Slick Spoon and Energy Amp are core items for all of Pika’s builds. Slick Spoon augments all parts of your damage particularly well with how low Pika’s ratios are, and Energy Amp compliments your fast Unite charge and makes dealing with enemy squishies more decisive.
Curse Incense should be used with Thunder sets, with lingering AoE hitbox applying the Curse effect repeatedly to multiple targets.
Buddy Barrier should be used with Electro Ball sets to facilitate Unite move burst combos.
About: Thunder
Standard area denial with great cast range. Deals solid AOE damage that can quickly rack up in big team fights and allows your carries to mow through the team.
About: Electro Ball
Fast to use, sure-hit with a small AOE and has low cooldown; the execute damage allows Pika to get some sneaky secures on farm and objectives.
About: Thunderbolt
Massive cast range for an AOE stun of this kind as well as not being blocked by walls makes this an incredible CC move to have on your team.
About: Volt Tackle
Grants you instant unstoppable and bounces you away from the target after the attack is over. This is great at shutting down mobile opponents or for giving you some personal safety. It is completely unaffected by Clefable’s Gravity if initiated from the outside.
About: Thunderstorm
89 second cooldown makes this unite move readily available. The first strike will target all opponents so you can optimize its effectiveness by casting in a group then singling out a target due to the following strikes having random targeting or letting the following bolts AOE do some solid splash damage. Alternatively you can use this to nuke the enemy’s carry.
About Early Game:
Utilize Pikachu’s long basic attack range to harass enemies and challenge their farm, during lane phase you should basically always have a target within your basic attack range. If they approach then you should step back, but when they try to go back to what they were doing you go back in and continue harassing.
Thundershock has decent secure but you can double into farm with Electroweb followed by Thundershock to widen your secure window or use Electroweb to disable dash moves of opponents so they temporarily lose a secure move, for instance Lucario’s Quick Attack.
Electroweb is an incredible early game CC tool that can easily spell the end of an opponent that pushed too far and is especially potent if your ally jungler is ganking your lane. Try to target lower hp enemies so you, your lane partner and your jungler can lay into them while they are immobile.
On the defense Pikachu’s constant paralysis and long range will keep most opponents at bay and dissuade them from pushing, you can retreat pretty far into your flux zone while still having range on your own pad so use that speed control to your advantage to kite enemies who try to KO you.
Should the tides turn, your constant slows from paralysis will punish them by slowing down their retreat. What you lack in raw damage you make up for with constant pressure and speed control.
About Mid-Late Game:
First and foremost Pika should farm for level 9 to unlock your Unite Move, the earlier you get it, the more you can use ult to take out key targets to consistently swing fights in your team’s favor.
Remember to use Pikachu’s very long range to your advantage, you should make it difficult for the enemy to commit to attacking you.
If you opt to use Electro Ball it is heavily encouraged to challenge and steal enemy farm to deny them experience, Electro Ball has a deceptively large secure window and its AOE is handy to get solid damage on both farm and enemy player. When a team fight breaks out look for the lowest % hp target and focus your Electro Balls on them to take advantage of the execute the move has.
If you are using Thunder, and assuming you also have Curse Incense equipped, you should prioritize aiming the attack where you are likely to cut enemies off so they are forced to walk through it, or in the largest concentration of enemies to maximize your damage and curse spread.
If Thunderbolt is your second move, you use it similarly to Thunder, either aim to cut off an opponent, or aim for the densest amount of enemies to CC as many as possible.
Volt Tackle is used to punish someone who overstayed allowing your team to capitalize on the stun, it’s also excellent at protecting other squishy allies as the attack cannot be dodged. It can also be used defensively for yourself to snuff out a dive attempt and potentially turn the tables on the diver.
When you unlock your Unite Move you get quite a few options to dish out damage. If you are using Thunder/Electro Ball + Thunderbolt sets, the cooldown reduction granted from the unite move turns you into an AOE machine, in conjunction with the Thunderstorm’s own bolts doing AOE after the first strike your following attacks can heavily punish teams that stick close together.
Thunder/Electro Ball + Volt Tackle instead looks for an opportunity to take down a key target, usually the enemy carry who is most likely a squishy. Volt Tackle pins the target while your Unite dishes out damage to them while either Thunder is doing damage in conjunction with your Unite or your Unite and Volt Tackle leaves them low enough for Electro Ball to finish them off. As Pikachu you should be very eager to use your Unite when you can in order to dominate team fights and take out key targets, its fast recharge means it will always be readily available.
When setting up for the Rayquaza fight you can use Thunder/Thunderbolt to safely bush check for hidden enemies if you have either or both moves equipped.
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