The Next Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Tera Raid Battle Event Has Been Revealed

Decide on Decidueye

by Alana Hagues Mon 6th Mar 2023

Decidueye Tera Raid — *Image: Nintendo Life*

Decidueye is going to be the next 7-Star Tera Raid reward in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet. Announced by the official Japanese Pokémon Twitter account (via Serebii), the Gen 7 starter will be available in-game between 17th and 19th March, and again from 24th to 26th March.

The Arrow Quill Pokémon follows from the Pokémon Day Pikachu as the next 7-Star Raid, meaning it'll be tough to get your hands on. It will have the Mightiest Mark, and it will be a Flying Tera Type. Like all 7-Star Tera Raid Pokémon, you'll only be able to catch this one once.

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This Grass/Ghost archery owl made its debut in Pokémon Sun & Moon as the final evolution for the Grass starter Rowlet and it became a firm favourite in the Pokémon community. It also got a Hisuian form in Pokémon Legends: Arceus in 2022 — which we should be able to bring over once Pokémon HOME compatibility finally makes its way over...

Will you be trying to catch Decidueye when it flies into Paldea from 17th March? Take aim in the comments.

[source twitter.com, via serebii.net, twitter.com]

Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate.

1
Selim
Mon 6th Mar 2023

That is pretty soon.

2
riChchestM
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Fire. Fire. Fire. Also psychic, maybe. But mainly fire.

3
RupeeClock
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@riChchestM
Against a Tera Flying type?

4
Lady_Galadhiel
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Interesting.

5
Lizuka
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Probably another one Kingambit's going to be well equipped for.

6
RupeeClock
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@Lizuka
I would think an Iron Hands with an Electric Tera Type will probably fair best.
Belly Drum, Drain Punch, Thunder Punch, with Shell Bell or Booster Energy.

7
riChchestM
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@RupeeClock Fire > Flying and also strong against the grass attacks that are going to be coming in. The issue will be the ghost attacks too. I main Iron Hands with bright powder so will try it, but I think those strong grass attacks are going to be a problem.
EDIT: sorry, was wrong about fire strong against flying. But I do think the flying is resistant to fighting (drain punch)?

8
RupeeClock
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@riChchestM
Flying isn't weak to fire, and fire doesn't resist flying.
Although Fire does resist grass type moves, but then do steel types.

The reason that Iron Hands fairs well is that it can usually set up Belly Drum and Drain Punch to survive most of the neutral damage thrown at it. It will be neutral to grass, ghost, and flying, but once terastallized will resist flying.

9
Rob3008
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@riChchestM I'm not sure you understand how typings work. Fire isn't strong against flying. Electric, Ice or Rock types will be best here.

10
RupeeClock
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@Rob3008
Was that supposed to be directed at riChcestM?

11
RupeeClock
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@riChchestM
Okay, so regarding using Drain Punch against a Flying type Decidueye.
Under normal circumstances, a bad idea.

In a tera raid battle where you've maximised your attack stat by losing half of your max HP? A good idea.
Maximised attack means you're hitting with 4x the usual attack power, so even if that gets dropped to 2x by type effectiveness, you're still likely to regenerate a considerable portion of HP, especially with Iron Hands impressive base attack of 140.

I'm not confident in the strategy though, but the purpose of Drain Punch in this scenario is to restore the HP lost from setting up Belly Dance, so you can then focus on dealing damage using Thunder Punch. This is also why you may need a shell bell rather than a booster energy. If someone on the field uses Electric Terrain, Iron Hands' Thunder Punch will get an enormous boost when its Quark Drive ability gets damage.

Additionally, Decidueye's base defense isn't very impressive, it's only 75.

12
Rob3008
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@RupeeClock Yes, sorry! I've edited original comment.

13
Lizuka
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@RupeeClock Probably be a good fit but I kind of just am reluctant to use Iron Hands on principle at this point after frustration with how many people seem to think it's the solution to EVERY raid even though it's often completely useless.

14
RupeeClock
Mon 6th Mar 2023

@Lizuka
I can understand that, and in practice it might be a poor fit for a Decidueye raid, it depends on what moves it can use in its 7 star tera raid battle.

Iron Hands has great physical bulk, but lacks in special defense, and Decidueye can be built as either a physical or special attacker.
It doesn't however learn any offensive Ground, Fairy, or Psychic type moves that an Iron Hands would be weak against.

15
ZZalapski
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Generally, wouldn't a Rock Tera type make more sense for a Decidueye? Flying Tera would deter Bug attacks (and Ground, but Grass is already resistant to those), but Rock Tera is resistant to more types — Bug, Ice, Fire, and Flying — that would otherwise be advantageous against Decidueye.

16
shoeses
Mon 6th Mar 2023

Another Raid for Iron Hands to carry.

17
Lizuka
Tue 7th Mar 2023

I could see Iron Hands actually being quickly overwhelmed in this one. It's so slow it's probably going to have to tank two Brave Birds or Hurricanes before it can do anything and combine with Belly Drum it's going to be a serious detriment to its survivability. Especially since Drain Punch isn't going to be a good option.

18
egervari
Thu 9th Mar 2023

The best counter to this raid is Kingambit using Shell Bell. Use Atk/HP EVs with 4 in defense. Use Stone Edge with 3 PP Up's and Swords Dance. Use Defiant Hidden ability to counter Feather Dance. Kingambit resists all grass, ghost and flying attacks, so you shouldn't really die in this raid.

There are other counters, like using Klefki or Magnezone for support mons. Reflect is going to be really good in this raid. Also, Metal Sound can be really nice if you pair these up with Miraidon.

While Iron Hands with Thunder Punch will be okay, it could be risky. Kingambit has no such defensive risks at all. Iron Hands can deal enough damage to end the raid a little faster, but will take 2x as much damage as Kingambit would.

Anyway, happy raiding! I hope this helped.

19
AceTheLivingLegend
Mon 13th Mar 2023

I can't help but think this is gonna be another trap for Miraidon users, just like the Pikachu raid. I'm curious how they're going to handle the weakness Decidueye has to Electric types. Good luck folks, we're all gonna need some.

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