[Question] Rillaboom raid strats?

[Sandslash Fan]

The new (maybe last starter?) tera 7-star raid was announced; Rillaboom with Normal tera type. What is everyone planning to try for the raid?

Rillaboom is an interesting one to plan against. All of the Pokémon's strong attacks are split between physical and special types - Wood Hammer and Boomburst (which is a likely option due to Normal tera). Fighting is the only super-effective damage type against Normal, so it's a good guess that Rillaboom might have Acrobatics just like Cinderace spammed on us during that raid. Knock Off is another move to think about since Ghost ignoring Normal attacks means it's another good coverage move. I am not so sure about a Fighting-type move being on Rillaboom, but since Steel is such a good option to resist the Grass and Normal attacks, that could happen. Alternatively, there could be a Ground-type attack as coverage as well. Looking at buffs, Growth seems like one that would benefit Rillaboom being a split attacker. Maybe a Growth at the beginning of the raid or once at the shield.

I looked at a lot of Steel types at first, but so many of them had "what if" situations that I didn't feel like they'd work out. Going to try to take Electric types to start, since they can resist the Grass attack and the Flying coverage attacks. Reminder that I usually solo the raids, so I don't have any turn 1 or turn 2 Pokémon in mind.

Iron Hands
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SAtk)
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera: Fighting
Item: Booster Energy
- Belly Drum
- Drain Punch
- Iron Defense
- Electric Terrain

Corviknight
Nature: Impish (+Def, -SAtk)
Ability: Mirror Armor
Tera: Fighting
Item: Leftovers
- Iron Defense
- Body Press
- Screech
- Roost

Bronzong
Nature: Bold (+Def, -Atk)
Ability: Levitate
Tera: Psychic
Item: Leftovers
- Iron Defense
- Calm Mind
- Stored Power
- Body Press

 

[Devalue]

Should have Grassy Surge, so definitely resist Grass. Will probably use Wood Hammer over Drum Beating, similar to other starters ignoring their signature move. Learns only a few types of moves: Ground, Fighting, Dark, Flying, and Normal. Means Hammer Arm, Earthquake, Knock Off, Acrobatics, and Boomburst/Body Slam.

Where have you heard the combination of Wood Hammer, Earthquake, and Hammer Arm? Chesnaught. Likely wants to not practically copy/paste the moveset. Is not super convinced about Boomburst. Hits for less than Body Slam against even defenses. Would make sense with Growth, though. So...Wood Hammer, Acrobatics, Knock Off, and Boomburst? Hm. But then what about Steel types? Struggles with either Ghost, Fighting, or Steel types, depending on the moveset.

For status moves: Maybe Growth, given the above. Could lead the raid with Taunt. For a more immediately dangerous combination: Grassy Terrain + opening Screech + Wood Hammer. Probably renews Grassy Terrain midway through the fight.

Seems tough to decide on a strong Pokemon with enough coverage and potentially mixed stats. Makes the Body Press users worse, for example. But a few possible options:

• Koraidon: Only afraid of Acrobatics.
• Dragon/Flying types: Plenty of options. Handles Grass Hammer, Earthquake, Hammer Arm well. Typically has good overall stats too.
• Forretress: Laughs off Grass. Takes any move thrown at it well. Knows Struggle Bug to keep special moves in check, Iron Defense for physical moves, and Body Press.
• Scizor: Similar to Forretress, but no Body Press.
• Hisuian Goodra: Bad against Hammer Arm and Earthquake, but otherwise solid. Iron Defense + Body Press.

Be sure to bring your Intimidate partners when solo too.

 

[Sandslash Fan]

[*]Dragon/Flying types: Plenty of options. Handles Grass Hammer, Earthquake, Hammer Arm well. Typically has good overall stats too.

Ah yeah, Salamence would be a good idea, huh? I'll pencil that in as a maybe too.

EDIT: Gave up on the idea of running Bellibolt and think I'll try Corviknight now. I saw a build on a YT channel that looks strong.

 

[Devalue]

Released the raid. Some Rillaboom information:
Nature: Jolly (+Speed / -Special Attack)
Ability: Grassy Surge
Moves: Body Slam, Low Kick, Drum Beating, and Acrobatics
Extra moves: Growth, Boomburst, and Bulk Up

Recorded some rough timeframes for raid boss stuff:

Start of raid: Grassy Surge + Growth
After 3 turns: Tera Shield
After 4 turns: Buff clear + Growth + Boomburst
50% time: Bulk Up
50% health: Debuff clear
Low health (35%?): Double attack

Beat it with Tera: Fighting Avalugg. Ended with a sliver of time. Survived the Boomburst, shockingly. Dropped to 9 hitpoints on a Low Kick critical too.

Cautions against Koraidon. Automatically sets sunlight. Doubles Growth's effectiveness. Still might be doable solo by accepting one faint. Only pulls out Boomburst once. Handles the rest of the Attack increases with Intimidate partners.

Expects most Ghost Pokemon to do well here. Ignores Low Kick and Body Slam. Leaves just Drum Beating and Acrobatics to worry about.

Two decent partners (besides the usual Intimidators): Umbreon or Gardevoir. Will probably get paralyzed by Body Slam. Triggers Synchronize easily.

Edit: And a win with Medicham, a Sinnoh Champion. Looked grim after going into red health on the first attack, even with an Intimidate. Regained a lot of hitpoints from unboosted Drain Punches. Built up Tera Orb charges. Fainted. Switched between Bulk Ups and Drain Punches from there.

 

[Sandslash Fan]

Corviknight build was an easy win. I didn't look up the battle pattern at all and still clicked through it easily enough. Iron Defense and Rillaboom can't really touch you. Had to Roost a few times after terastalize since I no longer resisted Normal attacks with a Fighting tera. Acrobatics crit almost ruined my run, but otherwise Iron Defense makes you untouchable.

 

[ReKoil]

Beat it twice. Once with the Corviknight strat and once with Iron Hands.
The Iron Hands one is just pure RNG. It lacks a way to keep the opponents buffs in check and will usually lack healing power once the Shield goes up, so what I did was play dirty and Sand Attack it till the shield goes up. Then heal back up with drain punches and a heal cheer and hope Rillaboom misses enough times for Iron Hands to fully heal and be able to Belly Drum. Failed this a good dozen or so times, but then got ridiculously lucky with the RNG and ended up taking it down, barely.

 

[Adamabbafan]

Delphox & Rillaboom are the only two 7 star starter Pokemon I have caught and Delphox was the only one that really interested me the others never interested me I originally wasn't going to go for Rillaboom but decided to give it a try with Corviknight and got it. I can't see anymore 7 star raids happening until the DLC where we may get the missing starters from the previous generations and due to having two profiles with saves of both games I have 4 Delphox and 4 Rillaboom.

The starters that I missed from the previous 7 star raids I will breed them from eggs and raise them up myself it would be nice if they re-ran the other starters again up to Delphox.

 

[Devalue]

Nears the end of the official raid period. Ended up being tough solo, but not tough enough to restrict options severely. Won with a variety: Avalugg (Tera: Fighting), Medicham, Koraidon (fastest win by far), Lucario, Gholdengo (never Terastallized), Annihilape, Falinks, Iron Hands, Scizor, Krookodile, Cacturne, and maybe Galarian Zapdos. Proof of the spikiest cactus:

Spoiler: Image

Tried Power Trip, Leech Seed, Sand Attack, and Growth. Missed the final attack input by a second or two. Probably would have had it by using Power Trip earlier instead of Growth (before the buff clear) by mistake. Declined to reset for the perfect AI team again. Prevailed with Power Trip, Drain Punch, Sand Attack, and Swords Dance (with Big Root) instead.

Depended on AI Staraptor a lot. Used Feather Dance at least once in the first three turns consistently.

Attempted a few others, like Tera: Fighting Oricorio. Built itself up too slowly, though. Could not chew through Rillaboom's massive 11935 hitpoints (supposedly) quick enough. Further complicated this with Body Slam paralysis. Avoided Body Slam at the cost of accepting super-effective hits.