Stellar Tera Type Discussion

[Claire386]

Stellar tera type is a very unique rainbow colored type introduced in the indigo disk DLC and I absolutely LOVE IT.

It's only available as a tera type and it comes with a whole bunch of unique effects. What do you think of it?? I think it's actually really awesome! I think it's a very balanced type and it's definitely NOT something you can just slap onto every Pokemon and expect improvement. I think it's only worth using under specific circumstances, but let me explain how this new type works to anyone who may not fully know yet.

So here are the basics of how Stellar works:

• Stellar tera type boosts the power of Non-STAB attacks by 20%, but ONLY for the first time that the move of that type is used.
• If the move matches your Pokemon's original type(s) it gains a 2x boost (the same as a matching tera-type), but then goes back to the 1.5x STAB boost the next time the move is used.
• Switching out does not reset the effects listed above. Those effects literally only last ONCE per battle.
• Stellar tera moves (Tera Blast and Tera Starstorm) will always deal super effective damage to tera forms and neutral damage to non-tera forms.
• Stellar Tera Blast has 100 base power instead of 80 but lowers attack and special attack by 1 stage.
• The Pokemon's defense typing remains the same in stellar-tera form. (e.g using thunder wave on a stellar Raichu won't paralyze it!)

So with all that said it seems pretty meh at first. I mean... when the attack boosts only last for one turn and there's nothing to help the Pokemon defensively it doesn't seem to be a very useful tera type. But there are a few VERY specific scenarios where stellar tera type is actually REALLY good when used on regular Pokemon and I'll name a couple of these examples in no real order.

First up, Contrary!

Let's use Serperior as our example and let's give him leaf storm and tera blast. Let's say you've managed to hit Leaf Storm once or twice successfully and now your opponent switches in a Pokemon that resists Leaf Storm. So instead of switching out you terastalize into Stellar and use tera blast. That's a 2x boosted 100 base power move with a +1 special attack boost afterwards due to contrary boost, and with Leaf Storm raising Special Attack already along with possible super effective damage it makes Serperior a verrrry scary snake lol.

Second example, protean!

Another example where stellar tera type becomes super frickin awesome is when it gets used with the ability protean because protean allows you to change your defense type to whatever move's type you want and with stellar type you still gain the attack boosts mentioned earlier. This makes Pokemon like Greninja and Meowscarada REALLY annoying!

Third example, dual type Pokemon!

So one issue that you often run into when terastalizing a Pokemon with two types is that it has to basically give up one of its types for another. But thankfully with stellar tera, these Pokemon can gain the tera boost to both of its original types which can sometimes really come in handy!

So what do you think of this type? Do you plan to use it at all? I'd love to know what people think bc I am IN LOVE with this type and have been successfully using it in raids. <3

 

[StormyStinger]

I have mostly disregarded stella type, it seems to have downsides with no clear upsides, but this post has given me some food for thought.

 

[Juliyet]

Tbh, I'm not that crazy about it. It's too confusing for me and I think the drawbacks are a bit excessive.

Cool to see people like you really get into though

 

[Kirumi]

I like the stellar tera type and the looks of its jewel. Most of the time I play raid battles and it is useful to keep a type combination instead of switching to a singular one... However - still concerning raid battles - it does have a particular downside compared to a regular tera type...: while all of your moves do get a boost, the damage you'll deal on a raid's tera shield when using the stellar jewel will be weaker than what you'll be able to inflict through a regular jewel whose attack type's corresponding to the latter.

 

[Claire386]

I like the stellar tera type and the looks of its jewel. Most of the time I play raid battles and it is useful to keep a type combination instead of switching to a singular one... However - still concerning raid battles - it does have a particular downside compared to a regular tera type...: while all of your moves do get a boost, the damage you'll deal on a raid's tera shield when using the stellar jewel will be weaker than what you'll be able to inflict through a regular jewel whose attack type's corresponding to the latter.

Yeah I agree with you. That's why it's only really worth using on specific Pokemon. I've been playing TGC lately and might try to make some use of it for those battles, but it's definitely different from what I'm used to.

 

[Nanulak]

I play Showdown, and Stellar Tera has been a godsend to me with Enamorus. I like to send it out first turn while the opponent is still setting up, immediately Tera, and Tera Blast. Since I have Contrary, the stat drops turn into stat boosts, making it stronger, and Choice Scarf let’s me have 508 Speed. It’s so much better than Superpower because nothing resists it, making even Steel and Poison types not a problem!

 

[guzmania]

i love it in competitive settings but hate it for casual use

 

[Nanulak]

i love it in competitive settings but hate it for casual use

Same

 

[Defiant]

They clearly were worried about making it too OP so put in various limitations, however I think they went too far, and rather than being an ultimate type, it's really rather lame and lacklustre.

 

[Nanulak]

They clearly were worried about making it too OP so put in various limitations, however I think they went too far, and rather than being an ultimate type, it's really rather lame and lacklustre.

Also same

 

[Kallyle]

Honestly, I think that compared to other gimmick upgrades (signature Z-Moves for Z-Moves and Gigantamax for Dynamax) the Stellar Tera Type just doesn't measure up. Not only is it underpowered compared to the regular Tera types like @Defiant mentioned (signature Z-Moves and Gigantamax were pretty much on-par with their widespread counterparts), but the whole "one time boost for all moves, even those that match your Pokémon's original typing" limitation combined with the "Stellar type Tera Blast actively reduces your stats simply for using it" is pretty much overkill like @Sheeer pointed out, ironically making it worse than your standard Tera types for the majority of the roster. I much rather would have had dual-typed Tera States for regular Pokémon than a widespread type that is only useful for a handful of situations.

That being said, I think that Stellar-type does have its merits but needed a bit of tweaking in order to truly live up to its predecessors. I'll lay down some ideas for adjustments on both the offensive and defensive sides of the coin.

Offensive adjustment ideas:

1. Keep the one-time use for most types, but have the moves that match the Pokémon's original typing be boosted an unlimited amount of times. Tera Blast will increase your stats if you target a Terastallized opponent, but will decrease your stats when targeting a non-Terastallized opponent.
2. Moves of all types get an unlimited number of boosts but there's a catch: the same type can't be boosted consecutively. You need to use a move of a different type first before you can get a boost on a certain type again. Tera Blast will decrease your stats if the move fails to KO the target or isn't a super effective hit, making it akin to the risk-reward factor of Gen 1's Hyper Beam.
3. All moves gain regular STAB boosts, but your Pokémon's original types do not get any extra boost from being Terastallized. Tera Blast doesn't decrease your stats.

Defensive adjustment ideas:

1. Every type that isn't the Stellar-type will always deal neutral damage to Pokémon with this Tera type.
2. The original defensive typing is retained but there's a one time "not very effective" bonus against every type regardless of the Pokémon's HP (mirroring the Tera Shell ability of Terapagos in its Terastal Form).
3. The original defensive typing is retained but the Stellar-type will act like the Filter ability.

Personally, I think my second offense adjustment and my third defense adjustment to the Stellar Tera Type would be the ideal due to being pretty balanced while simultaneously allowing for more strategic use compared to the current iteration. However, I wonder if others feel that's a bit too big of a buff.