ONCE the credits roll in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll be able to take on its most difficult challenges; five-star Tera-raids.
These can be particularly tough, as the Pokémon build defensive barriers around them and can negate status changes.
Tera-Raids are the best way to catch rare Pokemon.
However, the rewards are huge, giving you rare items such as Tera Shards, XP candy, and Herba Mystica.
You can also unlock the more difficult six-star raids by hosting enough five-star raids via Switch Online.
Here’s our best tips for getting through five-star and above Tera-raid battles in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Really learn your type matchups
I’m not talking about the move type matchups, such as Electric-type being super effective against Water-types, but the Physical/Special split.
It is important to remember that the Pokémon’s Tera-type completely overrides its other type when selecting moves, but whether to attack Physically or Specially is equally as important.
Some Pokémon are Special Attackers, and some are Physical Attackers, and the same goes for defences.
Usually, Pokémon in Tera-raids only attack with one or the other, so you can build your Pokémon defensively to match that type, severely reducing deaths.
Deaths are important as each death takes a huge chunk of time in an already limited setting.
Knowing whether your Pokémon is a Physical or Special Attacker is also important for stats and move sets.
Make sure that your Pokémon only has moves in the category it’s strongest in, which you can check in the stats screen.
You can also Hyper-train your Pokémon in these stats by buying Bottle Caps at Delibird Presents and trading them to the Abomasnow trainer near the Pokécenter in Montenevera.
Nature Mints from Chansey’s Supply will also help a lot, giving you the optimal stats.
Stats are your friend
Most beginner trainers go all-out attack rather than learning the power of changing stats.
Teaching moves that drastically up your attack – Swords Dance for Physical Attackers, and Nasty Plot for Special Attackers – is very effective here.
Using these moves once with double attack, twice triples it, and three times quadruples it.
You can also boost your team’s attack by cheering in the Raid menu. Cheering is also useful for healing to avoid death.
Breaking down defences is also vital here. Physical Attackers will want the move Screech on their set, while Special Attackers can use Metal Sound.
The multipliers work the same for defence as attack. If you’re facing a Physical Attacker, burning with a move like Will-O-Wisp will also half its attack, which is very powerful.
If you build up your attack, and take down their defences far enough you can even one-shot the Tera-Pokémon negating its annoying barrier.
The Tera-Pokémon can negate these effects on both sides, so it might not be optimal to go all the way. And you may want to reapply boosts if it does this.
After all of this, if your stats are still lacking, use the candies you’ve picked up along the way to give yourself a boost.
Speed doesn’t matter
Unlike most Pokémon matches where outspeeding your opponent is key to many battles, speed has very little effect here.
The speed at which you or the opponent attacks is more based on how fast you press the buttons rather than the Pokémon’s stats.
Because of the importance of button-pressing speed, it’s a good idea to make sure your best attack for that raid is at the top of your list.
Boosting speed with moves like Agility or Tailwind is kind of pointless here, as is dropping the opponent’s speed.
For the same reason trying to drop their speed with Paralysis is not nearly as important as dropping Attack with Burn.
Consider not Terastallizing
Terastallization gives you an attack boost and also changes your Pokémon’s type.
However, this isn’t always the best option, despite what the game tells you.
It will only boost moves of the same type, doubling its power, but if you are using other moves, it will actually lower its power.
This is because of the same type attack bonus, or STAB, which gives a 1.5x multiplier to moves that are the same as your Pokémon’s type.
Say you’re using the Ice-tera Lucario, and you want to use the Fighting-type move Aura Sphere, it’s better not to Terastallize.
Also the animation for Terastallizing takes up precious time, which you often can’t afford.
Be careful of the barrier
If you fail to take out the Pokémon quickly enough to take down the barrier, all is not lost, but there are some things to be aware of.
Firstly, the Pokémon’s stats can’t be changed while the barrier is up. However, boosts to yourself will still take effect.
Tera-Pokémon also cannot have status effects applied while behind the barrier, so moves like Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, or Thunder Wave won’t have any effect here.
Attack damage during this phase is also a lot lower, but keep going for all-out attacks, and eventually you’ll break it down.
Choose your items carefully
There are a number of great choices for items which you can use to speed up Tera-raids.
Choice Specs for Special Attackers, and Choice Band for Physical Attackers is one of the best as it boosts move power by 50%.
This stacks with STAB, meaning that you can get huge boosts on your move.
However, if you use these items, you can only use one move. This usually isn’t a problem, but is bad if the opponent has Torment, or the ability Cursed Body.
Another good option is the Clear Amulet, which will stop the Tera-Pokémon from dropping your stats.
Many Tera-Pokémon have these stat-altering moves, so it’s a strong option to keep your strength and defences up.
Finally, we recommend the Assault Vest if you are battling a Special Attacker as it boosts Special Defense by 50%.
It prevents you from using any moves that don’t attack though, so make sure you have enough attack power behind you that you don’t need stat-altering effects.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
