What is a good moveset for Alolan Raichu?

Question

This thread is for Alolan Raichu. For Kantonian Raichu, please go here.

If you have a good competitive moveset for Alolan Raichu, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Raichu Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Comments

Note: I decided to allow Alolan Forms as separate questions, as these Pokemon are quite different to their regular forms.

Answer 1

Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Electro Ball
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Electric Terrain

Hooray for gimmicks! Setting up Electric Terrain activates Surfer Surge, which makes you faster. This in turn lets you run Modest over Timid and boost the power of your STAB Electro Ball. Focus Blast is coverage, and Psyshock is your other STAB.

Comments

Actually, the maximum amount of EVs is 510. That's enough for two stats to max out their EVs at 252, making a total of 504 EVs. This leaves 6 EVs that can be assigned to a stat. However, since only 4 of those EVs can be used to add a stat point, most players simply add 4 EVs to a stat and forget the other two. But it's not wrong to write 6 EVs on a 252/252 spread.

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I was waiting for someone to point this out for this Gen... again. Anyways, Astronautical's right. I usually Post these Movesets for future use, and my OCD will kick in if I don't put those 2 EVs somewhere.

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Why not psychic instead of psyshock?

Answer 2

Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Nasty Plot
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot
- Thunderbolt / Discharge

Explanation: My favorite Alolan form. Focus Sash is there to a least get off 1 Nasty Plot and not to get knocked out in one hit. Psychic and Psyshock are STAB. Psychic can lower the foe's Special Defense by one stage, or Psyshock can hit specially bulky targets like Blissey. Nasty Plot sets a Special Attack boost. Focus Blast and Grass Knot are coverage moves; Focus Blast is coverage against Dark, Ice, Rock and Steel types, or Grass Knot could cover Ground types. Thunderbolt or Discharge is your choice of Electric STAB.

Comments

Good moveset, but feel I should point out that Grass Knot only cares about absolute weight, not relative weight.

Answer 3

Raichu-Alola @ Wise Glasses / Focus Sash / Aloraichium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Surf
- Calm Mind / Nasty Plot / Signal Beam

Thunderbolt (STAB, Flying & Water coverage, plus paralysis chance)
Psychic (STAB, Poison & Fighting coverage)
Surf (Important coverage for Ground, plus Fire & Rock, & decent neutral coverage)
Calm Mind / Nasty Plot (Setup move) / Signal Beam (Important coverage for Dark, plus Grass & Psychic)

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Added: The items that you give will be dependent on what moves you decide to use. If you opt to go with Signal Beam as your fourth move, use either Wise Glasses or Aloraichium Z. You could use Focus Sash, but I personally wouldn't use it. If you go with Calm Mind or Nasty Plot, using Focus Sash is mandatory if you want to set-up. Due to Alolan Raichu's squishiness, being able to set-up without instantly getting OHKO'd is very important.

Edit: Sword and Shield has made this possible now to any Alolan Raichu thanks to TRs (technical records) and also made make it possible to use Nasty Plot as well. Aloraichium Z is only for SM and USUM. However, Signal Beam is deprecated in this generation.

In Ultra Sun and Moon you can obtain a Pikachu with the move Surf from the man in the surf association in Heahea City after claiming the No. 1 spot on every island's Mantine surfing spot, which is pretty funny. The man also has a Pikachu that knows Fly.

Comments

I prefer surf on regular Raichu, but that's just me

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The boost you get from Wise Glasses is practically a waste of an item slot. Go with Life Orb, or Choice Specs if you don't want to set up.

Answer 4

Raichu-Alola @ Aloraichium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Nasty Plot
- Sweet Kiss / Grass Knot

A straightforward set, except for Sweet Kiss. Sweet Kiss can confuse the target along with Stoked Sparksurfer's 100% chance to paralyze, making the opponent 50% of the time unable to attack. If not, you can have Grass Knot for coverage against Ground types like Mudsdale. Stoked Sparksurfer is a power 175 Z-move and always causes paralysis. Thunderbolt is a great STAB move required for its exclusive Z-move and Psychic/ Psyshock is for STAB and power! Enjoy!

Answer 5

Raichu-Alola @ Air Balloon
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast/Surf/Grass Knot
- Nasty Plot

Similar to the others I suppose, but it's a different moveset nonetheless.

• First of all, Nasty Plot. You NEED that boost. If you want a sweep, boost. If you don't want to be KO'd back, boost. Raichu-Alola is better than regular Raichu... but it's still a Raichu. Also, Sucker Punch is a huuuuge weakness for Raichu-Alola, so having a boosting move can save your little tail-surfing behind if you manage to play some mind games.
  Electric/Psychic is fantastic coverage, punching holes in teams that don't expect you.
• Thunderbolt is preferable to Thunder for being way more reliable, and if you've already used a turn to boost your SAtk, you don't want to waste another turn whiffing a Thunder...
• I run Psyshock over Psychic since many Fighting-types tend to run Assault Vest, and as an option to hit SDef walls in general.
• As your last coverage move, Focus Blast has the most coverage and has huge base power. Surf is a safer option and hits resisting Ground-types way harder, and Grass Knot completely decimates Water-Ground-types, who are still pretty popular walls in the lower tiers. Up to you to decide what works best for your team!

Finally, I don't run Aloraichium-Z since I already use a Z-move somewhere else, and once I have a Nasty Plot boost or two, I don't feel the need for Life Orb or Expert Belt (another item it runs well due to its large coverage). However, an Air Balloon is always an unexpected item, and will let you swap into a Ground-type move to start setting up (run Surf or Grass Knot instead of Focus Blast if you plan on doing this though, you'll only have one turn to set up while they break your balloon).

Comments

You cannot get Surf and Nasty Plot on Alolan Raichu; Nasty Plot is a Pichu pre-evolution move.

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Update to the above comment: This is possible in Gen 8. Both moves are TRs, and if you move an Alolan Raichu to Galar, it is compatible with them.

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Stellar mentions a good point, I wouldn't have remembered this comment to correct it for this current gen. TRs are probably the second best thing SwSh added to the games.

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You could change the Air Balloon for Focus Sash if your going to set up. Raichu is quite squishy and Air Balloon only affects Ground type moves. Which leaves Raichu still vulnerable to Bug, Ghost, and Dark moves

Answer 6

Raichu-Alola @ Aloraichium Z / Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind / Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot
- Psyshock

Thunderbolt for STAB and power, and Psyshock instead of Psychic for those annoying special walls like Blissey and Chansey. Grass Knot for coverage, instead of Focus Miss which you could go for, but I think Grass Knot is more reliable. Calm Mind; you need this boost, but if you have Nasty Plot I would go for that too. I said Calm Mind because I just got a shiny Pikachu from Friend Safari and it didn't have Nasty Plot, so Calm Mind could be a good substitution. Focus Sash to get at least one Calm Mind off or if you aren't bothered, just go for the 100% paralysis with the Z-Move to cripple. Either is a good cup of tea.

Answer 7

I see no one has answered since the new moves have come out

Electric Terrain Sweeper
Raichu-Alola @ Choice Specs / Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Rising Voltage
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot
- Volt Switch

Rising Voltage (double damage in Electric Terrain, plus STAB and terrain boost)
Psyshock (STAB Psychic and physical damage move)
Grass Knot (Ground coverage)
Volt Switch / Focus Blast / Nasty Plot (pivot or Dark coverage or setup or stall while waiting for terrain),

MUST be used on Electric Terrain. Insane speed when on it, plus Rising Voltage gets a huge boost. Choice Specs or Life Orb for the extra damage. Works for doubles and singles, but you may want Life Orb and Protect for doubles if you don't have an Electric Surge Pokemon on your team. Focus Sash for Nasty Plot setup.

Answer 8

Here's my other Moveset
Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash / Assault Vest
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Rising Voltage
- Surf
- Focus Blast
- Psyshock

This moveset is perfect if you somehow already have Electric Terrain active. Focus Sash will help when switching in Raichu, but if you feel more confident Assault Vest will do.

Rising Voltage benefits from STAB, terrain boost. Also Raichu will likely outspeed due to his ability with terrain(unless opponent has outboosted his own speed or has priority)

Surf is to counter Ground, Psyshock is another STAB, and Focus Blast will counter Dark

One more thing. You can also dynamax Raichu to have Max Lightning which gives Electric Terrain, which also boosts Max Lightning.

Answer 9

Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Focus Blast

Answer 10

Raichu-Alola @ Zap Plate / Leftovers / Aloraichium Z / Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Electro Ball / Thunderbolt / Volt Tackle
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Nasty Plot / Agility / Double Team
- Electric Terrain

This speedy special attacker will deliver large amounts of damage in a few turns. By using Agility and Electric Terrain, its STAB Electro Ball becomes even more powerful and you get to go first unless they have a 252 Speed Timid Alolan Raichu that follows this as well.

Comments

If it's a special attacker, why is Volt Tackle an option? That move is physical.

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Zap Plate isn't a particularly good item. Use Life Orb for extra damage output.

Answer 11

Ok.
SPECIAL ATTACKER ALOLAN RAICHU

Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Nasty Plot
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Psychic

Thunderbolt: STAB Move, It has great power and accuracy! AND has a 10% chance of paralyzing the target
Nasty Plot: SPECIAL ATTACK BOOST, YES!
Hidden Power [Ice]: Takes out Ground types, Flying types, Grass types AND Dragon types
Psychic: Its a STAB move, great power and accuracy, takes out Fighting types and Poison types, AND has a 10% chance of lowering the targets Special Defense

You could sweep if you get 1 Nasty Plot up.

Hope this moveset helps you out!

Answer 12

Raichu-Alola (M) @ Aloraichum Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Grass Knot
- Electric Terrain

Thunderbolt: Reliable STAB, with Aloraichum Z upgraded to Stoked Sparksurfer.
Psychic: Nice power, decent accuracy, STAB.
Grass Knot: Coverage for Ground types. (most of them are heavy so it has good power :D)
And last, but not least, Electric Terrain. When you get that off, he's unstoppable! His Ability, Surge Surfer, doubles its Speed when Electric Terrain is active. Since its already amazing speed, 110, doubled to 220, plus 252Spd EVs, you get the fastest Pokemon ever, even faster than Speed Forme Deoxys!

Answer 13

Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Psyshock
- Signal Beam
- Nasty Plot

Answer 14

Sw/Sh

Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Rising Voltage
- Psychic
- Electric Terrain / Nasty Plot
- Grass Knot / Electro Ball / Surf

Rising Voltage (learns via Move Tutor at Isle of Armor)
Psychic (Learns by level up)
Electric Terrain (learns via TM90) / Nasty Plot if you’re in doubles (Move Reminder)
Grass Knot / Electro Ball / Surf (Learns via TR77 for Grass Knot, TR80 for Electro Ball and TR04 for Surf)

After the expansion pass in Sword and Shield, one of the new moves introduced caught my eye for potential power. See, Alolan Raichu’s Ability is Surge Surfer, which doubles the speed stat while in Electric Terrain. And the new move I’m talking about is called Rising Voltage which is a base 70 power special move and if its used while in Electric Terrain, it’s power is doubled. So if Alolan Raichu is in Electric Terrain, it will have outstanding speed and a STAB 140 electric move with 100% accuracy, not to mention Electric Terrain’s normal effects. And this is where the Focus Sash comes into play, first turn you use Electric Terrain or Nasty Plot if you’re in doubles and have it already set up, and survive a potential OHKO move due to its poor defenses.

After using Electric Terrain your speed will be doubled and could outspeed just about anything, then you use Rising Voltage against your opponent and if there’s a Ground type you can use Grass Knot or surf. Psychic is here for a different strong STAB move and Electro Ball is if you run a Timid Nature as you will be faster than a lot of opposing Pokémon. This set can potentially have Raichu be a sweeper but you still have to be careful in double battles because if you’re hit twice the Focus Sash would be useless. Hope you enjoy the move set I came up with, if you have any of your own ideas or some feedback I’d like to know.

Comments

setting your terrain via a move is dumb. If you really wanna abuse surge surfer use electric surge pinchurchin. Also electro ball isnt good

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But Electro Ball works when you have the Speed boost from Surge Surfer, great natural speed, Timid, and 252 Speed EVs.

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Honestly, I don’t know the gen 8 mons well enough to know their abilities but yea, that could totally work. I’m just saying electric terrain because it was the only thing I could think of, you could replace it with nasty plot and use the focus sash that way, or maybe surf instead. And I said electro ball because it hits harder the faster you are and on electric terrain with timid it can outspeed a whole lot of mons. Thank you for the feedback and sharing your ideas.

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I also just realized Raichu can learn surf so it depends on what you want whether to have surf or grass knot, I mainly used it for ground coverage.

Answer 15

Gen 8 NU

Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive / Hasty Nature (Rash Nature with Pincurchin support)
- Thunderbolt / Rising Voltage
- Knock Off
- Focus Blast
- Surf / Grass Knot

Thunderbolt is STAB, Rising Voltage is also STAB and is weaker than Thunderbolt outside of Electric Terrain, however in Electric Terrain it becomes a devastating wallbreaking tool. Knock Off cripples would-be switch-ins like Ground types by removing their item. Focus Blast is coverage, Surf consistently smacks Ground types, Grass Knot hits heavy Ground types harder.

Answer 16

Gen 8 NU

Raichu-Alola @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Volt Switch
- Nasty Plot

Answer 17

Gen 8 Super Sweeper

Raichu-Alola @ Wise Glasses / Light Clay
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Electro Ball / Rising Voltage
- Psyshock / Light Screen / Focus Blast
- Reflect
- Electric Terrain

Electro Ball / Rising Voltage (super strong STAB)
Psyshock (STAB) / Light Screen (boost Special Defense) / Focus Blast (coverage)
Reflect (boost Defense)
Electric Terrain (boost Speed and Attack)

Answer 18

Here's my first moveset
Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rising Voltage
- Surf / Grass Knot
- Electric Terrain
- Psyshock

How to use
Set up Electric Terrain. The Focus Sash will help against the first damage it gets if OHKO, if not then even better.

Rising Voltage is the best move for Raichu. Since it has 2x power from the terrain, plus the STAB bonus, plus Raichu's terrain boosted Speed makes this move really good.

Surf is to counter Ground-types (except Primal Groudon, use Grass Knot on this titan instead) , and Psyshock is for another STAB.

Comments

What nature? Also, something with electric surge would be better.

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Yeah i forgot to add the nature but if i remember correctly, i had timid nature

Answer 19

Raichu @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf / Grass Knot / Focus Blast
- Psyshock / Psychic
- Rising Voltage
- Nasty Plot

Focus Sash Electric Terrain sweeper. Focus Sash allows you to survive on 1 HP, which is crucial with this set. Surge Surfer makes it insanely fast in Electric Terrain. The EVs max your SpA and Spe, and help a bit in HP. The IVs are obvious, you want max everything except Atk because of Foul Play. Modest Nature is better then Timid because Surge Surfer doubles its decent 110 Spe into a crazy 220 Spe. Surf is coverage. Grass Knot is coverage, but if the opponent is using a lightweight Pokemon, it will do basically nothing, making it a bit situational.

Focus Blast can be used, but has shaky accuracy, which if it misses, means your mouse is dead. Psyshock is STAB that beats SpD tanks, but is walled by Def tanks. Psychic can be used for more power and ability to hit in the SpD stat, but it is walled completely by SpD walls. Rising Voltage is STAB that is very powerful in Electric Terrain. Nasty Plot allows you to boost your SpA to insane levels.

Comments

Why would you WANT to be at one HP? None of the moves you have are boosted by low HP or anything, and holding on to the sash doesn’t give you any bonuses or anything.

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Lol Alolan Raichu is already super frail lol, I would already use Focus Sash, I'm kind of "abusing" Focus Sash so you guaranteed go down to 1 HP lol.

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But what if you took chip damage from hazards and you needed those defenses to survive? Having no defenses it strictly inferior to having defenses in this case

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Alolan Raichu has 60-55-85 in defensive stats, so it is a glass cannon. Ok, I will adjust the EVs and IVs.

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My Raichu used at least 4 SpD in EV. If you want, you can use full damage moveset, and use assault vest as an item. It boosts SpD, so at least there's chance of survival

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Assault Vest sucks on alolan raichu, it has 85 SpD, which is nothing compared to walls

Answer 20

repost

Raichu-Alola @ Aloraichium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 6 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty / Mild Nature
- Psychic
- Thunder
- Thunderbolt
- Discharge

Psychic: STAB
Thunder: STAB
Thunderbolt: STAB and here's where Aloraichuim Z comes in
Discharge: STAB