Is Raikou Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
Not native to Hoenn. Trade from Colosseum. AbilityPressure doubles PP drain. One of the fastest Electric-types in Gen 3 with strong Special. If imported, Raikou outspeeds almost everything in RS and handles Winona, Wallace, and Glacia. The Colosseum import makes it rare but powerful.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Roxanne's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Brawly's team.
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 trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Raikou resists most of Winona's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Tate & Liza's team.
Raikou has the type edge here and should clean up Wallace's team.
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 resists most of Glacia's coverage and hits back hard.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Drake's team.
Raikou trades roughly evenly with Steven's team.
How to Get Raikou in Ruby & Sapphire
No wild encounters for Raikou in Ruby & 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 cannot be caught in the wild in Ruby & Sapphire, but you can still get it via these paths:
Obtain and trade from these games:
Then trade to Ruby & Sapphire.
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 |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Raikou Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Raikou
 Nincada BugGround | C | |
In Ruby & Sapphire, Cloyster's Explosion hits Raikou for 61-72%.
A | ||
Recommended Build AbilityKeeneye ItemLeftovers NatureCareful Moves View Skarmory builds →
| ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityShellarmor ItemLeftovers NatureTimid Moves
Damage vs Raikou View Cloyster builds →Explosion61-72% Surf18-21% Rapid Spin12-15% | ||
B | ||
Recommended Build AbilityMarvelscale ItemLeftovers NatureBold Moves
Damage vs Raikou View Milotic builds →Surf20-24% | ||
C | ||
Recommended Build AbilityTorrent ItemLeftovers NatureBold Moves
Damage vs Raikou View Blastoise builds →Surf19-23% Rapid Spin11-13% Ice Beam19-23% | ||
C | ||
Recommended Build AbilityLevitate ItemLeftovers NatureCalm Moves
Damage vs Raikou View Misdreavus builds →Thunderbolt9-10% | ||
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
RS Raikou Best Moveset
115 Sp. Atk at 115 Speed fires MoveThunderbolt with top-tier power and initiative. AbilityPressure doubles opponent PP usage. MoveCalm Mind boosts Sp. Atk and Sp. Def for sweep setup. MoveRest plus MoveSleep Talk sustains. Held ItemLeftovers recovers. Fast Calm Mind Electric attacker.
Best Build
Raikou best EVs are Sp. Atk and Speed
Special Setup Sweeper Moveset
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power Grass
- Substitute
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 Thunder and Thunderbolt 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
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 Ruby & Sapphire Guide
For the Ruby & 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. Thunderbolt with Leftovers is the standard set.
In Ruby & 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. It's the only ability Raikou has.
In Ruby & 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.
In Ruby & Sapphire, run Thunderbolt, Calm Mind, Hiddenpowergrass, and Substitute on Raikou. Thunderbolt is the most common pick at 0% usage. Thunderbolt provides reliable STAB damage.
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