Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: How to defeat 7-Star Mighty Greninja with Pikachu

Pikachu might be the face of Pokemon, but a random Pikachu in the game is nothing like Ash's buddy from the anime. To send it out to battle without precise preparations and strategies is a sure-shot way to the Pokemon Centre for the yellow mouse.

All of Pikachu's stats, except its speed, are abyssmal. Even its speed is nothing to write home about. So to think a lone Pikachu will take down a powerful opponent on its own is putting too much faith in the Pokemon mascot.

Greninja was the last 7-Star Tera Raid Boss in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Pikachu is far from the ideal choice to take into that fight. If you still want to give it a shot, this article will tell you if it is possible and, if yes, how you should go about it.

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Pikachu can beat the Unrivaled Greninja, but only under particular conditions in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

The Mighty Greninja raid will be back between February 10-12, 2023, for those who missed it in January after the Armarouge and Cerulage Tera Raid event is over. Initially, a Water/Dark-type, Greninja has the Tera-type Poison in this event. It uses Toxic Spikes and Double Team to start the battle and uses offensive moves like Hydro Pump, Night Slash, and Ice Beam.

Pikachu neither has a type advantage nor stellar stats that will guarantee strong neutral damage hits, which can take Greninja down. If the Tera-type was not present, it would still benefit from super-effective STAB attacks, but Pikachu's current situation seems hopeless.

You will be much better off using a Pokemon like Gastrodon or Slowbro to take down the Raid Boss safely, but if you still want to use the electric rodent, you can. If you play it just right, you may even stand a chance to beat it and do so with style.

A reddit user named Nommable123 posted a video from their successful run trying to beat Greninja using only Pikachu. The video shows them and three of their friends coordinating their movements regarding who will handle the offenses and who will provide support. It is straight-up impossible for you to go in with a singular Pikachu and hope to come out victorious.

A team of Pikachus stands a chance in a high-stakes battle like this, but you have to EV train the Defense and Speed stats of the support Pikachu to the maximum level. For the attacking Pikachu, the stat boosts should go to the Defense, Special Attack, and Speed slots. This will ensure that you can outspeed your opponent and don't faint from a single neutral damage attack.

Having an Eviolite on your support Pikachus will help as it is not a fully evolved Pokemon, and its defenses will get a 50% boost. The attacking Pikachu should hold a Light Ball, which will boost its offensive stats and boost your chances of knocking out the Greninja in one hit after the right setup.

Your attacking Pikachu should also spend a couple of turns in the start setting up using Nasty Plot to boost your special attack, while the supports lower the Greninja's offensive strength using Eerie Impulse and Charm.

When you are all set up in terms of stat boosts, turn the battlefield into Electric Terrain and change the weather using Rain Dance to make sure that Thunder lands and hits the Greninja super hard. As one final step, have one of your support Pikachus give you a Helping Hand to see Greninja faint from a single blast of Thunder.

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Please note, once again, that this is a highly gimmicky setup and can yield positive results only if you follow all the prerequisites. Check out our Gastrodon, and Slowbro tera builds for a much more straightforward way to succeed against 7-Star Greninja.