Highlights
- The upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC, The Indigo Disk, will introduce a new Tera type, leaving players curious about its capabilities.
- The Terastal battle gimmick allows trainers to change their Pokemon's type mid-battle, adding complexity to competitive battles.
- The new Tera type is hinted to be connected to the Legendary Pokemon Terapagos, and its effects on moves like Tera Blast and STAB abilities remain to be seen.
The Pokemon Company teased that a new Tera type would be added to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in the upcoming DLC, The Indigo Disk. The tease was briefly shown at the end of a three-minute trailer during the conclusion of the 2023 Pokemon World Championships, which left many Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players guessing what this new Tera type is and what it could do in battle.
Introduced in the ninth generation, the Terastal battle gimmick of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet allows trainers to change their Pokemon's type into a different type in the middle of a battle, which added another layer of complexity to competitive battles. Following in the footsteps of Dynamax raid battles in Pokemon Sword and Shield, the Terastal gimmick has allowed Pokemon Scarlet and Violet to host a variety of Tera raids, including a seven-star Tera raid battle against Mewtwo the Unrivaled. While there are currently 18 Tera types that correspond to each Pokemon type at the time of writing, The Indigo Disk will increase that number by one when the DLC arrives in Winter 2023.
The Pokemon Company has not revealed the name of the nineteenth Tera type at the time of writing, but some details were teased in the aforementioned trailer. First, the icon for the nineteenth Tera type in the battle menu is a rainbow-colored shell, which looks similar to the shell of Terapagos, the Legendary Pokemon of The Indigo Disk DLC. This may indicate that catching Terapagos could be the key to unlocking this new Tera type in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. In addition, this new Tera type is not exclusive to Terapagos, as The Pokemon Company used Baxcalibur to seemingly confirm that any Pokemon can have its Tera type changed to the new Tera type. It remains to be seen what methods will be used to obtain this new Tera type in The Indigo Disk.
As for its usage in battle, the new Tera type was shown to affect Tera Blast, which is in line with how the move's type changes to correspond to the Tera-type of a Pokemon. However, the outlines of Baxcalibur's Dragon and Ice attacks in the menu also had the same rainbow coloration as the Terastallize icon. This could indicate to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players that moves that grant the usual same type attack bonus (STAB) could benefit from the new Tera type in some capacity.
Between the reveal of the new Tera type, and the return of past starter Pokemon in The Indigo Disk DLC, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players will have plenty to look forward to in the expansion. Only time will tell when a proper release date for The Indigo Disk is confirmed.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
Source: Pokemon
