Tofu’s Table: Terapagos Teachings

Tofu and Snorlax are back to give you a heads up on one of our new favourite Pokémon, Terapagos. The Terastal Turtle has seemingly been a headache for quite a few players to both play with and against, and I'd like to consider myself pretty decently experienced in its use, hence, the making of this post!

In other news, I am also proud to be becoming a part of DevonCorpPress! I'd like to thank them for giving me an extra platform to bring you the best of my thoughts in continued VGC education. Anyways, on to the post! 

Stellar-Type

To fully understand Terapagos, one must also understand the Stellar-Type mechanic. A refresher never hurts.

Stellar-Type:

• Does not change your type weaknesses, resistances, or immunities.

• Applies a damage boost to moves, ONLY ONCE

  • If the move is the same type as your pre-terastalise typing, you will receive a 2x STAB bonus instead of the regular 1.5x STAB bonus.

  • If the move is NOT the same type as your pre-terastalise typing, you will receive a 1.2x bonus instead.

  • This only applies once for every type.

For Terapagos-Stellar:

• Receives a PERMANENT boost to all Normal-type moves (2x) and all other moves (1.2x) according to the above rules.

  • EXCEPTIONS to this are Tera Starstorm and Tera Blast.

• Tera Starstorm and Tera Blast only receive a 1.2x multiplier and are Neutral to all types.

• Tera Starstorm becomes Spread.

• Tera Blast gets its Base Power boosted to 100, but lowers the user's Attack and Special Attack by one stage.

Terapagos Mechanics

There are a few important things to keep in mind when using Terapagos.

• Terapagos-Terastal has the Ability: Tera Shell.

  • Tera Shell: When Terapagos-Terastal is hit by a damage-dealing move at full HP, it will always be NOT VERY EFFECTIVE (essentially halving the damage taken). This applies to even Stellar-Type moves.

  • Unlike Multiscale, this damage reduction is retained even through Multi-Hit moves such as Surging Strike or Population Bomb.

When Terapagos-Terastal terastalises, it transforms into Terapagos-Stellar.

• When this happens, there is a change in base stats, notably its HP, Attack, and Special Attack:

Left (Terapagos-Terastal), Right (Terapagos-Stellar)

So, bear with me with the following (and someone correct me if I'm wrong):

• Due to the difference in HP base stats, when Terapagos-Terastal -> Terapagos-Stellar, it will "GAIN" HP, but maintain the difference of HP lost. e.g. 

  • Terapagos-Terastal (TT) at 252 EVs in HP has a final stat of 202

  • Terapagos-Stellar (TS) at 252 EVs in HP has a final stat of 267

  • X = Max HP

  • Y = Final HP

  • = (TTX - TTY) = (TSX - TSY)

    • = ΔTT = ΔTS

  • Let's assume you lose 100 HP in the current scenario.

    • 202 - 100 = ΔTT = 102 (50.4%)

    • Your Terapagos-Stellar HP will be:

      • 267-100 = ΔTS = 167 (62.5%)

    • ∴ The % HP "healed" =  62.5% - 50.4% = 12.1% (rounded down)

      • = 100[(ΔTS/TSX) - (ΔTT/TTX)]

Essentially, know your max HP stats pre/post-Tera, then subtract the current missing HP from the post-Tera max to find the HP value post-Tera...

Or in other words: +65 HP

• Its Ability changes to Teraform Zero

  • Teraform Zero: Neutralises/deactivates current Weather/Terrain effects once per game

Please note the following:

• Neutralising Gas does not affect Tera Shift, but will deactivate/prevent Tera Shell AND/OR Teraform Zero from taking effect.

• Ditto can transform into Terapagos-Terastal, but will NOT be able to Terastalise. It won't transform at all if switched into Terapagos-Terastal.

Considerations

These are more execution-based thoughts meant to be considered for team building/in-game/mid-battle.

• Due to the nature of Stellar-type not altering your type matchups defensively, it creates a sort of unpredictability of your Tera-timing. This can catch opponents off guard.

• Due to Terastalise occurring AFTER hard switches, this can allow for Fake Out pressure even into potential Psychic Surge (Indeedee-F) switch-ins.

• Tera Shell can be recycled through recovery.

• Understand that technically, Tera Starstorm becomes WEAKER damage-wise upon Terastalisation. Do not be afraid of clicking Tera in front of a Terapagos if you're trying to develop a favourable board state.

• Covert Cloak can be extremely useful, particularly against Snarl-spam (bonus anti-flinch)

• The counterplay section and teams can be found in the following post: Tofu’s Table Regulation G Goods

Disclaimer: The opinions/stories expressed in the blog post are those of the author's and not necessarily reflective of the platform or its affiliates.