February - March 7* Raids: Tera Ground Venusaur, Tera Steel Blastoise, and Tera Dragon Charizard

[Chou Toshio]

I was going to not care at all about this one but holy cooooowwww Herba Mystica!!!! Wooooaaaaahhhhhh

farm time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m going to start with Chestnaught but going to try Mud Slap / Belly Drum / Seed Bomb / Spiky Shield— since folks have been building to Tera as first priority, I think Mud Slap can help us play much more aggressively.

Also notice that Corv 100% walls… hmmmm

 

[doipy hooves]

Bonus hypothetical Azumarill set:


"We have Hisuian Goodra at home"
Azumarill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Mud-Slap
- Liquidation
- Rain Dance

If you get 3 Mud-Slaps off after a T1 Amnesia and 2 dodges (75% accuracy and 60% accuracy -> 10% chance of dodging both), then you can tera Steel and become invincible like Hisuian Goodra. This would add more RNG upfront but less risk for the rest of the battle and is less reliant on AI setup/heal cheer RNG compared to the prior clear. You can also drop Amnesia for a different move like Rain Dance to boost DPS, though I think keeping bulk EVs is still needed so Venusaur doesn't always go for the OHKO. I personally will not be making this one for myself since it wouldn't have any other use, but it's technically an option that is available.

Overall I was hoping for a unique fight to be announced for Pokemon Day, and this was definitely different to most other 7-stars so far, mostly because of the choice of a status move over a 4th coverage move that changes the whole dynamic of the fight much like Mewtwo. I'm interested to see how Blastoise (maybe spamming Iron Defense at this rate) and other raids will follow with SV still being the main focus for 2024. Arguably it is the most puzzle-like of the raids so far in that there are near-guaranteed solutions with no risk of death (though most are on the less accessible side other than Corviknight), but every other mon has to deal with a very uphill battle, and so there's not as much to discuss now other than alternative options/group play. On that topic, the simplest coordinated clear for this that r/PokePortal currently recommends is Belly Drum Life Orb Chesnaught OHKOing with Wood Hammer after 2 Screeches and an Attack Cheer, with Cloud Nine Altaria to disable sun and outspeed.

 

[R_N]

my shiny goodra-h had Sap Sipper so I decided to try the air baloon set

my team was calyrex-ice, another goodra-h and a chesnaught. The Calyrex died twice but did major damage, but the Chesnaught was the real MVP. Just cut through like butter.

Myself & the other goodra were Immortal and just hit it when we could.

Thought about catching it in the safari ball I had but ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Went Nest instead.

 

[Chou Toshio]

Actually solo’d with Belly Drum easily the first round but after playing a couple times, yeah Drum is dicey. SD way more consistent. I’d say Slap is much better than Shield, Drain Punch or Synthesis though so pick it over any of those for the Two Spots after SD & Seed Bomb

 

[Chou Toshio]

my shiny goodra-h had Sap Sipper so I decided to try the air baloon set

my team was calyrex-ice, another goodra-h and a chesnaught. The Calyrex died twice but did major damage, but the Chesnaught was the real MVP. Just cut through like butter.

Myself & the other goodra were Immortal and just hit it when we could.

Thought about catching it in the safari ball I had but ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Went Nest instead.

Nice— wish I had a Goodra H. I do have over a hundred Safari balls though lol— though I caught in friend ball.

Also I feel like this having 0.03% less chance of getting HM feels real. Like I’m sure that with a Ground Raid Sandwhich (6x Noodle, Whip Cream, Horse Radish, Chili Sauce) it’s better to keep going for it rather than check any of the other 6 star’s for the usual HM targets, but even with Ground Raid Power 2 I haven’t seen any with more than 2 HM drops and surprisingly saw 2/~8 runs with no HM

 

[R_N]

Thinking about Blastoise

Obviously it's going to have Flash Cannon
Its HA is Rain Dish so while not as immediately useful as Sunny Day for Venusaur, a turn 0 Rain Dance seems obvious. It'll curb the obvious fighting weakness, anyway (as if people won't be rushing to their Iron Hands for this...)

Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse, Ice Beam are all good choices to pull on. If they want to use the Physical half of Shell Smash it could also grab something like Earthquake, Ice Spinner or Brick Break (Wave Crash too)
I'm guessing it'll throw a Surf out at everyone as a timer move. Might just have Surf in general if they don't want to opt for Hydro Pump or Water Pledge or whatever.

Shell Smash is a pretty obvious thing to have somewhere in its moveset. I bet they might make it a one-off timer move; have it do a Shell Smash right before it removes its debuffs?
Iron Defense as a more general move also seems pretty fitting, especially since the fighting types will be in full force.

In terms of possible "debuffs", I want to draw attention to Yawn because any time that move shows up in a raid I loathe it. The entire raid revolves around can you find a way to not lose turns to Yawn (usually Terrain)

 

[doipy hooves]

For documentation, here are this raid's stats from https://stevecooktu.github.io/sv_raid_lookup/.

Compared to Empoleon, we're back to a 30x HP multiplier with the shorter 450s timer, and a 35% shield instead of 30% that triggers earlier in general but is enough to break around 50% HP if not activated by time, which is the point that the 50% chance of acting twice activates. The more I see this trend in use for bosses, the more I don't like it because of the time pressure of added animations and the fact that it's a random chance for a random move, so the variance is huge when its effect on the battle ranges from not affecting anything to doubling the damage you take on a turn at worst. At least Venusaur has Amnesia in its moveset that adds another chance of a wasted roll but I think it's too vague and hidden for how impactful it can be, though the same can be said for all raid scripts being their own puzzles. I am glad this fight was light on the resets for both sides at least unlike Mewtwo.

 

[formula4speed]

FWIW Frosmoth as an online support mon worked well for me, cleared my first try with a Chesnaught doing all the damage.

Set up Snow / Screens and then spammed Struggle Bug to keep everyone alive. I didn't have any special EV spread because I just used what I had which I think is Modest with special attack investment (useless here, I did basically 0 damage). Held a Sitrus berry to give me an extra Struggle Bug or 2 before eventually using a heal cheer.

So basically Frosmoth never fainted and kept the damage output in check for everyone else.

 

[Original Dragon Arkvelza]

For Blastoise, perhaps this can work. I know it's pretty much Volcanion 2.0, but it's not exactly like Volcanion is easily accessible.


Shell Bell
Water Absorb
Tera Fire
252 SpA / 252 SpD / 6 HP
Modest Nature

Weather Ball
Sunny Day (To this day I'm still confused about this, it makes sense with Volcanion since he's a fire type)
Calm Mind
Haze

I only put Haze there in the case of Blastoise having Shell Smash. If he won't have it, then just put whatever you think will be effective.

Before Shell Smash boost
0+ SpA Tera Steel Blastoise Dragon Pulse vs. 6 HP / 252 SpD Tera Fire Vaporeon: 48-57 (11.9 - 14.1%) -- possible 8HKO
0+ SpA Tera Steel Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 6 HP / 252 SpD Tera Fire Vaporeon: 45-54 (11.1 - 13.4%) -- possible 8HKO

After Shell Smash boost
+2 0+ SpA Tera Steel Blastoise Dragon Pulse vs. 6 HP / 252 SpD Tera Fire Vaporeon: 96-113 (23.8 - 28.1%) -- 92.2% chance to 4HKO
+2 0+ SpA Tera Steel Blastoise Aura Sphere vs. 6 HP / 252 SpD Tera Fire Vaporeon: 90-107 (22.3 - 26.6%) -- 22.5% chance to 4HKO

 

[Worldie]

Sunny Day (To this day I'm still confused about this, it makes sense with Volcanion since he's a fire type)

It's most likely to cancel a potential Rain Dance (since Blastoise HA is Rain Dish so it's very likely to have it) while also neutering its fire moves.
Nothing special.

 

[Original Dragon Arkvelza]

It's most likely to cancel a potential Rain Dance (since Blastoise HA is Rain Dish so it's very likely to have it) while also neutering its fire moves.
Nothing special.

No, that's literally one of the 2 reasons I put it in there, I was talking about it being in Vaporeon's movepool, hence why I mentioned it making sense with Volcanion since he's a fire type. Then again, can't Entei and Ho-oh learn Rain Dance? Well at least Ho-oh can capitalize on it with Thunder.

Also, I'm pretty sure Blastoise can't learn any fire type moves. Well, unless you want to count Weather Ball.

 

[formula4speed]

Gastrodon with Storm Drain comes to mind for Blastoise, but not sure if it could do enough damage for a solo with no set up moves that I'm aware of.

Might be useful for support with access to Mud Slap or Clear Smog depending on what Blastoise ends up doing.

 

[AztecCroc]

Hey, question, when raid bosses have non-drain healing in SV is it based on the base HP or the modified HP? Cause if it's the modified HP countering rain to stop Rain Dish will probably be key.

No, that's literally one of the 2 reasons I put it in there, I was talking about it being in Vaporeon's movepool, hence why I mentioned it making sense with Volcanion since he's a fire type. Then again, can't Entei and Ho-oh learn Rain Dance? Well at least Ho-oh can capitalize on it with Thunder.

Also, I'm pretty sure Blastoise can't learn any fire type moves. Well, unless you want to count Weather Ball.

Vaporeon gets Sunny Day because Eevee does, Entei gets Rain Dance because of Burned Tower lore.

 

[doipy hooves]

Hey, question, when raid bosses have non-drain healing in SV is it based on the base HP or the modified HP? Cause if it's the modified HP countering rain to stop Rain Dish will probably be key.

Aside from Rest's 100%, healing and other HP percentage effects like status are always based on the original HP. You can see Blissey use Softboiled and not heal 50% of its entire HP bar for example.
EDIT: Also Arboliva's Grassy Terrain would make it much harder to do anything if the boss healed 1/16 of its HP every turn.

 

[Vengeance417]

Goodra-Hisui @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Protect
- Dragon Cheer
- Life Dew
- Skitter Smack

I don't like the offensive set for online raids. Support is much better and can help your hard hitters survive longer and even crit more often with Dragon Cheer.

 

[Krockodile]

I managed to beat Venusaur with my following Chesnaught set:
Chesnaught @ Shell Bell

Ability: Bulletproof
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 124 Atk / 252 SpD / 132 Spe
Careful Nature
- Belly Drum
- Seed Bomb
- Spiky Shield
- Mud-Slap

Main reason I chose Chesnaught was because it resists Grass and Ground attacks, and is immune to its Sludge Bomb attack thanks to its ability, Bulletproof.
As cheap as it is, I chose Mud-Slap so that Venusaur won't strike hard with strong Earth Powers or heal with Giga Drain. Chesnaught does resist both attacks, but its special defense is left to be desired so the Mud-Slap is an insurance against Venusaur.
Afterwards, I used Belly Drum and striked hard with Seed Bomb. I wanted to use Wood Hammer, but I thought that Chesnaught would suffer recoil damage first before being healed by Shell Bell, and run the risk of fainting from said recoil too earlier.
When Venusaur removed the buffs and its ability Bulletproof, I had Chesnaught use Spiky Shield to protect itself against Venusaur's Sludge Bomb.

The spread shown is to outspeed Venusaur whilst having enough special bulk to take on its attacks.

 

[doipy hooves]

So it's been a few days and there have been a lot of other potential avenues for solo raids that I want to shout out, mostly all falling among the lines of having a SpA debuff move (Snarl/Struggle Bug/Skitter Smack/etc), an Attack buff like Swords Dance, and at least some tera STAB.

This Ariados set uses Focus Energy + Sniper + Metronome boosts to do a lot of damage with Leech Life in the endgame, and in particular this run does it without any particular beneficial AI for this fight like Sylveon/Bellibolt/Gardevoir so I think it's a real sleeper pick, even though it's also a DLC mon and Skitter Smack is a DLC TM.

DaniSoloRaids has been putting out a few different runs, mostly following the same general moveset but with Rest as the 4th move usually, which is something I don't use often but it is a universal full heal. I just picked out this Beartic one since it's a base game mon and they also have Weavile and Chien-Pao clears for other examples. I think these are usually still helped by certain AI choices like Sylveon or Bellibolt usually though.

I saw an inspired Trevenant set mentioned on GameFAQs but the original post seems to have disappeared. It suggested leading with Skitter Smacks, then Psych Up after the reset to copy Venusaur's SpD boosts, Growths to boost in sun and then spamming Horn Leech, along with relying on Harvest Sitrus for sustain. I haven't seen a video of that exact set clearing yet though and it's also a DLC mon.

Dishonourable mentions go to game8 for suggesting a bunch of special attackers and a solo set that "works better in co-op", but they at least put Hisuian Goodra and Chesnaught up front.

Meanwhile Sports Illustrated is the #1 result on Google for searching "venusaur raid counters", and they start off calling Venusaur using Amnesia "the stat boost glitch" and their suggestions are Gyarados (killing your allies with Moxie to set up), Walking Wake, and Weezing before even mentioning Hisuian Goodra and not even Chesnaught.

At least Dexerto still believes in Azumarill.

 

[a blue banana]

Goodra-Hisui@Air Balloon
Sap Sipper
Tera-Steel
Brave (+Atk, -Spe)
252 Atk, 0 Speed
Ideally 0 Speed IVs, but I guess it's not mandatory
Curse
Gyro Ball
Ice Spinner
Protect

If you can attack four times before the reset (I doubt it), Curse then Ice Spinner three times, that's your best move pre-tera. Protect on the reset turn, then Curse 6 times, Tera-Gyro Ball 8 times, then Ice Spinner to finish when you run out of PPs.

I won the first time using this set, but with Iron Head over Ice Spinner, no PP Ups, and 31 Speed IVs. Using Iron Head over Ice Spinner helps out in breaking the shield if you're matched up with an AI partner that can lower Speed like Haxorus, so you can save on Gyro Ball PP until the shield is broken and Venusaur sets up Sun again. Even with a 31 Speed IV, Gyro Ball still hits 141 BP w/o Sun up and w/ no stat drops on Venusaur.

 

[Vinc2612]

Then my Corviknight idea, since I probably won't bother transfering a Goodra from Legends:

Corviknight@Metronome
Tera-Dark/Stellar
Adamant/Lonely/Brave (+Atk, not -SpD)
252 Atk, 248 SpD, 8 HP
Hone Claw
Agility
Power Trip
Roost

Tera Stellar : Power Trip, Power Trip, Power Trip, Roost if possible, then comes the reset.
Tera Dark : Do nothing, Roost after 10 % of the timer, then comes the reset.

After the Reset, go to +6/+6/+6, Roost off the damages, then Spam Power Trip. Tera-Stellar is fine immediately, Tera-Dark is risky so should be used when you're confortable finishing the battle. Earth Power and Sludge Bomb 2HKO if you Tera-Dark, so be careful about that.
Giga Drain is a possible 8HKO without tera so you can easily spam Power Trip once you're boosted.

I finally went with Shell Bell and Dark-Tera, thinking that it would allow me to fully recover after each move after my Tera, since I don't Tera before being fully boosted anyway.

I started with three Power Trip, then it resetted me, then I boosted/Roosted before Tera-Spamming Power Trip.

I made a misclick during the boosting part, and my three allies were utterly useless (Venusaur still looked full life when I finished boosting), but still managed to beat the solo, fainting Venusaur with my last possible move.

I think the only way to lose the solo with that set (outside of playing badly) is being paired with Arboliva. The grassy terrain boost would have costed me the game in this setting.

 

[Band]

Brainstormed some ideas for the Blastoise raid, these could work well or just flop hard. At a first glance, Volcanion and Poliwrath seem to be the most reliable imo


Poliwrath @ Shell Bell
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Belly Drum
- Drain Punch
- Bulldoze
- Mud-Slap

Just BD then heal up with Drain Punch, throw a Bulldoze in there so you can outspeed toise before a Shell Smash and pull Mud-Slap shenanigans. Looks pretty promising imo since you're immune to Water and resist Ice, Steel, and Dark so you're only really weak to Aura Sphere.


Volcanion @ Shell Bell
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 188 SpD / 68 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Weather Ball
- Flamethrower
- Haze

Sunny Day t1, spam fire move, tera when you can, then Haze after Shell Smash. EVs are for outspeeding before Shell Smash. A downside to using this is that you don't resist any moves from Blastoise aside from Water immunity, so you'll want to Tera fast to do damage and gain the Ice resist.


Clodsire @ Shell Bell
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Curse
- Amnesia
- Earthquake
- Recover

Amnesia + Curse spam, nothing special here. Tera Fire to resist Flash Cannon and Ice Beam, but you lose the Aura Sphere resistance. Could mess with the EVs and moveset if you want a support one too.


Walking Wake @ Shell Bell
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower
- Noble Roar
- Weather Ball

This one feels quite shaky but I think it could work with the Noble Roar spam? Idk it looks pretty strong so just spam fire moves, tera, and see from there.

 

[Worldie]

Reasonably speaking, Blastoise is something I expect with Water move / Aura Sphere / Dragon Pulse / Dark Pulse (basically mega blastoise at home), with a very likely scripted Rain Dance (to use Rain Dish) and then a potential Water Spout or Shell Smash (possibly with a debuff wipe to go with it).

I think the Poliwrath or similar bulky double resists (like Palkia) are the most likely play. Unstabbed Dragon Pulse is not something I see hurting, expecially if provided with debuffs or light screen.

Personally i'll just be running the usual Sunny Day Blissey and let someone carry me online.

 

[AztecCroc]

Reasonably speaking, Blastoise is something I expect with Water move / Aura Sphere / Dragon Pulse / Dark Pulse (basically mega blastoise at home), with a very likely scripted Rain Dance (to use Rain Dish) and then a potential Water Spout or Shell Smash (possibly with a debuff wipe to go with it).

I think the Poliwrath or similar bulky double resists (like Palkia) are the most likely play. Unstabbed Dragon Pulse is not something I see hurting, expecially if provided with debuffs or light screen.

Personally i'll just be running the usual Sunny Day Blissey and let someone carry me online.

It's Tera Steel, replace one of those moves with Flash Cannon.

 

[Krockodile]

For the Blastoise Raid, this is what I have come up with:

Toxicroak @ Shell Bell
Ability: Dry Skin
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Acid Spray
- Tera Blast / Focus Blast
- Protect
- Nasty Plot

I figured Toxicroak would be the best matchup against Blastoise, because it's immune to Blastoise's water attacks thanks to Dry Skin, and resists Fighting and Dark coverage thanks to Toxicroak's typing. Furthermore, since Blastoise will likely boost its defense with Iron Defense the set that I developed is a special attacking set, which will instead attack its non-boosted special defense.

• Acid Spray is used to debuff Blastoise's special defense. Once the three turns have been used to debuff using Acid Spray, Toxicroak can use Tera Blast Fighting to tear down the turtle. Focus Blast could be used, but the move is too inaccurate to rely hitting Blastoise on consistently.
• When Blastoise stops Toxicroak's ability Dry Skin for a turn Protect can be used to stop Blastoise from hitting powerful Water Attacks.
• Nasty Plot can be used to boost up Toxicroak's special attacks, which works well with Acid Spray.
• The EV spread is used to ensure that Toxicroak is built to take on the turtle's attacks.

I have thought of using Low Sweep to use against Blastoise's Shell Smash buff boosting its speed. However, after Blastoise's boosts, it would take 3 Low Sweeps for Toxicroak to outspeed Blastoise. Whilst there can be an EV spread to outspeed Blastoise at +1, it would need Toxicroak to have EVs into Speed, and it would sacrifice its bulk to withstand Blastoise's attacks. Toxicroak could not learn Clear Smog to remove Blastoise's buffs from Shell Smash.

Edit: I should mention that Toxicroak does not learn Aura Sphere, so Tera Blast is the only reliable Fighting coverage Toxicroak can use against Steel Blastoise.

 

[Worldie]

It's Tera Steel, replace one of those moves with Flash Cannon.

Of all the ones I listed i'd expect either Dragon or Dark to be the one missing then. Aura Sphere kinda rounds up the coverage against Steel types (prevents from being walled by Water/Steel, Dragon/Steel and Grass/Steel) whereas those 2 don't really add much.

I have thought of using Low Sweep to use against Blastoise's Shell Smash buff boosting its speed. However, after Blastoise's boosts, it would take 3 Low Sweeps for Toxicroak to outspeed Blastoise. Whilst there can be an EV spread to outspeed Blastoise at +1, it would need Toxicroak to have EVs into Speed, and it would sacrifice its bulk to withstand Blastoise's attacks. Toxicroak could not learn Clear Smog to remove Blastoise's buffs from Shell Smash.

Small caveaut: Clear Smog is not a option anyway due to it being Steel type.
Assuming Shell Smash shenenigans, I think Low Sweep would still be a reasonable choice if you use this online, as it'll help others not being outsped.

 

[AztecCroc]

For the Blastoise Raid, this is what I have come up with:

View attachment 611686

Toxicroak @ Shell Bell
Ability: Dry Skin
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Acid Spray
- Tera Blast / Focus Blast
- Protect
- Nasty Plot

I figured Toxicroak would be the best matchup against Blastoise, because it's immune to Blastoise's water attacks thanks to Dry Skin, and resists Fighting and Dark coverage thanks to Toxicroak's typing. Furthermore, since Blastoise will likely boost its defense with Iron Defense the set that I developed is a special attacking set, which will instead attack its non-boosted special defense.

• Acid Spray is used to debuff Blastoise's special defense. Once the three turns have been used to debuff using Acid Spray, Toxicroak can use Tera Blast Fighting to tear down the turtle. Focus Blast could be used, but the move is too inaccurate to rely hitting Blastoise on consistently.
• When Blastoise stops Toxicroak's ability Dry Skin for a turn Protect can be used to stop Blastoise from hitting powerful Water Attacks.
• Nasty Plot can be used to boost up Toxicroak's special attacks, which works well with Acid Spray.
• The EV spread is used to ensure that Toxicroak is built to take on the turtle's attacks.

I have thought of using Low Sweep to use against Blastoise's Shell Smash buff boosting its speed. However, after Blastoise's boosts, it would take 3 Low Sweeps for Toxicroak to outspeed Blastoise. Whilst there can be an EV spread to outspeed Blastoise at +1, it would need Toxicroak to have EVs into Speed, and it would sacrifice its bulk to withstand Blastoise's attacks. Toxicroak could not learn Clear Smog to remove Blastoise's buffs from Shell Smash.

Edit: I should mention that Toxicroak does not learn Aura Sphere, so Tera Blast is the only reliable Fighting coverage Toxicroak can use against Steel Blastoise.

Acid Spray is Poison, Blastoise is Tera Steel, it's not gonna work here.