My Pika Problem

[SmashAura4]

Ok, so here's the scoop. I was lucky enough to find myself a Light Ball in my Pearl game. I didn't even know I had it untill I went through my PC. So I make myself a pichu with the supermove volt tackle. My pichu then evolves into pikachu. So I give him the light ball, and I was thoroughly impressed. Out of my whole roster, I never had a problem with pikachu, untill now that is. I'm nearing the end of the game, and pokemon are starting to hit a lot harder than they used to. Suddenly, I find myself a thunderstone. And so I come to the point of this topic:

Should I evolve my pikachu?

Light ball doubles it attack and special attack, but does nothing for it's defense, which bothers me considerably. It's already fast, but I keep thinking about that darn defense. If I were to evolve him, he'd be much stronger and be able to take a few hits. So should I use the thunderstone, or keep my pikachu/light ball combo?

 

[zrky]

Ok, so here's the scoop. I was lucky enough to find myself a Light Ball in my Pearl game. I didn't even know I had it untill I went through my PC. So I make myself a pichu with the supermove volt tackle. My pichu then evolves into pikachu. So I give him the light ball, and I was thoroughly impressed. Out of my whole roster, I never had a problem with pikachu, untill now that is. I'm nearing the end of the game, and pokemon are starting to hit a lot harder than they used to. Suddenly, I find myself a thunderstone. And so I come to the point of this topic:

Should I evolve my pikachu?

Light ball doubles it attack and special attack, but does nothing for it's defense, which bothers me considerably. It's already fast, but I keep thinking about that darn defense. If I were to evolve him, he'd be much stronger and be able to take a few hits. So should I use the thunderstone, or keep my pikachu/light ball combo?

im not a big raichu fan, but with volt tackle, I would evolve. If your worried about defense, then just EV the defense. but Im not sure, Jiggs8 could probably answer this for you or ORLY

 

[0RLY]

Pikachu @ Light Ball
Static/Naive (or Hasty)
152 Atk/104 SpA/252 Spe
-Volt Tackle
-Grass Knot
-Focus Punch
-Substitute

Here's a basic Pikachu set. Your final stats are:
HP : : 211
Atk : : 368
Def : : 96
SpA : : 324
SpD : : 104
Spe : : 306

As you can see, Pikachu is operating with offensive stats rivaling that of many OU Pokemon. This is considering you have max IVs and perfect EV distribution. I excluded Hidden Power since this is in-game. Now lets take a look at Raichu without the Light Ball.

Raichu @ Life Orb
Static/Hasty (or Lonely)
6 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Volt Tackle
-Grass Knot
-Focus Punch
-Substitute

-=Hasty+Life Orb=- (Lonely)
HP : : 262
Atk : : 362.7 (397.8)
Def : : 146
SpA : : 280.8
SpD : : 196
Spe : : 328 (299)

I used a primarily physical based spread because you liked Volt Tackle. If you ever choose to use Thunderbolt in its stead with a different nature (Timid, Modest, etc), simply switch Atk with SpA because Raichu has base 90 Atk and SpA.

I personally prefer Pikachu because it's stronger and doesn't suffer from Life Orb recoil. Raichu is a bit stronger with a boosting nature, but only when compared to Pikachu without one. Pikachu needs all the speed it can get, so it can't afford to use a a non-speed boosting nature. Raichu, however is faster.

If you're really worried about Pikachu being unable to take hits, don't get hit (~Isai). If your foe is faster than you, switch out. Only let your Pikachu handle foes slower than it. Besides, Raichu's Volt Tackle+Life Orb will cost you a lot of HP. Pikachu has less HP to work with, so Volt Tackling a Blissey will cause you to lose about half of your HP. Nvm, after I did some calculations, they BOTH lose about half of their HP.

So yeah. Speed vs. Power. Pikachu being the latter, Raichu being the former.

 

[Platypus]

In reality, Light Ball'd Pikachu is just a fast offensive monster with low defenses, like many others. Don't think of it like NFE.

 

[Terywj [태리]]

Light Ball Pika is just an Electric Infernape, only weaker.

-Ter

 

[SmashAura4]

Hmmm........alright then. I guess I 'll keep pikachu as is. The only reason I thought about it in the first place was because of that Pika and Goliath episode (yeah, I watch the show).

As for EV's, I may have not have done so well on that. I'm a defensive freak and tend to neglect the other stats. But my pikachu's pretty fast, so I think there isn't too much damage.

I not much of a competitive trainer, but thanks for all the advice. You've earned my respect 0Rly.

 

[Ilucamy]

I watch the show too, but I really think it's weird of you if it affects your opinions on how to do things in game.
And FYI, the only reason they even considered having Pikachu evolve wasn't power, it was Hyper Beam, and as we all know, Hyper Beam = Fail.

Anyway, Light Ball Pikachu all the way. Just gotta love that Pikachu. Raichu can eat the piece of poo that I find lying on my computer desk right now... I gotta throw it away, its starting to smell.

Lol, I just thought of something. If you read the manga, you would understand (it's better than the show btw) They should make the electric hyper beam Megavolt.