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

Game Freak finally hit the Legends: Arceus button and Hisuian Decidueye is coming to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet through the game’s next seven-star Tera Raid event. This will be the first time you can catch the Alolan Starter’s variant in Gen IX, but you will want to have some solid counters on hand for what this bird is packing.

Unrivaled Hisuian Decidueye will be available to challenge in SV’s seven-star Tera Raids from Thursday, Oct. 5 at 7:00pm CT until Sunday, Oct. 8 at 6:59pm CT, with a second run from Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7:00pm CT until Sunday, Oct. 15 at 6:59pm CT.

If you miss either timed event, Hisuian Decidueye is still tradable and transferable from Pokémon HOME if you have played Legends: Arceus.

As always, you must unlock the ability to participate in seven-star Tera Raids before challenging Unrivaled Hisuian Decidueye and you must defeat it before getting a chance to catch it. If you do plan on participating in this event with friends or random players online, here are some tips and tricks for clearing the raid. 

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

Hisuian Decidueye isn’t much different from its Alolan counterpart, putting slightly more of a focus on physical attacks and adding in Fighting-type coverage with its swap to Grass/Fighting. This specific raid boss is going to try and pierce you with arrows, blades, and claws of all sorts.

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

Unlike many of the other Starter Tera Raids, Hisuian Decidueye is going to carry a STAB typing it already had with a Grass Tera Type when you encounter it. 

It is level 100 and Adamant Nature, with the Scrappy ability, meaning it can hit Ghost types with its signature Triple Arrows attack. It only has one move to hit you on the special side, but that is enough to cause some issues. 

What moves does Unrivaled Hisuian Decidueye know in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids?

Hisuian Decidueye’s main moveset in this raid is meant to give it hard-hitting coverage moves centered around its physical staples like Triple Arrows and Leaf Blade. 

Moves

• Triple Arrows
• Leaf Blade
• Brave Bird
• Shadow Claw

Additional Moves

• Bulk Up
• Swords Dance
• Grassy Terrain
• Leaf Storm

Leaf Storm is just there to hit on the special side of the defensive spectrum while Brave Bird and Shadow Claw round out the main suite. Grassy Terrain makes an appearance, though it won’t play as big of a role as it did with Rillaboom back in August. 

It is odd seeing Swords Dance and Bulk Up here since they serve the same function of boosting Hisuian Decidueye’s Attack stat, but you should likely be focused on hitting it with Special Attacks either way so Bulk Up’s Defense boosts won’t mean much. 

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

Best Iron Moth build

Iron Moth naturally counters both of Hisuian Decidueye’s STAB typings and can open up the Fighting-type to take heavier damage from Special Attacks from itself and its teammates. 

Your goal here is to open up with Lunger to lower the raid boss’ Attack stat and then follow it up with Acid Spray to lower its Special Defense. After that, you can spam Fiery Dance until you either win or need to pop Morning Sun to heal yourself up—but if you pair this Paradox ‘mon up with a good supporter, you should be golden. 

You can take Sludge Wave, Sunny Day, or Electric Terrain as the final pick. Electric Terrain is really helpful if you are pairing Iron Moth with the Chajabug build I placed further down on this list.

Best Armarouge build

Armarouge incorporates the Acid Spray element of the Iron Moth build but will instead set up Reflect on the first turn of the battle—unless you have a teammate who is going to do that first. After setting your screen up and dropping Hisuian Decidueye’s Special Defense you can spam Lava Plume to deal damage and fish for a burn to further hinder the boss. 

The only downside here is that you will be weak to Shadow Claw, but that is Hisuian Decidueye’s weakest move and once you Terastallize into a Fire-type you should be fine. You can also run Taunt to stop Decidueye from setting up

Clear Smog is a good fourth move to bring if you are worried about Decidueye’s stat boosts, but you can also bring Taunt or Sunny Day.

Best Ogerpon build

Ogerpon probably shouldn’t be your first choice, but equipping it with the Hearthflame Mask will make it weak to only Brave Bird and this cutie’s Ivy Cudgel hits like a truck. 

Use Swords Dance before swinging your cudgel over and over again until the bird goes down. That is about the only strategy involved with this build unless you want to toss in a Focus Energy or Synthesis for good measure. 

If you want to have a support option outside of Taunt, Ogerpon can also learn Charm to lower Decidueye’s Attack stat by two stages.

Best Charjabug build

PKMNcast strikes again with another fun, alternative build that you can bring utilizing Eviolite Charjabug’s bulk and some Bug-type tomfoolery using Lunge to lower Decidueye’s attack. 

Mud-Slap is an option to impact its accuracy and Iron Defense to take even more hits where none of the Hisuian Starter’s attacks can deal supereffective damage. PKMNcast also recommends pairing Charjabug with Special Attackers like Iron Moth or Armarouge because its ability, Battery, gives a natural 30 percent boost to all of its ally’s Special Attack stats—something that is exclusive to Chajabug!

This article will be updated with more Hisuian Decidueye counters throughout the Tera Raid event.