Alakazam
Dec 20, 2011 19:58:35 GMT -8
Post by t3h Icy on Dec 20, 2011 19:58:35 GMT -8
General
HP: 313
Attack: 198
Defense: 188
Speed: 338
Special: 368
CH Chance: ~23.4%
Type: Psychic
Weaknesses: Bug
Neutrals: Electric, Fighting, Fire, Flying, Grass, Ground, Ice, Normal, Rock, Water
Resistances: Fighting, Psychic
Immunities: Ghost
Movepool: Bide, Body Slam, Confusion, Counter, Dig, Disable, Double Team, Double-Edge, Flash, Hyper Beam, Kinesis, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Metronome, Mimic, Psybeam, Psychic, Psywave, Rage, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Seismic Toss, Skull Bash, Submission, Substitute, Take Down, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Tri Attack
Overview
Alakazam is a powerhouse, having colossal Special, and very high Speed, while being Physically weak and fragile. Psychic is a very dominant type in RBY, and Alakazam has everything a good Psychic needs. The main abilities with Alakazam is being able to spread Paralysis easily with Thunder Wave, while being difficult to KO too having Recover and Reflect to cover for his Defense. Alakazam also does high damage with Psychic, though he is very one-dimensional offensively, and can be easily walled.
Usage
Thunder Wave
Psychic
Recover
Reflect / Seismic Toss / Counter
Alakazam's moveset isn't very flexible, but it has all he needs. Psychic is Alakazam's only real attack, where Seismic Toss is useful for battling other Psychics, such as Exeggutor, Starmie and an opposing Alakazam. Thunder Wave with Alakazam's Speed allows him to Paralyze most Pokemon and his durability by using Recover and Reflect allow him to stay around for a long time and spread more Paralysis, while doing some good damage with Psychic. Counter is mainly a gimmick option to catch Normals off-guard but not recommended for regular usage.
Alakazam can also be used as a lead to take sleep while Paralyzing the opponent's lead Pokemon. In this case, Seismic Toss is recommended over Reflect, because Alakazam will be asleep for most of the battle, and by the time he awakens, he can sweep. That's not always the case though, and Reflect can still be useful for leads, especially if the player wants to use up some of the sleeping turns, for a quicker awakening later, or wants more of an advantage against Tauros and Snorlax instead of the common stallers.
Alakazam is fairly user-friendly, but can be used for more advanced tactics. For example, Alakazam can fight Chansey fairly well, and potentially KO her through Special Falls, Critical Hits and Full Paralysis if the opponent is stubborn to switch. Alakazam can also stall out some Pokemon by playing defensively, and slowly chipping away with Psychic.
Other possibilities include using Kinesis to lower Accuracy to help force switches if desired and to support Alakazam in stall wars, and Psybeam alongside with Psychic for additional PP. Both are not recommended normally, but may be useful in specific situations.
Counters
Alakazam will Paralyze anything not Ground, and will do some good damage to anything not Psychic-typed or able to take Special attacks will. When facing Alakazam, you must accept Paralysis, as Golem and Rhydon can't take out Alakazam on their own. However, most Pokemon that can stall Alakazam such as Starmie, Chansey and another Alakazam carry Thunder Wave themselves. From there, a player can do some minor damage and switch out when the Special falls become too much. Alakazam often has Reflect, so if you can safely switch a Physical in before he uses it, Alakazam can be KO'd quickly. Again, Alakazam is a lot easier to battle with when he's Paralyzed, but you have to accept that your Pokemon may be Paralyzed too.
For specific counters, Golem and Rhydon can battle Paralyzed Alakazam well, so long as he doesn't use Reflect. They can safely be switched in if Alakazam uses Thunder Wave. Tauros has a high enough Critical Hit chance that it's not uncommon for him to CH and pierce through Reflect, but Snorlax on the other hand can't. Alakazam is also easily KO'd by Explosion and Self-destruct, again, without Reflect and preferably Paralyzed. Persian's Slash is also very effective against Reflect Alakazam, but for him to defeat Alakazam, Persian can't be Paralyzed while Alakazam should be. Exeggutor is overall one of the best choices, being common and useful otherwise, resisting his Psychic attacks, and carrying Sleep Powder and Explosion very often. Remember though that if you use Explosion, to make sure Alakazam is damaged enough or at least Paralyzed so the following Pokemon can finish him off.
Dugtrio is a good choice for one-on-one scenarios, as his Speed is tied, and can 2HKO with Earthquake, while Slash can handle Reflect, but Alakazam can also 2HKO Dugtrio, so the battle is left to luck, and can be risky.
Due to Alakazam being a one-dimensional Pokemon offensively with Psychic and how difficult it can be to safely take him out, it's easiest to just stall him with Chansey or Psychic-type Pokemon and decrease his Psychic PP, and worry about Alakazam late in the game, when a player can hit Alakazam hard with Tauros and Snorlax. Remember that Alakazam tends to use Recover when low on HP, so leaving him slightly damaged may keep him from Recovering, which will help KO him later with Physicals.
Also with Chansey, unless you're desperate for a Freeze with Ice Beam, always use Thunder Wave. Attempting to Freeze mean Alakazam won't be Paralyzed and has three luck-based factors that will beat Chansey down (Critical Hits, Special Falls and Chansey being Fully Paralyzed). Only go for a Freeze if it's necessary to win.
HP: 313
Attack: 198
Defense: 188
Speed: 338
Special: 368
CH Chance: ~23.4%
Type: Psychic
Weaknesses: Bug
Neutrals: Electric, Fighting, Fire, Flying, Grass, Ground, Ice, Normal, Rock, Water
Resistances: Fighting, Psychic
Immunities: Ghost
Movepool: Bide, Body Slam, Confusion, Counter, Dig, Disable, Double Team, Double-Edge, Flash, Hyper Beam, Kinesis, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Metronome, Mimic, Psybeam, Psychic, Psywave, Rage, Recover, Reflect, Rest, Seismic Toss, Skull Bash, Submission, Substitute, Take Down, Teleport, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Tri Attack
Overview
Alakazam is a powerhouse, having colossal Special, and very high Speed, while being Physically weak and fragile. Psychic is a very dominant type in RBY, and Alakazam has everything a good Psychic needs. The main abilities with Alakazam is being able to spread Paralysis easily with Thunder Wave, while being difficult to KO too having Recover and Reflect to cover for his Defense. Alakazam also does high damage with Psychic, though he is very one-dimensional offensively, and can be easily walled.
Usage
Thunder Wave
Psychic
Recover
Reflect / Seismic Toss / Counter
Alakazam's moveset isn't very flexible, but it has all he needs. Psychic is Alakazam's only real attack, where Seismic Toss is useful for battling other Psychics, such as Exeggutor, Starmie and an opposing Alakazam. Thunder Wave with Alakazam's Speed allows him to Paralyze most Pokemon and his durability by using Recover and Reflect allow him to stay around for a long time and spread more Paralysis, while doing some good damage with Psychic. Counter is mainly a gimmick option to catch Normals off-guard but not recommended for regular usage.
Alakazam can also be used as a lead to take sleep while Paralyzing the opponent's lead Pokemon. In this case, Seismic Toss is recommended over Reflect, because Alakazam will be asleep for most of the battle, and by the time he awakens, he can sweep. That's not always the case though, and Reflect can still be useful for leads, especially if the player wants to use up some of the sleeping turns, for a quicker awakening later, or wants more of an advantage against Tauros and Snorlax instead of the common stallers.
Alakazam is fairly user-friendly, but can be used for more advanced tactics. For example, Alakazam can fight Chansey fairly well, and potentially KO her through Special Falls, Critical Hits and Full Paralysis if the opponent is stubborn to switch. Alakazam can also stall out some Pokemon by playing defensively, and slowly chipping away with Psychic.
Other possibilities include using Kinesis to lower Accuracy to help force switches if desired and to support Alakazam in stall wars, and Psybeam alongside with Psychic for additional PP. Both are not recommended normally, but may be useful in specific situations.
Counters
Alakazam will Paralyze anything not Ground, and will do some good damage to anything not Psychic-typed or able to take Special attacks will. When facing Alakazam, you must accept Paralysis, as Golem and Rhydon can't take out Alakazam on their own. However, most Pokemon that can stall Alakazam such as Starmie, Chansey and another Alakazam carry Thunder Wave themselves. From there, a player can do some minor damage and switch out when the Special falls become too much. Alakazam often has Reflect, so if you can safely switch a Physical in before he uses it, Alakazam can be KO'd quickly. Again, Alakazam is a lot easier to battle with when he's Paralyzed, but you have to accept that your Pokemon may be Paralyzed too.
For specific counters, Golem and Rhydon can battle Paralyzed Alakazam well, so long as he doesn't use Reflect. They can safely be switched in if Alakazam uses Thunder Wave. Tauros has a high enough Critical Hit chance that it's not uncommon for him to CH and pierce through Reflect, but Snorlax on the other hand can't. Alakazam is also easily KO'd by Explosion and Self-destruct, again, without Reflect and preferably Paralyzed. Persian's Slash is also very effective against Reflect Alakazam, but for him to defeat Alakazam, Persian can't be Paralyzed while Alakazam should be. Exeggutor is overall one of the best choices, being common and useful otherwise, resisting his Psychic attacks, and carrying Sleep Powder and Explosion very often. Remember though that if you use Explosion, to make sure Alakazam is damaged enough or at least Paralyzed so the following Pokemon can finish him off.
Dugtrio is a good choice for one-on-one scenarios, as his Speed is tied, and can 2HKO with Earthquake, while Slash can handle Reflect, but Alakazam can also 2HKO Dugtrio, so the battle is left to luck, and can be risky.
Due to Alakazam being a one-dimensional Pokemon offensively with Psychic and how difficult it can be to safely take him out, it's easiest to just stall him with Chansey or Psychic-type Pokemon and decrease his Psychic PP, and worry about Alakazam late in the game, when a player can hit Alakazam hard with Tauros and Snorlax. Remember that Alakazam tends to use Recover when low on HP, so leaving him slightly damaged may keep him from Recovering, which will help KO him later with Physicals.
Also with Chansey, unless you're desperate for a Freeze with Ice Beam, always use Thunder Wave. Attempting to Freeze mean Alakazam won't be Paralyzed and has three luck-based factors that will beat Chansey down (Critical Hits, Special Falls and Chansey being Fully Paralyzed). Only go for a Freeze if it's necessary to win.