[Question] Typhlosion Tera Raid strats?

[Sandslash Fan]

With the next 7-star raid coming out, I'm (once again) wondering what everyone is cooking up to take on the Ghost tera Typhlosion? Hidden Ability isn't going to do much for it in the raid, since Ghost-type doesn't care about Fire attacks. Typhlosion will, for sure, have Ghost and Fire attacks. I am curious if it will have Rollout as a coverage move against the people bringing Fire types to resist its moves.

I was looking at Houndoom for resisting both types and having Flash Fire or Chi-Yu like people are talking about on some Discord servers. Greninja with Torrent could also resist both Ghost and Fire, but the special defense is even worse than Houndoom. Tyranitar with Sand Stream could also be pretty good with Dragon Dance, Crunch, and maybe Focus Energy so you can attack through burns. The Discord servers were also talking about Hydreigon. It resists both Ghost and Fire, and ignores Ground coverage moves as well. There is also Roaring Moon, but it relies on Dragon Dance like Tyranitar. There is a case for Garganacl as well, since it's Ability lets it resist Ghost moves and ignores Burn.

I think I am leaning to Chi-Yu since I got a lvl 100 one from a random trade a while back (must be fate), if that doesn't work then I think Garganacl could be a strong second.

Chi-Yu
Ability: Beads of Ruin (-SDef)
Nature: Calm (+SDef, -Atk)
Tera: Dark
Held Item: Shell Bell
- Nasty Plot
- Light Screen (Reflect if Typhlosion has physical attacks)
- Dark Pulse
- Snarl

Garganacl
Ability: Purifying Salt
Nature: Careful (+SDef, -SAtk)
Tera: Ghost
Held Item: Metronome
- Tera Blast
- Ancient Power
- Curse
- Recover

Ancient Power to build up tera charges and to fish for omni-boosts. Metronome for Tera Blast spam. Would hold off on terastalizing until the inevitable purge of stat increases by the raid Typhlosion.

 

[Amore]

Chi-Yu may be good for solo (not that I know anything about it), but in co-op those legends just nerf your team-mates.
I contributed to a strategy to KO Samurott with Aqua Tauros - Pelipper flings a Lansat to trigger a crit Bulldoze, 2 team-mates lower Defences (only really need 1) and bull OHKO's with Wave Crash. Seems like it should work on Typhlosion as Drizzle will nerf Fire attacks too. Only issue is if it runs Extrasensory, Play Rough, or Zen Headbutt.

Gholdengo in Rain would be good too, just boost up and wreck with Shadow Ball

 

[Sandslash Fan]

Chi-Yu may be good for solo (not that I know anything about it), but in co-op those legends just nerf your team-mates.
I contributed to a strategy to KO Samurott with Aqua Tauros - Pelipper flings a Lansat to trigger a crit Bulldoze, 2 team-mates lower Defences (only really need 1) and bull OHKO's with Wave Crash. Seems like it should work on Typhlosion as Drizzle will nerf Fire attacks too. Only issue is if it runs Extrasensory, Play Rough, or Zen Headbutt.

Gholdengo in Rain would be good too, just boost up and wreck with Shadow Ball

Abilities don't affect teammates in raids. I tried Storm Drain Gastrodon for the Pikachu raid and I wasn't blocking attacks for the teammates at all, so I would like to think a negative Ability also wouldn't affect them. Gholdengo takes super-effective from both Fire and Ghost, so I don't see how it will live without a lot of support.

 

[Devalue]

Doubts any physical moves on Typhlosion. Considers base 84 Attack pretty weak for a 7-star Tera Raid. Imagines two possible Typhlosions.

Typhlosion 1: Sun
Moveset: Eruption, Shadow Ball, Solar Beam, and Extrasensory.

Sets up a Sunny Day to start the raid. Delivers a massive amount of damage with Eruption. Fires off Solar Beams on any Water types.

Doubts this Typhlosion happening. Already did a Sun-based Tera Raid with Charizard. Applies a lot of pressure early to discourage setup, though.

Builds for this Typhlosion (solo):

Houndoom
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera: Dark
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack / -Attack)
Effort Values: Max Hitpoints and Special Attack
Moves: Snarl, Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, whatever
Held Item: Shell Bell

Pretty straightforward. Lead with Snarls to drop incoming damage. Set up Nasty Plots after that, then Dark Pulse to victory. Could bring Mud-Slap to further weaken Typhlosion too.

Other Pokemon options:

• Chi-Yu. Similar build, but with Light Screen instead Snarl.
• Hydreigon. Copy-paste Houndoom. Trades Flash Fire for better stats.
• Roaring Moon. A physical option. Takes advantage of Sun for strong early damage. Reaches its maximum potential slower with only Dragon Dance. Brings Roost as a nice recovery option. Susceptible to Burn via possible Will-O-Wisp.
• Meowscarada. Guess who learns Skill Swap? Bring Protect for when your buffs get nullified. (Does not know how long your ability gets suppressed. Just one turn, hopefully.) Succeeds more as a Special Attacker, however, between Nasty Plot and Fake Tears. Perhaps not the strongest, but one of the more exciting ones.
• Probably several more

Typhlosion 2: Burn
Moveset: Flamethrower, Hex, Focus Blast, Will-O-Wisp.

Focuses on burning the opponent and hitting hard with Hex. Likely kicks off the raid by Will-O-Wisping everyone. Also carries Focus Blast, unlike the other Typhlosion. (Felt too mean on the other one.) Causes big problems for all the (Fighting weak) Pokemon mentioned above.

Builds for this Typhlosion (solo):

Rotom (Wash)
Ability: Levitate
Tera: ...Ghost?
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack / -Attack)
Effort Values: Max Hitpoints and Special Attack
Moves: Eerie Impulse, Nasty Plot, Thunder Wave, and Hex
Held Item: Shell Bell

Steals Typhlosion's game plan. Paralyzes it first. Drops its Special Attack. Sets up with Nasty Plots. Survives long enough to Hex back some hitpoints, hopefully.

Farigiraf
Ability: Whatever
Tera: ...Psychic?
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack / -Attack)
Effort Values: Max Special Defense and Special Attack. Usually favors general builds. Probably needs the extra survivability, on top of max Hitpoints and evenly splitting between Defense and Special Defense being near identical.
Moves: Skill Swap, Calm Mind, Wish, Stored Power
Held Item: Shell Bell

Grabs Typhlosion's Flash Fire on Turn 1. Gives it immunity to both Fire and Ghost. Forces Typhlosion to use Focus Blast, which is ideal with its hit chance. Chose Calm Mind over Nasty Plot because of Wish being slow.

Downside: Might be kind of dicey between damage given and taken.

Sylveon
Ability: Pixelate
Tera: Fairy
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack / -Attack)
Effort Values: Max Hitpoints and Special Attack
Moves: Light Screen, Fake Tears, Hyper Voice, and Calm Mind.
Other move options: Wish, Mud-Slap, Misty Terrain, and Skill Swap.
Held Item: Shell Bell

Handled Charizard, so why not Typhlosion too? Works pretty well regardless of what Typhlosion clears most often. Could bring Skill Swap too. Gives up Pixelate for that, though. Effectively lowers damage on both sides, for better or for worse. Bring Moonblast if you do.

Goodra
Ability: Whatever (but noting Hydration)
Tera: Dragon
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack / -Attack)
Effort Values: Max Hitpoints and Special Attack
Moves: Acid Spray, Dragon Pulse, Rain Dance if you want
Held Item: Shell Bell

Acid Spray x3, then Dragon Pulse. Takes hits very well. Seems quite safe. Probably decent in multiplayer too.

More Pokemon options:

1. Florges. Similar to Sylveon. Probably the better Skill Swapper here. Lacks Fake Tears, though.
2. Bellibolt. Stands a decent chance against everything. Is not certain whether Assault Vest or Shell Bell fares better.
3. Indeedee (male). Not necessarily a good pick, but an interesting one. Invest in a little Speed. Skill Swap for Flash Fire. Encore it into Flamethrower. Profit? Edit: Do not use Encore.
4. Oranguru. Another Skill Swapper. Lacks good recovery, however.
5. And probably plenty more.

 

[Sandslash Fan]

I'm also worried it will have Smokescreen and we'll need some way to counter that like Haze or Sylveon with pixilated Swift would be good.

 

[Devalue]

Very possible on Smokescreen. Could toss some in, much like Greninja and Double Team. Sees few good options to handle it, however. (Probably not a complete list.)

• Hone Claws: Not great options for this: Krookodile, Meowscarada, Mabosstiff, Bombirdier, Clawitzer, Zoroark, and some others. Favors others with better survivability.
• Coil: No one good for this.
• Gravity: Fine for Blissey in multiplayer.
• Haze: Avoids this like the plague outside of very specific times. Crushes your setup otherwise.
• Keen Eye: Limited it to a few iffy Pokemon for this.
• Substitute: Kind of usable. Demands foreknowledge of the move's timing, unfortunately. Loses a lot of damage and time through constant reapplication, not dissimilar to the damage lost via accuracy.
• Taunt: Effective, but with similar problems as Substitute.
• Magic Bounce: Both weak to Ghost.
• Mist: An option for Gastrodon, Quagsire/Clodsire, and Pelipper.

Deals with four moveslot syndrome on others. On Sylveon, for example: loses ~33% of your damage by switching from Hyper Voice to Swift. Only pulls ahead on average after 2 Smokescreens. Accrued damage prior to those Smokescreens, also. Is Swift worth it over Light Screen, Calm Mind, or Fake Tears? Maybe Light Screen? Could put Wish in instead too.

Likely handles it the same as with Greninja: accepting the miss chances. Possibly strategic fainting in solo battles too, with enough Smokescreens.

 

[Amore]

Abilities don't affect teammates in raids. I tried Storm Drain Gastrodon for the Pikachu raid and I wasn't blocking attacks for the teammates at all, so I would like to think a negative Ability also wouldn't affect them. Gholdengo takes super-effective from both Fire and Ghost, so I don't see how it will live without a lot of support.

Source? In my discord with a bunch of hardcore raiders they're doing damage calc with Friend Guard. I know Storm Drain and Lightningrod don't work, but I got the impression there was maybe some inconsistency

[*]Hone Claws: Not great options for this: Krookodile, Meowscarada, Mabosstiff, Bombirdier, Clawitzer, Zoroark, and some others. Favors others with better survivability.
[/list]

Hisuian Zoroark is the only one there that I could see some merit to, in that its immune to Ghost. As you say though, survivability. I only do co-op raids too, very rarely with less than a full party, so effectively an amateur when it comes to solo'ing.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I rarely have a plan when I first go at a raid like this, most of the time I just wing it with something that seems good Type wise and go from there.
I'm really hoping this one gives me a challenge like that Greninja raid did, cause the last few have been a little underwhelming for me.

 

[Hashimi]

This raid is quite terrible, literally. You cannot tank it at all since it hits on both sides with a crazy coverage movepool consisting of eruption, earthquake, play rough, shadow ball and has a ghost tera type which is the most difficult by far to deal with. Forget fairies or dragons with high special defense like Florges or Goodra 'cause they won't work.
Bring instead a Pokémon with rain dance as with this move you're going to get rid of sunny day, weaken eruption's damage and make Typhlosion lose turns to attack. Annihilape is the best Pokémon by far to deal damage to this raid.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

This raid is quite terrible, literally. You cannot tank it at all since it hits on both sides with a crazy coverage movepool consisting of eruption, earthquake, play rough, shadow ball and has a ghost tera type which is the most difficult by far to deal with. Forget fairies or dragons with high special defense like Florges or Goodra 'cause they won't work.
Bring instead a Pokémon with rain dance as with this move you're going to get rid of sunny day, weaken eruption's damage and make Typhlosion lose turns to attack. Annihilape is the best Pokémon by far to deal damage to this raid.

It's kind of smart that they made this Typholsion a mixed attacker with tons of coverage. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this at all, but at the same time, I'm not surprised.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Just caught mine, solo as usual. I used my Tera Ground Garchomp with Swords Dance, Earthquake, Sandstorm, and Sand Attack, while holding Soft Sand.
A fairly RNG fight, no where near as bad as Greninja was though. I had a good time with it at least.

Edit: Oh, I should probably note the strat. Started with a few Sand Attacks, then Earthquaked 'till my Tera Orb was ready, then Swords Danced 'till max ATT,
then Sandstormed, then Tera'd and EQ'd 'till he died, Heal Cheering as necessary. It took me no more than five tries after learning the set-up.

 

[Sandslash Fan]

Caught mine last night as well. I just ended up using Bellibolt again, but having Assault Vest instead of Light Clay. I might teach it Light Screen for further farming, since I still had Reflect on it from the Decidueye raids.

Bellibolt
Ability: Electromorphosis
Nature: Modest (Max HP and SAtk EVs)
Item: Assault Vest
- Parabolic Charge
- Acid Spray
- Reflect
- Chilling Water

 

[Devalue]

Picked up wins with Goodra and Farigiraf.

- Goodra: Acid Spray, Dragon Pulse, and Rain Dance. Suppressed Play Rough enough with an Intimidate partner. Switched to Shadow Balls eventually. More or less won thanks to ridiculous RNG between tons of paralyzes and two Play Rough misses. (Thanks, Dudunsparce.) Wound up with 20-25% of the timer left and without fainting.

- Farigiraf: Stored Power, Nasty Plot, Skill Swap, and Wish. Actually worked. Used max effort values in Hitpoints and Special Attack due to forgetting to do it differently. Had to Terastallize (Psychic) to avoid running out of Stored Powers. (Only put 1 PP Up into it.) Fainted to double Shadow Ball right near the end.

Tried Polteageist. Racks up Defense drops and Tera Orb charges too slowly. Gave it a Kasib Berry to dissuade Typhlosion from using Shadow Ball. Kind of works, in that Typhlosion seems to pick randomly between Shadow Ball, Play Rough, and Earthquake. Eventually uses Shadow Ball, though, and then chains them. Spells the end for Polteageist. Discovered that Memento does not work, also, thanks to this raid.

Barely missed a win with Sylveon. Fell one Moonblast short.

Kind of wants to try Stantler for glory. Hand it an Eviolite. Role Play, Calm Mind, Stored Power, and...Sand Attack or Rest? Really pushes it on time, especially with Rest. Lacks recovery over the long haul. Cannot Trick a Flame Orb onto it either. Edit: Technically could. Appears to be stronger than Eviolite. Tanks the opening Eruption better with Eviolite, however, on top of spending less time. Edit 2: Was correct the first time about Trick not working.

 

[Amore]

In case people didn't know this - holding a resist berry stops the raid 'mon from hitting you super-effectively with that type. I.e. Goodra was mentioned above. Hold Roseli berry and suddenly it doesn't care about Play Rough!

 

[Devalue]

Proof of the buffest Stantler (solo). Chose Role Play, Rest, Calm Mind, and Stored Power. Held an Eviolite. Geared its Effort Values towards Special Attack and Hitpoints. Might be able to improve that time slightly. Played conservatively in case of criticals.

Strategy for it (and other Skill Swapper types): Get the ability on Turn 1. Do nothing while you wait for the buff clear. Immediately choose a move after that. Might get nailed by Eruption while Flash Fire is suppressed otherwise. From there, buff up and heal as necessary. Combined Rest with Heal Cheers to speed that up.

Bets on other odd Pokemon being able to pull this off as well, like Grafaiai and Tinkatuff. Maybe even Venomoth. Requires some Speed Effort Values to avoid the initial Eruption (Prankster for Grafaiai) and at least one Intimidate partner, at minimum.

Also, to correct some bad strategy ideas: do not use Trick or Encore in Tera Raids. Always fails. Learned that before building the Pokemon, fortunately.

 

[Mewtwolover]

Flutter Mane is really good for soloing this raid. Strategy: Use Fake Tears until Flutter Mane is knocked out. Use Calm Mind twice. Use Shadow Ball until you can Terastallize, Terastallize as soon as possible. Use Shadow Ball until you win.

Flutter Mane
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ghost
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Sp. Def
IVs: All perfect except attack
Item: Shell Bell
- Shadow Ball
- Fake Tears
- Calm Mind
- Dazzling Gleam