Best Pokémon to counter Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid event in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are barreling toward the release of The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero DLC on Sept. 13, and to celebrate, players around the world can now challenge the first-ever Legendary Tera Raid event featuring Mewtwo. 

From Sept. 1 to 17, the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid event will be live for all players and give you a chance to challenge the Legendary Psychic-type. It will also feature a unique mechanic when you bring a Mew to the Tera Raid that will result in the Mythical Pokémon getting a special boost. 

Once you have unlocked the ability to participate in seven-star Tera Raids, you should team up with other players to take on the Unrivaled Mewtwo. You do need to defeat it to catch it and this is arguably the most challenging individual raid to tackle yet, so here are some tips to handle this powerful Pokémon. 

How to beat the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

What type is Unrivaled Mewtwo in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids?

Normally, Mewtwo is a powerful Psychic-type Pokémon that throws out a series of strong Special Attacks. Instead of changing that, Game Freak has fully leaned into the Pokémon’s strengths, giving it a Psychic Tera Type and moves to complement its best stats.

This means you can still use Bug, Dark, and Ghost-type attacks to deal supereffective damage, but you will need to be careful; every Psychic move from Mewtwo will be stronger than usual thanks to its Tera Boost and it has some coverage too.

What moves does Unrivaled Mewtwo know in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids

It looks like the people working on this raid think Mewtwo can carry itself well with a limited set of moves since it only has three attacks you need to watch out for—and only one that covers a serious weakness:

• Psystrike
• Aura Sphere
• Ice Beam
• Calm Mind
• Rest

Psystrike is a powerful Psychic-type move that uses Mewtwo’s strong Special Attack stat to hit your Pokémon’s physical Defense. Aura Sphere covers Dark-type Pokémon while Ice Beam gives it some coverage against other types that could resist its other moves.

Calm Mind will let Mewtwo boost its own Special Attack and Defense stats to deal more damage and tank hits from special attackers better. You also need to watch out because this Mewtwo raid boss is holding a Chesto Berry, meaning if it gets off a Rest it will heal a large bit of HP and immediately wake up to resume attacking. 

Best counters for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet 

Best Support Mew build for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Mew was released as a special Mystery Gift in Scarlet and Violet last month and has a special ability for this specific raid battle. 

Not only can Mew learn any move and be used as a multi-tool for any role you need to fill, but bringing mew to the Unrivaled Mewtwo raid will instantly boost its HP by 50 percent and all other stats by 20 percent—turning it into a viable threat at all stages.

Here are a few Mew builds you can use after you claim your own. Just be sure to take advantage of Mewtwo’s moveset so you can unlock the Mightiest Mark for your Mew once you win too. 

Best Attacker Mew build for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

If you prefer a Bug-type build, you can swap out Modest for Adamant and put the 252 EVs into Attack instead of Special Attack. From there, ditch Dark Pulse for Leech Life and use it when you get low on life or feel you have lowered Mewtwo’s Special Attack stat enough with Struggle Bug. 

There is also a fun strategy some players are using where they bring a Mew with Reflect Type and use it on an ally’s Spiritomb to copy its Ghost/Dark typing so it becomes completely immune to Mewtwo’s strongest moves.

Best Honchkrow build for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

If you need a reliable Dark-type with varied options for offense and Support builds, Honchkrow has been one of the best for a while now. 

Taunt, Screech, Swagger, Foul Play, Snarl, Dark Pulse, Night Slash, and a number of moves to boost its own stats are available in Honchkrow’s movepool. In this instance, I recommend giong with the always handy Swagger and Foul Play setup where you can really hit Mewtwo hard while not giving it any meaningful boosts. Use Screech and Swagger before going in with Foul Play.

Best Gholdengo build for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Gholdengo is the first fully offensive, non-Mew, option on this list that can really help you run through Mewtwo raids thanks to its Ghose/Steel typing—which makes it immune to Aura Sphere and not care about taking a Psystrike or Ice Beam. 

With this build, you are going to be setting up a Light Screen and using Metal Sound to lower Mewtwo’s Special Defense and then rain Shadow Balls down upon it. And, if your team ends up being unreliable, you can use Nasty Plot instead and try to solo it.

Best Spiritomb build for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

A near perfect counter for this raid boss, Mewtwo can only hit Spiritomb with Ice Beam for neutral damage and doesn’t have any status moves to impact the vengeful Ghost-type either. 

Snarl is once again used as the staple move, but you can bring Helping Hand to boost your allies, Taunt to stop Mewtwo from using Calm Mind and Rest, or Pain Split to get cheeky with your healing. 

Best Wo-Chien build for the Unrivaled Mewtwo Tera Raid in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Everyone’s favorite meme-snail might be weak to Ice Beam, but it has solid Special Defense and is part Dark-type, making it a good Pokémon to bring as a support in this raid. 

Using Snarl to lower Mewtwo’s Special Attack while setting up Light Screen should be enough to deal with Mewtwo. Giga Drain gives you the option to heal, but you can also just focus on damage by adding in Dark Pulse, Taunt to stop the raid boss from setting up, or Pollen Puff to heal your allies. This is a flexible build.

This article is being updated with more Mewtwo counters as the event goes on.