Pokemon Scarlet & Violet fans split on whether Tera Raids are worthwhile

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet’s Tera Raid battles can be a great way to farm helpful resources and get exclusive monsters, but some fans think they still have quite a ways to go before they’re great.

While the Generation 9 Pokemon titles introduced a lot of new features to the series, they also refined some ideas that came before it. Scarlet & Violet fleshed out Arceus’ first attempt at open-world gameplay, and Tera Raid battles are an interaction on Max Raid Battles from Gen 8.

One trainer sparked a debate on social media among the Scarlet & Violet community after they claimed that Tera Raids were the “best thing to happen in Pokemon in decades.”

The OP explained that after unlocking 5 and 6-Star Raids, they were having a ton of fun with the feature.

“I’m actually having to strategise and more often than not I’ll lose the first few attempts when soloing and going in blind. Imo this is how Pokémon battling should be in the main storyline,” they argued.

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They weren’t alone in this line of thinking, as many fans in the comments agreed with the points they made.

“Definitely. They started the raid battle thing in Sword and Shield but it was very clunky and the raids themselves were still too easy / not interesting strategically. They learned from their mistakes and imo nailed it in SV,” said one trainer.

Others agreed but with the caveat that they still need some polish. “Yes. But the mechanics and quality of life need more work,” noted another fan.

Some argued that this lack of polish is what makes Tera Raids a poor feature of Gen 9. “…The raids still don’t work correctly at all, desyncs and waiting 30 seconds for your move to happen is not good enough in a timed raid,” argued one player.

Alternately, some trainers argued that the inherent difficulty present in 7-Star Tera Raids made them a chore. “Hard disagree,” said another. “They have taken a casual, relaxing game with a hard competitive side and turned it into a min-maxing nightmare.”

While Tera Raid battles certainly still need a good deal of fine-tuning—especially in regards to online play—there’s no denying completing them comes with many benefits. Whether or not trainers think putting in the work is worthwhile is up to each individual.