How to catch shiny Rayquaza in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Christmas has come Pokemon Scarlet & Violet with the arrival of Shiny Rayquaza! For a limited time, players will be able to treat themselves to this rare gift from GameFreak this holiday season. However, this gift doesn't exactly come for free.

True to his reputation, Rayquaza fights a five-star Tera raid battle. While not the strongest tera battle to date, Rayquaza is still a legendary pokemon to be feared. You'll want to enter his lair with the optimal pokemon or risk facing a stocking full of coal this year.

Information about the Shiny Rayquaza Raid event

You can catching Shiny Rayquaza by Sunday, January 5, 2025at 3:59 PM PST.

This event is significant because Rayquaza cannot be encountered in Scarlet & Violet normally. In addition, it has a rare shine black coloring.

You can only catch one shiny Rayquaza during this event, but additional prizes will be awarded if you manage to defeat him more than once. These prizes include, but are not limited to:

• Tera Dragon Shards

• TM115: Dragon Pulse

• Skill Capsules

• Skill Patches

If you're struggling to find Rayquaza's terra den, give it a try open the PokePortal and choose the Tera Raid Battle option. Rayquaza should appear as an option in the following menu.

Friends can be linked together by a host first finding Rayquaza's lair (indicated by a glowing Dragon Tera symbol) and creating a group and link code; friends can then join using the Link Code option in the Tera Raids portion of the Poke Portal.

Rayquaza's abilities and moves

This Rayquaza will have the following profile:

Rayquaza's biggest threat is its unpredictability. Has balanced physical and special attack stats (slightly skewed due to its randomized nature).

His three most worrying moves are:

• Earthquake, countering Steel, Ice, and Electric-type Pokemon that would otherwise have been ideal against Rayquaza.

• Extreme, headache-inducing speed for squishy Pokemon.

• Hurricane, which poses a risk through the Confusion status effect.

Due to the raid rank, Rayquaza has a 35 multiplier to the base HP stat but with no apparent effects on his offensive or defensive stats. Its bulk will require at least one solid offensive Pokemon in a raid team.

Best Pokemon for Shiny Rayquaza

While Shiny Rayquaza can be outmatched with a wide range of good Pokemon, we have a list of the ones that rise above the rest:

These pokemon all have the Fairy type in commonbut you'll notice that not all types of fairies are on this list. This is because Rayquaza's Earthquake is a dangerous counter to the usually strong Steel typing Fairy typessuch as Iron Valiant, Tinkaton and Magearna.

The most powerful of these picks will be the ones that have the ability to lower Rayquaza's stats and raise theirs effectively.

You can use Steel Cross Fairies if you give them a Balloon, their second typing is Steel, and their Tera type is Fairy, if they have the Levitate ability, or if you have a support pokemon with Life Tear, Heal Pulse, or team stat boost defensive.

Dragon and Ice types may also see success in these Tera raids, but be aware that their offensive bonuses against Rayquaza will come at the cost of increased damage to your own team.

If you don't have a strong Fairy type from the list above, you can focus instead on these alternative strategies:

1. Change a Pokemon's Tera type to Fairy, even if it doesn't have a Fairy type move. This will give you immunity to Draco Meteor and Dragon Ascent.

2. Bring a Pokemon that can easily cause status conditions.

3. Bring a bulky Pokemon that can easily support teammates (like Milotic).

Tips and strategies for Shiny Rayquaza

At the first turn of any encounter with Shiny Rayquaza, will always use Dragon Ascent. This is why Fairy-type Pokemon are optimal; with a Fairy Pokemon, Dragon Ascent will do no damage.

After that, your first goal should be to lower Rayquaza's stats. Fake Tears, Screech, Tickle, Snarl, etc. they are all optimal moves.

Do not use stat bonuses on your own pokemon until after Rayquaza reaches 80 percent health and delete stat changes for your team. You can safely do this after, as Rayquaza won't repeat this later in the encounter.

Once Rayquaza has cleared the field, you can start focusing on your own team. Your goal should be to raise your stats and prepare for Terastallization. Ideal, buff yourself three times or until you feel threatened.

As soon as you can safely teratalize, you should do this

Rayquaza will use Dragon Dance at 50 percent health. At such a point, it should play aggressively to prevent unnecessary damage, fainting, and timer reduction.

There will also be two Draco Meteors at 60 and 30 percent health, respectively. If you're a Fairy type, this is negligible.

If you're having trouble staying alive until you're ready to Teratalize, you should try putting a Shell Bell on your Pokemon. or use a health-draining move like Draining Kiss.

As long as you remember the following strategyyou can complete this tera raid without having to team up if you can't or don't want to:

1. Debuff Rayquaza up to 80 percent.

2. Buff yourself.

3. Attack and teratalize as soon as possible (unless you're low on health; if so, wait for the reset).

4. Grab your merry gift.

While you can't catch Rayquaza multiple times, you can challenge him to battle an unlimited number of times. This can be a great way to farm Mystica Herbs, Tera Shards, and Ability Patches while also helping your friends.

Although IVs and Nature will be randomly calculated, Rayquaza will always have the following moves when you catch him:

• Dragon Pulse

• Hurricane

• Earthquake

• Extreme speed

With these shiny legendary Rayquaza in your hands, we hope you both have very, very happy holidays together.