Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: How to Beat 6-Star Tera Raid Battles

You can do only a few things once you reach the endgame of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and the main one is 6-star Tera Raid Battles. These ultra-difficult encounters pit you against near-max level Terastal Pokemon that use light MMO raid-style mechanics and that you need to defeat within an aggressive time limit.

Don’t expect to win these fights with just any Pokemon, even if they’re also near-max level — you need to build specifically for 6-star Raids and use particular strategies to come out on top. Let’s go over what you need to know to beat 6-star Tera Raid battles in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

How to Beat 6-Star Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

6-star Tera Raid battles are difficult for multiple reasons. The enemy Pokemon has much more HP and higher defenses than your standard wild ‘mon, and they’ll also summon shields you need to break, remove status effects, and easily one or two-shot any Pokemon not up to the fight.

While soloing these challenging encounters is possible, doing so takes serious preparation. Here are the most important steps you can take.

Pick the Right Pokemon

Not every Pokemon is suitable for high-level Raids. The ones you want to use can dish out massive damage quickly, buff that damage on command, and self-heal when necessary. They should also have enough survivability to tank even super-effective hits from the Terastal opponent.

There are a few meta options you should seriously consider bringing.

• Iron Hands is the current go-to. Its massive Attack and HP stats, plus the ability to use Belly Drum for an Attack boost and Drain Punch for damage and healing, make it ideal for conquering even the toughest challenges.
• Azumarill with the Fairy Tera Type is an excellent second option. When fighting a Special Attack Tera Pokemon that’d be effective against Iron Hands, Azumarill is a good alternative. It adds Fairy-type moves to your repertoire and provides coverage against some of Iron Hands’ weaknesses.
• Koraidon/Miraidon are also good alternatives. The box Legendary for Scarlet and Violet can be a good tertiary option, primarily because you’re limited to two of them per playthrough and thus can’t be properly farmed. Their statline, movelist, and type advantages allow them to take on almost anything in the 6-star pool.

Train Your Pokemon to their Limits

6-star Tera Raids require specially trained Pokemon to properly overcome. Even using the meta choices, you’ll want to take a few steps to prepare them properly.

• Level your team to 100. 6-star battles all but require max-level Pokemon, so you’ll be doing some grinding to get your main team up to snuff. Lower-level Tera Raids will provide the Experience Candy you need to get your Pokemon to 100, as will farming high-level mons out in the wild.
• Hyper train your Pokemon to their maximum. Hyper Training takes paying a man near the Montenevera Pokemon Center in Bottle Caps to increase your team’s IVs. You can also use Supplement drugs like Protein and Carbos for a quick boost. You can only increase two of your Pokemon’s stats to their absolute peak, so pick the ones they’re already best at for improvement.
• EV train your Pokemon. On top of IVs, there are also effort values that increase the base stats of your team. These EVs can increase through Training by battling specific wild or Trainer Pokemon. You can also equip special items to boost your EV gains further.

Use the right strategies

While it’s possible to steamroll 6-star Tera Raids with a fully-equipped Iron Hands or Azumarill, sometimes you might find yourself coming up against an unexpected wall. That’s when you should supplement raw power with tactics.

• Only Terastallize to take out the shield. Midway through a Tera Raid, provided you haven’t already made the opponent faint, the Raid Pokemon will summon a shield that vastly increases their defense. That’s your cue to Terastallize your Pokemon to maximize its ability to breach the barrier. If your partner faints, you lose the Terastal effect, so be sure you’re ready.
• Use support moves if your team is having trouble. Moves like Helping Hand and cheering for heals or attack boosts can be essential if your teammates — whether they’re real players or AI — are on the ropes.
• One faint is not the end. If your Pokemon happens to faint, there will be a five-second cooldown before they’re back in the fight. Fainting once is not the end of the world, so account for it in your planning. Fainting twice or three times, however, is probably the end of the Raid.

If you take these tips to heart, 6-star Tera Raid Battles should be much more manageable than if you went in unprepared. With the right Pokemon and enough Training, they can even be easy.

It’s all a matter of how much effort you want to put in to take your team to its maximum potential. For more on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, check out our guides on how to get Tera Shards and how to breed and get eggs. Our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet guides hub has more.