Scarlet & Violet Solo Raid Pokémon
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Stellar Type Raider
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Judgment Calm Mind Acid Spray Giga Drain Multitype |
Yes, I immediately started by cheating with a Mythical Pokémon. Things be like that sometimes. Honestly, the Normal typing itself is practically useless in the context of Tera Raids. It does not have type advantage against any typings and the few good Normal-types are outclassed by other Pokémon that do have that advantage. The Stella Tera Type does give that bonus damage, but you still lose out compared to Pokémon with better Tera Typing. I only filled in the Stellar Type slot to complete the row, but Arceus does have a good niche in this role compared to other Pokémon. Its signature move, Judgment, changes its typing based on the held item on Arceus, so you can mix and match your Stellar Typing with a matching plate to have a super effective bonus on top of STAB bonus regardless (just have to remember to change your typing). Arceus is never my first choice, but if I'm facing a five- or six-star raid and one of the other Pokémon on this list can't do it, Arceus probably can. |
Fighting Type Raider
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Drain Punch Belly Drum Focus Energy Iron Defense Quark Drive |
Iron Hands is by far one of the best new Pokémon from this generation. Access to Belly Drum and a move that directly heals Iron Hands frees Iron Hands's held item slot for a more useful item when needed. The biggest downside to Iron Hands is that Iron Hands is an exclusive Pokémon from Violet version. Focus Energy provides an increased chance to critical hit on top of that. Iron Defense could be swapped around as needed, but is a good utility move I keep on mine by default. Iron Hands's ability, Quark Drive, is one of those abilities you probably won't use often. While this ability would boost Iron Hands's Physical Attack even further, you also need to either dedicate a move to setting Electric Terrain or dedicate your held item to a once-only Electric Terrain. If you want to play around with Quark Drive, you could probably swap out Focus Energy for Electric Terrain, but it's far from necessary. |
Flying Type Raider
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Drill Peck Screech Hone Claws Defog Mirror Armor |
Corviknight is a... weird Pokémon, to say the least. Corvknight's attacks are fairly standard with a single attack move, a defense lowering move, and an attack & accuracy boosting move. It also has the interesting utility move Defog, which would otherwise make it stand out even further, but Defog is not what made me decide to add Corviknight to my roster. Corviknight's ability, Mirror Armor, is the actual star of the show here. Mirror Armor outright reflects any stat drops the enemy attempts back onto them, which is |
Poison Type Raider
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Sludge Bomb Acid Spray Nuzzle Taunt Technician |
Toxtricity is one of my favorite Pokémon from Sword & Shield. Honestly, I looked for an excuse to use Toxtricity in this roster, though I was quite surprised to realize that it would be better suited for the Poison role instead of Electric. Toxtricity's movepool is fairly limited, but it still has some interesting moves that may be fun depending on the match-up. Sludge Bomb is your main damaging move that can also poison and Acid Spray helps lowering stats on the opponent (and charges your Tera Orb without using up your damaging move). Nuzzle is a guaranteed Paralysis move when the opponent's shields are lowered that also charges the Tera Orb. Finally, Taunt helps you avoid the opponent using certain utility moves such as stat boosting moves in the beginning of the raid, stat dropping moves at any point in the raid, or moves that inflict status conditions on your Toxtricity at the absolute worst time. Technician unfortunately does almost nothing for you. None of Toxtricity's good damaging moves fit in any of Toxtricity's abilities. None are 60BP or less to trigger Technician, and none are sound-based to trigger Punk Rock unless you play the Electric build for Toxtricity. Of the two, I gave my Toxtricity Technician because that ever so slightly boosts the damage of the two utility moves. |
Ground Type Raider
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High Horsepower Drain Punch Belly Drum Leer Guts |
Yeah I was not dedicating the one Blood Moon Ursaluna you can catch to a Raid build. That went straight into the Pokémon Home collection. If you decide to run Bloodmoon Ursaluna instead, note that BLoodmoon Ursaluna is a Special Attack Pokémon, whereas Hisuian Ursaluna is a Physical Attack Pokémon. Ursaluna is one of those Pokémon that has access to both Belly Drum and a direct healing move through Drain Punch. Unlike other Pokémon in that category, though, Ursaluna does not have a healing move that matches its typing, so Drain Punch can't be the primary damaging move. Beyond that, though, Ursaluna's moveset is fairly standard. High Horsepower is a high damaging move, Belly Drum boosts your stats, Leer lowers your opponent's stats, and Belly Drum is your utility move that also charges your Tera Orb. Regarding Ursaluna's ability, Guts is the best ability in general to run on this Ursaluna. If Ursaluna gets any status condition, Guts boosts Ursaluna's damage output significantly. Further, Guts stops Burn Status from outright shutting down any offensive plays Ursaluna may have. Normally with Guts, players run a held item that forces the Pokémon to take a status condition to get that bonus, but I never liked Ursaluna taking consistent damage so quickly. Even with the ability to immediately heal with Drain Punch, I didn't like how much damage Ursaluna was guaranteed to take each turn (especially given Drain Punch wasn't a good damage dealing move for Ursaluna). Run one of the orb items if you want, I chose not to. Guts still helps when facing a boss that tries to inflict those conditions (other than Sleep) on you. |
Rock Type Raider
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Head Smash Leer Sandstorm Will-O-Wisp Rock Head |
When I first started fighting raids in my copy of Violet, I knew I wanted Arcanine to be my Rock-type Pokémon. Head Smash is a powerful move, with the drawback that it inflicts Recoil after the move hits. Recoil can add up when stat changes are in play, especially if Arcanine deals more damage to raid bosses with a higher HP pool compared to random encounters with a standard HP pool. Leer acts as your standard stat lowering move to further boost your damage output. Sandstorm provides Arcanine with a minor Special Defense boost if needed and changes the weather if you're facing a raid boss that uses weather moves itself. Finally, Will-O-Wisp burns the opponent and, if they're a Physical Attack Pokémon, drops their attack in half and helps Arcanine survive even longer. Arcanine stood out to me due to its ability, Rock Head. Rock Head cancels any recoil damage, so Arcanine is free to use the stronger attacking moves without any drawback. Just be careful about when Rock Head is in play or not; raid bosses periodically cancel all abilities on the field, so if you're not paying attention, you could inflict enough damage on Arcanine to knock itself out, waste precious time, waste precious stat changes, and potentially waste a Terastralization. Waste a turn on Sandstorm if your ability is canceled, you only need to waste one turn. |
Bug Type Raider
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Fury Cutter Swords Dance Double Team Sharpness |
Ghost Type Raider
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Rage Fist Drain Punch Bulk Up Focus Energy Inner Focus |
Steel Type Raider
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Iron Head Swords Dance Snarl Thunder Wave Defiant |
Fire Type Raider
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Bitter Blade Swords Dance Sunny Day Clear Smog Flash Fire |
Water Type Raider
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Aqua Tail Belly Drum Rain Dance Aqua Ring Thick Fat |
Grass Type Raider
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Giga Drain Acid Spray Gastro Acid Clear Smog Chlorophyll |
Electric Type Raider
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Discharge Thunderbolt Nasty Plot Will-O-Wisp Levitate |
Psychic Type Raider
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Stored Power Nasty Plot Iron Defense Skill Swap Oblivious |
Ice Type Raider
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Ice Spinner Belly Drum Snowscape Yawn Sheer Force |
Dragon Type Raider
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Dragon Claw Swords Dance Focus Energy Leer Mold Breaker |
Dark Type Raider
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Ceaseless Edge Swords Dance Focus Energy Screech Sharpness |
Fairy Type Raider
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Hyper Voice Moonblast Misty Terrain Fake Tears Pixelate |