Since the 7-star Cinderace Tera Raids have gone live in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, players may be wondering how to beat such a formidable foe. Such high-level Tera Raids require a precise strategy using specific Pokemon, which is probably what brought you here. There are definitely certain Pokémon you can use to help you win Tera Raids but do be warned that if you’re playing online with randoms, you’re at the mercy of their Pokémon fighting abilities.
Related: How to find Cinderace Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Cinderace Tera Raid counters
First, there are two crucial roles a trainer can play during Tera Raid battles: offensive and support. Offensive trainers are meant to damage the Pokémon you’re battling, and support trainers are meant to power up, heal, or disrupt the party or the enemy.
If you want to play an offensive role, Slowbro will be your best bet against Cinderace. This Tera Raid Cinderace is a Fire-type with a Fighting Tera type, meaning it gets same type attack bonus (STAB) from both types of moves. Slowbro is both a Water and a Psychic-type, both strong against this kind of Cinderace.
If you want to maximize your winning potential, ensure your Slowbro has good Special Attack and Defense stats, as it will be your primary damage dealer, and you need solid Defense to live through Cinderace’s devastating physical attacks. Luckily, your Slowbro doesn’t need a specific ability to be viable for this fight.
As for your move pool, Iron Defense and Nasty Plot are must-haves. These two moves provide passive stat buffs to your Pokémon, with Iron Defense raising your defense by two, and Nasty Plot raising your Special Attack. For your main offensive move, you’ll want Stored Power, which at first seems bad since it only has 20 power. But the move increases its power every time your stats are boosted and it does STAB damage. You also want your Slowbro to be holding an Expert Belt, which powers up your super-effective moves by another 20%.
At the start of the battle, use Iron Defense three times to raise your defense, and then use Nasty Plot three times to raise your Special Attack. By doing this, Cinderace will barely damage you, and you’ll raise the power of Stored Power up to 120. With your STAB, super effective bonus, and the bonus from your Expert Belt, you can one-shot Cinderace.
If you’d rather play a supportive role, Armarouge is your best option. If you want the best stats possible for this fight, have a Bold nature Armarouge with high Defense and low Attack. For this Pokemon, your ability does matter, and it should have Flash-Fire, which absorbs fire moves to power up its own fire attack. Your Armarouge won’t use fire attacks, but it will absorb Cinderace’s Pyro Ball. You don’t want it to have its other ability, Weak Armour, because it allows your Pokémon’s Defense to drop when attacked with physical moves.
You want your Armarouge to have Reflect paired with the item Light Clay. This item will allow Reflect to be cast on yourself and other Pokémon for a longer period of time. Run this with Psychic-Tera to power up Psychic moves and Acid Spray to lower Cinderace’s Special Attack by two, and you’re golden.
As stated earlier, it is much easier to run this Tera Raid with friends rather than randoms, as history shows that most people don’t play Pokémon very well. Either way, Slowbro and Armarouge are great picks, just make sure they have the loadouts explained above.
