Beat Skeledirge with Golduck in solo, and got my Beast Ball Skeledirge, but I noticed something strange. I Skill Swapped Skeledirge, and at the start, the speed boost was ignored as it should. However, once the player stat reset turn happened, Unaware just seemed to stop working for Golduck for the rest of the raid, and ended up being slower than Skeledirge. Am I missing something, is this a glitch?
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Pokémon Day 7* Tera Raids (Paldea Starters and Pseudos)
- Thread starter Vengeance417
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Unaware doesn't ignore speed boosts iirc
Ah ok, you're right. I must have confused that for the Scary Face teammates I was getting.
Unlike the other starter raids they didn't list a rerun week for them, so I doubt it.
Here are the detailed raid script details from https://stevecooktu.github.io/sv_raid_lookup/. Skeledirge follows Meowscarada's example with a 40% HP gate for the double attacks phase, fortunately marked by Flame Charge, and a longer 550s timer and shorter 25% HP shield. With all the focus on scripted moves, gamefreak kind of tossed everyone a (loud) bone with this one.
Apparently Flame Charge, Disarming Voice, and Stomping Tantrum are moves that Roy's Fuecoco used in the anime though, so I guess that's kind of neat.
For the mon with the most recorded 7-star solo wins of all time and counting, Azumarill still manages to have a poor reputation online as a mon that does "no damage because of Unaware" and has "no way to survive Skeledirge after it uses Torch Song" as I have commonly seen while trying to spread the good word of Azumarill. I have also commonly noticed that Azumarill detractors usually don't tend to bring up damage calculations, its historical records, or personal experiences playing Azumarill, but besides that in the end, only the results of actual gameplay matter. And when it comes down to it, what really matters in Pokemon is that Water always beats Fire so it was a foregone conclusion.
Well, Skeledirge doesn't really use Torch Song as often as you would imagine in practice, and unlike Bulk Up it can actually miss its setup move, and Azumarill has plenty of ways to multiply its Attack. It turns out that if you do any amount of damage after Belly Drum, then you're only doing 4x less than that normally, which can be made up for by multipliers not ignored by Unaware like STAB, Tera boost, Rain Dance, Huge Power, super effectiveness, attack cheers (which I didn't use), and defense debuffs. And as usual with Azumarill, you could call this playing Legends Z-A with how you can mostly dodge everything with accuracy debuffs.
Good AI can also still help out a lot, though. Here Arcanine can contribute with Leers and Intimidate, Dudunsparce goes for Glare when possible which allows Azumarill to outspeed +1 Speed Skeledirge (but not +2), and Sylveon's Moonblasts/Charms are both appreciated for offensive debuffs. They also don't seem to elicit Torch Songs too often, either.
Thanks to Unaware, Azumarill's moveset can be condensed into 3 main moves: the super-effective STAB Liquidation (which also boosts its own damage output by lowering Defense), the utility setup survival of Mud-Slap, and Rain Dance just for any added damage. I was deciding between Light Screen, Tail Whip, and Substitute before the raid dropped and decided to go for Substitute, though in my final winning attempt I didn't use Substitute just to save time. I feel like Tail Whip/Tickle would still be fine to potentially get greedy with defense debuffs early on.
The rest of the build is Tera Water, maximum Attack EVs, and a bunch of HP/Def/SpD EVs that are still scattered around (362/198/210/132/225/149 stats for the sake of it). It's still Jolly because playthrough Azumarill. At first I was using Shell Bell for the usual safety, but in the winning attempt I decided to try Metronome to see if I could push enough damage post-shield to end the fight sooner. I think Shell Bell could still work but it did also save a lot of time which might have mattered.
My first attempt was a timeout but went much better than expected, seeing mostly Stomping Tantrums. I did take a faint and didn't stack any cheers, but was able to keep my Substitute almost all the way to the end.
The second attempt took a faint near the end after getting to the 2nd debuff reset with some unfortunate hits. This is where I realized Liquidation + Shell Bell healing was not doing enough alone and getting double hit was a problem. I also should have set at least 1 Mud-Slap post-reset, and/or Substitute.
The last attempt actually seemed kind of hopeless for a while, but it turned out to be a success. Due to feeling like I was wasting a lot of time watching Substitute and Shell Bell animations while not actually getting hit that often, I switched to Metronome (the item) thinking about trying to push out a ton of damage between the shield breaking and the 50% HP debuff reset, and I did end up getting a critical hit to make up for it.
Here's me getting -6 Mud-Slaps early in the battle. I was actually trying to die while I was at low HP but it just wasn't happening, and I wasted 2 attack cheers trying to fish for a stack on death. I ended up using 6 nontera'd Liquidations against the shield (with Rain Dance) just to burn turns until it happened, and wasn't expecting this attempt to really go anywhere otherwise.
Here's Sylveon carrying hard with Moonblast procs a bit later. After I died, I did end up setting up Rain Dance again and going for tera, which hit decently.
A crit post-shield break made up for a lot of damage building up, though I wonder if a single hit would have still been above half.
Post-shield I set another Mud-Slap and decided to go for broke with Liquidations.
Here's Skeledirge living on a sliver and wasting its final turn.
Overall this clear could definitely be improved to be cleaner, but it was a "first-try with this set" victory and I feel there's always lots of room for improvisation here in the process, especially when the early attempts look as viable as they did here compared to tighter fights like Incineroar. This is the first time I even ran Metronome, and I think it ended up working out, but I think the damage/crit could still be made up for if I had gotten an attack cheer stack from the faint I took, or ran Tail Whip/Tickle over the unused Substitute. At the least, the worst of the upcoming raids may have passed for Azumarill without incident, and I'm once again thankful for gamefreak's mercy with how they wrote up the script here. Hopefully Quaquaval follows in the same footsteps.
EDIT: I forgot to mention this explicitly, but my gameplan was pretty much just spam Mud-Slap and hope to not get hit too badly with nothing better to do, then set up and start on the offense. In this attempt the setup part just involved waiting to faint and respawn with full health to tera, and then also throwing in another Mud-Slap post-shield. Didn't really end up seeing if rain discourages Torch Song early, it did Torch Song early on but not much afterwards from what I could tell across attempts, and I feel like it didn't go for it that often later.
EDIT 2:
Here's my stat screen since someone asked elsewhere.
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Decided to just bring out Malamar as support for online. Got set up with a Dondozo & Water Ogerpon and, uh, we never got a fourth after everyone locked in so we were joined by an AI Garganacl
PRedictably I did die but that's okay because I still got my Contrary & light Screen off and then just spammed helping hand.
It went...terribly? Like the ogerpon never died, the dondozo died once (somehow, not sure how. Shadow Ball spam I guess?). Felt like the ogerpon went AFK at some point. Dondozo kept using rest towards the end. I dunno I feel like we had this in the bag and it just did nothing. I kind of wonder if the ogerpon was jsut freshly caught, the damage output seemed really low
Attempt 2 was another water ogerpon, a walking wake & a roaring moon. Sure. The moon even had a roseli berry which was fun.
This ogerpon & moon both spammed throat chop was a fun tech to include which it then wiped out.
However then the stupid ogerpon started using spiky shield. I do not understand why. Just spam ivy cudgel..
And because walking wake used rain dance, and because of all the throat chopping, skeledirge stopped using torch song which was not great long term. This went worse than last time. People kept dying!
Attempt 3 I waited on for a bit. Miraidon's kinda eh...but there was a Milotic! And eventually another ogerpon.
Why are these ogerpons not spamming ivy cudgel?! It aws spamming low kick!!!
Also for a portion of this battle torch song was wrecking me even at -6. No clue what that was about, didnt seem to be any crits and there was light screen. No spdef drops either, just notably worse off than before. I can only assume there was a desynch because I got a communication error after which the battle just...resumed...?? & then we won??
???????
Also, got 3 herba mystica and an extra ability patch in addition to the guaranteed one, pretty cool. Caught in a Sports Ball
PRedictably I did die but that's okay because I still got my Contrary & light Screen off and then just spammed helping hand.
It went...terribly? Like the ogerpon never died, the dondozo died once (somehow, not sure how. Shadow Ball spam I guess?). Felt like the ogerpon went AFK at some point. Dondozo kept using rest towards the end. I dunno I feel like we had this in the bag and it just did nothing. I kind of wonder if the ogerpon was jsut freshly caught, the damage output seemed really low
Attempt 2 was another water ogerpon, a walking wake & a roaring moon. Sure. The moon even had a roseli berry which was fun.
This ogerpon & moon both spammed throat chop was a fun tech to include which it then wiped out.
However then the stupid ogerpon started using spiky shield. I do not understand why. Just spam ivy cudgel..
And because walking wake used rain dance, and because of all the throat chopping, skeledirge stopped using torch song which was not great long term. This went worse than last time. People kept dying!
Attempt 3 I waited on for a bit. Miraidon's kinda eh...but there was a Milotic! And eventually another ogerpon.
Why are these ogerpons not spamming ivy cudgel?! It aws spamming low kick!!!
Also for a portion of this battle torch song was wrecking me even at -6. No clue what that was about, didnt seem to be any crits and there was light screen. No spdef drops either, just notably worse off than before. I can only assume there was a desynch because I got a communication error after which the battle just...resumed...?? & then we won??
???????
Also, got 3 herba mystica and an extra ability patch in addition to the guaranteed one, pretty cool. Caught in a Sports Ball
In my attempt to fulfill the usual conditions - obtainable in base game, partner agnostic, minimal RNG resets - I had a lot of difficulty actually finding a reliable solution for this fight. Golduck didn't work very reliably because the post-wipe Hyper Voice sent it directly to another dimension, and there's just not a lot that can eat all the required hits. I ended up giving Florges a go, and after realizing I just had to wait for the ability wipe, I think I landed on something successful and repeatable:
Florges @ Shell Bell
Ability: Flower Veil
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stored Power
- Skill Swap
- Calm Mind
- Synthesis
Speed outruns +1 Skeledirge. Synthesis helps keep you on your feet while setting up, and then once you're ready, Stored Power will finish the job with just enough time left. Waiting for the ability wipe is incredibly boring, but I found it was really the only reliable way to not die without specific partners.
Florges @ Shell Bell
Ability: Flower Veil
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stored Power
- Skill Swap
- Calm Mind
- Synthesis
Speed outruns +1 Skeledirge. Synthesis helps keep you on your feet while setting up, and then once you're ready, Stored Power will finish the job with just enough time left. Waiting for the ability wipe is incredibly boring, but I found it was really the only reliable way to not die without specific partners.
I just realized that Stomping Tantrum gets its power boost on misses, so maybe that's why I saw it so often after Turn 1 and/or another reason it used less Torch Song overall.
I predict that accuracy dropping will be similarly good 'support' against Quaquaval's Moxie too, though killing an Intimidate ally will always lead to an even trade as well.
I predict that accuracy dropping will be similarly good 'support' against Quaquaval's Moxie too, though killing an Intimidate ally will always lead to an even trade as well.
Same, but I use Love Balls on my Fire types mostly (and now I'll finally have every Pokémon introduced in SVDLC in Apriballs <3)
Beat the Skeledirge raid solo with a copied Manaphy build (DaniSoloRaids being the channel name iirc) earlier this morning with Modest Nature and max hp/spdef using Surf/Take Heart/Skill Swap/Rest w/ a Covert Cloak (20% SpDef drop, ha). It was really awkward and borderline uncomfortable not having Shell Bell to regen for once and instead rely on Rest/Heal cheers and Gardevoir Life Dew to keep me alive because I straight up didn't want to deal with the 20% Shadow Ball SpDef drops. Not really interested in farming this for herba or anything but having it in a Dream Ball was what I wanted so I can Masuda a shiny croc down the line so I'm content until duck drops. Good luck to those who haven't cleared yet!
Kyogre worked for me, but require NPC speed debuff.
Since we're still talking about Pokeballs, I took stock
Charizard - Premier
Cinderace - Level
Greninja - Moon
Pikachu - Luxury
Decidueye - Level
Samurott - Beast
Typhlosion -Luxury
Inteleon - Luxury
Chesnaught - Heavy
Delphox - Fast
Rillaboom - Friend
Mewtwo - Dream
OK Mew has the mighty mark so I included it in my box but the only reason I'm mentioning it here is because I never noticed it didnt have the Cherish Ball. I always just assumed it did
Decidueye-H - Timer
Typhlosion-H - Heal
Eevee - Premier
Samurott-H - Luxury
Iron Bundle - Premier
Blaziken - Repeat
Empoleon - Heavy
Venusaur - Nest
Blastoise - Heavy
Meganium - Nest
Primarina - Love
Swampert - Luxury
Emboar - Level
Sceptile - Safari
Dondozo - Luxury
Dragonite - Luxury
Incineroar - Timer
Serperior - Friend
Infernape - Level
Feraligatr - Great
Torterra - Dusk
Meowscarada - Safari
Skeledirge - Sport
Huh, did not realize I've never used the Lure Ball for anything. Also didn't realized how often I used the Level Ball.
Charizard - Premier
Cinderace - Level
Greninja - Moon
Pikachu - Luxury
Decidueye - Level
Samurott - Beast
Typhlosion -Luxury
Inteleon - Luxury
Chesnaught - Heavy
Delphox - Fast
Rillaboom - Friend
Mewtwo - Dream
OK Mew has the mighty mark so I included it in my box but the only reason I'm mentioning it here is because I never noticed it didnt have the Cherish Ball. I always just assumed it did
Decidueye-H - Timer
Typhlosion-H - Heal
Eevee - Premier
Samurott-H - Luxury
Iron Bundle - Premier
Blaziken - Repeat
Empoleon - Heavy
Venusaur - Nest
Blastoise - Heavy
Meganium - Nest
Primarina - Love
Swampert - Luxury
Emboar - Level
Sceptile - Safari
Dondozo - Luxury
Dragonite - Luxury
Incineroar - Timer
Serperior - Friend
Infernape - Level
Feraligatr - Great
Torterra - Dusk
Meowscarada - Safari
Skeledirge - Sport
Huh, did not realize I've never used the Lure Ball for anything. Also didn't realized how often I used the Level Ball.
Goodra @ Leftovers
Ability: Hydration
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Skitter Smack
- Life Dew
- Acid Spray
- Surf
This support Goodra can work reasonably well for keeping allies alive. Your plan is to just spam Skitter Smack and Life Dew to keep your allies alive. Once Skeledirge has done its early scripted moves, you can start transferring to Acid Spray for the lategame. Surf is not really hugely needed since you're relying on others for damage, so you could use Rain Dance in that slot as well. Wide Lens could also work as an item to not miss Skitter Smack.
Blissey / Chansey @ Light Clay / Damp Rock / Eviolite
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Light Screen
- Life Dew
- Body Slam
- Rain Dance
Another support for keeping others alive. Works especially well alongside Skill Swap Malamar since you'd be unable to use stat-dropping moves against Contrary Skeledirge. Serene Grace Body Slam is nice for slowing Skeledirge down and potentially paralyzing it for a turn.
Edit: Rain Dance and Tera Water stops it from using Torch Song on you.
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I have been doing this exact thing, both because I don't have the time to get enough different Balls to have them just in case I got too busy when a certain starter csme around, and because I'm way too of an indecisive person to even choose them- I guess one for each type would have been fine tho, until very recently I never really regretted it. It's funny because I got the ID legendaries on unique balls, even going as far as using a Master on Lunala, and those are way less special than those 7 star raids.
Only exception was Mewtwo, because I mean...it's Mewtwo
I will capture Skeledirge tomorrow since it's my birthday and it fits perfectly to have my favourite Paldea starter there, last year I had to just have Blastoise. Honestly, it's easier than I thought, despite everything Malamar can still work witj good support.
/
Blissey / Chansey @ Light Clay / Damp Rock / Eviolite
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Light Screen
- Life Dew
- Body Slam
- Rain Dance
Another support for keeping others alive. Works especially well alongside Skill Swap Malamar since you'd be unable to use stat-dropping moves against Contrary Skeledirge. Serene Grace Body Slam is nice for slowing Skeledirge down and potentially paralyzing it for a turn.
Edit: Rain Dance and Tera Water stops it from using Torch Song on you.
This is effectively what I ended up running earlier, but also with Skill Swap instead of Body Slam.
Took me two attempts, first one was with someone else taking Blissey, so I swapped over to Azumarill assuming they would be... actually good (We also had a good Kyogre/Palkia Origin) so I thought it would be a lock in.
No, this Blissey just used Sofboiled about 5 times, tera blasted once and ended up basically costing us the raid at the death because it did nothing. I feel bad cause I didn't exactly play optimally with Azumarill, but I did wonder why I should even bother.
Second time around, I supported a Kyogre/Samurott H and Ting Lu? Kyogre immediately set up Aqua Ring and then with my help of Life Dew/Screen they were spamming Water Spout/Origin Pulse. The others didn't do a whole lot but at least they didn't die so we cleared OK. The calcs for Blissey are very amusing (The below calcs are with my exact stats, so YMMV).
0 Atk Skeledirge Stomping Tantrum vs. 100 HP / 36 Def Blissey: 154-182 (22.7 - 26.9%) -- 40.7% chance to 4HKO
+6 0 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 100 HP / 28 SpD Blissey: 280-331 (41.4 - 48.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO if the worst happens
0 Atk Skeledirge Flame Charge vs. 100 HP / 36 Def Blissey: 154-183 (22.7 - 27%) -- 44.9% chance to 4HKO
+6 0 SpA Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 100 HP / 28 SpD Blissey in Rain through Light Screen: 69-82 (10.2 - 12.1%) -- possible 9HKO
Nrom7 from Discord cleared with special attacking Surf/Fake Tears/Mud-Slap/Protect Marill and almost did it with Thick Fat Azurill + pretty much optimal defensive AI. I'm still on the fence if I want to take on the latter challenge. I guess like for Dondozo, Fake Tears is pretty easy to retain on top of Skeledirge being more specially weak and even Rash, as the other special Water clears can attest to, but aside from that there's not too much more to prove.
Overall looking back from a day in, I feel this is actually a pretty varied and fair raid that can encourage some interesting move/debuff expression and Water-type/rain usage that leads to engaging team play for both solos and co-op. Unaware and constant potential boosts per turn are a notable combo that could honestly be their own generic boss mechanics in another game, and Unaware is still a double-edged sword for both sides however you deal with it, thanks to its effect on debuffs and Shadow Ball remaining relevant. On the other hand it could feel like an unplayable knowledge check if you go in blind with no knowledge of what Skeledirge can do or its HA, but I guess that's what the internet/co-op is for. But yeah, I like the balance they struck here with it feeling like a raid boss but not being impossible to whittle down, while still posing a mixed threat all around. I feel like the Fire-type raids have generally done pretty well in that regard of all feeling different.
Yeah, Skill Swap's a good alternative to Body Slam if you haven't been running into other Skill Swappers.
Keep in mind that your calcs forgot to factor in Tera Fire and a Rash nature. Torch Song at +6 would look like this:
+6 0+ SpA Tera Fire Skeledirge Torch Song vs. 100 HP / 28 SpD Blissey: 412-486 (60.9 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Magaged to win with a Dachbun and 3 randoms, two using Kyogre and one using Vaporeon:
Calm Nature with Clear Amulet
252 HP/252 Special Defense/6 Speed
-Snarl
-Mud-Slap
-Helping Hand
-Howl(Ended up not using this due to no physical allies)
All three of my allies simple set rain and spammed damage moves. I snarled to the point that it only would use Stomping Tantrum and then spammed Mud Slap and then started using Helping Hand when one of the Kygores Tera'd at full health and started using Water Spout.
The Vaporeon was Tera-Fire with Weather Ball for some reason, and the Kyogre with Water Spout also used Muddy Water early on to lower accuracy, also everyone including myself used healing cheers quite liberally. Honestly some of the best coordination I've gotten with randos and I went through like 4 different Pokemon before going full support dog, especially since unlike Meowscarada where I was able to easily solo it it took a number to tries to get people that seemed to know what they were doing. So many Quaquavals dying constantly, and once got 3 Skill Swappers all using it at the same time and everyone dying to boosted attacks.
Calm Nature with Clear Amulet
252 HP/252 Special Defense/6 Speed
-Snarl
-Mud-Slap
-Helping Hand
-Howl(Ended up not using this due to no physical allies)
All three of my allies simple set rain and spammed damage moves. I snarled to the point that it only would use Stomping Tantrum and then spammed Mud Slap and then started using Helping Hand when one of the Kygores Tera'd at full health and started using Water Spout.
The Vaporeon was Tera-Fire with Weather Ball for some reason, and the Kyogre with Water Spout also used Muddy Water early on to lower accuracy, also everyone including myself used healing cheers quite liberally. Honestly some of the best coordination I've gotten with randos and I went through like 4 different Pokemon before going full support dog, especially since unlike Meowscarada where I was able to easily solo it it took a number to tries to get people that seemed to know what they were doing. So many Quaquavals dying constantly, and once got 3 Skill Swappers all using it at the same time and everyone dying to boosted attacks.
Solo'd and won online with 3 sets of randoms with Dragalge.
Tera Water
Shell Bell
252 SpDef, 150HP, the rest into SpAtk (or something close to that...)
Mud Slap
Acid Spray
Rain Dance
Surf
For the solo, I got lucky with Belibolt setting light screen. Set up Tera charge with Mud Slap, toss in a couple Acid Sprays, set rain then then click Surf. Cleared it with like 40% of the timer left. Don't know how consistent it will be, but that first run was easy.
Brought the same set online and can act as support (Kyogre loves Acid Spray), or can deal damage if others are running support. I've been a little burnt out of playing recently, so I doubt I'll build anything else for this but I was happy to be able to use something a little different.
Tera Water
Shell Bell
252 SpDef, 150HP, the rest into SpAtk (or something close to that...)
Mud Slap
Acid Spray
Rain Dance
Surf
For the solo, I got lucky with Belibolt setting light screen. Set up Tera charge with Mud Slap, toss in a couple Acid Sprays, set rain then then click Surf. Cleared it with like 40% of the timer left. Don't know how consistent it will be, but that first run was easy.
Brought the same set online and can act as support (Kyogre loves Acid Spray), or can deal damage if others are running support. I've been a little burnt out of playing recently, so I doubt I'll build anything else for this but I was happy to be able to use something a little different.
Has anyone tried Kommo-o? Soundproof would Block pre-emptive Disarming Voice and Torch Song/Hyper Voice on you, while you can use Throat Chop to prevent it on Allies if no one has Skill Swap (or they're paint eaters like my 3 Malamar attempts have been, Skill Swapping with 2 Blisseys and an Urshifu AFTER I put Contrary on the Dirge). That leaves unboosted Stomping Tantrum and Shadow Ball as damage moves, the latter you could blank with Tera Normal Boomburst in case it's boosting on your allies so that only the pure-Phys Stomping will hit you.
Can Snarl/Rain Dance for support while more or less being invincible yourself.
Can Snarl/Rain Dance for support while more or less being invincible yourself.
Doesn't get Snarl, but it does get Noble Roar when the shield isn't up. I'll give Kommo-o a shot :)
Got the win with Dachsbun alongside an Azumarill, Samurott-H, and Politoed. Politoed was on Mud Slap so Dirge quickly stopped hitting people, and we got lucky with Flame Charge landing on my Dachsbun both times and never proccing the boost. Samurott actually kind of brilliant with Razor Shell to proc drops while attacking off Sharpness.
The Speed difference makes me really want to endorse Mud Shot as an alternative to Howl, because the pacing is a lot smoother for stuff like healers or other supports when you go before Dirge does (Howl only helps if you have a Physical Ally AND someone suppresses Unaware).
This is a PSA: if you’re running a Skill Swap Blissey in randoms and your ability is Serene Grace, please stop. You’re giving Shadow Ball a 40% chance to drop SpDef 
The Skeledirge solo with Malamar that was mentioned by SadisticMystic earlier works just as advertised. Since no one else has posted an actual Malamar set, I'll give the set I used here and repeat some of SadisticMystic's playbook for anyone who wants a detailed blueprint:
Malamar @ Shell Bell
Tera Type: Stellar
Ability: Contrary
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpDef / 192 Spd
- Skill Swap
- Tera Blast (pp max)
- Superpower
- Light Screen
I have cleared it twice solo with Malamar, and both times I have barely beaten the timer. Malamar is very safe, in terms of not fainting unintentionally, but if you use it, make sure you click fast and don't waste any time. Because unless you get a few crits to speed things up, you are going to need every second for the clear.
This set is almost max speed Malamar, because it needs almost everything to get to 253 speed which beats Skeledirge after the Turn 0 Flame Charge speed boost. This lets you get off the Skill Swap before it uses Torch Song and starts boosting its SpAtk. After the Skill Swap, Dirge will continue hitting you with Torch Song repeatedly even though it is debuffing itself every turn. Stupid AI is stupid...
After the Skill Swap, you should not attack, just do Attack Cheers until you faint. If it goes as planned, you should faint pretty quickly, and when you revive, your Contrary will be restored. Also, although I did not know this, and only inferred it from SadisticMystic's post, if you faint while a cheer effect is active, then the cheer effect is permanant? (correct me if I misinterpreted that) Regardeless, fainting will also probably burn sufficient timer such that Skeledirge will do the player stats reset while you are waiting to be revived. So when you come back, you are good to boost up freely. Boost by spamming Superpower, building tera and boosting your Attack and Defense, since you are Contrary again. The defense boosts might come in handy later if Dirge does Stomping Tantrums on the double move turns.
Go tera as soon as you get the chance. From there, spam Tera Blast repeatedly for the rest of the battle, with Contrary boosting your attacking stats to +6. Even at +6, the damage done with Tera Blast just isn't that great and so it's gonna take a lot of hits to clear the raid. Make sure to PPUp your Tera Blast, because you're gonna need 13-14 of them from my experience. Shell Bell recovery will keep you safely in green health throughout the battle, even if Skeledirge gets a crit or two along the way.
I don't really like using Malamar because it's essential to intentionally faint during the battle, which kinda breaks one of my self-imposed definitions for a "clean solution" to any tera raid. Basically, I don't consider anything to be a clean solution unless you can win consistently without fainting. And to faint intentionally? Well, that's just kinda cheap, imo. But at least it's a strategic decision to do so, and so it's not quite so bad.
I've also used Malamar successfully with online randoms (that's why I have Light Screen on the set), but you need to be careful in choosing teammates. If you are on a team with Kyogre or other likely rain setters, then Skeledirge isn't going to be using Torch Song, which is almost the whole point of giving Dirge Contrary in the first place. Also, there are tons of randoms that want to use debuff moves like Acid Spray etc on Skeledirge, and most are clueless about the whole Contrary gimmick. So Malamar pretty much dooms the entire team if that happens. Also, random teammates often do heal cheers early in the battle, and that makes it harder for Malamar to intentionally faint and restore Contrary for itself. For those reasons, I use Malamar sparingly in randoms, unless I am confident I am going to help the team, not hurt them. But, if you have a team that works well with Malamar, it's usually a cakewalk and easy clear online.
Malamar @ Shell Bell
Tera Type: Stellar
Ability: Contrary
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Atk / 64 SpDef / 192 Spd
- Skill Swap
- Tera Blast (pp max)
- Superpower
- Light Screen
I have cleared it twice solo with Malamar, and both times I have barely beaten the timer. Malamar is very safe, in terms of not fainting unintentionally, but if you use it, make sure you click fast and don't waste any time. Because unless you get a few crits to speed things up, you are going to need every second for the clear.
This set is almost max speed Malamar, because it needs almost everything to get to 253 speed which beats Skeledirge after the Turn 0 Flame Charge speed boost. This lets you get off the Skill Swap before it uses Torch Song and starts boosting its SpAtk. After the Skill Swap, Dirge will continue hitting you with Torch Song repeatedly even though it is debuffing itself every turn. Stupid AI is stupid...
After the Skill Swap, you should not attack, just do Attack Cheers until you faint. If it goes as planned, you should faint pretty quickly, and when you revive, your Contrary will be restored. Also, although I did not know this, and only inferred it from SadisticMystic's post, if you faint while a cheer effect is active, then the cheer effect is permanant? (correct me if I misinterpreted that) Regardeless, fainting will also probably burn sufficient timer such that Skeledirge will do the player stats reset while you are waiting to be revived. So when you come back, you are good to boost up freely. Boost by spamming Superpower, building tera and boosting your Attack and Defense, since you are Contrary again. The defense boosts might come in handy later if Dirge does Stomping Tantrums on the double move turns.
Go tera as soon as you get the chance. From there, spam Tera Blast repeatedly for the rest of the battle, with Contrary boosting your attacking stats to +6. Even at +6, the damage done with Tera Blast just isn't that great and so it's gonna take a lot of hits to clear the raid. Make sure to PPUp your Tera Blast, because you're gonna need 13-14 of them from my experience. Shell Bell recovery will keep you safely in green health throughout the battle, even if Skeledirge gets a crit or two along the way.
I don't really like using Malamar because it's essential to intentionally faint during the battle, which kinda breaks one of my self-imposed definitions for a "clean solution" to any tera raid. Basically, I don't consider anything to be a clean solution unless you can win consistently without fainting. And to faint intentionally? Well, that's just kinda cheap, imo. But at least it's a strategic decision to do so, and so it's not quite so bad.
I've also used Malamar successfully with online randoms (that's why I have Light Screen on the set), but you need to be careful in choosing teammates. If you are on a team with Kyogre or other likely rain setters, then Skeledirge isn't going to be using Torch Song, which is almost the whole point of giving Dirge Contrary in the first place. Also, there are tons of randoms that want to use debuff moves like Acid Spray etc on Skeledirge, and most are clueless about the whole Contrary gimmick. So Malamar pretty much dooms the entire team if that happens. Also, random teammates often do heal cheers early in the battle, and that makes it harder for Malamar to intentionally faint and restore Contrary for itself. For those reasons, I use Malamar sparingly in randoms, unless I am confident I am going to help the team, not hurt them. But, if you have a team that works well with Malamar, it's usually a cakewalk and easy clear online.
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Walking Wake @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def (or 4 SpA) / 252 SpD
Calm / Modest Nature
- Noble Roar
- Snarl
- Rain Dance
- Dragon Cheer / Weather Ball / Leer
Walking Wake is an offense-debuffer that's faster than +1 Skeledirge, meaning all EVs can go to max SpDef. Noble Roar, Snarl, and Rain Dance should always be used. Although a lot of people bring Rain Dance, I wouldn't risk not bringing it. The last moveslot should go toward something that'll accelerate the raid. Dragon Cheer boosts crit rate, Leer helps physical mons like Waterpon, and Tera Water Weather Ball in the rain gives you some decent shield-breaking power, especially alongside Acid Spray support. You could get away with Modest for extra chip damage when using Weather Ball, but I still recommend max SpDef investment. Covert Cloak is necessary since Wake can't afford SpDef drops from Shadow Ball.
Milotic @ Light Clay / Damp Rock
Ability: Competitive
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Life Dew
- Light Screen / Skitter Smack
- Rain Dance
- Surf / Helping Hand / Chilling Water
Similar to the Blissey set I posted on the other page, only this time, you're a Water-type from the get-go, so no Torch Song vs you in the beginning. If one of your allies is a Contrary Skill Swap Malamar, Life Dew / Light Screen / Rain Dance / Surf or Helping Hand won't mess with your teammates, since Skitter Smack and Chilling Water will boost Skeledirge's stats at that point. If not, those moves can be considered. If Shadow Ball drops your SpDef, you'll get +2 SpA from Competitive.