What is a good moveset for Alolan Raichu?

Question

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: Surfer Surge
EVs: 6 HP, 252 Sp.,Atk, 252 Spe
Nature: Modest
- 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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How do you teach alolan raichu electric terrain? does it learn it naturally or?

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Electric Terrain can only be obtained on a Pikachu as an Egg Move. Breed a Female Pikachu/Raichu with a Male Smeargle, Manectric, Luxray, or Togedemaru that knows Electric Terrain to pass it down.

Answer 2

Raichu-Alola @ Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
Ev's: 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

-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. Aloraichium Z makes Alolan Raichu's Thunderbolt upgrade to the Z-Move Stoked Sparksurfer. Psychic and Psyshock are STAB. Psychic can lower the Foe's Special Defense by One Stage Or Psyshock can hit Special Walls like Blissey. Nasty Plot raises Special Attack by Two Stages. Focus Blast and Grass Knot are Coverage moves. Focus Blast is Coverage against Dark, Ice, Rock and Steel types and has a Chance to Lower the Foe's Special Defense by One Stage Or Grass Knot is Coverage against Ground types and the more lighter Raichu is compared to the foe, the more the Damage. Thunderbolt or Discharge is Your Choise 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

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

A straight-forward 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 4

Ok.

SPECIAL ATTACKER ALOLAN RAICHU

Pokemon: Alolan Raichu
Item: @Focus sash
Nature: Timid/Modest (Timid: +Speed &-Atk) OR (Modest: +Sp.Atk & -Atk)
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Sp.Atk / 6 Sp.Defense

MOVES

-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!

Comments

I get the joke so the Alolan Raichu looks like a pancake and it's holding pancakes.....PERFECT!!

Answer 5

Alolan Raichu @ Wise Glasses/Focus Stash/Aloraichium Z
Ability - Surge Surfer
EV's - 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)

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- 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 (No explanation needed) or Signal Beam (Important coverage for dark, plus grass & psychic)

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Right now you're probably thinking, "WTF!? SURF!? IT CANT EVEN LEARN SURF!" But now thanks to 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. WHERE IS THIS MAN GETTING HIS PIKACHU!? IS HE A REAL LIFE HACKER!?

Comments

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

Answer 6

Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 Sp. Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Sp. Def
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)

-Surf
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic
-Focus Blast

:D

Answer 7

Alolan-Raichu @ Zap Plate/Leftovers/alolaraichuium/ Focus Sash
Nature-Modest (+SP ATK, -ATK)
EVs- 252 SPD, 128 SP ATK, 128 HP

Moves:
Electro Ball/ Thunderbolt/ Volt Tackle
Psychic/ Psyshock
Nasty Plot/ Agility/ Double Team
Electric Terrain

This Speed/ Special Attacker will deliver large amounts of damage in a few turns. By using Agility and electric Terrain, It's STAB Electro Ball becomes Even more powerful and you get to go first unless they have a 252 SPD 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.

Answer 8

Fast Special Attacker

Alolan Raichu @Focus Sash \ Alolaraichium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SpA \ 252 Speed \ 4 HP
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic \ Psyshock
-Nuzzle \ Surf
-Nasty Plot

Move #1: Electric STAB. Mandatory if you want to run Raichu's exclusive Z-Move. Thunder and Volt Switch are options, but with Thunder's low accuracy and Volt Switch's lower damage output I say nah.
Move #2: Psychic STAB. Run Psyshock for special walls if needed.
Move #3: Either a move with 100% chance to cause paralysis, or coverage for Raichu's ground weakness. Whichever you prefer.
Move #4: Boosts the Special Attack stat. It's lethal for Raichu's success.

Comments

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

Answer 9

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.

Answer 10

Alolan Raichu @ Aloraichium Z
Ability: Surge Surfer
Bold Nature

• Electric Terrain
  To take full advantage of its Ability
• Thunderbolt
  A quite powerful STAB, also allows signature Z-Move
• Focus Blast
  Dark-type coverage
• Psychic
  For STAB

Comments

I approve this post, however I encourage you to incorporate an EV spread into your moveset.

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Man, these sets are good!

Answer 11

Alolan Raichu @ Aloraichium Z or Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 SpD (or whatever you want to put the remaining 4 in)
Nature: Timid (Spe+ , Atk-)

• Thunderbolt
• Calm Mind (if you accidentally forgot Nasty Plot or you don't have access to it) / Nasty Plot
• Grass Knot
• Psyshock

Thunderbolt for STAB and POWAHHHHH 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 subsitution. Focus Sash to get atleast 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.

Comments

This is one that really should have gotten more upvotes, and for some reason I can't upvote anything
But yes, this is a move set I'm willing to try. I'm going for Psychic instead of Psyshock, though.

Answer 12

Racichu-Alolan @Focus Sash
Ability: Surge Surfer
EVs: 252 speed/ 252 special attack/ 4 special defense
Any Nature
-Psychic/ Psyshock
-Grass Knot
-Thunderbolt
-Electric Terrain
Reasons: First, the Focus Aash is basically a helping hand, or second life so that's good since Alolan Raichu has four weaknesses. I said any nature because you can pick. I also have a reasoning for the EVs I picked. The speed is important because you want to out speed the foe. The special attack is for Raichu because its just good.

Answer 13

Alolan-Raichu
Ability: Surge Surfer
Item: Focus Sash/Sitrus Berry
Thunderbolt
Psychic
Focus Blast
Protect
Explanation: Alolan Raichu is my favorite Alolan form so far. It is also a Pokemon from my main team. I'll focus only on covering Pokemon weaknesses and try to see what moves are best for that Pokemon. I would use Thunderbolt, but you can use any other Electric-type move (like Thunder, but you will need some luck). Also, I think Psychic is the only good Psychic-type move for Raichu, because you can't find anything stronger than it. It was hard searching for the last two spots but I decided to put Focus Blast (mostly for covering its Dark-type weakness) and Nasty Plot (for raising its Sp. Atk.)
Let me know what you think in comments below :)

Answer 14

Alolan Raichu Moveset:
Ability: Surge Surfer
Item: Terrain Extender
EVs: 251 Speed, 251 Special Attack (you can also use a nature that boosts speed)

Moveset:
-Electric Terrain (Egg move)
-Electro Ball (Pikachu learn Electro Ball)
-Rest (By MT)
-Sleep Talk (By MT)

How to use Alolan Raichu:

This Raichu is simple to use and HYPER strong: You have just to start with Electric Terrain, which boosts Electric moves and doubles Raichu's speed; by using Electric Terrain, (that is boosted by Terrain Extender) Electro Ball become super strong:
- +25% power from STAB
- +25% power from Electric Terrain
- Your speed is doubled (power of Electro Ball depends on the difference of speed between your Pokemon and the opponent Pokemon).
Rest is for quick max healing and sleep talk allows you to have a chance to attack when your Raichu is asleep

Thanks for reading! I hope that my Raichu's moveset makes your Raichu the best speed attacker (oh... and if you find any errors in the text say it in the comments, thanks again)

Answer 15

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

Thunderbolt is a reliable STAB, with Aloraichum Z upgraded to Spoked 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 16

Alolan Raichu (doesn’t matter which item)
Nature: Brave (horrible, but still) (+atk, -speed)
EVs (to run over atk stat) max sp atk, speed and some hp
Grass Knot (take that heavy ground types)
Thunder Wave (just to paralyze opponent if thunderbolt doesn’t work)
Thunderbolt (stab, paralyzing chance)
Psychic (just for extra coverage and stab)

Answer 17

Alolan Raichu - Fast Special Sweeper
Ability: Surge Surfer - Raises the speed when Electric Terrain is on the battlefield
Item: Life Orb - The holder deals more damage in exchange for 10% of their health when damage is dealt
Nature: Modest (+SpAtk, -Atk)
EVs: 252SpAtk, 252Spd, 4Def
IVs: Perfect
Moveset
Thunderbolt - 135 Base Power with Stab, 10% chance to paralyze the target
Psyshock - 120 Base Power with Stab, Damage is calculated based on target’s defense rather than special defense
Signal Beam - 75 Base Power, 10% chance to confuse the target
Nasty Plot - Sharply raises the user’s special attack, doubling that stat