7 Star Garchomp guide for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

The 7 Star Garchomp Tera Raid Battle event for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is live now, and we’ve written a guide full of potential checks and counters. The event goes from now until May 25, and then returns for a second run from May 30 to June 1. This Garchomp is Tera Ground, which bolsters the strength of its Earthquake attacks. It also leaves it weak to Water, Grass, and Ice-type moves.

7 Star Garchomp guide

The 7 Star Garchomp event is Tera Ground, so plan on bringing a Pokemon that either resists or is immune to Earthquake and can use Water, Grass, or Ice-type moves. Under normal circumstances, Garchomp can use Earthquake, Liquidation, Fire Fang, and Poison Jab. It also uses Breaking Swipe at 99% time remaining and Swords Dance once at about 75% time remaining.

Unaware Dondozo is a great counter. Give it Curse, Liquidation, and then any two out of Rest, Sleep Talk, Protect, Body Press, or Waterfall. You basically want to boost up with Curse until you’re at +6 Attack and Defense. Then, start attacking with Liquidation or Waterfall. Liquidation only has 16 max PP, but has a really nice chance to drop 7 Star Garchomp’s Defense, whereas Waterfall has more PP but no Defense drop chance. Make sure Dondozo is Tera Water, and that it has 252 EVs in HP and Defense. You’ll also want to give it a Shell Bell item. If you have access to Manaphy, you could also do Tail Glow + Scald with 252 EVs in Defense and Sp. Attack plus a Shell Bell item. That’s a bit tougher to catch, though!

You can pair Dondozo with a Levitate Bronzong with 252 EVs in HP and Defense. Give it Reflect, the Light Clay item, and then Iron Defense, Body Press, and Rain Dance. Giving it a Water Tera Type will help it survive against Garchomp’s Fire Fang, along with Rain Dance. You can set Reflect at the beginning of the battle, and then keep it up to make Dondozo even tankier. You can set up Iron Defense to increase Bronzong’s Defense, and then add in some chip damage with Body Press. Generally, you just want to make sure rain and Reflect are always up. You can also Defense cheer or Heal cheer.

Were you able to take down 7 Star Garchomp with a Pokemon we didn’t list here? If so, feel free to share in the comments down below. If you want to read more Pokemon Scarlet and Violet guides, we have a ton of them archived over at our master list.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Switch. You can visit the official website here.