Should you run the Walking Wake / Iron Leaves event in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet?

Two new Paradox Pokemon appear

Without even a minute to rest from the surprisingly difficult Pikachu event, Game Freak has given us another Tera Raid challenge to tackle. Just to keep us on our toes, this challenge is a notable departure from the events we’ve seen until now.

Walkling Wake and Iron Leaves are two brand new Paradox Pokemon making their debut in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. Like other Paradox Pokemon, these monsters feature incredible base stats that will be boosted even further via the Protosynthesis and Quark Drive abilities respectively. Both Pokemon can only be obtained via this event, which will run until March 12. Fortunately, Game Freak has specified these monsters “may be… obtainable through other methods,” so another opportunity to catch them may show up in the future.

Walking Wake and Iron Leaves are technically versions exclusive to Scarlet and Violet. I say technically because you can freely join online lobbies for each monster regardless of which game you own. As long as you have Nintendo Switch Online, nothing’s stopping you from catching these past and future creatures yourself.

Although this challenge only sports a 5-Star difficulty level, it otherwise follows the rules of 7-Star Tera Raids. Each Pokemon can only be obtained once per save file, and they will always appear with the same Tera Type. Walking Wake features the Water Tera Type, while Iron Leaves uses the Psychic Tera Type. This event is way easier to strategize around relative to other 5-Star events, though these foes can catch you off guard with their sheer damage potential. Let’s go over them.

How to defeat Walking Wake

Of these two encounters, Walking Wake is by far the easier fight. At the beginning of the battle, Walking Wake will use Sunny Day to activate its Protosynthesis ability. This will raise its special attack, which should clue you in to what moves it will use. Interestingly, Walking Wake knows a brand-new move called Hydro Stream. This is an 80 base power Water-Type attack whose strength is boosted in harsh sunlight rather than lowered. The synergy here should be obvious.

Otherwise, Walking Wake will use Dragon Pulse, Flamethrower, and Noble Roar. This means Walking Wake can freely lower both your attack stats, so be prepared to use buffs throughout the fight. Otherwise, Walking Wake will use Water, Fire, and Dragon-Type attacks. Electric-Type Pokemon will excel here, as they can inflict Super Effective damage while only taking neutral damage in return. If you’ve paid attention to the Tera Raid meta for some time, you may be asking yourself “So does this mean I can use Iron Hands for this fight?” The answer to that question is… yes, you absolutely can.

This, honestly, is why Walking Wake is a piece of cake. Iron Hands shuts down this fight so fast that I had to run the event twice to make sure I understood its attack behavior. Additionally, because it strictly uses special attacks, a Chansey holding an Eviolite will barely even take damage. Any combination of these two Pokemon will virtually guaranteed a win, so don’t sweat this fight too much.

How to defeat Iron Leaves

Iron Leaves is a bit more challenging in practice, though it’s not necessarily harder than past 5-Star raid events.

While Walking Wake is a special attacker, Iron Leaves is all about physical damage. It will similarly start the fight with Electric Terrain, giving its attack stat a sharp boost. From there, it will lean into its normal movepool: Psyblade, Leaf Blade, Megahorn, and Swords Dance. Don’t confuse Psyblade with Psycho Cut, as this is another new signature attack that deals bonus damage in Electric Terrain. In other words, Iron Leaves can inflict Grass, Psychic, and Bug-Type damage. The presence of Swords Dance makes Iron Leaves potentially spicy, since it can inflict lethal damage if left completely unchecked.

Bug and Ghost-Type Pokemon are your best offensive counters. Dark-Type Pokemon will get shut down by Megahorn, so they unfortunately aren’t as attractive here. Meanwhile, Steel-Type Pokemon will resist everything Iron Leaves throws at you. Gholdengo and Scizor are perfect counters, since their Types are optimal for offense and defense. Personally, I used a Magnezone with Reflect and Thunder Wave for support. From there I used Electric attacks since Electric Terrain was already on the field. As long as you bring a monster that can safely take Iron Leaves’ hits, many strategies are viable here.

Is this event worth your time?

For the most part, yes. These are two new, powerful Pokemon that anyone playing the game will want to own. If you’ve been running 7-Star Tera Raids to collect the exclusive new Pokemon as they’ve been appearing, you 100% should catch these two as well. I know I’m glad to have these Paradox Pokemon in my arsenal as I prepare for future 7-Star battles.

That said, neither Walking Wake nor Iron Leaves will show up in your Pokedex. They also aren’t usable in competitive battles, though that could change down the line. I can’t imagine anyone still progressing the main story would necessarily be able to catch these two easily either, though an adequate Chansey in an otherwise powerful group could be carried to score a Walking Wake. In other words, there isn’t much casual value to this event outside of collecting these two for the sake of having them.

Once you’ve caught each monster, you’ll have squeezed as much value out of this event as you can. Like past 5-Star challenges, the item drop rates aren’t noteworthy relative to raids that normally appear in the game. In fact, since you can only catch these creatures once, there’s notably less farm value than normal here. I’d personally try to get Walking Wake and Iron Leaves sooner than later, since I imagine most high-end players will fall off running battles online after this week.

Let me be clear; this is absolutely one of the best 5-Star events we’ve gotten so far. It just caters to a different set of priorities than normal. I wouldn’t hesitate to spend an hour catching both monsters, even if it’s only for the novelty of technically owning Suicune and Virizion in Scarlet & Violet. If they happen to be useful in the future, consider that a fun bonus.