Shadow Raikou: PvP and PvE Analysis

G’day PoGO lovers! Shadow Raikou has been available in 5-star shadow raids throughout June, back in rotation following an earlier release. I previously did a PvP deep dive into Shadow Suicune, and given there are still a couple more weekends available to raid Shadow Raikou, I wanted to test whether it’s worth bringing a team together to raid them while they are around.

You can check out our Shadow Raikou Raid Guide for a complete counters overview! Let’s dive into the detail below.

Shadow Raikou in PvP

Raikou (Shadow)

Ultra League

Starting with a PvP view, let’s first look at the Ultra League, as Shadow Raikou will fit under the 2500 CP cap upon capture. 

I must confess, I’m not a huge stat product nerd when it comes to PoGO. I like to look at Pokémon that have similar typing and play similar roles to give an idea of viability and comparability to known entities. The best comparison point against other Ultra League Electric types is Ampharos, which has very similar defense and attack, but slightly higher stamina and overall stat product. Ampharos does have a slight edge in some respects through its coverage and pacing, as it can reach its charged moves a little bit faster than Raikou can.

Moveset

How about the moveset for Raikou? Typically where you have access to the fast move Volt Switch, you want to run it. It has great damage output and good energy generation, which Raikou needs to reach its charged moves. Its preferred charged moves are Wild Charge (for heavy electric damage) and Shadow Ball (for strong coverage). You could also consider running with Thunder Shock, which does bring certain advantages, which I’ll explore below.

New Wins v Non-Shadow – Volt Switch

The below table demonstrates the new wins and losses, and the win-loss record overall as a shadow, when Raikou is running Volt Switch. Note: I have an expanded meta saved in PvPoke, so the outcomes you see below will vary from the default meta selections.

What should become evident fairly quickly is that Raikou is here for a good time, not a long time – but with a shield advantage it is absolutely deadly. For example, in the 1v0 shield scenario (you have 1 shield, your opponent has 0), you are only losing to a handful of the meta – Giratina-A (with Dragon Breath), Heliolisk (which resists all of Raikou’s moves), Nidoqueen (which the non-shadow beats), and then the remainder heavily resist Electric type damage (Virizion, Gliscor, Guzzlord, Steelix, Stunfisk, Swampert). This makes it deadly in a closing role – particularly if you can pull early shields from your opponents and maintain the right alignment in the end game.

However, it’s not all upside as the shadow variant. For example, in the 0v0 shield scenario, you’re comfortably picking up more losses than wins, and it hurts losing to Water types in the 2v2 shield scenarios. A lot of this is to do with the pacing of Volt Switch and the debuffing nature of Wild Charge. It isn’t nice needing to bait with the more expensive energy move, and even though you can double up on Wild Charge, throwing that move means you are double-debuffing your defense stat. Given Raikou is already relatively frail (even more so as a shadow), you really want to be able to either hide behind shields in the end game, or do a chip-and-dip style play where you preserve Raikou’s health for later – which opens you up to your opponent taking advantage of you being locked into a potentially disadvantageous switch matchup. 

When paired with a core that can handle Raikou’s weakness to Ground-types and mudboys (Virizion and Cresselia spring to mind as immediate options), there’s real potential here. However, bringing Raikou to your team is definitely high-risk high-reward style play, and Raikou just can’t handle long drawn out matches in the Ultra League.

New Wins – Shadow w Volt Switch vs Shadow w Thunder Shock

You could consider running Thunder Shock instead. The below table demonstrates the new wins and losses, and the win-loss record overall as a shadow, when Raikou is running Thunder Shock instead. 

Overall, I would consider Thunder Shock more of a sidegrade, as you lose a lot of the ability to farm opponents down in favourable scenarios. But it’s worth taking a look at that 1v0 shield advantage scenario… Shadow Raikou is practically unbeatable in this situation! Thunder Shock does have much nicer pacing than Volt Switch, and it does seem to help it to more comfortably beat the things you expect it to. For example, you now can keep much better pace with Charizard and Feraligatr in the 1v1s, allowing you to throw on ideal timing for the knock out blow. Thunder Shock is definitely worth considering!

Ideal IVs

In terms of the stats – Raikou doesn’t seem to be particularly impacted by “bad” / attack weighted stats, but if you can get one with decent bulk it definitely helps. With the current shadow raids in town, there is a 6-6-6 IV floor upon capture. If you’re somehow able to snag a 6-13-13 (essentially the new rank 1), your Raikou is likely to have decent enough bulk to consider a build.

Master League

If you are somehow lucky enough to snag a hundo (or close to) Shadow Raikou, is it worth powering up to L50 for the Master League? 

Overall, Shadow Raikou looks very challenging to use with success in the highest CP format. Where the extra bulk and power of some of its contemporaries begins to shine, Shadow Raikou tends to get left behind. It just doesn’t have enough bulk, nor is it blessed with enough resistances, to withstand enough damage from its opponents to be a consistent performer. Like in the Ultra League, when placed in the advantageous 1v0 shield scenario Shadow Raikou performs incredibly well – but this requires exceptional shield and energy management to accomplish. Don’t completely write it off, but there are definitely safer investments for the Master League meta, and this is probably one of those cases where the non-shadow slightly outperforms the shadow.

Great League

Shadow Raikou won’t be available under the 1500 CP cap for the Great League, so I won’t dive into it too much. It’s a very similar story to the other leagues – deadly with a shield advantage, but super frail and a lack of resistances (plus so many mudboys) limit its viability in the lowest league. It could be a bit of a limited meta hero, if we’re ever able to obtain one again!

Shadow Raikou in PvE

It doesn’t take much to see that Shadow Raikou is a top tier Electric type raid attacker! Coming in at #1 overall in terms of Electric-type attackers, Shadow Raikou with Thunder Shock and Wild Charge narrowly beats all others in terms of overall score. If Xurkitree gets access to some additional charged moves, it may overtake Shadow Raikou, but in the meantime the legendary dog has the slight edge over the tree! However, Shadow Raikou is definitely an expensive investment to power it up, and while Electric type damage has a fair amount of utility in raids, it does have its limitations against the many Dragon 5-star raid bosses.

Of the available legendary raid bosses, Shadow Raikou can put in some serious super effective damage against the following:

Legendary
Articuno	Kyogre
Moltres	Yveltal
Suicune	Celesteela
Lugia	Tornadus
Ho-Oh

And if you’re going all in and double-moving your S-Raikou, it can also deal some decent Ghost type damage with Shadow Ball against the following:

Legendary
Mewtwo	Mesprit
Latias	Azelf
Latios	Giratina
Deoxys	Cresselia
Uxie	Necrozma

It’s a healthy list, though we haven’t seen many of these in legendary raids in recent times.

Incidentally, if you have the non-shadow, it is currently the #11 strongest Electric type attacker. If you’re looking for a slightly cheaper option, you could consider purifying and powering up the non-shadow (or better still, lucky trade for one for a 50% stardust discount).

Summary

All in all, Shadow Raikou packs an absolute punch, both in PvP and PvE. Although it is anything but a meta staple, in the right setup it can definitely be a fun pick, particularly in the Ultra League. In raids, there are no stronger Electric types to choose from in the game today, although this may change in the future with movepool shakeups and future releases. It’s definitely worth considering powering up one for your Electric team, although the cross-over into the Master League scene is fairly limited today.

I hope this quick guide has helped you prioritise whether or not to consider grinding for Shadow Raikou. You can also find me on Twitter or Instagram for more PvP analysis.

See ya later,

JTizzle