These are Altaria’s weaknesses and counters in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Grusha is an Ice-type gym leader, whose Pokémon can be quite threatening if you haven’t prepared for them. If you are at appropriate levels and have the correct types to counter his Ice-type Pokémon, then you should get through his team rather quickly. But you might just have one slight problem: Grusha’s ace, his Altaria.

This Ice-type gym leader has a sneaky trick hidden up his sleeve with his special Altaria, and if you want to learn exactly how to counter it and beat the Glaseado Gym, continue reading our guide.

How to beat Grusha’s Altaria in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

As soon as you see Altaria hit the field, you might think of switching in a Dragon-type counter, but that would be a mistake since Grusha has a trick up his sleeve. The Ice gym leader’s Altaria possesses the Ice Tera type, and he will go for it the very first turn he sounds out his Altaria, getting rid of its dual-type in Dragon and Flying and replacing it with the mono Ice type, letting it now resist Ice-type moves it was once four-times weak to.

But don’t fret; while Grusha pulls a fast one on you, the Ice-type is very poor defensively, not resisting any type other than the Ice-type itself and having four different weaknesses on top of that, namely Steel, Fire, Rock, and Fighting moves.

Since you now have this information, just make sure to have the appropriate Pokémon on the field when Altaria is sent out. Well, what are the best Pokémon to use when going up against Grusha’s Altaria? Well, let us first take a look at what moves Altaria is packing:

• Ice Beam
• Dragon Pulse
• Moonblast
• Hurricane

While Pokémon belonging to any of the four types that Ice are weak to are viable to bring against Altaria, we would recommend against using Fighting-type Pokémon. Yes, you are hitting Tera Ice Altaria for STAB (same-type-attack-bonus) super-effective damage, but Hurricane and Moonblast hit you for super-effective damage as well.

Rock and Fire-types are, on the other hand, completely reasonable picks, resisting some of its coverage while hitting Tera Ice Altaria for super-effective damage. That being said. Steel-type Pokémon are the absolute ideal choice against Tera Ice Altaria.

Not only do they hit it for STAB super-effective damage, but Steel-type Pokémon resist every single move on Altaria’s move slots, almost guaranteeing you a victory against this fluffy dragon unless you somehow mess up colossally.

Here are some ideal Steel-type counters that you can use against Grusha’s Altaria:

• Bronzong
• Tinkaton
• Copperajah
• Magnezone
• Orthworm
• Perrserrker
• Revavroom
• Scizor

And now you can beat Grusha easily and not get your frozen butt handed to you. Good luck.