Tera Raids

 Tera Raids Breakdown

Intro:

As I mentioned in the previous post, I finished the story mode with my Crikey Party. Now that the story has been completed, it's all about the Post Game Content. I've chosen to focus on unlocking the six-star Tera Raids to build up a team of competitive Pokemon. I've been battling in six-star Tera Raids for about a week now. These Tera Raids are extremely challenging, especially if you're trying to complete them in solo-raids, where you battle alongside NPCs (i.e. Non-Player Characters). 

In the remaining post, I'll explain how to unlock the highest star raids, the important mechanics to understand in order to be successful in fix & six-star raids, as well as the best Pokemon to build to consistently win in five & six-star raids. Lastly, I'll provide details on a Charizard seven star raid event to be available in the coming days.

Body:

Unlocking Tera Raid Levels

Tera Raids are available throughout the story mode. As you progress through the story, you gain access to higher star Tera Raids, which are randomly placed throughout Paldea. The higher star Tera Raids provide better rewards but are also progressively more challenging to defeat. The chart below shows the likelihood of accessing certain star Tera Raids depending on where you are in the story mode and in the post game content:

After completing the story mode, you'll have a 25% chance of accessing a five-star raid. These raids are quite challenging to complete as a solo-player. Therefore, if you have access to the paid subscription to Nintendo Switch Online, I'd recommend battling online in a group instead of solo in raids that are five star or higher.

In order to unlock six star raids, as well as having a higher chance of accessing five star raids (25% up to 30%) you'll need to defeat 15 five star raids. At least, this is the magic number according to IGN. Others have reported that the magic number to unlock six star raids is less than 10.

Tera Raid Mechanics

The Tera Raid you enter will be symbolized by a particular Pokemon type (e.g. Water, Fire, Grass, etc.). These represent the tera type of the Pokemon you'll be battling in the raid. This is important because it will allow you to bring in a Pokemon that will be strong again that particular type (e.g. Fire Pokemon against tera-typed Bug Pokemon). 

You'll need to defeat the raid boss within a time limit. Each time a player's Pokemon gets knocked-out by the raid boss, the overall timer will be reduced. This is important to keep in mind, especially in the higher star raids. 

Aside from your moveset, you'll be able to "Cheer" three times per raid battle. When you cheer, you can choose between:

• Go all out! - This gives a boost to Attack damage to all Pokemon (not the raid boss).
• Hang tough! - This gives a boost to the defences of all Pokemon (not the raid boss).
• Heal up! - This heals all Pokemon (not the raid boss). The healing adds to the HP and removes all status conditions.

Using these "Cheers", especially in the higher star raids, can be crucial. Therefore, use them wisely! 

Starting in 4 Star Raids, the Raid bosses you'll be battling will begin putting up various effects to make it increasingly difficult to defeat them. These effects are:

• Shield - Raid bosses put up a shield to reduce the damage significantly. The shield also prevents status moves from being used again the raid boss.
• Remove Negative Effects - Raid bosses will remove any status conditions or stat drop that have been used against them.
• Remove Stat Boosts & Abilities - Raid bosses will remove any stat increases on all player's Pokemon as well as their abilities.
• Extra Move - Raid boss can use an additional move, both inside or outside its movepool.

With higher star raids (e.g. five, six & seven star raids), the raid bosses can go through up to six extra stages of the aforementioned effects. This makes them quite intimidating to compete against.

It is imperative to have a clear strategy against these overpowered raid bosses. The popular YouTuber Austin John has a really good video that showcases such strategies that can be used for winning these difficult raids, even as a solo-player:

If you're lacking the time or patience to watch Austin John's 30 minute video, here is the quick summary for success:

1. Build powerful and competitive Pokemon. These Pokemon need to be level 100, have maxed Effort Values & Individual Values alongside the best Nature. See here for more details.
2. Build the Pokemon to be bulky and handle taking damage. This means maxing HP, Special Defense / Defense EVs instead of going for Speed.
3. Build the Pokemon to dish out maximum damage in either Attack or Special Attack.
4. Provide your Pokemon a variety of moves. This means giving them a combination of status and attacking moves that compliment each other.
5. Weaken the raid boss and strengthen your Pokemon's attack before striking. The goal is to reduce the raid boss' HP as much as possible before the raid boss can get up their shield.

Best Pokemon in Tera Raids

There are lots of opinions and guides on the best Tera Raid Pokemon. Here are the Pokemon I've built and had success with:

Iron Hands

Iron Hands was luckily provided to me in a trade by my son. Iron Hands is a great physical attacking option. 

The strategy is pretty simple with Iron Hands:

1. Activate the Quark Drive ability with Electric Terrain
2. Use Belly Drum to raise the attack to stage +6
3. Heal & Deal - Use Drain Punch to deliver massage damage to the raid boss and thereby heal the lost HP from Belly Drum.

Pro Tip:

If your HP is too low from Bellow Drum and having been hit by the raid boss, use a Cheer - Heal Up! first before the Drain Punch.

Gholdengo

As part of my plane ride over to Arizona, I spent time grinding to evolve my Gimmighoul to the powerful Gholdengo. Here is a guide on how to do this.  Most importantly, below is a map on where to find Gimmighoul throughout Paldea to farm the 999 coins faster:

Gholdengo is a wonderful bulky special attacker. The ability Good As Gold makes Gholdengo immune to status moves, which comes in very handy with some raid bosses:

The strategy with Gholdengo is the following:

1. Weaken the raid boss with Metal Sound (2 times)
2. Increase Special Attack with Nasty Plot (2 times)
3. Recover if neccessary
4. Deal massive damage with Shadow Ball

Pro Tip:

Since you can heal your Pokemon three times with Cheer - Heal Up!, give Gholdengo a power steel attack move like Steel Beam or Make It Rain instead of Recover.

Flutter Mane

Flutter Mane is a really diverse Pokemon to use and one especially recommended to use against Charizard in the seven star raid:

The strategy with Flutter Mane is the following:

1. Weaken the raid boss with Fake Tears (2-3 times)
2. If necessary, decrease the special attack with Mystical Fire
3. Deal massive damage with either Moonblast or Shadow Ball

Pro Tip:

Replace Mystical Fire with Calm Mind to further increase your special attack and special defense before unleashing an even more devastating Moonblast or Shadow Ball.

Those are the three Pokemon I use most in Raids. However, Miraidon is another great option if you have Pokemon Violet.

Seven Star Tera Raid

Once you've started to defeat the six star raids, perhaps you're ready for the ultimate challenge of defeating a seven star raid. 

On December 15th starting at 7pm Eastern Standard Time, the special seven star raid event featuring a Dragon Type Charizard will be available. This event will last until December 18th at 7pm Eastern Standard Time. 

In Germany, this event will be from December 16th at 2am to December 19th at 2am, since German time is 6 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the United States.

How do I possibly defeat a seven star raid against Charizard The Mighty, might you be wondering? Well don't fear, Austin John is here. YouTuber Austin John provides a detailed video with strategies he's used to defeat the seven star raid at the beginning of December:

Conclusion:

At first, I must admit, I was a bit annoyed at how overpowered the six star raids were in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, since I was used to easy raids in Sword & Shield. After a week of practicing, I really like the extra challenge. 

It is extra exciting entering into the tera raids because you can't just mindlessly win these raids. You have to strategically bring in the right Pokemon and then implement the right strategy in order to win. Even then, one might still lose because the raid bosses are just that OP! However, when you are able to win, the victory is that much more rewarding. 

I'm curious to hear how your Tera Raids are going? What strategies are you using? What Pokemon are you using? Do you like the Tera Raids better than the raids in Sword and Shield? Looking forward to reading your comments.

Crikey Party

 Story Mode Crikey Party

Intro:

I've completed the story mode with an amazing Pokemon party built around my starter Pokemon, Crikey. The team consists of all new Pokemon from Generation 9 and selectively chosen and built to compliment one another with amazing synergy. The team has a great lead, a bulky wall, fast special and physical attack sweepers / pivots alongside Crikey, the yawn phazer. 

Body:

The Defensive Pivot Lead

Slowmo is built to withstand damage in order to slow her competition down, essentially putting them into slow-motion. She is a bit bulky with 92 physical defense and 86 special defense base stats. 

By maxing her EVs in HP and allocating the rest to Defense and Special Defense, she can, at a minimum, take a couple hits while setting up Sticky Web and pivoting to a teammate with U-Turn.

In the best case scenario, this would be the chronology of moves:

1. defend with Silk Trap to slow down the opponent by 1 stage (stage -1 speed active Pokemon)
2. setup Sticky Web to slow down all opposing Pokemon entering battle by 1 stage (stage -1 speed incoming Pokemon)
3. defend with Silk Trap to slow down the opponent by another stage (stage -2 speed active Pokemon)
4. use String Shot to slow down the opponent by two stages (stage -4 speed active Pokemon)
5. defend with Silk Trap to slow down the opponent by another stage (stage -5 speed active Pokemon)
6. pivot to teammate with U-Turn including STAB and extra damage from her Silk Scarf

Despite Slowmo having only 35 base speed, she would outspeed nearly every Pokemon in the game by turn six. Due to this, Slowmo will use U-Turn first, allowing a strategic switch to a Pokemon that will take low damage from the incoming attack due to ideal typing.

The other really cool thing about Slowmo is her Insomnia ability, which eliminates the risk of her being put to sleep.

Slowmo as my lead choice was inspired by the Orbeetle led team used by Viz in the following YouTtube video:

The video has special meaning because it got me and my son hooked on competitive Pokemon in Sword & Shield.

The Co-Lead Wall

After Slowmo has severely slowed down the opposing team, the next Pokemon likely to be sent in is Spears. Spears is a Brittany reference because he's Toxic. 

Spears is super bulky and likely will outspeed his opponent due to Slowmo's work. Spears' main task is to set up Toxic Spikes x 2. This will cause all Pokemon entering battle to be severely poisoned. 

If Spears takes some damage, he can use Protect to stall and regain HP using his Leftovers. He can also get in some damage using STAB attacks with Stomping Tantrum and Poison Jab. Poison Jab also has a 30% chance to poison the opponent.

Normally water moves do massive damage to Ground type Pokemon. However, Spears has the ability Water Absorb. Instead of taking damage, he's actually healed by water attacks.

The Physical Attack Pivot

Once Spears' toxic work is finished, Rev can be sent in. Rev is a fast Dragon type Pokemon with excellent physical attacking stats. Rev can really rev up her engine with 121 base speed to drive circles around her opponent.

Grass attacks are strong against Spears' Ground type, so switching into a Dragon type is ideal because Grass moves are weak to Dragon types. Rev will take little initial damage in such a scenario, then be able to inflict solid physical hits with its STAB moves Dragon Claw (extra power via the Dragon Fang item) and Body Slam. Body Slam has a 30% chance to paralyze, which would slow the opponent Pokemon even further down by an additional 50%.

Rev has been given Iron Head as a coverage move against Ice and Fairy types. Most importantly, she has been given U-Turn to pivot into another attacker if necessary.

The Special Attack Pivot

Windy is the special attacking counterpart to her physical attacking sister, Rev. 

Windy has my favorite ability of the whole group called Wind Power. It is a fun "clean energy" ability, where wind (via Tailwind or being hit by a wind move) charges her electric power and the next electric move's power will be doubled.

Wind Power can be strategically activated in one of two ways. The easier of the two is use Tailwind, once Windy has been brought into battle. The second is to anticipate that the opposing Pokemon will strike with a wind move, like Air Cutter or Hurricane, and then hard switch Windy into battle so that Windy gets hit by the wind move. 

Once activated, Windy's move Electro Ball will be doubled and even more devastating. The power of Electro Ball is determined by how much faster Windy is than opponent in battle. Due to slowing tactics of Slowmo and the great speed stats of Windy, the power will be extreme. Below is a table showing the calculation of Electro Ball:

It is reasonable to expect for many opponents, Windy will hit with the power exceeding 300 including STAB. If the Electro Ball doesn't knock out the target, then Windy can pivot using Volt Switch on the next move. The Pokemon switching in will can the benefit of Tailwind for at least another turn.

Windy also has Sharp Beak to amplify it's Air Slash attack. Air Slash has a 30% chance to flinch the target.

The Physical Attack Paralyzer

If a physical attacker is needed, the opposing Pokemon needs to be slowed down even further or the team needs to deal with a pesky Ground type, Snuggle can be brought into action.

Snuggle, named after his famous cuddly uncle, has incredible physical attacking stats and access to the most powerful fighting STAB move, Close Combat with 120 power. 

However, Snuggle can also do some decent low power STAB damage with Nuzzle, which more importantly will paralyze most opponents and decrease their speed by 50%.

Snuggle has a great coverage Grass Tera Type that enables him, when needed, to terastalize into a Grass type Pokemon. This is vital against Ground type opponents and weakens their ground attacks and strengthens his Seed Bomb from 80 to over 120 with STAB and the Tera Type bonus.

Wolfe does a great breakdown on terastalization in the YouTube video below:

Snuggle also has the ability Volt Absorb, which will heal Snuggle when attacked by electric moves. Similar to Spears, this can be used to the trainer's advantage by switching Snuggle in when an electric move is anticipated from the opposing team.

Wild Charge is also available to Snuggle as a high powered Electric move that is further amplified with the Magnet he holds.

The Yawn Phazer Finisher

Crikey has already been described in detail in a previous post. 

The entire team is built around getting Crikey into battle, so he can seal the deal. With his teammates having used all kinds of tactics to slow down the opposing team, Crikey should be able to outspeed in battle, which is a super scary situation for his targets due to Crikey's bulk and special attack strength.

While Crikey doesn't need to be in the role of phazer, it is still fun to mess with the other team by putting them to sleep before finishing them off with a fatal blow, Mortal Kombat style. 

Conclusion:

In summation, this team was highly enjoyable to build and super fun to play with. They were an absolute joy to use in Gym battles and story mode Pokemon tournaments. I found myself talking trash to the NPC trainers, taunting them with the cool strategic tactics that the team allows for. 

So what do you think of the team? Are there any improvements you would make? Let me know what you think in the comments. A solid comment to this post, might even be rewarded with a rental code to allow you to try out the team for yourself. 

Speedy Skeledirge

 Does Skeledirge Outspeed Meowscarada?

Background:

It has all come down to this. Skeledirge and Meowscarada are all that's left. They are each giving it everything they have in battle. 

Meoscarda has been slowed down by a Sticky Web but has still landed some devastating blows to Skeledirge. 

Skeledirge has the massive type advantage against Meoscarda and has just been given a further advantage with a speed boost via Tailwind. 

Both Pokemon only have a single hit point left! Whichever Pokemon moves first in the next turn will decide the victor!

Question:

If Skeledirge has a stage +2 boost in speed from Tailwind and Meowscarada has a stage -1 decrease in speed from Sticky Web, which Pokemon moves first and with what speed stat?

Note:

Neither Pokemon has IVs or EVs applied to their Speed stat. Since both Pokemon are at level 50, their speed stats at stage 0 are the following:

• Skeledirge = 71
• Meowscarada = 128

The Pokemon Showdown Teambuilder was used to identify the speeds of each Pokemon at stage 0 and level 50 without IVs or EVs.

Hints:

Use the description of stages from the previous post to understand how to calculate the speed of each Pokemon in the appropriate stage.

Torch Song

 

Power of Torch Song

Intro:

As I stated in my last post, I've chosen Fuecoco to be my starter Pokemon and transformed him into "Crikey":

However,  I made one critical change to Crikey's moveset based on the wisdom of my son. He reminded me that the starter Pokemon all have signature moves. I checked this out in more detail and this became a game changer! 

Body:

Torch Song Description

The move is described as follows:

"The user blows out raging flames as if singing a song, scorching the target. This also boosts the user's Sp. Atk. stat."

The move has a power of 80 and a 100% accuracy. But the important aspect of the description not to glance over is the effect the move has on boosting the special attack. 

Torch Song Effect

The move's effect is described as follows:

"Torch Song inflicts damage and raises the user's Special Attack by one stage."

While this might not sound impressive at first, trust me, it is very impressive. The next section will explain why. 

Torch Song Impact

Stages in Pokemon work as follows:

• there are 13 total stages a stat can be in
• the default stage is 0 (neutral)
• there are six negative stages from -1 to -6
• there are six positive stages from +1 to +6  
• the power of the stat is increased by 50% for increasing a stage (e.g. stage 0 to stage 1)
• the power of the stat is decreased by 50% for decreasing a stage (e.g. stage 1 to stage 0)

This is a simple summary of stages, but for you hard core Pokemon fans, stages are described in much more detail in this article.

Note:

It gets even more complicated when the respective attacking and speed stat goes from stage 0 to -1 (e.g. -33% decrease). Even more complicated are the accuracy and evasion stats, which have their own unique stage modifiers. Read all the juicy math details here.

The stage boost is what makes Torch Song such a big deal. Every Torch Song hit landed means the next special attack move used will be 50% more powerful. Check out the following example:

• Special Attack of 80 = 120 after landing 1st Torch Song move (stage +1)
• Special Attack of 80 = 180 after landing 2nd Torch Song move (stage +2)
• Special Attack of 80 = 200 after landing 3rd Torch Song move (stage +3)
• Special Attack of 80 = 240 after landing 4th Torch Song move (stage +4)
• Special Attack of 80 = 280 after landing 5th Torch Song move (stage +5)
• Special Attack of 80 = 320 after landing 6th Torch Song move (stage +6)

Can I hear Crikey sweeping through the entire team of our rival Nemona?

Conclusion:

Flamethrower offers a STAB move with the power of 90. Choosing that move over Torch Song is classic short term thinking. After landing just one hit of Torch Song, both Torch Song and Shadow Ball will have a power of 120 on the next hit. The fun has just started because the power is increasing by 50% after every Torch Song strike.

Torch Song makes Crikey a devastating sweeper in the story mode battles, as you'll face up to six Pokemon from the opposing trainer.

Have fun sweeping! Paldea should fear the Croc even more!