The next 7-Star Pokémon has come to Paldea looking for a fight, as Unrivaled Chesnaught makes its first appearance in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. As the second Kalos starter after 7-Star Greninja, Chesnaught comes armed with a tough new Tera Type, a suite of powerful moves and some tricky special mechanics to make this Tera Raid spotlight feel truly indomitable. Manage to overcome this behemoth, though, and you’ll be rewarded handsomely with Ability Patches, Tera Shards and Herba Mystica ingredients galore. This’ll also be the only way to get your hands on Chesnaught, or its two pre-evolutions Chespin and Quilladin, so there’s something here for trainers and collectors alike.
7-Star Raids stand as the peak of pinnacle end-game content in Scarlet and Violet. These Raids pit four regular trainers against a single super-powered Terastilised Pokémon, usually an iconic staple from the series’ past. Not only are they very strong and have a ton of HP, but they even have additional moves and mechanics not seen anywhere else in the game. Taking down Chesnaught, either solo or co-op, is going to take a lot of preparation and learning about what the Spiny Armoured Pokémon has in store. Beat it and the opportunity to catch this Pokémon will be yours for a limited time only.
Here’s everything you need to know about the 7-Star Chesnaught Tera Raid Spotlight in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Want more Pokémon Scarlet and Violet articles and content? You can find more here on KeenGamer:
- How to Increase Your Shiny Odds in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
- Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Ultimate Sandwich Guide
- How to Change Your Pokémon’s Tera Type in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
- The Best Pokémon for Tera Raid Battles in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
- How to Catch and Evolve Gimmighoul in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
How to Unlock 7-Star Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Before you can tackle the 7-Star Tera Raid, you first have to unlock 6-Star Raids. To do this, a few key things need to be undertaken and completed.
- Beat all 3 Main Story Quests (Nemona’s Victory Road, Arven’s Path of Legends and Penny’s Starfall Street).
- Travel to and beat the final boss of the game in Area Zero.
- Challenged all of the Gym Leaders to a rematch.
- Participated in and beat the first Academy Ace Tournament.
At this point, your form teacher Mr Jacq will contact you. Energy from Area Zero has begun to flow stronger all over Paldea and he wants you to fight some Tera Raid battles for his research. You must complete 10 4-Star or 5-Star Tera Raids of any Type or Pokémon. The only stipulation is that you must host these battles yourself as any Raids you join over the Poké Portal will not count toward the total.
An Important Call
Once all of the Raids have been bested, you’ll once again be contacted by Mr Jacq. This time, you will be warned of some dangerous 6-Star Raids that will pop up around the map: these are marked by black crystals and black Tera Raid icons on the map to distinguish them from other Raids. It is at this point that the 7-Star Raids have been unlocked.
Compared to other Raids, 7-Star (and other Event Raids) have sparkly edges to their map icons and unique animations added to their Tera Crystals. For Unrivaled Chesnaught, you’ll be on the lookout for a Rock-Type Tera Raid with a sparkling edge. When you’ve found one on the map and travel to it, you’ll find a Black Crystal surrounded by swirling lights and purple energy.
From then on, simply interact with the Tera Crystal to start the fight.
7-Star Tera Crystals
7-Star Chesnaught Breakdown
Chesnaught is the second starter Pokémon from Kalos, following in the footsteps of the ever-popular Greninja from a few months ago. And just like Greninja, Chesnaught has traded in its old Grass/Fighting type for a shiny new Rock Tera Type.
Before we dive into 7-Star Chesnaught, there are two things that you need to know and consider. The first is that you need to make sure that your chosen partner Pokémon is level 100. 7-Star Tera Pokémon don’t play nice and they don’t play fair, with plenty of hidden mechanics and raw power backing them up. You’ll need every advantage you can get to beat Chesnaught: handicapping yourself by playing with a low-level Pokémon isn’t going to do you any favours, nor will it help any of your allies should you attempt to co-op this Raid.
The second thing to consider is that, if you have the resources and time, EV and IV training your chosen Pokémon will drastically increase your chances of winning the duel against Chesnaught. Whether it’s through hyper training and Bottle Caps, breeding or vitamins and feathers, there are a fair few ways to optimise your stats. Obviously, it is not a requirement and you can certainly complete this 7-Star Raid without any of this. Having better Defence to protect against Chesnaught’s assaults or greater Attack to whittle it down will make the fight a lot more bearable, but you can beat this Raid without it.
Seek Your Treasure
7-Star Chesnaught Release Date
Chesnaught is continuing the new wave of 7-Star Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet with another consecutive 2-week run. In the past, 7-Star Raids were given 3 weeks to be completed with a weekend in the middle to prepare your Pokémon and strategies for the final weekend. That isn’t the case anymore, though, so be prepared to get Chesnaught as soon as you can.
Here is when the 7-Star Chesnaught Tera Raid Spotlight will be available in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet:
- Friday, May 12th 2023 (00:00 UTC) to Sunday, May 14th 2023 (23:59 UTC)
- Friday, May 19th 2023 (00:00 UTC) to Sunday, May 21st 2023 (23:59 UTC)
If you fail to beat and capture Chesnaught before these two weekends are up, it will disappear back into the wilds of Paldea for the foreseeable future. Of course, there is a high likelihood that these 7-Star Raids will rerun in the future, but this isn’t confirmed by any means. If you want to get Chesnaught, or either of its pre-evolutions for shiny hunting or battling, make sure to beat this Tera Raid by the 21st of May.
Spiny Armoured Juggernaut
Chesnaught Moveset
Now, let’s discuss what moves Chesnaught is hiding underneath all that bulk. During the battle, Chesnaught can use:
- Earthquake (Ground Type, Physical)
- Wood Hammer (Grass Type, Physical)
- Stone Edge (Rock Type, Physical)
- Hammer Arm (Fighting Type, Physical)
Predictably, Chesnaught is a full-on Physical attacker, with all of its moves comprising of hard-hitting attacks. Stone Edge is its only STAB Rock move, but it will hit any of your team for massive damage should it land. Meanwhile, Wood Hammer, Hammer Arm and Earthquake are all good coverage options that can nip a lot of Chesnaught’s weaknesses in the bud. However, its moveset is honestly pretty simple: it hits hard and doesn’t do much else. Moves like Hammer Arm and Wood Arm will negatively affect Chesnaught (should you survive them) by either lowering its Speed or causing recoil damage.
As for Chesnaught’s special 7-Star mechanics, it has a fair few. As soon as the battle starts, Chesnaught will cast Iron Defence. This will increase its Defence stat by +2 and it will continue to do this several times throughout the fight. Chesnaught already has very good bulk so any additional Defence buffs will make it very irritating to deal with. That’s not all, though, as Chesnaught can also utilise the moves Bulk-Up and Curse to raise its attacking power significantly, meaning that you’ll have a near-impenetrable tank if you cannot strip those buffs off.
The other major thing about Chesnaught is that it has a gigantic Tera shield. Over half of this Pokémon’sa health will eventually be covered by a Tera shield, stopping your progress dead unless you have a Tera type that can quickly shred it. Paired with Chesnaught continually using Iron Defence, this can slow down the fight: you may not be dying but neither is Chesnaught. This is a battle of pure attrition.
7-Star Chesnaught
Resistances and Weaknesses
Rock is a very interesting type for Chesnaught. Defensively quite good with decent bulk and offensive potential, it can still be exploited by numerous weaknesses that could each spell disaster for the Spiny Armour Pokémon.
- Resistant to: Fire, Flying, Normal and Poison Types
- Weak to: Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel and Water Types
As you can see, Rock has a lot of resistance but a couple more weaknesses to balance it out. Chesnaught does have some tricks up its sleeve, though, cutting down this list of potential types by a fair amount. Water may be a good offensive type against Rock, but Chesnaught’s Wood Hammer will flatten almost any Water Pokémon that even tries to square up. Similarly, Ground is going to be ruined for the same reason and Steel will be particularly weak to Hammer Arm.
This leaves Grass and Fighting which, honestly, both have a good chance to succeed here. Grass, as a type, is very defensive and has a lot of Pokémon with a surprising amount of bulk. None of Chesnaught’s attacks is going to be super effective and it will even resist both Wood Hammer and Earthquake, two of Chesnaught’s toughest moves. On the other hand, Fighting is a great offensive option if you want to try and make the fight go as fast as possible: with strong Pokémon who resist Chesnaught’s only STAB move, Fighting has a lot of potential in this 7-Star Raid.
Rock Weaknesses
Chesnaught Counters
Annihilape
Type: Ghost/Fighting (Fighting Tera Type)
Ability: Defiant
Item: Shell Bell
- Screech (Normal Type, Status)
- Close Combat (Fighting Type, Physical)
- Drain Punch (Fighting Type, Physical)
- Brick Break (Fighting Type, Physical)
Annihilape Pokedex
This isn’t the first time that Annihilape has risen as one of the best options in a 7-Star Tera Raid. As a powerful Ghost/Fighting type, Annihilape has enough bulk and resistance to shrug off a lot of Chesnaught’s deadliest attacks while also having the firepower to hit back. It works well in solo play and co-op, proving that Annihilape is truly one of the best Pokémon of the ninth generation.
To begin, Annihilape’s great typing works to make it offensively and defensively a powerhouse. It resists Rock and is completely immune to Fighting, taking Chesnaught’s only STAB move as well as one of its strongest attacks out of play. The attack you’ll likely come up against the most is Wood Hammer but Annihilape can even handily take a few nasty shots of that, so long as you pop a Defence rally at the start of the battle.
As for moves, Screech lets Annihilape start the battle off right by allowing it to get rid of Chesnaught’s Iron Defence and then sink its Defence stat even lower for some great early-game damage. Said damage is likely going to come from either Brick Break or Drain Punch, with the former being more for solid general play while the latter is here to work with the Shell Bell and improve Annihilape’s survivability. To round out Annihilape’s kit we have Close Combat, a devastating Fighting-type move that should be reserved for crucial moments such as breaking Chesnaught’s Tera Shield or during its final stretch of health.
Annihilape is just overall one of the most consistent Pokémon for this 7-Star spotlight event in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. It does good enough damage to stay in the fight and has the potential to shred through Chesnaught’s HP when the time arises, while still having all of the defensive power to keep standing after taking many successive attacks. Granted, it will take a bit of a backseat early in the match as you set up a Defence rally and use Screech to soften Chesnaught up, but past that point, Annihilape will be in its prime. If you need a strong option with very few downsides, Annihilape should be your choice for this Pokémon SV Raid.
Too Angry to Die
Koraidon
Type: Fighting/Dragon (Fighting Tera Type)
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Item: Black Belt
- Collision Course (Fighting Type, Physical)
- Screech (Normal Type, Status)
- Swords Dance (Normal Type, Status)
- Sunny Day (Fire Type, Status)
Koraidon Pokedex
If you happen to have Pokémon Scarlet, there is another Fighting type to choose from, one which has a bit more of a Legendary feel to it. I am, of course, referring to the Scarlet-exclusive Legendary Pokémon, Koraidon. Similar to Annihilape, Koraidon provides a lot of utility with a massive amount of damage potential. Its typing means that it can take a real beating from Chesnaught without much bother and its attacking prowess is one of the best in the entire game.
As a Dragon/Fighting type, Koraidon has a lot of benefits. Firstly, it resists Stone Edge, which is Chesnaught’s strongest move by far, and Wood Hammer, leaving only Earthquake and Hammer Arm at its disposal. With some seriously high Defence, Koraidon will be able to take on these hits with no problem. Alongside such good defence is an offensive powerhouse to match, with a super high Attack that will be boosted even further thanks to the harsh sunlight caused by Koraidon’s Orichalcum Pulse ability (which will boost its Attack stat after being in the sun).
Koraidon’s moveset is packing several hard-hitting Physical moves as well as some supportive ones that are sure to get on Chesnaught’s nerves. Just like Annihilape, Koraidon is packing Screech to strip away any Defence buffs offered by Iron Defence or Bulk-Up, allowing its own moves to hit way harder. In a similar vein, Swords Dance is here so that Koraidon can boost its Attack stat, making for a dangerous combo when used correctly. Collision Course is this Legendary’s signature move and it will deal very high STAB damage, which increases the power of the move by about 33%.
Overall, Koraidon is just a perfect fit for this Tera Raid. Strong, bulky and with the ability to take away Chesnaught’s strongest aspects (its Defence buffs and Tera Shield), there’s not much standing in Koraidon’s way. If you go in with the mindset that Koraidon is going to go down a few times during the fight, you can play to the fullest and exploit every weakness Chesnaught has: do remember to pop a Healing Rally if necessary, though, as you don’t want to get too risky too often. Manage that, though, and Koraidon should make 7-Star Chesnaught an easy time for a lot of trainers in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
The Legend of the Past
That was everything you needed to know to prepare for the 7-Star Chesnaught Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. A quick reminder that this event is taking place over two weekends from May 12th to May 14th and once again from May 19th to May 21st. Good luck out there, Trainers!
