Raikou as a gym generalist

I think Raikou remains a top tier Pokemon in all aspects. The best legendaries article which includes future proofing says about as much.

If electivire or magnezone get too close due to getting ideal movesets, Raikou will still generally be superior, but not worth the Investment of taking from level 15 (or even 25) with rare candies and Stardust, versus taking a weather boosted magnemite or electabuzz from level 30+ with common candies.

If you've already started powering a Raikou and got use out of it already, it will remain a great investment because of the past use and still being top tier for at least all of Gen 4. If you haven't started one yet though, there's no reason to start now (at least wait to see how good the gen 4 electrics are).

Also noting that as a generalist, I think Exeggutor is probably the best Machamp blocker atm (psychic moves and resisting fighting), and Raikou is also resisted due to grass typing. So as a generalist he may be a bit overrated, but I guess it depends on your gym meta. After the normal tanks, Exeggutor is one of the next most common in gyms here for that reason (although wailord and milotic feature prominently too).

A lot, mostly as soon we'll have Garchomp, who isnt weak to machamp or kyogre, Rhyperior who while weak to kyogre most players seem too paranoid about origin pulse to power up. A common sight among gyms here are nido's, venasaur, all pokemon that dont take much from machamp and can wall out Raikou with their resistances, in gen IV theres torterra (grass ground)

The only real defender it advantages over is Gyarados who still is easy to deal with by using tyranitar, most people use bite/outrage as its defensive moveset, not waterfall/hydropump

But that's all without factoring in Raikou's level, its level 15, to get it to a level it will be usable will require a lot of rarecandy, and that is what will kill it, Rarecandy will be much better spent on the gen IV legendaries or even mewtwo and rayquaza as they have guaranteed advantages over numerous legendaries and raid bosses, as opposed to a sometimes useful for gym offense Raikou that only matches Suicune and Kyogre which can both be easily dealt with by using nonlegendaries (the only exception really being againt blizzard kyogre), Electivire and magnazone are on the horizon, and might take Raikou's usefulness in both high DPS and TDO respectively if given the right moves (and even if not given them, they'll be more accessible and not require rare candy) as well as the guaranteed superior Zekrom that will outclass raikou

It isnt that Raikou's bad, its still good, its just that theres not much reason to power up as something else can do its job better or cheaper and be a pokemon that has far more use in other circumstances

My gym attacking line up has always been three maxed out Machamps, a maxed Mewtwo, a maxed Latios, and a maxed Ttar. I haven’t seen a gym that wasn’t easy to take down with that lineup. I wouldn’t see a use for Raikou. Other than a Gyarados, but Latios usually takes him down and can dodge outrage and hydro pump easily.

They need to change something with the gym system. It gets boring when you can have an army to take down any gym without much effort. Please allow a legendary or two. Allow ten gym defenders. No more Golden’s. Golden raz makes a 5-10 minute gym take down become a 30 minute gym take down. I would rather know each gym I set up for will take 20 minutes or less. So I know if I want to take down 3 tower gyms, I need an hour.

For a Raid setting, Raikou is a very good specialist. For a gym setting, it started off well, but I wouldn't use it for generalist purpose now.

He used to be one of the better (if not actually the 2nd best generalist after dragonite) when he was first released. Good generalist typing, high DPS for the time.

Now with a wealth of other options exist. Kyogre has higher DPS and is considerably tankier. Latios has higher DPS. Ray has same DPS with the flying moveset.... you see where i'm getting at.

Try taking down a blissey with Raikou. It is pretty disappointing. It doesn't have a saving grace like Ttar against a psychic/normal blissey which Ttar can tank it gracefully. Raikou does not tank anything blissey throws as it nor does it have any valuable resistances to any common attacking threats in a gym.

Many of us like Raikou, we have one maxed and maybe another at 35. We want Raikou to be important/essential, but it isn't right now nor will it be soon. If you want, take one to level 30, it'll work good in a specialist role. Just don't put a real investment into it.

TBH, are multiple massive Groudon needed either? If/when Groudon returns, might see me continue to do 0.75 raids a day.

I will never stop praising Raikou as a gym generalist. My team is 4 Machamps, Mewtwo and Raikou and I haven't seen a gym that it doesn't take down fast. Anything Machamps struggles against, either Raikou or Mewtwo takes down well, sometimes even being an optimal counter. But I don't think I'd have maxed it for this purpose, if we're being totally honest, I'd just be using something else that can cover Machamp's and Mewtwo's weak matchups.

I tried using my Lvl 30 rai against blissmiss, and i won! Rai with TS/WC is very verstille.

I think Raikou is probably one of my favorite legendaries, if not my absolute favorite to date, and mine has been a staple on my gym team since the day I maxed it out.

For my gym gameplay, I don't like using duplicate species on my teams. Personally, I find that boring. My current go-to team is:
- Fighting: Machamp
- Water: Kyogre
- Dragon: Latios
- Electric: Raikou
- Fire: Charizard (with Blast Burn)
- Psychic/Ghost: Mewtwo

I'll occasionally swap out one type with another of a different species just for a change of scenery (like Moltres for Charizard). Everything except my Raikou, that is. It has been my one mainstay on my primary team, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

You are thinking about this too much, you need 1 raikou for gyarados, machamps because blissey and others, and honestly your good with dragonite/rayquaza and 1 or 2 proper ttar for the rest.