There is little that is more frustrating than watching under-experienced Pokemon Scarlet & Violet trainers throw 7-Star Tera Raids, especially if you’ve spent the time to build a proper counter. Luckily, one trainer has found a way to render your entire team immune to 7-Star Swampert Raids.
Araquanid Hard Counters 7-Star Swamper Raids
This strategy comes from Reddit user Parallaxal, who posted their Araquanid build for the PokemonScarletViolet subreddit. It requires two moves, a Leppa Berry, a hidden ability, and a level 100 Araquanid. According to Parallaxal, EVs and IVs don’t matter.
| Pokemon | Level | Moves | Item | Ability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Araquanid | 100 | Entrainment Wide Guard |
Leppa Berry | Water Absorb |
Araquanid should start the raid by using Entrainment on its teammates to change their ability to Water Absorb. This will render them immune to Water-type attacks, or in this case, half of Swampert’s moveset. You will need to use an Ability Patch to change Araquanid’s ability to Water Absorb, but these are easily obtained via 5-Star and up raids.
Next, the Araquanid needs to spam Wide Guard. This is like Protect but only activates when a Pokemon uses a multi-target move. Luckily, the only moves Swampert has left after Hydro Pump and Liquidation are Earthquake and Sludge Wave. Both of these moves are multi-target attacks, which means they will be blocked.
So, any moves not blocked by Wide Guard will heal your team thanks to Water Absorb, and any non-Water-type moves will be blocked.
Parallaxal did point out that some abilities can’t be overridden by Entrainment. These abilities are Trace, Forecast, Flower Gift, Zen Mode, Illusion, Imposter, Power of Alchemy, Receiver, Disguise, Power Construct, Ice Face, Hunger Switch, Gulp Missile, Neutralizing Gas, Zero to Hero, and Commander.
Regardless, a few trainers reported back in the comments of the post, claiming to have succeeded in taking down the Swamper raid.