Sinistcha is one of the most highly sought-after Pokémon from Scarlet and Violet The Teal Mask DLC thanks to its rare Masterpiece form, with many eager to add the new creature to their collections.
This matcha Pokémon can either be obtained by evolving Poltchageist or beating it in a Tera Raid, and players have found a super easy method for the latter.
If you happen to stumble upon a Sinistcha Tera Raid while venturing through Kitakami, consider this raid tip from fellow players in an Oct. 4 forum post—let your Pokémon hold the Safety Goggles. This alone should make the raid a lot easier.
Safety Goggles is a held item that protects the holder from weather damage and powder or spore moves. This is used against Grass-type Pokémon like Amoonguss and Sinistcha since they are more likely to use annoying moves such as Spore or Stun Spore. In the context of a Sinistcha Tera Raid, it’s especially important to utilize the Safety Goggles because the AI really wants to use Stun Spore to paralyze your Pokémon.
According to the Reddit post, Sinistcha will just keep using Stun Spore despite its ineffectiveness for the majority of the raid, so you don’t have to worry about taking damage aside from the occasional Matcha Gotcha.
The idea of tricking the Tera Raid AI isn’t limited to Sinistcha, either. Players have reported this tends to also be the case with raid bosses who like to lower your stats.
For example, one player said Basculegion will constantly try to lower your Pokémon’s Speed with Scary Face. This can be prevented by letting your Pokémon hold the Clear Amulet, which protects the holder from stat drops, instead of the Safety Goggles.
So while Basculegion continues to waste time using Scary Face, you can just focus on chipping away at its health bar until you win.
The real key is to pick up on certain patterns and tendencies the AI uses during Tera Raids and then find a way to work around them.
So. the next time you’re in a Tera Raid, think about what kinds of held items or moves you can give your Pokémon to trick the AI into doing silly things to make your life easy.
