Top 100 Pokemon #80: Raikou

The Pokemon of this entry is part of a trio of Legendaries that have left a special legacy in the game series. In Gold and Silver, in the Burnt Tower at Ecruteak City, you could run into these three beasts, who'd then escape. Then, sometime later, you'd be wandering around the local routes, expecting fairly low-level Pokemon, when suddenly...

...that's no Raticate.

#80: Raikou

So you meet up with this Level 40 beast, expecting to be thoroughly trounced. You ready your strongest attack just in case, and...

...so much for worrying that I'd be thoroughly trounced.

Okay, so now you're a lot stronger and actually want to catch the guy. But now you've got two problems. One, he appears on random routes and warps to a random place any time you Fly. So you Fly to Ecruteak until he appears in one of the three routes around that city, then walk to another route and hope he ends up on your route. You spray on your Repels and get ready to encounter him, but what about his tendency to run away as soon as the battle starts? No problem; you've got a Pokemon with that new Mean Look attack that keeps a Pokemon from escaping. So you go into battle with Raikou, use Mean Look, and then...

Okay, now the game creators are just trolling us.

 At this point, you crank up Eye of the Tiger on your stereo (fittingly enough) and start a grueling process of finding Raikou, putting him to sleep (the only way to keep him from running or Roaring), weakening him, and throwing those Fast Balls Kurt made for you until he wakes up and gets away again, and then you repeat the process over and over until it finally clicks (the Poke Ball, that is).

Then, several years later, HeartGold and SoulSilver come out, and you get to do it all over again, except this time, Raikou can run away even when he's sleeping!

"We meet again... and I've learned how to sleepwalk."

Needless to say, Raikou and his buddies Entei and Suicune have left their mark on the Pokemon world as the first roaming Legendaries. Putting aside from the sheer frustration of trying to catch them, though, Raikou is definitely my favorite of the three.

Embodying the speed of lightning (estimated at 50 km/s with much variance), Raikou is conceptually based on the Raijū, a Japanese mythological beast of lightning, which just sounds cool all on its own. His design is also great, being a tiger with thunderstorm motifs and that awesome lightning tail.

The clouds cannot contain the awesomeness of that tail.

As a Legendary Pokemon, you can expect that Raikou will easily rise up to the challenge of his rivals. Raikou sports a Base 115 Special Attack and Speed, making him a very literal Lightning Bruiser, hitting both hard and fast. Having a Base 100 Special Defense with a Base 90 HP is nothing to laugh at either, especially with Pressure as an ability and Calm Mind in his arsenal.

Raikou is pretty limited in attacks. You have Thunderbolt or Thunder for a main STAB and Volt Switch for keeping momentum, which is great for sheer power; however, for coverage, aside from Hidden Power, you only have moves like Extrasensory, Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, or Aura Sphere and Weather Ball if you have that one Event Raikou that is locked into a Rash nature. Pairing attacks with Calm Mind and perhaps Substitute is a great idea, allowing Raikou to become a fearsome threat both offensively and defensively.

As a final note, Raikou is also awesome in Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs, where you can ride on his back and jump over large gaps like a boss.

Riding on the backs of legendary thunder beasts wasn't in the job description for being a Ranger...

Next time: Apparently, even ancient mechanical engineers liked going green.