Pokémon Day 7* Raid Event - Pikachu (Water-Type Tera)

[Perriechu]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1628033262026121216

Not exactly Greninja/Cinderace levels of difficulty, but Pikachu with the Mighty Mark and a Water tera-type is coming from the 24th February to the 27th February!

Rotom-Mow go brrrrr?

Guessing it's going to be a mix of Surf/Volt Tackle/Fighting move/Quick Attack? Double Team? - I wonder if they'll give it the Light Ball as a hold item? Either way, this one is going to be a push over.

Serebii also is reporting that Lucario/Bronzong will be the raid-support mons but I think that's a copy + paste error from Greninja.

Thinking that a master-raid event thread might be better than individual threads?

 

[Terimas]

Considering that Lightning Rod is basically guaranteed, Grass-types should be the way to go. Fortunately we do have a good selection of Grass-types that will be quite effective for raids.

Appletun has double resistance to Electric and Water, and its Apple Acid is extremely spammable due to the guaranteed SpDef drops. It only has to worry about Play Rough. Flapple can also work for physically offensive approach, although its a lot less bulky than Appletun. If you have a coordinated group, Gravity + Hustle could be very potent since Grav Apple's power is boosted by Gravity.

 

[Worldie]

Interesting. Speaking of grass types:

I doubt it'd be particularly difficult since there's only so many things Pikachu can do.

 

[R_N]

Can we just have a general event raid thread at this point

 

[Worldie]

Can we just have a general event raid thread at this point

We could, but as I said in the other one, honestly I think having a dedicated thread for each raid makes for easier search of the discussion / strategy (when it matters, anyway).
Not like there's much to be going in this subforum anyway.


Speaking of Pikachu instead...
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pikachu_(Pokémon)

I'm predicting a Nuzzle / Thunderbolt (Thunder?) / Grass Knot / Surf with one or more of Rain Dance / Electric Terrain / Nasty Plot as extra moves.
Screens are also a possibility, and Encore would be absolutely evil.

While definitely nowhere as dangerous as the previous mons, I'd not sleep too much on it. A combination of Nuzzle + setup and / or screens can make this snowball pretty harshly even with Pikachu's lower average stats, expecially considering that the Clear Smog pokemon we have access to are either awful or weak to Surf / Grass Knot except Amoongus.

In fact thinking of it, I think the shroom may be a given. I'll get it and Wo-Chien ready.

 

[lydian]

this is so sad :( why aren't they giving us new pokemon, at least make it alolan raichu instead >:(

 

[Perriechu]

this is so sad :( why aren't they giving us new pokemon, at least make it alolan raichu instead >:(

Interestingly the Raid event ends on the 27th at 3pm, rather than midnight - so there can still be a 7* raid event for March, that may be announced in the Direct. Water-tera Pikachu is something that can be easily caught in-game so I don't see them repeating it?

Can we just have a general event raid thread at this point

I think a master raid thread would be good, a sort of compilation of all potential strategies and move-sets for each Pokémon but then again as Worldie said it may get harder to find content - eh who knows, separate threads isn't causing much harm

 

[pika pal]

Support Gastrodon sees Pikachu and says "Free Food" for it. It can't do much for Direct Damage but it's safe to bring if you're being carried/trying not to die and can contribute accuracy drops via Mud Slap or Clear Smog if it has annoying boosts of any kind.

Whatever you use for damage, be sure to give it Covert Cloak if dealing with Nuzzle. If Brute Bonnet learned any good Grass Physical moves I'd say to consider it since Protosynthesis is another benefit to Sunning-out Rain Dance for Surf debuff/Thunder Accuracy. Tsareena might do alright with Trop Kick as a damage and Offense-down option in one, plus Leaf Guard saves it from Nuzzle and frees up an Item.

I think if this Raid ends up taking significant strategy, Sun is a good element to play around with. Barring that, a trick I mentioned seeing in another thread a few days ago might work: Skill Swap Polteageist. If Pikachu relies on Lightning Rod, removing that makes it SE-vulnerable to the ever-so-common Iron Hands and Miraidon people like to throw out online

 

[Worldie]

Support Gastrodon sees Pikachu and says "Free Food" for it.

Grass Knot is a thing btw

Also honestly I just love Wo-Chien for memes.
Leech Seed -> either Mud-Slap or Snarl spam -> Giga Drain to recover

Also lol the skill swap for Miraidon go brrrr seems like a good plan, I'll do that with friends.

 

[pika pal]

Grass Knot is a thing btw

Also honestly I just love Wo-Chien for memes.
Leech Seed -> either Mud-Slap or Snarl spam -> Giga Drain to recover

Also lol the skill swap for Miraidon go brrrr seems like a good plan, I'll do that with friends.

252 SpA Light Ball Pikachu Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Gastrodon: 240-284 (56.3 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

You're right this could be a problem if it's one of the Coverage moves, but we also predicted potential Gunk Shot on Cinderace and got a 2nd Azumarill Food (though Slowbro was better overall and held up going to Greninja). Also if it gets Grass Knot I would assume it won't have Play Rough or Brick Break or such, which would open other Grasses back up like Tickle Wo-Chien, and thinking about it I think basically everything will fail on a Water Absorb Clodsire Support.

I mention the Skill Swap Tech in particular because you can use it to turn online 7*'s into easier wins even with bad-Player partners, in case you hop onto Randos to farm more 7* Raid Rewards (since Pikachu is both easier and Lightning Rod is a sneakier noob-wall for the usual "Cover Legend" spam than the others just outpowering them).

 

[Worldie]

You're right this could be a problem if it's one of the Coverage moves, but we also predicted potential Gunk Shot on Cinderace and got a 2nd Azumarill Food (though Slowbro was better overall and held up going to Greninja). Also if it gets Grass Knot I would assume it won't have Play Rough or Brick Break or such, which would open other Grasses back up like Tickle Wo-Chien, and thinking about it I think basically everything will fail on a Water Absorb Clodsire Support.

Well I personally predict just a full special set with some utility

I'm predicting a Nuzzle / Thunderbolt (Thunder?) / Grass Knot / Surf with one or more of Rain Dance / Electric Terrain / Nasty Plot as extra moves.
Screens are also a possibility, and Encore would be absolutely evil.

I don't think it'll be hard anyway, but honestly any grass type should be able to faceroll it.

Definitely going to do skill swap with friends though.
t1 charge / charge / cheer / skill swap
t2 the -spdef thing + helping hand
t3 MURDER
+2 252 SpA Life Orb Hadron Engine Miraidon Helping Hand Electro Drift (133.3251953125 BP) vs. -6 0 HP / 0- SpD Vessel of Ruin Tera Water Pikachu in Electric Terrain: 17807-20955 (8439.3 - 9931.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
(I don't know how i'll sneak in a Chi You that doesn't get oneshot, but I will, even if i have to run sash tect something)
NODDERS

 

[CTNC]

(I don't know how i'll sneak in a Chi You that doesn't get oneshot, but I will, even if i have to run sash tect something)

You could bring it and do nothing. I'm not joking. They only attack when you use moves or cheer, so going AFK should work unless one of their HP/time threshold moves is an attack. Even then, you can use a Focus Sash like you said. I did nothing on purpose to avoid losing when doing the Charizard raid with my cousin because I wouldn't survive another turn and dying would make the timer run out.

Also, is Chi You auto correct?

 

[Worldie]

Also, is Chi You auto correct?

No, it's unironically me forgetting how to write

 

[Vengeance417]

For solo:

Appletun @ Miracle Seed / Roseli Berry*
Ability: Ripen
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA or 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA*
Modest / Bold* Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Apple Acid
- Recover
- Iron Defense*
- filler

Appletun easily solo's. Quad-resists STABs. Just click Apple Acid, then Tera Grass Apple Acid, and win. Boring...

...unless Pikachu is holding a Light Ball, has Play Rough, and has max Attack investment. I honestly doubt this'll be the case considering the track record of these 7* raids being extremely easy, hence the asterisks on Iron Defense, Roseli Berry, and the physdef Bold set (might not even be necessary due to the +1 Defense cheer T1, just have it there as an option).

Lurantis @ Miracle Seed
Ability: Contrary
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Sunny Day
- Synthesis
- Filler

Probably the more consistent choice.

 

[Count Bleck]

I think the possibility of it having Fly is being overlooked. Ever since the Charizard Raid each 7 star has had a few nasty surprises or coverage for the easy counters. I think such a glaring grass weakness is exactly the kind of bait theyd use to trick us before we get sent back to square one.

 

[R_N]

I think the possibility of it having Fly is being overlooked. Ever since the Charizard Raid each 7 star has had a few nasty surprises or coverage for the easy counters. I think such a glaring grass weakness is exactly the kind of bait theyd use to trick us before we get sent back to square one.

Fly would be less an "oh shit i'm about to get wrecked move" and more a "this is just annoying" move that makes it easier to set up tbh

 

[Vengeance417]

I think the possibility of it having Fly is being overlooked. Ever since the Charizard Raid each 7 star has had a few nasty surprises or coverage for the easy counters. I think such a glaring grass weakness is exactly the kind of bait theyd use to trick us before we get sent back to square one.

Strategy would be to use Protect on your Grass-types and have someone else lowering Pikachu's Speed.

 

[Terimas]

I believe Fly and other two-turn moves will fail in Tera raids, so that should not be a concern.

 

[Worldie]

I think the possibility of it having Fly is being overlooked. Ever since the Charizard Raid each 7 star has had a few nasty surprises or coverage for the easy counters. I think such a glaring grass weakness is exactly the kind of bait theyd use to trick us before we get sent back to square one.

Aside the whole unlikelyness of the raid having a 2 turn move (I don't think they actually fail, would be funny to try to give one to a ditto raid to see what happens tho), if it was any fully evolved mon, I'd definitely expect something like this, but considering Pikachu is... still Pikachu, regardless, and no matter what they give it, it's still a low BP mon, if they are looking for a challenge it's more likely to be on the line of "stupidly annoying" than via bruteforce.

That is why I said I am expecting Nuzzle to 100% be part of the moveset, and potentially Encore and/or Nasty Plot.

...that is, unless they just are making this raid as a freebie for Pokemon day, not dissimilar from Tandemaus and Delibird raids but just slightly less free, and they don't really plan to make it difficult and just a "go pick your lvl 100s and run it over".

 

[formula4speed]

As others have mentioned this probably won't be terribly difficult...but any reason not to bring someone with Skill Swap and just let Iron Hands do its thing?

My support Umbreon for example runs Skill Swap because Inner Focus is sort of useless for raid bosses. I'd probably just skill swap and then hit snarl for the rest of the battle.

 

[Worldie]

As others have mentioned this probably won't be terribly difficult...but any reason not to bring someone with Skill Swap and just let Iron Hands do its thing?

My support Umbreon for example runs Skill Swap because Inner Focus is sort of useless for raid bosses. I'd probably just skill swap and then hit snarl for the rest of the battle.

No real reason to not, expecially if paired with Miraidon for another nuclear boost to damage, but honestly Miraidon on its own gets the same value as Iron Hands better assuming there's no weird tricks

 

[Terimas]

As others have mentioned this probably won't be terribly difficult...but any reason not to bring someone with Skill Swap and just let Iron Hands do its thing?

My support Umbreon for example runs Skill Swap because Inner Focus is sort of useless for raid bosses. I'd probably just skill swap and then hit snarl for the rest of the battle.

The problem with negating Pikachu's Lightning Rod is that this would require team coordination which, at least with randoms, is not something that can be relied upon.

In contrast, strategies involving simply spamming Appletun's Apple Acid and Lurantis's Leaf Storm are very straightforward and should generally work well in any lobby.

 

[pika pal]

The problem with negating Pikachu's Lightning Rod is that this would require team coordination which, at least with randoms, is not something that can be relied upon.

In contrast, strategies involving simply spamming Appletun's Apple Acid and Lurantis's Leaf Storm are very straightforward and should generally work well in any lobby.

Randoms is exactly what I would suggest Skill Swap for. People still bring the Raidons to Fairy users or things immune to their STABs (imagine seeing Koraidon brought to a Tera Ghost Gardevoir), so anything to remove the Noob Traps so the idiots can Unga to victory is probably better odds than trying for Beatdown with them sandbagging on Lightning Rod, especially since wasted attempts at Electric Damage would buff a LR Pikachu's output to the point it might actually hurt.

 

[Worldie]

The problem with negating Pikachu's Lightning Rod is that this would require team coordination which, at least with randoms, is not something that can be relied upon.

In contrast, strategies involving simply spamming Appletun's Apple Acid and Lurantis's Leaf Storm are very straightforward and should generally work well in any lobby.

Randoms is exactly what I would suggest Skill Swap for. People still bring the Raidons to Fairy users or things immune to their STABs (imagine seeing Koraidon brought to a Tera Ghost Gardevoir), so anything to remove the Noob Traps so the idiots can Unga to victory is probably better odds than trying for Beatdown with them sandbagging on Lightning Rod, especially since wasted attempts at Electric Damage would buff a LR Pikachu's output to the point it might actually hurt.

What Pika-pal said, it's one of the reasons for which Mud-Slap was so good against Greninja: it gave a lot of extra leeway to people bringing suboptimal mons which may survive extra turns.

I mean, I won a raid with Garchomp on the team purely off the mud-slap misses...

 

[Terimas]

Tbh, it would just be faster to back out of a bad lobby and find a new one than try to salvage someone's bad choices.

That being said, Lurantis learns Worry Seed which means that you can still fit in ability negation into your set if you insist, without sacrificing the ability to go on offensive.