Easiest way to beat Iron Treads Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

After being canceled due to a huge error, the Iron Treads and Great Tusk Tera Raids are finally making their return to the Paldea region in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

During the event period on June 15 to 18, Iron Treads Tera Raid dens will be appearing all over your map if you own Violet, or you can join one hosted by a Violet player if you own Scarlet. The raids will all be five stars with varying Tera Types, so you should be prepared with a few different counters for Iron Treads.

How to beat Iron Treads Tera Raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

Iron Treads’ highest stat is its Defense, so it would be more efficient to hit it on the special side. It’s also a strong physical attacker, meaning your counter should have some decent Defense so it can take a lot of hits. Two good examples of special attackers with physical bulk are Hydreigon and Rotom Heat.

When it comes to strategy, the easiest way to weaken Iron Treads is to remove Electric Terrain from the field so it loses its Quark Drive boost. One of the most convenient terrain-setters in Gen IX is Arbolivia, who automatically sets up Grassy Terrain after being hit thanks to its Seed Sower ability. You can alternatively bring a Pokémon like Dragonite that knows Ice Spinner to remove the terrain while dealing damage.

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And since Iron Treads has two Ground-type attacks to watch out for, you might want to use a Pokémon with Ground immunity. This can be either a Flying type, a Pokémon with Levitate, or Orthworm.

Among Flying-types, Kilowattrel is the perfect counter to Iron Treads from a defensive perspective. It’s not only immune to Iron Tread’s Ground moves but also Wild Charge with the Volt Absorb ability. Thanks to its Electric/Flying typing, Kilowattrel resists the rest of the attacks in Iron Tread’s moveset. The only downside to using this bird is that its movepool is very limited.

Like Kilowattrel, Rotom Heat also has a huge defensive advantage over Iron Treads. Its Levitate ability makes it immune to Ground, and it resists the rest of Iron Tread’s attacks. The fact that it quad-resists Iron Treads’ Iron Head is a huge plus, too. With all those resistances, Rotom can easily set up with Nasty Plot and start chipping away at the robot elephant’s HP bar.

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Orthworm, in particular, should be great against Iron Treads thanks to its massive Defense stat and signature ability, Earth Eater, which heals its HP when hit by a Ground-type attack. Since Orthworm isn’t really threatened by any of Iron Treads’ moves, it can set up with Iron Defense. This will not only make it super bulky but also power up the Fighting-type move, Body Press—super-effective against Iron Treads with Dark, Ice, Rock, Steel, or Normal Tera Types.

As great as these Pokémon and strategies sound for the raids, it will mostly depend on the Tera Type of the Iron Treads you encounter. Once you know which Tera Type you’ll be facing, find a Pokémon that can hit it for super-effective damage while resisting most (if not all) of the elephant’s attacks.