Alakazam, The Psi Pokémon. Its brain can outperform a supercomputer. Its intelligence quotient is said to be 5,000. It can memorize anything. It never forgets what it learns--that's why this Pokémon is smart. It uses psychic power. It is highly intelligent and capable of instantly identifying its foe's weakness. Closing both its eyes heightens all its other senses. This enables it to use its abilities to their extremes. Its brain cells multiply continually until it dies. As a result, it remembers everything. It's brain continually grows, making its head far too heavy to support with its neck. This Pokémon holds its head up using its psychokinetic power instead. While it has strong psychic abilities and high intelligence, it’s muscles are very weak. It uses psychic power to move its body.

Battle Moveset

A Good Moveset for Alakazam would have to be this:

Attacks:

Psychic
Recover
Calm Mind
Hidden Power [Water/Grass]/Fire Punch/Thunderpunch/Ice Punch

Items Attached:

Leftovers

Preferred Nature:

Timid

Preferred Ability:

Synchronize

Strategy Using Alakazam

There are zillions of variations to Alakazam and it’s going to lead to one of the biggest “Other Optional Sets” sections.

Recover on Alakazam has become a necessity lately, due to how Alakazam is bait for Blissey. With the surge of McIceGars and Tyraniboahs to act as counters to the Skarmory-Bliss combination, standard Blissey has begun to accept a back up attack to destroy Gengar’s (and on occasion Tyranitar’s) Substitutes in place of Thunder Wave, the move usually being Ice Beam or Hidden Power [Water]. This paves the way for Alakazam to finally beat it’s nemesis the 4 foot tall Egg, entering a lengthily stall war where it drains Blissey of all its PP.

The initial idea is to use Calm Mind until you’re at 50% or less HP. Then you can use Recover. Alakazam, with the right EV distribution, can take 4 Seismic Tosses before fainting. The ratio will be around about 2 Seismic Tosses to your single Recover, meaning you’ll be left with approximately half of your recover PP when Blissey’s Seismic Toss PP has ran out. At each opportunity that arises you should use Calm Mind, until you reach thee 6th Calm Mind. From here you can attack. With approximately 1200 SAtk you can 2KO Blissey with Psychic. From there you can pretty much sweep anything slower than Alakazam (so basically, everything not called: Aerodactyl, Crobat, Ninjask, Electrode [to some extent since it is Special based usually], Jolteon [to some extent since it is Special based usually], Sceptile [to some extent since it is Special based usually and has equal base speed to Alakazam], and Dugtrio [to some extent since it has equal base speed to Alakazam]).

The support move for Psychic really depends on preference. Hidden Power [Water] is for covering Tyranitar, Thunderpunch handles Water Pokémon, Fire Punch handles Metagross (among other steel typed Pokémon) and Ice Punch handles Dragons as well as other things. Your choice should depend on your team (for example: If your team has a Tyranitar problem, you’ll want Hidden Power [Water/Grass] while if it has a lack of water coverage, you should pack Thunderpunch).

Synchronize is the preferred trait here, since Inner Focus does very little for Alakazam. Almost all the flinch moves will KO Alakazam so it won’t have a chance to avoid the flinch. Also, at such a fast speed it won’t be outran by many Pokémon and therefore will avoid the flinch rate even without Inner Focus. Take advantage of the fact that you can switch into Weezing’s Wisps to nullify its Attack and feel free to abuse opposing Thunder Waves if you have a cleric on your team.

What happens if Blissey has Thunder Wave? Well, you should always have a backup Skarmory-Blissey counter anyway, since Alakazam isn’t a Skarmory-Blissey counter, it’s just with Recover and Calm Mind it can defeat Blissey. Your team should stock a Dugtrio, Tyraniboah or McIceGar who can all defeat a Blissey who uses Thunder Wave. There are also many other Pokémon capable of taking down the combo, regardless of whether Blissey uses Thunder Wave, Hidden Power [Water] or Ice Beam.

What are the risks? If you are facing a smart opponent, this set will get easily defeated. The downside of Recover is it’s predictable, and as you use Recover your opponent could take the opportunity to switch in the likes of Aerodactyl, Crobat or Arcanine (Extreme Speed). This’ll force you to switch or will most likely result in you being KOed.

EV Corner:

EVs: 200 HP / 252 Spd / 58 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

This gives Alakazam 301 HP, allowing it to take 4 Seismic Tosses even if Leftovers have been Knocked off. No Special Attack is needed since 306 is enough as it is, so whatever is leftover should go to help initial Special Defence. Don’t bother boosting Alakazam’s Defence, it’s hopeless. Anything used correctly that packs a physical attack can KO Alakazam. Giving it max speed means it’ll at least have a coin’s toss chance against the likes of Dugtrio, although if you want to save on Speed EVs you could go with the following distribution:

EVs: 200 HP / 216 Spd / 94 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

I personally don’t believe this is a wise move, since a Special Defence stat that is 9 stronger has nowhere near the same effect as a Speed stat that is 9 stronger. Either way, this speed distribution allows it to outrun Starmie however this’ll leave it exposed to Dugtrio and Sceptile.

Other Optional Sets: Alakazam@Petaya/Lum Berry
Psychic
Thunderpunch
Ice Punch
Fire Punch

Your all out sweeper. Lum works with Synchronize while Petaya boosts that already high pecial Attack for last minute sweeping. The set isn’t the most effective but it’s undeniable that it would be a for middle force, if it weren’t for the fact that Pokémon like Regice, Snorlax or Blissey (Special Walls) are on every good team. The type coverage this set posses is enough to carry Alakazam for the majority of the battle and this makes for a great “Last minute clean up” Pokémon, finishing off the weakened leftovers of a diminished team. Calm Mind could be fit anywhere on the set in place of an Elemental Punch, however don’t get carried away with using it. One or Two Calm Minds is the most you’ll see out of Alakazam.

Alakazam@Leftovers/No Item
Psychic
Knock Off/Thief
Elemental Punch/Calm Mind/Hidden Power [Water/Grass]/Recover
Elemental Punch/Calm Mind/Hidden Power [Water/Grass]/Recover

This Alakazam is pretty fun to use, especially if you use Tyranitar in your team. Knocking off Blissey’s Leftovers and seeing Sandstorm peel away at that huge HP is always a pretty sight for someone use Alakazam. Be careful of how you use Knock Off on this though, since at times you can Knock Off something that’ll help your opponent (for example: In the later stages of the game, knocking a Choice Band off of a Salamence will probably cost you the match). Alternatively, you could use the less effective Thief and steal a Blissey’s Leftovers to use like they were your own (this favours someone playing with the item clause).

Alakazam@Choice Band
Psychic
Trick
Elemental Punch/Calm Mind/Hidden Power [Water]/Recover/Protect/Torment
Elemental Punch/Calm Mind/Hidden Power [Water]/Recover/Protect/Torment

Trick-Band. Basically, Trick Choice Band onto an incoming Blissey/Regice/Umbreon. This’ll pretty much hurt it for the rest of the game and leave its walling abilities horribly crippled. Protect is an alternative move in case you Trick-Band something that uses Physical attacks. After knowing what they are forced to use you can switch to whatever you feel you need to in order to handle it. Torment is a fun little twist which will force your opponent to struggle every other turn until they switch out, although Alakazam has only so many move slots and that move slot could be better served with another move.

Alakazam@Leftovers
Psychic
Encore
Elemental Punch/Calm Mind/Hidden Power [Water]/Recover/Substitute
Elemental Punch/Calm Mind/Hidden Power [Water]/Recover/Substitute

Basically, Encore something non-offensive then abuse that turn however you please. Encore is a pretty sweet move that allows Alakazam to beat anything using Substitute (McIceGar and Tyraniboah for example) among other things. You can set up a Substitute 1st while your opponent uses a status attack then Encore it so they are forced to repetitively use a status move against your Sub.

- You can also try passing Reflects/Light Screens/Safeguards although utility moves don’t aid something of Alakazam’s Base stats.
- Taunt can be used against the likes of Blissey and to keep Suicune from stalling you with Calm Mind.
- It has Snatch, which favours those who can use prediction well (stealing Blissey’s Heal Bells to help your own team…Fun-Fun).
- Occasionally, it’ll get lucky and not get KOed by a physical attack, so it can Counter to some extent, though this is a waste of time in most cases.
- Disable, at 55% accuracy, is a bit of a novelty but it could occasionally mess up something and force it to switch out.
- Thunder Wave has its obvious advantages and it’ll allow Alakazam to defeat the likes of Aerodactyl, Crobat and Ninjask if it can catch them on the switch in.
- Mimic is either the greatest move ever of absolutely worthless. It depends what you face, but I’d say that copying a Starmie’s Surf or a Jolteon’s Thunderbolt is pretty favourable, however the fact that you need to use a turn using Mimic may sway you from using it (let's face it, having to take a hit to use the move effectively does not favour 'zam's base stats).
- Skill Swap (with the Inner Focus trait preferably) isn’t hugely helpful, but think about the potential (for example: Skill Swapping a Vaporeon’s Water Absorb prior to it using Surf), it deserves a mention.
- Psych Up. Save yourself time getting Calm Minds, just steal Suicunes. One of the many uses of Psych up.
- Substitute. It fits on anything ,and Alakazam is no exception. Any move set could benefit (to some extent) from having Substitute, since blocking statuses and being able to block an attack is always looked upon favourably. It’s just arguable about whether it’s worth using a move slot for Substitute when you have a move pool as appetising as Alakazam’s.
- Barrier is meh, but I suppose it's a option (but it's a waste of time in my personal opinion).

Strategy Against Alakazam

Snorlax stops this thing dead, turns its golden face sheet white and makes it run for its life. If it has good Special Defence and doesn’t have a weakness to any of Alakazam’s (non-Hidden Power) Special attacks, it’s a safe bet that it can make Alakazam run or crush it.

The following can defeat Alakazam with ease:

Aerodactyl, Ninjask, Crobat, Mewtwo, Deoxys [FR/EM/RS], Swellow, Electrode (well, it needs to Boom).
Dark types with decent Special Defence.
Dusclops with Shadow Ball.

If Alakazam is paralysed, Dugtrio will completely annihilate it, as well as anything with physical attacks that isn’t Slug-Slow.

Blissey ‘can’ stop Alakazam, but if said Alakazam uses Recover, it’ll defeat Blissey one-on-one.

A stat-upping Alakazam is one of the few stat-uppers that you don’t need to Haze or PHaze. With such pathetic HP and Defence, attacking it is the best solution. STAB boosted Earthquakes and Returns, Shadow Balls, anything that has the aid of Choice Band pretty much destroys Alakazam.

Quick Attack (especially with a STAB boost), Fake Out and Extreme Speed are all favourable moves for KOing a weakened Alakazam.

There’s one law of facing a Pokémon like Alakazam. “Prepare for anything”. If you switch a Regice straight into ‘zam you could be lumbered with a Choice Band that’ll haunt you for the rest of the battle. If you try to Heal Bell while walling ‘zam you could find your opponent stealing your cleric attempt and heal their own team. You could try bluffing Alakazam into switching and set up a Sub, and then find that Sub is Encored. With something like Alakazam, the possibilities are endless (well, they are restricted to Special basing since Alakazam with physical attacks truly defies the term ‘lol’ and ‘what the hell?’) and if it wasn’t for its restrictive Base stats, it would join Mew on the list of Uber Pokémon.

Will-o-Wisp is a very welcomed move to use against Alakazam as well as non-Thunder Wave paralysis inducing manoeuvres.

Contest Moveset

A good Contest Moveset for Alakazam would have to be this for the Smart Contest best with Calm, Gentle, Careful, Sassy Nature:

Attacks:

Swords dance
Rock smash
Aerial ace
Rock slide

Items Attached:

Green Scarf

Strategy Using Alakazam

If you do the attacks in this following order you should have very few problems; 1st - calm mind, 2nd - Psychic, 3rd - Calm mind, 4th - Psychic, 5th - Thunderwave/Shadow ball

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Evolve Kadabra Colosseum Trade from R/S/E/FR/LG Fire Red/Leaf Green Evolve Kadabra

Animé Appearences

Alakazam has had several Animé Appearences. First a Giant one was awoken to defend Pokémopolis. After that Luana on Kumquat Island used it in her gym battle against Ash. After that Eusine used one against Suicune & to defend Raikou from Team Rocket. After that, Vito Winstrate had one and used it to defend the area from his Grandmother's Camerupt Episode 073: The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolis! Episode 110: Pokémon Double Trouble! Episode 173: Power Play! Episode 229: For Ho-oh The Bells Toll! Chronicles 001-003: Legend of Thunder! Episode 322: Candit Camerupt