How to beat 7-star Blastoise Tera Raid: Best counters in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

The Pokemon Company is celebrating the franchise’s anniversary with a special event featuring Blastoise as a 7-Star Tera Raid Boss in Scarlet & Violet. To help you defeat this mighty creature, here are Blastoise’s best counters in the game.

The day Pokemon Red and Blue launched in Japan is used as the franchise’s anniversary. On Pokemon Day 2024, the live stream revealed a special event celebrating Kanto’s starters in Scarlet & Violet.

All three starters’ final stages will be featured as 7-Star Tera Raid Bosses for a week at a time, and each will have a particular Tera Type as well as the Mightiest Mark. However, despite being able to fight them as many times as you want, keep in mind you’ll only be able to catch one Steel-Tera Type Blastoise per save data.

Due to how difficult these special battles are, we’ve put together a guide to help you take down Steel-Tera Type Blastoise in the game.

Contents

• When will Blastoise appear in Tera Raids?
• Blastoise moveset & type
• Best Iron Hands build to counter Blastoise
• Best Poliwrath build to counter Blastoise
• Best Annihilape build to counter Blastoise
• Best Paldean Tauros (Aqua Breed) build to counter Blastoise

Pokemon Company

When will Blastoise appear in Tera Raids?

Now that Ground-Tera Type Venusaur is gone, the 7-Star Tera Raid for Steel-Tera Type Blastoise will run from Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 4:00 PM PST until Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 4:59 PM PDT, with Dragon-Tera Type Charizard taking over the following week.

It’s worth noting that once the special event is over, the only way to obtain a Steel-Tera Type Blastoise will be if this particular Raid event returns in the future.

Blastoise moveset & type

The 7-Star Blastoise will take on a Steel Tera Type, which will make it weak against Fighting, Fire, and Ground-type moves. However, players fighting it need to be careful as it has over 10 resistances.

Regular Blastoise’s moveset includes moves such as Aura Sphere, Hydro Pump, and Flash Cannon, but as with every other 7-Star Tera Raid, it can use up to four extra moves like Withdraw and Shell Smash.

Blastoise is a Defense-focused Pokemon, though it’s Special Defense is technically higher. However, with moves like Iron Defense and Withdraw, Blastosie will work hard to raise it’s Defense leaving it’s Special Defense open.

Use whichever Pokemon you feel is best, but Special Defense may be easier to take advantage of.

POKEMON	LEVEL	MOVES	ABILITY	NATURE	TERA TYPE
	100	– Aura Sphere – Iron Defense – Hydro Pump – Flash Cannon – Rain Dance – Withdraw – Shell Smash	Rain Dish	Naive	Steel

Best Iron Hands build to counter Blastoise

Iron Hands is one of the best Pokemon for Tera Raid battles thanks to its strong stats, its bulkiness, and mostly its unique typing.

This creature is a dual Fighting/Electric-type ‘mon, able to use STAB damage on both types to hit Tera-Steel Blastoise hard thanks to its weakness to both Fighting and Electric-type moves.

The ferocious Iron Hands only comes with one ability that boots its highest stat by 30% if it holds a Booster Energy, which is why it’s its desired Held Item.

POKEMON	LEVEL	MOVES	ABILITY	NATURE	TERA TYPE	HELD ITEM
	100	– Belly Drum – Close Combat – Thunder Punch – Drain Punch	Quark Drive	Adamant	Fighting	Booster Energy

Best Poliwrath build to counter Blastoise

Poliwrath is a solid choice to go after Blastoise as it has no weaknesses against it and, on the contrary, is resistant to both Steel and Water-type Pokemon, as well as Ice-type moves.

This first-generation creature is very tanky, so it can last long in any battle, and it’s pretty easy to use. Plus, thanks to the Water Absorb ability, it will recover a quarter of its max HP every time it’s hit with a Water-type move, and the move won’t even have an effect.

POKEMON	LEVEL	MOVES	ABILITY	NATURE	TERA TYPE	HELD ITEM
	100	– Drain Punch – Rain Dance – Belly Drum -Liquidation	Water Absorb	Adamant	Fighting	Shell Bell

Best Annihilape build to counter Blastoise

The wild ape, Annihilape, has been one of the top surprises from Gen 9 due to how good of a fighter it is. Its dual Fighting/Ghost typing makes this Pokemon resistant to Poison, Rock, and Bug-type attacks while also targeting Blastoise’s weakness to Fighting-type moves.

The combination of the Drain Punch move plus the Held Item Metronome and the Fighting Tera Type allows Annihilape to have an outstanding damage output.

More so, the Defiant Ability increases the user’s Attack by two when its stats get lowered and can take advantage of the Screech move to lower the enemy’s Defense by six.

POKEMON	LEVEL	MOVES	ABILITY	NATURE	TERA TYPE	HELD ITEM
	100	– Rage Fist – Drain Punch – Bulk Up – Screech	Defiant	Adamant	Fighting	Metronome

Best Paldean Tauros (Aqua Breed) build to counter Blastoise

Similar to Poliwrath, players can opt to go for the dual Water/Fighting Paldean Tauros, as it’s resistant to Steel, Water, and Ice moves, and can take advantage of Blatoise’s weakness to Fighting-type attacks.

Paldean Tauros’s Anger Point allows it to reach +6 Atk after being dealt Critical damage, and you can use Raging Bull from the start to apply immediate offensive pressure.

POKEMON	LEVEL	MOVES	ABILITY	NATURE	TERA TYPE	HELD ITEM
	100	– Rain Dance – Reversal – Raging Bull – Close Combat	Anger Point	Careful	Fighting	Shell Bell

That’s everything you need to know about the 7-Star Tera Raid encounter against Blastoise in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. For more game content, check our other guides below:

Paldea Pokedex | Best starter Pokemon | How to get Marks in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | Are Pokemon Scarlet & Violet compatible with Pokemon Home? | Unlocking 5 & 6-star Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | How to unlock Rotom Phone cases in Scarlet & Violet | How to change clothes in Scarlet & Violet | How to co-op with friends in Scarlet & Violet | All Shiny forms in Scarlet & Violet | Sandwich recipes in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet | Pokemon Scarlet & Violet egg breeding guide | How to get Rare Candy in Scarlet & Violet