Pokémon Scarlet & Violet: Best Cetitan Builds For Tera Raids

Cetitan’s Tera Raid build in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a great one to power through opponents that are weak against Ice-type moves while staying alive long enough to ensure the activity is completed successfully. The Ice-type Pokémon was introduced with Generation 9’s region of Paldea and is the evolution of Cetoddle, one of the first revealed creatures for Scarlet and Violet. Obtaining Cetitan is a mid-to-end game endeavor since it only shows up in the northern snowy area of Paldea, but it is worthwhile to have it as an ally once caught.

The creature excels in physical Attack and has a high survivability rate, but it also boasts very low defensive stats and slow movement. Nonetheless, having Cetitan in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Snow teams for ranked matches has proven how resilient it is, and that same resilience can be translated and adapted into a Tera Raid build. With that purpose, players should boost what it excels at while also granting it coverage for its less appealing stats.

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Best Stats & Nature For Cetitan

Because Cetitan’s best base stats are its Attack and HP, those should be the ones maxed out in its EV (Effort Value) Training. The four remaining EV points should be invested in Defense to compensate for its low base stat and make it sturdier against most of its weaknesses. This EV Training will substantially increase its survivability odds on the field while also boosting its overall damage output. To further improve this, players should head out to the snowy town of Montenevera and use the Hyper Training function in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. This, which is also called IV (Individual Value) Training, will take Cetitan’s stats to the max, which is ideal for any Tera Raid build.

Players will need a few Bottle Caps to max out Attack, Defense, and HP, but a few more if they want a few extra stat points in Speed and Special Defense. Players can skip Hyper Training the Special Attack stat since it is not used in Cetitan’s Tera Raid build. The last finishing touch for its stat build is ensuring the creature has an Adamant Nature. This will boost its Attack stat while lowering its Special Attack. If it is not already Adamant, players will need to use an Adamant Mint in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to set the proper Nature.

Best Ability For Cetitan

Cetitan has a total of three different Abilities: Thick Fat grants it extra resistance against Fire- and Ice-type moves, halving the damage taken by them, while Slush Rush doubles its Speed stat when a hailstorm or snowstorm is in occurring. Its Hidden Ability, Sheer Force, increases the base power of every move by 30% but removes additional effects it may have. All of them are good, however, the best Ability for Cetitan’s Tera Raid build is Slush Rush because its moveset will set up a snowstorm. If it knows Sheer Force, players need to use one of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Ability Patches – if it knows Thick Fat, an Ability Capsule is the solution.

Best Items For Cetitan

When it comes to Held Items, players have a few options to choose from. The simplest strategy is further increasing its survivability, which can be done with either Shell Bell or Leftovers. Having these in Cetitan’s Tera Raid build in Scarlet and Violet will help the Pokémon restore HP, which is important. Another, more risky option is giving it Icy Rock. This will increase the duration of the snowstorm it creates from five solid turns to five to eight turns.

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Giving it Icy Rock is an excellent strategic choice in the long run, but having Cetitan hold a Leftovers or Shell Bell in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet is a safer strategy. It is important to note that, during a snowstorm, Ice-type Pokémon get a 50% Defense increase. Therefore, having that boost for virtually the whole fight is an ingenious way of keeping Cetitan alive in Tera Raids, even if it does not come down to the straightforward HP recovery strategy. The item in the Tera Raid build choice comes down to the player’s strategy and comfort with Cetitan’s survivability.

Best Tera Type For Cetitan

Players will take advantage of Cetitan’s Ice-type specialty in its Tera Raid build. Because of this, the best Tera Type players can have for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Tera Raids is Ice-type. For instance, it could have a surprising and powerful Water Tera type for PvP, which would grant it coverage against a few of its weaknesses. However, players should be building an Ice-type specialist for Tera Raids, and its Tera type should reflect that. In the later stages of the fight, this will significantly increase its Ice-moves’ power. It also maintains its single typing, which doesn’t grant it any new weakness.

Best Moveset For Cetitan

Cetitan’s moveset for its Tera Raid build reflects its Ice-type specialty and high Attack stat. Because of its high HP, its first move in any battle should be Belly Drum. This will cut its HP in half but max out its Attack boosting for the fight. Players should be wary that this is one of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Egg Moves, so players will need to temporarily give their Cetitan a Mirror Herb and set up a picnic with them and a Zangoose that knows that move, according to Bulbapedia. This is Cetitan’s initial move in any Tera Raid.

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The second move Cetitan should learn for its Tera Raid build is Snowscape. The Status move sets up a snowstorm to increase its Defense and, if its Ability is Slush Rush, boost its Speed by 50%. Additionally, if its Held Item is Icy Rock, the previous effects can last even more, provided the opponent doesn’t clear the weather in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Its main STAB (Same-type attack bonus) spammable move should be Ice Spinner, which takes advantage of its Attack stat and destroys any Terrain set in the arena. Cetitan should be very fast with the snowstorm boost, but if the opponent still strikes first, players should use the fourth move, Avalanche.

Ice Spinner has a base power of 80, while Avalanche has a base power of 60. Despite being weaker than Ice Spinner under normal circumstances, if the user was hit on that same turn, Avalanche’s base power is doubled, therefore hitting with an impressive 120 base power. Cetitan’s moveset in its Tera Raid build does not allow for much customization but shows that it is an excellent selection of moves. For example, if players use any HP-restoring items bought from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s Delibirds Presents shops, they should cover its HP loss with Belly Drum. Likewise, if Cetitan holds Icy Rock, they should use an HP restoration action before moving on to the offensive.

Cetitan’s Tera Raid build is not very flexible for players’ preferences regarding moveset, Ability, or Tera type. Nevertheless, it does allow them to choose different items, all of which impact the overall strategy of the activities. Cetitan is not considered one of the best Ice-type creatures in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, especially when put side-by-side with Chien-Pao or Baxcalibur, but it is a bulky and reliable choice.

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Source: Bulbapedia, Youtube/The Official Pokémon YouTube channel