Pokemon Scarlet & Violet players are terrified of 7-Star Greninja’s “bonkers” movepool
Game Freak just announced that Poison Tera Type Greninja will be featured in the next 7-Star Tera Raid event, and players are terrified of its diverse movepool providing a massive range of coverage.
Greninja has remained one of the most popular Pokemon in the franchise since its introduction in Gen 6. It was one of Ash Ketchum’s most beloved partners, made it into Super Smash Bros as a playable fighter, and was a frequent choice for competitive players before its long absence from mainline titles.
Now, Greninja will make its Nintendo Switch debut in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet via 7-Star Tera Raids at the end of January. It will sport a Poison Tera Type, making it weak to Ground and Psychic types, along with an expanded moveset, increased health, and a maxed-out at level 100.
However, while players need to use Ground- and Psychic-type moves to defeat Greninja, its original Water/Dark typing leaves those Pokemon vulnerable. And to make matters worse, its diverse movepool includes counters to every solution trainers come up with.
Unrivaled Greninja terrifies Scarlet & Violet trainers
On January 15, Game Freak revealed the Unrivaled Greninja Tera Raids but didn’t include what its moveset would be. This left players clueless as to what Pokemon they should build to deal with Greninja’s potential moves. While Cinderace only had five moves at its disposal – one more than a regular Pokemon – Charizard boasts eight moves it could use at any time.
Under a post by Serebii’s Joe Merrick, players voiced their concerns about the raid. “It doesn’t help that Greninja’s movepool is completely bonkers,” one user commented before listing a few of the Pokemon’s moves. “Surf, Dark Pulse, Gunk Shot, Grass Knot, Bounce, Extrasensory, Ice Beam, Low Kick.”
For those unaware, each move listed above is a different type allowing Greninja to counter almost every Pokemon a player can bring into battle. And it’s not off the table for the Tera Raid boss to have access to all eight of those moves.
Many players on Twitter and Reddit have theory-crafted builds for Gastrodon, Clodsire, and Toxicroak. However, another user pointed out that Greninja has potential moves that can counter all three. “Gastrodon. Grass knot. Clodsire. Ice beam. Toxicroak. Extrasensory. It has something good for a lot of possible checks people are planning.”
The only thing players have going for them is Greninja’s lackluster defensive stats. But with the ability to seamlessly switch between Attacks and Special Attacks, players may not have enough time to capitalize on Greninja’s weaknesses.
All there is left to do is hope Game Freak has left a gap in Greninja’s Tera Raid moveset that players can exploit. Once its moveset is revealed, we will provide a list of the best counters and how to build them.