Kadabra's best and only viable set comes in the form of a somewhat straightforward special attacker, with the goal of outspeeding opponents and hitting them hard. Thanks to Magic Guard, it cannot be worn down by poison, burn, Leech Seed, Life Orb recoil, or entry hazards, giving it a huge advantage over its competition. It also is faster than almost any special attacker in the tier, making it one of the few Pokemon in the tier with a combination of power and Speed. Psychic is the main STAB, and it does a hefty amount of damage to the common Fighting- and Poison-types that inhabit the tier. Signal Beam has good coverage with Psychic-type moves, hitting opposing Psychic- and Dark-type Pokemon for super effective damage. Hidden Power Ground hits Steel-type Pokemon such as Bastiodon hard, and Skuntank is also 2HKOed by it. These three moves have near provide perfect coverage in the NU tier hitting everything other than Shedinja, which is very uncommon.

The last move depends on the item choice. Encore is useful on Kadabra for many reasons. If it can Encore a Sucker Punch (a common move Kadabra gets targeted by), it can get out for free and enable one of your Pokemon to set up. Encore is also useful because Kadabra is so fast it can make a Pokemon continually use a set-up move (provided it doesn't have priority) or a status move. You should use Encore if you have a Focus Sash. However, despite the fact that nearly any move will break Kadabra's Substitute, even Alomomola's Scald, it protects Kadabra from getting OHKOed by everything that touches it, and it can be set up when an opponent flees from Kadabra's Psychic STAB. This should be used with a Life Orb, because a Substitute prevents Kadabra from being at full HP, making Focus Sash useless.

A Focus Sash is preferred because Magic Guard means that entry hazards cannot break Kadabra's Focus Sash, and Kadabra will usually need the item's effect to survive any hit, considering how easy it is to OHKO. A Focus Sash also makes Kadabra a decent last-ditch revenge killer, because it cannot be KOed no matter how many boosts the opponent has. However, a Life Orb is also a good option for Kadabra, as Magic Guard means that it won't take damage from the item, giving it essentially a free boost. It is also not very powerful without a Life Orb, meaning frail Pokemon such as Zangoose can take a hit and then OHKO it. Also, if you are considering using Kadabra as a Fighting-type resist, note that Kadabra's frailty means that this is not a good idea. In fact, Gurdurr can KO it with a combination of Drain Punch and Mach Punch.

Fighting-types such as Gurdurr and Sawk are good partners for a number of reasons. Dark-types are generally dangerous for Kadabra, as the most common ones, Skuntank and Cacturne, can KO Kadabra with Sucker Punch before it can move or Pursuit it if it tries to switch out if it has taken prior damage or predicts incorrectly. Fighting-types resist these very dangerous Pokemon's STABs and can hit them hard in return. Fighting-types also can destroy special walls like Regice and Lickilicky, both of which Kadabra has no chance of getting past. While Kadabra is fast, there are still a few Pokemon that have a higher base Speed, such as Swellow, Electrode, Zebstrika, Ninjask, and Swoobat. Because most of these Pokemon are Electric-types or are weak to Rock-type moves, Golem is a good teammate, as its typing allows it to OHKO them with its STABs. As Kadabra is very hard to switch in, slow users of U-turn or Volt Switch, such as Ampharos, can be useful to allow Kadabra to switch in without having to take a hit.