7-star Tera Ground Torterra raid event (Nov 15-17, 22-24)

[Slowpokeking]

Iron Tail, Coil, Protect, and Mud slap? I used that and managed to win.

Weirdly enough Torterra becomes obessed with Smack Down and spammed it during my trial run of Orthworm. I need to test it more to see if Terra was just being weird that time.

I simply used Iron Head not Mudslap, but it doesn't matter much.

I like Orthworm so what's the moveset? Protect/Iron Defense (Coil?)/Body Press (?)/Filler?

Iron Tail, Protect, Coil and Iron Head(maybe this one can be replaced).

 

[doipy hooves]

Obscure Torterra raid stats from https://stevecooktu.github.io/sv_raid_lookup/ for documentation: Yet another 550s raid, 40% HP size shield, and the usual 50% double attack rate past 50% HP. Again I do like how the raid kind of ramps up in a tricky way. Probably will not be doing Marill if there's nothing new to think of like Infernape since I think Torterra still OHKOs past a defense cheer.
Interested to see what comes after in the weeks between this and Rayquaza.

 

[flamewizzy21]

I was able to win with: Scream Tail, Koffing (this was hard and needed patience), Malamar, Deerling, Sewaddle.

All with randos. In general, it helps to make sure you have a mix of Atk and Spatk reduction, so you don’t get run over by +4 earth power or +4 EQ.

Scream tail helps keep everything mostly under control with screens + Noble roar. I added some speed EVs for 267 speed to outspeed +2 Torterra. This helps tremendously. Sitrus berry also helps. After the second shell smash, you might need a def cheer if the screen(s) run out at the wrong time.

Koffing can be precarious due to smack down, but the one clear smog + 1 acid spray makes him earn his team slot.

Deerling, Malamar, and Sewaddle were pretty safe. Do not spam click topsy turvy, as I accidentally used topsy turvy between the first shell smash and debuff clear, which left torterra at only +1 defenses. Deer and bug get light screen and atk/spatk reduction. As a result, they are pretty decent.

 

[R_N]

Iron Tail, Protect, Coil and Iron Head(maybe this one can be replaced).

This worked great once I remembered to give it some stuff. I used the Metronome item to make the msot out of everything, and was generally okay with just using 3 Coils post-reset

I even died to Earth power on the second attempt (attempt 1 I got screwed out of a late in the game crit) because the various turn shenanigans meant my protect didn't block anything.

Caught it in a Dusk Ball

 

[Original Dragon Arkvelza]

You know, Arceus could actually be good support for online. Granted, you're gonna have to kind of get lucky with Snarl since he can't learn Struggle Bug, but still.


Meadow Plate
Tera not needed
252 Def / 252 SpD / 6 HP
Bold Nature

Snarl
Chilling Water
Acid Spray
Taunt

Make sure you Taunt immediately after you get reset. Any later turn and odds are his shield might already be up.

 

[pika pal]

I was able to win with: Scream Tail, Koffing (this was hard and needed patience), Malamar, Deerling, Sewaddle.

All with randos. In general, it helps to make sure you have a mix of Atk and Spatk reduction, so you don’t get run over by +4 earth power or +4 EQ.

Scream tail helps keep everything mostly under control with screens + Noble roar. I added some speed EVs for 267 speed to outspeed +2 Torterra. This helps tremendously. Sitrus berry also helps. After the second shell smash, you might need a def cheer if the screen(s) run out at the wrong time.

Koffing can be precarious due to smack down, but the one clear smog + 1 acid spray makes him earn his team slot.

Deerling, Malamar, and Sewaddle were pretty safe. Do not spam click topsy turvy, as I accidentally used topsy turvy between the first shell smash and debuff clear, which left torterra at only +1 defenses. Deer and bug get light screen and atk/spatk reduction. As a result, they are pretty decent.

Malamar do anything besides Topsy Turvy? Support, or Tera Stellar Blast for damage? I know it gets Screens and Lunge for ATK reduction, but not sure how much that helps with Earth Power once it's debuffed enough on ATK.

 

[Arcticblast]

okay hear me out


Brute Bonnet @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Grass Knot / Sunny Day

Because Torterra is Brave, Bonnet naturally outruns it before Shell Smash, and it's bulky enough to take under half from a +2 Earthquake before using Clear Smog. Modest Grass Knot does more damage than Adamant Seed Bomb could ever dream of dealing, and Modest means Giga Drain healing is more consistent.

This fight is pretty messed up and it feels like the viable solo pool is really small without looking for specific AI partners. My first clear was actually with Appletun, but it took multiple tries and an Intimidate AI to actually pull it off; +4/+4 is just so scary if you can't answer it, and Torterra can really shred through a lot of the things that can.

 

[Gothic Togekiss]

Okay....hear me out on this one, it actually funny.

Haunter @ Evolite
Ability: Levitate
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpA
Modest Nature
-Clear Smog
-Acid Spray
-Giga Drain
-Nasty Plot

Torterra's AI is wonky in that it seem to not know how Smack Down works or it really REALLY like Smack Down. By the time it goes for EQ you already tera'd and resist the move.

Arcticblast Perfect timing, I just done a run with Brute Bonnet, I used Metromeme over Clear Amulet for more damage over time with Giga Drain, but still clear the raid with no problem.

 

[flamewizzy21]

Malamar do anything besides Topsy Turvy? Support, or Tera Stellar Blast for damage? I know it gets Screens and Lunge for ATK reduction, but not sure how much that helps with Earth Power once it's debuffed enough on ATK.

Topsy turvy inverts the first shell smash. Skill swap contrary sets up to invert the second shell smash later. He also has screens and helping hand. The most common attackers in randos are Serperior and Lurantis. They can manage boosting themselves up, but they need cover to not get ass-blasted by +4 Torterra.

 

[DougJustDoug]

I made a Sinistcha in advance of this raid, hoping it would be perfect. I went into the raid blind, without reading or seeing anything about the moveset. The Turn 0 Shell Smash wasn’t a huge surprise, but when it Earth Powered, THAT threw me for a loop. I got solid AI partners (Staraptor, Gardevoir, Drifblim) and seemed to be doing pretty good, but when that second Shell Smash happened, I braced for the worst. Even though I was healing to full on every Matcha Gotcha, when I missed once (that 90% accuracy sucks) it was gg, because the Earth Powers were doing more than half to me at that point. Maybe I can retool Sinistcha to make it work better, but I decided this raid was a little too surprising for me, so I went online to get the full rundown and devise a good solo strategy.

This was what worked like a charm for me solo, and it’s not a bad online player either:


Orthworm @ Leftovers
Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Earth Eater
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
- Iron Tail
- Mud-Slap
- Protect
- Coil

Slow, but very steady and risk-free solution here. I lead off with Mud-Slaps to build Tera and get a few free turns due to boss misses. In online play, this also helps your teammates immensely, although it is so early on and very few randos are prepared for +4/+4 Torterra and they get obliterated anyway. Mud-Slap is mainly just a 100% accurate move to use to build tera from the start, since Iron Tail is low accuracy until you start Coiling, which is a waste of time until after the player reset. So I just Mud-Slap repeatedly to start the battle and I tera as soon as possible.

On the player reset turn, use Protect to make sure you don’t eat a big ground move without Earth Eater immunity in place. After the player reset, I Coil 6 times in a row to do as much damage as possible. After that, just spam Iron Tail until the battle is over. It takes a while, because even at +6, neutral Iron Tail doesn’t do as much as you might think. However, the Defense drops from Iron Tail start piling up and that makes things go much faster.

Throughout the battle, Orthworm is taking very little damage from Torterra’s Smack Downs, which for some reason is its favorite move BY FAR to use against Orthworm in the several battles I have done so far. Occasionally, it will do a Wood Hammer, which does much more damage, but still not too much to worry about in practice with Orthworm’s resistance, awesome defense stat, Lefties, and the random Ground moves Torterra uses which procs Earth Eater healing. Orthworm sits almost literally the entire battle at 95% health or better.

I’ll keep looking for other solutions for this raid, but right now it appears to be a very short list of mons that can handle this Shell Smashing Tor-Terror, with Orthworm being at the top of the list, since it really has nothing to fear from this raid.

 

[R_N]

I can confirm how much it likes to use Smack Down against Orthworm. Like Wood Hammer still sees use even before the double attack phase, but it really seemed much rarer.

 

[formula4speed]

Does Ability Shield protect Levitate users from Smack Down?

I'm wondering if I could do something with Latias, maybe run Chilling Water and Calm Mind. Mist Ball has a 50% chance of dropping special attack but the PP is limited.

Might be better for support with screens.

 

[AztecCroc]

Does Ability Shield protect Levitate users from Smack Down?

I'm wondering if I could do something with Latias, maybe run Chilling Water and Calm Mind. Mist Ball has a 50% chance of dropping special attack but the PP is limited.

Might be better for support with screens.

Nope. Force grounding is different than ability negation.

 

[pika pal]

Okay Malamar was a terrible idea. I'm just gonna build a Chesnaught and hope for self-sufficient players. Coordinating for Topsy-Turvy and Skill Swap does not work when Torterra needs debuffs to survive the Double-Tera Ground damage.

Some interesting comps I've seen include Clear Smog Brute Bonnet with Sun Growth, Wo-Chien, and Shaymin-S with Grassy Terrain. The play does seem to primarily be Grass types both offensively and defensively, since Smack Down is mostly there for Grounding targets.

 

[Vengeance417]

I've had success with Brute Bonnet and Haunter, but my Bellossom set didn't work the one time I tried it. I think it can work with the right teammates, though.

Haunter's definitely my favorite right now. Such a funny, yet cool set.

 

[flamewizzy21]

I can confirm how much it likes to use Smack Down against Orthworm. Like Wood Hammer still sees use even before the double attack phase, but it really seemed much rarer.

Against my Koffing, he did: wood hammer, smack down, I chilled out until he neutralized my levitate, smack down (again for some reason), then EQ. That KO’d koffing. When I respawned, he did not smack down again, until the double attacks started coming out (because the second attack of a double attack is random).

The AI makes no sense. It definitely does not see smackdown as a way to apply a smackdown effect. But it is inconsistently aware of the presence of the smack down effect after it is already applied.

Okay Malamar was a terrible idea. I'm just gonna build a Chesnaught and hope for self-sufficient players. Coordinating for Topsy-Turvy and Skill Swap does not work when Torterra needs debuffs to survive the Double-Tera Ground damage.

+2 0+ Atk Tera Ground Torterra Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Malamar: 266-314 (70.7 - 83.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 0 SpA Tera Ground Torterra Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Malamar: 260-306 (69.1 - 81.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

He doesn’t survive comfortably, but he does survive non-crits. The follow up -2 EQ does about 20%, which is about a 25% chance to not survive. So you need to bring a sitrus berry to get off the next move. After that, you can stabilize the board with torterra only doing 20% per hit. Assuming your teammates have done absolutely nothing to reduce damage. The early part has some risk, but if Malamar gets to do his thing, the only way you’ll lose is if your team royally fucks up with contrary, or lacks damage.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

I've had success with Brute Bonnet and Haunter, but my Bellossom set didn't work the one time I tried it. I think it can work with the right teammates, though.

Haunter's definitely my favorite right now. Such a funny, yet cool set.

Ooooooh what was the brute bonnet set you used? Would love to try that out.

 

[theAstrogoth]

Kyogre can OHKO on the first turn with some support: https://theastrogoth.github.io/tera-raid-builder/#torterra

It's even doable on the second turn with only 3 players: https://theastrogoth.github.io/tera-raid-builder/#torterra/cryogre_3

 

[Vengeance417]

Ooooooh what was the brute bonnet set you used? Would love to try that out.

This one:

okay hear me out


Brute Bonnet @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Grass Knot / Sunny Day

Because Torterra is Brave, Bonnet naturally outruns it before Shell Smash, and it's bulky enough to take under half from a +2 Earthquake before using Clear Smog. Modest Grass Knot does more damage than Adamant Seed Bomb could ever dream of dealing, and Modest means Giga Drain healing is more consistent.

This fight is pretty messed up and it feels like the viable solo pool is really small without looking for specific AI partners. My first clear was actually with Appletun, but it took multiple tries and an Intimidate AI to actually pull it off; +4/+4 is just so scary if you can't answer it, and Torterra can really shred through a lot of the things that can.

 

[DougJustDoug]

Update:

I have used the Orthworm set I posted earlier with Adamant 252 HP/252 Attack, and also with Impish 252 HP/252 Defense. I think the max Attack set is best, because it takes less time on average. But there is something to be said for max Defense, because it handles the rare Wood Hammers and crit Wood Hammers better. The max attack set, if you don't have something lowering the attack, it takes upwards of more than 80% damage from a crit +4 Wood Hammer. That's a big hit, to be sure. So if you really want to put a premium on survivability in bad luck situations, you may want to invest more in Defense.

Like I and others have said, Torterra strangely prefers to do Smack Down over Wood Hammer against Orthworm, even though Wood Hammer does more damage. And remember, you are using Coil, so your Defense is gonna be impenetrably high regardless of how you invest your nature and EV's. So in the few cases where Wood Hammer is used, it barely tickles Orthworm most of the time. But crits are another matter, of course. If you get Intimidate AI partners solo, or you have random teammates lowering Torterra's attack, then you are still very safe even going max Attack. But if you are completely naked against a +4 Crit Wood Hammer, it's gonna hurt. The difference between ~60% against Max Defense Orthworm versus ~80% against Max Attack Orthworm might be significant enough for you to run a more Defensive build.

But personally, the case where it matters is so rare that I prefer to go with the faster clear. I haven't fainted with Orthworm at all, even in the one case where it ate a crit Wood Hammer against the Max Attack build. But iirc I also got lucky in that it did a second attack that turn which was a Ground move and Earth Eater healed back a bunch immediately. Your mileage may vary.

 

[DougJustDoug]

okay hear me out


Brute Bonnet @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Grass Knot / Sunny Day

Because Torterra is Brave, Bonnet naturally outruns it before Shell Smash, and it's bulky enough to take under half from a +2 Earthquake before using Clear Smog. Modest Grass Knot does more damage than Adamant Seed Bomb could ever dream of dealing, and Modest means Giga Drain healing is more consistent.

This fight is pretty messed up and it feels like the viable solo pool is really small without looking for specific AI partners. My first clear was actually with Appletun, but it took multiple tries and an Intimidate AI to actually pull it off; +4/+4 is just so scary if you can't answer it, and Torterra can really shred through a lot of the things that can.

Good job, Arcticblast this set slaps! I used the Sunny Day variation and it played solo beautifully. With Sunny Day, it procs Protosynthesis to raise Defense the first time to increase surviveability. Then later in the battle after some Growths, when I set Sunny Day the second time it raises Special Attack to give extra punch on the Giga Drains to make the endgame faster. Really nice set, I love it!

 

[doipy hooves]

Torterra is pretty scary in an absurd way, so here's an Azurill solo clear for what may be its last hurrah for now. It was both more and less viable than I expected in some ways, but overall it took longer than expected, mostly because I saw the path to victory very early on but Torterra kept denying it. At this point I'm just putting my notes together off the cuff so some points may seem redundant.

Fails​

Here is Torterra releasing its energy right after I input my final hit despite the timer and being basically dead.

Here is Torterra killing me with a double attack Earth Power despite being basically dead.

Here's Torterra running out the clock again before the final hit despite the timer.

Moves and Stats​

Azurill mostly follows Azumarill's example and strategy, though it only has Waterfall/Tera Blast as Water STAB (the former is probably faster to animate and better if you die post-tera/shield though I didn't run into that) and isn't naturally found as a Water tera, and doesn't have Rain Dance in its levelup learnset.

Azurill can afford to run Huge Power over Sap Sipper since Earthquake generally does more than Wood Hammer thanks to being Normal type, though as I'll go into later, it needs multiple Intimidate NPCs and Azumarill could honestly do something similar with the same support.

The most important thing about this fight is being able to take a hit to set Mud-Slap, which Azurill is not great at. For a while I just left myself with 252 HP but I faced a notable chance of getting OHKOed turn 1 from Earth Power:

+2 0 SpA Tera Ground Torterra Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Eviolite Tera Water Azurill: 274-324 (90.1 - 106.5%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

This also affects some other instances like +4 Torterra vs defense cheer preserved Azurill (x2 SpA vs base Azurill is equivalent to x3 SpA vs 1.5x SpD cheered Azurill), or +2 Torterra critting a defense cheered Azurill, but surviving turn 1 to at least get the defense cheer off was key to an attempt going through and it didn't feel great to fail immediately after watching Shell Smash's buff messages every time. You could set the defense cheer yourself but it feels like a waste and having the option of a heal cheer later is also valuable.

In the end, Azurill can guarantee surviving both Earthquake and Earth Power T1 with 2 Intimidate NPCs and specific EVs, as well as the Eviolite boost. I didn't want to rearrange my EVs but it was probably worth it just for this specific thing.

Mutually, preserving a defense cheer is also necessary to survive +4 Earth Powers later as mentioned, and at that point you may as well set an offense cheer as well for damage. Sometimes Torterra opens with Smack Down as well but not that often.

0+ Atk Tera Ground Torterra Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 64 Def Eviolite Tera Water Azurill: 204-240 (84.6 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 0 SpA Tera Ground Torterra Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 168 SpD Eviolite Tera Water Azurill: 204-240 (84.6 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Aside (Marill vs. Azurill, calcs)​

For anyone wondering about Marill, I think Marill and Azurill should theoretically perform very similarly in this raid, with some minor differences I will cover here. Generally I just didn’t want to go through this again and build a new physical tera Water Sap Sipper Marill when I could use my existing Huge Power Azurill.

Defense​

Regarding turn 1 survival, Marill is naturally weak to Grass and does face the chance of a turn 1 non-critical OHKO unlike Azurill without sacrificing Attack investment. Marill can run Sap Sipper to simply counter this and any random Wood Hammers, but the free turn at the start doesn’t add much since you die, compared to Huge Power halving the time needed in the raid.

Like Azurill, Marill is threatened by an overkill OHKO from +2 Wood Hammer both on Turn 1 and after the second Shell Smash with a defense cheer set, so 2 Intimidate NPCs are still necessary for it to survive. Torterra might choose Smack Down either way though based on Azurill.

0+ Atk Tera Ground Torterra Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 252 Def Eviolite Tera Water Marill: 242-288 (86.1 - 102.4%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

On the other hand, Marill can always take an Earth Power from full health naturally with no HP or SpD investment.

+2 0 SpA Tera Ground Torterra Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Tera Water Marill: 236-278 (83.9 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

With Intimidate support, Wood Hammer’s damage can be mitigated in the long run and Marill will end up in the same position as Azurill. On the other hand, Marill can run Sap Sipper to simply ignore this and any random Wood Hammers, but I think Huge Power is better overall just to halve the time of the raid since the free turn at the start doesn't impact much.

Offense​

As mentioned, Azurill’s best physical Water moves are the 80 BP Tera Blast/Waterfall, both which are TM moves. I guess Waterfall can be better if you keep a run going and die but still have remaining time, it also might animate faster but I haven’t timed it.

On the other hand, Marill has access to the better 85 BP Liquidation that can lower Defense and a matching Water tera type for 2x STAB, but it needs Huge Power to surpass Azurill’s damage output with all other things equal. Still, it's pretty respectable.

+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Tera Water Azurill Atk Cheer Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Ground Torterra in Rain: 2862-3368 (24.7 - 29% of 35x hp boss) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO

+6 252+ Atk Tera Water Marill Atk Cheer Liquidation vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Ground Torterra in Rain: 2032-2392 (17.5 - 20.6% of 35x hp boss) -- possible 5HKO

+6 252+ Atk Huge Power Tera Water Marill Atk Cheer Liquidation vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Tera Ground Torterra in Rain: 4056-4776 (35 - 41.2% of 35x hp boss) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Strategy​

Azurill pretty much has to do the same thing as Azumarill, but riskier because you don't get the insurance of taking a hit with Shell Bell healing among other things.

Firstly you still have to die early, generally by using a move T1 and an offense cheer T2 to faint with both cheers up and permanently preserved. You still have to live turn 1 for the AI to get a turn and set the defense cheer, which is why defense investment is still relevant. As mentioned earlier, I considered you could just press defense cheer turn 1 as well instead of letting the AI do it but then you lose a potential heal cheer for later. As mentioned, Azurill needs 2 Intimidates to survive T1 Earthquake and make it more manageable in the long run which was what I locked in for.

Generally I just pressed Belly Drum on turn 1, usually it fails but if Torterra Smack Downs then you just cut your HP a bit. You can attack Torterra or your ally with Mud-Slap/Tera Blast if you want chip damage/tera charge, but it doesn't really matter to me because I just go for 3 accuracy drops anyway and I like to keep my PP counts separate to remember what I used them for. If anything, hitting Torterra with Mud-Slap can backfire if it just doesn't kill you and the cheer wears off.

Input speed or dying too slow at the beginning because of Intimidate/Smack Down doesn't matter too much because after you die, you have the bottleneck of waiting for Torterra to debuff reset. It seems reliable to sneak in a Mud-Slap before the Shell Smash because it lets you take less damage which can save you HP to heal if you get lucky with dodges or a light Smack Down, and taking another move lets the Intimidate AI potentially die and respawn. Also if Torterra crits in that scenario then you can live it with the defense cheer.

(This is a random image of such a failed attempt just to show how much time you could work with on a 3rd death.)

Afterwards things get tricky because you kind of have 2.5 lives to play with at this point. I say this because Azurill can kind of afford to just eat an Earth Power and trade with Mud-Slap even if you don't dodge, and it can do it again for the 3rd life (15s respawn) with a reasonable time. But you only really have time for a last round if you die ASAP in the first ones, so if something happens like Torterra chips Azurill and starts missing and then you pivot to heal cheering and then it hits again then there's not enough time.

Torterra using the scripted Earthquake actually wastes a lot of time with either 4 potential miss messages or the animation just playing out normally, and as shown the timer is less than it seems. The most reliable indicator seems to be the tremendous energy/10% time remaining, but even then it can be delayed by another animation.

A viable run for me at this point was getting to -3/-4 accuracy, ideally letting you go into the 3rd/4th life with full HP and just setting up from there. Generally this just involved getting 1 dodge since Azurill is guaranteed to survive 2 lives and hit 2 Mud-Slaps unless it gets crit. I would generally just press Mud-Slap if I was at low HP, and if I was still alive by -4 accuracy then I would go for the heal cheers.

After you're comfortable with accuracy drops and health from healing or dying, Azurill just has to set Belly Drum, Rain Dance, and hope not to die to Earth Power, or die and respawn if you can still afford the time. Earth Power is a guaranteed kill at this point but Torterra using a physical move can be survivable if the Intimidators have been dying often. I think rain is still pretty helpful to speed things up especially with usually so little time left.

Water Tera Blast is about a 2HKO on the shield and should be close to a 4HKO overall, though I ended up seeing it barely 5HKO a few times as shown above which I can only attribute to shield reduction, damage rolls, and AI chip. There is no chance of a helpful crit thanks to Shell Armor.

After those 2 turns of setup you should face about 3 more hits from Torterra (free turn after the shield breaks), plus potential double attacks, and the scripted spread Earthquake that doesn't hurt that much after Intimidate has taken its toll but still depends on remaining health. Just after reaching that point, the base chance of dodging those 5 hits at like -3 accuracy is 1/32.

Successful run​

I ended up pressing Mud-Slap on Torterra turn 1 accidentally (still went for 3 so it didn't matter), and took 3 deaths in the end. Life 2 was a typical Mud-Slap into death next turn, and life 3 started with a miss, and then a hit where Earthquake did not take me below half HP, reaching my target of 3 Mud-Slaps, but I died the next turn anyway. Then on life 4 I just sent it on the setup and mashed Tera Blast, the tremendous energy message happened right after the shield going down.

Overall while frustrating to see through, this wasn't too bad to execute and was an interesting challenge to figure out. It goes to show how you can burn a lot of different resources in raids like HP and time, as long as you can make the opportunity to do so in the first place and don't run out. I don't think cheer preservation on death has any part in gamefreak's intent with these raids, but it happens to work out as a nice risk/reward mechanic and also saves time waiting for timed actions.

 

[S.A.C. Martin]

okay hear me out


Brute Bonnet @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Modest Nature
- Growth
- Giga Drain
- Clear Smog
- Grass Knot / Sunny Day

Because Torterra is Brave, Bonnet naturally outruns it before Shell Smash, and it's bulky enough to take under half from a +2 Earthquake before using Clear Smog. Modest Grass Knot does more damage than Adamant Seed Bomb could ever dream of dealing, and Modest means Giga Drain healing is more consistent.

This fight is pretty messed up and it feels like the viable solo pool is really small without looking for specific AI partners. My first clear was actually with Appletun, but it took multiple tries and an Intimidate AI to actually pull it off; +4/+4 is just so scary if you can't answer it, and Torterra can really shred through a lot of the things that can.

Can confirm, excellent Pokemon for this raid.

Done this morning, used my shiny Brute Bonnet for the first time in any kind of battling format. Really enjoyed this raid.

Torterra becomes a bit of a glass cannon once he’s done some shell smashes but the use of sunny day, twice, with growth, is a phenomenal tactic.

Great suggestion, many thanks.

 

[Menshay]

This worked solo albeit barely (Torterra was KOed by the CPUs during the second revival wait, right before the timer ran out).


Sawsbuck @ Miracle Seed / Meadow Plate
Ability: Sap Sipper
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Horn Leech
- Swords Dance
- Charm
- Bullet Seed / Petal Blizzard (filler)

I had Tauros (Intimidate), Dudunsparce (Glare) and Haxorus (Scary Face) as partners which worked decently.
Grass type + Tera Grass to resist Ground and Sap Sipper to be immune to Grass.
Charm to defuse its Attack boost (might not be necessary with Intimidate).
Bullet Seed to build Tera charge without consuming Horn Leech PPs.
Wait for stats reset, then Swords Dance + Tera + Horn Leech.
This outspeeds +2 Torterra and takes a +4 Earth Power with about 40% remaining, healing back to full with a +2 Horn Leech.
Note that this is very susceptible to Earth Power criticals / special defense drops (I got none, plus a couple lucky paralysis turns thanks to Dudunsparce).

 

[Worldie]

Well that's a nice collection now. Wish they would run gen 9 starters just so I could have a full box :(
(yes yes i know i have some mons on wrong "gen" row, I need to sort them correctly some day and I always forget xD)