How Does Terastal Work in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?

The Terastal phenomenon is a new mechanic introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet that allows your Pokémon to change their type — but how exactly does it work?

Explaining How the Terastal Phenomenon Works in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

You receive your Tera Orb from Nemona once you arrive at the academy, and from this point on you can Terastallize one time per visit to a Pokémon Center. You can also refresh your Tera Orb by pressing A to interact with a Tera Raid Crystal, which are visible on your map as six-pointed stars with a Pokémon type inside them.

Terastallizing exchanges your Pokémon’s current types for your Tera type. For example, if you have a Poison / Ground cross-type like Paldean Wooper, and its Tera type is Grass, then it will become only a Grass type defensively and take on Grass’s weaknesses and strengths, such as resisting Water and being weak to Fire-type attacks.

When you Terrastalize, you will also gain 1.5x bonus damage for moves of your Tera type. In the above example, your Paldean Wooper would gain bonus damage for any Grass-type attacks it performed. However, it doesn’t lose its original same-type attack bonus, or STAB, meaning that it would get its usual bonus to damage for Poison- and Ground-type moves.

It’s worth noting that if your Tera type is the same as one of your original types, the bonuses from STAB and Terrastallization will stack. If your Wooper’s Tera type was Poison, then it would deal 2x damage with Poison attacks when Terrastalized compared to 1.5x when it isn’t.

Furthermore, when discussing how the Terastal phenomenon works in Pokémon Scarlet and Silver, it’s worth mentioning that you’ll receive the TM for Tera Blast after beating a few gyms. This is a move that, if used while Terastallized, deals damage of the Pokémon’s Tera Type and uses whichever stat is higher of the Pokemon’s Special Attack and Attack. If your Pokémon doesn’t learn any other moves of its Tera type, Tera Blast will always allow you to make use of the bonus damage from it.

All of this means that, sometimes, having a Tera Type the same as the Pokémon’s usual type isn’t a bad thing, since it increases your damage. On the other hand, having a different Tera type can help you defensively, by changing your type weaknesses, or allow you to hit Pokémon extra hard with move types that would normally not receive STAB.

That’s all you need to know about how the Terastal phenomenon works and how to Terastallize your Pokémon. For more Pokémon Scarlet and Violet guides, check out whether it’s possible to shiny-hunt for starters at the beginning of the game or if, yikes, you can get a refund for your digital copy of the game.

Related: Best Azumarill Build for Tera Raids on AOTF