Like Charizard and Cinderace earlier than it, Greninja is coming to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet by way of a seven-star tera raid on the finish of the month. The restricted time occasion will provide you with and your pals an opportunity to catch the Kalos water starter, however it is going to be a tricky battle. Whereas we nonetheless don’t know what Greninja’s moveset will probably be, there’s some prep work you are able to do forward of time to present you a superb probability at taking it out and including it to your staff. Let’s run down the who, what, the place, and when of Scarlet and Violet’s subsequent massive tera raid.
What to anticipate within the Greninja tera raid
Greninja will probably be accessible for 2 home windows as a seven-star raid. The primary will probably be later this month, from January 27 at 7 p.m. Japanese time till January 29 at 6:59 p.m. ET. Then the frog ninja will go into the vault till February 10 at 7 p.m. ET, and stay accessible till February 12 at 6:59 p.m. ET.
As is the case with all seven-star raids, Greninja will probably be at stage 100, so any Pokémon you convey to struggle it also needs to be at max stage. Its base typing is water/darkish, however it’s going to have a poison tera kind, which can override its water and darkish affinities. Nevertheless, simply because it gained’t be sturdy and weak in opposition to the assaults related to these varieties doesn’t imply you may low cost them, as Greninja’s moveset will possible be principally water and darkish assaults.
For instance, an Armarouge may need psychic assaults to weaken Greninja’s poison tera kind, however as a fireplace and psychic kind itself, it might be very inclined to Greninja’s water and darkish talents. With tera raids, it’s necessary to have the ability to not simply weaken the boss’ tera kind, but in addition to resist the assaults they’ll truly be utilizing, which will probably be primarily water and darkish. So even when you don’t decide the Pokémon we convey up on this information, do hold this in thoughts.
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In earlier raids, Charizard was spec’d to be a particular attacker and Cinderace was a bodily attacker. Greninja has a good bodily and particular assault stat, although its particular assault comes out forward. Nevertheless, it balances out by having decrease protection, so when you can stand up to its assaults, you may in all probability do significant injury in return when you’ve received the correct Pokémon and strikes.
As a result of Greninja is well-balanced offensively, its moveset will possible be diversified. Some secure bets will probably be its signature transfer Water Shuriken, which is a particular, multi-hit water assault. Its darkish assaults are much less predictable, as it may possibly be taught bodily strikes like Evening Slash and particular ones like Darkish Pulse. Whereas these are its base parts coated, Greninja additionally has an eclectic pool to attract from to cowl different typings, as effectively. Aerial Ace is a dependable flying assault that may do respectable injury in opposition to bug, grass, or fighting-type Pokémon. It may even be taught psychic strikes like Extrasensory and ghost assaults like Shadow Sneak. So greater than Cinderace and Charizard, Greninja’s potential moveset has a ton of protection.
The largest factor to be cautious of is that Greninja is quick. It’s sooner than Charizard and only a bit sooner than Cinderace. It’ll be hitting onerous and fast, so your Pokémon’s survivability will probably be a key consider taking it down.
The perfect Pokémon and strikes to convey to the struggle for the Greninja raid
The humorous factor concerning the latest Cinderace raid was that a number of the finest methods for December’s Charizard raid remained fairly stable for that one as effectively. This pattern continues with Greninja, because the Slowbro Saved Energy construct can nonetheless do some actual injury due to the boss’ poison tera kind. This tactic entails a Slowbro that is aware of Saved Energy, Iron Protection, and Nasty Plot. Saved Energy is a psychic assault that will increase in energy for every stat increase the person has obtained throughout battle. After three makes use of of Iron Protection and three makes use of of Nasty Plot, Slowbro can drop a devastating Saved Energy, and I’mspeaking from private expertise once I say that utilizing this construct, alongside teammates utilizing Serving to Hand to present your assaults an additional increase, was potent sufficient to take Cinderace down within the final raid nearly immediately.
The difficulty is, Greninja’s darkish base typing places Slowbro at a lot larger danger than it was in the course of the Cinderace raid. Slowbro is cumbersome and has excessive protection stats, however Greninja is a heavy hitter, and if it fixates on utilizing dark-type assaults in your damage-dealing Slowbro, truly getting this combo off could be a problem. There are some things you are able to do to maintain the stress off Slowbro whereas it prepares to make use of Saved Energy. The simplest choice is to convey a Pokémon that is aware of Comply with Me, which can divert an enemy’s consideration to you as its sole goal for a number of turns. Nevertheless, in Scarlet and Violet, there are solely three Pokémon that may be taught this transfer: Indeedee, Pachirisu, and Maushold. Indeedee is a psychic kind, so it might be simply as inclined to Greninja’s darkish assaults as Slowbro; Maushold’s defensive stats are wonderful; Pachirisu’s are considerably higher. Not one of the choices are nice, however it’s one technique to divert consideration away from Slowbro whereas it shops energy.
The opposite route you may go is to simply prioritize supporting Slowbro and maintaining it alive. This may be accomplished by way of utilizing cheers to heal and lift your staff’s defenses, in addition to by bringing Pokémon to the struggle who can use talents like Heal Pulse. There are a handful of Pokémon who can be taught this transfer, however plenty of them are psychic and will probably be liable to getting smacked down by Greninja’s darkish assaults. Blissey is without doubt one of the best assist Pokémon within the sport, and wouldn’t be weakened by both of Greninja’s base typings. Having a participant who acts because the assist character is an effective rule of thumb for tera raids, and Blissey’s a superb one to have each for Heal Pulse and for Serving to Hand to spice up assaults.
If you’d like one thing much less dangerous, Gastrodon and Clodsire are main the pack within the Pokémon neighborhood as dependable counters to a poison-type Greninja. Gastrodon as a water/floor kind is each comparatively proof against Greninja’s water assaults, and has an inherent power in opposition to Greninja’s poison tera kind with floor assaults. Gastrodon additionally has a capability referred to as Storm Drain, which pulls all water assaults to it, nullifies injury, and will increase the particular assault stat. Couple this with dependable floor strikes like Earth Energy and self-healing strikes like Recuperate, and Gastrodon can each deal and take plenty of injury on this struggle.
One other technique is to make use of Clodsire, which has a attainable immunity to water with the correct capability. Clodsire is a poison/floor kind, which makes it technically weakened by water assaults, however it may possibly even have a capability referred to as Water Take up that converts any water injury to HP. So if you wish to render a few of Greninja’s assaults not solely ineffective, however helpful to you, Clodsire’s a sensible choice.
As for its moveset, Earth Energy stays a dependable ground-type injury seller, however Clodsire’s survivability is one in every of its key perks on this struggle. Whereas Water Take up will hold Greninja’s water assaults at bay, it may possibly additionally be taught ice assaults like Ice Beam or Ice Punch. Clodsire’s a cumbersome Pokémon with plenty of HP, but when Greninja begins utilizing ice assaults, maintaining Recuperate in your moveset is an effective method to make sure it stays on the sphere. You can too elevate Clodsire’s protection stats within the battle through the use of Stockpile, as a result of so long as you don’t use Spit Up or Swallow, this can enhance Clodsire’s protection and particular protection. Conserving Blissey round as assist may even assist hold Clodsire up and able to dish out Earth Energy.
Getting Recuperate for Clodsire will probably be a bit trickier than for Gastrodon, nevertheless, as it may possibly solely be taught it by way of breeding. This implies if you’d like your Clodsire to comprehend it, you’ll must breed a Paldean Wooper by way of a feminine Wooper or Clodsire and a male Pokémon that’s suitable with Wooper or Clodsire that is aware of Recuperate. The Pokémon who fall into this standards could be a male Shellos, Gastrodon, Mareanie, Toxapex, and Pincurchin. All the potential fathers on this scenario can be taught Recuperate by leveling up, in order that course of is far simpler. Make sure that they know the transfer while you make a picnic for them to get to breeding, then the Wooper that pops out of the egg when it hatches ought to know the talent. You then’re free to lift it as much as a tanky Clodsire.
When you’ve received a Clodsire or Gastrodon however neither have the skills talked about above, you may change it through the use of an Capability Capsule. These could be discovered as drops throughout high-level tera raids, or purchased at Chansey Provide shops after finishing the principle sport.
Will Greninja have Battle Bond?
One thing Greninja can have that no different Pokémon has is a capability referred to as Battle Bond, which was a part of an event-only distribution in Pokémon Solar and Moon. This lets Greninja rework into a unique, extra highly effective type referred to as Ash-Greninja after it takes out an enemy Pokémon. Whereas not confirmed, it appears unlikely that Greninja may have such a capability within the tera raid for a number of causes. Because the identify implies, Battle Bond is framed as the results of a connection between Greninja and its coach, and since this can be a wild Pokémon, there’s no coach for it to bond with. Greninjas who’ve Battle Bond additionally can’t breed, and since that is the one technique to catch Greninja’s evolutionary line in Scarlet and Violet, the one technique to get its pre-evolutions, Froakie and Frogadier, is thru breeding. Subsequently it might be shocking if Greninja has Battle Bond within the raid, so don’t fear about constructing your staff primarily based on that, for now.
Reminder: You may solely catch one Greninja
As was the case with Charizard and Cinderace, you may tackle the tera raid for Greninja as many occasions as you want in the course of the occasion, however you gained’t be capable to seize multiple per save file. The Pokémon may even be shiny locked, which suggests you gained’t be capable to shiny hunt by way of the raid. That being mentioned, you may nonetheless throw a picnic for Greninja and a Ditto to breed Froakie eggs, which will provide you with an opportunity to amass a shiny Greninja in Scarlet and Violet.
Correction, 1/17/23 8:45 p.m. ET: This publish beforehand described Storm Drain because it existed in earlier generations with out together with latest additions like boosting particular assault and nullifying injury. Kotaku regrets the error.