When should I evolve my Pikachu into Raichu?

Question

Well, when I first played X and Y and I first saw a Pikachu in Santalune Forest, I was full on 'Yeah, I'm gonna be like Ash and have an awesome Pikachu and shtuff'. Turns out that Pikachu is a terribly weak Pokemon being only in it's second evolution.

My Pikachu is Level 40 now (yeah, I put in a heap of dedication to this thing. xD) and I celebrate whenever it grows another level, since it's really quite terrible. xD

I have a Thunderstone and I'm ready to evolve it whenever I need to, but when should I evolve it exactly, if I should evolve it? Like, what moves should it learn before I evolve into a Raichu, when it might not learn the move, or it might take a while to learn?

Hope you help. :)

Comments

Just to clarify, Pikachu is one of my party Pokemon.

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I tried to give both of y'all answer people the same amount of points, 20 points. You were both helpful in your own way. xD

Answer 1

Once it learns Thunderbolt (lv29 I think), there's little use in keeping it as a Pikachu, so you could evolve it then.

However, since you seem to be interested in Pikachu specifically, I would suggest you find a Light Ball and let Pikachu hold it. A Light Ball brings Pikachu's base atk and sp. atk a bit above Raichu's

As far as I know, Light Ball can only be obtained in X/Y as a hold item on wild Pikachu.

Comments

Thank you, I'll use the Light Ball until I evolve it at Level 50. :)

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Fyi, Raichu is weaker than a Light Ball Pikachu, and the Light Ball will be worthless on Raichu. But it's your choice of course. :P

Answer 2

If you want right now because the next moves it learns are Discharge, Light Screen, and Thunder. Unless you want a higher paralysis chance evolve right now and stick with Thunderbolt.

Comments

Thank you. I'm gonna keep it to Level 50 for it to learn Thunder. :)

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Man I already evolved it at level 28....