Players who have unlocked Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's six-star Tera Raids are quickly realizing that Iron Hands is capable of soloing them. Instead of teaming up with others, some pioneering players have discovered a particular approach that allows them to bring out Iron Hands' full potential in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet.
For players without Nintendo Online, Tera Raids become more difficult due to the game assigning players three random, AI-controlled teammates. These NPC teammates often send out support Pokemon that do no substantial damage and neglect to Terastalize them, leading to players being unable to break the Tera barrier before the raid timer runs out due to a lack of support. Thus, what an offline player needs is a Pokemon capable of outputting enough damage to topple Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raid events while also being able to sustain themselves without relying upon the cheers of teammates.
After much theorycrafting, many players have decided that Iron Hands, despite not being strong enough to get banned from Pokemon Scarlet and Violet competitive, is perfect for individually carrying difficult Tera Raids. The strategy for soloing five and six-star Tera Raids revolves around Iron Hands using Belly Drum to max its attack stat before landing heavy hits with Drain Punch, a move which also heals the user for a portion of total damage dealt. In a Reddit post explaining the strategy, user zs2399 also noted that the Iron Hands should ideally have the fighting Tera-type in order to increase the overall damage output from Drain Punch, have its IVs invested into maximizing its attack, and consider running a Sitrus Berry or Booster Energy if things ever get difficult. Even without teammates to pile on the damage or reduce the target's defenses so that Iron Hands can hit harder, the results speak for themselves.
After using Belly Drum, each Drain Punch from Iron Hands does a sizable chunk of damage to even six-star Tera Raid Pokemon, though players will likely have to Belly Drum multiple times on more difficult raids due to the Tera Raid Pokemon being able to reset the stat changes of those attacking it throughout the battle. Despite the future Paradox form of Hariyama being exclusive to Pokemon Violet, there are also a handful of alternatives. Pokemon such as Hariyama with a flame orb and guts ability or strong water Pokemon found in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, such as Azumarill, are good options. Though it has no source of healing, Azumarill's Liquidation packs a massive punch after maximizing its attack with Belly Drum, especially if its ability is Huge Power.
Ultimately, Iron Hands is arguably one of the single best Pokemon for dealing with high-tier raids due to its self-sufficient nature, and anyone without a battle plan for the upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Tera Raid Charizard Event should most certainly consider catching themselves one as soon as possible. Players should make sure to choose their battles wisely, as Iron Hands struggles massively in ghost-type raids due to their immunity to Drain Punch.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch.