Raichu-Alola
Stats: 60/85/50/95/85/110
Typing: Electric/Psychic
Ability: Surge Surfer
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch
-Psychic
-Psyshock
-Tera Blast
-Grass Knot
-Surf
-Focus Blast
-Nasty Plot
-Draining Kiss
Notable Losses
-Rising Voltage
-Knock Off
Pros
+Under Electric Terrain, Raichu-Alola is one of the fastest unboosted Pokemon in the entire game, outspeeding the likes of Quark Drive Iron Valiant, Swift Swim Basculegion and Zamazenta with ease; with Timid it can even outspeed Lilligant-Hisui under Sun before it boosts. This potentially makes Raichu-Alola a solid revenge killer on fast-paced offense teams.
+Raichu-Alola's movepool allows it to hit most Pokemon in the tier super-effectively. Psychic STAB bypasses normally solid Electric answers like Great Tusk, Clodsire and Amoonguss, which Raichu-Alola also backs up with a great variety of coverage options like Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Surf and Draining Kiss.
+Volt Switch allows it to keep up momentum against Pokemon it may struggle to break.
Cons
-Raichu-Alola is entirely dependent on Electric Terrain for the crux of its niche, which currently requires either the very niche Pincurchin or manual Terrain.
-Raichu-Alola packs no defensive utility, with lackluster bulk and key weaknesses to Ground, Ghost and Dark. As such, it also only fits on fast-paced offense teams.
-Raichu-Alola is vulnerable to opposing priority due to its low physical bulk, in particular the common Sucker Punch.
-Raichu-Alola suffers from 4MSS, as on top of its STAB combination it wants Nasty Plot to break through walls, Focus Blast/Draining Kiss for Dark types, Surf for Lando and Heatran, Grass Knot as a more reliable option for Garganacl and Ting-Lu and Volt Switch to keep up momentum.
-Raichu-Alola's initial power isn't too notable, so it has to run a boosting item like Life Orb and is often dependent on super-effective hits to rack up serious damage.
Potential Tera Type
- Fighting/Fairy: Both of these types flip your weakness to Sucker Punch while allowing you to hit Dark types harder to pick up KOs Raichu may otherwise struggle with. Which one largely depends on which anti-Dark coverage you go for, with Focus Blast the more preferable option due to its higher power and ability to decimate Kingambit.
- Electric: Since you're already pairing with Electric Terrain, Tera Electric does let you squeeze the most out of Electric STAB.
- Grass: Flipping Ground moves lets you comfortably take EQ from Clodsire and Ting-Lu; you also now reliably 2HKO Lu with Grass Knot. It also serves as an emergency option versus boosted Lilligant-Hisui, as Leaf Blade would otherwise OHKO at +1.
Potential Sets
Standard Revenge Killer
Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
Tera Type: Fighting/Electric
EVs: 4 Def/252 SpA/252 Spe; Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Focus Blast
-Surf/Grass Knot
Probably the most straight-forward, this set simply focuses on hitting as many things as hard as possible. STAB Terrain-boosted Thunderbolt is your go to move, with Psychic STAB depending on whether you care more about hitting Great Tusk or Clodsire. Focus Blast is necessary for Dark types, particularly Kingambit, while Surf lets you 2HKO incoming Lando and more reliably pick off Heatran; Grass Knot alternatively lets you more reliably hit Garganacl and Ting-Lu. Volt Switch can be handy if paired with a U-turn user, allowing you to switch out of unfavorable match-ups. You can use Tera Fighting to play around Sucker Punch or Electric to get more damage out of Terrain-boosted Thunderbolt. Life Orb provides an extra kick while retaining flexibility, as being Choice locked can easily make you lose momentum versus prediction. Modest Nature gives you better damage output, though you do consequently fall short of Swift Swim Floatzel and potentially unboosted Chlorophyll Lilligant-Hisui, while Timid outpaces both.
Wallbreaker?
Raichu-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Surge Surfer
Tera Type: Fighting/Fairy
EVs: 4 Def/252 SpA/252 Spe; Timid/Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
-Nasty Plot
-Thunderbolt
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Focus Blast/Draining Kiss
The aim of this set is to take advantage of the offensive threats that will want to switch out against you, using their switch to set up Nasty Plot and become more threatening versus defensive cores. For instance, +2 Psychic cleanly OHKOs Amoonguss while +2 Thunderbolt is likely to OHKO Kingambit after one round of Spikes. This boosted power lets you potentially substitute Draining Kiss as your anti-Dark coverage, which can't miss and can potentially keep you out of range of weaker attacks; Tera Fairy can be used on Draining Kiss variants over Tera Fighting.
Verdict:
Raichu-Alola has a small niche thanks to its speed under Electric Terrain, but only fits on a fairly specific kind of team due to its frailty and its main selling point being support reliant. The fact that the one Electric Terrain setter right now is itself barely clinging onto viability means Raichu-Alola has no chance of becoming an OU staple, and in general I think this is going to wipe out and get swept right to NU or PU. But at the very least it can accomplish- something in OU. Gnarly.
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