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Raikou Overrated?

Why does Raikou have such a high rating? I understand it is the best electric Pokémon and probably will be for a long time, but who uses him as a generalist over dragonite or tyranitar? Exeggutors are easier to level and can do just as well if not better in vape raids. In my area I haven’t found a reason to use any electrics taking down gyms or raids. You will also need to burn rare candies. What am I missing on Raikou?

Asked by chief7 years 6 months ago

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Have you used it? I do, and it’s a beast attacking everything that doesn’t resist electric but maybe Blissey

I have two at 3157, and love them as well.

My favorite use is for the second and third sweep through full health gyms. Wild Charge being a two bar move, is more flexible for carrying over a charge move to more quickly do away with the next defender.
TS and WC are fairly short, so it is very easy to dodge charge moves as necessary.

Im jealous and sounds fun to use but I’m not gonna invest rare candies in a mon to sweep weakened gyms

For my preference, I prefer using Dragonite for 2nd and 3rd sweep through the gym... Dragonite attacks are far more powerful than Raikou.. So far, I haven't invest and power up my Raikou coz I am still trying to decide whether to use Zapdos or Raikou as my main Electric attackers.. Big dilemma as I usually don't like to choose between 2 of the same type Pokemons... Lol

Raikou is currently a better choice, because of it’s available moves.

Actually, you could include Blissey on that list. Thundershock and Wild Charge is devastating. I would reach my generalists as Dragonite > Raikou > Tyranitar >>>>> everyone else (including my leveled Exeggutors). Also, in America, I haven't battled Suicune yet so there's that too. If they ever being back legendary bird raids, he ought to be a supreme counter to Moltres and Articuno while being a good counter to Zapdos.

So is Raikous primary use as a backup generalist to dragonite?

Raikou is the mvp when soloing vaporeon. It's no contest with anyone else. I guess he's a backup to Dragonite, but as others have mentioned, wild charge hits fast and outrage hits slow. It's a subtle difference, but it makes wild charge feel better than outrage in many cases.

Many players already have a lineup to solo vaporeon without raikou. He would make it quicker though

Are you sure Zapdos is not MVP too for soloing Vaporeon and Gyarados? Both Zapdos and Raikou has about the same rankings.

Gyrados is not currently a raid boss. Raikou is currently better than Zapdos because of it’s access to Thundershock and Wild Charge.

It's actually much better versus vape then egg is check on pokebattler a full 20 second advantage over exeggutor (15%). Agree that you are unlikely to use him as a generalist but he is not going to be challenged as the top attacker into water for a long time, barring rebalances.

So he’s good for vape/suicine raids? What else would you use him for?

Only my top Golem beats my Raikous with Ho-Oh, so add Ho-Oh.

I feel the same way about Mewtwo. Even soloing Machamp i prefer to use Alakazam and even Moltres over Mewtwo.

Wild Charge is one of the best 2 bar moves in the game. Only outrage does more at 110 and outrage is far slower, and a couple others tie it at 90.

If you are sweeping a gym on that 2nd or 3rd run, 12bar moves finish off pokemon more efficiently than 1.

I hate tyrantir as a sweeper. Crunch sucks in duration and Stone Edge is low damage 1 bar

You're right about Dragonite is a better generalist, but I'd take Raikou over Tyrantir for most gyms

Shadow Ball does 100 in 3.0 secs

Weirdly enough, I found my high-level SP/FB gengar clears gyms absurdly well. That's mostly due to the sheer number of normal-types in my area. Everyplace is a snorlax/blissey/chansey by me, and gengar resists most of those movesets (normal and fairy) while doing full (non-STAB) damage. So, even with the low HP, I can normally clear a full-CP gym with a gengar, or if need be one more pokemon to clear.

Snorlax's moveset can be problematic, but shrug.

Raikou is very strong, and it is uncommon for high-damage Pokemon to have moves that are so good for dodging. It is VERY comparable to a Dragonbreath/Hurricane Dragonite in terms of move speed and overall damage (except Raikou's Wild Charge is two-bar)

I'd pick Raikou over Dragonite if the gym consist of a bunch of normal + vaporeon/gyarados. This is just speculating as I have no access to Raikou yet.

The truth is if you don't have enough rare candies, all legendaries can be replaced by regular pokemons. It is especially true in current meta, which is not challenging at all.
But it is the problem with current game, not Raikou itself. Raikou is still the most powerful electric type but current game just doesn't give it much chance to shine.

That’s what I was thinking which is why I asked the question. Based off the responses a lot of people feel like raikou is a worthy investment. I’ve only done a couple raids since the birds and only have 100 rare candies which I planned to use on mewtwo

You should’ve just asked if Raikou was worth the rare candy investment over Mewtwo, in which case everyone would have said no. However, of all the other legendary Pokémon Raikou has proven the best investment. I also value diversity for my gym sweepers. I also value performance in raids. That equates to more damage and therefore more damage bonus, more chances to catch, more rewards, and more rare candy. Anyway, it’s all about personal preference and I happen to like quick fast moves, two bar charge moves, and I think the dodge animation is sweet. I agree with the high rating and if you don’t you are in the minority.

If performance and utility in raids lugia would be the option to power up I think. I was just trying to get some opinions from other players on raikou

I feel as those too many players are placing too much value on raids. The current state of raids won't last, so I don't understand why people would power up just for these specific raids and not the general future.
I couldn't care less about "solo raiding", so I place no value on that part.

Lugia is really only useful for Machamp raids.

Raikou is a beast! If anything it is underrated, I plan on powering up a second one soon. Just look at this simulator versus Suicine, it easily outclasses everything and is a solid generalist to boot.

How is Jolteon that much worse than Raikou?

Raikou has higher stats and access to a better charge move(Wild Charge).

Thought Zapdos will be faster as it has higher attacking stats than Raikou

I have 2 perfect raikou. They are my ride or die for sure.

Agree with what's already been said: Raikou is not overrated. It's become my favorite mon and is one of only 4 that I have maxed.

Did you not catch a good one? WAH. WAH.

Who uses it over Dragonite and Tyranitar?

Us who don't have those two.

Also those of us who understand type effectiveness and enjoy using a diverse set of Pokémon. I fail to find any fun in defaulting to Dragonite and tapping my screen to plow through gyms with no thought processes behind it.

To be honest, I rarely even change the autoselect for gym fighting. It's how my SP/FB gengar, Es/SoB Egg, and RT/Eq golem get so many battles. The game really, really loves those, and I can't be bothered to grab the machamp/raikou/etc to go just a little faster.

For some reason the game really doesn't like my CP3300 dragonite or CP3200 tyranitar....