Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, the latest entries in the popular monster-catching franchise, were released just over a month ago, but Nintendo is continuing to keep fans engaged via ongoing Tera Raid events. These events pit players against extra-powerful versions of iconic Pokemon from throughout the series. The latest limited-time Tera Raid event arriving in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet features Cinderace, the final evolution of Generation 8 starter Scorbunny. While some fans are happy to see Cinderace making its debut in Generation 9, others are disappointed by the event as they feel that once again a single Pokemon, Azumarill, can easily become overpowered and "sweep" the event.
The recently announced Cinderace Tera Raid Event will have two rounds, the first running from December 29 at 7PM Eastern Time to December 31 at 7PM Eastern Time. It will then be rerun two weeks later, between January 12 at 7PM Eastern Time and January 14 at 7PM Eastern Time. During these events, a 7-Star Cinderace with the Fighting Tera type will appear in special Tera Raid dens scattered throughout the Paldea Region. These Raids are currently the only method for obtaining Cinderace in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Fans are happy to see another powerful Pokemon making its Paldean debut; however, many were hoping for one that could not be so easily defeated by Azumarill, a humble Generation 2 "Pikachu clone" that has emerged as a surprising Tera Raid superstar.
Azumarill's Type Combination Is Perfect For Tera Raids
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Terastallization, a gameplay gimmick introduced in Gen 9, allows Pokemon to temporarily take on a single Tera type in battle. The Pokemon gains a crystalline appearance and dons a fancy headdress matching the critter's Tera type. While Terastallized, the Pokemon becomes single-type, and moves of that type are greatly strengthened in battle. However, Terastallization can come with a downfall: as the Pokemon now only has a single type, it inherits that type's weaknesses and resistances. A poor matchup can easily lead to even a Terastallized Pokemon as powerful as the 7-star Cinderace being defeated in only a few turns.
Azumarill's type combination, Water/Fairy, is excellent because no single-type Pokemon is capable of resisting both, and an Azumarill can generally do significant damage to nearly any Tera Raid Pokemon. Currently, Azumarill is the only Water/Fairy-type Pokemon available in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, as neither Primarina nor Tapu Fini - both from Generation 7 - appear in Paldea.
Fairy-types are super effective against Fighting-types, which is the Tera type of the upcoming Cinderace event, meaning that Azumarill will be able to do large amounts of damage to the 7-star Pokemon. This is especially good as Azumarill can learn a number of powerful damage-dealing Fairy-type moves - chief among them, Play Rough. It also resists Fire, which is Cinderace's original type and the type of many of its damage-dealing moves, meaning it is not likely to faint during the Tera Raid.
How Azumarill Can Sweep Tera Raids
In addition to its beneficial type combination, Azumarill is able to become a Tera Raid "sweeper" - able to quickly end the fight in just a few turns. This is beneficial because Tera Raids are timed, and defeat by timing out is quite possible. Players can easily create an Azumarill that can greatly boost its own Attack stat and thus perform extra-powerful damage-dealing moves in quick succession. While other Pokemon, such as new Bisharp evolution Kingambit and Violet-exclusive Paradox Pokemon Iron Hands are popular Tera Raid choices, Azumarill has quickly become one of the critters most commonly seen when completing Tera Raids with other Trainers. It is not unheard of to see a team of four Azumarill taking down a 5-, 6-, or even 7-star Tera Raid boss.
Azumarill can have the Ability Huge Power, which doubles its Attack stat. If the Azumarill holds an Ability Shield, the Tera Raid boss cannot change or remove this Ability in any way. Then, the Azumarill can use the move Belly Drum, which drains its HP in exchange for increasing its Attack stat even further. This combination allows the Azumarill to do a large amount of Fairy-type damage using moves such as Play Rough or Tera Blast. The issue of the lowered HP can be mitigated by having another Pokemon in the battle use a Healing Cheer or another healing move. This combination of moves will likely knock out a Fighting-type Cinderace quickly, especially if the Azumarill has reached Level 100 and had its stats further increased via Bottle Caps.
Azumarill Was Already Amazing Against Charizard
Cinderace is not the first Pokemon from previous generations to make an appearance in Scarlet and Violet via Tera Raids. The first was Charizard, the iconic final evolution of Generation 1 starter Charmander. This Charizard, another 7-Star Tera Raid, had the Dragon Tera type, which was also weak against Azumarill's Fairy type. It also used powerful Fire-type attacks that a properly leveled Azumarill could easily resist. Players searching for random allies rather than playing Tera Raids with friends would typically encounter many Azumarill when fighting these 7-Star Raids. Some fans are frustrated that Azumarill is once again in the spotlight and will likely appear just as frequently during the Cinderace Tera Raids as it did during those against Charizard.
While Azumarill's powerful move set and beneficial type combination likely mean that it will continue to be seen in Tera Raids, Nintendo will hopefully make some changes to future Raid Events that will allow Pokemon other than Azumarill to take the spotlight. One option would be to introduce Grass-type Pokemon - such as the Grass-type starters from the previous eight generations - into 7-star Raids, as Grass moves are super effective against the Water-type Azumarill.
Other Tera types that could take advantage of Azumarill's weaknesses include Electric, Poison, and Steel. Alternatively, Nintendo could introduce other Water/Fairy-type Pokemon so that Azumarill is not the only Pokemon of that type in Scarlet and Violet. Primarina would be a good choice, as it - like Charizard and Cinderace - is the final evolution of a starter Pokemon. Overall, many fans are looking forward to seeing future Tera Raid events where Pokemon other than Azumarill will be given the chance to shine, possibly creating new strategies.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are currently available for the Nintendo Switch.
