Best Pokemon for Chesnaught Tera Raid: how to beat the 7-Star Chesnaught event

Use these monsters in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's Chesnaught raids

Contents

1. When does the Chesnaught raid start? - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
2. 7-star Tera Raid Chesnaught stats, moves - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet
3. Best counters for Chesnaught - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

The latest 7-Star Tera Raid event is back after a raid bug took it out of action last month. The Grass-type starter Pokémon Chesnaught from Pokémon X and Y is quite a challenge to take down, but there are a few ways to bypass its iron defenses.

Like prior raids, such as Inteleon and Cinderace, Chesnaught can certainly be tricky to take down, but it does have one glaring weakness that makes it just a little bit easier.

 This guide will tell you everything you need to know about Chesnaught’s move set, and the best Chesnaught counters in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

When does the Chesnaught raid start? - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Chesnaught was previously available to take on in mid-May, from May 12 to May 14, and was scheduled to run again the following weekend, from May 19 to May 21. That second weekend did kick off at first, but a nasty bug with a different Tera raid caused all event raids to be canceled. The bug has now been fixed, and Chesnaught is back again, but only for one weekend.

Here are the dates for the 7-star Chesnaught raid event:

• June 16 - June 18

The Pokémon Company has not yet repeated a raid event, with the exception of the Walking Wake and Iron Leaves event, the Chesnaught event, and the Iron Treads and Great Tusk event, which were all repeated or postponed due to game-breaking bugs. We don’t know at this stage whether or not Chesnaught or any other raid event will return in the future, so it’s best to get in now.

Alternatively, if all you want is the Chesnaught, you can transfer it and dozens more Pokémon into Scarlet and Violet using Pokémon Home. You can see the full list of Home-compatible Pokémon in our guide for every transferable Pokémon in Scarlet and Violet.

7-star Tera Raid Chesnaught stats, moves - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Chesnaught is an incredibly defensive Pokémon, with a sky-high physical defense stat and a surprisingly solid physical attack stat. As you’d expect, though, all this physical prowess comes at a cost, and Chesnaught suffers from a low special defense stat and next to no special attacking ability.

A Rock tera type gives us an easy in with Grass-type moves and Pokémon, which shred through its Rock typing and largely avoid super-effective moves from Chesnaught. It helps, too, that there’s a large cohort of Grass-type Pokémon that specialize in special attacks.

With that in mind, here’s what Chesnaught is running:

The Mightiest Chesnaught - Level 100

• Nature – Impish
• Ability – Bulletproof
• Item – None
• Tera type – Rock
• Potential moveset – Earthquake, Hammer Arm, Stone Edge, Wood Hammer, Iron Defense, Bulk Up, Curse

Bulletproof is a tough ability to work around, with some of the best countering moves — like Aura Sphere and Energy Ball — off limits, alongside 20 or so other moves. Iron Defense and Bulk Up mean physical attacks are all but useless in this raid. Thankfully, you shouldn’t really be using physical attackers at all here anyway, so this is easily avoided.

Other than that, Chesnaught has a pretty wide move set, with plenty of options for shutting down some potential encounters. All of its moves make use of its strong physical attack stat, so something with high defense and the ability to hit hard specially is probably the way to go.

Best counters for Chesnaught - Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

Chesnaught’s Rock tera typing means that we can pretty safely use Grass-type Pokémon, since we won’t need to worry about the likely Tera-boosted Rock Slide too much. All of our picks are Grass-type Pokémon, and you might think that’s putting all our eggs in one basket, but they really are the best option given Chesnaught’s limited options for fighting back.

Here’s what we recommend for countering Chesnaught:

Gogoat

On its face, Gogoat might seem like an odd pick. Only 62 base defense? Chesnaught’s going to crush it! Except it’s hiding a secret weapon: Grass Pelt. This powerful ability boosts Gogoat’s defense when Grassy Terrain is active, making its physical defenses quite impressive overall.

Sap Sipper is potentially viable too, letting it suck up Grass moves and boost its attack in the process, but it leaves it vulnerable to other physical attacks. Gogoat comes with a host of support moves that makes it more than viable on the battlefield, and if nothing else it will likely stay alive long enough to let your allies take it down.

Here’s our recommended set:

Gogoat - Level 100

• Nature – Lax
• Ability – Grass Pelt / Sap Sipper
• Item – Shell Bell
• Tera type – Grass
• Potential moveset – Grassy Terrain, Sunny Day, Solar Beam, Milk Drink

Lurantis

Lurantis is a fantastic all-rounder with the ability to snowball into one of the most powerful picks for this raid. Contrary means its stats will raise instead of falling, and Lurantis just so happens to learn Leaf Storm, which would normally lower its special attack stat by two stages. Contrary turns this into a +2 stat boost, meaning three turns in you’d already be at maximum special attack.

Pollen Puff is here to help heal allies if you ever want to take a break from steamrolling Chesnaught, while Grassy Terrain and Giga Drain help it stay nice and healthy while it snowballs into the monster it was always meant to be.

Here’s our recommended set:

Lurantis - Level 100

• Nature – Bold
• Ability – Contrary
• Item – Shell Bell
• Tera type – Grass
• Potential moveset – Leaf Storm, Pollen Puff, Giga Drain, Grassy Terrain

Amoonguss

The darling of the competitive Pokémon scene, Amoonguss has a decent amount of bulk and oodles of utility. Amoonguss is packed with support moves that keep it and its allies alive and healthy, and while it’s certainly not going to be doing any big damage, its Effect Spore ability should be able to deal status conditions even when the barrier is up.

Clear Smog helps keep Chesnaught at survivable levels by keeping its stats at normal, while Synthesis and Sunny Day keep you alive for as long as it takes for your allies to take the raid boss down.

Here’s what we recommend:

Amoonguss - Level 100

• Nature – Bold
• Ability – Effect Spore
• Item – Leftovers
• Tera type – Grass
• Potential moveset – Pollen Puff, Clear Smog, Sunny Day, Synthesis, Solar Beam, Grassy Terrain

Rotom-Mow

There’s a very real possibility that Chesnaught is running powerful Ground-type moves, but Rotom’s Levitate means its Electric typing won’t be doing it a disservice in this battle. Rotom-Mow is fantastic when paired up with Amoonguss, as the mushroom Pokémon can use Clear Smog to take away the sting of a Leaf Storm drop.

Nasty Plot is great for boosting your stats, Reflect keeps the worst of Chesnaught’s attack stat from hurting the team, and Will-O-Wisp takes this even further by halving Chesnaught’s attack — at least until it clears its negative effects.

Here’s our set for Rotom-Mow:

Rotom-Mow - Level 100

• Nature – Bold
• Ability – Levitate
• Item – Shell Bell
• Tera type – Grass
• Potential moveset – Leaf Storm, Nasty Plot, Reflect, Will-O-Wisp

Lilligant

Lilligant, like Lurantis, is a bit of an all-rounder, but we’ve set it up for attacking here. Chlorophyll means that Sunny Day is a must, whether it’s setting it up itself or getting an ally to do it, as it gives Lilligant double speed and lets it fire off one-turn Solar Beams with its impressive special attack stat.

Quiver Dance helps even further, boosting Lilligant’s special attack and speed (special defense too, but that’s not important here) by one stage each, while Worry Seed can wipe away Chesnaught’s worrisome ability so an ally can follow up with something powerful.

Here’s what we recommend for Lilligant:

Lilligant - Level 100

• Nature – Bold
• Ability – Chlorophyll
• Item – Shell Bell
• Tera type – Grass
• Potential moveset – Sunny Day, Solar Beam, Synthesis, Quiver Dance, Worry Seed, Grassy Terrain

---

It's just that easy

We have a few general Tera Raid tips for you in store as well, if you want to make some additional preparations.