[Question] Delphox raid strats?

[Sandslash Fan]

It's that time again! The new tera 7-star raid was announced; Delphox with Fairy tera type. What is everyone planning to try for the raid?

Fairy-type is only weak to Poison and Steel damage, and both of those types are what Delphox's normal Fire/Psychic types are strong against! Bringing STAB without a good plan will be tough. I am thinking about all kind of strategies, and a lot of them are centered around abilities or types that will do the best to resist the damage. I, personally, want to try Pokémon that were native to S/V before the Home opened up.

I was thinking about trying any of these three (I also prefer to solo the raids). Houndoom would protect itself with Snarl until tera is charged and then clean up with Steel that resists Fairy and Psychic moves, and the Flash Fire makes it immune to the Fire attacks (which hopefully the AI will want to use since it sees the Steel tera). Bronzong takes neutral damage from Fire with Heatproof (and even less in the rain, so Rain Dance) and quad resists Psychic, it's just a matter of whether being slow and heavy will let it do enough damage against the weak physical defense on Delphox. Revavroom was my last idea, since I was looking up Poison Jab and since it has Filter it might live some fire attacks while building up, Rain Dance and Parting Shot (if that would even work) can help it too.

Houndoom
Nature: Calm (+SDef, -Atk)
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera: Steel
Item: Shell Bell
- Nasty Plot
- Sludge Bomb
- Tera Blast
- Snarl

Bronzong
Nature: Brave (+Atk, -Spd)
Ability: Heatproof
Tera: Steel
Item: Shell Bell
- Rain Dance
- Light Screen
- Heavy Slam
- Gyro Ball

Revavroom
Nature: Brave (+Atk, -Spd)
Ability: Filter
Tera: Steel
Item: Shell Bell
- Rain Dance
- Spin Out
- Gyro Ball
- Parting Shot

 

[Amore]

I may actually have 7-stars unlocked by the 2nd round of this, but I mostly do team-ups to grind out the rewards on Reddit.

Most people are planning on Heatran running Specs and Steal Beam with 3x Steely Spirit support. Flash Fire means it can't take any SpA drops from Mystical Fire if that's in the set, and it resists Psychic (2x) and Fairy (4x). Personally I'm leaning more towards using one of my shiny Dialga for it. Give it the Adamant Gem to turn into Origin Forme which a) should mean Magician can't affect it and b) gives it higher SpD.

 

[Hashimi]

I think I'll go with Armarouge and spam acid spray + mystical fire with assault vest as a held item.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

Wait, hold on, we're getting DelphFOX in S/V!?

Spoiler:

 

[Devalue]

Expects Mystical Fire (maybe Flamethrower), Psychic, and Dazzling Gleam on Delphox. Becomes a lot less certain on the rest. Guesses Magic Room + Psychic Terrain. Could see things like Role-Play, Psyshock, Shadow Ball, or an Overheat + debuff clear combo too.

One question: Will Magician function? Believes not. Cannot use item-switching moves against the Tera Raid boss. (Lets you Encore allies and not the boss, though.) Opens up some interesting strategies, if so. Locks it down hard with Choice Band. Maybe Toxic Orb too? Go for the super disrespect with Ring Target + Goodra?

Fun hypothetical situation with Magician working: Ditto with Tera: Dark, no Imposter, and Choice Scarf. Attacks you with Psychic, as the highest damaging move. Locks it into Psychic. Build up enough Tera Orb charges to Tera: Dark. Win (slowly)?

Mentioned some good Pokemon already. Wants to give these Pokemon (solo) a shot:

Bellibolt
Nature: Modest
Ability: Electromorphesis
Tera: Electric
Item: Shell Bell
Moves: Acid Spray, Parabolic Charge, Eerie Impulse, and Thunderbolt/Light Screen/Slack Off.

Suppresses Delphox effectively with Eerie Impulse. Potentially allows other Pokemon with this move to be usuable solo (looking at you, Hat Pikachu and Pachirisu). Depends on the number of debuff clears and the Tera shield timing, though.

Hisuian Goodra
Nature: Modest
Ability: Shell Armor
Tera: Steel
Item: Shell Bell
Moves: Acid Spray, Flash Cannon, Tearful Look/Rain Dance, Rest

Carries a ton of Special Defense. Ought to tank attacks well. Should choose Dazzling Gleam over Mystical Fire (80 power versus 75), in the event of knowing that (before Terastallizing, anyways).

Overqwil
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Poison Point
Tera: Poison
Item: Shell Bell
Moves: Minimize, Swords Dance, Rest, Barb Barrage

A physical Pokemon for a change. Really needs to know Delphox's particulars, however. Opens it up to huge damage after Terastallizing. Relies on buffs heavily too.

Blissey
Nature: Modest
Ability: Serene Grace
Tera: Normal (likely better as Psychic, even with Shadow Ball)
Item: Shell Bell
Moves: Stored Power, Calm Mind, Soft-boiled, Substitute

Potentially too slow to win. Should be safe outside of Psyshock or a surprise physical move.

Wonders if something like Lurantis could win, assuming Mystical Fire. Lives one Mystical Fire. Benefits from an ally's Defense cheer the next round. Might build enough buffs (via Contrary) to survive and heal off the damage...until the buff clear, anyways.

Another idea: Reflect Type Gengar. Outspeeds without investment. Takes a lot of damage with its low bulk, though. Suffers big damage after Terastallizing, like some others. Sounds fun to try, at any rate.

One specific case: Shadow Ball on Delphox. Use Skill Swap (or whatever) with Garganacl for Purifying Salt. Protects from status conditions, on top of adding a Ghost resistance. Worthwhile for many Stored Power Pokemon with a free moveslot, particularly Normal/Psychics with Tera: Psychic.

 

[Sandslash Fan]

Managed to get Day 1 (sort of, I tried too late and it became Friday already) with Houndoom. Went into the raid without watching any videos. Spammed Snarl three times to build up tera charges and was glad I did. Went tera Steel and had to learn Nasty Plot management strats through about 4 attempts at the raid solo. I think I only managed to win from resetting the NPC team and getting an Arboliva and Corviknight on the team. The Grassy Terrain and Scary Face helped out. Sadly, Delphox didn't waste many attempts to use Fire-type attacks on me. I wonder if it would try more often if I set up Sunny Day.

Once Delphox does Nasty Plot, I wasted time trying to debuff it on the first couple of attempts, but my last win I stopped with Delphox at +1 and focused on my Nasty Plot and Shell Bell recovery instead. Without losing tera Steel and having Grassy Terrain up, it was manageable. I only had time to get Nasty Plot up twice before and after resets of player stats. Just used Snarl/Tera Blast/Nasty Plot mostly and I swapped the fourth move to be Flare Blitz just in case I was down to the wire and Delphox triggered Flash Fire (never ended up using it).

 

[Devalue]

Launched the new raid. Some rough particulars:

Delphox's main moves: Will-o-Wisp, Fire Blast, Psychic, and Dazzling Gleam. Heavily favors Will-o-Wisp when you do not have a status condition. Timid nature, also.

• Dazzling Gleam at the start of the raid
• Tera Shield at 90% time remaining
• Debuff clear at 60% time remaining
• Tera Orb charge steal at ~75% health?
• Nasty Plot at 50% time remaining
• Buff clear + Magic Room around 55% health
• Double attack at low health (sub 35% health?)

(Note: Not exact numbers. Gathered these from observation.)

Cleared it with Armarouge (solo) with maybe one-third of the clock left and no deaths.

• Moves: Mystical Fire, Calm Mind, Acid Spray, and Flash Cannon. (Recommends Rest over Flash Cannon, in case of criticals. Fares fine on damage.)
• Tera: Fire. Probably fine with Tera: Psychic too.
• Ability: Flash Fire.
• Held Item: Shell Bell.

Strategy: Calm Mind x6. Wait for the debuff clear. Hit it with one Mystical Fire. Pump three Acid Sprays into it. Should be able to Terastallize now. Do so and spam Mystical Fire until you win.

Defeated Delphox with Ceruledge (solo) as well, although not as overwhelmingly.

• Moves: Bitter Blade, Swords Dance, Light Screen, and Clear Smog
• Tera: Fire.
• Ability: Flash Fire.
• Held Item: Shell Bell. (Hm. Might be better with Big Root for healing. Alternatively, Charcoal for more damage, but less healing.)

Strategy: Start with Light Screen to keep early damage in check. Use Swords Dance twice. Sneak in a Bitter Blade to regain your health before the Tera Shield goes up. Finish the third Swords Dance. Keep an eye on your health and renew Light Screen as needed. Pull out Clear Smog right after Delphox's Nasty Plot. Try to regain your Swords Dances after the buff clear, as able.

Owes Bellibolt a favor for helping out Ceruledge. Probably would have won without the paralysis. Did not stop Magic Room or Nasty Plot. Appreciated it, nonetheless.

Recommends Pokemon able to debuff with the shield up (solo, at least). Attempted to use some okay-ish Stored Power users. Ran out of time. Becomes rough in the second half with all your buffs down, Delphox at +2, and maybe getting double-attacked too. Included one attempt with Blissey using Skill Swap on Garganacl to prevent the burn time loss.

Gave Overqwil a shot with Minimize. Felt possible, but very chance heavy. Also hates Synchronize Pokemon ruining Barb Barrage's double Poison damage.

Felt like a tougher raid. Blames recent raids for being more exploitable without debuff clears, though.

More notes:

• Mentioned Delphox favoring Will-o-Wisp. Seems to really like that. Wondered if you could cheese the encounter that way. No, unfortunately. Tried with Luvdisc's Hydration + Rain Dance combo. Used Will-o-Wisp at the start of each life, then never again.
• Tried a "Do Nothing" strategy. Performed no actions prior to the debuff clear with Hisuian Goodra. Effectively did nothing prior to that point but take damage anyways. Runs up against Delphox's Nasty Plot, however. Brought it down to one-third health before getting obliterated.

 

[B-BoiPakYu]

Heatran works really well with this raid as a solo. Might be better with online supports.

---------------------
- Modest nature (use the mint if you have to)
- 252 SpA/HP
- Moveset: Metal Sound, Flash Cannon, Steel Beam.
- Held item: Shell Bell
- Ability: Flash Fire
- Tera Type: Steel or Fire. Your Pick.
----------------------

1st two turn, Metal Sound x2. Hit with Steel Beam. Once shield is up, spam Flash Cannon. When Firefox negates stat boost from NPC, spam your defense cheer x2. Save the last for heal cheer. Keep spamming Flash Cannon and hope for SpD drops. Once shield is gone, Metal Shield once or twice and kill with Steel Beam. Of course, your NPC allies play a huge role here. I got lucky with NPCs with the following Mons: Bellibolt, Stonejourner, and Clodsire.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

I had just typed out my full hellish experence that was this raid, only for my laptop to dicide to tell me to GFMS and restart itself randomly. No updates or anything. losing me everything I'd already typed here. (not to even begin to mention everything else I was doing in other tabs that I must now get back) After that 'Raid' plus this new annoyance, suffice it to say 'ascendantly angry' only comes close to describing my current mood.

Pokemon used: Ceruledge. Moves: Bitter Blade, Sunny Day, Light Screen, Swords Dance. Yes, it was maxed stats.

That fight reminded me of the biggest (and only, really) reason I hate Pokemon games. R.N.G. Nightmare. Greninja was that to a degree, but I've never had so much BS in ANY Raid fight before this one.
The ONLY reason I didn't rage quit the game for the rest of my liife, was because this Pokemon just so happeded to be a Fox.
There are probably multiple word misspellings here out of sheer rage typing, but you know what? DKDC.

 

[Hashimi]

This raid is much harder than what it seems, especially when it nullifies every stat change and uses magic room + nasty plot all in a row.
These were my best choices so far:

Nature: modest - Held item: assault vest - Tera type: fire
Movepool: acid spray, mystical fire, psychic and clear smog

Nature: calm - Held item: leftovers - Tera type: psychic
Movepool: instruct (to be used on whatever is the best attacker appearing in your team), taunt, light screen and psychic

 

[Sandslash Fan]

I haven't been able to beat Delphox with anything except my Houndoom yet. I even tried the Bellibolt with either Assault Vest or Light Clay and couldn't get anywhere. I gave up on my physical attacking thoughts from the first post, and even a Ceruledge I built wasn't doing well.

 

[TwilightBlade]

I used a Modest specially invested Dialga holding Choice Specs. My teammates were using Acid Spray so Dialga's Steel Beam did a chunk of damage. I beat this raid my first try with random online players. I think some of the others were more difficult than Delphox.

 

[ReKoil]

I tried a couple unusual Pokemon simply to see if they could do it and watched them all fail. Burned through my money doing this though, so I had to grind for more in a weekend where I was already really busy. I've not yet beaten it simply because the Armarouge I was preparing afterward wasn't finished until like 25 minutes after midnight and I'm now forced to wait for the next round =P

 

[Devalue]

Defeated Delphox with Overqwil and Alolan Muk.

Overqwil: Hinged on Minimize dodging nearly everything. Demanded really good luck. Held onto a Bright Powder. Spent...twelve total turns setting up? (Mimimize x3, Swords Dance x3, then rebuff.) Avoided Terastallizing. Almost faints to baseline Psychic as-is. (Only calculated it now. Goes down to a +2 Fire Blast un-Terastallized 100% of the time, albeit with worse accuracy.) Dealt fair damage with Barb Barrage.

Alolan Muk: Feared it would be too slow. Failed on time the first attempt. Pulled it out with an unexpected boon: Power of Alchemy and Haxorus's Rivalry. Relied on Minimize, same as Overqwil. Took a different path, however. Reigned in the damage with a couple of Snarls (unnecessary). Weakened it with Acid Spray. Went for glory by Attack Cheering and Terastallizing (Poison). Broke the shield in two shots. Finished it with another two Sludge Bombs. (Outsped Delphox on the second Sludge Bomb somehow. Thanks again, Haxorus (and maybe Corviknight)?)

Attempted this raid several times now. Articulates a clearer idea of why Delphox is so rough solo. Revolves around timing and stalling. Clears debuffs around 6-7 turns in. Takes moves like Metal Sound and Screech off the table. Cannot use a Terastallized move at -6 Defense/Special Defense in time. Puts you waaaay behind on time. Cannot apply those with the shield up either. Really needs Acid Spray for a debuff play.

Okay then, what about relying on buffs? Works fine for the first half. Will likely not tear down the shield before Nasty Plot goes up, however. Deals too much damage to be able to Nasty Plot x3 or Swords Dance x3 and go without a really advantageous type match-up or sky high Special Defense. Means hitting the half health point with no buffs, Delphox at +2, and taking two attacks soon. Lacks the time to rebuff.

And one more thing: weakens a lot of good Pokemon to Terastallize. Loses a resistance, in most cases. Opens them up to a lot more damage taken. Hurts to not Terastallize, though. Places all the responsibility of damaging the Tera Shield on your shoulders.

Generally requires a Pokemon with some combination of self-buffs + a reliable debuff with the Tera Shield up OR really good defenses to not need healing. Consists of only a handful of Pokemon.

Sees little help from raid partners here too. Loaded them up with answers for physical attackers: three Intimidates, Sylveon's Charm, Staraptor's Feather Dance, and technically Drifblim's Will-o-Wisp. What is there for special attackers? ...Sylveon's Moonblast. Really hopes for the DLC to add someone with Struggle Bug, Snarl, Mystical Fire, Spirit Break, or Skitter Smack.