Pikachu 7-star Tera Raid guide in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

While the fourth Pokémon Scarlet and Violet seven-star Tera Raid should be a breeze, the water Tera Type Pikachu actually is holding a Light Ball, making it a bit of a monster.

Right off the bat, Pikachu will also get a full shield, requiring you to Terastilize to deal substantial damage to it. Annoyingly enough, it will steal your Tera Orb charge frequently. Have no fear, there are quite a few good builds to take it out with ease using grass-type Pokémon and moves.

Pikachu with the water Tera Type and Mightiest Mark is only in raids from Feb. 23 at 7 p.m. EST until Feb 27 at 9:59 a.m. EST.

PIKACHU TERA RAID REWARDS
Upon defeating Pikachu, you’ll be able to catch one, but only one. After you capture your first one, you will not be able to catch any more, even if you defeat it again. You’ll also get TM123 (Surf) and a guaranteed Ability Patch for your first victory.

The caught Pikachu has its Hidden Ability, Lightning Rod, which renders it immune to electric-type attacks and raises its Special Attack when hit by them. It also comes with the Mightiest Mark, just like the Pokémon from earlier seven-star raids. It also has complete perfect IVs.

Similarly to other Tera Raids, you can get other drops, like Exp. Candy, Tera Shards, Bottle Caps, and treasure items to sell for money. Serebii.net has a complete drop table. Pikachu raids do not drop Herba Mystica.

PIKACHU TERA RAID BEST COUNTERS
As of this writing, there a few good counters we’ve seen around: Arbolivia, Lurantis, and Clodsire.

Pikachu is at level 100 with a water Tera Type. It knows Thunder, Surf, Play Rough, and Iron Tail, along with Rain Dance. It’ll start the battle with Rain Dance and Surf right off the bat. As mentioned before, Pikachu will start with a full tera shield, making any damage you do negligible until you can Terastilize. To top it off, it’ll also steal your Tera Orb charge frequently, making this a bit of a stalling survival game. You’ll need to stay alive long enough to Terastilize. Once you get that far, defeating Pikachu with grass-type moves is easy enough.

Because of its Lightning Rod ability, avoid using electric-type moves, as they won’t have any effect. Leave your Iron Hands at home, folks. Stick to grass-type moves to neutralize this rat (derogatory).

As usual with these raids, there are quite a few strategies going around to use, including Protean Meowscarada and other grass-type builds. Below we list the ones that we saw used in battle and can give our personal thumbs up to.

PIKACHU ARBOLIVIA TERA RAID BUILD
Nature: Modest
Ability: Seed Sower
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 Special Defense/252 HP/252 Special Attack
IVs: Maxed HP, Defense, Special Defense, Special Attack
Held item: Covert Cloak
Moveset: Giga Drain (TM111), Sunny Day (TM49), Energy Ball, Terrain Pulse
At the start of battle, use Sunny Day to override the Pikachu’s Rain Dance. You’ll want to negate the rain early or else Pikachu’s Thunder will hit with 100% accuracy. Spam Energy Ball until you have enough Tera Orb charge to Terastilize.

Use healing cheers if you and your party mates get too low. Once you can Terastilize, use Giga Drain and Terrain Pulse to knock the Pikachu out.

PIKACHU LURANTIS TERA RAID BUILD
Nature: Modest
Ability: Contrary (hidden ability)
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 Special Attack/252 HP/252 Special Defense
IVs: Maxed HP, Defense, Special Defense, Special Attack
Held item: Shell Bell or Covert Cloak
Moveset: Giga Drain (TM111), Sunny Day (TM49), Leaf Storm (TM159), Synthesis
This strategy is similar enough to the above. Start with Sunny Day to override the Rain Dance (you don’t want Pikachu’s Thunder on 100% accuracy) and then use Leaf Storm to lower Pikachu’s Special Attack until you can Terastilize.

If you get low, use Synthesis or healing cheers. Once you can finally Terastilize, do it and use Giga Drain to take Pikachu out.

PIKACHU CLODSIRE TERA RAID BUILD
Nature: Modest
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 4 Special Defense/252 HP/252 Special Attack
IVs: Maxed HP, Defense, Special Defense, Special Attack
Held item: Shell Bell
Moveset: Mud-Slap (TM5), Helping Hand (TM130), Chilling Water (TM22), Tera Blast (TM171)
Clodsire is a great pick as it’s immune to Pikachu’s electric- and water-type moves. All it can do is use Play Rough and Iron Tail against you, none of which is super effective.

Start off by spamming Chilling Water and Mud-Slap to lower the Pikachu’s attack and accuracy. You should be able to use the moves enough that Pikachu’s damage is no longer a threat to the rest of your party.

Once you can Terastilize, do so and spam Tera Blast to do massive chunks of grass-type damage to the rodent. Use healing chants if you get low and attack chants if you want to support your party more.

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