Is Raikou Good in Gold & Silver Playthrough?
Roaming Johto after visiting the Burned Tower. Raikou is the hardest roaming beast to catch since it flees immediately. If you get one, it's one of the fastest and hardest-hitting Electric-types available. Handles Lance's Gyarados and most of Kanto. The catch is the catching.
Raikou resists most of Falkner's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou resists most of Bugsy's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Whitney's team.
Raikou resists most of Morty's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou resists most of Chuck's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Jasmine's team.
Raikou resists most of Pryce's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Clair's team.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Janine's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Misty's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Blue's team.
Raikou resists most of Will's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Bruno's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Karen's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Catchable
Catch Raikou on Roaming Johto (walking, Lv 40, limited). Roams after the Burned Tower B1F release scene. Released when you walk up to the three beasts in Burned Tower B1F; it starts on Route 42, then roams Routes 29 to 39 and 42 to 46, Lv 40.
Recommended Moves
- After Bugsy
- TM02NormalHeadbuttPower 70Accuracy 100%PP 15Gift from a man in Ilex Forest
- After Morty
- HM04NormalStrengthPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15Olivine City
- After Jasmine
- TM23SteelIron TailPower 100Accuracy 75%PP 15Prize for defeating Jasmine
- LV 41ElectricSparkPower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Lt. Surge
- TM07ElectricZap CannonPower 150Accuracy 50%PP 5Gift from the Power Plant manager after returning the Machine Part
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Celadon Game Corner
- LV 61DarkCrunchPower 80Accuracy 100%PP 15
- LV 71ElectricThunderPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 10
Gold & Silver Raikou Locations
Once you disturb the three beasts at the Burned Tower, Raikou bolts and wanders Johto at level 40, popping into random grass tiles. The hard part is not finding it but pinning the moving target down.
Best Locations to Catch Raikou in Gold & Silver
How to Get Shiny Raikou in Gold & Silver
Raikou roams Johto with its shine locked the instant the beasts stir in the Burned Tower, so pin it with a Mean Look user and check the sprite; a wrong result only resets with a new save. Compare Shiny Raikou odds across every game
Shiny Raikou Evolution
Does Not EvolveGold & Silver Shiny Raikou Calculator
1 MethodThe only route here is Full Odds, about 1 in 8,192 on each try.
Full Odds: Walk through grass, surf, or fish. Every encounter is its own independent shiny roll.
How many you have done, or plan to do.
| Chance | Encounters | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 10%lucky few | 864-- | -- |
| 25%one in four | 2,357-- | -- |
| 50%coin flip | 5,678-- | -- |
| 90%very likely | 18,862-- | -- |
Time assumes -- at your pace and does not change your shiny odds.
How is this calculated?
Every encounter has the same shiny chance, the Shiny Odds Per Try shown above. Each one is a separate roll that does not care how many you have already done, so the more you hunt, the higher your overall chance of at least one shiny. The formula below turns your odds and your number of tries into that combined chance.
chance after N tries = 1 − (1 − p)^N, where p = 1 / odds per try
Example at 1 in 8,192 (classic full odds): about 864 encounters for a 10 percent chance, 5,678 for 50 percent, and 18,862 for 90 percent.
The table above flips that around: it shows how many encounters it takes to reach a 10, 25, 50, and 90 percent chance at your current odds. Turning on boosts like the Shiny Charm, sandwiches, or chains improves your odds, so the encounter numbers drop.
These are estimates, not promises. Most games have no pity counter, meaning no guaranteed shiny no matter how many you hunt, so even Very Likely is not guaranteed: some hunters find one early, others go well past that point.
Curious how fast a hunt could go? Work out your Gold & Silver shiny odds for Raikou.
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 |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
- Special stat split into Sp.Atk and Sp.Def
What is Raikou Weak Against
Good
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
GS Raikou Best Moveset
115 Sp. Atk and 115 Speed fire MoveThunderbolt with top-tier power at a Speed tier that outspeeds nearly everything. MoveCrunch adds Dark coverage, and MoveRest plus MoveSleep Talk provides recovery. Held ItemLeftovers sustains. Fast, powerful Electric attacker with coverage and self-sustain.
Best Build
Utility Moveset
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Thunder
- Hidden Power Ice
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Without TMs, Raikou's movepool is bare bones. With them, you get Dark and Normal coverage and more 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.
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
23 of 29 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
The rain clouds it carries let it fire thunderbolts at will. They say that it descended with lightning.
A POKéMON that races across the land while barking a cry that sounds like crashing thunder.
Raikou Gold & Silver Guide
In Gold & Silver, use Raikou as a sweeper. Special attacks are the main output. It outspeeds most threats, Thunder is the primary attack.
Game Availability
Raikou has appeared in 17 games since Gold & Silver, spanning 8 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 7Let's Go
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
Explore
Where to go next after Raikou.
Keep playing · Gold & SilverGold & Silver Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Gold & Silver Tier List