Gen 1 RBY OU Raichu (QC 1/1) (GP 1/1)

[NotVeryCake]

[OVERVIEW]

Raichu carves out a niche for itself in OU as the only fully evolved Electric-type with access to Water-type coverage; this lets it almost always OHKO Rhydon and Golem, which other Electric-types, such as Jolteon and Zapdos, are walled by. Raichu can use its unique coverage to force paralysis past usual paralysis absorbers, such as Starmie and Chansey, and onto foes that will usually attempt to avoid paralysis, such as Exeggutor and Alakazam.

However, Raichu is 3HKOed at best by most physical attacks and loses one-on-one to nearly every physical attacker. It also gives free entry to Grass-types, such as Victreebel and Exeggutor, and is effectively forced stay in and absorb Sleep Powder. It competes with Jolteon and Zapdos, which, aside from lacking Surf, are better in almost every way. Raichu is able to perform as a decent mixed attacker, but it is too frail, too vulnerable to status, and too weak to make up for it in the vast majority of situations.

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Submission
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thunderbolt 2HKOes Starmie, Cloyster, and Slowbro, 3HKOes Tauros and Lapras, and deals decent damage to other foes, such as Snorlax and Alakazam. Raichu can use Thunder Wave to push paralysis past usual paralysis absorbers such as Starmie and Chansey, as they are weak to Thunderbolt and Submission, respectively. Submission 3HKOes Chansey and does slightly more damage than Thunderbolt to Snorlax and Tauros. The recoil from Submission can also work in Raichu's favor, since if Raichu KOes itself with recoil against Chansey, the turn ends and Chansey can't heal off the damage. Surf OHKOes Rhydon 87.2% of the time and always OHKOes Golem.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Surf and Submission are both droppable within reason, as Rhydon and Golem still have to fear the potential of Raichu having Surf, and Submission's accuracy and recoil make it unreliable even for its intended purpose; Raichu can drop either one. Seismic Toss 4HKOes Exeggutor, Alakazam, and Jolteon and is Raichu's best option to hit Exeggutor. Body Slam has an 87.7% chance to 4HKO Jolteon and a slim chance to 4HKO Chansey. It also 6HKOes Exeggutor, but it is generally lacking in power and Raichu would much rather run Submission or Seismic Toss. Hyper Beam 2HKOes Jynx and Alakazam and deals decent damage to other foes, such as Chansey and Jolteon. Agility can be used to outspeed faster foes, such as Alakazam, even if Raichu is paralyzed.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Exeggutor**: Exeggutor walls Raichu's usual coverage and threatens back with status and a strong Psychic. However, Exeggutor is outsped and dislikes taking paralysis. Seismic Toss helps alleviate this slightly, as it 4HKOes Exeggutor.

**Chansey**: Raichu without Submission cannot pressure Chansey that well, 7HKOing it at best with Thunderbolt and almost always 5HKOing it with Body Slam, while Chansey can easily status and wear down Raichu in return. Even with Submission, Chansey can paralyze Raichu and try to heal off the damage in many situations, given Submission's 80% accuracy.

**Snorlax**: Snorlax 2HKOes Raichu with Earthquake and 3HKOes it with Body Slam, while Raichu can only 4HKO it in return with Thunderbolt.

**Jolteon**: Jolteon with Rest walls Raichu without Body Slam, and while it can't do much damage to Raichu, Jolteon will wear down Raichu over time. However, a sleeping Jolteon is extremely exploitable and can be forced out with ease by the likes of Tauros.

**Alakazam**: Alakazam 3HKOes Raichu with Psychic and walls it with Recover, although Alakazam hates paralysis.

**Gengar and Tauros** Gengar and Tauros both outspeed Raichu and threaten it with Hypnosis and Earthquake, respectively. However, they both dislike paralysis and can't switch into Raichu's attacks well.

[CREDITS]
Wriiten by:
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[Amaranth]

Raichu carves out a niche for itself in OU as the only Electric type in the entire game with access to water type coverage; (semicolon) this lets it almost always OHKO Rhydon and Golem, who other Electric types such as Jolteon and Zapdos are walled by. Raichu can use its mixed unique coverage to force paralysis past usual paralysis absorbers such as Starmie and Chansey and onto foes that will usually attempt to avoid paralysis such as Exeggutor or Alakazam, and Snorlax.

mostly grammar tweaks; wouldn't include Snorlax in things that attempt to avoid paralysis since he can and does Rest it off quite often in many gamestates, and it doesn't really love eating tbolts anyway

However Raichu is 3HKOed at minimum by nearly every single unresisted physical attack in the tier, losing the 1v1 vs nearly every physical attacker. It also gives free entry to grass types such as Victreebel and Exeggutor, being forced to switch out or - at best - stay in and absorb Sleep Powder sleep if sleep clause is not activated. It also competes as an electric type with Jolteon and Zapdos, who aside from lacking Surf Raichu's coverage, are better in almost every way. Raichu, while being able to perform as be a decent mixed attacker, is too frail, vulnerable to status, and simply doesn't hit hard enough to make up for it in a vast majority of situations cannot hit that hard physically nor specially, its also crippled by paralysis, as a paralyzed Raichu is useless vs Rhydon and Golem.

again, mostly saying the same things but better

Surf OHKOes Rhydon 87.2% of the time and OHKOes Golem, it also 2HKOes Sandslash.

cut the sandslash mention, it's not relevant

The mere threat of Surf is enough to nearly always force Rhydon and Golem out, which means it can be dropped for another move as Rhydon and Golem will usually not stay in vs Raichu. Seismic Toss 4HKOes Exeggutor, Alakazam, and Jolteon, being Raichu's best option to hit Exeggutor.

i don't agree with this and would honestly move SToss to OO altogether; hitting Eggy is nice, but anything that drops surf is likely just not it (run Jolteon or Zapdos instead). Tweak the subsequent OO section accordingly - have a paragraph that says something like "Surf and Submission are both droppable within reason as Rhydon and Golem still have to fear Surf, and Submission's accuracy and recoil make it unreliable even for its intended purpose; you can drop either one if your team needs something else", then go on to explain the Something Elses (SToss, HB, Slam, Agility)

Exeggutor and Victreebel
Exeggutor and Victreebel switch into Raichu for free while Raichu cant do that much to them in return. Taking paltry damage from Thunderbolt and Body Slam and only being 4HKOed by Seismic Toss while they can either sleep Raichu or 3HKO it in return. However Exeggutor and Victreebel dislike paralysis and this will result in them getting paralysed.

would not mention victreebel at all as it is virtually OHKOed by thunder wave. would also simplify this to "Exeggutor walls Raichu's usual coverage and threatens back with status or strong Psychic", no need to go on for too long

Rhydon and Golem
Rhydon and Golem completely wall Raichu that lack Surf, OHKOing it while taking negligable damage from Seismic Toss and next to nothing in return from Body Slam. Rhydon and Golem also beat Surf Raichu once its paralysed.

cut this entirely. surfless raichu is pretty bad and people should not be sending their rock types on raichu

Chansey
Raichu without Submission cannot pressure Chansey that well, 7-8HKOing it with Thunderbolt and almost always 5HKOing it with Body Slam while being quickly statused and worn down over time. Even with Submission, Chansey can Thunder Wave Raichu and try to heal off the damage in many situations, given Submission's 80 accuracy paired with chances of full paralysis.

just adding a bit more context. also probably chansey should be way higher on this list, it's the default defensive answer to Raichu probably just after exeggutor

Gengar
Gengar switches into all of Raichu's attacks and shrugs them off with ease, outspeeding it and getting off a free Hypnosis if sleep clause is not activated.
Tauros
Tauros 2HKOes Raichu with Earthquake while Raichu only 3HKOes it in return. Although Tauros hates paralysis with an iron fist and will usually avoid it.

i would group these two together as they both hate paralysis, don't particularly love switching into Raichu's attacks in general, but they both outspeed and threaten it (with EQ and Hypnosis of course) if the gamestate allows them to get in position. they are pretty soft checks but probably good enough to be mentioned here


post again in this thread when you've implemented this stuff and i'll give it another look, thank you

 

[Amaranth]

looks fine enough, QC1/2 will harrass some other qc member to give this a look

 

[Amaranth]

since if Raichu KOes itself from recoil vs Chansey, the turn ends and Chansey cant heal off the damage.

would add this to clarify for people who are unfamiliar with the mechanic

other than that, this looks good enough to send to GP with just a QC1/1, so you can go ahead

 

[NotVeryCake]

GP Team check this when you can please

 

[Sabelette]

GP 1/1 GP Team done

Please read the standards before your next one to save me some time on really basic stuff ty

Hide

[OVERVIEW]

Raichu carves out a niche for itself in OU as the only Electric-type (hyphen) in the entire game (not really needed + if we wanna be pedantic, pikachu has it too) with access to water type Water-type coverage; this lets it almost always OHKO Rhydon and Golem, who which other Electric-types, (hyphen, AC) such as Jolteon and Zapdos, (AC) are walled by. Raichu can use its unique coverage to force paralysis past usual paralysis absorbers, (AC) such as Starmie and Chansey, (AC) and onto foes that will usually attempt to avoid paralysis, (AC) such as Exeggutor or and Alakazam. (AP)

However, (AC) Raichu is 3HKOed at best by most physical attacks and loses one-on-one to nearly every physical attacker at minimum by nearly every single unresisted physical attack in the tier, losing the 1v1 vs nearly every physical attacker. It also gives free entry to grass types Grass-types, (AC) such as Victreebel and Exeggutor, being forced to - at best - and is effectively forced stay in and absorb Sleep Powder. It also competes as an electric type with Jolteon and Zapdos, who which, (AC) aside from lacking Surf, are better in almost every way. Raichu, (AC) while being is able to perform as a decent mixed attacker, but it is too frail, too vulnerable to status, and simply doesn't hit hard enough too weak to make up for it in a the vast majority of situations.

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Submission
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

Thunderbolt is Raichu's strongest STAB move, 2HKOing 2HKOes Starmie, Cloyster, and Slowbro, 3HKOing 3HKOes Tauros and Lapras, and doing deals decent damage to other foes, (AC) such as Snorlax and Alakazam. Raichu can use Thunder Wave to push paralysis past usual paralysis absorbers such as Starmie and Chansey, (AC) as they are weak to Thunderbolt and Submission, respectively due to being 2HKOed by Thunderbolt and 3HKOed by Submission. Submission 3HKOes Chansey and does slightly more damage than Thunderbolt to Snorlax and Tauros. The recoil from Submission can also work in Raichu's favor, since if Raichu KOes itself from with recoil vs against Chansey, the turn ends and Chansey can't heal off the damage. Surf OHKOes Rhydon 87.2% of the time and always OHKOes Golem.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
(remove all the random new lines)
Surf and Submission are both droppable within reason, (AC) as Rhydon and Golem still have to fear the potential of Raichu having Surf, and Submission's accuracy and recoil make it unreliable even for its intended purpose; you Raichu can drop either one if your team needs something else. Seismic Toss 4HKOes Exeggutor, Alakazam, and Jolteon, (RC) being and is Raichu's best option to hit Exeggutor. Body Slam has an 87.7% chance to 4HKO Jolteon, (AC) and a slim chance to 4HKO Chansey. It also rolls has a chance (put the chance please, this is randomly inconsistent with other calcs here) to 6HKO Exeggutor, but (AC) . (RP) Although it is generally lacking in power and Raichu would much rather run Submission or Seismic Toss. (This is not a sentence) Hyper Beam 2HKOes Jynx and Alakazam, (RC) aswell as doing and deals decent damage to other foes, (AC) such as Chansey and Jolteon. Although it is generally worse than Submission or Body Slam. (This is not a sentence either) Agility can be used to outspeed faster foes, (AC) such as Alakazam, (AC) even if Raichu is paralyzed such as Alakazam.

Checks and Counters
===================
(please format these correctly for any future analyses)
Exeggutor
**Exeggutor**: Exeggutor walls Raichu's usual coverage and threatens back with status or and a strong Psychic. However, (AC) Exeggutor is outsped and dislikes taking paralysis. (You could reiterate that Stoss can make this matchup less bad here so this isn't such a short, random sentence)

Chansey
**Chansey**: Raichu without Submission cannot pressure Chansey that well, 7-8HKOing 7HKOing it at best with Thunderbolt and almost always 5HKOing it with Body Slam, (AC) while Chansey can easily status and wear down Raichu in return being quickly statused and worn down over time. Even with Submission, Chansey can Thunder Wave paralyze Raichu and try to heal off the damage in many situations, given Submission's 80% accuracy paired with chances of full paralysis.

Snorlax
**Snorlax**: Snorlax 2HKOes Raichu with Earthquake and 3HKOes it with Body Slam, (AC) while Raichu can only 4HKO it in return with Thunderbolt.

Jolteon
**Jolteon**: Jolteon with Rest walls Raichu without Body Slam, and while it can't do much damage to Raichu itself, Jolteon will wear down Raichu over time. However, (AC) a resting sleeping Jolteon is extremely exploitable, (RC) and can be forced out with ease by the likes of Tauros.

Alakazam
**Alakazam**: Alakazam 3HKOes Raichu with Psychic and walls it with Recover, although Alakazam hates paralysis.

Gengar and Tauros
**Gengar and Tauros** Gengar and Tauros both outspeed Raichu and threaten it with Hypnosis and Earthquake, (AC) respectively. Although However, they both dislike paralysis and can't switch into Raichu's attacks all that well. (Again, not a sentence, pretty much any sentence you start with "Although" is a fragment)

[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/notverycake.625260/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/amaranth.265630/
Grammer checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/

 

[NotVeryCake]

Implemented

 

[Amaranth]

uploaded