Competitive Information for Pikachu [Diamond/Pearl]
Electric
Abilities:
Movesets for Singles
What is a good competitive moveset for Pikachu? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in Diamond/Pearl Single Battles. The movesets and EVs have been specifically calibrated to deal the most amount of damage to the largest group of potentially common opponents and typing threats for the Diamond/Pearl generation metagame.
Pikachu is an interesting Electric-typed Pokemon. Pikachu is not a Pokemon anyone usually expects sees on the battlefield. Pikachu's only type-related weakness is Ground.
Item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Static
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Volt Tackle / Thunder Punch
- Double-Edge / Return
- Brick Break / Seismic Toss
- Fly
Physical Sweeper Pikachu (Static)
Pikachu is an extraordinary Physical Sweeper. It tries to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Focus Sash helps protect Pikachu from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Life Orb boosts the power of Pikachu's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Static, 30% chance a pokemon making contact with Pikachu will be paralyzed.
♦ Thunder Punch is a physical STAB-boosted 75-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
♦ Double-Edge is a physical 120-base power Normal-type move (has 1/3 recoil).
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, even if the target is immune).
♦ Seismic Toss is a physical 0-base power Fighting-type move (does damage equal to your Pikachu's level).
♦ Fly is a physical 90-base power Flying-type move (flies up on first turn, then strikes the next turn).
Item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Static
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Thunderbolt / Discharge
- Surf
- Signal Beam
- Snore
Special Sweeper Pikachu (Static)
Pikachu is an awesome Special Sweeper. It's primary goal is to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Focus Sash helps protect Pikachu from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Life Orb boosts the power of Pikachu's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Static, 30% chance a pokemon making contact with Pikachu will be paralyzed.
♦ Discharge is a special STAB-boosted 80-base power Electric-type move (30% chance to paralyze adjacent pokemon).
♦ Surf is a special 95-base power Water-type move (hits adjacent pokemon. power doubles on dive).
♦ Signal Beam is a special 75-base power Bug-type move (10% chance to confuse the target).
♦ Snore is a special 40-base power Normal-type move (Pikachu must be asleep. 30% chance to flinch target).
Item: Light Ball
Ability: Static
Nature: Naughty (+Atk, -SpD)
EVs: 252 Hp / 33 Atk / 225 Def
Moveset:
- Brick Break
- Endure
- Reversal
- Agility
Pikachu Physical Wall (Light Ball Pika)
Pikachu is an awesome Physical Wall. It's primary goal is to take a decent amount of physical hits while dealing some decent damage. With Static, 30% chance a pokemon making contact with Pikachu will be paralyzed.
♦ Endure is a status move (Pikachu survives attacks this turn with at least 1 hp).
♦ Reversal is a physical 0-base power Fighting-type move (more power the less hp your Pikachu has left).
♦ Agility is a status move (raises your Pikachu's speed by 2 stages).
Movesets for Doubles
What is a good doubles moveset for Pikachu? These builds have been optimized for Diamond/Pearl Double Battles. They have movesets and EVs specifically calibrated to generally work best versus multiple Pokemon at once as well as helping to support other team members and allys in the Diamond/Pearl generation metagame.
Item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Static
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Volt Tackle / Thunder Punch
- Double-Edge / Return
- Brick Break / Seismic Toss
- Fly
Doubles Physical Sweeper Pikachu (Static)
Pikachu is pretty popular Physical Sweeper. It's designed to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Focus Sash helps protect Pikachu from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Life Orb boosts the power of Pikachu's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Static, 30% chance a pokemon making contact with Pikachu will be paralyzed.
♦ Thunder Punch is a physical STAB-boosted 75-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
♦ Double-Edge is a physical 120-base power Normal-type move (has 1/3 recoil).
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, even if the target is immune).
♦ Seismic Toss is a physical 0-base power Fighting-type move (does damage equal to your Pikachu's level).
♦ Fly is a physical 90-base power Flying-type move (flies up on first turn, then strikes the next turn).
Item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Static
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Discharge / Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Signal Beam
- Snore
Doubles Special Sweeper Pikachu (Static)
Pikachu is an extraordinary Special Sweeper. It is meant to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Focus Sash helps protect Pikachu from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Life Orb boosts the power of Pikachu's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Static, 30% chance a pokemon making contact with Pikachu will be paralyzed.
♦ Thunderbolt is a special STAB-boosted 95-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
♦ Surf is a special 95-base power Water-type move (hits adjacent pokemon. power doubles on dive).
♦ Signal Beam is a special 75-base power Bug-type move (10% chance to confuse the target).
♦ Snore is a special 40-base power Normal-type move (Pikachu must be asleep. 30% chance to flinch target).
Item: Light Ball
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Naive (+Spe, -SpD)
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Grass Knot
- Fake Out
- Protect
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
Pikachu Special Sweeper (Double-battle Pikachu)
Pikachu is a notable Special Sweeper. It's primary goal is to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. This Pikachu is really more of a 2v2 style build.
Use Fake Out first to allows your partner to use a support moves (Tailwind, Icy Wind, or Spore) for an easier second turn.
Thunderbolt is Pikachu's main STAB move, which does plenty of damage to anything that doesn't resist it. The alternative Thunder is a harder-hitting option should only be used with rain teams since its horrible accuracy without the rain isn't worth the extra damage.
Grass Knot is an excellent way for Pikachu to smack a wide variety of Pokemon with super effective damage Especially those super heavy Ground- and Rock-types likes Rhyperior, Gastrodon, Tyranitar, and Terrakion.
Protect is useful to allows Pikachu to last longer during battle, and it allows your teammates to give Pikachu to power up and go on the offensive.
♦ Fake Out is a physical priority-increased 40-base power Normal-type move (hits first. first turn out only. 100% flinch chance).
♦ Protect is a status move (prevents moves from affecting your Pikachu this turn).
♦ Thunderbolt is a special STAB-boosted 95-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
♦ Thunder is a special STAB-boosted 120-base power Electric-type move (30% chance to paralyze. can't miss in rain).
Movepool
Wondering what moves can Pikachu learn? Here is the list of moves this Pokemon can learn in this selected generation.
Sort and organize the learnset by move type, category, accuracy, and power. Bolded moves will gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) if this Pokemon uses them.
Combo List
These are a list of several common move combinations Pikachu can perform in Diamond/Pearl. Not every combo going to be game-changing, but some can be pretty fun to play with. Sometimes these can be easily overlooked or forgotten, hence why we find and list them here. Discover what items, abilities, and moves this Pokemon can use in combination with each other to gain a strategic advantage in competitive battles.
Competitive DP Move and Ability Combos for Pikachu
- Moves: Defense curl + Rollout
- Moves: Rain dance + Thunder
- Moves: Endure + Flail
- Moves: Endure + Reversal
- Moves: Endure + Endeavor
- Moves: Rest + Sleep talk
- Move: Fling + Item: King's Rock
- Move: Facade + Item: Flame Orb
- Move: Facade + Item: Toxic Orb
- Move: Endeavor + Item: Focus Sash
- Moves with Priority: Bide, Quick Attack, Endure, Protect, Fake Out, Follow Me, Helping Hand, Feint
- Moves that Break Screens: Brick Break
Create a build
Have an idea in mind for Pikachu that you'd like to test? Customize the IVs, EVs and their Diamond/Pearl moveset. This area allows you to examine the typing coverages of selected moves and stat variances.
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