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What is a good moveset for Alakazam?

2 votes
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If you have a good competitive moveset for Alazkazam, 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.

Alakazam Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Sprite

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why do most people use life orb
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Because Magic Guard prevents damage from Life Orb.
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34 Answers

8 votes

Gen V

Alakazam (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Energy Ball
- Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Okay, really nice Special Attacker. Magic Guard is a great ability, stopping residual damage as well as removing Life Orb recoil. Your stats are just excellent for sweeping, great speed and Special Attack (especially with Life Orb.) Psyshock is there for STAB, and Psychic typing has become more useful thanks to the rise of Fighting types. Psyshock is used instead of Psychic to take down Blissey and Chansey. Energy Ball and Shadow Ball are your standard type coverage attacks. HP Fire is there to deal with Steel types, who are otherwise going to be walling Alakazam. I chose HP Fire instead of HP Fighting or Focus Blast because it is better at dealing with the most popular Steel types, Metagross, Bronzong, that damn Jirachi that hasn't been banned elsewhere, Skarmory, Forretress, Genesect, and especially Ferrothorn.

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I would replace hidden power with Dazzling Gleam in the new X and Y games and it would make an awesome moveset.
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Why would you ev train special attack with magic guard?
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Why Psyshock? Isn't Psychic better
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Psyshock is for special tanks like Blissey, Chansey, etc.
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@RedVolt77 Psyshock allows Alakazam to hit specially defensive Pokemon since Psyshock deals damage based on defense, not special defense.
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5 votes

Gen III

Alakazam (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunder Punch
- Ice Punch
- Psychic
- Fire Punch

Gen III's Elemental Punch coverage for Alakazam rocks!
And then Psychic for STAB. I think it's pretty self-explanatory.

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Wait, but... Alakazam's attack is terrible though
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This sets two years old. Just ignore it :)
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in gen 3, all those are special.
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This set has PIMPNITE written all over it.
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No pokemon resists all four types psychic, fire, electric and ice and placed on a pokemon with 135!? Special attack happy sweeping!
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I think you guys don't know that in Gen 3  all ice electric and fire type are special move even this element punch are special move that's why he wrote gen 3
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5 votes

My new Alakazam variant:

Alakazam (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Encore
- Psyshock
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

This Alakazam is something I decided to try out, because it got the speed to use Encore. This is obviously a Magic Guard variant, but with more guard than sweep. Substitute guards it, not exposing its fraility. Encore is a great move. While some say it might be a gimmick, it actually isn't. It stops those Boosters in their tracks, of which are common in OU. Psyshock is STAB, and preferred over Psychic to nail the Blobs. HP Fighting is there for Dark Types, specifically Tyranitar. Ttar is 2HKOed by this with no Hazard damage, with is very nice being as Ttar is a huge threat. Everything statwise is standard.

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2HKOed even in sandstorm? Impressive. Nice set btw.
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Me gusta.
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I hate this troll set so effin much.... Can I use it??
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Go ahead xD
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Awesome set, but I would use Recover instead of Encore.  Then it's even more trolly.  :D
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Hidden Power Fighting = 60 POWER MAX   X2   if your lucky
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I like your style... Can I use this?
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4 votes

Alakazam (F) @ Life Orb
Alakazam
A: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psyshock
- Signal Beam

Revising this set with a similar goal in mind.
While Alakazam doesn't have too much natural bulk, he does get decent special bulk.
Because of this, Calm Mind tank is very possible!
The updates include a new EV spread and Signal Beam instead of HP Bug due to the new BW2 move tutor offering Signal Beam Alakazam along with it's DW ability.

As for move selection, Calm Mind is still to set up. Recover allows reliable healing.
Psyshock is my choice of STAB on this set, and it's always nice.
Signal beam hits opposing Psychic types hard ( like Shadow Ball would ), but it is also super effective against dark types, which is super useful.

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Why not Psychic? It has higher BP than Psyshock... not trying to be rude, but... EDIT: oops, never mind... thats for Blissey and Chansey, huh?
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2 votes

National Dex Monotype (Psychic)

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Expanding Force
- Focus Blast
- Dazzling Gleam
- Nasty Plot

Expanding Force is really strong STAB in Psychic Terrain. Focus Blast nails dark and steel types like Hydreigon, Ferrothorn, Heatran, etc. Dazzling Gleam is coverage and deals with Pokemon like Mega Sableye, a Pokemon who otherwise walls this set. Nasty Plot boosts your already high Special Attack to an insane amount. Tapu Lele is a must have on your team for this set, as it sets up Psychic Terrain, which helps with Mega Alakazam's STAB move.

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Dang, 22 seconds and a upvote already.
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1 vote

Alakazam (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind

Really awesome special sweeper with base SpAtk of 135. Psyshock is STAB, I prefer it over Psychic cause it can take out Blissey/Chansey. Focus blast covers dark types and also rock, steel and normal. Shadow Ball covers ghost and psychic. Calm mind boosts his SpAtk and SpDef. And with life orb he deals even more damage with no recoil from magic guard.

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Why not replace Psyshock with Psychic? Alakazam with Life Orb and Psychic can OHKO Amoonguss.
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Psyshock is for Pokemon with high special bulk i.e. Chansey, Blissey, etc. Your opponent will not be likely to use Amoonguss against Alakazam.
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1 vote

Alakazam @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dazzling Gleam / Energy Ball
- Psychic / Expanding Force
- Shadow Ball
- Signal Beam

  • Dazzling Gleam / Energy Ball - Coverage
  • Psychic / Expanding Force - STAB
  • Shadow Ball - Coverage
  • Signal Beam - Coverage

This moveset has never failed me, if you have any ideas on how I could improve it then please let me know, as I have no idea if this is good or not. All I know is that it works for me. You could probably replace Dazzling Gleam/Energy Ball for Calm Mind or some other stat-boosting move if you feel like you have enough coverage with Shadow Ball and Signal Beam but, like I said, I'm not too sure how good this moveset is. Sorry if this is similar to someone else's moveset. (This is my first moveset post so let me know if it's any good!) I'm not too sure on the Expanding Force idea, since it only has 80 base power with 100 accuracy instead of Psychic's 90 base and 100 accuracy. Normally Psychic would be way better, but if you dynamax with Alakazam (or any Pokemon with a psychic type move), your psychic attacks will summon Psychic Terrain. Again, not too crazy. but, Expanding Force gets a 1.5x damage boost in psychic terrain on top of the boost from psychic terrain, meaning this move will get boosted to a 120 power 100 accuracy psychic move +Psychic Terrain boosts. Not entirely sure if the temporary boost is better or worse than just normal psychic, and I haven't gotten chance to try it yet, but in theory it should be incredibly good.

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Great set! I would choose energy ball over dazzling gleam because fairy beats fighting and dragon, the first of which is already covered by psychic. Grass covers rock, ground, and water, which no other move on the set covers
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0 votes

Kadabra
Kadabra @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Timid Nature
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Shadow Ball
- Charge Beam / Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fighting]

Kadabra is pretty much the Alakazam of NU(Why is he NU?). Psychic or Psyshock both work very well but Psyshock can hit Special Tanks/Walls much better. Shadow-ball is for coverage over Ghost Types. Charge-beam can boost your S.attack while Energy ball is bit stronger and can hit Ground and Rock types hard. HP(Fighting) is for Dark Types, and Steel Types.

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0 votes

Kadabra
Kadabra @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 70 HP / 200 Def / 240 SpD
Bold Nature
- Barrier
- Light Screen / Hidden Power [Fighting] / Hidden Power [Ground]
- Recover
- Toxic

OK before you think I have gone insane for trying to make a wall out of Kadabra hear me out. With those Evs, nature and the Evolite Kadabra has 229.5 Defense and after 1 Barrier that shoots up to 459 Defense that is High, he also has 331.5 S. Defense that is pretty nice, HP is about 238 which is OK especially considering the healing move. Barrier as I said before is to give Kadabra a huge Defense Stat. Light-screen could give you some more S. Defense and provide some support while HP(Fighting) give you some very nice coverage. Recover is one of the most reliable healing moves ever. Toxic is for stalling.

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I almost out stalled a shuckle with this.(I pressed the wrong button by mistake)
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Can you say Steel type?
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I believe that is why HP Fighting is there. If I'm correct, only Eviolite using Steel types are resistant. However, Poison resists Fighting, and is immune to poison. I'd say HP Ground would be more useful. While Eviolite Bronzor would take this guy down, I've never battled one, so they will be rarely seen. Haunter might be more of a problem, but I've started to see a decline in their use for Lampent.
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I know that's why HP fighting is there, but I still don't think a crappy base 70 power move, even though super effective, is gonna scare off steel types, especially when he's not getting any special attack EVs or a beneficial nature. I don't see the point in putting a type coverage move on something if it isn't strong enough to take out the threats it was put there to take out. Also, considering how many poison types are actually popular in NU, that takes away his effectiveness. Immune to the toxic, and resisting his only attacking move, he's a sitting duck only good for setting up barrier and running out a bit of PP.
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That is why you have other pokemon in your party.
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I understand that...i'm saying you could do more with this. You only get 6 pokemon, so you have to pick them wisely.
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If you don't keep HP, you are going to be a Kadabra saying, "Hi! I'm a SITTING DUCK!" if you get Taunted
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0 votes

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psyshock / Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind / Shadow Ball

The wonderful new Mega Alakazam. Just like the standard one, but no focus sash and it takes damage from steal rocks. But you can't say no to the new base 175 special attack and 150 base speed. One thing to remember though; if the opposing Pokemon has priority, switch out now.
Psyshock and Focus Blast are standard. Dazzling Gleam is recommended for those pesky dragon types. You can try to set up with Calm Mind, but Shadow Ball is always available for ghost types and other psychic types that are quite common in OU.

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Its called an alakazite when you mega evolve your ability wont matter because  it will become trace as soon as you mega evolve
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If you start with an alakazam with magic guard then when he comes into battle, things like stealth rocks wont hurt him. Then you can megavolve.
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very nice one. but still, try changing dazzling gleam and having both calm mind and shadow ball. focus blast already covers dark, and calm mind is almost like a must for it to be boosting it's stats before sweeping. lso, i recommend psyshock, since it deals damage based on physical defense, which otherwise alakazam would not have.
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0 votes

Extremely OP Alakazam!
Alakazam@Alakazite
Mild nature
EV's in defense and speed
Moves:
Psychic: STAB, great power
Dazzling Gleam: Used for them dragon and dark types
Charge Beam: Boosts special attack making this guy very powerful
Shadow Ball: Coverage

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0 votes

Gen VI

Alakazam @ Alakazite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psyshock / Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam / Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Calm Mind / Taunt

This set uses a Modest Nature as it out speeds anything with a Speed boosting nature up to Base 131 with full investment in Speed.

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0 votes

So this move set is better than most might think. It is based on a pixelmon move set (different game, look it up or something). Only one move is modified, and it still works extremely well for sweeping.

Alakazam @ Shell Bell / Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard / Synchronize
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest / Timid Nature
- Recover
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam

  • Recover: trust me, you will need it...
  • Psychic: seriously, there is no need for an explanation...
  • Shadow Ball: ghost coverage
  • Dazzling Gleam: dark coverage (modified move, fairy isn't in pixelmon yet unless it updated)
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0 votes

I'm going to go for a Special Sweeper. It's similar to one above but, it's the one I've been using.

Alakazam (F) @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
• Psyshock
• Shadow Ball
• Recover / Energy Ball (I guess "Energy Ball" if you want but, why?)
•Dazzling Gleam

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0 votes

I have four different movesets for him. One is a supporter moveset while the other three are special sweeping movesets.
__
Role: Supporter

Alakazam @ Leftovers / Alakazite / Light Clay
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spe
Timid / Jolly Nature
- Wonder Room
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Recover

  • Wonder room: switches the defense and special defense stats for all Pokemon for 5 turns
  • Reflect: Halves physical damage for 5 turns (8 with light clay)
  • Light screen: Halves special damage (8 with light clay)
  • Recover: restores 50% of your entire hp.

Strategy: This set is pretty good if ya ask me. Here's how it goes. depending on what kind of sweeper your up against(physical or special) or depending on how bulky the Pokemon is if its more defensive or more special defensive, you will use wonder room. reflect and light screen are for decreasing the damage you take and recover is for restoring the damage you lost. For single battles and rotation battles you don't want to keep Alakazam in forever so its best after setting up and gaining back some of your lost damage that you switch.

Role: Typical special sweeper

Alakazam @ Alakazite / Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam / Signal Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Calm Mind

  • Psychic/Psyshock: psychic for more damage and 10% chance to lower special defense or psyshock if ya wanna do physical damage.
  • Dazzling gleam/signal beam: Dazzling gleam does slightly more damage and is a fairy type move but signal beam has a 10% chance to confuse and is bug type (either way both moves cover dark types)
  • Shadow ball: covers ghost types and 20% chance to lower special defense
  • Calm mind: Raises special attack and special defense by one

Role: Fast specs

Alakazam @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Dazzling Gleam / Signal Beam
- Shadow Ball
- Trick / Energy Ball

  • Trick / Energy Ball: Trick to put your opponents Pokemon at a disadvantage or energy ball for extra coverage.

Role: Stab Sweeper

Alakazam @ Twisted Spoon / Alakazite / Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Wonder room
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Calm Mind

strategy: Perhaps I should explain. Psychic is used against Pokemon with less special defense and psyshock is used against Pokemon with less defense. Wonder room is for protection purposes in case you are up against a strong physical sweeper. Calm mind is self explanatory.

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0 votes

Alakazam @ Alakazite / Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind / Focus Blast / Energy Ball
- Psychic
- Future Sight
- Shadow Ball / Dazzling Gleam

Calm mind is for use with the focus sash, as alakazam is uber fragile. Focus blast is raw power and coverage (especially dark types), but its accuracy is shaky so energy ball can be an alternative, but it's somewhat less powerful. Psychic is a go-to move for psychic types. Future Sight is for use when this Pokemon cannot OHKO its target, as it still hits after this Pokemon faints. Shadow ball is coverage, while dazzling gleam deals with dark types. Alakazite is for increased power and speed, while calm mind makes alakazam a force to be reckoned with. The evs maximize alakazam's speed and attack. timid maximizes this Pokemon's speed.

Hoped this Helped:)

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0 votes

Mine is a Sp. Sweeper

Alakazam (M) @ Twisted Spoon
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Disable
- Shadow Ball

  • Psychic (Stab - boosted by the Twisted Spoon)
  • Signal Beam (Dark Coverage)
  • Disable (Since Alakazam has terrible Def. and is really weak to Sucker Punch and also renders it usless)
  • Shadow Ball (Ghost Coverage)
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0 votes

Gen 6

Spoons (Alakazam) (M) @ Alakazite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Energy Ball

Alakazam is definitely made to be a sweeper. I personally use him as a Mega, but I recently found out about the whole Life Orb and Magic Guard thing, and I do think that's a good set up, but I'm just gonna talk about my set up.

Mega Alakazam is pretty underrated, as he is completely better than my Mega Gengar stat wise. Psychic or Psyshock can be your STAB move, depending on which you consider is a more useful move. Shadow Ball is to cover your ghost weakness. Dazzling Gleam or Focus Blast can be used to cover your dark weakness. You can choose Dazzling Gleam, Focus Blast, or Energy Ball for your last two slots, but I say to junk Focus Blast as it's pretty unreliable. Trace is a pretty solid ability, as it can be a game changer, or be completely useless. If you gain an ability you may not like, switching out is still an option, as that restarts the Trace ability. Also, don't try to use Recover, Calm Mind, or any move that doesn't actually attack, as Alakazam can't take a single hit. Also, I do consider trying to get a Modest nature instead of Rash. I was to lazy to keep going for Modest.

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0 votes

Alakazam (M) Alakazite / @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Calm Mind

Role: Fast Special Sweeper

Reasoning-
I chose alakazite because it boosts all of his stats making him one of the fastest Pokémon making it be able to out speed almost anything. If you already have a mega Pokémon on your team give it life orb, with the magic guard ability it won’t take damage from life orb but it will still boost your moves Power. If they have set up stealth rocks or toxic spikes or spikes, with the ability magic guard you can’t take damage from those status conditions. If you’ve been poisioned and then mega evolve you will trace their ability and begin to take damage from poision so you may want to think about if it’s worth tracing their ability. You should max it’s speed EVs and Sp. Atk EVs so it can be faster and hit hard. I chose modest becuase when it mega evolves it will be much faster, but if you don’t want to chose modest chose timid and make it even faster. I chose Psychic because it’s a STAB and a must for alakazam. I chose Ghost Ball because it takes care of his Ghost weakness. Keep in mind he usually gets 1 hit if not 2 hit. So you want to make sure you want to kill with 1 hit. Next, I chose Dazzling Gleam to take care of its dark weakness. It’s other weakness is bug by they’re generally not special defensive so Alakazam should be able to 1 hit those. Last, I chose Calm Mind since it can’t learn Nasty Plot, it helps boost his power if the opponent is a toxic stalker or is roosting, recovering, switching, etc. I hope this helped you, I use him as my Mega on my team and he is really good, I reccoment this set but make him to fit your team as you need. I hope I helped, thank you for reading.

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0 votes

SpeedyGuy (Kadabra) @ Eviolite
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 Def / 6 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Dazzling Gleam
- Recover
- Psychic

(A)there is no moveset for kadabra and I think hes better (B)DONT use against steel

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