How to Unlock 7-Star Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

As you play through Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll likely become familiar with raids by interacting with crystal dens peppered throughout Paldea, but what you may not realize is that the real challenge is locked behind post-game content. Here’s how to unlock 7-Star Tera raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.

How to Unlock 7-Star Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

To unlock 7-Star Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, you’ll need to complete the following steps:

• Finish the base game
• Re-challenge all eight Gym Leaders
• Beat the first Academy Ace Tournament
• Challenge and win against ten 4- or 5-Star Tera raids

Before you can access 7-Star Tera raids, you’ll need to first finish the game. This means completing all three pathways—Victory Road, Path of Legends, and Starfall Street—and making your way through Area Zero. After the game’s credits roll, Top Champion Geeta will ask you to help her complete her Gym inspections so that she can take part in the academy’s new tournament organized by Nemona. To accomplish this, you’ll need to make your way across Paldea and re-challenge all eight Gym Leaders in any order you’d like. After the final Gym Leader has been defeated, you’ll enter the Academy Ace Tournament for the first time. Beat it, and you’ll start a new interaction with Jacq.

Upon beating the Academy Ace Tournament, Jacq will call to warn you about strong raid crystals appearing all over Paldea. This will unlock 5-Star Tera raids and increase the appearance of 4-Star Tera raids for you to participate in. Successfully complete ten of these 4- and 5-Star Tera raids, and you’ll finally unlock 6- and 7-Star Tera raids. Keep in mind that the 4- and 5-Star Tera raids that you challenge need to be found in your own game. Challenging a Tera raid that another player is hosting online will not count toward your overall total to unlock 7-Star Tera raids.

How to Access 7-Star Tera Raids

The 7-Star Tera raids, which reward players with unique Pokemon and rare items, will only appear as events at specified times. To access a particular 7-Star Tera raid, you’ll need to connect your game to the internet and take a look at Poke Portal News once the raid goes live. You can do this by pressing X, selecting Poke Portal, then pressing +.

Accessing Poke Portal News will update your game and cause the 7-Star Tera raid to spawn somewhere on your map. You can then locate the raid by finding its black Tera crystal, indicated on your map by a sparkling, glowing black icon with the raid’s featured Tera type in the middle. Head over to the raid den and interact with it, at which point you can either challenge the raid alone or as a group online. Any time you take on a 7-Star Tera raid, you’ll only be able to catch the featured Pokemon once, but you’ll be able to challenge the raid and collect its rewards as many times as you’d like.

That’s it on how to unlock 7-Star Tera Raids in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Be sure to check Poke Portal News regularly to stay up to date on which 7-Star Tera raid events are occurring and when. And if you need help taking down these challenging raids, we here at The Escapist like to put up guides on the best counters and builds for each raid event, such as the mighty Psychic Tera Meganium.