You've finally beaten the game. The credits rolled, the Great Crater of Paldea is old news, and you think you're a champion. Then you click on a shimmering, black Tera Crystal and get your entire team wiped in three turns. Welcome to the real endgame. 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet are a completely different beast compared to the five-star fluff you’ve been breezing through. They’re mean. They’re unfair. They have HP pools that look like phone numbers.
Honestly, most players approach these raids all wrong. They bring their level 100 starter, spam a high-damage move, and wonder why the shield goes up and they lose all their time. It’s not just about level. It’s about mechanics that the game barely explains to you. If you aren't prepared for the stat resets and the sheer aggression of a 6-star boss, you're just a liability to your teammates.
The Massive Jump in Difficulty Nobody Warns You About
Five-star raids are a cakewalk. You can usually brute force them with a decent type advantage. But once you unlock 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet after finishing the Academy Ace Tournament and hosting enough high-level raids, the math shifts. The raid boss gains a massive HP multiplier—usually around 25x their base health—and they start acting multiple times per turn.
It’s annoying. You'll be sitting there waiting for your menu to load while the boss clears your buffs, sets up a Sunny Day, and hits you with a STAB Earthquake. The game feels broken sometimes. It isn't, though; it’s just demanding a level of strategy that Pokémon usually reserves for competitive VGC play. You have to think about EVs, IVs, and held items like your life depends on it. Because in Paldea's endgame, it kind of does.
Why Your Type Advantage is Probably Lying to You
Here is the biggest trap: the Tera Type. You see a 6-star Talonflame with a Fairy Tera Type. You think, "Great, I'll bring my Tinkaton and smash it with Gigaton Hammer." Wrong. You just died. Why? Because that Talonflame still has its original Fire-type moves. It will Flare Blitz your Steel-type into oblivion before you can even blink.
When you're scouting 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet, you have to account for the "Natural Type" and the "Tera Type" simultaneously. You need a Pokémon that resists the boss's base moves but deals super-effective damage to its Tera Type. It’s a narrow window. If you ignore the base typing, you’re just feeding the timer. Every time you faint, the timer chunks down. Fainting is the absolute worst thing you can do. It's better to spend a turn healing or using a Cheer than to go for a risky attack and die.
The Holy Trinity of Raid Builds
Stop bringing random Pokémon. If you want to actually clear these consistently, you need specialized builds. There is no "one size fits all," but there are a few monsters that carry the community on their backs.
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Iron Hands is the king for a reason. Belly Drum is the riskiest and most rewarding move in the game. You cut your HP in half to max out your Attack. Pair that with a Booster Energy or a Sitrus Berry, and then use Drain Punch to get all that health back. It’s a simple loop. But it fails miserably if the boss has Psychic or Ground moves. People see a YouTuber use Iron Hands and think it’s invincible. It’s not. It’s a tool, not a cheat code.
Then there’s Azumarill. The "Huge Power" ability combined with Belly Drum and Play Rough makes it a dragon-slayer. But please, for the love of Arceus, make sure yours has 252 EVs in HP and Attack. A glass-cannon Azumarill is just a liability.
Don't sleep on support. Everyone wants to be the hero who hits for 5,000 damage. Nobody wants to be the guy using Umbreon or Corviknight to Screech, Taunt, and Reflect. But guess what? The team with the Umbreon wins 90% more often. If you can lower the boss’s Defense by three stages, your teammates' Iron Hands will actually finish the job. Support players are the unsung legends of 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet.
Mechanics That Will Make You Rage
The Shield. We have to talk about the shield. Once the boss hits a certain health threshold, they retreat behind a massive barrier. At this point, your regular moves do almost nothing. You must Terastallize to break it.
This creates a paradox. You need to attack to charge your Tera Orb, but attacking the shield feels like hitting a brick wall. And then the boss does it: "The raid boss has nullified all stat changes and abilities on your side!"
Everything you worked for is gone. Your Belly Drum? Gone. Your Swords Dance? Wasted. Your Screech debuffs on the boss? Wiped. This usually happens right around the time the shield goes up. The best players wait for this reset before they go all-in. If you burn all your items and setup moves in the first two turns, you're going to have a bad time when the mid-raid reset hits.
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The Hidden Power of Cheers
Cheers are the most underrated mechanic in the game. You get three. Use them.
- Hang in there! is a massive team-wide heal and status cure.
- Go for it! boosts offenses.
- Call for backup! boosts defenses.
If you see a teammate at 10% health and they’re about to faint, don't use an attack. Heal them. Keeping them alive saves the timer. A single faint in a 6-star raid can be the difference between a win and a frustrated sigh at the "You were blown out of the cavern!" screen.
Specific Threats You Should Probably Avoid Soloing
Some 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet are just cursed. Anything with "Unaware" like Dondozo or Clodsire will ignore your stat boosts. You can Belly Drum all you want; Dondozo doesn't care. It’s going to take damage like you’re at +0 Attack.
Annihilape is another nightmare. Every time you hit it, its Rage Fist gets stronger. If you don't One-Shot (OHKO) Annihilape, it will eventually reach a point where it can one-hit-kill your entire team. It’s a ticking time bomb. For these, you need a very specific strategy—usually involving Taunt to keep them from using setup moves or Bulk Up.
And then there's Ditto. Pro tip: If you are the host of a Ditto raid, bring a level 1 Magikarp. Ditto will transform into the host's Pokémon. Your teammates will then annihilate the level 1 fish in one turn. It’s the only time being weak is actually a galaxy-brain strategy.
Preparing Your Kit: The Checklist
Before you even think about clicking that black crystal, check your inventory. You need Bottle Caps. You need Mints. You need XL Candies. A level 90 Pokémon is not a level 100 Pokémon. That ten-level gap represents a massive chunk of stats that matters when the boss has 10,000 HP.
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- Hyper Train everything. Visit the guy near the Poké Center in Montenevera. If your HP and Defense aren't "Best," you're going to get shredded.
- Max your EVs. Don't just fight random wild Pokémon. Use Vitamins (Protein, Iron, etc.) or the Power Items (Power Weight, etc.) to specifically max out your relevant stats. Usually, this means 252 in HP and 252 in your primary Attack stat.
- Held Items matter. Leftovers is okay, but Shell Bell is often better for attackers because it heals you based on the massive damage you deal to the boss. For supports, Light Clay or Mental Herb can be life-savers.
- Ability Patches/Capsules. Make sure you have the right ability. A Huge Power Azumarill is a god; a Thick Fat Azumarill is a paperweight.
The Reality of Online Raids
Let’s be real: playing with strangers is a gamble. You’ll see people bringing Koraidon into a Fairy-type raid. You’ll see people bringing Charizard into a Water-type raid. It's frustrating. If you want to win 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet consistently, find a Discord group or a dedicated community.
Communication is everything. Knowing when to Screech and when to attack is the difference between a 2-minute clear and a 10-minute failure. If you have to play with NPCs, honestly, sometimes it's easier. NPCs don't reduce the timer when they faint. They aren't great, but they aren't actively sabotaging you like a random player who doesn't understand type matchups.
Maximizing Your Rewards
Why do we put ourselves through this? The loot. 6-star raids are the primary way to get:
- Herba Mystica: Essential for shiny hunting.
- Ability Patches: Rare items that swap a Pokémon to its Hidden Ability.
- Bottle Caps and Gold Bottle Caps: For competitive training.
- Tera Shards: You need 50 to change a Pokémon's Tera Type, and 6-star raids drop them in decent quantities.
If you’re farming for something specific, look for the Blissey event raids when they pop up. They’re much easier and drop massive amounts of shards and candy. But for the rare stuff, the black crystals are your only consistent source.
Final Strategy: The Turn One Setup
The first turn of a raid is the most important.
- Attackers: Use a setup move (Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Belly Drum).
- Supports: Use a screen (Reflect/Light Screen) or a debuff (Screech/Metal Sound).
- Everyone: Pay attention to the turn order.
If you can coordinate a "One-Shot" build, where everyone debuffs the boss on turn one and one person hits at +6 Attack on turn two, you can bypass the shield phase entirely. This is the "Gold Standard" for high-level raiding. It requires a lot of coordination, but it's the most satisfying feeling in the game.
Actionable Next Steps for Success:
To start winning 6 star raids Pokemon Scarlet today, stop trying to wing it. First, head to Montenevera and use Bottle Caps to Hyper Train a dedicated raid attacker like Iron Hands or Gholdengo to level 100. Second, visit the Chansey Supply shops to buy Vitamins and max out their EVs in HP and their primary offensive stat. Finally, always check the boss's original move set on a database like Serebii before locking in your choice; resisting the boss's natural attacks is more important than being super-effective against its Tera Type. Once you can survive three hits in a row, you're ready to actually contribute to the team.