Best counters and builds for defeating 7-star Venusaur Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Unrivaled Venusaur is taking over seven-star Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and it’s quite a challenging battle—unless you have the right Pokémon and builds to shut it down.

The Venusaur Tera Raid event takes place in the Paldea region from Tuesday, Feb. 27 at 6pm CT until Tuesday, March 5 at 5:59pm CT, and then will be followed by its fellow Kanto Starters, Blastoise and Charizard. Clearing this seven-star raid gives you the opportunity to catch Venusaur with the exclusive Mightiest Mark, while also serving as a great way to farm rare Herba Mystica for Shiny hunting in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

Beating Unrivaled Venusaur isn’t easy though, especially with all the tricks it has up its sleeve. But there is one specific Pokémon that perfectly counters this Venusaur, letting you clear the raid without taking a single hit. You can use this build to not only catch Venusaur but also stock up on Herba Mystica with ease.

Here’s everything you need to know to beat the Unrivaled Venusaur Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, including the perfect counter Pokémon and builds.

Beating the Unrivaled Venusaur Tera Raid in Scarlet and Violet

Beating Unrivaled Venusaur ultimately comes down to identifying its weaknesses and shutting down its offense. This Venusaur’s whole strategy centers around setting up with an immediate +2 Special Attack boost with Growth in the sun. It’s also annoying if it happens to land a poison your Pokémon. If you and your Pokémon are not prepared to handle Venusaur’s powerful Grass, Poison, and Ground-type attacks, you’re in trouble.

Let’s take a closer look at what we can expect with this Venusaur so we can identify its weak spots and understand how to counter it.

What type is Unrivaled Venusaur?

Venusaur is a Grass/Poison-type Pokémon and it has the Ground Tera Type for this raid event. This means it has three weaknesses: Grass, Water, and Ice. However, it does have great coverage from an offensive perspective, and it has attacks to hit Grass and Water Pokémon for super-effective damage. This makes it even harder to find a counter that can simultaneously deal meaningful damage while withstanding Venusaur’s attacks.

What moves does Unrivaled Venusaur know?

Unrivaled Venusaur’s moveset is a good balance between offense and defense. It opens up with Sunny Day and Growth to get an immediate boost in Speed (thanks to its Chlorophyll ability) and Special Attack.

It may also use Amnesia to boost its Special Defense. On the offensive side, Venusaur has four STAB attacks: Petal Blizzard, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, and Earth Power.

Moves

• Giga Drain
• Sludge Bomb
• Earth Power
• Amnesia

Additional Moves

• Sunny Day
• Growth
• Petal Blizzard

Best counters for the Unrivaled Venusaur Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Hisuian Goodra is the single best counter for soloing the Unrivaled Venusaur Tera Raid. The only issue with it is you need to transfer it over from Legends: Arceus. If you don’t have Arceus or don’t want to go through the hassle of getting a Hisuian Goodra, you can use Chesnaught; it’s easier to obtain if you have The Indigo Disk DLC.

Best Hisuian Goodra Tera Raid build in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Hisuian Goodra is untouchable in the Venusaur Tera Raid, thanks to its Steel typing, its Sap Sipper ability, and the Air Balloon item. Here’s why: Its Steel typing makes it immune to Poison, its Sap Sipper ability makes it immune to Grass, and the Air Balloon allows it to avoid Ground-type attacks.

As previously mentioned, Venusaur only has Poison, Grass, and Ground-type attacks. Therefore, it can never land a hit onto Hisuian Goodra as long as it has the Sap Sipper ability and Air Balloon. The Air Balloon normally breaks after the holder is hit by any attack, but Hisuian Goodra doesn’t have to worry about that ever happening, with full immunity to all of Venusaur’s attacks.

This allows you to focus on setting up with Curse and dealing big damage with Gyro Ball. The game plan is simple: 

• Use Iron Head three times to charge up your Tera until Venusaur resets your stats.
• Use Curse six times to max out your Attack.
• Terastallize and spam Gyro Ball until Venusaur is knocked out.

When it comes to Hisuian Goodra’s build and EV training, you only need to focus on maximizing your Attack and minimizing its Speed, since Gyro Ball is powered by slower Speed. It took my Hisuian Goodra seven Gyro Balls to knock out Venusaur, so make sure you use PP Up to max out the number of uses on Gyro Ball.

The most ideal Nature here for Hisuian Goodra is Brave (+ Attack, – Speed), but I found it worked fine with any other Nature that lowers Speed (just in case you don’t have the right mints to change its Nature).

Best Chesnaught Tera Raid build in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

If you are unable to obtain Hisuian Goodra, your next best option is Chesnaught. You can catch Chespin in The Indigo Disk DLC in Chargestone Cavern in an upgraded Terarium, and evolve it into Quilladin and then Chesnaught. You might even already have a Chesnaught from a past Tera Raid event.

Chesnaught is great against its fellow Grass Starter because it can conveniently set up with Belly Drum and hit Venusaur for big damage with Seed Bomb while avoiding super-effective hits from Sludge Bomb, thanks to its Bulletproof ability.

Popular content creator Austin John Plays shared this strategy and build to consistently beat Venusaur:

• Open up with a Belly Drum to maximize your Attack.
• Use two Drain Punches to deal damage and heal back HP.
• Use Spiky Shield right after Venusaur resets your stats.
• Belly Drum again.
• Drain Punch once to heal back HP and fully charge your Tera.
• Terastallize to Tera Grass and spam Seed Bomb until Venusaur faints.