a swift swimmer available.

I also think that Timid might be better than Modest on Raichu. Sure, under Electric Terrain you are faster than almost everything (I suppose it might make a difference against +2 Gene/Lando and beast-boosted Pheromosa), but keeping electric terrain up is not always practical. Raichu has better coverage than Tapu Koko, so there are some circumstances where it makes sense to send it out first. In the absence of terrain, Timid makes a HUGE difference. There's a reason why no-one runs modest Latios or Gengar.

It's a shame there doesn't seem to be a use for the signature Z-move. That would be a serious threat on most other pokemon, or if the move was any other type, but Tapu Koko is so scary that everyone is quite well prepared for electric moves. Without a LO, Raichu basically couldn't touch the electric immunes.
i've being using a special tapu koko with terrain extender, and it's working really well, the extra power that is lsot doesn't car too much having A-raichu and Kingdra in the team for th offensive pressure.
 

Martin

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It's rlly easy to get both up and if ur not using Terrain Extender+[U-turn>Volt Switch] alongside Alolan Raichu you're probably doing it wrong. Rain+elec terrain gives you a solid 5-6 turns of Raichu abuse at a time, which is really, really easy to set up and utilise. It doesn't even involve particularly going out of your way either 'cause rain and terrain are p. regularly set up just by switching around the team, although you can go out of your way to set them up specifically too and it's not particularly difficult like that either. In addition to this, the added power on Surf (useful 'cause a non-STAB base 90 move off of base 95 SpA is super underwhelming otherwise)+the ability to run Thunder makes the rain set significantly more threatening, and just from my experience playing around with the archetypes Raichu-A rain is probably the most threatening way to utilise both Raichu and rain in the current meta.

Also you're almost never using Alolan Raichu outside of the super easy to set up electric terrain and therefore modest almost invariably better for it's ability to patch up the low stat for non-Electric-type attacks.
 

Vague

Banned deucer.
Regardless of the easy accessibility to terrains and rain, Raichu really can be described as a waste of space. What's the point of using it when you've got Koko who fits the fast Electric criteria and Thunder dropper for rain squads? Surge Surfer is cool and all but the fact you're forced to pair it with Koko, who overlaps and overshadows Raichu in the entirety of the Electric role, makes it "just there" for style points or w/e.

What I'm trying to say is, you have to be really specific with Raichu's place on a team cuz Koko outdoes it 95% of the time.
 
Tapu Koko is obviously better since it doesn't require as much support to shine on it's own, we know that one. Alolan Raichu is just really good when all the pieces fit together for it to work. Having three team slots for it on a rain team (Pelipper, Tapu Koko and Raichu) is kind of detrimental to the possible success of the team, and I can attest to that. I tried Alolan Raichu on rain HO and it did really well when it was able to, but overall the slot could have been better used for something that could have supported the team as a whole. Rain teams really love Kingdra and Tapu Koko if they want to succeed for obvious reasons. Alolan Raichu is there as something a little extra special to use. Overall, while it is a lot of fun to use, It can sometimes be really underwhelming, but when it works, it is a blast to play with. I think everyone should give it a try if they are going to play any sort of rain team.
 
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