Terastallization: The Complete Guide to Paldea's Mechanic

Neither gigantism nor temporary evolution: Terastallization coats the Pokémon in a glittering crystal shell, sets a crystal crown on its head, and flat-out replaces its type. Introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Paldea's mechanic looks simple enough from a distance, but it hides nineteen possible types, a co-op raid system, and two Legendary Pokémon built entirely around it.

Contents

• Terastallization, Paldea's invention
• The Tera Jewel and the Tera Type
• What Terastallization changes in battle
• Finding, catching, and changing a Tera Type
• The Stellar type, the nineteenth type
• Tera Raid Battles, from ordinary crystals to black crystals
• Ogerpon, the ogre with four masks
• Terapagos, the turtle behind the phenomenon
• Mega Evolution, Dynamax, Terastal: don't mix them up
• The Terastal phenomenon in nine key facts
• Frequently Asked Questions

Terastallization, Paldea's invention

Terastallization made its debut in the ninth generation, with Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet. The phenomenon is native to the Paldea region, whose bedrock holds a distinctive Terastal energy, and in the games the phenomenon is studied by Professors Sada and Turo.

The first difference from its predecessors: the mechanic isn't reserved for anyone. Where Mega Evolution demands a species-specific Mega Stone, every Pokémon found in Paldea can Terastallize, from the humblest Wurmple to the box Legendary.

In exchange, its use is tightly regulated. You need to own the Tera Orb, an item you have to recharge after every use, and the transformation can be used only once per battle — it then lasts until the final turn of the battle, with no time limit.

The Tera Jewel and the Tera Type

Once crystallized, the Pokémon shines like a gemstone and a sort of crown appears above its head: the Tera Jewel. This jewel is what activates the Terastal type — the Tera Type — and what replaces the original type or types for the entire battle.

The detail that changes everything: the Tera Type belongs to the individual Pokémon, not to the species. Two Meowscarada caught in the same spot can therefore crystallize into two different types, and nothing in their appearance gives it away before the transformation.

Each jewel has its own design, and the developers had fun with them: a light bulb for Electric, an axe for Steel, a structure inspired by the Parthenon for the Rock type. The Ghost-type jewel, meanwhile, takes on the look of the ghost from the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town, a direct nod to the very first games in the series.

💎 A light bulb for Electric, an axe for Steel, the ghost from Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower for Ghost: every Tera Jewel has its own design. The crown above the head, though, you'll never get — at most the same kind of little ornament, courtesy of our Pokémon hair clips.

What Terastallization changes in battle

The main gain concerns the same-type attack bonus, the famous STAB. If the Tera Type matches one of the Pokémon's original types, that bonus climbs from 1.5 to 2: a Charizard with a Fire Tera Type doesn't change what it is, it simply hits harder.

If the Tera Type is foreign to the Pokémon, it gains an extra STAB for that new type — and above all, its weaknesses and resistances change. That's where the mechanic turns tactical: a Grass-type Pokémon hounded by Fire can crystallize into Water and flip the type chart in the middle of the battle.

A third effect often goes unnoticed: moves of the Tera Type whose power is below 60 have it raised to 60. Only two exceptions to this rule: multi-strike moves and those with increased priority, which keep their original power.

Finding, catching, and changing a Tera Type

In the wild, the rule is simple: a wild Pokémon usually carries the Tera Type matching its own type, drawn at random between the two if it has two. Nothing exotic, then, as long as you stick to the ordinary wildlife you run into on the routes.

Except that certain specimens wander around surrounded by a glowing yellow aura: those carry a Tera Type that doesn't match their species, and their locations are fixed. Once the battle starts, they crystallize, refuse to be caught until their jewel is shattered, and cannot be knocked out in a single hit.

For everything else, you build your own. Defeating or catching these Pokémon yields more Tera Shards and League Points, and fifty shards of a given type are enough to change a partner's Tera Type: head to the Treasure Eatery, the restaurant in Medali, where the chef takes care of the job.

🪙 Fifty Tera Shards of one type handed over to the chef at the Treasure Eatery in Medali, and your partner's Tera Type changes: in Paldea, shards get spent like coins. For the ones rattling around at the bottom of your pocket, there are our Pokémon coin purses.

The Stellar type, the nineteenth type

Announced in August 2023 and delivered with The Indigo Disk expansion, Stellar is the nineteenth type in the main series. Its quirk fits in a single sentence: it is exclusive to Terastallization, and no Pokémon carries it naturally, and neither does any move.

A Pokémon crystallized into Stellar receives a boost for the eighteen other types, one per type only: ×2 when the move matches one of its original types, ×1.2 otherwise. Once the bonus has been used up for a type, it never comes back for the rest of the battle.

Two exceptions lift this limit: the Tera Raid Battles, where the boost stays active continuously, and Terapagos, which keeps it in every situation. Defensively, Stellar is also the only Tera Type that leaves the Pokémon its original weaknesses and resistances.

On the move side, there are only two special cases. Tera Blast becomes Stellar-type on a Pokémon with the Stellar Tera Type, strikes with the better of its two offensive stats, and turns super effective against crystallized opponents — at the cost of an Attack and Special Attack drop after use.

Tera Raid Battles, from ordinary crystals to black crystals

Direct heirs to Galar's Max Raid Battles, Tera Raid Battles are triggered at the Tera Crystals scattered across Paldea, Kitakami and Blueberry Academy. The crystal's color reveals the Tera Type of the Pokémon you'll be facing, and the whole setup resets every time the day changes.

The battle brings together four Trainers, one Pokémon each, against an opponent that stays crystallized from start to finish. There is no turn order: everyone attacks continuously, against the clock, and every knockout on the players' side eats into the timer before a return to the battle after five, ten, then fifteen seconds.

The boss doesn't just stand there: it chains moves together, erases the opposing stat changes, steals a Tera Orb charge, and raises a Tera Shield. The fastest way to bring that shield down is still to attack while Terastallized yourself, with the orb charging after three attacks landed on the target.

Difficulty is measured in stars, from one to five, then climbs a notch with the black crystals. Six-star raids unlock after the first Academy Ace Tournament and ten successful four-star raids, at a rate of one per day; above them stand the seven-star event raids, available for a limited time only.

Ogerpon, the ogre with four masks

Ogerpon is the Grass-type Legendary No. 1017, revealed with The Teal Mask expansion and settled in Kitakami. The species is female-only, its official category is the Mask Pokémon, and it changes face depending on the item it holds: Teal Mask, Wellspring Mask, Hearthflame Mask, or Cornerstone Mask.

Each mask boosts the power of its moves by 20% and locks in its Tera Type; the three masks brought back from Kitakami also add a second type on top, Water, Fire, or Rock. Its signature move Ivy Cudgel follows suit and changes type with the mask it wears.

Its signature Ability, Embody Aspect, only works in its Terastallized form. It then raises a different stat by one stage depending on the mask: Speed with the Teal Mask, Special Defense with the Wellspring Mask, Attack with the Hearthflame Mask, and Defense with the Cornerstone Mask.

Another subtlety: the effect triggers again every time it returns to the field as long as Ogerpon stays crystallized. And since the species is locked when it comes to being Shiny, there's no point hoping to run into its light-green-faced version.

Terapagos, the turtle behind the phenomenon

Terapagos holds No. 1024 in the National Pokédex. This Legendary of the Normal type is presented by the Pokédex as the very origin of Terastallization: it lived in Paldea in ancient times and was believed extinct, carried off by a tectonic upheaval.

It has three forms that flow into one another on their own. Its Normal Form automatically switches to its Terastal Form as soon as it enters battle, thanks to the Tera Shift Ability; if the Trainer then Terastallizes it, it moves on to its Stellar Form.

Each form has its own Ability. Tera Shell makes every move it takes not very effective as long as its HP stays at maximum, and Teraform Zero sweeps away the weather and the terrains active at the moment of the transformation.

Its signature move, Tera Starstorm, completes the picture: used by a Pokémon with the Stellar Tera Type, it too takes on the Stellar type and turns super effective against crystallized opponents, with no drawback whatsoever — unlike Tera Blast.

🐢 As long as Terapagos keeps its HP at full, its Tera Shell Ability makes every move that hits it not very effective. Your phone doesn't have that Ability, and the kitchen tiles forgive nothing: that's the whole job of our Pokémon iPhone cases.

Mega Evolution, Dynamax, Terastal: don't mix them up

Since the sixth generation, each region has brought its own battle mechanic, and they're easy to confuse. Mega Evolution requires a Mega Stone specific to the species, redistributes the stats, and lasts the whole battle.

Dynamax, unique to Galar, makes the Pokémon bigger and inflates its HP for three turns only, without ever touching the type. Terastallization, for its part, alters neither size nor stats: it replaces the type, once per battle, until the end of the fight.

One last difference, and not the smallest: Terastallization doesn't pick and choose species. No rare stone to track down, no special trait to hope for — any Pokémon that sets foot on Paldean soil can cover itself in crystal, which makes it the most democratic of the three mechanics.

The Terastal phenomenon in nine key facts

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Terastallization in Pokémon?
  It's the ninth-generation battle mechanic, native to the Paldea region and introduced with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It coats the Pokémon in crystal, makes a Tera Jewel appear above its head and replaces its original type or types with its Tera Type. It requires a Tera Orb, can only be used once per battle and lasts until the end of the fight.
• How many Tera Types are there?
  Nineteen. Eighteen match the eighteen standard types, and the nineteenth is the Stellar type, added by The Indigo Disk expansion. Stellar is exclusive to Terastallization: no Pokémon has it naturally.
• How do you change a Pokémon's Tera Type?
  You need to go to the Treasure Eatery, the restaurant in Medali, and hand 50 Tera Shards of the type you want to the chef. You get those shards mainly by winning Tera Raid Battles and by defeating Pokémon surrounded by a glowing aura.
• What exactly does the Stellar type do?
  A Pokémon that Terastallizes into Stellar gets a power boost for the other eighteen types, one boost per type per battle: ×2 if the move matches one of its original types, ×1.2 otherwise. It also keeps its original weaknesses and resistances, which no other Tera Type allows. That one-boost-per-type limit disappears in Tera Raid Battles and for Terapagos.
• Why does Ogerpon change type with its masks?
  Each mask Ogerpon holds sets its form, its Tera Type and, for three of them, a second type: pure Grass with the Teal Mask, Grass/Water with the Wellspring Mask, Grass/Fire with the Hearthflame Mask and Grass/Rock with the Cornerstone Mask. The mask also raises the power of its moves by 20%. Its Embody Aspect Ability, on the other hand, only works in its Terastallized form and raises a different stat by one stage depending on the mask: Speed, Special Defense, Attack and Defense respectively.
• Is Terastallization the same thing as Dynamax?
  No. Dynamax belongs to the eighth generation and to the Galar region: it makes the Pokémon huge and multiplies its HP for three turns. Terastallization belongs to the ninth generation and to Paldea: it changes neither size nor stats, it replaces the Pokémon's type and lasts until the end of the battle.

In short

Changing type mid-battle gives any Pokémon a second chance: that's why Terastallization settled in so quickly alongside Mega Evolution and Dynamax. All that's left is to choose your Tera Type — and to wear the crystal crown.