Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Five best Pokémon for the Cinderace raid

FOLLOWING on from the success of the Charizard raids, The Pokémon Company has announced that the next seven-star raid will be Cinderace.

Cinderace is the final form of the Fire-type starter from Pokémon Sword and Shield.

As with the last raid, you’ll only be able to catch one Cinderace, but you will be able to try out the raid multiple times.

Here are the best Pokémon to use in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Cinderace raid.

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Everything we know about Cinderace

Cinderace will appear in raids over two weekends. The first is Friday, December 30, 2022,until Sunday, January 1, 2023.

The second set of raids will take place from Friday, January 13, 2023, until Sunday, January 15, 2023.

It will appear in your game once per day, but you’ll be able to take part in other people’s raids as many times as you want.

We know it will come with the Fighting-Tera type, but everything else is speculative.

Cinderace doesn’t have a lot of coverage moves, but it does have Electro Ball, so we think this matchup might be based on speed advantage.

Gunk Shot might also negate the chance to bring Fairy-types, so we’ve given a range of ‘mons that could be used as counters.

Here’s what we think its stats will look like:

The Mightiest Cinderace – Level 100

• Nature – Adamant
• Ability – Libero
• Item – None
• Tera-type – Fighting
• Moves – Pyro Ball, Counter, Court Change, Sunny Day, Electro Ball, Flame Charge, Low Sweep

Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Five best Pokémon for Cinderace

Cinderace will have a number of Fire-, and Fighting-type attacks, but we also predict Electro Ball to counter Water- and Flying-type counters.

It is also highly likely to use Counter, so physical attacks should be avoided at all costs.

Court Change will probably be the most annoying move here, as it swaps stats with its opponent.

As such, a Pokémon with Taunt or Disable is recommended, or a Fairy-type which Cinderace won’t have strong counters to.

Gardevoir

The first Pokémon we thought of was Gardevoir for its four-times fighting resistances. It also has a decent Speed stat to negate Electro Ball.

Gardevoir comes with a number of impressive support and healing moves, to help keep itself and others alive, and prevent too much damage taken.

It also gets Synchronize, which can half Cinderace’s attack without affecting your attacking stat.

Here’s the set we recommend:

Gardevoir – Level 100

• Nature – Bold, HP and Defence invested 
• Ability – Synchronize
• Item – Big Root (+Draining Kiss) / Clear Amulet (+Stored Power) / Light Clay
• Tera-type – Psychic (or Fairy)
• Moves – Taunt, Reflect, Life Dew (teams) / Draining Kiss (solos), Moonblast (Fairy-tera) / Psychic (Psychic-tera)
• Alternative Move Set – Taunt, Reflect, Calm Mind, Stored Power

Flutter Mane

Flutter Mane suffers from the same issue as Gardevoir in that it isn’t strong defensively, but it does have a number of advantages.

Ghost-type is immune to Fighting-type moves, and has strong special defence against Electro Ball.

Flutter Mane also comes with a strong set of support options, and can be a powerful attacker.

It will also benefit if Cinderace ever puts up Sunny Day with a special attack boost.

Flutter Mane – Level 100

• Nature – Bold, HP and Defence invested 
• Ability – Protosynthesis
• Item – Clear Amulet
• Tera-type – Fairy (for offence) Ghost (for defence)
• Moves – Fake Tears, Wish / Taunt, Calm Mind, Stored Power (Ghost-tera) / Moonblast (Fairy-tera)

Sylveon

Many people used Sylveon in the Charizard raid, and it isn’t a bad choice here either. 

However, Pixelate is the ability you want to go for here, as the Tera-shield will negate Cute Charm’s effect.

Sylveon is a little slow, which could mean it suffers from Electro Ball, but it does have a beefy special defence stat to help out.

This Sylveon won’t have the ability to heal, so it should be paired with a support ‘mon to help with this. 

Here’s what we recommend:

Sylveon – Level 100

• Nature – Bold, HP and Defence invested 
• Ability – Pixelate
• Item – Ability Shield
• Tera-type – Fairy
• Moves – Reflect, Fake Tears, Calm Mind (solos) / Helping Hand (teams), Hyper Beam

Rotom Fan

Rotom Fan has a number of benefits over its Fairy-type counterparts. It’s Electric typing makes it resist Electro Ball, and it has good defences, speed and special attack.

It also learns a number of support moves that will help out the team, and has Flying-type, which is super-effective against Fighting-types.

Here’s our recommended set: 

Rotom Fan – Level 100

• Nature – Modest, HP and Defence invested 
• Ability – Levitate
• Item – Clear Amulet
• Tera-type – Electric (or Psychic)
• Moves – Reflect, Rain Dance, Nasty Plot, Stored Power / Air Slash

Pelipper

Pelipper is a sleeper hit, but will not be worth much if Cinderace does use Electro Ball.

This can be negated by getting some early hits, and then using Ground-tera. It also has bulky defences to help out.

With its ability Drizzle and strong moves like Hurricane, this will be a good choice for experienced players.

Here’s our recommendations: 

Pelipper – Level 100

• Nature – Timid, HP and Special Defence invested 
• Ability – Drizzle
• Item – Ability Shield
• Tera-type – Ground
• Moves – Hurricane, Stockpile, Helping Hand (teams) / Rain Dance (solos), Roost

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.