Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: Best Arboliva Tera Raid Build

Arboliva is a solid Grass-type who can work wonderfully well in some challenging Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids. Building it is rather straightforward and Trainers need to capitalize on its strengths, which include:

• Unique Seed Sower Ability, which puts up Grassy Terrain whenever the user gets hit
• Terrain Pulse is a strong Grass move under Grassy Terrain
• Giga Drain is a common Grass move that gives it some sustain
• Plenty of ways to heal (Synthesis, Grassy Terrain, and Giga Drain)

This guide should help Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players defeat difficult Tera Raids like the seven-star Pikachu. The following build should be relevant for any future challenges, making Arboliva quite reliable whenever Trainers need a good Grass-type on their side.

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Best Arboliva build for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raids

Ideally, you would use this Pokemon against Water-types in Tera Raids (Image via Game Freak)

Here is an effective Tera Raid build for Arboliva in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet:

• Ability: Seed Sower
• Nature: Modest
• EVs: 252 Sp. Attack / 252 HP/ 4 Defense
• Moves: Giga Drain + Growth + Sunny Day + Synthesis
• Tera-Type: Grass
• Item: Grassy Seed

Grassy Seed will activate once Arboliva gets hit, thanks to its Seed Sower Ability. That will give it +1 Defense. The existing Grassy Terrain will also heal the Pokemon and all allies for a few turns, giving everybody a little bit of extra sustainability.

Arboliva's moves are quite simple:

• Giga Drain: Fairly strong STAB that heals the user
• Growth: +1 Attack and +1 Sp. Atk (this gets doubled under harsh sunlight)
• Sunny Day: This buffs Synthesis and Growth, weakens opponents' Water-type moves, and reduces Thunder's accuracy
• Synthesis: Reliable healing, especially under harsh sunlight

However, there are some alternate Tera Raid builds that some Trainers may wish to use. The above set is particularly useful against a foe that utilizes Rain-based strategies like seven-star Pikachu.

The above moveset can easily handle seven-star Pikachu (Image via Game Freak)

Most of the alternate Tera Raid builds are quite identical to the one posted above, but with different moves.

• Terrain Pulse: Its Base Power doubles as it becomes a Grass-type move under Grassy Terrain.
• Energy Ball: Weaker than Terrain Pulse under Grassy Terrain, but it can lower the opponent's Sp. Def.
• Light Screen: Halves all Special Damage towards the user and its allies for five turns.
• Reflect: Halves all Physical Damage towards the user and its allies for five turns.

The moves you pick will depend on your needs, which may change from one battle to another.

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Arboliva Tera Raid strategy in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

A basic strategy that some Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Trainers may wish to use is:

1. Use Sunny Day as soon as possible (especially if you're against a foe that uses a different weather).
2. Use Synthesis to heal if necessary or Growth if the opponent didn't do much to you.
3. Keep using Growth to max out Sp. Atk.
4. Use Giga Drain to damage the opponent while also healing yourself.
5. Terastallize into a Grass-type to make your Giga Drains much stronger. This step is also useful for breaking the foe's shields.
6. Repeat any steps whenever necessary.

A perfect example of this strategy can be seen in the above video at the 6:28 mark. The process might seem slow, but it's incredibly consistent if the player can pull it off.