Raichu-Alola QC [1/3]

[Jarii]

[OVERVIEW]

• Alolan Raichu is a great offensive sweeper with good Speed tier allowing to outspeed notable threats like Virizion, Sigilyph, Drapion and Houndoom, decent Special Attack, good offensive typing and a really good movepool.
• With the new unique Psychic typing Alolan Raichu is now able to get past pokemons like Virizion, Vileplume, Hariyama what Raichu had trouble doing + your moveset has always something to hit the opponant neutral what Raichu doesn't have.
• Alolan Raichu has great coverage and access to Nasty Plot is it able to break through most balanced core in the metagame.
• Alolan Raichu faces a lot of competition from the faster pokemons in this tier like Sceptile and Sneasel.
• Alolan Raichu is very frail and has poor defensive typing, so it's hard to set up with so don't expect to set up multiple times. Also if you don't OHKO your opponant there is a huge potential getting KOed yourself.

[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Psychic / Psyshock
move 4: Grass Knot / Focus Blast
item: Life Orb / Aloraichium Z
ability: Surge Surfer
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Nasty Plot increases Alolan Raichu's power to immensely heights and with a +2 it is able to break through most Balance teams.
• Thunderbolt is Alolan Raichu's best Electric STAB move with a good 90 base power and 100% accuracy it has no drawbacks over something like Thunder.
• Psychic is Alolan Raichu's second typing STAB move with the same power and accuracy as Thunderbolt, Psychic allows you to deal with bulky Grass-types such as Virizion and Vileplume, also it lets you deal better with the bulky Fighting- and Poison-types in the tier.
• Psyshock can be a good alternative for Psychic, you do give up on some power but this lets you deal better with Virizion which gets OHKOed by Life Orb Psyshock, Cryogonal and mismagius after a Nasty Plot and AV users such as Hariyama.
• Grass Knot is an option as last moveslot, this allows Seismitoad, Quagsire, Rhydon and Gastrodon not to wall you since with +2 psychic / Psyshock wont OHKO these 3. With Grass Knot you still do very good damage to Steelix and it has the potential to OHKO non-Sturdy Steelix with +2 Life Orb Grass Knot.
• Focus Blast is an option for the last moveslot, this allows you to hit Shiftry, Guzzlord, Incineroar (which gets OHKOed by +2 Focus Blast even if it's AV) and Ferroseed what Surf or Grass Knot does not do. These pokemons are quite uncommon so take that in mind when you choose your last move.

Set Details
========

• Maximizing in Special Attack and Speed EVs brings out the best offensive capabilites in Alolan Raichu. A Timid nature is certainly needed over something like Modest, otherwise you don't outspeed Virizion, Mismagius, Delphox, Charizard and Sigilyph.
• Surge Surfer is the only ability Alolan Raichu has sadly, since this ability only works when you have Electric Terrain on the field what Alolan Raichu is not able to have on it's movepool.
  
• Life Orb increases Alolan Raichu's damage by 1.3 so it can break through teams more easily. With Life Orb you're able to OHKO Virizion with Psyshock.
• Aloraichium Z can be used over Life Orb if you want to have an one time nuke in your arsenal, this way you don't necassary need to get up to +2 to do heavy damage, good example of this is that you're able to OHKO Drapion with Stoked Sparksurfer or OHKO Meloetta with +2. Also a good thing to note is that Aloraichium Z 100% paralyzes the opponant when the move hits.

Usage Tips
========

• Alolan Raichu's role on the team would be to break through the Balance teams with Nasty Plot or check offense Pokémons that has lower speed then Alolan Raichu like Virizion. As said before Nasty Plot is hard to set up to begin with. Set Nasty Plot up against the bulkier pokémons such as non Calm Mind boosted Slowbro, Aromatisse, Audino, Gourgeist-Super or on pokemons that are normally forced out by Alolan Raichu such as Virizion, Garbodor, Vaporeon, Jellicent and Vileplume.
• Alolan Raichu has alot of competition in it's current Speed tier from Sceptile, Whimsicott, Sneasel and common Scarfers like Emboar. So first try to get rid of these before you try to sweep with Alolan Raichu.
• Alolan Raichu shouldn't be switched in directly since it's so frail and wont survive most hits, it's better used as a revenge killer then.

Team Options
========

• Grass-types that would appreciate Bulky Poison- and Flying-types to be gone such as: Sceptile, Whimsicott, Vileplume, Virizion. In return These deal with the Ground-types that Alolan Raichu has issues with.
• Fighting-types that also like Bulky Poison- and Flying-types to be gone such as: Hitmonlee, Emboar, Machamp, Toxicroak and gallade. In return they can deal with the Pursuit / Dark types such as Sneasel and Drapion what is a huge bother for Alolan Raichu.
• Fire-types that would see Water-types rather gone then on the field such as: Delphox, Houndoom, Typhlosion, Charizard. In return these can kill the Grass-types were Alolan Raichu an issue has with, such as Sceptile, Rotom-Mow and Whimsicott.
• Slow U-Turners, since Alolan Raichu is pretty hard to switch in it's better to have it come on when the opponant already used their move. This way Alolan Raichu comes in safely and unharmed, what makes it's longelivity way longer. Good examples are: Golbat, Incineroar and Uxie.
• Hazard stackers like Garbodor and Accelgor makes Alolan Raichu's job way easier so it doesn't need a +2 all the time to kill certain pokemons, good example is with 1 Spike and Stealth Rocks on the field you can OHKO Rhydon with Surf without a boost what you otherwise would need a boost for.
• Aurora Veil, Memento or anything else that is able to boost Alolan Raichu's Defensive stats or lowering the opponents Attacking stats works with it. This makes it able to survive a hit and either nuke something or set up it's Nasty Plot.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• AlolanChu has access to Electic Terrain and can activate it's own ability "Surge Surfer" by itself, making it hit Speed levels that nobody is able to get while boosting its Electric-type moves. However, Electric Terrain's boost is smaller than Nasty Plot's boost and does not affect Alolan Raichu's other moves, and Surge Surfer Alolan Raichu is still weak to priority moves that offensive teams normally have.
  
• Choice Scarf is an option with Volt Switch over Nasty Plot, this way you become one of the fastest Scarfers in NU which is quite nice it's lacks the good SpA to be really become a threat but it's certainly a nice revenge killer / late game cleaner. Good thing to note is that Choice Scarf doesn't need to run Timid it can easily run Modest to bring your Special Attack up for the loss of the Life Orb.
• Choice Specs is used as a nuke that is able to switch out through Volt Switch, Choice Specs works well since Alolan Raichu as mentioned before has perfect coverage which makes it hard to switch in well on Choice Specs if you predict well.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Dark-types**: Dark-types often run Pursuit which cripples Alolan Raichu alot, both Sneasel and Scarf Drapion are pokemon Alolan Raichu does not like to be on the field with. With Pursuit you either able to OHKO it or bring it to a certain point it can't so much after. Then the other Dark-types like Alolan Persian is able to outspeed and do heavy damage with Foul Play or OHKO with Z-Foul Play, another one is AV Incineroar what does not get killed by +2 Surf and OHKO's it back.

**Faster Pokemon**: Since Alolan Raichu is so frail it can easily be revenge killed by Choice Scarfer such as Emboar, Delphox and Hitmonlee what all have no trouble OHKO'ing Alolan Raichu. U-Turn Choice Scarf like Mesprit, Braviary and Passimian make it hard for Alolan Raichu it do something since it's hard to switch into your check to these since they can always just U-Turn out and if Alolan Raichu stays in it would probably die. Faster Pokémons like Sceptile and Specs Accelgor threaten Alolan Raichu alot since both outspeed and have the ability to OHKO Alolan Raichu before it has the chance to do something.

**Priority users**: Alolan Raichu poor Defenses make it an easy target or Priority such as Ice Shard from Vanilluxe, Sucker Punch from Spiritomb, Liepard, Hitmonlee, Toxicroak, Kangaskhan and Emboar, and as last Fake Out users such as Incineroar and Ambipom.

 

[Raseri]

i prefer psychium z to LO on this set

Insert Threat here:

 

[Jarii]

i prefer psychium z to LO on this set

Insert Threat here:

I don't know what to do with this, Alolan-Raichu doesn't really need Psychium Z for anything.

Insert Threat here: I did?

 

[Punchshroom]

[OVERVIEW]

• Alolan Raichu is a great offensive sweeper with good Speed tier allowing to outspeed notable threats like Virizion, Sigilyph, Drapion and Houndoom, decent Special Attack, good offensive typing and a really good movepool.
• With the new unique Psychic typing Alolan Raichu has a better niche in the current metagame then Raichu since it's has now two STAB moves instead of one. Also Alolan Raichu is now able to get past pokemons like Virizion, Vileplume, Hariyama what Raichu had trouble doing + your moveset has always something to hit the opponant neutral what Raichu doesn't have.
• Alolan Raichu faces a lot of competition from the faster pokemons in this tier like Sceptile and Sneasel.
• Alolan Raichu is very frail, so it's hard to set up with so don't expect to set up multiple times.

- Also point out Alolan Raichu's great coverage and its access to Nasty Plot, gives it a significant amount of corebreaking potential.
- No need to reference Raichu when talking about Alolan Raichu; just mention how its dual STABs not only have good neutral coverage, but also hit a lot of the bulkier Pokemon in the tier hard.
- Alolan Raichu doesn't really face much competition when it comes to its niche, which is being a great wallbreaker with Nasty Plot while having blazing Speed to aid it in more offensive matchups.
- Emphasize Alolan Raichu's glass cannon-like nature; any attack Alolan Raichu does that doesn't result in a KO puts AlolanChu at significant risk of taking major damage or being KOed itself.
- You may also bring up AlolanRaichu's poor defensive typing making it more difficult to set up.

• Nasty Plot increases Alolan Raichu's power to immensely heights and with a +2 it is able to break through most Balance teams.
• Thunderbolt is Alolan Raichu's best Electric STAB move with a good 90 base power and 100% accuracy it has no drawbacks over something like Thunder.
• Psychic is Alolan Raichu's second typing STAB move with the same power and accuracy as Thunderbolt, Psychic allows you to deal with bulky Grass-types such as Virizion and Vileplume, also it lets you deal better with the bulky Fighting- and Poison-types in the tier.
• Psyshock can be a good alternative for Psychic, you do give up on some power but this lets you deal better with AV users such as Hariyama.
• Surf is used to get past both Rhydon and Steelix which otherwise hard wall you, Surf is also the best coverage to complete the "I hit the everything at least for neutral damage".
• Grass Knot is an other option as last moveslot, this allows Seismitoad, Quagsire and Gastrodon not to wall you since with +2 psychic / Psyshock wont OHKO these 3.

- Since neither TBolt nor Psychic are considered the "main STAB", you could make greater mention of how well Thunderbolt and Psychic complement each other, with one STAB being able to neutrally hit nearly all of the Pokemon that resist the other.
- Probably better examples of Psyshock tagets would be Life Orb Psyshock OHKOing Virizion, or +2 Psyshock OHKOing Cryogonal and Mismagius without the need for Life Orb.
- Since Rhydon is hit harder by Grass Knot than Surf, emphasize that Steelix is Surf's main target (either doing heavy damage with +0 Life Orb Surf, or OHKOing with non-Life Orb +2 Surf provided Sturdy is broken), with other targets such as Piloswine and Rhydon being a bonus.
- Mention Grass Knot still hitting Steelix for substantial damage, having good odds of OHKOing non-Sturdy Steelix with +2 Life Orb Grass Knot.

Set Details
========

• Maximizing in Special Attack and Speed EVs brings out the best offensive capabilites in Alolan Raichu. A Timid nature is certainly needed over something like Modest, otherwise you don't outspeed Virizion, Mismagius, Delphox, Charizard and Sigilyph.
• Surge Surfer is the only ability Alolan Raichu has sadly, since this ability only works when you have Electric Terrain on the field what Alolan Raichu is not able to have on it's movepool.
  
• Life Orb increases Alolan Raichu's damage by 1.3 so it can break through teams more easily.
• Aloraichium Z can be used over Life Orb if you want to have an one time nuke in your arsenal, this way you don't necassary need to get up to +2 to do heavy damage. Also a good thing to note is that Aloraichium Z 100% paralyzes the opponant when the move hits.

- When mentioning Life Orb, you may list my aforementioned Life Orb calcs (such as OHKOing Viriz with LO Psyshock, heavily denting Steelix with Surf or +2 Grass Knot) here instead.
- Mention relevant calcs Aloraichium Z helps to attain, such as OHKOing Meloetta after +2, or just OHKOing Drapion with +0 Stoked Sparksurfer (<- oh yeah be sure to bring up this attack's name at least once)

Usage Tips
========

• Alolan Raichu's roll role on the team would be to break through the Balance teams with Nasty Plot, however as said before Nasty Plot is hard to set up to begin with. Set Nasty Plot up against the bulkier pokémons such as non Calm Mind boosted Slowbro, Aromatisse, Audino, Gourgeist-Super or on pokemons that are normally forced out by Alolan Raichu such as Virizion, Garbodor, Vaporeon, Jellicent and Vileplume.
• Alolan Raichu has alot of competition in it's current Speed tier from Sceptile, Whimsicott, Sneasel and common Scarfers like Emboar. So first try to get rid of these before you try to sweep with Alolan Raichu.
• Alolan Raichu shouldn't be switched in directly since it's so frail and wont survive most hits, it's better used as a revenge killer then.

- Does Alolan Raichu always need to set up? What can/should it do then?

Team Options
========

• Grass-types that would appreciate Bulky Poison- and Flying-types to be gone such as: Sceptile, Whimsicott, Vileplume, Virizion. In return These deal with the Ground-types that Alolan Raichu has issues with.
• Fighting-types that also like Bulky Poison- and Flying-types to be gone such as: Hitmonlee, Emboar, Machamp, Toxicroak and gallade. In return they can deal with the Pursuit / Dark types such as Sneasel and Drapion what is a huge bother for Alolan Raichu.
• Fire-types that would see Water-types rather gone then on the field such as: Delphox, Houndoom, Typhlosion, Charizard. In return these can kill the Grass-types were Alolan Raichu an issue has with, such as Sceptile, Rotom-Mow and Whimsicott.
• Slow U-Turners, since Alolan Raichu is pretty hard to switch in it's better to have it come on when the opponant already used their move. This way Alolan Raichu comes in safely and unharmed, what makes it's longelivity way longer. Good examples are: Golbat, Incineroar and Uxie.
• Hazard stackers like Garbodor and Accelgor makes Alolan Raichu's job way easier so it doesn't need a +2 all the time to kill certain pokemons, good example is with 1 Spike and Stealth Rocks on the field you can OHKO Rhydon with Surf without a boost what you otherwise would need a boost for.

- Alolan Raichu also likes to set up on weakened foes if possible, since it doesn't have many safe setup opportunities to begin with: you may bring up Aurora Veil, Memento, or even Parting Shot support.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Focus Blast is an option for the last moveslot, this allows you to hit Shiftry, Guzzlord and Ferroseed what Surf or Grass Knot does not do. These pokemons are quite uncommon so take that in mind when you choose your last move.
• Choice Scarf is an option with Volt Switch over Nasty Plot, this way you become one of the fastest Scarfers in NU which is quite nice it's lacks the good SpA to be really become a threat but it's certainly a nice revenge killer / late game cleaner. Good thing to note is that Choice Scarf doesn't need to run Timid it can easily run Modest to bring your Special Attack up for the loss of the Life Orb.
• Choice Specs is used as a nuke that is able to switch out through Volt Switch, Choice Specs works well since Alolan Raichu as mentioned before has perfect coverage which makes it hard to switch in well on Choice Specs if you predict well.

- +2 Life Orb Focus Blast also OHKOes Assault Vest Incineroar.
- Encore could be interesting to give Raichu-Alola a potential setup opportunity, but mention that due to AlolanChu's poor bulk and lackluster resistances, its use is only really limited to a foe's non-attacking moves.
- AlolanChu does have access to Electic Terrain and thus can activate Surge Surfer by itself, making it hit outright untouchable Speed levels while boosting its Electric-type moves. However, Electric Terrain's boost is smaller than Nasty Plot's boost and does not affect Alolan Raichu's other moves, and Surge Surfer Alolan Raichu is still susceptible to priority moves that offensive teams commonly carry.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Dark-types**: Dark-types often run Pursuit which cripples Alolan Raichu alot, both Sneasel and Scarf Drapion are pokemon Alolan Raichu does not like to be on the field with. With Pursuit you either able to OHKO it or bring it to a certain point it can't so much after.

**Choice Scarf users**: Since Alolan Raichu is so frail it can easily be revenge killed by Choice Scarfer such as Emboar, Delphox and Hitmonlee what all have no trouble OHKO'ing Alolan Raichu.

**Faster pokemons**: Sceptile and Specs Whimsicott threaten Alolan Raichu alot since both outspeed and have the ability to OHKO Alolan Raichu before it has the chance to do something.

**Priority users**: Alolan Raichu poor Defenses make it an easy target or Priority such as Ice Shard from Sneasel, Sucker Punch from Spiritomb, Liepard and Emboar.

- You can add more mentions of Dark-types, such as Alolan Persian being able to outspeed and do a ton with Foul Play, or Assault Vest Incineroar which can stomach a hit from +2 Alolan Raichu. Honestly you can just mention the Sucker Punch users here while you're at it, such as Spiritomb, Houndoom, Alolan Raticate, and Skuntank.
- **Choice Scarf users** can probably just be merged with the **Faster Pokemon** section. Choice Scarf U-turn users can be especially problematic for Alolan Raichu.
- Whimsicott does not actually OHKO Alola Raichu, so use some other example, such as Accelgor.
- For the **Priority users** section, you can list non-STAB Sucker Punch users here, such as Hitmonlee, Toxicroak, and Kangaskhan. Replace Sneasel for Vanilluxe as an Ice Shard user since Sneasel has little reason to not use Dark moves. You can bring up Fake Out users such as Kangaskhan, Incineroar, and Ambipom as well. Mention that while most of these may not OHKO Alolan Raichu, they can pick off a weakened one, most notably one that has taken damage while it sets up.
- You could use an additional section called **Offensive Pressure**, on the notion that you can keep Alolan Raichu under control as long as you don't give it a safe turn to use Nasty Plot. Note that this applies more for bulkier teams, as offensive teams by default give Alolan Raichu minimal setup opportunities as it is.

QC 1/3

 

[Jarii]

- Also point out Alolan Raichu's great coverage and its access to Nasty Plot, gives it a significant amount of corebreaking potential.
- No need to reference Raichu when talking about Alolan Raichu; just mention how its dual STABs not only have good neutral coverage, but also hit a lot of the bulkier Pokemon in the tier hard.
- Alolan Raichu doesn't really face much competition when it comes to its niche, which is being a great wallbreaker with Nasty Plot while having blazing Speed to aid it in more offensive matchups.
- Emphasize Alolan Raichu's glass cannon-like nature; any attack Alolan Raichu does that doesn't result in a KO puts AlolanChu at significant risk of taking major damage or being KOed itself.
- You may also bring up AlolanRaichu's poor defensive typing making it more difficult to set up.

- Since neither TBolt nor Psychic are considered the "main STAB", you could make greater mention of how well Thunderbolt and Psychic complement each other, with one STAB being able to neutrally hit nearly all of the Pokemon that resist the other.
- Probably better examples of Psyshock tagets would be Life Orb Psyshock OHKOing Virizion, or +2 Psyshock OHKOing Cryogonal and Mismagius without the need for Life Orb.
- Since Rhydon is hit harder by Grass Knot than Surf, emphasize that Steelix is Surf's main target (either doing heavy damage with +0 Life Orb Surf, or OHKOing with non-Life Orb +2 Surf provided Sturdy is broken), with other targets such as Piloswine and Rhydon being a bonus.
- Mention Grass Knot still hitting Steelix for substantial damage, having good odds of OHKOing non-Sturdy Steelix with +2 Life Orb Grass Knot.

- When mentioning Life Orb, you may list my aforementioned Life Orb calcs (such as OHKOing Viriz with LO Psyshock, heavily denting Steelix with Surf or +2 Grass Knot) here instead.
- Mention relevant calcs Aloraichium Z helps to attain, such as OHKOing Meloetta after +2, or just OHKOing Drapion with +0 Stoked Sparksurfer (<- oh yeah be sure to bring up this attack's name at least once)

- Does Alolan Raichu always need to set up? What can/should it do then?

- Alolan Raichu also likes to set up on weakened foes if possible, since it doesn't have many safe setup opportunities to begin with: you may bring up Aurora Veil, Memento, or even Parting Shot support.

- +2 Life Orb Focus Blast also OHKOes Assault Vest Incineroar.
- Encore could be interesting to give Raichu-Alola a potential setup opportunity, but mention that due to AlolanChu's poor bulk and lackluster resistances, its use is only really limited to a foe's non-attacking moves.
- AlolanChu does have access to Electic Terrain and thus can activate Surge Surfer by itself, making it hit outright untouchable Speed levels while boosting its Electric-type moves. However, Electric Terrain's boost is smaller than Nasty Plot's boost and does not affect Alolan Raichu's other moves, and Surge Surfer Alolan Raichu is still susceptible to priority moves that offensive teams commonly carry.

- You can add more mentions of Dark-types, such as Alolan Persian being able to outspeed and do a ton with Foul Play, or Assault Vest Incineroar which can stomach a hit from +2 Alolan Raichu. Honestly you can just mention the Sucker Punch users here while you're at it, such as Spiritomb, Houndoom, Alolan Raticate, and Skuntank.
- **Choice Scarf users** can probably just be merged with the **Faster Pokemon** section. Choice Scarf U-turn users can be especially problematic for Alolan Raichu.
- Whimsicott does not actually OHKO Alola Raichu, so use some other example, such as Accelgor.
- For the **Priority users** section, you can list non-STAB Sucker Punch users here, such as Hitmonlee, Toxicroak, and Kangaskhan. Replace Sneasel for Vanilluxe as an Ice Shard user since Sneasel has little reason to not use Dark moves. You can bring up Fake Out users such as Kangaskhan, Incineroar, and Ambipom as well. Mention that while most of these may not OHKO Alolan Raichu, they can pick off a weakened one, most notably one that has taken damage while it sets up.
- You could use an additional section called **Offensive Pressure**, on the notion that you can keep Alolan Raichu under control as long as you don't give it a safe turn to use Nasty Plot. Note that this applies more for bulkier teams, as offensive teams by default give Alolan Raichu minimal setup opportunities as it is.

QC 1/3

Added only thing I didn't add is the offensive pressure thing because then I would simply repeat myself of what i said in the other checks and counters.

 

[Punchshroom]

Added only thing I didn't add is the offensive pressure thing because then I would simply repeat myself of what i said in the other checks and counters.

I still think you should merge Choice Scarf users and Faster Pokemon together, because the Faster Pokemon section is looking super barren and they don't play differently from how Scarfers respond to Alolan Raichu either. You also didn't add examples of U-turn Choice Scarf users, and I'm not gonna spell them out for you this time.

 

[Jarii]

I still think you should merge Choice Scarf users and Faster Pokemon together, because the Faster Pokemon section is looking super barren and they don't play differently from how Scarfers respond to Alolan Raichu either. You also didn't add examples of U-turn Choice Scarf users, and I'm not gonna spell them out for you this time.

Did

 

[ManOfMany]

what's up with the set name? I'd understand a signature name for something unique and iconic like Vincune, but like... what else is Alola-Raichu gonna run anyway?

 

[etern]

Locking this, writer has quit.