DPPt/HGSS Raichu help

[GodlessM]

I've got a Raichu that I need to select two moves and an item for.

He is high attack, spc. attack, and speed, low defenses, already has Thunderbolt and Volt Tackle, what other two moves should I give him do you think, and what item?

 

[KoL]

First of all, it's a Raichu - of course its going to have stats like that because all of them do. You need to show what Nature and EV spread (if any) you have on the thing as well.

Also, Thunderbolt + Volt Tackle is immediately poor. Two attacks of the same type on a moveset is almost always a bad move, and in this case, you definitely don't want both moves.

 

[GodlessM]

Mild nature, haven't spread EV's yet, but will probably focus on speed and attack.

I'm not the most competitive so am new enough to this. The reason with two attacks of the same kind, suppose he runs out of one? And one is physical while the other is special.

 

[Tatile]

If you have two attacks of the same type, as a general rule you'll get walled by another type, in this case Ground or Rock critters. Also, it doesn't matter if you run out of PP for a move, if that happens then you either need to switch or you're just beating into a sponge.

 

[GodlessM]

Guess that is a good way to put it, thanks. Well, I was considering taking Iron Tail or Focus Punch in case someone swaps in a Rock type so I guess then I could do that, drop Thunderbolt, and focus some more EV's on Attack.

 

[KoL]

Ah, Mild Nature, that works very well for you - your Sp.Attack increases at the cost of some of your Defense. The Sp.Attack raise is very useful, and the Defense drop isn't really too much of a loss since Raichu's defense is typically too low to stand up to much abuse anyway.

With that, I'd go for a moveset like this:

Raichu @ Life Orb/Focus Sash
252 SP.ATK/252 SPEED/6 HP
Mild
Static

- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Focus Punch
- Substitute

Special attacks are the main focus for this set since your Nature supports that the most. Thunderbolt is your STAB move of choice here - you CAN use Volt Tackle, although the most prominent threats that fear Thunderbolt (Skarmory and Gyarados mostly) don't tend to fear the physical Volt Tackle as much due to massive Defense for Skarmory and Intimidate on Gyarados, plus with the Nature boosting your Sp.Attack odds are Thunderbolt would outdamage Volt Tackle anyway if your Sp.Attack is significantly greater than your Attack. Grass Knot can bring the pain to Ground-types easily - since most of them are very heavy, Grass Knot will hit them extremely hard; Rhyperior and Swampert especially won't be able to last long against you. Finally, since you mentioned Focus Punch and it makes for a great option, it's there along with Substitute - Sub up when you predict something is about to hit you with a status move, then smash them with a crushing Focus Punch for massive damage. Blissey and Umbreon especially fear this combination.

 

[GodlessM]

That certainly sounds like a plan, I'm just very reluctant to get rid of Volt Tackle after trading to get it, if you understand what I mean.

 

[KoL]

It's understandable, and I would check Volt Tackle for a bit to see how effective it is - no matter how you slice it, once Volt Tackle gets removed from the moveset it can't ever be gotten back. I would definitely try it with Volt Tackle in place of Thunderbolt for a bit to see how well it works - you'll need to re-arrange your EVs in order to make up for the change if you choose to do that.

 

[GodlessM]

Yea you are right.

While I am talking about my team I might as well ask some advise on my Milotic.

It's got a Bold nature, Marvel Scale, spread is currently 255D/130HP and I want to know should I max the HP even though it is high, or should I put a little into SpA or SpD even though they are high naturally?

Also, it has Surf, Rest, and Ice Beam. What should be the last move? The idea is to have the berry that awakens the Pokemon on as the item, use Rest to induce the effects of Marvel Scale and immediately wake up with a boosted defense then try hit 'em hard as they attempt to chip away.

 

[KoL]

This is my personal favourite moveset for Milotic:

Milotic @ Leftovers
252 HP/252 SP.DEF/6 DEF
Calm
Marvel Scale

- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Dragon Pulse/Ice Beam
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Talk about abusing the hell out of Marvel Scale - Rest Talking Milotic is able to stuff all EVs into HP and Sp.Defense and still keep its Defense stat pretty high. You can put more EVs into Defense if you choose to, although Milotic is generally a better Special Wall than it is Physical. The attack moves you select are fairly simple - Surf/Hydro Pump for STAB - Sleep Talk makes Hydro Pump's 5 PP a non-issue since it takes no PP from any moves it randomly selects, although if you're leery about its accuracy then Surf is always a good option. Dragon Pulse is typically favoured as the second move since it prevents you from being walled by Water-types, but the offensive coverage that Ice provides does make it viable. Up to you really.

 

[GodlessM]

Well unfortunatley that's not possible as I already have defense maxed out, which I thought would have worked great to top up with the Bold nature and Marvel Scale. Perhaps it may go OTT, but at least Milotic's SpD is raising quickly still and is quite high.

I think I might take a risk of the HP and throw the rest of the EV's at SpD, at least the HP can be bumped with HP Up's and restored with rest.

Anyway, thanks for all the help, things are going pretty smoothly will be testing these two out soon.

 

[GodlessM]

Actually looking at that Raichu build again I couldn't help notice that you suggest to max EVs on SpA yet half of the moves are physical attacks. Any particular reasoning behind this?

 

[KoL]

Use the edit function on your posts next time - double posting is against the rules.

For Milotic, if it isn't already Lv.100 you can feed it the Happiness Berries (unofficial term) which causes Milotic to like you more, but lose EVs off a given stat. Using the Berries to drop your Defense down can help you re-evaluate its stats.

As for Raichu, the only physical move on it is Focus Punch, which you probably won't be using a great deal anyway since it is very situational. Plus, since you stand almost no chance of OHKO'ing foes like Blissey, Regice and Umbreon with it anyway, I put all the EVs on the two Special Attacks you'd be using all the time, as opposed to giving the boost to the Physical Attack you would not be using as often. With Volt Tackle in place of Thunderbolt, then you'd need to alter your EV spread accordingly since having 252 EVs in Sp.Attack for Grass Knot only would be silly

 

[Fumanshu]

Can you even lower your EVs to 0 with those berries, or just to a certain amount? I think I've read somewhere that they just lower it to 100

 

[Stark]

If the EVs are under or equal to 100, then it will lower it by 10. If it is above 100, using one will lower the EVs to 100.

So if in doubt, use eleven

 

[Souloux]

There's always a possiblity to breed another pichu. If the Raichu is male he could just pass down Volt Tackle to the offspring.