How to unlock 5 & 6 Star Tera Raid Battles in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet

While there are many ways to catch strong Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet, Tera Raid Battles are the most interesting. Not only does it offer a means to catch Pokemon with odd Tera types - like Grass and Fire-type Pokemon that can shift into a Water Tera-Typing - but they're also a convenient way to catch rarer Pokemon; and in the case of the higher-tier raids, stronger ones to boot. However, while unlocking up to 4-star raids happens naturally while progressing through Victory Road, unlocking the later difficulties might not be immediately obvious. Thankfully, we're here to let you know what you'll need to do.

How to unlock 5 and 6-star Tera Raid Battles

First things first; you're going to need to beat the game. That means clearing all 3 of the game's main story routes - Victory Road, Path of Legends, and Starfall Street - and then the final story in The Way Home. But then after that, you'll have to complete the additional challenges that the game gives you; beat each gym leader's rematch, and then seize victory in the Academy Ace Tournament by defeating 4 trainers in a row. Put another way - 5 and 6-star Tera Raid Battles are unlocked after clearing the short postgame story, and truly are the real endgame besides challenging the Academy Ace Tournament any number of additional times. Presumably, the special event 7-star Tera Raid Battles will require the same steps to challenge. Even if that doesn't turn out to be the case, however, you'll definitely want to have the levels you'll earn through proceeding this far into the game.

So, in short, to unlock 5 and 6-star Tera Raid Battles players will have to do the following:

1. Complete stories Victory Road, Path of Legends, and Starfall Street (in any order)
2. Complete the final story The Way Home
3. Challenge and defeat all 8 Gym Leader Rematches
4. Challenge and survive the Academy Ace Tournament
5. Upon winning the Tournament, Jacq will contact you to acknowledge that higher-level Tera Raid Battles have been unlocked

If you've only just unlocked 4-star Raid Battles, you still have quite a bit of game ahead of you before you can unlock the ability to find and challenge even stronger Raids. No matter how close you are to unlocking the final Tera Raid tiers, good luck!