Any advice on taking on the 7 star greninja?

Question

I am trying to complete the PokéDex in Pokémon Violet.
I know greninja isn't in the dex, but it would still be cool to have it.
So, any advice for that?

Answer 1

Their are a few builds people are using frequently for this raid. I'll highlight them here.

Slowbro
Ability: Dealers Choice
Nature: Modest
Evs: 252 SpA, 252Hp, 4 Def
Tera Type: Psychic
Item: Leftovers/Covert Cloak/
Moves:
- Slack Off
- Iron Defense
- Nasty Plot
- Stored Power

In my opinion, the most consistent choice. The main strategy of this set is to spam Stat boosting moves and Fire off an insanely powerful Stored Power to take massive chunks of greninjas Hp. Spend your early turns Using Iron Defense to reduce the damage you take from Gunk Shot and Night Slash. Do Note that after your 3rd turn, Greninja will reset your stat boosts. I recommend either firing off a weaker Stored Power, or using Slack Off on turn 3 to not waste the turn. Afterwards, recoup your lost Stat Boosts until +6. Then switch to Nasty Plot until you've also maxed out Your SpA. Then Fire off Stored Powers until Victory.
Do be warned that even with this ideal Build, this Raid is Very Luck based. It can take several turns to even hit Greninja due to its use of Double Teams, and a Critical Hit Night Slash can Doom your attempt immediately when it happens. Just be patient and Victory will find its way.

Gastrodon
Ability: Storm Drain
Nature: Modest
Evs: 252 SpA, 252Hp, 4Def
Tera Type: Ground
Item: Leftovers/Covert Cloak/Shell Bell
Moves:
- Recover
- Clear Smog
- Chilling Water
- Earth Power

The Support Build, Essentially. Your main job is to chip away at Greninjas Health while lowering his stats to make life easier for your damage dealing teammates. Clear Smog after each Double Team to Negate his evasion, otherwise spam Chilling Water and Earth Power to whittle away its Hp. Recover when needed. When it puts its Shields up, you cam Terastalize and spam Earth Power to take him down more quickly.

Hope I Helped.

Comments

The number of turns don't affect the scheduled moves used by Tera Pokémon. They are on checks relying on both their health and the raid timer. If you are a fast masher with minimum animations, you can score 5 turns before the first debuff. 1 Iron Defense and 2 Nasty Plots (Or 3 Nasty Plots if your teammates are paying attention) followed by a Stored Power can get the Greninja to wipe you and use both Double Teams in the same turn, which will then let any Mist users clear the Double Teams away without affecting Slowbro.

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I personally find Slowbro to be a lot more useful, especially for solo raids.

Answer 2

If you are going to Solo, I used the Following two builds. They both also do great in online random matchups.

Baxcalibur

The Special Defense builds worked best. If you add Breaking Swipe in instead of Brick Break you can tank the whole damage set. I recommend an Arboliva AI on your team to increase your healing, but there really is no wrong way to play.

In Online Play, just spam Breaking Swipes and cheer the teams Defenses once after Greninja debuffs the team while healing at convenient times.

Annihilape

I used Screech at first, and then I switched to Rage Fist. Terastalizing is a bit risky, as it will make Night Slash dangerous.

In online play, it is mostly the same, but Terastalizing is safer (just activate a Cheer Defense after the first Debuff).

Just a note, the Greninja uses Double Team three times throughout the battle (as well as Toxic Spikes once at the beginning). It also removes it's own Debuffs twice, and it debuffs your team. If you want to see the timing for these actions, I recommend watching this.

Hands Solo

Note, I do not recommend that build unless you are very good at Solo raids. The video is just an easy way to see when Greninja activates its scheduled debuffs. Note, someone said in another answer that these are turn based. They are timer based (and this includes if it is reduced when teammates faint) and HP based (which is why you may see several attacks and buffs go off at once after someone does a large attack that doesn't OHKO the raid Pokémon). If you do want to try the Iron Hands Challenge, the held Item was a Wide Lens, and the EVs were Sp. Def and Atk on an Adamant Nature. In online play, your teammates may attack you if you use an Iron Hands.

Finally, if you plan on supporting a team, I recommend the following build:

Clodsire @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Mist
- Acid Spray
- Chilling Water
- Mud-Slap

When the battle starts, spam A as fast as you can to make sure you get Mist off before your allies. This will eliminate Greninja's double team.

Afterwards, a Cheer Defense helps, and Mud Slap is a comically reliable against Greninja. Use 3 of them, and its already low accuracy moves will fizzle. Switch to Acid Spray (if the team has Special Attackers building up) and Chilling Water (if you want Greninja to use Special Moves more often, but watch out for Ice Beam). When Gren wipes away its own debuffs, just repeat that cycle. Do not use Mist again when Gren Double Teams later in the battle if you have Slowbro on your team (or anything else that set up buffs).

Watch for teammates in need of healing, as you can safely use Cheering Heal Up at any time.