Pokémon Scarlet and Violet 7-star Torterra Tera Raid: Dates, location, and best counters

Seven-star Torterra Tera Raids have finally landed in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet nearly two years after the Gen IX games were released. Excluding the Paldea Starters, the beloved Gen IV turtle is the last Starter Pokémon to be featured in an Unrivaled Tera Raid event.

Like previous seven-star raid bosses, Torterra won’t go down easily without a fight. You’ll need to prepare and find the right counter to defeat and catch this rare Mightiest Mark Starter.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Unrivaled Torterra Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

When is the seven-star Torterra Tera Raid event in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?

Unrivaled Torterra is set to make two appearances this month, giving you multiple opportunities to challenge the raid and catch it.

• Seven-star Torterra Tera Raids will first appear in the Paldea region from Thursday, Nov. 14 at 6:00pm CT to Sunday, Nov. 17 at 5:59pm CT.
• They will make their second appearance from Thursday, Nov. 21 at 6:00pm CT to Sunday, Nov. 24 at 5:59pm CT. Special five-star Blissey Tera Raids will also pop up during this portion of the event to help you farm Exp. Candies and Tera Shards.

How to find seven-star Torterra Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

To find the Unrivaled Torterra raids, you must first unlock seven-star Tera Raids. Once that’s taken care of, follow these steps:

• During the event period, connect to the internet and make sure your Poké Portal News is updated.
• Open your Paldea map and look for the black Tera Raid icon with the Ground Tera Type symbol. Set that as your destination.
• Fly to the nearest Pokémon Center or landmark.
• Follow the orange flag on your mini-map until you arrive at your destination.
• Interact with the black crystal Tera Raid den and confirm it’s a seven-star raid with Torterra’s silhouette.
• You can also search for Torterra Tera Raids using the Tera Raid Battle Search feature in the Poké Portal. This allows you to team up with fellow players online but requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership.

Can you catch more than one Torterra in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Unrivaled Tera Raid event?

The Torterra from the seven-star Urivaled Tera Raid event comes with the exclusive Mightiest Mark, so you are limited to catching one per game. You’ll still, however, have the option to rechallenge the Tera Raid as much as you want during the event period.

How to catch Torterra in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Outside of the special Tera Raid event, there are a few different ways to obtain Torterra in Scarlet and Violet.

If you have The Indigo Disk DLC, your best bet is to hunt for Torterra’s first pre-evolution, Turtwig, in Blueberry Academy’s Terarium. Wild Turtwig can be found in the Canyon Biome after upgrading the area. Once you’ve found a Turtwig, evolve it into Grotle and then Torterra.

Without the DLC, you can still get your hands on Torterra by transferring one from another game via Pokémon HOME or trading with another player.

Beating the Unrivaled Torterra Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

The Torterra Tera Raid is harder than it looks, but you can beat it with the right counter and strategy. The key to victory is to find a way to shut down its offense so that you can safely chip away at its HP bar.

What type is Unrivaled Torterra?

Torterra is a Grass/Ground-type Pokémon and will have the Ground Tera Type for this specific event. This leaves it with three defensive weaknesses: Grass, Water, and Ice. Among those three types, Grass has the biggest advantage over Torterra since it resists all of the turtle’s STAB (same-type attack bonus) moves.

What moves does Unrivaled Torterra know?

For this raid event, Torterra is a mixed attacker with physical and special moves and one setup move. It will set up with Shell Smash on the first turn to raise its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed all at once. Defensive debuffs usually accompany this, but the turtle will remove the negative effects right after.

Its physical moves are Wood Hammer, Earthquake, and Smack Down, while its one special attack is Earth Power. If you thought you were safe from Torterra’s Ground-type attacks with a Flying-type Pokémon or the Levitate ability, Smack Down will knock the target to the ground and make them vulnerable to Earthquake and Earth Power.

Best counter for the Unrivaled Torterra Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

At first glance, Grass-type Pokémon seem like they would be the best counters for the Unrivaled Torterra Tera Raid. However, one Pokémon that can consistently solo this raid is the Steel-type Orthworm.

Best Orthworm Tera Raid build in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Orthworm might not have amazing offensive capabilities, but it has the perfect Ability, typing, and moveset to beat this raid. 

For starters, Torterra struggles to deal any meaningful damage to the worm. Orthworm’s signature Earth Eater ability makes it immune to Earthquake and Earth Power, while its Steel-typing allows it to resist the rest of Torterra’s attacks. The defensive immunity and resistances give Orthworm plenty of time to set up and chip away at Torterra’s HP bar with the Iron Defense and Body Press combo.

Here’s the game plan: 

1. Use three Iron Defenses.
2. Spam Body Press.
3. On the turn when Orthworm’s stats are reset, use Protect.
4. Set back up with three more Iron Defenses.
5. Terastallize to the Fighting Tera Type.
6. Spam Body Press until you win.

For the most part, Orthworm will be safe from anything Torterra throws at it. However, you’ll still need to be cautious of a few things. When Orthworm’s stats are reset, its Earth Eater ability will also be suppressed for one turn, making it vulnerable to a super-effective Earth Power or Earthquake. To avoid taking major damage, use Protect on that same turn.

When you Terastallize Orthworm to the Fighting Tera Type, it will no longer resist Torterra’s Wood Hammer. That’s why it’s crucial to hold off on Terastallization until after the worm’s stats are reset and after you finish setting back up Iron Defense. Then all you need to worry about is an unlucky critical hit from Wood Hammer.

If you plan on soloing the raid with Orthworm, avoid the NPC with Arboliva because you don’t want it to set up Grassy Terrain to boost Torterra’s Wood Hammer. Having NPCs that can lower Torterra’s stats, like Arcanine or Staraptor, is also helpful.

What is the best Nature for Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?

Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra are built to be slow physical threats that can take hits, so the best Natures for them would be Brave (+ Attack, – Speed) or Relaxed (+ Defense, – Speed).

Speed-lowering Natures like Brave and Relaxed are perfect if you plan on running Torterra on a slow Trick Room team. Go with Brave if you want to focus more on offense, or go with Relaxed for more bulk. In the long run, a bulkier Relaxed Torterra has the most potential because it can stay on the field longer to set up with Curse, Swords Dance, or Iron Defense and heal up with Synthesis or Leech Seed. Investing in Torterra’s physical bulk means you can also take advantage of the popular Iron Defense and Body Press combo, which calculates damage based on the user’s Defense stat rather than their Attack.

If you aren’t running Trick Room where the slowest Pokémon move first, opt for an Adamant (+ Attack, – Special Attack) or Impish (+ Defense, – Special Attack) nature instead of one that lowers Speed. For full offense, pair the Adamant nature with Shell Smash to give Torterra a huge boost in offense and Speed at the expense of its defensive stats.