Quaquaval is third up for the Paldean starter Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, and with it going live this Friday, March 14, at 7PM EST, you don’t have a ton of time to prepare. Like the previous two Tera Raids in the series, Quaquaval will have the Mightiest Mark and a Tera Type matching its main type, Water. You can only catch Mighty Quaquaval once, but you can run the raid as many times as you want throughout the duration of the event.

The Mighty Quaquaval Tera Raid will end on Thursday, March 20, at 6:59PM EST. Defeat it sometime this week for the chance at catching it as well as getting various endgame level item drops (though some players consider these items “just groceries“) from its spoils. There are a few things you’ll need to watch out for when heading into battle, so make sure you’re prepared with a group of friends or online players before heading in.

7-Star Mighty Quaquaval Weaknesses

Like All Water-Types, Find A Grass- Or Electric-Type

Third-tier evolutions of the starters in most regions have dual-typing, and Quaquaval is no different. It’s a Water/Fighting-Type, so you have a host of types to choose from when picking your Pokémon. Water is weak to Electric- and Grass-Types, while Fighting is weak to Flying-, Fairy-, and Psychic-Types. It’s also got the Moxie Hidden Ability, which means its Attack will increase by one stage whenever it knocks out another Pokémon.

All this considered, finding a sturdy Grass-Type or Electric-Type will be your best bet. Quaquaval’s moveset hasn’t been released yet, but it has access to moves like Ice Spinner, Close Combat, Aqua Step, and likely some more Physical Damage-type moves like Skeledirge did in its raid. Not knowing which moves your opponent will have can make preparing for a battle trickier, so you might need to prepare a few different ‘mon before the raid drops.

7-Star Mighty Quaquaval Tera Raid Counters

Don’t Let Moxie Get Value; Resist Quaquaval’s Attacks

Before you start thinking about counters for Mighty Quaquaval, you’ll need to know what you’re dealing with. Its Moxie is a huge threat, as 7-star Raid Bosses are already level 100 and pretty strong. Letting them get much stronger can spell doom for you and your raid team, so prioritizing survivability is a great way to help your team take Quaquaval down.

In terms of survivability, bring a Pokémon like Clefairy, who should be running Fake Tears, Life Dew, Helping Hand/Charm, and Reflect with Friend Guard and an Eviolite. Reflect and Friend Guard serve to help your allies survive any Moxie-Boosted attacks, and the rest of Clefairy’s moveset is responsible for boosting your allies’ damage and keeping them alive. Support Clefairy isn’t the most exciting role to run in a raid, but can be the most essential when your opponent is such an offensive threat.

Miraidon can be an excellent raid partner with the right build in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. For this raid, a Miraidon with Eletro Drift, Parabolic Charge, Metal Sound, and Charge could be a good choice, as long as Quaquaval doesn’t have Ice Spinner. Ice Spinner would neutralize the Electric Terrain created by Miraidon’s Hadron Engine ability, cutting it off from its major source of damage. Give your Miraidon a Life Orb, which increases its damage by 30% while also doing 10% of its health in damage any time it uses a damaging move.

If Miraidon doesn’t work, another good damage-focused Pokémon to run in the Mighty Quaquaval raid will be Contrary Serperior with a Light Clay and the moves Gastro Acid, Reflect, Giga Drain, and Leaf Storm. You’ll want your Serperior to be quick, so you can use Reflect to counter any Ice Spinners Quaquaval might throw at you, then use Gastro Acid to remove Moxie. Its Contrary ability will cause all stat changes to have the opposite effect, so watch out for your allies’ plans before running this Pokémon, because many raid builds rely on stat changes to get moving.

Finally, if you want to run an Electric-Type into the raid, Eelektross is the clear choice. This ‘mon should be running Acid Spray, Gastro Acid, Discharge or Thunderbolt, and Sunny Day. It will resist Flying-Type moves that Quaquaval might pull out, and Discharge has the chance to paralyze, giving you a few turns to catch your breath and push the attack. Eelektross is pretty flimsy, so you’ll need good supporters to stay alive, but Sunny Day can help with that a bit by lowering Water-Type moves’ attack, so you’re not totally defenseless.

How To Unlock Mighty Quaquaval Tera Raid

Once You Reach The Endgame, Grind Out 4-And-5-Star Raids

Before you can unlock 7-star raids in Scarlet and Violet, you have to beat the Academy Ace Tournament at the Academy, which you can only do after re-fighting and beating all eight Gym Leaders. Once you win the Tournament, run 4-star and 5-star raids until Jacq calls you, warning you that a challenging new raid seems to be brewing. If you don’t want to grind out the end of the game, you can also join a friend’s raid using their friend link code.

If you do decide to join a friend’s raid before you yourself have finished the game, prepare to struggle no matter the Pokémon you’re running. These raids present the toughest challenges in the game, so having someone under level can really harm the team’s chances at beating the boss, no matter who it is. Whether you’re an old pro at fighting 7-star raid bosses or this is your first 7-star raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, it’s important to be prepared for Mighty Quaquaval’s challenge.