After teasing them in the main game, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet have finally introduced two new Paradox Pokémon available through tera raids. Walking Wake is a prehistoric version of Suicune that appears in Scarlet and Iron Leaves, a futuristic interpretation of Virizion, is obtainable in Violet. These two Pokémon can only be caught for a limited time, so if you’re running into trouble with them, we’ve got you covered. Let’s talk about how to defeat and capture Iron Leaves.
When does the Iron Leaves raid take place?
The Iron Leaves tera raid begins today, February 27, as part of the Pokémon Day event, and will last until March 12, at 23:59 UTC (6:59 p.m./3:59 p.m. eastern time). This is notable, because this makes Iron Leaves the only Paradox Pokémon in Violet that is available for a limited time. So if you want to complete your collection, be sure to get on these raids before they close.
What is Iron Leaves?
Iron Leaves is a futuristic version of Virizion, a Pokémon that debuted in Pokémon Black and White. As with all Paradox Pokémon in Violet, Iron Leaves seems robotic in nature. Many of the futuristic Pokémon are implied to have come from different kinds of science fiction tropes, such as a mad scientist or a UFO, though the realities of Iron Leaves’ existence are unknown.
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While the Paradox Pokémon appears as a boss in a tera raid, Iron Leaves was originally teased in the base game via the Violet Book, which featured a sketch of the character under the pretense of it being an imagined resident of Area Zero, where Paradox Pokémon reside after being brought to the Paldea region through Professor Turo’s time machine. Of the futuristic Pokémon, Iron Leaves is the only one to be based off a legendary Pokémon.
Who are the best Pokémon to fight Iron Leaves?
Iron Leaves is a grass and psychic Pokémon, which is meant to imply it has powers beyond the base Virizion, which is grass and fighting. It also has a psychic tera type in its raid, which means that unlike previous event raids like Charizard and Greninja, you won’t have to factor in a third typing as far as weaknesses and strengths go. However, Iron Leaves’ psychic attacks will receive a boost from the tera type, as well as its natural boost from its base typing. So accounting for a strong psychic and grass offensive is key to withstanding its attacks. Iron Leaves’ moveset is as follows:
- Psyblade (Psychic)
- Swords Dance (Normal)
- Leaf Blade (Grass)
- Megahorn (Bug)
- Electric Terrain (Electric)
The easiest counter to this is a dark-type Pokémon, which will negate Psyblade entirely. However, Megahorn is the wildcard move here, as it’s a bug-type move that will weaken a standard dark Pokémon. A good counter to this is Houndoom, who is a dark and fire type, which means it will be immune to Psyblade, and at least not be weakened by Megahorn. Its fire typing also will make Leaf Blade less effective due to its resistance to grass-type moves.
The one issue here is that Houndoom’s physical defense isn’t great, and Iron Leaves is primarily a physical attacker. So if you want to run Houndoom in this raid, try using some EV/IV training to prioritize physical defense. The devilish dog is a special attacker and there are several dark attacks to choose from; something like Dark Pulse will make the most of its own strengths. However, Iron Leaves has notably lower physical defense, so a move like Foul Play can be useful, as it will use Iron Leaves’ own physical attack stat as the basis for its damage. As you can tell by its moveset, the boss is built around physical attacks, so this can do some high damage and turn its strengths and weaknesses back on it.
Another defensive counter is Skeledirge, whose fire/ghost typing makes it resistant to every offensive move Iron Leaves has. The Paldea region’s fire-type starter has a wealth of ghost moves that can strike at Iron Leaves’ ghost weakness, but Shadow Ball is the most reliable and leans into Skeledirge’s special attack proficiency.
One more thing to keep in mind is that Iron Leaves will begin the fight with Electric Terrain, which, thanks to its Quark Drive ability, will raise its physical attack stat. If you want to counteract this, bring a Pokémon with a move like Defog that removes terrain altercations, or someone with their own terrain ability that can overtake the Electric Terrain. Avoid Psychic Terrain if you go this route, as it will increase psychic damage across the field, which will ultimately help Iron Leaves.
Whatever Pokémon you choose to bring, keep in mind that Iron Leaves will be at level 75 as part of a five-star tera raid. It won’t be as powerful as the Charizard or Greninja raids, but it’s best to make sure you’ve got something at least comparable in power before you fight it.
Can I get a shiny Iron Leaves?
As with most event tera raids in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Iron Leaves is shiny locked. While players have found the models for shiny versions of both it and Walking Wake in the code, it seems these forms are unobtainable at this time through legitimate means. For Pokémon like Charizard and Greninja, who were initially only obtainable in Scarlet and Violet through raids, the shiny forms were still available in the game because they could breed, and their offspring weren’t shiny locked. However, Iron Leaves and Walking Wake are Paradox Pokémon, which cannot breed. Hopefully these forms are made available soon.
Can I get Iron Leaves in Pokémon Scarlet?
Technically, Iron Leaves is a Violet exclusive, but both games pull from the same raid pool when you enter the Poké Portal in the main menu. Just pause the game, go to Poké Portal and connect to the internet. Doing so will give you a list of available tera raids, and as a Violet player, I’ve seen players searching for raids for Walking Wake, which I was able to access despite not having Scarlet myself. The same should apply to those playing Scarlet for Iron Leaves, but you’ll have to stumble into the tera raid battle search menu at the right time.
The more reliable means of getting Iron Leaves if you own Scarlet is to team up with a friend who owns Violet, as the raid is always available through this menu. But if you’re having trouble coordinating with friends, try refreshing the search menu. You may luck out.
Despite being based on legendary Pokémon, Iron Leaves is a bit easier than most of Scarlet and Violet’s event raids, which is probably a good thing considering this means more people will be able to catch them in the long run. While many players (myself included) expected Iron Leaves to play into Scarlet and Violet’s upcoming story DLC, it looks like Game Freak has elected to make them optional bosses instead. Despite this, given that the name of the DLC is The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, Paradox Pokémon may still play a major role in the future.
