Competitive Information for Pikachu [X/Y]
Electric
Abilities:
Movesets for Singles
What is a good competitive moveset for Pikachu? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in X/Y 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 X/Y generation metagame.
Pikachu is a notable Electric-typed Pokemon. Pikachu is not a Pokemon anyone usually expects sees on the battlefield. Pikachu's only type-related weakness is Ground.
Item: Light Ball / Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Volt Tackle / Wild Charge
- Double-Edge / Return
- Knock Off
- Brick Break / Seismic Toss
Physical Sweeper Pikachu (Lightning Rod)
Pikachu is popular Physical Sweeper. It's purpose is 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. With Lightning Rod, Pikachu draws electric moves to itself to raise sp. atk by 1; electric immunity.
♦ Wild Charge is a physical STAB-boosted 90-base power Electric-type move (has 1/4 recoil).
♦ Double-Edge is a physical 120-base power Normal-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Knock Off is a physical 65-base power Dark-type move (1.5x damage if foe holds an item; Note: This will also remove that item).
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, unless the target is immune).
♦ Seismic Toss is a physical 0-base power Fighting-type move (does damage equal to your Pikachu's level).
Item: Light Ball / Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Thunderbolt / Discharge
- Surf
- Signal Beam
- Round / Snore
Special Sweeper Pikachu (Lightning Rod)
Pikachu is a spectacular 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. With Lightning Rod, Pikachu draws electric moves to itself to raise sp. atk by 1; electric immunity.
♦ Discharge is a special STAB-boosted 80-base power Electric-type move (30% chance to paralyze adjacent pokemon).
♦ Surf is a special 90-base power Water-type move (hits adjacent pokemon. double damage on dive).
♦ Signal Beam is a special 75-base power Bug-type move (10% chance to confuse the target).
♦ Round is a special 60-base power Normal-type move (power doubles if others used round this turn).
♦ Snore is a special 50-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 pretty popular Physical Wall. This moveset attempts 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).
Item: Light Ball
Ability: Static
Nature: Mild (+SpA, -Def)
EVs: 128 Atk / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Electro Ball
- Volt Tackle
- Quick Attack
- Thunderbolt
Pikachu Mixed Sweeper (Pikachuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu)
Pikachu is popular Mixed Sweeper. With Static, 30% chance a pokemon making contact with Pikachu will be paralyzed. This is the pikachu used by ash:same moves and ability, just edited to make it usable.
♦ Volt Tackle is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Electric-type move (has 33% recoil. 10% chance to paralyze target).
♦ Quick Attack is a physical priority-increased 40-base power Normal-type move (usually goes first).
♦ Thunderbolt is a special STAB-boosted 90-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
Item: Light Ball
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Nuzzle
- Grass Knot
- Volt Tackle
- Fake Out
Pikachu Physical Sweeper (Volt Tackle )
Pikachu is a remarkable Physical Sweeper. It's primary goal is to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. With Lightning Rod, Pikachu draws electric moves to itself to raise sp. atk by 1; electric immunity.
♦ Grass Knot is a special 0-base power Grass-type move (more power the heavier the target).
♦ Volt Tackle is a physical STAB-boosted 120-base power Electric-type move (has 33% recoil. 10% chance to paralyze target).
♦ Fake Out is a physical priority-increased 40-base power Normal-type move (hits first. first turn out only. 100% flinch chance).
Movesets for Doubles
What is a good doubles moveset for Pikachu? These builds have been optimized for X/Y 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 X/Y generation metagame.
Item: Light Ball / Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Volt Tackle / Wild Charge
- Double-Edge / Return
- Knock Off
- Brick Break / Seismic Toss
Doubles Physical Sweeper Pikachu (Lightning Rod)
Pikachu is a pretty decent Physical Sweeper. It's primary goal is 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. With Lightning Rod, Pikachu draws electric moves to itself to raise sp. atk by 1; electric immunity.
♦ Wild Charge is a physical STAB-boosted 90-base power Electric-type move (has 1/4 recoil).
♦ Double-Edge is a physical 120-base power Normal-type move (has 33% recoil).
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Knock Off is a physical 65-base power Dark-type move (1.5x damage if foe holds an item; Note: This will also remove that item).
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, unless the target is immune).
♦ Seismic Toss is a physical 0-base power Fighting-type move (does damage equal to your Pikachu's level).
Item: Light Ball / Focus Sash
Ability: Lightning Rod
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Discharge / Electroweb
- Surf
- Signal Beam
- Round / Snore
Doubles Special Sweeper Pikachu (Lightning Rod)
Pikachu is a wonderful Special Sweeper. It's purpose 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. With Lightning Rod, Pikachu draws electric moves to itself to raise sp. atk by 1; electric immunity.
♦ Electroweb is a special STAB-boosted 55-base power Electric-type move (100% chance to lower the foes speed by 1 stage).
♦ Surf is a special 90-base power Water-type move (hits adjacent pokemon. double damage on dive).
♦ Signal Beam is a special 75-base power Bug-type move (10% chance to confuse the target).
♦ Round is a special 60-base power Normal-type move (power doubles if others used round this turn).
♦ Snore is a special 50-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 decent Special Sweeper. It is primarily designed to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. With Lightning Rod, Pikachu draws electric moves to itself to raise sp. atk by 1; electric immunity. 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 90-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
♦ Thunder is a special STAB-boosted 110-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.
Damage Modifiers:
Combo List
These are a list of several common move combinations Pikachu can perform in X/Y. 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 XY 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
- Item: Blunder Policy + Move: Dynamic Punch
- Moves with Priority: Bide, Quick Attack, Endure, Protect, Extreme Speed, Fake Out, Follow Me, Helping Hand, Feint
- Moves that Break Screens: Brick Break
Optimize Pikachu's EVs for X/Y
Related Videos
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