#but if the tera type doesn't match the move type you inflict risible damage to Rillaboom when it's shielded

[goosetrainer]

Experimented a bit, here to report.

Tried: Hisuian Goodra, Skeledirge, Ceruledge, Mimikyu, Galarian Slowbro, Iron Hands, was gonna try my luck with Farigiraf but then I noticed its moveset does not include decent defense boosters, so I gave up preemptively.

Of these, the only one who succeeded was Skeledirge, but it wasn't much easier than with Bellibolt. Will leave the build down here just for the sake of completion :)

(I'd still like to try with some other poison types if I have the time - particularly looking at Muk, Swalot, Glimmora, Revavroom, Overqwil)

Skeledirge lv.100

Tera type: Fire

Ability: Unaware (hidden)

Item: Shell Bell

Nature: Modest (/Quiet/Rash will do)

IVs: max HP, def., sp.atk., sp.def.

EVs: 252 defense, 252 special attack, 4 HP

Moveset: -Torch Song (level up) (PP Up recommended) -Fire Blast (level up) -Sunny Day (TM) -Slack Off (egg move, see Slakoth & Hippopotas lines)

Usage:

the cool thing about Skeledirge is that its hidden ability, Unaware, makes it ignore the opponent's stat changes, meaning that you only have to worry about Rillaboom's raised attack when he wipes your stat changes, which is when he also locks your ability for one turn. Great typing makes it immune to normal and fighting type moves (3 moves in Rillaboom's set, including the one that paralyses!), resistant to grass, and only neutral to flying. Acrobatics is one of the least powerful of the bunch in this fight, so yay us. Given all of that, Intimidate-having NPCs are less important (yet still useful for that single turn), Arboliva is actually beneficial since we're not getting attacked with grass moves so often and it brings some extra healing, and paralyzing/burning allies are even better.

The trick is to increase Skeledirge's special attack via continuos Torch Songs, but only after the player-side stat wipe. We still have to use Torch Song to bring his health down enough to trigger that, so start attacking. IMPORTANT do not terastallize as soon as you can, wait a minute. Once the shield is up and you see Rillaboom reset your stat changes and nullify your ability, play safe by using 1-2 defensive cheers, then hold your horses and start building you special attack up by using Torch Song 6 times. This is the critical part, because since Rillaboom is shielded and you're not terastallized, you're inflicting less damage and thus healing less with Shell Bell. When you find yourself in the 100-130 HP left range, use Slack Off to heal. Probably gonna be 2 times. Once you have the +6 special attack bonus, Slack Off once again if you're around half life or less, use Sunny Day, and ONLY NOW terastallize. The reason we didn't do that before is that by becoming a pure fire type we lose immunity to a lot of moves and, while Boomburst isn't that worrisome, Low Kick hits Skeledirge quite hard, and Body Slam does that plus chance of paralysis. And we want to keep the number of wasted turns to a minimum.

Once that's done, no need to set up anything else, start Fire Blasting. You basically won't need to heal anymore too, since you're now dealing big damage >:) the worst that can happen is you fail because of accuracy, and that CAN make you lose the battle, but less powerful moves weren't enough when I tried. Middle risk high damage strategy. You could try to spam Torch Song and bring Blast Burn(TM) to use for a last-turn-only damage burst, but I haven't done that so I can't vouch for it. Overheat sounds good but you'd still have to use more Torch Songs after that to make up for the loss of special attack.

TL;DR: Torch Song, until Rillaboom nullifies your stat changes, then 2x Hang Tough cheers + 6x Torch Song interspersed with Slack Offs when low HP (100-130), Sunny Day, terastallize after Sunny Day, then Fire Blast until end.

Pros: -available in the game natively -no need to change the tera type -less dependent on allies, so less time spent on resetting -you'll be done setting up before the shield is down, and it's a bit easier to survive after that Cons: -hidden ability and can't be found in tera dens (yet), so you either need an ability patch or to know someone who can breed you one -starter, so maybe you have it maybe you don't. -still pretty slow to set up -once terastallized, can be paralyzed -dps strategy relies on a low accuracy move, could be necessary to try more than once

Mari's NOT SO LAST MINUTE (wow) Tera Raid Guide #5 - Rillaboom

It's Bellibolt again. I wanted to be more creative but it works and it recycles an old pokémon, so why change? Also busy

It's a bit ~close~ (you need not lose time selecting your moves and it requires a bit of NPC hunting) so if I have time in the next days I'll see if there's something better. In the meantime, reminder that I'll let anyone borrow my own pokémon if you can't train your own (need Pokémon Home)

Bellibolt l.100

Tera type: Electric

Ability: Electromorphosis

Item: Magnet

Nature: Modest/Quiet

IVs: max HP, def, sp.atk, sp.def

EVs: 252 sp.atk, 252 def, 4 HP

Moveset:

-Acid Spray (TM)

-Parabolic Charge (egg move)

-Electric Terrain (level up) / Reflect (TM)

- ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

If it looks familiar, it's because it is the same Bellibolt from the Walking Wake/Iron Leaves guide, literally just took it out of the box and tried it and it worked. Just swapped Light Screen with Electric Terrain.

Usage:

Rillaboom has mostly physical attacks + one special move (Boomburst)(not so dangerous, low special attack). Wipes your stat modifications the turn after his shield went up, wipes his own the turn after the shield went down.

The biggest threat is the fact that he has TWO (2) attack-boosting moves, Growth and Bulk Up. By the end of the fight he'll have them used ~4 times... which brings us to the important part of the fight

RESET FOR THE RIGHT NPC ALLIES

-favour pokémon with the ability INTIMIDATE. One is necessary and technically sufficient, two is ideal, three is an unicorn but if it happens it's good! (They are: Tauros, Staraptor, Arcanine)

-optional: Dudunsparce, Umbreon and Drifblim can apply paralysis/burn status and it helps, either with the occasional free turn or the very welcome attack debuff. In theory Sylveon has Charm but I can't recall seeing it use it...? If you got an Intimidate mon but none of these, it should work just fine, try your luck.

-IMPORTANT if you get Arboliva RUN AWAY and retry. Rillaboom already generates Grassy Terrain on turn one making his grass type move the most dangerous, no need to prolong that suffering for the rest of the fight.

What you're gonna do is: Electric Terrain on turn one (gets rid of the Grassy Terrain, making Drum Beating weaker and helping with at least one Parabolic Charge's damage) OR Reflect (protects against all physical moves but no offensive boost for you). Only use one or the other, don't waste turns in my experience Electric Terrain worked better but maybe it's just me.

Then the usual 3x Acid Spray - you will die in the middle, after the first or second Acid Spray, don't panic. IMPORTANT if you manage to get all 3 done before dying, but end up with less than half life, DO NOT TERASTALLIZE. You'll just die the next turn and lose your terastal. Rillaboom is very fast, if your Bellibolt's nature is Quiet his speed is more than double yours, don't think you can heal at this point! Let yourself faint.

Terastallize when you're sure you'll survive, and go with the 2-3 Parabolic Charges that you need to break the shield.

Now, this point is a bit weird, there's a chance of the game bugging a bit with the order of action but use either Acid Spray or Parabolic Charge. [Technical rant here: in theory Acid Spray is the one you should select - Rillaboom will get rid of his own stat debuffs before you attack, meaning that his special defense goes back up to neutral again and you start getting it down on the same turn, but sometimes for some reason you attack first and he resets his stats after, and if he attacks on the same turn you find yourself with less HP on Bellibolt, and neutral special defense on Rillaboom, it's weird. Keep an eye on what happens during the previous turns and act accordingly I guess.]

In any case, the post-shield fight will have you alternating Acid Spray - Parabolic Charge - Acid Spray - Parabolic Charge, etc. Rillaboom's attack will likely be at +3 at this point, so you can only really spare one turn at a time to mess with stats before you need to heal. Two Acid Sprays should be enough, but if you have the time and the life you can use it a third time. Much more likely that you'll only have the time to do that only twice though, and then finish with 1-3 Parabolic Charges, it should hit hard enough by then.

TL;DR: Electric Terrain/Reflect on turn 1, Acid Spray x3, die and resurrect anytime during the Acid Sprays, terastallize, Parabolic Charge until end of the shield, Acid Spray > Parabolic Charge > Acid Spray > Parabolic Charge > Parabolic Charge spam

Pros:

-it's literally a returning build. Reduce Reuse Recycle!

-no transfer required from other games

-immune to the secondary effect of Body Slam (paralysis)

-idk check the last time's pros

Cons:

-bit slow, bit too close with the time limit

-heavily dependent on NPCs 😞 sorry

^this attempt was won, just took a screen before the last attack to show how close it was. Also notice that I have Light Screen instead of Reflect, lol! I used Electric Terrain that time, instead.