Pokémon Scarlet and Violet to host shiny Rayquaza tera raid event

Players of Pokémon’s most recent mainline game, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet were treated to some much-anticipated news today with the Pokémon Company/ Game Freak/ Nintendo announcing that shiny Rayquaza will be coming to tera raids in the not-so-distant future. According to the announcement, this raid will take place December 19th-January 5th.

Many have previously speculated that such a raid may become available at some point, particularly because of this shiny legendary’s importance to the ‘Horizons’ anime. There have been many calls on online forums over the years for the games to add features that bring them closer to the anime themselves, and with the addition of a shiny Rayquaza, it seems that those cries have been heard, to a degree.

The event itself will see Rayquaza appear in five-star raids, making it accessible to most players, even if they only dabble in the game casually. With the event running through the holiday season, players will have ample time to claim their shiny legendary. Each player will be able to obtain one shiny Rayquaza per save.p

In addition to the shiny legendary hailing from the Hoenn region, there will be a string of mass outbreak events with heightened shiny odds leading up to the event. These mass outbreaks will include Tinkatink, Wooper, Girafarog and Chansey, each of which will appear across different parts of the Paldea region and beyond.

As we’ve discussed in the past, tera-raid events have set a precedent for these sorts of exciting developments, giving players more accessibility to otherwise very rarely attainable mons that would take ages to grind for. It will be another memorable event for players to look back on once the Scarlet and Violet era comes to a more resounding close next year with the release of Pokémon Legends ZA supposed to occur sometime in 2025.