Few challenges in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet test trainers like the 6-star raids. These high-stakes battles push strategy, timing, and teamwork to their limits, rewarding only the most coordinated squads with victory and rare treasures.
If you’ve been playing Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, you’ve seen these on your Paldean map and around the world itself. They’re marked on your map with little type icons, and in the world, there’s sparking crystals shooting light up into the sky. You’ll unlock higher-level raids as you progress through the game, but where things start getting tricky is with six-star raids. (Seven-star raids are currently reserved for events, like the Charizard raid.)
Looking for ’em but can’t find them? Our six-star raid guide will show you how to unlock six-star raids, and offer advice for success.
What are six-star raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?
Six-star raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet represent endgame-level Tera Raid Battles that challenge experienced players with exceptionally strong Pokémon. These raids become available after completing the main story, finishing the Ace Academy Tournament, and participating in several five-star raids. Each six-star raid features a single powerful Pokémon with a random Tera Type and boosted stats, requiring careful team coordination, optimized strategies, and high-level Pokémon to succeed. Victories in these battles yield rare items, high-value materials, and a chance to catch rare or high-IV Pokémon.
They’re raids that are rated with six stars according to their difficulty. You can find most Pokémon and Tera Types in these raids – they aren’t Pokémon-specific. They’re like every other raid, but harder and with better rewards. If you catch these Pokémon, they’ll be at higher levels than those in lower-star raids, too.
How do I unlock six-star raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?
Complete the Academy Ace Tournament after rematching the eight Gym Leaders. Finish at least 15 five-star Tera Raid Battles, either offline or online. Jacq will phone you once criteria are met, placing a black crystal six-star raid on the map each day.
You can’t just jump into six-star raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. In fact, you’ll have to beat one storyline, The Way Home, which unlocks when you’ve finished each of the three main storylines. Once you’ve done that, you have to go through all the gym leaders again. This time through, all the the gym leaders are leveled in the mid-60s.
Next, join the Academy Ace tournament at your school. Here, you take on four different students or faculty, up to around level 70. Once you beat that, you’ll get a call from Jacq mentioning super-hard raids – but they won’t be available yet. It’s really a hint that you should head out and do plenty of harder raids. So do that – participate in enough five-star raids to get another call from Jacq, where he’ll warn you about even harder raids. These are the six-star raids.
I don’t know exactly how many five-star raids to complete, but it’s fewer than 10. (I wasn’t counting while playing! I know, bad guides writer.) Some folks are saying four-star raids count, too, but I can’t confirm that – I just did five-stars. You can move around your map and check out raids, but there’s no way to tell what level a raid is before getting to it, so it requires a lot of travel. But you can find five-star raids in the Tera Raid Battle menu in the Poké Portal, which speeds things up considerably. It’s still a time-consuming process, though: Everyone wants to get into the five-star raids, so there’s a lot of denied entry, made worse by slow loading screens.
Now that I’ve unlocked them, where do I find six-star raids?
After meeting the requirements to reach six-star raids, they’ll appear as black crystal icons with a glowing aura on your map. These crystals spawn daily in random locations across Paldea, replacing one of your standard raid spots each day. You can check their details by hovering over the icon or walking up to the crystal in person to see which Pokémon is featured.
Thankfully, six-star raids are differentiated on the map by a glowing pink border. (You can see it above.) Head over to those to host a six-star raid. In my experience, there’s only one on the map per day. But like five-star raids, you’ll find them under Tera Raid Battles in the Poké Portal, but they’re only available for players connected to the internet. These are even more desirable than five-star raids, so be ready to wait.
How the heck do I beat six-star raids?
Six-star raids push players to their limits, demanding strong team coordination, precise timing, and well-built Pokémon with the right stats and moves. Choose creatures with solid defenses, high damage output, and abilities that counter the raid boss’s type. Support roles-such as healers or Pokémon that can lower the opponent’s stats-often make the difference between victory and defeat. Don’t forget to stock up on healing items and use Terastallization strategically to turn the tide in tougher battles.
Six-star raids are exceptionally hard, especially if you’re playing solo with NPCs. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s NPC trainers clearly don’t understand how to counter Pokémon types. You have to bring in very strong Pokémon to get through these, but it’s not impossible. It’s a mixed bag with actual players, too, but it’s a lot better than NPCs. The best way to do these is with a full party of friends who have that team synergy.
But if you don’t have that, here’s some tips. Of course, you’ll want to counter Pokémon types, but there are a few Pokémon that work really well. Iron Hands, a Paradox Pokémon, is one of those – it’s powerful on its own, but with Belly Drum and Drain Punch, you can pack a punch and heal yourself. Belly Drum is a move that deducts half the user’s max HP and, in exchange, maximizes its attack stat. If you do this at the start of the raid, you can really do a lot of damage. Drain Punch does damage and restores HP, too.
AELGAMES senior copy editor Kallie Plagge recommends using Azumarill with the Huge Power ability alongside Belly Drum. Her Azumarill also holds a Sitrus Berry to recover HP. She suggests having a teammate fire off a few Screech moves before you use a powerful attack in order to one-shot a raid boss (or close to it), something like Liquidation or Play Rough. To make your Azumarill even better, you can perfect its nature, IVs, and EVs, too.
On YouTube, a Pokémon player named Unedited has a nice guide with stats, items, and moves that can be applied to a number of different Pokémon. It runs through, step by step, how to choose moves during a six-star raid battle. Another idea, presented by Reddit user aeshnoidea, is to roll with a Chansey that’s trained up in HP and defense, and holding the item Eviolite – this boosts defense and special defense for Pokémon that aren’t fully evolved. With the hidden ability Healer, Chansey can cure allies of status conditions, too.
Beyond these specific strategies, you’ll want to consider the Pokémon’s Tera Typeand its move set when you’re choosing a Pokémon to battle with. “Bringing Azumarill to a dark Revavroom raid is a bad idea even though Play Rough will be supereffective because Revavroom can destroy Azumarill with steel- and poison-type moves,” Kallie said.
But what about six-star Ditto?
A six-star Ditto raid can be surprisingly easy or incredibly tough, depending on what it transforms into. Since Ditto copies the first Pokémon you send out, starting with something weak can heavily tilt the fight in your favor. Once it copies that Pokémon, you can switch to a strong attacker and finish the battle quickly. Players often use this trick to farm rewards, making Ditto one of the most reliable and rewarding six-star raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
If you come across a six-star Ditto raid, don’t do any of this. The raid boss will transform into the host’s Pokémon, which means it’ll have that Pokémon’s stats. Instead of bringing a legendary like Koraidon, you’re better off choosing something like Magikarp if you’re the host – let everyone else do the work while you cheer.
What are the rewards from six-star raids?
Six-star raids reward players with a wide range of high-value items, including large amounts of Exp. Candy, Tera Shards for changing a Pokémon’s Tera Type, Bottle Caps for hyper training, and rare materials used in crafting TMs. Players also have a high chance of receiving Herba Mystica, which is used to make sandwiches that boost shiny encounter rates. In addition, these raids can yield valuable sellable items like Nuggets and Pearls, making them one of the most rewarding activities for veteran trainers.
You’ll get more and better rewards from completing six-star raids. In particular, the draw is more Herba Mystica, a rare sandwich ingredient that can help you find more shiny Pokémon, among other things. There are five types of Herba Mystica: Bitter, Salty, Spicy, Sour, and Sweet.
You can get Herba Mystica from five-star raids, but you’ll get more in six-star ones. (Of course, if you’re unlucky, you might not get any. If you want a lot of Herba Mystica, you’re going to have to do a lot of high-level raids. If you want to go in-depth, Serebii has a list of all six-star raids and drop rates for items, including Herba Mystica.
You’ll also get other items like an Ability Capsule, bottle caps, feathers, Tera Shards, and XP-boosting candies, and six-star raids are the only raids that reward the rare Ability Patch. TM-making resources are readily available in these battles, too.
How to unlock 6-star Tera Raids step by step
To unlock 6-star Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, complete key post-game milestones first.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Finish all three main story paths: Victory Road (Gym Leaders and Elite Four), Path of Legends (Titan Pokémon), and Starfall Street (Team Star).
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Complete the Area Zero storyline until the credits roll, triggering post-game content.
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Rematch all eight Gym Leaders on Geeta’s behalf, then win the Academy Ace Tournament.
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Complete 8-15 five-star Tera Raids (or some four-star ones)-online or offline; track progress by catching Pokémon from them.
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Receive a call from Jacq warning about dangers; black Tera Raid dens (with purple auras) now appear daily on your map.
Tips
Interact with black crystals for level ~90 raids; join friends’ raids even if not unlocked. Seven-star events follow the same unlock.
Best teams for 6-star Tera Raids
Top Pokémon teams for 6-star Tera Raids in Scarlet and Violet emphasize self-sustaining attackers with stat boosts, healing moves, and type advantages, often solo-viable against non-resistant bosses.
Physical Attackers
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Iron Hands (Violet exclusive): Belly Drum, Drain Punch, Tera Fighting/Electric-maximizes Attack then recovers via draining hits.
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Azumarill: Belly Drum, Play Rough (Fairy Tera), Huge Power doubles Attack for one-shots on Dragons/Darks.
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Annihilape: Rage Fist, Bulk Up, Drain Punch-gains power from hits taken, ideal for prolonged fights.
Special Attackers
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Bellibolt (SS Tier): Calm Mind, Parabolic Charge (self-heal), Acid Spray (debuffs Sp. Def), Electric Terrain-wins most non-Ground/Steel raids.
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Gholdengo: Make It Rain, Nasty Plot, Dazzling Gleam-Ghost/Steel typing resists many bosses, boosts for burst damage.
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Terapagos: Tera Starstorm, Calm Mind, Stored Power-Stellar Tera Type leverages signature move for massive scaling.
Support/Utility Picks
Use alongside attackers: Toxapex (Iron Defense, Acid Spray, Recover) for shields/debuffs; Scovillain (Spicy Extract, Helping Hand) for Foul Play OHKOs.
Team Building Tips
Tailor to boss Tera Type (check via raid icon); prioritize Shell Bell for recovery, max EVs/IVs via raids. For groups, mix 1 attacker + 3 supports like Oranguru (Foul Play).
