Is Raikou Good in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Playthrough?
Catchable in ORAS through Mirage Spot soaring. 115 Special Attack and 115 Speed make Raikou one of the fastest Electric options available. Dominates Wallace, handles Winona, and outspeeds most of Steven's team. A postgame pickup that immediately earns its place.
Raikou resists most of Roxanne's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou resists most of Brawly's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Wattson's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Flannery's team.
Raikou resists most of Norman's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou resists most of Winona's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou resists most of Tate & Liza's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou resists most of Wallace's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Sidney's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Phoebe's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Glacia's team.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Steven's team.
Catch Raikou on Mirage Spots (interact, Lv 50). LIMITED; Trackless Forest via Soaring east of Rustboro; Ho-Oh or Lugia in party. Soar east of Rustboro City with Ho-Oh or Lugia in your party to find Trackless Forest.
How to Get Raikou in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire
No wild encounters for Raikou in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. It's available in Gold & Silver, Crystal, or Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon and can be transferred over. The details below show where to find it.
Raikou is not available as a wild encounter in this game.
Also Obtainable In:
Pokemon transfers only go forward through generations, never backward. Direct cross-gen trades aren't supported.
Raikou Weakness
Raikou's Electric typing leaves it vulnerable to Ground. Its Electric typing keeps the defensive matchups simple. Raikou's special bulk (base 100 Sp.Def) helps absorb special-type weaknesses, though physical moves exploit the lower Defense.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ground |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Electric, Flying, Steel |
What is Raikou Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Raikou
 Nincada BugGround | C | |
 Torterra GrassGround | C | |
 Flygon GroundDragon | C | |
 Krookodile GroundDark | B | |
 Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
 Donphan Ground | B | |
Krookodile GroundDark | B | |
Torterra GrassGround | C | |
Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
Flygon GroundDragon | C | |
 Swampert WaterGround | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Mudkip (Route 101 Gift) | ||
 Garchomp DragonGround | S | |
 Excadrill GroundSteel | S | |
Krookodile GroundDark | B | |
Torterra GrassGround | C | |
Rhydon GroundRock | B | |
In Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, Excadrill can KO Raikou with Earthquake (89-105%).
S | ||
Recommended Build AbilityMold Breaker ItemLeftovers NatureJolly Moves
Damage vs Raikou View Excadrill builds →Earthquake 2x89-105%KO Rapid Spin22-26% | ||
A | ||
Recommended Build AbilityStatic ItemLeftovers NatureBold Moves
Damage vs Raikou View Zapdos builds →Heat Wave26-31% Volt Switch9-11% | ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilitySturdy ItemRocky Helmet NatureImpish Moves View Skarmory builds →
| ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityNatural Cure ItemEviolite NatureBold Moves View Chansey builds →
| ||
Raikou Evolutions
You can't breed Raikou or evolve it into anything else. This Electric legendary packs 580 stats and doesn't need a chain to be relevant. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
ORAS Raikou Best Moveset
115 Sp. Atk at 115 Speed fires Electric TermStab before nearly everything in the format. AbilityPressure doubles opponent PP drain. The moveset earns S-tier through combined Speed and power that only Mega Manectric rivals among Electric types.
Best Build
Raikou best EVs are Sp. Atk and Speed
Special Sweeper Moveset
- Hidden Power Ice
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
Moves List
Without TMs, Raikou's movepool is bare bones. With them, you get coverage across 8 types on top of Zap Cannon and Thunder for STAB. The natural kit handles basics, but TMs are doing the real work.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Egg
- Inherited via breeding.
- Tutor
- NPC tutor (cost: items, BP, money).
- Reminder
- An NPC reteaches any move this Pokemon could have learned by leveling up.
- Transfer
- Carried over from an older game using Pokemon HOME.
- Event
- Given out through Mystery Gift events.
Visual Signals
CAT (Category)
How the move deals damage and which stats it uses.
A small dot on the icon's corner marks the move as contact. That triggers abilities like Static, Flame Body, Rough Skin, or Iron Barbs, plus items like Rocky Helmet and Sticky Barb.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM, Egg, and Tutor sort by tier by default (best first). On Level-Up, click the Tier header to do the same.
PWR (Power)
Base damage. Numbers shown in a type color include STAB (base × 1.5). Hover any colored number to see the math.
— means no power (status moves) or variable power.
Sorting & Filter
Click any column header to sort. Level-Up opens with Lv 1 at the top. TM, Egg, and Tutor open with the highest-tier moves at the top.
Search filters by move name or type. The Filter button limits the list to STAB, Physical, Special, or Status moves.
Level-Up Moves
TM Moves
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Transfer Moves
Base Stats
Raikou embodies the speed of lightning. The roars of this Pokémon send shock waves shuddering through the air and shake the ground as if lightning bolts had come crashing down.
Raikou Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Guide
For the Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire meta, At 580 BST, Raikou is built different. We rank it B-Tier. As a Legendary Pokemon, the raw stats back up the reputation. Best used as a sweeper. Hiddenpowerice with Leftovers is the standard set.
Raikou is a static encounter at Mirage Spots in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire. Raikou appears at level 50. Prerequisite: LIMITED; Trackless Forest via Soaring east of Rustboro; Ho-Oh or Lugia in party. Save before the encounter. These one-shot Pokemon don't respawn if you knock them out or run out of Poke Balls.
In Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, watch for Rhydon (Ground) when using Raikou. They all hit it super-effectively with STAB. Only 1 weakness means fewer dedicated counters to worry about.
Pressure increases the PP cost of moves targetting the Pokémon by one. That's the one you want on Raikou. Inner Focus is the hidden ability. Niche, but it has its uses.
In Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, Raikou fills the sweeper role. It's a special attacker with base 115 Sp. Atk. Base 115 Speed lets it outrun most of the field. And it's enough bulk to take a hit or two.
Game Availability
Raikou has appeared in 17 games since Gold & Silver, spanning 9 generations. As a Legendary, it's typically a one-per-save encounter tied to the story or post-game content.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RB
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GSDebut
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DP
Diamond & Pearl - Gen 4Pt
Platinum - Gen 4HGSS
HeartGold & SoulSilver - Gen 5BW
Black & White - Gen 5B2W2
Black 2 & White 2 - Gen 6XY
X & Y - Gen 6ORAS
Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire - Gen 7SM
Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7LGPE
Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwSh
Sword & Shield - Gen 8BDSP
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - Gen 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV
Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW
Winds & Waves