Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Cinderace Tera Raid counters - How to beat Cinderace solo

It's time to go over the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Cinderace Tera Raid counters you'll want to add to your team. If you picked the fire starter in Pokemon games before, then you probably were excited to be able to add Charizard to your Scarlet and Violet collection a few weeks ago. Well, another popular fire starter is making its way to the game, Cinderace.

If you caught the Black Crystal Charizard from a few weeks ago, then you'll already know how difficult these seven-star raids can be. There is going to be quite a bit of preparation needed to take down this raid, so we'll detail all of that.

While you're here, check out our other Pokemon Scarlet and Violet guides, such as our strategies to beating Black Crystal Charizard, and our guides to the Black Crystal Raids and Tera Raid Events in general.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Cinderace Tera Raid counters and builds - The best Pokemon for the event

Before you take on the Black Crystal Cinderace raid, there are a few things to know.

1. You're going to need to have a Pokemon that's level 100 Pokemon.
2. That Pokemon will need perfect IVs. You can use bottle caps to help.
3. As the Cinderace Tera Raid has it be a Fighting type, you'll want Pokemon that can deal solid damage and resist its own moves.

Solo or Co-op?

The first question that you need to ask yourself when taking on one of these raids is whether to do it by yourself or go into it with a co-op team.

Basically, solo is generally the way to go unless you're coordinating with the three other players. Random teammates run the risk of ruining a run with bad counters or a weak strategy, whereas going on your own can help you sweep and minimize the penalties of questionable partners.

Counters

Here's a quick breakdown of a few choice Cinderace counters for the 7-star tera raid battle. Whether you're looking to solo the Pokemon or take it on in a team, you'll want to have as many of these in your party. We've listed a few other noteworthy options below, too.

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Azumarill

If you fought Charizard with our Azumarill set, then you'll be able to use a very similar set here. There is a small change though that we'll recommend but we'll detail everything.

• EVs - Attack and Health / Defense
• Tera type - Fairy
• Ability: Huge Power
• Item: Shell Bell
• Nature: Adamant

Prep

You'll want to EV train this up in Attack at the very bare minimum. Then, you'll want to make sure your Azumarill has the Huge Power ability, and a Fairy Tera type.

You'll also want to give it a Shell Bell. Learn how to change Tera types and get Ability Patch and Ability Capsule to make the perfect fighter. Adamant nature works best, which you can manage with Nature Mints.

Moves

• Belly Drum
• Play Rough
• Charm
• (free space)

For moves, you're going to want it to have Belly Drum, and Play Rough. In the Charizard raid, we used Light Screen to reduce incoming special attack damage. Since Cinderace is Fighting tera type, we expect that we're going to be dealing with physical moves. So to replace Light Screen, we'd say use Charm to reduce its Attack stat.

To get Belly Drum, you'll need to have a Pokemon that has Belly Drum and a Mirror Herb. Make sure that there's an empty move space on Azumarill and give it the Mirror Herb. Then make sure the only two Pokemon in your party are Azumarill and your Belly Drum Pokemon. Then head out and set up a picnic. Wait a few minutes, pack up, and your Azumarill will have Belly Drum.

Strategy

For strategy, you'll want to set up Charms straight away. Do three attacks to get to Terastalize. You don't have to rush Terastalizing though. Before any stat changes, you'll just want to try and stay alive the best you can. Charms should help you stall and stay alive long enough to get to the stat removal phase of the fight.

You'll also only want to Belly Drum after Cinderace removes stat buffs from your team and after you faint to get Huge Power again. Then set up a few Charms and after you've set this up, Terastalize and spam Play Rough. Use healing cheers when needed and you should get a quick kill on Cinderace.

Flutter Mane build for Cinderace

Another similar option that you can use from the last black crystal raid is Flutter Mane. The ghost typing completely negates any fighting type moves until you Terastalize, though you'll still be having to deal with any fire moves.

• EVs - Sp. Atk + Def
• Tera type - Fairy
• Ability: Protosynthesis
• Item: Covert Cloak
• Nature: Modest (optional)

Prep

You're going to want to EV train this to be max Special Attack and Defense. You'll want to give it a Covert Cloak to ignore status effects as well. You'll also want this to be a Fairy Tera type if possible.

Moves

For moves, you're going to want Draining Kiss, Calm Mind, Fake Tears, and ideally Moonblast. Again, use the Mirror Herb method if you're struggling to learn these moves. Use the move menu to relearn any it might have forgotten along the way.

Strategy

For set up, use Calm Mind twice to give you more damage and damage reduction. Follow up with two lots of Fake Tears to lower Cinderace's Sp. Def. Spamming Draining Kiss should then allow you to proc Cinderace's stat reset while healing any damage it deals.

After this, repeat the two Calm Minds and two Fake Tears, then Terastalize. You'll want to use Moonblast here for heavy damage, but remember to switch to Draining Kiss if you need to recover some HP.

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Gardevoir build for Cinderace

• EVs: Sp. Atk + Def
• Tera type: Fairy
• Ability: Trace
• Item: Covert Cloak
• Nature: Modest (optional)

Prep

The last option we're going to recommend is Gardevoir. This is definitely a lesser preferred choice, but one that anyone can use with lower investment.

We're going to want to have it EV trained in special attack and defense, equipped with the Covert Cloak, and have the Trace ability.

Moves

For moves, we want it to have Calm Mind, Reflect, Draining Kiss and Moonblast.

Strategy

In the fight, we're going to set up with three uses of Calm Mind and spam Draining Kiss until the stat nullification kicks in. You can also set up Reflect like we mentioned in the Azumarill set for defensives. After that, get your three Calm Minds back up again, Terastalize, and spam Draining Kiss for HP or Moonblast to quickly end the fight.

Can 7-star Cinderace be shiny?

No, the 7-star Cinderace from the tera raid battles cannot be shiny. Like other 7-star raids, it's shiny-locked.

What you can do, though, is catch Cinderace and then breed it with a Ditto to make a shiny Scorbunny. It'll take some time, but with our guide on how to shiny farm Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet, you can speed it up.

And that's how you beat the Black Crystal Cinderace. While you're here, why not check out some of our other Pokemon Scarlet and Violet guides, such as our guide to how picnics work and how to breed in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, so you can breed the shiny Scorbunny we mentioned above.