Alakazam

[Tyranitarphantom]

Alakazam

The classic RBY monster has taken a large fall from grace, falling down to RU. With it's Dream World ability, Magic Guard, having just been released, it has improved greatly, though this means he probably won't stay in RU for too long. Unfortunately, the most dominant Pokemon in the tier are Bug and Dark-types (Honckrow, Venomoth, Sharpedo, Yanmega, namely). Despite this, Alakazam's blistering speed and tremendous Special Attack make him a huge offensive prescense. So, discuss possible sets for the Psi Pokemon here!

Possible sets:

Alakazam @ Life Orb / Choice Scarf
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Modest / Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
-Focus Blast
-Psychic
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power [Rock] / Energy Ball / Trick

Magic Guard prevents Toxic and entry hazard damage, which is excellent. It gets nearly perfect coverage with Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast. Life Orb makes it insanely powerful, with no drawbacks, but it's naturally high speed and a Choice Scarf could allow it to outrun some dangerous Swift Swimmers, or a Yanmega after a single Speed Boost, hitting them with Energy Ball (mainly for Omastar and Kabutops) or Hidden Power Rock, respectively. Trick can be used with Choice Scarf to cripple Munchlax, Cresselia, and the like.

Alakazam @ Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Psyshock
-Focus Blast

This thing can get past Alakazam's usual counters (Cress and Lax). LO is needed to get the 2HKO on Cress at +6, while with lefties, you have a lot more longevity.

 

[Jaetheho]

i would suggest a leftovers+sub set for all those pesky protect/speed boost yanmegas.

also, trick to crippl cresselia and munchy

 

[Chieliee]

I've been running a CM set.

Alakaboom@ Life Orb/Leftovers
252 Sp.Atk 252 Speed Timid.
Synchronise
-Substitute
-Calm Mind
-Psyshock
-Focus Blast

This thing can get past Alakazam's usual counters (Cress and Lax). LO is needed to get the 2HKO on Cress at +6, while with lefties, you have a lot more longevity.

 

[Nails]

Alakazam gets knock off, encore, trick, screens... tons of stuff to mess up potential counters. eg use knock off on a munchlax and it can't switch into Yanmega. Tends to mess up honchkrow as it depends on either its life orb or its choice scarf to cause damage. Knock off is just a generally good move. Encore on a fast pokemon is very useful and can force switches which are generally advantageous.

 

[Forever aLone]

I would / trick in with the energy ball/hp rock as its great on choiced sets to screw over walls like munchlax or ferroseed

 

[forthwright]

Ah man, Alakazam is one of my all time favorites! I remember when I first started playing competitively and saw that it was UU (back in the good ol' D/P days) and I was kind of mad. But then I realized that it just meant I could use his MIGHTY POWER on the lower tiers :D

Anyway, the set I usually use would be Timid/Specs with Energy Ball in UU and up, but Trick/HP [Rock] would do wonders in RU. However, one must be wary not to Trick a Specs onto a Yanmega, especially considering it could outspeed Alakazam and set up a Substitute. The way I see it, then, is to use Energy Ball/HP[Rock] if you go with Specs, or Trick if you go Scarfed seeing as a Scarf is pretty useless on his and RUs top 3 threats (Cresselia [Bulky Pokemon like Cresselia really hate being Choice locked into setup/support moves]/Yanmega [It's already fast, and if one decided to use Substitute and then get Tricked a Scarf it's pretty much game over]/Venomoth[Being locked into Quiver Dance would suck). Another option would be Psyshock for things like Chansey and for general wallbreaking applications at the cost of a measly 10 BP.

 

[SharKing]

I made CounterZam somewhat popular some time ago. Here's the latest version.

Hasty / Focus Sash / Inner Focus
- Counter
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Focus Blast / Signal Beam
- Taunt
4 HP / 252 Sp. Attack / 252 Speed

It's all about being a pseudo-lead and irritating the foe in numerous ways, the main one being Counter. That move is like a nuclear bomb to all non-Ghost-type physical attackers, since they'll most likely bring it down to the sash. The best kind of foe to face with this is definitely a Scarfed U-turner like Primeape; since they'd outspeed anyway, Alakazam moving last wouldn't seem suspicious. The foe would go to a wall like Cresselia to laugh off a Psychic or something, then watch in surprise and terror as their ultimate meat shield gets completely obliterated. The Psychic STAB move is just there to be a Psychic STAB move, but either one can murder stuff like Venomoth; Psyshock has no problem killing one that already has Q-Dances set up. Focus Blast is for Dark-types, though Signal Beam is viable for reliability. Taunt shuts down walls and stops setup and hazards.

 

[waterwarrior]

LO is needed to get the 2HKO on Cress at +6

Who in their right mind would let you get up to +6? It's not like its Cress while it has insane bulk, where even some physical attackers may fail to break its Sub.

And also, I've been running the set mentioned in the OP, but with a Focus Sash, usually put in the lead position.

 

[Molk]

what about a sub+3 attacks set, could sucker punch sucker punchers right back. while also allowing zam to take a hit.

 

[The 1 and Only Lady Gaga]

I made CounterZam somewhat popular some time ago. Here's the latest version.

Hasty / Focus Sash / Inner Focus
- Counter
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Focus Blast / Signal Beam
- Taunt
4 HP / 252 Sp. Attack / 252 Speed

It's all about being a pseudo-lead and irritating the foe in numerous ways, the main one being Counter. That move is like a nuclear bomb to all non-Ghost-type physical attackers, since they'll most likely bring it down to the sash. The best kind of foe to face with this is definitely a Scarfed U-turner like Primeape; since they'd outspeed anyway, Alakazam moving last wouldn't seem suspicious. The foe would go to a wall like Cresselia to laugh off a Psychic or something, then watch in surprise and terror as their ultimate meat shield gets completely obliterated. The Psychic STAB move is just there to be a Psychic STAB move, but either one can murder stuff like Venomoth; Psyshock has no problem killing one that already has Q-Dances set up. Focus Blast is for Dark-types, though Signal Beam is viable for reliability. Taunt shuts down walls and stops setup and hazards.

You might consider maxing out HP to deal the most damage with Counter. Alakazam with this spread only has 252 HP, Focus Sash brings it down to 1 HP, so it will deal 251 x 2 = 502 HP of damage, Chansey's HP ranges from 641-704, thus it will not KO, unless you have entry hazards if the opponent U-turns to a Chansey.

 

[SharKing]

Chansey's UU. Everything that has more HP than Drifblim (base: 150; max: 504) is banned from RU. Therefore, there's no point in raising HP.

 

[waterwarrior]

Chansey's HP ranges from 641-704, thus it will not KO, unless you have entry hazards if the opponent U-turns to a Chansey.

And that's the only opportunity you'll be able to actually use Counter on Chansey.

 

[HuntSaboteur]

I started the CounterZam thing, not SharKing, he didn't make it popular. I haven't seen another one since. I think at one point I might have made Amoonguss popular for a day though.

 

[elchupo]

I started the CounterZam thing, not SharKing, he didn't make it popular. I haven't seen another one since. I think at one point I might have made Amoonguss popular for a day though.

Sorry to burst your bubble but CounterZam has been around since at least Gen 3. So I doubt you made it "popular".

 

[ParaChomp]

Call it odd, but I've been using an Alakazam with Guard Split lately and results have been quite good.

 

[Molk]

Call it odd, but I've been using an Alakazam with Guard Split lately and results have been quite good.

that sounds interesting, you are essentially lowering the opponents defenses while raising yours. If you catch something like mandibuzz on the switch and cripple them

 

[SharKing]

I was just saying that I gave the set a short burst of popularity in RU when I was playing avidly. I know it's been around since Gen. III (though it only really worked since IV, when the Focus Sash was introduced).

 

[Redjar]

that sounds interesting, you are essentially lowering the opponents defenses while raising yours. If you catch something like mandibuzz on the switch and cripple them

Now i want to try an eviolite Kadabra w/ Guard swap/recover/toxic/something else...

 

[ParaChomp]

that sounds interesting, you are essentially lowering the opponents defenses while raising yours. If you catch something like mandibuzz on the switch and cripple them

Yeah, it works quite well if you can pull it off. The standard Shuckle this generation inspired this set however, unlike Shuckle, Alakazam can and will sweep and has access to Recover and Magic Guard (not released yet but it will be quite useful on the Guard Split set once released).

Now i want to try an eviolite Kadabra w/ Guard swap/recover/toxic/something else...

I would get rid of Toxic and just use Toxic Spikes support (and more entry hazard support for that matter since there will be a lot of switches). For the last 2 slots, use Focus Blast or Hidden Power (fighting) in tandem with Psychic, Psyshock, or Shadow Ball.

 

[SharKing]

If I recall correctly, Kadabra can't learn Focus Blast, so it's stuck with HP Fighting.

 

[ParaChomp]

If I recall correctly, Kadabra can't learn Focus Blast, so it's stuck with HP Fighting.

Forgot he was talking about Kadabra. If you want to play it extremely risky, you could use Calm Mind and Signal Beam. It's not recommended and if you're wondering, why Signal Beam, it's because there's a Pokemon (bar Shedinja) that is immune to the rest of Alakazam's moves (bar Hidden Power).

You could use the same strategy with Beheeyem once NU comes out although that really doesn't matter here unless Alakazam gets the boot to UU (which I don't see happening).

 

[Molk]

Alakazam now gets magic guard, its been released in the spooky manor

 

[BTzz]

Alakazam now gets magic guard, its been released in the spooky manor

looks like Zam's time in RU is almost done :(

this thing is crazy with Magic Guard. It's gets so many chances to switch in now

 

[Nanoswine]

Fortunately (or unfortunately) this change has come at the end of a suspect period and the end of the month, meaning it probably won't be reflected in the usage stats.

So say hi to another OP special attacker for the first round of RU testing >_>

 

[Pocket]

LOL Cresselia is a sad psychic mon.