Hello! I've been working on this team for a while and have gotten something that has worked well for me so far. Alolan Raichu has been one of my favourite mons to use as of late, and it's great to see it put in a lot of work when Electric Terrain is up because Rising Voltage is absolutely crazy. The rest of the team aids in setting up Raichu for lategame, softening it's checks and counters. I've gotten into the ~1600's with this team although I've dropped since, and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to improve the team.
Raichu-Alola @ Choice Specs
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rising Voltage
- Psyshock
- Surf / Grass Knot
- Volt Switch
Raichu is the centerpiece of the team, and provides speed control, wallbreaking potential and a late-game cleaner. In most games, Raichu stays in the back until the opposing team is sufficiently weakened and Volt Absorbers/Ground Types are eliminated. In the rare occasion that the opponent has no electric immunty, Raichu can outright 6-0 teams on preview. Although Raichu is an amazing cleaner, it can also be used as a wallbreaker to open up for Urshifu, but these situations are not as common.
Raichu is able to outspeed almost the entire metagame even with modest so long as Terrain is up, with the only common mon outrunning it being Barraskewda under rain. Raichu's base SpA, although fine, is nothing spectacular at 95, so Modest helps with upping the power. I prefer Specs 4 attacks for the upfront power and it allows Koko to run Boots instead of terrain extender, but NP 3 attacks is also viable. RV is Stab and hits like a truck when terrain is up. Psyshock secondary stab to hit on the physical side. Surf to hit Ground mons on switch. Knot is an option to hit stuff like Seismitoad harder, but I prefer Surf to hit Landorus. Lastly, Volt Switch is great for pivoting, although a 4th coverage move can also be run here.
Tapu Koko @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Dazzling Gleam
- U-turn
- Roost
Koko is what enables Raichu to go nuts thanks to setting terrain on switch-in. I'm running standard pivot Koko with dual stabs to threaten mons like Weavile, Tornadus, Pex, etc. It's also a good offensive switch-in to things like Hawlucha or Zapdos, and can easily gain momentum with U-turn. Roost for longevity. Koko is absolutely vital to keep around, as with Koko gone, Raichu loses a lot of its value.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Gyro Ball
The first half of the defensive backbone. Ferro checks/counters a stupid amount of things and can get spikes or seeds up for chip damage on Raichu answers. I'm running max defense for Weavile mostly, but I'm unsure if SpDef ferro would be more favourable. Knock Off is for item removal and being annoying, and Gyro Ball for Stab which hits surprisingly hard.
Garchomp@ Leftovers
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 120 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Aqua Tail
Second half of the defensive core. Garchomp pairs nicely with Ferro as it provides Rocks and answers Heatran and Volcarona. It's also the team's primary answer to Zeraora, who can block a Raichu sweep with Volt Absorb. EQ is good stab and hits a lot of things for neutral or super effective damage and even with 0 attack investment still hits hard. Toxic cripples things like DNite and other set-up sweeper who can otherwise become a pretty big threat to this team. Aqua Tail is for Landorus specifically, as they love switching into Garchomp throughout the match. It's also a nice move to threaten Volcarona. I'm not sure about the spread, specifically the defense EVs. So far it's worked fine for me, and I've tried swapping them to SpDef but I didnt notice any major changes in Chomp's performance.
Tornadus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 232 HP / 112 Def / 164 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Knock Off / Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- U-turn
Tornadus is the glue of the team, being able to scout against mons like Rillaboom and Kartana, and is also the team's hazard control. It's also the team's main answer to Ferrothorn which is otherwise very tedious to deal with. Regenerator is a broken ability and allows Torn to consistently keep threats in check. Defog to make sure the defensive core of Ferro + Chomp doesn't get too pressured by hazards, as neither have very reliable recovery. Heat Wave is to severely hurt or outright OHKO Ferro, Rillaboom and Kartana, and can also hit the occasional Adamant Weavile. I prefer Knock Off for item removal, but Hurricane is an alternative for Stab. U-turn to pivot out and gain/maintain momentum.
Urshifu-Rapid-Strike @ Protective Pads
Ability: Unseen Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Focus Punch / Aqua Jet / Thunder Punch
- Surging Strikes
- U-turn
For the final spot, I really needed a second answer to Weavile, as well as something that can directly threaten Ground mons. I tried Fini here at first but with Fini, the team lacked power on the Physical side so I switched out Fini for Urshifu. Since Urshifu's main role on this team is to answer Weavile, I'm running Pads so I don't get random chip from Rocky Helmet or Iron Bard, and also prevents random Static or Flame Body. CC is the main stab. Surging Strikes is great for breaking through Sub and hits Landorus for good damage. Focus Punch is a fun move to punish Corviknight and Mandibuzz for roosting in your face, although with both of them seeing lower usage, Jet or TPunch are also good options to revengekill or hit Pex a bit harder respectively. U-turn is for momentum.
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Well, that's the team. I'd appreciate any feedback.
Scarf Lele is very threatening for many BO teams, and this team is no exception. It removes Electric Terrain so Raichu can't even outspeed it, and nothing on the team switches in well to either it's STABs or coverage moves
Rain is another threat to this team, since Skewda outspeeds Raichu and 2HKO's everything under rain with the correct coverage move. However, once their Electric immunity is gone, Raichu blows rain teams wide open.
Hail, similarly to rain, is also a big threat, specifically Hail structures that bring Volcanion. Fortunately, Slush Rushers are outrun by Raichu. However, Raichu barely misses out on the OHKO against Arctozolt. The key in this matchup is to get Raichu in safely, which is where it starts to break down the enemy team, however this requires good reads and doubles.
Specs volcanion 2HKO's everything on this team. Although it has a hard time switching in on anything that isn't Ferrothorn, if this mon hits the field it's very likely something will die or be severely harmed.
Similar to Volcanion, Banded GZap demolishes everything on this team aside from Koko. Keep Koko healthy.
No ghost resist on the team means this thing can spam specs shadowball for free. Raichu does outspeed and revenge it, but if there is stilla Raichu answer alive this thing can come in again and do the exact same thing again
Stall can be pretty annoying to deal with and requires very good predictions with Raichu to break through, as no mon on this team is running a proper stallbreaking set. I havent run into enough stall teams on ladder to really gauge this matchup, however.
Importables
Specs version: Click here!
NP 3A version: Click here!
If you've made it here, thanks for taking the time to read the entire post!
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