The most unexpected Pokemon shine here
Hot on the heels of the Raid Charizard Tera 7 StarCinderace is the second 7-star challenge introduced in Pokemon scarlet and violet. If you thought Charizard was tough, you’ve got something else to come.
As before, you can only catch one Cinderace during this event. However, you can mine the encounter as much as you want for dizzying drop rates of Tera Shards and other rare items. Cinderace will still have the Fighting Tera-Type and the same movepool, so building a Pokemon to specifically counter it is essential.
Cinderace Attack Model
Unlike Charizard, Cinderace will exclusively use physical attacks. At the start of the fight, Cinderace will use it immediately Weight gain to increase its attack and defense stats. This immediately puts him in range to deal high damage with his high attack stat, and he will continue to spam that move throughout the fight.
For offensive options, Cinderace will use Pyro Ball, Acrobatics, Iron Head, and High Jump Kick. This means he can deal fire, flying, steel, and fighting type damage, so you’ll want to resist as many of these attacks as possible. Pyro Ball will be especially deadly since Cinderella will get a STAB bonus from her innate fire type. In my testing, High Jump Kick would typically be used at specific times rather than as a regular attack. This can be influenced by what your Pokemon natively resists, so plan accordingly.
Like any Tera Raid Pokemon, Cinderella will eventually put up a shield to suppress your incoming damage. During this time, he can negate his own debuffs and rid your team of their buffs. Unlike the Charizard Tera Raid, the timing of these moves is not consistent. Factors such as his remaining health and the number of rounds seem to influence him, but it is difficult to determine his behavior conclusively.
How to Counter Cinderella
I can’t stress this enough: do not attack and improve your strength on turn 1. Cinderace’s attack is way too high at the start of the encounter. If you use a move like Belly Drum, Cinderace will easily take you out and potentially set your entire team up for defeat.
Everyone on the battlefield must improve their defense or weaken Cinderella’s attack, regardless of their role in the party. Charm and feather dance are both amazing here, as they reduce Cinderace’s attack by two stages. Reflect also provides invaluable physical damage mitigation, and it will even remain active when Cinderace negates your party’s buffs. Finally, despite Cinderace’s native Fire-Typing, he is very sensitive to Burns. While doing damage, Burn halves Cinderace’s physical damage. It makes moves like Will-O-Brin particularly powerful, although its 85% accuracy can make it a little risky.
Once Cinderace’s shield is up, you will no longer be able to inflict any status effects or debuffs on him. That said, if he manages to build muscle and increase his attack stat, Clear the smog can still be used to reset his stats to neutral. Clear Smog can also be used on turn 1 to immediately take out Cinderace’s first Bulk Up, but make sure you don’t run over another party member who’s already lowering their stats.
In an ideal scenario, Cinderella’s buffs and your debuffs will be set up well enough that you can charge her shields before she can neutralize stats. Be as aggressive as possible if you take the lead on damage, though a dedicated support Pokémon should save moves like Reflect up to keep the party from getting bombarded once Cinderace negates stat gains or losses .
What Pokémon should I use?
Two Pokémon do a stellar job of countering Cinderella, and they might not be the ones you expect right off the bat.
MVP 1: Slowbro
Slowbro is a top pick if you’re trying to do this solo encounter. Its typing is practically ideal since it resists Cinderace’s STAB attacks and will only take neutral damage from Acrobatics. The current meta moveset looks like this:
iron tusk
To release
Naughty conspiracy
Stored power
On turn 1 you can use iron tusk to mitigate incoming damage from Cinderella. Stack this once or twice more and use To release to heal if necessary. Naughty conspiracy will greatly increase Slowbro’s special attack, which he will do Stored power monstrous damage. After all, Stored Power gains power the longer your Pokemon’s stats are active, which means its effective base Power will exceed 100 after Iron Defense and three Nasty Plots.
This set is not perfect, of course. If Cinderace nullifies your stats before you can disable Stored Power, you’ll have pretty much wasted all those previous turns. It’s also a naturally selfish build, as Iron Defense won’t help your teammates survive. Anecdotally, while Stored Power is so ridiculously powerful that he can potentially shoot Cinderace, pushing his HP so hard can cause him to use multiple moves in quick succession and wipe out your team. you may prefer Psychic for stable offense or Water cooling to weaken Cinderella’s attack.
MVP 2: Espathra
Although Espathra isn’t as reliable as Slowbro, he’s a much better team player. The first thing you’ll notice is that Espathra’s ability Opportunistic is ridiculous for this fight. Every time Cinderace uses Bulk Up, Espathra will receive buffs to the same extent. Additionally, he can use feather dance spin one to heavily decrease Cinderella’s attack to help your team. Play support until the damage taken is sustainable and equip it with a seashell bell to give him HP recovery when he attacks.
Like Slowbro, you develop insane uses of stored power. calm mind This will give you an unnecessary Special Defense boost on top of a Special Attack boost, but the point is to pump Espathra so high with stat boosts that Stored Power will do ridiculous damage. It’s a signature move Lumina Crash is also valuable here, as it gives Espathra an option to regenerate HP with Shell Bell at the gate while deflating Cinderace’s special defense by two stages. Substitute It can be used here to sample, so find what works well for you in random groups.
MVP Support: Armarouge
Armarouge and Ceruledge work well here, but Armarouge’s stat distribution makes it a bit better for Cinderace in particular. Armarouge can also be a mixed support and attacker, as it deals super effective damage with moves like Expansion strength.
Personally, I prefer Armarouge as a pure support build because it offers so many options. Access to Reflect and Will-O-Brin provide invaluable party mitigation, and the two alone can make Cinderace hit like a wet noodle. Clear the smog is a lifesaver in the shield phase in particular, and Help can be used to power a Slowbro or Espathra partner. He can even use Acid spray to greatly reduce Cinderella’s special defense. And it’s just its support options.
For offensive options, Armarouge can theoretically be another Stored power user like the previous two Pokémon. That said, you might prefer to use Psychic Terrain to improve expansion strength and use it as an offensive option. Armarouge’s biggest problem is that its movepool is so large that it’s hard to tell what another Armarouge is executing. Personally, I prefer the previous two as pure attackers with Armarouge support focusing on keeping Reflect and Burn up as much as possible. If you can coordinate with your team, multiple armors can work well together.
Alternative
Azumarill
An Azumarill you built for Charizard can be deadly if used correctly here. Open the fight using Charm and remember to bring rain dance depending on the composition of your team. Time Belly Drum carefully and do huge damage with Play Rough. Unlike other fairy types, Azumarill is not weak against Iron Head. This makes him viable for combat, although players who use Belly Drum early tarnish his reputation.
Peel
Although not a popular choice in practice, Pelipper is surprisingly excellent as a support Pokemon. The Drizzle ability starts the battle with rain active, which immediately reduces Cinderace’s damage potential with Pyro Ball. perch gives it HP recovery, and Help increases the power of your teammates. Rain is also in synergy with Hurricanewhich gives him a 100% accuracy rate and can potentially destroy Cinderace.
Hatterene
There is unfortunately no good healer option for this fight, but Hatterene is the closest thing to it. He can start the fight with Reflect or Charm, although even with full HP and Defense EV it will be difficult if your teammates aren’t also contributing debuffs. If they do, Hatterene can provide invaluable HP recovery with dew of life or Healing Pulse, which particularly helps Belly Drum Azumarill. You can then use Help to help Nuke Cinderace, but when all is said and done, you might prefer Armarouge support for more consistent clears in multiplayer.
Find what works for you
The biggest problem with this fight is how easily it is possible to step on a teammate’s toes. If everyone can coordinate a multitude of barriers and debuffs, Cinderace can be surprisingly easy. Still, even a throw of Reflect that overlaps one already in the field can be enough to kill your initial momentum. I got used to put my Pokémon’s key moves in its nickname to let other players know what I’m going to do first. Still, it’s incredibly inconsistent, especially when it comes to international teammates.
If you can coordinate with your teammates, off-meta picks like Charizard and Mimikyu can shine here. Otherwise, I recommend building at least two or three different Pokemon to fill different roles depending on your team’s needs. No matter what strategies you use or what Pokemon you breed, good luck farming. You’ll need it to soak up that sweet loot while you can.
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