Pokemon Scarlet and Violet‘s final event raid of 2022 will be featuring Cinderace, the Fire-type starter Pokemon from Sword and Shield. If you want to get Cinderace in Scarlet and Violet before Pokemon HOME becomes available next year, this guide will cover everything you need to know regarding the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Cinderace raid. Cinderace may prove to be tougher than the recent Charizard raid, so you’ll need to prepare for this one.

Do note that at the moment, we don’t know the actual moveset of Cinderace, so the suggested Pokemon in this guide are based on what moves Cinderace will likely run. Also, a good chunk of the info here came from PKMNCast’s video on the raid, where they also go over some other potential Pokemon to bring, so check them out! Once we know more info, we’ll update the guide with the relevant stuff.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Cinderace Raid Guide:

An Overview of Cinderace

Moves to look out for:

• Pyro Ball (Fire)
• High Jump Kick (Fighting)
• Iron Head (Steel)
• Gunk Shot (Poison)
• Sucker Punch (Dark)
• Court Change

Cinderace is a pure Fire-type pokemon, but thanks to Terastallization, it’ll be a pure Fighting type in the Tera Raid. That doesn’t mean its Fire-type hits won’t hurt, though, as Terastallization keeps STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) for the Pokemon’s original types. For those who don’t know, a Pokemon that uses a damaging move with the same type as its own will deal 1.5 times the usual damage, hence the term STAB.  

This means that Cinderace will hurt a lot with its Fighting and Fire-type moves. It’s likely that Cinderace will have Pyro Ball in its arsenal, which is its signature attack move. Pyro Ball does 120 base power damage with no drawbacks and can even leave a burn, so you’ll definitely want a Pokemon that, at the very least, is resistant to Fire-type attacks. Cinderace also has access to High Jump Kick, one of the most powerful Fighting-type attacks in the game, with 130 base power. Remember, both of these moves have STAB, so you’ll really want resistances or immunities for these two types if possible.

But that’s not all. Cinderace has a couple of other attacks that can serve as coverage against its counters. Fairy-type Pokemon that typically handle Fighting types with ease will end up struggling against Gunk Shot, as it’s a hard-hitting Poison-type move that will deal super effective damage to Fairy types. It can also use Iron Head, giving Cinderace two possible answers to Fairy types.

Psychic Types will also have a bit of trouble dealing with Cinderace depending on whether or not it will be able to use Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch is a Dark-type attack with 70 base power that goes first if the foe is about to attack it, but will fail if the foe isn’t. This can hurt Psychic types quite a bit, especially with the extra priority, but unlike Fairy types, there’s an easy answer to this, as you’ll see in the next section.

Helpful Battle Effects

There are a few ways you can make the Cinderace raids a lot smoother for you and your team. These are via battle effects, and there are three worth mentioning: Psychic Terrain, Rain, and Reflect. When Psychic Terrain is active, it prevents Pokemon from using priority moves, and this includes Sucker Punch. Psychic Terrain also gives Psychic-type attacks a damage boost, so it can bring huge value to the raid if you have Pokemon with Psychic-type attacks in their moveset.

The Rain weather effect may not be as helpful when it comes to boosting your damage output, as Water isn’t super effective against Fighting, but it does have other benefits. For one, Rain reduces the effectiveness of Fire-type moves by 50%, making Cinderace’s Pyro Ball a lot weaker. It also interacts with certain abilities such as Swift  Swim, Rain Dish, or Hydration. Finally, the Flying-type move Hurricane actually never misses when used in Rain, and since Hurricane is a Flying-type move, it’s great to bring to the Cinderace raid.

On paper, Reflect looks like a great supporting move for the Cinderace raid, as it reduces the effectiveness of Physical-type moves for a few turns. However, it may not be as reliable depending on whether or not Cinderace has access to one of its signature moves: Court Change. Court Change causes effects such as Reflect and Light Screen to switch sides, giving Cinderace the extra bulkiness instead of your team while robbing you of your own. We’ll have to see if Cinderace actually has access to this move, but if it does, you may want to look at other defensive options instead.

Best Pokemon to Bring

While there are a few viable Pokemon to bring to the Cinderace raids, these three are capable of carrying a raid either through their damage output or their supportive capabilities. 

Armarouge

Recommended moves:

• Expanding Force
• Psychic Terrain
• Acid Spray
• Reflect/Clear Smog

Starting off with arguably the best Pokemon to bring in the Cinderace raid, we have Armarouge, the Fire Warrior Pokemon. Armarouge is a dual-type Fire/Psychic Pokemon that works really well against Cinderace. Fire-type Pokemon are immune to the Burn debuff, which is helpful as Pyro Ball has a chance to burn the target. With Flash Fire, its main Ability, Armarouge becomes immune to Fire-type attacks, making Cinderace’s Pyroball useless. Its Psychic typing also makes it resistant to Fighting-type moves. 

Aside from Armarouge having great defensive typing against Cinderace, it also has access to Psychic Terrain, which nullifies the only Physical Dark-type attack that Cinderace can use against Psychic types for super effective damage. In other words, once Psychic Terrain is up, Cinderace will only be able to hit you for normal damage with attacks that don’t have STAB. 

There’s also Acid Spray, a Poison-type attack that reduces the foe’s Special Defense by two stages. This secondary effect works even through the Tera Shield, which is a huge deal since status moves don’t work on Tera Raid Pokemon with a Tera Shield up. Three Acid Sprays are enough to get Cinderace to -6 Special Defense, making it a great form of setup for your team.

And it gets even better. Armarouge gains access to Expanding Force, a Psychic-type attack that does more damage when used in Psychic Terrain. Combined with the boost you get from Psychic Terrain (which is separate) STAB, and lowered Special Defense due to acid spray, you’re looking at a lot of damage output from Armarouge. Slap a Shell Bell on it and Armarouge will heal to full HP with every Expanding Force hit. If you want to solo the Cinderace raids, this is the Pokemon to do it with.

Small note: in the event that Cinderace has access to Swords Dance or Bulk Up, you may want to slot in Clear Smog. It removes all the target’s status changes and works through Tera Shield, too, so you can keep Cinderace in check if it starts buffing itself up.

Ceruledge

Recommended moves:

• Bitter Blade
• Psycho Cut
• Swords Dance/Bulk Up
• Will-o-Wisp/Reflect

Armarouge’s Violet counterpart, Ceruledge, is also a good option. In terms of typing, it’s even better than Armarouge, as its secondary Ghost type makes it immune to Cinderace’s Fighting-type attacks. Ceruledge, like Armarouge, also has the Flash Fire Ability, effectively making it immune to both of Cinderace’s STAB moves. 

While Ceruledge doesn’t have any STAB moves that are super effective against Fighting types, it does have access to two useful buff-type moves in Swords Dance and Bulk Up. Swords Dance raises Ceruledge’s Attack by two stages, whereas Bulk Up raises its Attack and Defense by one stage each. Bulk Up’s great for when you want to make Ceruledge bulkier, whereas Swords Dance is great for quickly maxing out your Attack. You can also teach it Will-o-Wisp, as burned Pokemon do less damage on Physical-type moves, which can reduce Cinderace’s damage output.

You can also throw in Ceruledge’s signature move, Bitter Blade. This move heals Ceruledge for half the damage it deals, and while it won’t melt Cinderace, it’s a nice way to heal back up while also chipping away at it in the process. Do note that Ceruledge is weak to Sucker Punch, too, so you may need someone to set up Psychic Terrain for your team. Speaking of which:

Slowbro

Recommended moves:

• Psychic
• Psychic Terrain
• Chilling Water
• Nasty Plot/Slack Off/Rain Dance

Slowbro’s a flexible Pokemon for this raid in the sense that it can dish out a lot of damage, but it can also offer a lot of support to your team if you’d rather play that way. Its Water/Psychic typing makes it resistant to both Fire and Fighting-type attacks, and Slowbro’s high Defense stat means that it can soak a lot of damage. 

Even a defensively-built Slowbro can deal good damage thanks to its access to Nasty Plot. This move raises the Pokemon’s Special Attack by two stages, and combined with both STAB on Psychic-type attacks and Psychic terrain, you have a lot of damage potential.

Slowbro really shines, however, when it gets to use its support moves. It can learn both Rain Dance and Psychic Terrain, both of which help your entire team as mentioned earlier. You can also teach it Chilling Water, an attack that lowers the foe’s Attack stat by one stage when it connects. Since this is a secondary effect, it works through Tera Shield, so you can always keep Cinderace in check throughout the fight. Finally, Slack Off can be useful if you find yourself running low on HP, so you won’t ever have to worry about fainting.

The only way for Cinderace to do super effective damage to Slowbro would be through U-turn, Electro Ball, Shadow Ball, or Trailblazer. Of those four, U-turn and Trailblazer are the most likely, though they don’t benefit from STAB, and Trailblazer only has 50 base power. U-turn is slightly stronger at 70, but again, it’s not super likely that it’ll run the move.

Whether you’re training your Slowbro offensively or defensively, it’ll work at least somewhat well, so just go with whatever playstyle you prefer.

What About Azumarill/Flutter Mane/Sylveon?

The Cinderace raid shares some similarities with Charizard raid in the sense that they’re both Fire-type Pokemon with a Tera type that’s weak to Fairy. This led some players to believe that they can reuse their Pokemon from the Charizard raids, such as Azumarill, Sylveon, or Flutter Mane. And while they can technically do a lot of damage to Cinderace, Cinderace will also be able to deal a lot of damage back via Iron Head and Gunk Shot. Both moves are super effective against Fairy types, making Sylveon and Flutter Mane bad choices for the raid.

Azumarill is slightly better than the other two thanks to its Water typing, making Fire do half damage and Steel do normal damage, but Gunk Shot will still hurt a lot. Unless you can run a comp with support Pokemon that can help you stay alive, you’re probably better off using the Pokemon mentioned in this guide instead of good ol’ Azumarill.

And that’s about it! The Cinderace Tera Raid will go live throughout the year’s final weekend. Here are the specific dates and times for various timezones:

• PT: December 29 at 4 PM to January 1 at 3:59 PM
• ET: December 29 at 7 PM to January 1 at 6:59 PM
• UTC: December 30 at 12 AM to January 1 at 11:59 PM
• HKT: December 30 at 8 AM to January 2 at 7:59 AM

There’ll also be a second run of the event from January 13 to 15 during the same times, if you can’t prepare your Pokemon in time for Round 1. Good luck out there, Trainers!

Update: We now know Cinderace’s moveset, and according to Serebii, it only knows five moves! Here’s the full list:

• High Jump Kick
• Pyro Ball
• Acrobatics
• Iron Head
• Bulk Up

Cinderace will use Bulk Up at the beginning of the fight, so prepare to take some damage. 

It’s also worth noting that because Cinderace doesn’t have Gunk Shot in its moveset, you can use Azumarill! You’ll need a good team to support you while you set up, however, as Cinderace will still hurt despite not having any supereffective moves against you.

Another move worth mentioning is Sucker Punch—if Cinderace had it, Psychic-type Pokemon would have needed to set up with Psychic Terrain as a counter, but Cinderace does not know the move. You may still want to use Psychic Terrain to boost your damage output if your team has Psychic types, however.