The P in Pikachu stands for ache

It might be simple, they stated.

Pikachu is the shock 7-Star problem in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet this weekend. Much like previous 7-Star occasions, finishing this struggle awards a novel Pikachu with the Mightiest Mark title that may be obtained as soon as per save file. Moreover, Pikachu will all the time sport the identical moveset and Water Tera-Sort, so a profitable technique ought to theoretically work each time. In any other case, this encounter is an effective strategy to get hold of uncommon supplies like Means Patches and Bottle Caps that drop solely in Tera Raids. On paper, anyway.

See, when Pikachu was introduced as the subsequent 7-Star encounter, folks handled it like a joke. It was assumed this might be a comparatively simple occasion to have a good time Pokemon Day, and we’d get our actual raid problem later. Certainly they wouldn’t multiply Pikachu’s max well being by a fair higher quantity than regular to make it difficult. It might be foolish for them to present Pikachu unique mechanics we haven’t seen in a 7-Star raid but. Certainly they wouldn’t give Pikachu a Gentle Ball, breaking a convention of raid Pokemon not holding gadgets since Pokemon Sword & Defend, proper?

Hahahahaha.

Pikachu’s mechanics

As a silver lining, you’ll see Pikachu’s important gimmick instantly. Firstly of the encounter, Pikachu will instantly enter the protect part. Sorry, by protect “part” I imply Pikachu’s total well being bar is the protect. Briefly, all the foundations of Tera Raid shields apply for the struggle’s length. Standing strikes gained’t work until they’re a secondary impact, and also you’ll have to Terastalize to deal important harm.

Following this, Pikachu will instantly use Rain Dance adopted by Surf. That is the one time Pikachu will use Rain Dance throughout the encounter, as Pikachu’s regular moveset is all about offense. For particular assaults, Pikachu will use Surf and Thunder, two strikes that particularly profit from Rain Dance. Pikachu additionally has Play Tough and Iron Tail for bodily protection. Mixed, Pikachu will deal Water, Electrical, Fairy, and Metal-Sort harm relying in your Pokemon’s stats. As alluded to above, Pikachu is holding a Gentle Ball that doubles its bodily and particular assault stats. In different phrases, these strikes damage.

This occasion is luckily gentle on mechanics apart from that. In my testing, Pikachu will reliably drain your Pokemon of Tera Orb cost by flip 4. That is sometimes accompanied by a cleaning of its unfavourable debuffs. The Tera Orb drain will happen no less than yet one more time throughout the encounter, and any loss of life will set off it as a counter. Contemplating you want Terastalization to deal important harm to Pikachu’s protect, you possibly can see why it is a ache. Happily, in contrast to previous occasions, Pikachu won’t ever erase your buffs. This permits some methods that make this struggle extra bearable, so lets get into these.

Easy methods to counter Pikachu

Very first thing’s first, the rain should go. The default reply to that is Sunny Day, which is able to change the climate to harsh daylight. Not solely does this clear Rain Dance, it actively debuffs Pikachu’s Surf. Ideally, a assist Pokemon will use this on flip one.

Grass-Sort Pokemon are the important thing to profitable this struggle. Whilst you may assume Electrical Pokemon would succeed right here given Pikachu’s Water Tera-Sort, it is aware of its hidden capacity Lighting Rod. Electrical assaults will deal no harm to Pikachu and increase its particular assault, so Electrical counters are out of the query. In the meantime, Grass-Sorts can deal Tremendous Efficient harm whereas resisting or taking impartial harm from Pikachu’s different assaults.

In case your group can decide a lead DPS, that participant ought to instantly begin utilizing assault strikes to earn expenses in the direction of Terastalization. Solely damaging strikes cost your Tera Orb, so maintain off on utilizing buffs like Progress. If everybody cooperates, your lead DPS can Terastalize proper earlier than Pikachu begins draining expenses. Keep in mind, you may pull off Terastalization later within the struggle, so that you shouldn’t threat a loss of life attempting to beat the buzzer. Getting Terastalization in early simply helps the struggle finish sooner (and thereby lowers your threat of working out of time).

Ideally, due to how busted Pikachu’s protect is, you’ll need your lead DPS to be buffed and Pikachu to be debuffed to make the struggle circulation easily. Most Grass Pokemon use particular assaults, so decreasing Pikachu’s particular protection is essential. Remember that Pikachu will cleanse itself of unfavourable results all through the struggle, so be able to reapply debuffs because the encounter progresses.

What gadgets do you have to convey?

There are a number of merchandise choices in entrance of you this time, and lots of of them are common. The most well-liked decide this time round is the Covert Cloak. This provides your monster immunity to secondary results, together with Thunder’s likelihood to paralyze you. After Rain Dance is cleared, Pikachu is more likely to spam Thunder on you, so the Covert Cloak is available in clutch. That stated, Therapeutic Cheers additionally take away standing circumstances, so that you’ll should weigh the chance price of utilizing the Cloak over different choices.

The Shell Bell is one other typical choice for DPS Pokemon to carry, and it technically works right here too. For a lead DPS, this generally is a respectable means to offer some HP maintain as you tear into Pikachu’s protect. Shell Bell gained’t assist a lot earlier than that, because you’ll deal virtually no harm with out an ample quantity of buffs, debuffs and naturally Terastalization. Nonetheless, it would prevent a pair turns later within the struggle.

Lastly, let’s discuss concerning the Assault Vest. I truly haven’t examined this, however many gamers are reporting success in utilizing this merchandise to solo the encounter. This merchandise prevents the usage of standing strikes however boosts your particular protection by 50%. I’ll take the phrase of the individuals who endorse this merchandise.

Now lets get into the Pokemon that may enable you to win this factor.

DPS MVP: Lurantis

Lurantis shouldn’t be the preferred decide for this struggle. Nevertheless, for those who intend to farm Pikachu this weekend, I completely suggest Lurantis to be in your group.

The principle technique right here is utilizing Leaf Storm. It is a highly effective 130 base energy Grass-Sort particular assault, nevertheless it lowers the person’s particular assault by two phases per use. Nevertheless, Lurantis’ Hidden Means Opposite turns debuffs into buffs, making Leaf Storm exponentially highly effective. If Lurantis can keep alive, it is going to get to early Terastalization with +6 particular assault. From right here, you can begin dealing important harm to Pikachu.

To spherical out Lurantis’ package, Sunny Day and Synthesis come extremely advisable. As talked about above, Sunny Day is essential for this struggle. If nobody else makes use of it on the encounter’s starting, Lurantis can cowl that base as properly. Moreover, Synthesis provides Lurantis robust HP restoration in harsh daylight. Lurantis’ fourth transfer is as much as you. You may go for a transfer like Giga Drain or Ingrain for additional maintain choices. Grassy Terrain is usually advisable, although ideally you’d be pairing Lurantis with the subsequent monster on this record.

Help/DPS MVP: Arboliva

Arboliva is well-rounded and requires comparatively low funding, so it is a standard decide on-line. Arboliva will instantly show its value on Flip 1 by triggering its capacity Seed Sower. This can set Grassy Terrain on the sphere, boosting the ability of Grass-Sort strikes and offering gentle HP restoration for the group. Arboliva will passively preserve Grassy Terrain energetic all through the struggle.

Sometimes, Arboliva will run Sunny Day and Progress. Sunny Day’s worth is established by now, and Progress will sharply increase Arboliva’s assault stats so long as harsh daylight is energetic. Giga Drain is often used if Arboliva goes for early Terastalization, although in my expertise the HP restoration is miniscule at finest. For a important DPS transfer, you may have a number of choices. Terrain Pulse synergizes with Grassy Terrain and successfully offers 100 base energy Grass harm. You may also go for Photo voltaic Beam, which wants no buildup in daylight. Power Ball will also be used to deal unconditional harm, so decide whichever sounds interesting to you.

As a result of Arboliva wants extra turns to arrange with Progress and thereby requires retaining harsh daylight up, I finally discover this olive tree lower than preferrred as a pure DPS choice. It will get the job performed, however I discovered I used to be brushing the top of the timer extra usually than Lurantis would. Due to that, you possibly can choose to make use of Arboliva as a pure assist choice. It has entry to each Replicate and Gentle Display screen to offer priceless utility for the social gathering, and Serving to Hand can increase an ally’s harm. Both means, you completely need no less than one Arboliva in your group.

Help MVP: Goodra

For those who’ve learn my earlier raid guides, you recognize I’m all the time attempting healer builds. I picked Goodra this time round, and this dragon’s frankly being underutilized for this encounter.

Regardless of weak spot to Pikachu’s Play Tough, a Goodra with an HP/Protection construct can simply take its hits after two makes use of of Curse. Keep in mind, Pikachu by no means clears buffs, so that you’re good as gold after this level. From right here, Goodra has a number of assist choices. Sunny Day wants no introduction, and Life Dew could be realized as an Egg Transfer. In case your teammates are going for early Terastalization, additional therapeutic could be immensely useful. That stated, probably Goodra’s finest contribution to the struggle is Acid Spray. This decrease’s the goal’s particular protection by two phases, and I can’t stress sufficient how a lot this helps. Even when Pikachu cleanses itself of debuffs, reapply Acid Spray again and again to dramatically assist your pals.

Additionally, as a enjoyable gimmick, a Goodra that is aware of its Hidden Means Gooey will drop Pikachu’s velocity by goading it to make use of Play Tough. This doesn’t change the struggle considerably, however it is extremely humorous. Look, I’ll take all the enjoyment I can get, alright?

Help/Solo MVP: Clodsire

Clodsire is one other person of Acid Spray that requires much less setup than Goodra. Between its Water/Floor Sort and its capacity Water Take in, Clodsire handily shuts down each of Pikachu’s Particular Assaults. Any harm it does take could be restored with Get well, which it will possibly be taught as an Egg Transfer. I’ve seen reviews that Clodsire can solo the struggle by buffing its stats to max with Curse and continuing to spam Earthquake, however I haven’t verified this myself.

For added utility, I’d extremely suggest giving Clodsire Mud Slap. It is a primary transfer that lowers accuracy, nevertheless it’s good to get Pikachu lacking assaults left and proper. That is very true if Pikachu’s AI locks it into utilizing Thunder in your teammates, which already has mediocre accuracy. Whether or not you employ it for offense or assist, Clodsire is a good decide.

Discover your area of interest, however solely if you wish to

I’ll shortly go over honorable mentions as a result of there are fairly a number of. Appletun can use Iron Protection to tank Pikachu’s Play Tough whereas additionally utilizing Apple Acid to deal harm and decrease particular protection. Meowscarada can reportedly use Knock Off to take away Pikachu’s Gentle Ball. Leafeon and Gastrodon additionally routinely appeared in my on-line events to various levels of success. If I went over each doable choice, I’d be right here all day.

It’s not that this struggle is not possible, it’s simply annoying. Tera Raids are buggy on a superb day, and designing a complete encounter round an infinite protect part routinely glitched my sport and buried me in textual content containers that slowed the struggle down. Moreover, getting knocked out after Terastalization as a lead DPS is functionally a sport over since you may’t Terastalize once more. Mixed with Pikachu’s fixed cost draining, this struggle is severely tedious. With an ideal social gathering of Lurantis, Arboliva, and supporters that may decrease particular protection, you may get fast kills on par with the earlier 7-Star raids. That stated, good luck setting that up in on-line lobbies with none means to speak with different gamers.

The drops are particularly good this time round. I used to be getting 20+ Water Tera Shards per clear, which truthfully ought to be the default for Shards to start with. On the similar time, your main reward is only a Pikachu, which is already plentiful in the primary sport. Maybe as ways solidify over this weekend, you’ll be capable of handle constant clears. In any other case, for those who needed to skip this one, I wouldn’t blame you. Maybe that technique does make this a straightforward encounter.