Tera Raid Battles are the new raid format in Pokemon Scarlet and Purpleoffering a challenging battle where trainers can capture powerful Pokemon with unique Tera types – not to mention a ton of reward items.
If you played Pokemon Scarlet and Purple, you’ve seen them on your Paldean map and in the world itself. They’re marked on your map with little type icons, and in the world there are sparkling crystals that light up in the sky. You’ll unlock higher tier raids as you progress through the game, but where things start to get tricky is with six-star raids. (Seven-star raids are currently event-only, like the Charizard raid.)
Looking for them but can’t find them? Our six-star raid guide is here to help.
What are Six Star Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Purple?
These are raids that are rated with six stars based on their difficulty. You can find most Pokemon and Tera types in these raids – they are not Pokemon specific. They are like all other raids, but harder and with better rewards. If you catch these Pokémon, they will also be at higher levels than lower star raids.
How to Unlock Six Star Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Purple?
You can’t just jump into six-star raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Purple. In fact, you’ll have to beat one scenario, The Way Home, which unlocks when you’ve completed each of the three main scenarios. Once you’ve done that, you need to go through all the gym leaders again. This time around, all of the gym leaders are leveled in the mid-60s.
Then, join your school’s Academy Ace tournament. Here, you face four different students or teachers, up to around level 70. Once you beat that, you’ll get a call from Jacq mentioning super hard raids, but they won’t be available yet. It’s really a hint that you should go off and do a lot of harder raids. So do it – take on enough five-star raids to get another call from Jacq, where he’ll warn you about even tougher raids. These are the six-star raids.
I’m not sure how many five-star raids to complete, but it’s less than 10. (I wasn’t counting while playing! I know, bad guide writer.) Some people say four-star raids count too, but I can’t confirm it – I just gave five stars. You box move around your map and check out raids, but there’s no way to tell what level a raid is until you get there, so it requires a lot of travel. But you can find five-star raids in the Tera Raid Battle menu of the Poké Portal, which speeds things up considerably. It’s still a time-consuming process though: everyone wants to get into five-star raids, so there’s a lot of denied entries, compounded by slow loading screens.
Now that I’ve unlocked them, where can I find six-star raids?
Image: Game Freak/The Pokémon Company, Nintendo
Luckily, six-star raids are differentiated on the map by a glowing pink border. (You can see it above.) Head to these to set up a six-star raid. In my experience there is only one on the card per day. But like the five-star raids, you’ll find them under Tera Raid Battles in the Poké Portal, but they’re only available to players connected to the internet. These are even more desirable than five-star raids, so be prepared to wait.
How the hell do I beat six star raids?
Six-star raids are exceptionally difficult, especially if you’re playing solo with NPCs. Pokemon Scarlet and PurpleNPC trainers clearly don’t understand how to counter Pokémon types. You need to call on very powerful Pokémon to get through it, but it’s not impossible. It’s also a mixed bag with real players, but it’s way better than NPCs. The best way to do this is with a full group of friends who have that team synergy.
But if you haven’t, here are some tips. Of course, you’ll want to counter Pokémon types, but there are a few Pokémon that work really well. Iron Hands, a Paradox Pokémon, is one of them – it’s powerful on its own, but with Belly Drum and Drain Punch you can pack a punch and heal yourself. Belly Drum is a move that deducts half of the user’s max HP and, in exchange, maximizes their attack stat. If you do this at the start of the raid, you can really do a lot of damage. Drain Punch also deals damage and restores HP.
Polygon Editor Kallie Plagge recommends using Azumarill with the Huge Power ability alongside Belly Drum. His Azumarill also holds a Sitrus Berry to recover HP. She suggests that a teammate throw in a few Screech moves before using a heavy attack in order to shoot at (or near) a raid boss, something like Liquidation or Play Rough. To make your Azumarill even better, you can also hone its nature, IVs, and EVs.
On Youtube, a Pokemon player named Unedited has a good guide with stats, items, and moves that can be applied to a number of different Pokemon. It explains, step by step, how to choose moves during a six-star raid battle. An other idea, submitted by Reddit user aeshnoideais to roll with a Chansey trained in HP and defense, and holding the Eviolite item – this boosts the defense and special defense of Pokémon that are not fully evolved. With the Healer hidden ability, Chansey can also heal his allies from status conditions.
Beyond these specific strategies, you’ll want to consider the Pokémon’s Tera type. and its move is set when you choose a Pokémon to battle with. “Bringing Azumarill into a Revavroom dark raid is a bad idea even though Play Rough will be super effective as Revavroom can destroy Azumarill with steel and poison type moves,” Kallie said.
But what about the six-star Idem?
If you come across a six-star Ditto Raid, don’t do any of that. The raid boss will transform into the host’s Pokemon, meaning it will have that Pokemon’s stats. Instead of bringing a Legendary like Koraidon, you better pick something like Magikarp if you’re the host – let everyone else do the work while you cheer.
What are the rewards?
You will get more and more rewards by completing six-star raids. In particular, the draw is more Herba Mystica, a rare sandwich ingredient that can help you find more shiny Pokémon, among other things. There are five types of Herba Mystica: Bitter, Salty, Spicy, Sour, and Sweet.
You can get Herba Mystica from five-star raids, but you’ll get more from six-star raids. (Of course, if you’re unlucky, you might not get any. If you want a lot of Herba Mystica, you’re going to have to do a lot high level raids. If you want to go deeper, Serebii has a list of all six-star raids and drop rates for items, including Herba Mystica.
You’ll also get other items like an Ability Cap, Bottle Caps, Feathers, Tera Shards, and XP-boosting Candy, and Six-Star Raids are the only Raids that reward the Rare Ability Patch. TM crafting resources are also readily available in these battles.
Beyond that, Pokemon in Six Star Raid Battles will have five perfect stats and potentially its hidden ability.
