Pokemon Scarlet and Violet offers players the chance to get monsters not yet obtainable through a series of special 7-Star Tera Raid Events that take advantage of the new Terastallizing mechanic introduced in Gen 9. The first of these boss events featured the classic Fire-type starter Charizard, and the most recent one featured Gen 8 Fire-type starter Cinderace. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players will have the chance to take on the Water-type starter Greninja in the next event later this month, but fans shouldn't hold their breath for the chance to see Battle Bond Greninja.

Also known as Ash-Greninja, Battle Bond Greninja was introduced as a special form of the Water-type in Gen 7 with the unique ability Battle Bond - obtainable by completing the demo for Pokemon Sun and Moon. Part of what made this ability special was how it changed the appearance of Greninja to a form based on the Pokemon anime's iconic protagonist. Although Battle Bond no longer has the effect of changing Greninja's appearance in Gen 9, data for the ability still exists, leading many players to speculate that the Greninja featured in the upcoming Tera Raid Event could have it.

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Battle Bond Greninja Cannot Breed

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One of the main draws for these 7-Star Tera Raid Events is gaining access to monsters currently unavailable in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. In the case of both Charizard and Cinderace, the spotlight from their respective Tera Raid Events also gave players access to their pre-evolutions, as they could breed the ones caught after beating the Tera Raids. This led to Charmander and Scorbunny making their way to players who were unable to complete the event via Link Trades and Surprise Trades, a helpful community-driven aspect of these events.

However, this would not be possible if the Greninja featured in this upcoming Tera Raid Event were to have Battle Bond, as versions with this ability can not breed. Battle Bond Greninja would mean only one stage of its evolutionary line would become obtainable, locking players off from Froakie and Frogadier. It would be a weird move to have the first two monsters featured in these events have the ability to breed before the third entry cuts off that option.

Tera Raid Battles Would Be Near-Impossible Against Battle Bond Greninja

mightiest mark greninja pokemon scarlet violet raid

Tera Raid Battles are meant to offer a challenge for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet players, one that requires cooperation with others in order to succeed. The 7-Star Tera Raids of these special events are especially difficult, often requiring players to create specific Pokemon builds to raid with. If Greninja were to have its Battle Bond ability, these raids would be exponentially more difficult, making them far less accessible to casual fans.

Although it no longer changes form when activated, Battle Bond still gives Greninja a one-stage boost to its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed when it knocks out a Pokemon once per-battle. Tera Raid Pokemon already have tricks to make their fight more difficult, such as the ability to remove negative status effects from themselves and put up a shield once their health falls below a certain point. Combine these abilities with the boost from Battle Bond and Greninja would be more powerful than any featured raid boss yet. It's far more likely that Greninja will receive its Hidden Ability Protean, similar to how Cinderace had Libero.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.

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