Tera Raids are fun challenges to take on alone or with friends to collect valuable resources like Herba Mystica or to catch exclusive Pokémon like the Unrivaled Charizard. With special Tera Raid events popping up often in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, it’s important to find reliable Pokémon to take down the big bosses and breeze through smaller raids.
Slowbro is one such Pokémon. During the Unrivaled Cinderace Tera Raid event, Slowbro quickly proved to be the perfect counter that could wall anything Cinderace tried to throw at it. This made a lot of sense, considering Slowbro’s Water/Psychic typing gives it the defensive and offensive advantage against Cinderace’s Fire-type attack and Fighting Tera Type. Turns out, it has even more potential.
Best Slowbro builds for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids
With a lot of good setup moves in its move pool, Slowbro’s main job in any Tera Raid is to get as many stat boosts as it can before launching off a powerful Stored Power attack. If executed correctly, this has the chance to one-shot the strongest Tera Raid Pokémon, including the Unrivaled Cinderace. Even though that event has already passed, this same strategy and build is also a surprisingly viable option for the Unrivaled Greninja event.
Unrivaled Greninja counter
It might sound weird to bring a Water/Psychic-type Slowbro against a Greninja carrying a strong Dark-type attack like Night Slash, but in this case, it’s much better than you would think. Slowbro is naturally bulky with a 110 Defense stat, and since the Unrivaled Greninja is a mixed attacker, its Night Slashes aren’t hitting at maximum damage. This means Slowbro can take the hits well enough as it boosts its Defense with Iron Defense.
Once Slowbro’s Defense is maxed out, it can use several Nasty Plots to maximize its Special Attack. Stored Power will do a good amount of damage against Greninja at that point, but it can be boosted even more with the “Go all out” cheer.
- Tera Type: Water
- Ability: Oblivious or Own Tempo
- Nature: Modest (+ Special Attack, – Attack)
- Held Item: Leftovers
- EV spread
- 252 HP
- 252 Special Attack
- 4 Defense or Special Defense
- Moves
- Stored Power
- Iron Defense
- Nasty Plot
- Slack Off
General Tera Raid build
Outside of the big Tera Raid events, Slowbro will likely come in handy for other high-level Tera Raids in the game. If you want to make more use of your Slowbro, consider these other options for putting together a strong build.
The main difference from the Unrivaled Greninja build is that you will have more flexibility with the moveset depending on the specific Pokémon you’re facing. It’s best to carry Iron Defense against physical attackers or Amnesia against special attackers along with Nasty Plot in both cases. Alternatively, you can go with Calm Mind and Psychic Terrain for a similar outcome.
- Tera Type: Water or Psychic
- Ability: Oblivious or Own Tempo
- Nature: Modest (+ Special Attack, – Attack)
- Held Item: Leftovers, Life Orb, Twisted Spoon
- EV spread
- 252 HP
- 252 Special Attack
- 4 Defense or Special Defense
- Moves
- Stored Power
- Iron Defense, Amnesia, or Calm Mind
- Nasty Plot or Psychic Terrain
- Slack Off
