Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Steel Blastoise 7-star Tera Raid guide: Counters, weaknesses, and more

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's current 7-star Tera Raid rotation includes a Steel Tera Type Blastoise. While this boss is a tough opponent, the right counters can yield success for trainers. However, simply countering the creature won't be enough, as players will need to consider a build including a Pokemon, its ability and moves, its EVs, and held item.

The good news is that several creatures in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet can help players bring this Mighty Blastoise down and catch it for later use.

Setting a build for this raid can take some time based on what EV training spreads and items are needed. However, trainers will be set for success once they have their counter builds in place.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and reflect the opinions of the writer

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Steel Blastoise's strengths and weaknesses in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

• Tera Type: Steel
• Ability: Rain Dish
• IVs: 31 IVs in every stat
• Potential Moves: Flash Cannon, Rain Dance, Surf, Hydro Pump, Iron Defense, Ice Spinner

Typically, Blastoise is known as a Water-type Pokemon, but the fact that it is Terastallized into a Steel-type species in this Pokemon Scarlet and Violet raid changes its weaknesses and resistances. Since it's now a Steel-type creature, it will be weak to the following attack types:

• Fighting
• Fire
• Ground

Meanwhile, Blastoise will take reduced damage from these attack types:

• Poison
• Bug
• Dragon
• Fairy
• Flying
• Grass
• Ice
• Normal
• Psychic
• Rock
• Steel

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Best counters to Steel Blastoise in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids

A well-built Poliwrath can heavily counter Blastoise in this Pokemon Scarlet and Violet raid (Image via The Pokemon Company)

The ideal counters in this Pokemon Scarlet and Violet raid should be able to resist Blastoise's Water- and Steel-type attacks while having the ability to deal super effective damage to it in turn. Moreover, counters will want to account for Blastoise's ability to raise its Defense stat through the use of the move Iron Defense.

Trainers can give the following options a try to hard-counter this powerful Starter Pokemon:

Pokemon	Nature	Ability	EV Point Spread	Tera Type	Held Item	Moveset
Poliwrath	Adamant	Water Absorb	252 Atk, 252 Sp. Def, 4 HP	Water or Stellar	Scope Lens	Belly Drum, Drain Punch, Low Kick, Haze
Vaporeon	Modest	Water Absorb	252 Sp. Atk, 252 Sp. Def, 4 HP	Fire	Shell Bell	Sunny Day, Weather Ball, Calm Mind, Tera Blast
Iron Hands	Adamant	Quark Drive	252 Atk, 252 Sp. Def, 4 HP	Fighting	Scope Lens	Swords Dance, Belly Drum, Drain Punch, Focus Energy

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How to defeat Steel Blastoise in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids

Iron Hands is one great Steel Blastoise counter (Image via The Pokemon Company)

With the builds listed above, trainers can deal heavy damage to Blastoise and overcome its high Defense through the use of either Special Attacks with Vaporeon or critical hits with Poliwrath or Iron Hands.

Each build also utilizes a means of keeping the Pokemon in high health (the Shell Bell and Drain Punch strategy), ensuring that trainers can continue to level heavy damage at Blastoise.

Below, you can find some strategies for each build when it comes to beating Blastoise's raid in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet:

• Poliwrath - Utilize Belly Drum to maximize Poliwrath's Attack stat and Drain Punch to keep its HP topped off. Water Absorb will also heal Poliwrath when Blastoise attacks with its Water-type moves. Scope Lens will activate automatically and allow Poliwrath to land more crits to surpass Blastoise's Defense stat. Haze will negate Blastoise's stat increases from Iron Defense, and Low Kick will deal a heavy amount of damage due to Blastoise's high weight. Lastly, players can use Terastallization to amplify their damage while resisting Blastoise's Water- and Steel-type moves.
• Vaporeon - The core combo of this build is the use of Sunny Day and Weather Ball to deal super effective Fire-type damage. Vaporeon's attacks are Special Attacks, so they'll bypass Blastoise's Defense stat. Calm Mind is used to max out Vaporeon's Sp. Atk stat and Sunny Day will also eliminate Blastoise's rainy weather and deny its healing from Rain Dish. Once Terastallization is available, activate it and attack with Tera Blast to deal massive damage. Don't worry about Blastoise's Water-type moves while Vaporeon is Terastallized, as Water Absorb negates it.
• Iron Hands - This tried-and-true method operates largely similarly to Poliwrath. Belly Drum maximizes Iron Hands' Attack stat, and Drain Punch keeps its HP high. Swords Dance is available when it's too risky for Iron Hands to cut its health with Belly Drum, and the combination of Focus Energy and the Scope Lens gives Iron Hands an extremely high critical hit potential. After Terastallizing, Drain Punch with a maximum Attack stat should be more than enough to bring down this Pokemon Scarlet and Violet raid boss while Iron Hands remains in pristine health.

Keep in mind that the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet raid builds above can be utilized in solo and multiplayer raids. However, if more trainers use these builds or those similar to them, Steel Blastoise shouldn't be much of a challenge. This is especially true if players think through their turns and negate or circumvent Blastoise's Defense stat increases.