Raikou @ Choice Specs
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Volt Switch
- Aura Sphere
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt
Probably not the first thing that would come to your mind when thinking of a Raikou set, but it worked really well for me; but why I chose this set, I'll explain in the next paragraph.
Choice Specs and a Rash Nature give Raikou 541 Special Attack, so it can hurt almost every foe badly just without a single turn of setup. Volt Switch is an obvious choice on a choiced pokemon, especially when it gets STAB on it and can seriously hurt foes while fleeing. Hidden Power Ice is for coverage and hits almost everything for at least neutral damage combined with an Electric move, and, even more importantly, hits foes like Dragonite, Landorus, Gliscor, Haxorus, Breloom and Salamence for super effective damage, OHKOing every single of them besides Dragonite at 100% and bulky variants of Haxorus and Breloom. Thunderbolt provides a second STAB option with additional power and no switching effect which can be useful in some situations. Also, Raikou's offensive movepool does not have really good options, I could use Shadow Ball oder Signal Beam, but they don't do anything significant for me, most targets were just hit similarly strong by Thunderbolt and HP Ice. That's also the reason why I gave up a timid nature and as such the possibility to outspeed common threats such as Terrakion, Lati@s and Infernape, to add a really useful fourth offensive move, Aura Sphere. Aura Sphere is not only surprising for most opponents, but also a really helpful coverage move, doing massive damage to Ferrothorn and Tyranitar, OHKOing the latter quite often, while also being my best bet against Magnezone, Mamoswine, Heatran and Terrakion.
The EVs are obviously offensive, but even with those EVs and the rash nature, Raikou still has significant bulk, which is especially helpful when battling against foes with strong priority like Scizor, Dragonite or Lucario.
