While both were teased in the base game of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, players can now officially catch the Paradox Pokémon iterations of Suicune and Virizion, Walking Wake and Iron Leaves. And, while it isn’t a seven-star raid event, both Paradox Pokémon are still extremely powerful, so here are some tips on how to counter each Tera Raid.
Since this is a five-star raid event instead of a seven-star one, this plays to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s version exclusivity.
Just like with previous events, this means Walking Wake is Scarlet exclusive while Iron Leaves is Violet exclusive. In the long run, this doesn’t actually matter since players who have a Nintendo Switch Online subscription can just join Tera Raids online via the Poké Portal and refresh until they see the opposite version’s raid pop up, circumventing the issue.
Related: All Pokémon Day 2023 announcements: Scarlet and Violet DLC, new Paradox Pokémon, and wrong rumors
This will also be the first Tera Raid event post-performance update, meaning many of the raids’ worst bugs and visual errors have been fixed. So if you plan on taking on these improved raids and the new Paradox Legends, here is how you can do so.
How to beat the Walking Wake and Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Five-star raids are much easier to manage than seven-star raids. But be warned—both Walking Wake and Iron Leaves still pose a significant threat to unprepared trainers who try to challenge them.
As the featured spotlight Pokémon in this event, Walking Wake and Iron Leaves will appear at level 75 in these raids—paired with additional boosts to make them even stronger. Thankfully those strengths are easily countered since they don’t have a full moveset and their strategies are very telegraphed.
How to beat Walking Wake
Walking Wake is a Water and Dragon type, and will appear as a Water Tera Type. Despite this, it only has one Water-type move, Hydro Steam, and a moveset themed around setting up the sun since it is a Paradox Pokémon that gains boosts from doing so.
Related: How to get Walking Wake (Paradox Suicune) in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
It will have Sunny Day and Flamethrower to pair together, so bringing a Pokémon that can set up the rain would be a good call. From there, you only have to deal with Dragon Pulse and Noble Roar, which can be easily handled by bringing the proper counters.
How to beat Iron Leaves
Iron Leaves is a bit more general since it will try to set up Electric Terrain for its own Paradox Ability boosts. The Grass and Psychic-type will try to use Swords Dance to boost its stats before hitting you with Psyblade, Leaf Blade, or Megahorn. If you bring a Fire-type, you should be fine as long as you remember it is a Psychic Tera Type.
Related: How to get Iron Leaves (Paradox Virizion) in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
You have plenty of time to take down both Walking Wake and Iron Leaves, since they will be featured in raids until March 12. But if you do find yourself struggling at all, here are some of the best Pokémon you can use to counter them.
And make sure you update your copy of Scarlet or Violet before trying to access the raid event. If you don’t, there is a chance you could encounter a bug that will lock you out of catching the new Paradox Pokémon.
A fix for that bug is on the way, but there is no timeframe for when it will be out and it might not be out before the March 12 end of this event.
Best counters for the Walking Wake and Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Since this is a five-star raid, you won’t need to be as picky about which Pokémon you bring to the Tera Raid as long as you are at least matching Walking Wake and Iron Leaves at level 75. You can get away with being lower leveled if you specifically bring a counter to them, but the higher your level, the easier the raid in this case.
Here is a breakdown of some specific Pokémon and strategies you can use to tackle each of the Paradox Pokémon.
Best counters for the Walking Wake Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Walking Wake moveset
- Hydro Steam
- Dragon Pulse
- Noble Roar
- Flamethrower
- Sunny Day
Hydro Steam is a weird move since it’s actually boosted in harsh sunlight, meaning it will deal 50 percent more damage. You will need to watch out for that, along with Flamethrower being boosted and Dragon Pulse being a strong STAB attack.
If you can bring a bulky Water-type to the battle, Walking Wake can’t really do much to you. Gastrodon and Toxapex are decent options, especially if you plan to set up the rain to counter Sunny Day. Even Clodsire will do well considering its Water Absorb ability, but you should probably focus on Special Defense in that case.
Related: Best Gastrodon Tera Raid builds in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Good Electric and Fairy types are also decent pickles here, though be wary of bringing anything with poor defensive stats. One really solid option is Iron Hands.
Best Iron Hands build for the Walking Wake Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Iron Hands is bulky and can deal damage in two ways, over time with its decent options or all at once after using Belly Drum to set up.
Overall, you don’t really need to think this build through. Try to Belly Drum early and then knock out Walking Wake with Thunder Punch or another Electric-type attack. If you take too much damage or Belly Drum doesn’t work out, alternate between Thunder Punch and Drain Punch as needed to ensure you stay alive.
- Tera Type: Electric or Fighting
- Ability: Quark Drive
- If Electric Terrain is active or if it’s holding Booster Energy, the Pokemon’s highest stat is boosted by 30% if the stat is Attack, Defense, Special Attack, or Special Defense or 50% if the stat is Speed.
- Nature: Adamant (+ Attack, – Special Attack)
- Held Item: Booster Energy
- An item to be held by a Paradox Pokémon. Activates the Protosynthesis or Quark Drive Ability of a Paradox Pokemon which boosts its highest stat.
- EV spread
- 252 Attack
- 252 HP or Special Defense
- The remaining four can go into the stat you don’t max out between HP and Special Defense, or you can play around with values and split them.
- Moves
- Thunder Punch
- Drain Punch
- Belly Drum
- Close Combat
Best Azumarill build for the Walking Wake Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
If you need to bust out old reliable for this raid, you won’t be shunned for doing so. Azumarill resists or is immune to all of Walking Wake’s moves. Just don’t get cocky with Belly Drum because you aren’t hitting for supereffective damage this time.
- Tera Type: Fairy
- Ability: Huge Power
- Doubles the user’s Attack stat.
- Nature: Adamant (+ Attack, – Special Attack)
- Held Item: Sitrus Berry
- If held by a Pokemon, it will restore 25% of the holder’s HP if it falls below 50% or less.
- EV spread
- 252 Attack
- 252 HP
- The remaining four can go into Special Defense or Speed
- Moves
- Belly Drum
- Play Rough
- Liquidation/Ice Punch/Superpower (not really used here)
- Helping Hand/Rain Dance
Best counters for the Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Iron Leaves moveset
- Psyblade
- Leaf Blade
- Megahorn
- Swords Dance
- Electric Terrain
Iron Leaves is much more straightforward and just wants to set up Electric Terrain before beating you down with Physical Attacks. And, thankfully, you can bring several good Flying-type Pokémon to counter the Grass and Psychic-type fairly well.
While that Psychic Tera Type will cause some problems and Megahorn stops you from bringing most Dark types, you can reasonably rely on Pokémon like Noivern, Bronzong, Honchcrow, and Talonflame here.
Umbreon is good too since it can likely take multiple hits from a non-STAB Megahorn and provide support for your teammates. Just make sure it is properly trained up because overconfidence in this could lead to an early defeat.
Best Murkrow build for the Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Honckrow hits harder, but Murkrow is more annoying and takes hits better. Use this annoying bird to Haze and Screech away at your enemies. You can also set up Tailwind for good measure too—but you should probably only use this if you are comfortable with your teammates or see a composition that fits this build.
- Tera Type: Dark
- Ability: Prankster
- Increases the Speed priority of status moves by one. Moves affected by this ability are ineffective against Dark-type opponents.
- Nature: Calm (+ Special Defense, – Attack) or Bold (+ Defense, – Attack)
- Held Item: Eviolite
- An item to be held by a Pokemon. Increases the holder’s Defense and Special Defense by 50% if the holder can still evolve.
- EV spread
- 252 HP
- Split the remaining 256 into both Defense and Special Defense, though you should focus on the former for this raid.
- Moves
- Haze
- Screech/Taunt
- Foul Play
- Tailwind/Roost
Best Talonflame build for the Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Another annoying bird, but this one hits much harder.
Talonflame can hit Iron Leaves hard, resists all but one move, and can be very supportive by using moves like Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and Tailwind. Charge straight ahead and don’t let any metal deer stop you.
- Tera Type: Flying or Dark
- Ability: This ability prioritizes Flying-type moves when the user’s HP is full.
- Increases the Speed priority of status moves by one. Moves affected by this ability are ineffective against Dark-type opponents.
- Nature: Calm (+ Special Defense, – Attack) or Bold (+ Defense, – Attack)
- Held Item: Leftovers or Sitrus Berry
- You just want to get some kind of healing on this bird.
- EV spread
- 252 Attack
- If this was a competitive build, you would want to go all in on Speed and then dump the last few EVs. But here, you can split the difference between HP, Speed, and Special Defense however you like.
- Moves
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz/Flame Charge
- Will-O-Wisp/Taunt
- Tailwind/Roost
