Iron Leaves storms 5-star Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, its Paradox steel-psychic might demanding precise counters.
Since it’s a five-star raid target, it isn’t particularly difficult – at least not nearly as hard as the event seven-star raids we get from time to time. This one, however, is a bit harder than its counterpart, Walking Wake.
Iron Leaves is only in raids until March 12 at 6:59 p.m. EST, so make sure to grab it while you can. You can only catch one Iron Leaves.
For beating Iron Leaves, you’ll get standard drops like Exp. Candy, Tera Shards, Bottle Caps, and treasure items to sell for money. Serebii.net has a complete drop table. Iron Leaves raids do not drop Herba Mystica.
Iron Leaves Tera Raid best counters
Iron Leaves, a Psychic Tera Type at level 75, falls to Bug, Ghost, and Dark moves, but skip Dark due to its super-effective Megahorn. Ghost types like Gholdengo with Shadow Ball, Nasty Plot, and Metal Sound excel by dealing heavy damage and lowering defenses while holding Shell Bell for health recovery. Annihilape spams Rage Fist to build power from hits taken, and Kingambit sets up Swords Dance before unleashing Kowtow Cleave. Skeledirge works solo with Unaware to ignore Iron Leaves’ boosts from Quark Drive and Electric Terrain.
Iron Leaves is at level 75 with a psychic Tera Type. It knows Psyblade, Leaf Blade, Megahorn, and Swords Dance. It’ll start the battle off with Electric Terrain, making it activate its ability, Quark Drive, which increases its most proficient stat in electric terrain.
Iron Leaves is weak against the usual psychic-type counters: bug-, dark-, and ghost-type moves. Its bug-type move, Megahorn, will be super effective against dark-type Pokémon, so be careful if you use them.
Iron Leaves hits like a truck and it loves to use Swords Dance, making it hit even harder. We recommend running a Pokémon with Clear Smog or Chilling Water to debuff it back to doing normal damage.
You do not necessarily need a maxed out, fully trained Pokémon to beat Iron Leaves, as long as you can either tank a few hits or you can debuff it. We used a Skeledirge to beat it, as its ghost- and fire-typing made it resistant to a plethora of Iron Leaves’ moves. We also saw fellow players using Ceruledge (another fire- and ghost-type Pokémon) and Gholdengo (a steel- and ghost-type Pokémon that is resistant to all of Iron Leaves’ moves) to successfully take it on.
Best team for soloing Iron Leaves 5-star raid
Soloing the 5-star Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is feasible with Pokémon that exploit its Psychic Tera Type using Bug, Ghost, or Dark moves while handling its Quark Drive boosts, Swords Dance setups, and attacks like Psyblade or Megahorn.
Top Solo Pokémon
These level 75+ builds focus on outspeeding, debuffing, or one-shotting Iron Leaves after its Attack ramps up.
| Pokémon | Key Moves | Strategy | Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grimmsnarl (Jolly, 116+ Speed EVs) | Foul Play, Spirit Break | Support allies use Spicy Extract (+6 Attack/-6 Defense on boss), then Foul Play uses boss’s boosted Attack for OHKO (6108-7188 damage). | Exploits boss buffs; reliable solo if speed-checked. |
| Kingambit | Swords Dance, Kowtow Cleave, X-Scissor, Poison Jab | Swords Dance turns 1-2, then spam Kowtow Cleave for super-effective STAB damage. | Resists Grass/Psychic; immune to Psychic post-Tera. |
| Gholdengo | Nasty Plot, Shadow Ball, Metal Sound, Recover | Nasty Plot 1-2x, Metal Sound to drop Sp. Def, then Shadow Ball for Ghost STAB supers. | Resists all boss moves; self-sustain. |
| Scizor | Swords Dance, X-Scissor, Leer, Focus Energy | Swords Dance 1-3x, Focus Energy, then crit-boosted X-Scissor. | High crit Bug damage; tanks hits. |
General Tips
Use cheers for healing/shields after phase 2 Tera burst; Ghost Tera on your Pokémon helps vs. Psychic surges. Skeledirge or Giratina variants work for status/hex strats if available. These succeed offline or online solo.
Detailed Gholdengo build and moveset for Iron Leaves raid
Gholdengo excels at soloing the 5-star Iron Leaves Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet due to its Good as Gold ability blocking status moves, high Special Attack, and Ghost STAB that hits the Psychic Tera boss super effectively while resisting its key attacks like Psyblade.
Recommended Build
Aim for a level 75+ Gholdengo (or higher via Rare Candy) with max Special Attack investment. Modest or Timid Nature works best to boost Sp. Atk/Speed without sacrificing power.
| Stat | Nature/EVs | Item | Ability | Tera Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Special Attacker | Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk); 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Speed / 4 HP | Shell Bell (heals on damage dealt) or Leftovers | Good as Gold | Ghost (boosts Shadow Ball) |
Moveset
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Shadow Ball (main STAB nuke post-setup).
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Nasty Plot (+2 Sp. Atk per use; setup 2-3 times).
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Metal Sound (drops boss Sp. Def by 2 stages; use 2-3 times early).
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Recover (self-heal to tank phase 2+).
Turn-by-Turn Strategy
Start with 2-3 Metal Sound to cripple boss Sp. Def, then 2-3 Nasty Plot for +4 to +6 Sp. Atk. Terastallize to Ghost on turn 4-5 (after boss Tera), spam Shadow Ball for OHKOs, and Recover as needed. Cheer for healing/shields post-Tera burst; Shell Bell sustains through Electric Terrain-boosted hits.
This setup one-shots reliably offline, exploiting Iron Leaves’ setup time with Swords Dance.
