Sinnoh’s land shark is back on duty in Paldea’s black crystals. Since Friday, October 23, 2026, the Mighty 
Garchomp has returned in 7-star Tera Raid Battles in Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, with the Ground Tera Type. You have until Friday, October 30, 2026 at 12:59 a.m. (Paris time) to defeat it and catch it with the Mighty Mark.
Already offered in May 2025, this raid is part of the series of Mighty Pokémon re-runs that have followed one another since the start of the new season, after Salamence and Metagross. As always, you need to have finished the main story to see these crystals on your map.
A Ground Tera Garchomp built for offense
- Level: 100, with a fixed size and no chance of being Shiny.
- Tera Type: Ground.
- Ability: Rough Skin, which hurts Pokémon that hit it with a direct attack.
- Nature: Jolly.
- Moves: Earthquake, Poison Jab, Liquidation and Fire Fang, plus Breaking Swipe and Swords Dance as special actions.
- HP: multiplied by 25 compared with a regular Garchomp.
The boss does more than just hit hard. It uses Breaking Swipe right at the start of the battle to lower your Attack, chains two Swords Dance as the timer runs down, and wipes away its stat drops and status conditions twice. Worse, when it drops to 60% of its HP, it cancels the stat boosts of the whole team. So it is better not to bet everything on a single boost early in the battle. It also activates its Terastal shield very early, which sharply reduces damage until it is broken.
Which Pokémon should you bring against it?
In its Ground Tera form, Garchomp loses its Dragon-type weaknesses and fears Water, Grass and Ice moves (Ice is no longer four times as effective). Electric moves do not affect it. Beware of its Fire Fang, however, which threatens Grass and Ice Pokémon in particular, and of Poison Jab. The most common strategies rely on Grass-type special attackers, Terastallized into Grass:
Sinistcha, with the Heatproof ability to withstand Fire Fang: Matcha Gotcha can burn the boss and halve its physical damage, while Strength Sap heals it by lowering the opponent’s Attack. Nasty Plot sets up the finishing blow.
Venusaur and 
Victreebel, with the Chlorophyll ability under Sunny Day: Acid Spray sharply lowers the boss’s Special Defense before a string of Giga Drain, which heal you along the way.- In a team, a support Pokémon such as
Smoliv helps absorb the Earthquakes that hit the whole group.
An item such as Protective Pads or Shell Bell, Special Attack EVs and a Modest nature round out these builds. For the mechanics in detail (timer, Cheers, shield), our complete guide to 7-star Tera Raid Battles will be live on PF on Monday, October 26.
Be careful: you can only catch one Mighty Garchomp per save file, but you can redo the raid as many times as you like for the rewards.
The rewards up for grabs
- Guaranteed: 6 Exp. Candy L, 4 Exp. Candy XL, 5 Carbos and 40 Ground Tera Shards (20 more for the host).
- One time only: TM149 Earthquake and an Ability Patch.
- At random: Rare Candies, Star Pieces, Comet Shard, Nuggets, Jolly Mint, PP Up, Silver Bottle Cap, Ability Capsule and Spice Mix.
To see the raid, download the latest Poké Portal News: this is automatic if your console is connected, otherwise go through the Poké Portal and then Mystery Gift. Joining another player’s raid requires a Nintendo Switch Online membership.
Key takeaways
The Mighty Ground Tera Garchomp awaits you until October 30 at 12:59 a.m. This powerful Pokémon has an ability that punishes direct attacks. Beyond the Mighty Mark, the raid makes it easy to collect Ground Tera Shards and Exp. Candies. Prepare a well-equipped Grass attacker, find three partners, and keep in mind the switch to winter time on October 25: in France, the event does end on October 30 at 12:59 a.m.
Source: Poké Portal News from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, cross-checked with Serebii and Pokébip.
