In the last few months. iv'e been trying to make pikachu, the franchise mascot and one of my favorite pokemon. viable in competitive play.
first, the issues with pikachu and why nobody picked him over mons like tapu koko while building a team:
as you all know, in the pokemon anime, pikachu is a beast. and ash ketchum used him to KO fully evolved pokemon more then twice it's size. however, in the games, pikachu suffers from being an NFE in several ways: it's 35/40/50 bulk means it can get one shot by many neutral attacks that lack STAB like a lando t's stone edge and even resisted attacks like a +2 bullet punch from scizor or a +2 acrobatics from hawlucha. and it's base 90 speed means it is outsped by would be OHKO'ed mons like greninja(both forms), manaphy and tornadus-T.
let's go pikachu and eevee tried to help by giving him a usable 45/50/60 bulk, enough speed to outpace manaphy and tie with non/mega alakazam, a STAB +2 priority move in zippy zap that could potentially OHKO ash greninja, and a flying attack to deal with grass types like tapu bulu, tangrowth and venusaur. however, without the light ball. the item that boosts it's attack and special attack to the viable zone, it was steel weak with two digit attacking stats and unable to revenge kill alot of the fast threats(like mega aero and mega zam)
however, the light ball gives pikachu high enough attacking stats to two shots most of the unresisted meta, and the introduction of sticky webs in gen 6 means that with base 90 speed it can outspeed would be revenge killers like greninja and use electric types such as tapu koko as setup bait. and coverage moves such as grass knot and hp ice allow him to deal with all the viable ground types.
The team:
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Rapid Spin
A standard excadrill lead serves as the rocker and hazard remover of the team. and the lead in most cases(where there is no fast taunt/fake out user to worry about): rocks are of course to chip damage for other teammates, EQ is the main STAB moves and deals alot of damage to most mons that aren't grass or flying types. rock tomb is to slow down tornadus-T who is immune to sticky webs and can threaten the team with a fast defog(or in pinsir's case, hurricane) as well as to aid certain mons by slowng down threats to give them a free kill, and rapid spin is of course the only way to get rid of hazards. mold breaker is used to set up rocks vs mega sableye and mega diancie and the EV's allow him to do as much damage as possible. toxic is an option to help deal with zapdos who walls pinsir and dragonite.
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
bisharp main role in the team is to try to stop defog with it's defiant ability, as well as act as one of the three wallbreakers/four setup sweepers.. black glasses are used over life orb because the recoil is too much for him, the jolly nature and full speed EV's are supposed to help as he is outsped by most attackers in the metagame. SD allows him to set vs chansey. who can't do much to him, knock off can also threaten chansey by removing eviolite. as well as remove other problematic items such as rocky helmet(which prevents excadrill from spinning and puts an end to pinsir and dragonite). sucker punch is a strong priority move that OHKO's mega alakazam if psychic terrain is not present and iron head gives him a way to beat a slowed mega diancie or kyurem-black
Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
mega pinsir is a staple of the sticky web archtype and the main wall/stall breaker of the team. aerilate and 252 attack EV's allow him to hit as hard as possible even if the foe has the unaware ability. 0 happiness and frustration are used to check ditto, the speed investment and jolly nature are used to outspeed non-scarf garchomp, quick attack allows him to OHKO serperior. a threat to the team, at +2 and close combat, while worsening the heatran/magearna matchup is the best move vs it's usual counters: celesteela, skarmory and rotom wash. weakening them for teammate or if getting the 2KO removing them completely
Ribombee @ Focus Sash
Ability: Shield Dust
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sticky Web
- Stun Spore
- Moonblast
- Hidden Power [Fire]
the much needed webber is ribombee: moonblast is the main STAB. threatening would be blocker mega sableye, HP fire allows it to 3KO ferrothorn and OHKO kartana and scizor with max special attack. and stun spore is to slow down tornadus-T and the latis. both of which outspeed the entire team and are immune to webs. skill swap is an option to set up webs with magic bounce and wall heatran, who completely walls the set otherwise and can get free rocks and prevent a teammate to setting up because four mons are weak to fire. shield dust is used to get up webs vs fake out users
Dragonite (M) @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fly
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
the Z move user, third wallbreaker and main "webs are gone" sweeper is my other favorite pokemon, dragonite. this large yet friendly looking dragon can get a free kill with supersonic skystrike, punish ash-greninja for wasting a moveslot for spikes over ice beam or trying to spam the priority water shuriken. resists fire(important in this team). and has a +2 priority for checking many faster priority moves. earthquake is the team's strongest option vs magearna after drill dies(altough risky because ice beam). fly allows him to use a Z move to OHKO landorus-T and certain walls at +1 as well as have a STAB that is not walled by the tapus that don't allow anything to use outrage. 252 speed EV's and a jolly nature are used to outspeed tapu koko, ash greninja and mega lopunny at +1. mega swampert in the rain at +2 and the entire tier at +3.
drumroll:
Pikachu (M) @ Light Ball
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Charge Beam
the macot, the japanese mickey, ash's go to partner, the only special attacker and the main reason i built this team is this. an earlier version of this pikachu set used to be on smogon not to long ago but was removed due to it's low usage in all tiers including ZU. this set mainly acts as a lure but has a secondary role as a sweeper as charge beam allows him to setup when it can get a guaranteed kill. lightning rod allows him to use tapu koko as setup bait, grass knot 2KO's hippowdon and OHKO's mega swampert on the switch, HP ice is used to lure in lando, garchomp and gliscor and KO them. thunderbolt is the most reliable STAB option for this set. other options include volt switch for better pivoting, signal beam to chip tangrowth, tapu bulu and mega venusaur. however, it does not prevent pikachu from letting kartana set up and getting walled by ferrothorn. a mixed set with volt tackle, brick break and priority is an option to deal with ferrothorn and do more to spdef toxapex.
checks and counters:
zapdos:
try to get a +2 frustration from pinsir to lure it in and get it to range then switch to pika or bisharp depending on what you think it's going to do, heat wave is the most dangrous move.
rotom w:
similar to zapdos, if you think it will use will o wisp go pikachu and kill it, if you think it will use defog go bisharp and kill it
rockers excadrill can't spin on:
be very smart if leading with drill. make sure to play aggressively enough to kill garchomp, ferrothorn and rocky helmet landorus T so excadrill can spin thier rocks away once gone, otherwise, it's most likely an auto loss
fake out:
keep rocks up and try to get enough kill to restrict the amount of fake outs the foe has. and lead with ribombee
trick room, weather teams and hawlucha:
trick room is usually an auto loss, but try to use bisharp as there are many dark weak things on it. on weather teams, paralyze swampert/excadrill or get them to priority range. if facing a rain team , lead pika and grass knot immediately. but watch out for ferrothorn
tornadus t:
just paralyze him with ribombee so the team can outspeed him
ash greninja:
force a choice locked water shuriken so dragonite can punish
stall:
actually the easiest playstyle to win against, make doubles to get in bisharp and pinsir and destroy
zeraora and thundurus t:
thundurus t should be damaged with hp ice on the switch and with rocks, zeraora should be damaged with dragonite
magearna:
chip it and EQ with nite for the final kill, but watch out as it can get free kills, and even auto win with trick room or shift gear
pokepatse link: https://pokepast.es/20ccb7984fecb7c4
replays:
wins:
vs rain:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-960118265
a pikachu sweep:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-958728475
pikachu in the rain:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-958603755
vs a team that reached 1900(and proof of peak):
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-953927130
only vs stall i can find:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-941667149
vs sand
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-951408070
dragonite's phenomenal cosmic powers
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-961189432
why you should not mega straight away
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-965349750
vs an anti birdspam team that is surprisingly pikachu weak
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-968831725
iv'e finally beaten trick room:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-968934167
losses:
mega garchomp:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-958866781
ferrothorn wall everything:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-958660816
the intimidate problem:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-958646210
trick room issues:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-955735910
mispredicted reuni set:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-951824331
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