Key Takeaway
To change your Pokémon’s Tera Type, head to the Treasure Eatery in Medali and speak to the chef in the back-left corner. You must give them 50 Tera Shards of the Tera Type that you wish to apply to one of your Pokémon.
Every pocket monster in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet has a Tera Type in addition to its regular ones. To change the Tera Type of a Pokémon, you need specific resources. Also, you must visit a certain restaurant in Paldea.
Table Of Contents
Where to Change Your Tera Type
Start by going to Medali, which is the city northwest of The Great Crater of Paldea. For the quickest route, fly to the Pokémon Center on the east side of the city. Walk around the corner to the south and look for the large restaurant.
Head inside and stick to the left. Keep walking forward until you see a chef in the upper-left corner with a yellow text bubble. When you speak to this chef, they will let you change a Pokémon’s Tera Type if you have the right resources.
Regardless of what Tera Type you want, you must exchange 50 Tera Shards of that desired type. For example, if you want to change your Pokémon’s Tera Type to Electric, you need to exchange 50 Electric Tera Shards. The chef will be kind enough to give you 50 Normal Tera Shards on the house, but, for any others, you will have to do some exploring.
How to Get Tera Shards
There are two main ways of getting Tera Shards. The first—and best—farming method is to complete 3-Star or higher Tera Raid Battles. Afterward, the Tera Raid Boss has a high likelihood of dropping Tera Shards that match their Tera Type. The higher the star rating, the more Tera Shards you will get.
The other method is to loot Tera Shards as hidden items. You find hidden items all over the world as small yellow sparkles that can spawn on the ground. There are other items that spawn as hidden items, so farming Tera Shards this way isn’t viable.
What Terastallizing Does
The game does a decent job of telling you the basics of Terastallization’s effects. However, it doesn’t tell you everything—including some points which are vital to know for competitive battles.
Tera Type STAB Mechanics
After a Pokémon has Terastallized, it gets a STAB (same type attack bonus) on moves that match its Tera Type. Terastallized Pokémon keep their STABs for their original type(s) as well. If a Pokémon’s Tera Type is the same as one of its original types, its STAB multiplier for moves that match that type increases from x1.5 to x2.
Though, things will be a bit different for Pokémon with the ability Adaptability. If such a pocket monster Terastallizes and their Tera Type is different than their original type(s), Adaptability increases the STAB multiplier to x2. Although, if such a pocket monster Terastallizes and their Tera Type is the same as their original type(s), Adaptability increases the STAB multiplier to x2.25.
Secret Base Power Boosting
If a Terastallized Pokémon uses a move with less than 60 base power, that move always gets boosted up to exactly 60 base power. This occurs for every weak damage-dealing move that is not a multi-strike move or one with increased priority.
On top of that, this secret boosting effect is triggered after the effects of the ability Technician. Sorry Technician fans, but this is one mechanic you won’t be abusing!
Type-Change Mechanics
Speaking of mechanic abuse prevention, there is no way to force a Terastallized Pokémon to change its type. As such, moves like Soak and Magic Powder will not work on Terastallized Pokémon—nor will abilities like Protean and Libero.
A similar feature occurs to Pokémon that can use the move Transform. For example, if a Ditto Terastallizes before using Transform, it will keep its Tera Type but will still change into the opposing Pokémon and get their moveset. Interestingly, if you do this, the Terastallized Pokémon that used Transform will lose its crown but its body will still be crystallized.
