Another 7-Star Tera Raid has been revealed for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Joining the likes of Charizard, Cinderace, Greninja and Decidueye is the goofy samurai otter Pokémon, Unrivalled Samurott. This Unovan Water starter is coming to Paldea with a unique Tera Type. This Tera Raid will be the only way to get your hands on Samurott or either of its pre-evolutions, Osawott or Dewott, so collectors or lovers of Unova need to come down and give this 7-Star Raid a go. A word of warning, though, that you’ll need to come prepared.
7-Star Tera Raids are the single most important piece of endgame PvE content in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, offering trainers access to tough fights against iconic Pokémon from the series’ past. These battles are hard-fought and hard-won, with your opponents often using special skills and strategies not seen anywhere else in the game. They will have diverse movesets, access to their Hidden Abilities and are incredibly strong. Should you triumph over them, you’ll be rewarded handsomely with a new strong Pokémon and a whole host of incredible rewards such as Herba Mystica ingredients, Ability Patches and more.
Here’s everything you need to prepare for, and beat, 7-Star Samurott in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
Want more Pokémon Scarlet and Violet content and articles? You can find more here on KeenGamer:
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- 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 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 Samurott, you’ll be on the lookout for a Bug-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 Crystals
General Information on 7-Star Samurott
Samurott, originally the pure Water starter Pokémon from the Unova region, has arrived on Paldea’s shores with a new Tera Type in tow. In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll be fighting a Bug Tera Type Samurott.
Before you can think about diving into the Raid to take on this Pokémon, you need to prepare a few things first. Most importantly, you’ll want to assure that your main Pokémon is level 100. Each 7-Star Tera Pokémon is level 100, serving as the pinnacle piece of endgame content in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. You’ll need every edge and every advantage you can muster to take them down, meaning that you will need level 100 Pokémon at the baseline to even compete. This is especially true if you plan on playing in co-op: you don’t want to be the one dragging down your team because you keep getting KO’d in a single hit.
Next, you should consider investing in the EVs and IVs of your chosen Pokémon partner. Having the correct stat spread via Natures and EV and IV training will undoubtedly help increase your chances of successfully beating this Tera Raid. The easiest way to do this (outside of breeding a whole new Pokémon) is to use Bottle Caps for Hyper Training and resources like vitamins to increase your Pokémon’s base stats. However, it is not a requirement and you can certainly beat Samurott, and any other 7-Star Pokémon, just fine without min-maxing.
Unovan Samurott
Release Date and Run Time
7-Star Samurott follows the path paved by Decidueye. Charizard, Cinderace and Greninja were all available over two weekends spread over three weeks (with a week-long gap separating each run). However, Decidueye, and now Samurott, have broken that pattern by being available on two consecutive weekends, back-to-back. This does give you less time to prepare and catch Samurott.
You can encounter 7-Star Samurott on:
- Friday, March 31st 2023 (00:00 UTC) to Sunday, April 2nd 2023 (23:59 UTC)
- Friday, April 7th 2023 (00:00 UTC) to Sunday, April 9th 2023 (23:59 UTC)
If you fail to beat, and subsequently capture, Samurott across either of these weekends, you will be unable to obtain it. Samurott and the other 7-Star Pokémon may have run again in the future, but that is yet to be confirmed. As such, get ready and be prepared to take down Samurott as early as possible to secure your chance at catching it.
Battle Ready
Moveset
7-Star Samurott’s full moveset includes:
- Megahorn (Bug Type, Physical)
- Drill Run (Ground Type, Physical)
- Night Slash (Ground Type, Physical)
- Aqua Cutter (Water Type, Physical)
It also has some additional moves which it seems to use on a turn-by-turn basis:
- Bulldoze (Ground Type, Physical)
- Swords Dance (Normal Type, Status)
7-Star Samurott
Samurott, similar to Decidueye, is a Physical Attacker. Megahorn is the only STAB move in its arsenal, but it is an especially potent one that will lay you flat if you aren’t expecting it. Samurott’s other moves, Drill Run, Night Slash and Aqua Cutter, all exist to serve as coverage. They’re also all strong moves in their own right, becoming more annoying thanks to Samurott’s special mechanic and the possibility of Swords Dance.
Speaking of, Samurott’s special mechanic is what is going to make this fight hurt. At the beginning of the fight, Samurott will instantly cast Focus Energy. This move means that, for essentially the entire fight, Samurott is going to hit guaranteed Critical hits on you and your team. The most dangerous (and annoying) part of this is that Critical hits ignore any Defence or Sp. Defence boosts: considering that Samurott will be hitting Crits basically all the time, this shoves any compositions built around building up Defences pointless. You’ll need to bring Pokémon with natively high Defence to even hope to survive.
Finally, if that wasn’t enough, Samurott has a tricky Hidden Ability: Shell Armour. Every single 7-Star Pokémon has arrived with their Hidden Ability in tow. With Samurott, you’ll have to contend with Shell Armour, which blocks Critical Hits. This is a pretty big deal and eliminates some key strategies and playstyles. Paired with the instant Focus Energy, Samurott’s entire Tera Raid is built around Critical hits: you won’t be dealing them, and it will constantly be dealing them.
Be prepared for one of the toughest 7-Star Raids yet.
An Imposing Figure
Resistances and Weaknesses
As a Bug-Type, Samurott will have the following resistances and weaknesses:
- Resistant to: Fighting, Grass and Ground Types.
- Weak to: Fire, Flying and Rock Types.
The safest type of Samurott’s weaknesses will be Flying. Fire would have been a very nice and strong pick if Samurott didn’t have Aqua Cutter: any Fire type is going to be an almost guaranteed one-hit KO, especially with Focus Energy active.
Rock types share a similar fate. In fact, they’re even worse off. They are also going to be weak to Aqua Cutter, but also Bulldoze and Drill Run. No matter what kind of Rock-type you bring, a large portion of Samurott’s moveset will dismantle them.
This just leaves Flying. Fortunately, it seems like good news on this front. Flying types are only going to be weak against Electric, Ice and Rock types. Aside from the obvious Critical hits, there’s nothing that will hit Flying types for Super Effective damage. They even completely negate both Ground moves, leaving Samurott with one less arrow in its quiver.
Samurott’s Weaknesses
Walking Wake
Build
Type: Water/Dragon (Water Tera Type Prefered)
Ability: Protosynthesis
Item: Terrain Extender/Shell Bell
- Sunny Day (Fire Type, Status)
- Flamethrower (Fire Type, Special)
- Hydro Steam (Water Type, Special)
- Noble Roar (Normal Type, Status)
Walking Wake
Strategy
One of the newest Pokémon added to the game, Walking Wake is the Paradox form of the Johot Legendary Suicune. It should be noted that Walking Wake is currently not available to earn, as it was part of an exclusive Tera Raid spotlight earlier this year.
The main reason why Walking Wake may shine in this Tera Raid event is thanks to its type and the amount of coverage it has. As a Water/Dragon Type, Walking Wake only has two weaknesses, Dragon and Fairy, which are two types Samurott does not have access to. It will resist Aqua Cutter, too. Be wary of a STAB Critical Megahorn, though.
Alongside that, Walking Wake learns Sunny Day. This not only weakens Aqua Cutter, lessening Samurott’s damage potential for the whole team, but it will also trigger Protosynthesis, Walking Wake’s ability. This grants it additional Sp. Attack in the harsh sun and boosts Flamethrower, which would hit Samurott for high super effective damage in the sun.
It’s defensively where Walking Wake stumbles. It only really has Noble Roar in terms of buffing or debuffing moves. While Noble Roar will have its uses, it doesn’t do much to directly aid its rather unimpressive defences. A STAB Megahorn could spell an early end for our Paradox companion. I would recommend building Walking Wake if you are going to run it in co-op scenarios with other supportive Pokémon, with the aid of Reflect and Light Screen alongside other defensive bonuses.
Paradoxical Beast
Corviknight
Build
Type: Flying/Steel
Ability: Mirror Armour
Item: Light Clay
- Reflect (Psychic Type, Status)
- Light Screen (Psychic Type, Status)
- Screech (Normal Type, Status)
- Drill Peck (Flying Type, Physical)
Corviknight Pokedex
Strategy
If you want to step up into a supportive role for your team, consider using Corviknight. Like Walking Wake, Corviknight has incredible resistance to much of what Samurott has to offer. Unlike Walking Wake, though, it actually has the defences to match. As a Flying/Steel type, Corviknight resists Bug and Steel, cutting down on Megahorn, and completely negating Drill Run and Bulldoze. It is also only weak to Fire and Electric, two types Samurott cannot use. This is on top of some very nice Defence that can certainly tank a couple of good hits, Critical hits included.
Paired with this good bulk is a great supportive movepool. Corviknight gets both Reflect and Light Screen, letting it set up defences for the entire team no matter what set Samurott is running with. Additionally, it can get Screech or Metal Sound, both moves which will soften up Samurott depending on what kind of attackers your team is running with. You can whole hog into support if you wish, or you could bring along Drill Peck to do at least some damage along the way.
There honestly aren’t many downsides to Corviknight. It has great bulk and a diverse range of moves to protect the whole team. However, like Walking Wake, you’ll likely be bringing this to co-op battles rather than solo ones: as a support Pokémon, Corviknight cannot really do much with the random NPC Pokémon. If you’re willing to sacrifice being the DPS king, Corvinknight will serve you very well as a supportive machine.
The Galarian Defender
Koraidon
Build
Type: Fighting/Dragon
Ability: Orichalcum Pulse
Item: Charcoal
- Flare Blitz (Fire Type, Physical)
- Ancient Power (Rock Type, Physical)
- Swords Dance (Normal Type, Status)
- Sunny Day (Fire Type, Status)
Koraidon Pokedex
Strategy
Koraidon is the Scarlet exclusive Legendary for Generation 9. It may have a chance to shine in this specific Raid Battle. This Legendary has some impressive stats, a good pool of moves and the ability to go on the offensive while still aiding other team members.
To begin, Koraidon has fantastic bulk. With high Defence and Sp. Defence, Koraidon can handily take on the majority of Samurott’s strongest moves. This isn’t even factoring in Koraidon’s resistances, either, which seem perfect for countering Samurott: it resists Water and Bug, while not having any weaknesses Samurott can use. Having this many resistances takes a lot of Samurott’s potential away, leaving it with only a few options remaining.
In addition, it has a good and varied moveset consisting of several hard-hitting Rock and Fire-type moves. You can use Ancient Power for decent damage and the chance to boost all of your stats, Sunny Day to keep the sunlight alive once Orichalcum Pulse runs out, Flare Blitz for a devastating super-effective move and even Swords Dance for additional Attack buffs. There’s a lot that Koraidon can use here, and things like Sunny Day will not only interrupt Samurott but aid other Pokémon like Walking Wake, too.
The biggest downside to Koraidon is that it takes a bit of time to get going. You’ll need a few turns to Swords Dance or Sunny Day or even do a rallying cheer: turns that Samurott has to whittle you down, Critical hit after Critical hit. There’s a lot that can go wrong in this situation, especially based on team composition. Get lucky, though, and you should be able to burst Samurott down fairly quickly.
The Legendary Koraidon
That was everything you needed to know about how to beat 7-Star Samurott in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Good luck, Trainers!
