Community POTW #122

[Serebii]

Little disappointed at the VGC sections the past few weeks (Florges and Umbreon get sections, but Mewtwo doesn't?? lol), so I'll throw in a Raichu set that has been very good, and variations of it have had success in tournaments so far

Yeah, our usual VGC writer didn't submit anything and I didn't have enough time to throw something together in his stead. My apologies.

 

[KillerDraco]

disarming voice (the only special fairy-type attack it gets). It's rarely (if ever) seen, but it's the best special attack he's got against both scrafty:

and hydreigon:

and all these damage ranges are assuming my pikachu build. but compare those with brick break's ranges assuming the same builds for both pikachu and his targets:

but these guys are here just to serve as extreme cases.

Problem is that Disarming Voice fails to 1HKO Hydreigon, who then outspeeds and 1HKOs Pikachu, while it fails to reliably 3HKO Scrafty, who while not outspeeding can still soundly 1HKO Pikachu. Most things are not 4x weak to Fairy, either, so the fact that Disarming Voice doesn't even allow Pikachu to check the things 4x weak to it (except Pangoro, who it could in theory 2HKO with Disarming Voice since it outspeeds Pangoro) means it's a rather lackluster coverage option and not really worth being considered as an OO.

 

[Aduro]

There was event Pikachu with Teeter Dance last year in Japan, that or swagger could be a VGC Other Option. Electroweb, Play Nice and sing might be somewhat useful too if you desperately want to run a VGC Pikachu. Pikachu seems more useful for utility than damage in VGC.

 

[Karxrida]

There was event Pikachu with Teeter Dance last year in Japan, that or swagger could be a VGC Other Option. Electroweb, Play Nice and sing might be somewhat useful too if you desperately want to run a VGC Pikachu. Pikachu seems more useful for utility than damage in VGC.

If you've gotten to the point where you're just running Pikachu solely for its utility moves, you should just use Raichu since it's faster and bulkier.

 

[fishyfool]

Fun fact about Pichu, actually, and why it's bad even in LC: The mouse holds the title for the most physically frail of all pokemon. Even Sunkern's bulkier (marginally).

I didn't realise Raichu was so bleeding fast. I was convinced he had base 100 speed. Welp, learn something new every day.

 

[jesusfreak94]

Fun fact about Pichu, actually, and why it's bad even in LC: The mouse holds the title for the most physically frail of all pokemon. Even Sunkern's bulkier (marginally).

I didn't realise Raichu was so bleeding fast. I was convinced he had base 100 speed. Welp, learn something new every day.

It actually was base 100 for the past 5 generations. It just got upgraded when XY came out.

 

[Aduro]

Fun fact about Pichu, actually, and why it's bad even in LC: The mouse holds the title for the most physically frail of all pokemon. Even Sunkern's bulkier (marginally).

I didn't realise Raichu was so bleeding fast. I was convinced he had base 100 speed. Welp, learn something new every day.

Frail can be forgiven on something fast, dangerous offensively or hax, look at smeargle, breloom and gengar. Pichu is weak because its also slower than common pokemon that can OHKO it like Drilbur and Mienfoo and it doesn't hit particularly hard. Pichu and Pikachu have great movesets and items wasted on them because all their stats in general just aren't good enough, not just defence and HP.

 

[EKZ1505]

Yeah, our usual VGC writer didn't submit anything and I didn't have enough time to throw something together in his stead. My apologies.

It's all good! Psynergy had told me too. I just thought Mewtwo was more deserving than Umbreon or Florges in the current meta is all lol (especially since he just won a regional apparently!)

There was event Pikachu with Teeter Dance last year in Japan, that or swagger could be a VGC Other Option. Electroweb, Play Nice and sing might be somewhat useful too if you desperately want to run a VGC Pikachu. Pikachu seems more useful for utility than damage in VGC.

Prankster Swagger is so much better than Swagger on Pikachu due to its speed. Play Nice and Sing are completely useless unfortunately. Electroweb is a cool option but honestly if you're using Pikachu in VGC right now it's completely for fun and not on a serious team (which is COMPLETELY fine! You should be having fun regardless!).

 

[The Umbreon Tamer]

Raichu is a Poke we all want to be fanatstic. After all, if Pikachu is as heartbreakingly powerful as the Anime says, then surely its evolution must be incredible..! Well.. sort of. Raichu's great in PU and the lower tiers, not to mention VGC, but in Standard, it's kind of... eh. Not bad, exactly, but.. it just faces a ton of competition from more commonly used Electrics like Mega Manectric, Raikou, and even Jolteon (albeit the later in UU/RU).

+Base 110 Speed is incredible, especially for PU. You are (I believe) the eighth-fastest relevant Pokemon in PU, and even outrun a fair few things if you're brave enough to use it in OU (in which case, I salute you!)
+90/90 offenses aren't bad either, allowing you to hit specially or physically.
+Only one weakness in Ground means that it's not getting smacked by a supereffective move whenever it comes in.
+A decent movepool with Fake Out, Extreme Speed and Volt Tackle to name a few means it won't have trouble throwing together a set.

-Terrible 60/55/80 defenses mean it takes no supereffective hits and very few neutral physical hits.
-Only one weakness isn't as great as it seems when it's to Earthquake..
-Doesn't really hit hard enough without a boost from a Choice item or Nasty Plot. Wouldn't be too much of a problem on something bulkier, but something so frail needs to be able to OHKO most stuff to avoid the OHKO for itself.
-Competition is huge from other Special electrics like Raikou, Mega Manectric and Thundurus in OU and Zebstrika in lower tiers.

I would Raichu a pun here if I could think of one..
-Volt Tackle
-Knock Off
-Extreme Speed/Return
-Brick Break/ Focus Punch/ Iron Tail
Item:Choice Band
Ability: Lightning Rod
252 Atk/ 252 Spe/ 4 SDef
Jolly Nature

Whilst this set is rather unorthodox and is probably best as an OO, it is very unexpected, and it's probably the closest thing to a niche you can get if you want to use 'Chu in OU, as there aren't too many physical electrics around. Volt Tackle is your standard attack, and the one you'll be using most of the time- it hits like a truck, with STAB, 120 Base power and Choice Band. Knock Off is another good attac, hitting Psychics and Ghosts slightly harder than VT and removing items. Extreme Speed deals with faster threats like Swellow, Scarf Jynx or a weakened Sceptile, as well as just being filler with decent coverage, but Return is available should you be unable to obtain the former. However, you should ONLY EVER use Return if you cannot get Extreme Speed, as the priority is far better than the extra power. Last set is whatever you want, really. Brick break could sorta be used in NU to slam a very weakened Steelix or Golem, but it's so weak that you might as well not bother on Rhydon, so it's pretty situational. Focus Punch is MUCH stronger, doing 52% at least to a standard tank Rhydon, but it's really, really situational. Iron Tail is a bit more useful than Brick Break against Golem and Rhydon, as well as Carbink (or Diancie in RU). Max Attack.. obviously, max Speed.. obviously, Jolly nature.. obviously, with the Choice Band to boost your Attack. Lightning Rod is the only ability for Raichu, really, as Static's not great when you faint to any contact move anyway.

 

[Karxrida]

There is no reason to unironically use Raichu in OU like ever when Thundurus, Raikou, and Mega Manetric are available. Thundurus especially does physical better because of access to Defiant, having the ability to comfortably go mixed and not requiring a Choice Item to dent things thanks to its good offensive stats, and being able to screw over some checks expecting the standard set.

I'm also pretty sure E-Speed is illegal with Volt Tackle because the former was an event and the latter is an Egg Move.

 

[SaurusHam]

You can't have volt tackle with e-speed nor can you have e-speed with lightning rod.
That set is all kinds of illegal.
This is why physical raichu is hard to make use of cause you have to choose between volt tackle to patch up your mediocre atk but also kills you faster due to recoil or extremespeed for +2 priority, which also means you have to use wild charge or thunderpunch which are substantially inferior to volt tackle.
Also you give up lightning rod when you pick e-speed.

So it would either go:
Raichu
Ability: Static
- Wild Charge
- Extreme Speed
- Knock Off
- Brick Break

or

Raichu
Ability: Lightning Rod
- Volt Tackle
- Volt Switch/Quick attack
- Knock Off
- Brick Break

If I were forced to pick one it would probably be the second one.