Pokémon Alolan Raichu

[Jojobobo]

You're looking at it the wrong way. Raichu's primary function is to support its teammates. In the early game, it's supposed to lure out and weaken Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Ground types so that Koko and Rain sweepers have an easier time cleaning up. In the lategame, if Raichu is still alive, it's pretty much going to pick off weakened Pokemon. It's not going to have the time to set up Nasty Plot.

Tbolt 2HKOing Tar is quite frankly, unacceptable and nowhere near as important as OHKOing it. Tyranitar cancels Rain so OHKOing (or heavily damaging it) is extremely, extremely, extremely crucial.

How's it going to lure anything if it's just running an extremely standard 4 attack set that most people are now aware of? If anything a NP set is a lure, as it lures Chansey. Plus, either the NP set and the 4 attack set can clean up late game without the need to set up - one less coverage move is rarely going to swing it.

As I keep mentioning, there is a whole team, you can switch something into TTar as it switches in itself. Electric Terrain isn't everything when it comes to Raichu - Raichu has decent speed already and E-Terrain is short lived, so it's not like with a cautious switch you're always wasting a massive opportunity. Also, if you do set a Nasty Plot, then this happens:

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar: 302-356 (88.5 - 104.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

You're clearly unconvinced on a Nasty Plot set having any real viability or having any opportunities to set up, which having played it I know it can (it's so easy to force pokemon out due to the speed and STAB boost under E-Terrain), so I won't drag this out any further. However, I've provided legitimate and valid counter points at each turn so people should be able to see it's not as cut and dry as just the one set working. To me, both sets are viable - as I keep saying they have different functions, so it all depends on what better serves someone's team. Paired to a rain team for example, there's plenty of other fast swift swimmers who can run four attacks already - have Raichu with set up (or vice versa) to wall break really isn't a half bad idea.

 

[Zé Capáu]

Err... you have Focus Blast and Grass Knot to do more damage to Tyranitar. The former OHKOes without doubt while the latter leaves a huge dent since Tyranitar is heavy, so why bothering with Surf? (unless you're in VGC Doubles)

 

[MegaFlareon]

Err... you have Focus Blast and Grass Knot to do more damage to Tyranitar. The former OHKOes without doubt while the latter leaves a huge dent since Tyranitar is heavy, so why bothering with Surf? (unless you're in VGC Doubles)

Alolan Marowak, Landorus-T, Gliscor. It also gets a huge power boost under the Rain weather and Alolan Raichu does extremely well there.

 

[Mercury]

is it viable without Tapu support?

 

[nameless90]

What I really like about A-Raichu is that you can use it with Rain support (mainly, to boost Surf) and/or Electric Terrain (to enhance its Spe and the electric STAB). If you have both the correct weather and the terrain, you can clean the opponent's team with relative ease.

It is even useful in the Psychic Terrain (power boost on Psychic is nice, but the priority immunity is a blessing with that Spe and such a low bulk), so your opponent has to be careful when playing!

I think that Surf is really mandatory to discourage many switch-ins (i.e. Ground types in general, which blocks the Electric STAB) and is still a valuable coverage move.

 

[pika pal]

is it viable without Tapu support?

Honestly, I wouldn't say so in OU. Raichu is designed to work with Electric Terrain the same way that Kingdra is only OU with Rain (albeit very good with that support).

 

[PShine]

is it viable without Tapu support?

Hahahahaha.
No. Base 110 speed means it is not as dependent on Terrain as the Swift Swimmers, but it still relies on Tapu Koko's help.

 

[Pixilate]

What options have you guys been using to support Raichu? Obviously Tapu Koko, but I'm asking about other stuff that are not electric types. Obviously you want an ice type or ground counter.

List of Good Teammates:
Marowak-A (to check opposing electric types that are trying to take advantage of your electric terrain)

[EDIT]: Greninja and Raichu are besties. Greninja completely wrecks bulky grounds.

 

[Mind lord]

I'm pretty sure Alolan Raichu cannot get Surf. From what I understand, any Pikachu caught in Alola or bred with an Alolan Pikachu/Raichu as the mother will evolve into Alolan Raichu, while every other Pikachu will evolve into standard Raichu. Because of this, Aolan Raichu with Surf is (currently) impossible to get.

 

[SeraviEdalborez]

I'm pretty sure Alolan Raichu cannot get Surf. From what I understand, any Pikachu caught in Alola or bred with an Alolan Pikachu/Raichu as the mother will evolve into Alolan Raichu, while every other Pikachu will evolve into standard Raichu. Because of this, Aolan Raichu with Surf is (currently) impossible to get.

Actually, stupidly enough, the exact opposite is the case for Pikachu, Marowak, and Exeggutor: both "Kanto" and Alola versions of their base forms will evolve into Alolan in Gen7. Kanto versions of those 3 evolved forms are currently impossible to have gen7-legal (ie, with the + sign), and can only be brought over from Bank.

 

[FlockOfFlames]

It's not stupid, it makes sense in the lore because it is said that it's the Alola environment that makes them evolve that way. Cubone, Pikachu, Exeggcute are in fact the same as their Kanto counterpart before evolving and the strong Alola sun is what makes Exggcutor that tall when he grows up for example.

 

[Captain Awesome]

It's not stupid, it makes sense in the lore because it is said that it's the Alola environment that makes them evolve that way. Cubone, Pikachu, Exeggcute are in fact the same as their Kanto counterpart before evolving and the strong Alola sun is what makes Exggcutor that tall when he grows up for example.

The lore is also stupid and lazy. Even though GF loves dickriding Gamefreak, they couldn't be bothered to design an Alolan pikachu with square cheeks or whatever to prevent stupid scenarios like this.

 

[zachmac]

The lore is also stupid and lazy. Even though GF loves dickriding Gamefreak, they couldn't be bothered to design an Alolan pikachu with square cheeks or whatever to prevent stupid scenarios like this.

It's weird in Marowak's case, but it actually makes a ton of sense in Exeggutor's case because it's supposedly the strong sunlight year-round that allows it to grow so ridiculously tall. Alolan-Raichu is kind of in-between, where it still kind of makes sense because it's not that much more different from Pikachu than regular ol' Raichu is.

Besides, I don't think GF wants to change the most iconic Pokemon's image if they can avoid it.

 

[Martin]

I think it's less that Game Freak were being lazy and more that they realised that they'd been giving Pikachu attention for 20 years while completely ignoring the thing which is meant to be it's upgrade. Alolan Raichu wouldn't have been special if it evolved from Alolan Pikachu because it would've just felt like an extension to something which already gets a fuck load of attention, and as such I feel like it was the right decision on Game Freak's part.

The explanation for it is it's diet (Sun dex entry: It only evolves to this form in the Alola region. According to researchers, its diet is one of the causes of this change.), which makes a lot of sense in the respect that it can be compared to the way that different diets cause different behavioural patterns among multiple variants of one species.

 

[LuisIO]

I think that the combo A-Raichu and Tapu Koko is really predictable, if you have a good Ground Type you can ruin this combo and A-Raichu is frail by the physical side and has low HP so I guess an earthquake kills it easily. Is there a way to counter all these issues?

 

[MegaFlareon]

I think that the combo A-Raichu and Tapu Koko is really predictable, if you have a good Ground Type you can ruin this combo and A-Raichu is frail by the physical side and has low HP so I guess an earthquake kills it easily. Is there a way to counter all these issues?

Surf / Grass Knot from A-Raichu. Add Drizzle Pelipper to the mix and Surf will hit Ground-types really hard.

 

[LuisIO]

Surf / Grass Knot from A-Raichu. Add Drizzle Pelipper to the mix and Surf will hit Ground-types really hard.

But if we are talking about Doubles not only Surf will hit really hard Ground Types but also your partner (if not resistant or inmune to water) will be heavily damaged. I guess Grass Knot could be more reliable since many Ground Types are heavy but I don't really know if all of them are, so a light Ground Type could be a problem for A-Raichu.

 

[gvmgvm40]

As I keep mentioning, there is a whole team, you can switch something into TTar as it switches in itself. Electric Terrain isn't everything when it comes to Raichu - Raichu has decent speed already and E-Terrain is short lived, so it's not like with a cautious switch you're always wasting a massive opportunity. Also, if you do set a Nasty Plot, then this happens:

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar: 302-356 (88.5 - 104.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

That's wrong, you ignored sand. The real calc is this:

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 117-140 (66.8 - 80%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

OTOH, Grass Knot and Focus Blast both cleanly OHKO:

+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 211-250 (120.5 - 142.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252+ SpA Life Orb Raichu-Alola Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 421-499 (240.5 - 285.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

 

[pika pal]

But if we are talking about Doubles not only Surf will hit really hard Ground Types but also your partner (if not resistant or inmune to water) will be heavily damaged. I guess Grass Knot could be more reliable since many Ground Types are heavy but I don't really know if all of them are, so a light Ground Type could be a problem for A-Raichu.

This forum is for OU Singles, so doubles comparison isn't the point of discussion. Doubles is a completely different Meta in terms of preferred strategies.

 

[milestfu]

I came up with an awesome set that I use as a late-game sweeper all the time in pre-bank OU!
Raichu-Alola @ Electrium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Electric Terrain
- Psychic
- Volt Switch
- Electro Ball
I use Z-electric terrain to reach almost 500 speed (making me by far the fastest pokemon in the game) and then I use electro ball to hit everything that doesnt resist for 180 BP under electric terrain (240 power without counting stab, 360 with STAB) and psychic to hit pheromosa. Volt switch is to pick pokes off early game and gain momentum. I love this set, and claim all copyrights to it subsequently ;P also having modest psychic 2HKOs Alolan Marowak (if it's offensive)

 

[ExXIII]

You can also use Normalium Z + Celebrate paired with Tapu Koko instead of that.

 

[milestfu]

yeah but then you have to rely on tapu koko to get that off. Raichu is just a one-turn set up sweeper with the set that I made. I guess that it does benefit from the boosts to its defenses (even though it still can't take a hit). With my set you outspeed Pheromosa and everything scarfed though...

 

[ExXIII]

Honestly when I tested Z-Celebrate + Tapu Koko on mine, even when I successfully set up everything, Electro Ball just didn't hit that much (maybe because the meta is fast). Generally, even Thunderbolt was better, so I prefer using Stoked Sparksurfer over any other Z-Moves on A-Raichu.

+It allows it to have one more coverage move, like Focus Blast or Surf for example. You're totally walled by Grounds otherwise.

 

[Pixilate]

I definitely prefer to use Sparksurfer over most other items just because of the surprise factor (while LO is probably better overall).

Poll:
Focus Blast or Surf?

I know they accomplish completely different things, but which do you think is preferrential?

 

[PShine]

I definitely prefer to use Sparksurfer over most other items just because of the surprise factor (while LO is probably better overall).

Poll:
Focus Blast or Surf?

I know they accomplish completely different things, but which do you think is preferrential?

I think Surf is better because of Ground-Types. Trust me, killing Ground-Types with Surf never gets old. Focus Blast, on the other hand, hits Ferrothorn and Magnezone... I think that is it. Still useful, but I prefer Surf.