A special new 7-Star Pokémon is making its way to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet in celebration of Pokémon Day 2023. Of course, this new 7-Star is a special Unrivalled Pikachu, sporting a new Water Tera type and ready to celebrate Pokémon Day in the most classic way possible: a good old-fashioned battle. This is the fourth 7-Star Raid, following on from Charizard, Cinderace and Greninja.
The 7-Star Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the hardest form of endgame content. You need to thoroughly prepare before entering one of these Raids, learning the target Pokémon’s moveset, its weaknesses and anything else that will; help you overcome these colossal obstacles. If you manage to succeed, though, you net yourself a powerful new partner Pokémon and a variety of rare resources ranging from Herba Mystica ingredients, Ability Patches, Tera Shards and more.
There are plenty of reasons to hop in and try and get yourself a special celebratory Pikachu. Here’s everything you need to know to prep for the 7-Star Pikachu Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Want more Pokémon Scarlet and Violet content and articles? You can find more here on KeenGame:
- 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
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 of the 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’ll need to 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 Pikachu, you’ll be on the lookout for a Water-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 this point on, simply interact with the Tera Crystal to start the fight.
7-Star Crystal
General Information on Unrivalled Pikachu
The 7-Star version of Pikachu is trading its iconic Electric typing for a Water Tera Type.
Like all of the other 7-Star Raids, you will want to get whatever Pokémon you plan on taking into the fight to level 100. These Tera Raids are the hardest content in the game, with the boss Pokémon usually having some special tactics or skills that make each fight especially challenging. You need to be level 100 if you want to be on somewhat even footing with these Pokémon, especially if you plan on playing co-op so you do not drag down your allies.
Lastly, investing in your chosen Pokémon’s IVs and EVs via hyper training, breeding or vitamins is a great tool. Pokémon that have had this investment and care will likely surpass others that do not, making the fight easier or giving you more options to try out. However, it is not required to train your Pokémon in this way: having the right nature, items, abilities and moves is mostly enough to scrape by. We will still include information on the recommended Pokémon’s stat spread for your convenience.
7-Star Pikachu
Release Date
7-Star Pikachu marks a strange point for Tera Raid battles. Charizard, Cinderace and Greninja all had consistent timing windows with a long time to prepare your team in advance. Pikachu, on the other hand, is mixing things up a bit:
- Friday, February 24th 2023 (00:00 UTC) to Monday, February 27th 2023 (14:59 UTC)
Pikachu’s Raid battle is breaking the tradition of being available two times over two weeks, by instead only being available for 3 days. This is likely because the 7-Star Pikachu Tera Raid coincides with Pokémon Day (the anniversary commemorating the series’ launch in Japan) and will act as a celebration for that event inside of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Nevertheless, this gives trainers much less time to prepare their Pokémon for the 7-Star Raid than they previously had. Pikachu will be available from black Tera crystals during the above-mentioned dates: if you fail to catch it during this period, it will disappear and become unavailable.
The Strongest Pikachu
Moveset
The next section will be speculation on what Pikachu’s moveset will be.
- Play Rough (Fairy, Physical)
- Thunder (Electric, Special)
- Surf (Water, Special)
- Iron Tail (Steel, Physical)
As we were able to guess, Pikachu is another mixed attacker, with Special and Physical moves alike. This means that you’ll have to pick Pokémon which can reliably tank both kinds of hits, either through having high enough stats or moves like Growth, Iron Defence or other status moves. Surf is the main move Pikachu will use, followed by Thunder (which will be a guaranteed hit while Rain Dance is active for the first 5 turns).
Similar to Greninja, Pikachu has a special mechanic that it will use at the start of the battle. As soon as you begin, it will put up its Tera Shield, meaning that all damage aside when not Terastlized will be reduced: this is to stop your team from decimating Pikachu’s low health threshold, as it doesn’t have the stats to match with fully evolved Pokémon like Cinderace or Charizard. Additionally, it will set up a free Rain Dance and use Surf before you have a chance to act. This is the first time a 7-Star Pokémon has attacked us before our turn, so weaker Pokémon may be out of the running if they cannot tank this first hit.
Iron Tail and Play Rought are mostly there for coverage, but they will still hurt. Pikachu seems programmed to prioritise using Thunder during the first few turns, as it will get a guaranteed hit while the rain is active. Once that disappears, though, it will alternate between Surf, Iron Tail and Play Rough. Watch out for Iron Tail in particular, as it will lower your Defence upon getting hit, leaving you open for the next attack.
Another interesting tidbit is that, unlike the other 7-Star Pokémon, this Pikachu is holding an item. The Light Ball to be exact. This item is only beneficial if equipped with a Pikachu, raising both Attack and Sp. Attack stat. Considering that this 7-Star Pikachu is built as a mixed-attacker, this makes all of its moves deal a ton more damage than they usually would, so come prepared.
Pikachu’s Moveset and Stats
Resistances and Weaknesses
One thing that we know for certain (mostly) is Pikachu’s resistance and weaknesses. It loses its Electric typing and instead becomes pure Water, gaining the following traits:
- Resistant to: Fire, Ice, Steel and Water
- Weak to: Electric and Grass
Water is one of the better defensive types in Pokémon as it only has two inherent weaknesses and resists a lot of common types and moves. However, Pikachu does have the ability Lightning Rod: this not only negates Electric attacks dealt to the user, but it will raise the Sp. Atk stat when hit, too. This effectively stops any Electric types from participating in the Raid (unless they have something like Volt Absorb or have access to Grass moves) and will push most trainers towards Grass.
As for Grass, you’ll likely want to try and find Pokémon that can buff themselves and take hits from the majority of Pikachu’s attacks. Despite resisting Thunder and Surf, the guaranteed hit and boosted damage during rain will most certainly hurt (not to mention the permanent buff from the Light Ball). Setting up screens, boosting your defences as high as they can go or eliminating things like the rain will go a long way to helping you outlive this stubborn little fur ball.
The Battle Begins
Other Notes
The biggest thing to know about this Pikachu is how the flow of the fight differs from other 7-Star Raids. Unlike Greninja, Charizard or Cinderace, the Tera Shield is active from the start of the fight: this means that moves like Stored Power or other strategies that rely on avoiding Terastilizing will not work (in most cases). As such, the fight is a race against time to get as many attacks in as possible so you can Terastilize.
Another annoying thing is that Pikachu can steal your Tera Orb charge more than once, prolonging the fight even further. This also puts a big dampener on Pokémon that need to do a lot of set-ups. Take too long setting up buffs and not charging up your Tera Orb and you will run out of time before even getting to fire off a single attack.
However, there is one saving grace. The reason why Pikachu needs that Tera Shield is because of its low base stats, with its Defence, Sp. Defence and HP paling in comparison to the other fully-evolved 7-Stars. Thanks to this, once you manage to Terastilize, the match is essentially called in your favour (given that you have enough time left, of course). A Grass attacker with a few Attack boosts and a Grass Tera type can sweep the floor with Pikachu in only a handful of moves: you just need to get to that point first.
If you are the primary attacker in the team, focus on getting your Tera Orb charged as soon as possible, sprinkling in buffs like Swords Dance or Growth along the way. If you are playing a more supportive role, keep providing defence buffs and healing the team using rallies.
Prepare for Pika
Leafeon
Build
Type: Grass (Grass Tera Type)
Ability: Chlorophyll
Item: Shell Bell
- Leaf Blade (Grass, Physical)
- Leech Seed (Grass, Status)
- Swords Dance (Normal, Status)
- Sunny Day (Fire, Status)
Stat Spread: Adamant Nature + 252 Attack, 252 Defence, 6 Sp. Defence
Leafeon Pokedex
Leafeon Strategy
Despite its cutesy appearance, Leafeon is one of the best attacker Pokémon for this Raid. With very good Attacker and Defence (as well as the ability to raise the former even higher), resistance to Pikachu’s worst attacks and a great move pool, Leafeon is an unlikely but great pick for 7-Star Pikachu.
The main role Leafeon will play is your offence. It is the Pokémon that will try to build up its Tera Orb and crush Pikachu once it Terastalizes. The way it does this is through Swords Dance and Leaf Blade. Leafeon already has a very good Attack (110 at base) and Leaf Blade is an excellent use of those high stats. Similarly, Swords Dance is an amazing buff that will only require one or two uses to fully get Leafeon ready, allowing you more time to charge up your Tera Orb.
Additionally, Leafeon has some surprising resilience. It won’t be tanking any significant damage, but with very high base Defence it can take moves like Iron Tail and Play Rough incredibly well. Alongside this it will resist Thunder and Surf thanks to the pure Grass typing, allowing Leafeon to go about its business without much fear of being instantly KO’d.
The final moves Leafeon has access to, Leech Seed and Sunny Day, are both good picks for survivability. The former will give you a continuous source of healing each round, letting you stay healthy even while setting up. Then, Sunny Day is here to counter Rain Dance, nulling Pikachu’s guaranteed hit while boosting Leafeon’s Speed in the process.
This is how you should likely go to get the most out of Leafeon:
- Start with a Leech Seed to begin gradual healing.
- Then do 2-3 Swords Dance moves to increase Attack.
- From here, just wail on Pikachu with Leaf Blade until you can Terastalize.
- Now simply continue using your enhanced Leaf Blade until the mighty mascot falls.
An Unlikely Attacker
Support Arboliva
Build
Type: Grass/Normal (Grass Tera Type)
Ability: Seed Sower
Item: Terrain Extender
- Reflect (Psychic, Status)
- Light Screen (Psychic, Status)
- Sunny Day (Fire, Status)
- Helping Hand (Normal, Status)
Stat Spread: Bold Nature + 252 HP, 252 Defence, 256 Sp. Defence
Arboliva Pokedex
Support Arboliva Strategy
For the Water Tera Pikachu, Arboliva is primed to be an excellent Grass-type support unit. It almost seems tailor-made for this kind of thing, with the ability to increase Defence and Special Defence for the entire team, get off free Grass Terrains by just being hit, can directly support its allies to do more damage and lower Pikachu’s damage output.
One of the main reasons why this Pokémon is so good here is its type paired with its ability. Grass/Normal is a good type for defending against most of what Pikachu could throw at you by resisting Electric and Water attacks, which make up the bulk of Pikachu’s main arsenal. Alongside this already good counter is the ability Seed Sower: when Arboliva is hit by an attack, it will automatically spawn a Grassy Terrain, boosting the damage of any Grass Type moves across the entire party, greatly increasing the performance of allied Grass attackers.
That’s all without considering Arboliva’s moves, either. With access to both Reflect and Light Screen, your Arboliva can be a perfect wall-setter for your team, lowering every bit of damage Pikachu could use as either a mixed, physical or special attacker. Helping Hand is a way to directly contribute and buff your attacking allies even further. Sunny Day is perhaps the underdog move of this team: because Pikachu sets up Rain Dance early in the fight, using Sunny Day can counter that and stop the guaranteed hit from Thunder.
Here is a general breakdown of how to use Arboliva:
- Use Light Screen to help allies defend against Pikachu’s Thunder.
- Then use Reflect to raise Defence, protecting you against both Iron Tail and Play Rough.
- From here use Sunny Day to get rid of the rain and stop the guaranteed Thunder (this can be done earlier if you have a team especially weak to that move).
- Now use Helping Hand on your main attacker, alternating to either of the screens when they go away.
- Remember to use the Healing Cry whenever you can, too, as you will be on support duty for the whole team.
Support Arboliva
Clodsire
Build
Type: Poison/Ground (Grass Tera Type)
Ability: Water Absorb
Item: Shell Bell
- Mud Slap (Ground, Special)
- Trailblaze (Grass, Physical)
- Curse (Ghost, Status)
- Rain Dance (Water, Status) / Acid Spray (Poison, Special)
Stat Spread: Relaxed Nature + 252 Defence, 252 Sp. Attack, 6 HP
Clodsire Pokedex
Clodsire Strategy
The incredible Clodsire is a beastly addition to bring to this Tera Raid. Not only is it immune to Electric attacks or Water types (thanks to Water Absorb), but it also resists Pikachu’s other moves, as well. Paired with its amazing bulk, great supportive move-pool and the ability to deal super effective damage, and Closire might be the best all-around pick for this Raid.
To begin, Clodsire’s Poison/Ground typing makes it immune to Thunder, one of Pikachu’s most irritating attacks. Then, it can also become immune to Surf due to the ability Water Absorb, negating Pikachu’s only STAB move. And then, it even resists Play Rough, leaving Iron Tail as the only move that poses any semblance of a threat to it: one that can be, at least partially, ignored with Defence boosts. Type-wise, Clodsire is the best choice.
Movewise, Clodsire can be both a debuffer and a direct damage dealer. Trailblaze will be your best bet for offence, dealing moderate super-effective damage against Pikachu, with Curse here to buff your Attack stat so you can deal even more. Then we have Mud Spray, which is useful for lowering Pikachu’s accuracy on moves like Surf and Iron Tail, and Acid Spray so you can lower Pikachu’s Sp. Defence for your allies.
Rain Dance may appear like an odd choice at first: why would you want to set up rain if it makes Thunder always hit? Well, if you go in with other Pokémon that can negate or tank Electric damage well, forcing Pikachu into using that move is a great defensive option. It would let you quickly build up the Tera Orb charge without needing to worry about taking damage. I would suggest only doing this solo or in a pre-made team, though, as the strategy could backfire in public lobbies.
Here’s the general flow behind Clodsire:
- Begin the fight by using Mud-Slap to tank Pikachu’s accuracy with Iron Tail and Play Rough.
- Then use Curse to boost your Attack and Defence, sacrificing some Speed in the process.
- Now just spam Trailblaze to deal big damage until you can Terastalize.
- Continue using Trailblaze to shred through Pikachu’s Tera Shield.
- If need be, use either Sunny Day or Acid Spray depending on your composition (but purely focus on Trailblaze once you’ve Terastalize).
The Ultimate Counter
And that was everything you needed to prepare for the special 7-Star Pikachu Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. This a reminder that this is mostly speculation and that the guide will be updated with confirmed information on Pikachu’s moveset, abilities and more once the Raid goes live on February 24th.
