We now know what the July 28th-30th and August 4th-6th Pokemon Scarlet and Violet tera raid ‘mon will be: Rillaboom.
While we’ve had some tough ‘mon in the past, this one is looking to be quite easy due to its Normal Tera typing. This means that once again, Annihilape (equipped with Shell Bell and the moves Drain Punch, Bulk Up, and Screech) plus the usual support will be the safest group bet for players. But there may be some other options too!
The reason Rillaboom is looking so easy is because, unlike many of the previous Starter pokemon, Rillaboom doesn’t have the variety of moves other ‘mon have had. Normal is also one of the worst types, being super effective against no type, unable to damage Ghosts, and resisted by Rock and Steel types.
That being said, one thing Rillaboom has going for it is access to Acrobatics, a Flying-type move that does super effective damage against Normal’s only weakness: Fighting. Annihilape is looking useful because being part Fighting means it gets STAB attacks against Rilla, while its Ghost typing makes it immune to Normal attacks it’ll most likely use. A Flying type move would hurt most Fighting-types though, so we may want to expect either Acrobatics or a Ground move like Earthquake.
Game Freak has been consistent about making sure these raids have one obvious type weakness to take advantage of. Normal is a bit tricky since they have only one weakness, so Rilla may not get Acrobatics. If it does, though, it most likely won’t get a Ground move to cover the Steels and Rocks that would resist the Normal moves. Rock isn’t going to be your friend, as Rilla is originally a Grass type that counters Rock; Steel types don’t have this Grass weakness, though. That’s important because it can allow players to use Lucario.
If Acrobatics is a problem, Lucario is the answer: It resists Grass and Normal moves while taking neutral damage from Flying. Use Calm Mind to boost your Special Attack and then hit Rilla with Aura Sphere, especially if your teammates can debuff Rilla’s Special Defense and/or Helping Hand you. Ability probably won’t matter unless Rilla brings Dark-type moves, in which case the Hidden Ability Justified will be a nice bonus. You can bring Life Dew for some extra healing too, though one would hope you wouldn’t need it.
Iron Hands also has potential. With Belly Drum and Drain Punch (fairly standard) and holding Booster Energy (also standard), most veteran raiders may not need to build a whole new pokemon to raid with.
Corviknight’s able to come back again as solid support ‘mon once again, resisting Normal, Grass, and Flying moves.
Again, for regular players, most of these pokemon are those you already have built or reasonably easy access to, especially now with the Pokemon HOMEÂ connection. Rillaboom may not be a great pokemon, but at least for collectors and Rilla fans, it’ll be highly accessible, and those who want to farm for mats hopefully will have an easier time than usual.
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!
