How to unlock 6-star raids in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

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Much like Pokemon Sword & Shield, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet lock their best rewards behind Raid Battles. Six-Star Tera Raids are the hardest content available in Generation 9 (excluding events), but the prizes for beating them are worth the effort.

Not only do items like Herba Mystica drop more often, but you can also catch Pokemon with Hidden Abilities through 6-Star Raids. This is a massive boon for certain Pokemon, though unlocking these Raids will take a bit of effort. In fact, you won’t even have the opportunity to participate in a 6-Star Raid until the credits roll. Here’s what you need to do.

NOTE: Light postgame spoilers are contained below.

Step one: be a tournament champion

Your first task is to complete the Academy Ace Tournament. You’ll get this objective shortly after completing The Way Home story, which unlocks after completing the three core story paths. Your first step is to defeat all eight Gym Leaders again at Geeta’s request. These encounters will be level 65-66, but if you’ve made it this far, this should be easy.

Afterwards, return to the academy and report to Geeta. Advance the story until you can participate in the Academy Ace Tournament. This will put you up against four trainers with full teams of Level 65-70 Pokemon. Fortunately, you’ll be healed between every fight, so go nuts and hit each team as hard as you can. After advancing through the subsequent story, you’ll get a call from Jacq where he’ll tell you about powerful Tera Raids that have appeared. You may think you have access to 6-Star raids, but this alone will not unlock them.

Step two: fight lots of raids

Your second task is to fight ten raids that are four-star or higher. To do this, explore your map and investigate all the elemental icons you can see. It’s unfortunately impossible to tell how difficult a raid is before you check it yourself, so keep exploring until you find raids that are strong enough.

Though four-star raids will be easy by this point, five-star raids can be tough if you aren’t prepared. Grind whatever raids you can complete and use the bountiful EXP candy to push your Pokemon’s levels higher and higher. You can min-max their EVs, even if this isn’t necessary to win. Either Koraidon or Miraidon are strong picks here, though even they won’t do much good if the raid Pokemon has a type advantage.

Once you have completed the raids you need, Jacq will give you another call. He’ll warn you not to interact with the super-powerful raids that have appeared, but naturally you’ll ignore his advice. Six-star raids are thankfully noticeable on the map, so seek them out and hit them with everything you got. I highly recommend using max level Pokemon and recruiting allies online to have the best shot at clearing these encounters. Happy farming!

Related | Best Pokemon for Competitive in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet on UpComer


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Timothy Monbleau
Guide Editor - Timothy started writing community blogs for Destructoid in 2012. He liked it so much he decided to write articles for the site professionally. His love for RPGs and the Ys series will endure forever.