Decidueye is the next tera raid event for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, and this one may be the easiest to plan for thus far. That doesn’t mean it’ll be the easiest, but unlike the past few targets, this owl doesn’t have an answer for all its enemies, lacking any counter for Electric-type pokemon.
That’s important because despite being its being a Grass/Ghost type, its tera type will be Flying. If it gets the associated three attack types, players need to know to avoid Rock types, especially as it can learn the Fighting move Low Kick, which would also threaten Ice types. Interestingly, this actually means that the Violet mascot, Miraidon, is looking like a good counter option.
Other potential offensive choices being named already include Bellibolt, which can also play support with Acid Spray, as well as Kilowattrel, which might be able to make some combos with its Wind Power or Competitive abilities, though its lack of bulk personally scares me off. Iron Hands is another name people are tossing around, but it takes neutral damage from Flying attacks, which could be a major problem after using its often relied-on Belly Drum.
Support players can also make use of Bellibolt and Toxtricity, which also has access to Acid Spay. Swalot and Glimmora are also being floated, as both also have access to Spray and more bulk, though Glimmora takes neutral damage from Grass attacks.
By now, you’re probably noting a pattern with all these Acid Sprayers, beyond being able to lower a raid target’s special defense through shields (which normally prevents direct status attacks from working unless they also deal damage): Having three Acid Sprayers with a Miraidon using Charge on turn one, followed by one of the Sprayers using Helping Hand to boost Electro Drift, could end the raid in two turns.
Admittedly, Decidueye does have slightly higher Special Defense than Defense, but Electric pokemon tend to be more geared toward having a high Special Attack, which is why Acid Spray looks so good. However, we should expect curve balls, and Decidueye has well-rounded attacks and access to moves that buff its attack as well as Confuse Ray, which gamers think might be making a major appearance during the next run.
If Decidueye lacks Fighting moves, players could also use Magnezone for all its resistances, but for those with limited time/supplies, Umbreon or Chansey might be good choices as both resist any Ghost moves, Perrserker resists Grass and Flying, and all three continue to be great support generalists. We might also consider Corviknight as a support ‘mon, but despite having some good resistances, it gets locked out of most of its usefulness once shields go up, and it lacks Super Effective attacks in this raid, so I’m currently recommending against it.
Obviously, Miraidon is the easiest pokemon to build right now for Violet players. Bellibolt isn’t too hard either, as its preferred ability, Electromorphosis, isn’t hidden, and Parabolic Charge lets you deal damage while healing; you just need to TM for Acid Spray. Support minded players may wish to stick with Swalot, though, as you won’t need to TM for Acid Spray, but you may want to spring for Helping Hand unless you’re partnering with a friend who can bring it (there’s debate on if multiple Helping Hand buffs stack, but I’ve not seen confirmation of it in any raids that I’ve done with randoms).
As usual, we’ll update this post once the raid becomes available, but until then, make sure you have at least one of the above pokemon ready to raid March 17th at midnight UTC to March 19th at 23:59 UTC and again a week later at the same times on March 24th-26th.
Ability can be either Minus or Punk Rock, Minus is cool if there is another Toxtricity. It is important that you have a Miraidon as a teammate. Screech is there to try help Iron Hands before shield goes up. Feel free to share it! pic.twitter.com/VD3srHbRlv
— HomuraP🔥 (@HomuraP_VGC) March 17, 2023
3/16 Update:Â Yes, this is by far the easiest Mighty Mark ‘mon yet. The above builds mostly work, though Decidueye’s Feather Dance does often require an extra turn and makes defense cheering and/or using Metal Sound turn 1 as Miraidon. A team of Miraidon’s can do this at max level, but Bellibolt and Toxtricity are reasonable support, as are Corviknight and Umbreon, but again, they get locked out of most of their abilities if the boss shields, so be careful when using them with a pick up group.
Massively OP’s Andrew Ross is an admitted Pokemon geek and expert ARG-watcher. Nobody knows Niantic and Nintendo like he does! His Massively on the Go column covers Pokemon Go as well as other mobile MMOs and augmented reality titles!
