Pokémon UNITE: 10 Tips For Playing As Pikachu

Pokémon UNITE is still a relatively new Pokémon experience and its gameplay style is quite different from all previous games in the franchise. As a multiplayer online game, it can be a bit of a challenge for fans of the franchise to fully understand how to play.

Pikachu, in this case, is one of the best characters to start off playing because of his utility and range. However, there are still some additional tips and tricks that players should keep in mind as they try to learn his playstyle as well as the game in general.

Take The Right Held Items

Pikachu needs the proper held items, especially in ranked games. Buddy Barrier gives him a shield, making him less squishy, Focus Band recovers some of his health when he is low, and Choice Specs makes each of his abilities that hit enemy characters do increased damage.

Because Pikachu is a glass cannon, meaning he does high damage but has a small health bar, he needs these items to keep up his sustain so that he doesn’t constantly die. While his range helps with this too, these items make him more comfortable for beginners to play.

Take Eject Button Instead of Potion

Potion restores an amount of health to a character when clicked. This helps them stay in a fight while the Eject Button gives the character a short dash to help with chasing or getting away. Pikachu benefits more from Eject Button because he doesn’t have many other abilities that help him flee from a fight he cannot win, especially later in the game.

Since Pikachu will already be taking Focus Band, which will help with the low health issue, taking Potion is not actually increasing his strength all that much and it can actually stop Focus Band from being triggered. Eject Button is definitely the right move here and can even help with scoring goals.

Start Off With Thunder Shock and Electroweb

Thunder Shock does a good amount of damage and Electroweb immobilizes enemy Pokémon with a web. Having one offensive move and one defensive move at the start of the battle is a safe choice for Pikachu as it makes sure that he can get away if he needs be or out trade from a distance.

This combination also works really well if there are constant group fights or if the jungler shows up in Pikachu’s lane multiple times early in te game. Electroweb’s immobilization, in addition to the damage dealt by other Pokémon, is a surefire way to get and maintain an early lead. However, for later game builds, players should look at some of the best Pikachu build guides to get them on sturdier ground.

Lane With Crustle Or Snorlax If Possible

Pikachu’s short health bar is a huge issue since he relies on his sustained damage from a long-range to kill enemy characters. Laning with high health Pokémon gives Pikachu a buffer between him and the enemy team’s damage.

If there is no high health Pokémon on his team, laning with a high mobility character like Zeraora is also promising because the enemies will be more likely to focus the melee Pokémon in a fight than Pikachu.

Take Volt Tackle If Pikachu Is Constantly Chased Down

Volt Tackle is another move that Pikachu can take that basically makes him move really fast while doing damage. It also launches him back from who is attacking so that he can create a little distance.

This move is semi-melee so it can be difficult for Pikachu to use at times, but if he keeps being chased down, this move gives him a good amount of damage while making it harder for gap closers to chase him down.

Use His Long Range To Win Quick Trades

Pikachu’s long-range is his biggest asset. As one of the longest-range characters in the entire game with a huge area of effect, he can delete half an enemy’s health bar from the comfort of his goal post. Though Pikachu is known for being one of the best Pokemon game starters, his playstyle is incredibly different here.

Quick trades like this will make enemies more likely to retreat back to base while Pikachu can freely farm and level up as fast as possible before they return. This also makes it easier for Pikachu to take camps from the enemy side and makes it more difficult for them to match his level.

Remember His Static Passive

Pikachu’s passive is really strong as he can momentarily stun an enemy after they first attack him. Pikachu has very little crowd control so this passive ability is a lifesaver early on as he goes back and forth from his goal to the enemy’s trying to stay alive while dealing sustained damage in fights.

It’s easy to forget about this passive ability, but using this to his advantage when the jungler comes into lane will set up the quick fight really well. It also makes certain that, as a squishy Pokémon, Pikachu is not in any imminent danger.

Be Aware Of His Counters

Pikachu is weakest against characters that have really good gap-closing abilities such as Zeraora, Gengar, who recently had a hex damage bug fixed, or Garchomp. Zeraora can become un-targetable while doing massive amounts of damage while Garchomp and Gengar’s melee damage can practically one-shot Pikachu by the end of the game.

These Pokémon may be melee, but because they have dash abilities that help them get close enough to Pikachu, they can absolutely crush him in an instant. While it’s not possible to entirely avoid these characters, it’s better not to go in on a fight with them without teammates close by or his Ultimate Move up.

Save Thunderstorm For Team Fights

Thunderstorm is Pikachu’s Ultimate Move. It has a huge area of effect where Pikachu does increased amounts of damage while being able to move around as he pleases without being attacked or stunned.

Using this move during team fights ensures that Pikachu has a team to back him up once his Ultimate Move is over. It also most likely means that the entire other enemy team is there and unprepared for the high damage attack.

Don’t Be In The Front Line

Though this may seem simple, making sure Pikachu’s placement in team fights is good is not always the easiest task, especially when gap closers are involved on either side. He does best when he hides in bushes and aims at enemies while being un-targetable or by staying close to high health champions.

Pikachu is a backline champion except for when he uses his Ultimate Move and so he should always be behind most of his team when engaging in a battle. This being said, his range makes him a fun pick against Greninja, who is especially weak right now because of his nerf, or Alolan Ninetales.