You better watch out, you better prep Fly, you better not doubt it’ll make a Pika cry, Samurott is comin’ to town. Well, specifically, to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet in the next Mightiest Mark raids, that is.
For the most part, studio Game Freak has been pretty generous with these raids so far, as each tera raid in the past has left at least one obvious hole in the target’s defenses for players to take advantage of.
The Formidable Samurott arrives to the multiplayer game not with a Water tera type but with a Bug type, meaning players will want to leave many Grass types behind in addition to Bug’s usual enemies, Fire and Rock, since Samy here’s got an answer to those as well. Flying types might actually be the answer.
Bug may not be the strongest of the types, but it also only has three weaknesses: Fire, Rock, and Flying. Samurott’s native Water typing means Fire and Rock are out, leaving only Flying as a possibility. We could get a curveball, as Samurott does learn several Ice-type moves via TMs, but we’ll assume players will be fairly safe from that.
Without any Ice moves, Salamence could be king. Bring Dragon Dance to buff Attack and Speed, then finish it with Fly. Corviknight’s long been a solid support ‘mon, but a few medications, such as using Fly instead of a support move, could be useful. Just remember, do not use Brave Bird – on any pokemon you bring. Tera ‘mon have a lot of HP, so even if you deal a lot of damage, a portion of that is dealt back to you, essentially guaranteeing that you kill your own pokemon. Unless it’s a one-hit KO (which I’ve yet to see in other raids people tried this), you’re simply causing your team to lose. Don’t be a Brave Bird; be a Smart Bird.
Gyarados is one name that’s been coming up in player discussions, as even if Samurott does get an Ice Move, Gyarados takes only neutral damage from it. Equipping Shell Bell, Dragon Dance, and Stone Edge is one possibility for old Gary, but keep in mind that Stone Edge doesn’t get Same Type Attack Bonuses (STAB). You also don’t want to change its tera-type to Rock because then it just becomes weak to Samurott again.
For supports, the usual Chansey should work, and possibly previously built Clodsires. Umbreon may be risky, as Dark is weak to Bug. Support Sylveon should work, though, as it resists both Bug and Dark types.
A bit of a curveball seen on Reddit was Dry Skin Toxicroak as a support ‘mon since it resists Bug, Dark (another typing Samurott is known to carry) and actually would be healed from Water attacks. It natively learns Mud-Slap to lower accuracy, and Taunt may be useful for any non-damaging moves Samurott comes with (Swords Dance is inevitable). It can also learn Helping Hand, Acid Spray, and Chilling Water via TMs, so it could be flexible.
Expect an update on this after release for more precise findings and strategies. The event’s coming soon, starting at 8 p.m. EDT on March 30th to the same time on April 2nd, then repeating the following weekend.
We should also note, however, that Gamefreak and Nintendo have been releasing these raids at a faster frequency. Whereas you previously had a weekend for the first coming of these Mightiest Mark ‘mon, then a weekend off to prep, followed by the ‘mon’s second coming, both Decidueye and now Samurott are coming in two weekends back-to-back. It could be that developers think the community has a diverse enough roster to handle this, or they’re trying to beat the inevitable mass migration of ‘mons from Pokemon HOME connecting to the game soon™, but it is something players should think about with the coming events, especially with the recent special Blissey raids being announced only days before the event last weekend.
3/30 Update: Our prediction that Samurott would lack an Ice attack but come with Swords Dance proved true. Most of the above strats that assumed an Ice-less Samurott are good to go. Corviknight is proving to be a useful assist, especially with Screech and cheers. A big attacker has been Koraidon, equipped with an Expert Belt, Swords Dance, and Flare Blitz has been popular (though is risky since, like Brave Bird, can faint your own pokemon). In a pinch, players are also reporting Azumarill with Belly Drum and Rollout works, though I’ve yet to try it myself. In general, it seems like simply debuffing Samurott’s Defense, cheering for defense/attack/heals, and then having an attacker bulk up their Attack before striking for a one-hit kill is once again the easiest way to go about things. Again, it does require some coordination, especially since this the potential for a self-KO makes this riskier than the 2-turn strategy some of the past Mightiest Mark encounters allowed for. Good luck out there, trainers!
4/2 Update: We’ll also have Ditto joining us during the same hours April 7-9, also via Serebii.net. These Ditto will have at least five perfect stats, making breeding much easier for people who haven’t gotten a good ditto yet, and will be various tera types. The easiest way to defeat a raid Ditto is for the raid host to use a weak pokemon and low level pokemon, such as Magikarp. It’ll be a great weekend to farm!
