Technologies

Greninja Raid Guide: Best Counters

Speculating on the best Greninja counters.

The next seven-star raid is coming to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet this Friday, Jan. 27, featuring a poison-type Greninja. The first round runs through Monday, Jan. 30, and the second round picks up about two weeks later, from Friday, Feb. 10, to Monday, Feb. 13. Like the other seven-star raid Pokemon, Greninja will have the mightiest mark, and you’ll be able to catch only one per save file. Based on the previous seven-star raids, the Pokemon will take some careful strategizing to beat.

We don’t know the full details of the Greninja raid just yet, but we can make some assumptions based on previous seven-star raids. First, it’s a pretty safe bet that Greninja will have its hidden ability, Protean, since Charizard and Cinderace both came with their hidden abilities. Fortunately, that won’t affect the raid itself, as terastallization negates the effects of the protean ability. We can just plan around the tera type.

Greninja is confirmed to have a poison tera type for the raid, which lets us speculate about likely movesets. Assuming it uses moves that match its natural typing and tera type, we predict a moveset along these lines, assuming it’s a physical attacker:

Liquidation.
Night Slash.
Gunk Shot.
Ice Punch.
Swords Dance.

A special attacker build might look like this instead:

Water Shuriken / Hydro Pump.
Dark Pulse.
Tera Blast (poison).
Ice Beam.
Rain Dance.

Remember that seven-star raid Pokemon can use more than four moves — Cinderace, for example, used four attacks and Bulk Up, even though the latter wasn’t in its moveset once caught. Swords Dance would make Geninja a terrifying threat in a physical attack build, whereas Rain Dance would make its water-type attacks extra threatening, similar to the seven-star Charizard raid with Sunny Day.

Best Greninja counters

We won’t know the perfect Pokemon or builds to bring to the raid until the full details are live, but here are the Pokemon that appear to be well-positioned for the raid. To give yourself the best chance at victory, make sure your Pokemon is level 100 and has a nature that boosts its relevant attack stat (usually Modest for special attackers and Adamant for physical attackers).

Vaporeon

Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Water Absorb EV spread: 252 HP / 252 special attack / 4 special defense

Moves:

Stored Power.
Calm Mind.
Acid Armor.
Wish.

The water-type Eeveelution is an early favorite for this raid, thanks to a variety of advantages it has, especially if Greninja uses a special attack build. Vaporeon’s normal ability is Water Absorb, which allows it to regain health if hit by a water-type attack. This turns one of Greninja’s scariest setups (rain-boosted water attacks) into a benefit. These seven-star raids are wars of attrition, and having reliable ways to restore health are important. Vaporeon also has access to Calm Mind, which boosts its special defense and special attack, as well as Stored Power, a psychic-type attack that will hit the poison-type Greninja for double damage and that deals additional damage based on your boosted stats (on top of the special attack boost it gets from Calm Mind). With Vaporeon’s decently high special attack stat and immunity to water attacks on top of massive HP, stacking Calm Minds into Stored Power should be a reliable way to work down the raid boss’s health. The biggest danger with Vaporeon is that it doesn’t naturally resist poison, and a Greninja with Gunk Shot could threaten Vaporeon’s underwhelming defense stat. However, a steel tera type would help overcome that problem.

Klefki

Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Prankster EV spread: 252 HP / 252 special attack / 4 special defense

Moves:

Stored Power.
Calm Mind.
Iron Defense.
Sunny Day.

This Pokemon benefits from its steel/fairy typing, which gives it resistance to dark-type attacks and full immunity from Greninja’s tera-boosted poison attacks. Klefki also has access to the same «stack Calm Mind into Stored Power» combo that Vaporeon has, though it won’t be able to hit quite as hard as Vaporeon. Still, a natural immunity to poison may be worth that trade-off, especially if Greninja ends up running Gunk Shot. Sunny Day combined with Klefki’s Prankster ability makes it particularly effective at guarding against Greninja setting up in the rain. The biggest drawback for Klefki is its lack of access to a reliable recovery move, as Draining Kiss will do minimal damage to the poison-type Greninja. Klefki also boasts a relatively high defense stat, which it can boost with Iron Defense (also supporting Stored Power), making it a better choice if Greninja is built with physical attacks.

Bronzong

Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Levitate EV spread: 252 HP / 252 special attack / 4 special defense

Moves:

Stored Power.
Calm Mind.
Iron Defense.
Sunny Day.

Bronzong operates similarly to Klefki: immunity to poison damage, good natural defenses, and Calm Mind + Stored Power combo. The biggest difference is that Bronzong is weak to Greninja’s natural dark type, which could make Bronzong a less reliable pick if Greninja runs Night Slash or Dark Pulse. However, it gains a same-type attack bonus, or STAB, for pyschic-type moves, allowing it to hit harder than Klefki would.

Kingambit

Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Defiant EV spread: 252 HP / 252 attack / 4 defense

Moves:

Zen Headbutt.
Swords Dance.
Iron Defense.
Sandstorm.

A slightly less obvious pick to counter Greninja, Kingambit is another steel type that benefits from poison immunity. A strong physical attacker, Kingambit can run Swords Dance to boost its attack and unleash supereffective Zen Headbutts on the poison-type Greninja. The downside is that Kingambit will be slightly worse if Greninja runs Rain Dance and special attack water moves, which hit Kingambit for neutral damage. However, Kingambit can run Sandstorm to negate Rain Dance and somewhat offset that risk. It’s worth noting that Zen Headbutt has only 90% accuracy, which makes this strategy higher-risk than bringing Vaporeon or Klefki. The lack of recovery moves for Kingambit means you’re virtually required to run Shell Bell as your held item to help you sustain through the raid.

Clodsire

Tera Type: Ground (though you may want to avoid terastallization to maintain your double poison resistance)
Ability: Water Absorb EV spread: 252 HP / 252 attack / 4 special defense

Moves:

Earthquake / Bulldoze.
Helping Hand.
Recover.
Chilling Water / Haze.

An unlikely hero for the raid, Clodsire will be virtually impossible for a special attack Greninja to take out. The Water Absorb ability allows Clodsire to turn a traditional weakness (water-type attacks) into HP recovery, and its natural typing means it takes only 25% damage from poison-type attacks. Clodsire is a little worse if Greninja runs an ice-type attack, but otherwise it’s a powerful special tank with enormous HP, strong special defense, and access to recover as an egg move. Clodsire can’t boost its own attack like the other Greninja counters, but it does learn Helping Hand by TM, allowing it to boost teammates’ attacks. (Helping Hand can make a properly stacked Stored Power deal massive damage.) Earthquake is your main damage move, though you could run Bulldoze instead for speed control at the cost of less damage. Bringing Clodsire to the raid means you won’t be doing the most damage in the party, but you’ll stick around forever and prevent your team from losing time due to being knocked out.

Other Greninja raid tips

You can always choose to run more of a supportive build instead of offensive builds, as many of the counters listed here have solid defensive stats. However, when you bring a support Pokemon to a seven-star raid, you’re relying on your other three teammates to do a ton of damage, which can be a gamble with random teammates. In premade groups, two or three sweepers and one or two support Pokemon will be the most consistent composition. But after losing plenty of Cinderace raids to a lack of damage, I recommend offensive builds if you’re relying on unknown teammates.

If you have the benefit of planning around other teammates, I’ve included two support builds here. Remember that the clock is your real enemy in seven-star raids: The only way to win is to efficiently take out your opponent’s HP. Big bursts are the most effective way of doing that, which is why we recommend stacking Calm Mind into Stored Power as the most reliable way to fight Greninja. But staying alive is also important, as getting knocked out by Greninja will instantly remove a section of the remaining raid timer, which puts a bigger squeeze on a limited resource. Pay attention to how much damage you’re taking from each attack, and use your recovery moves and your cheers to keep your Pokemon healthy enough to survive the next attack.

Vaporeon support build

Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Water Absorb
EV spread: 252 HP / 252 defense (vs. physical Greninja) or special defense (vs. special Greninja) / 4 special attack

Moves:

Chilling Water / Surf.
Charm / Fake Tears.
Helping Hand.
Wish.

Klefki support build
Tera Type: Steel
Ability: Prankster
EV spread: 252 HP / 252 defense or special defense / 4 special attack

Moves:

Psychic.
Metal Sound.
Reflect / Light Screen.
Sunny Day.

Technologies

Hands-On With the Galaxy Z TriFold: A True Phone-Tablet Hybrid

Technologies

Honor’s Audacious Robot Phone Is Real and I Just Got a First Glimpse

Forget foldables, this might just be the most unconventional phone design I’ve seen in years.

When Honor first announced its quirky Robot Phone back in October, I said I would have to see it and hold it to believe it’s real. Three months later, I’m halfway there at least.

At CES 2026 I got a first glimpse of a prototype of the phone with its pop-out DJI Osmo-like camera and gimbal. Given that part of the body of the phone is given over to housing these elements when they’re folded away, it’s understandably not among the cohort of ultra-thin devices we’ve seen over the past year or so.

I wasn’t allowed to touch or manipulate the phone or its arm, but I watched as a member of Honor’s team moved the camera between different positions. It was interesting to see how neatly the arm packed away, leaving the black phone looking, at a glance, almost like any other generic device with a particularly expansive camera module. But I can’t deny that I’m still keen to get my hands on it to see how well the robotic element of the phone actually operates.

Fortunately, I don’t have long to wait. At Mobile World Congress, which takes place in Barcelona in March, Honor will allow me to touch and hold the phone. At that point, the robotic arm will be working, so it won’t have to be manually adjusted. We know frustratingly little else about the phone at this stage beyond its design, but its full specs will also be announced at MWC.

When it finally launches, the Robot Phone is likely to be something of a niche product that appeals mainly to content creators. But it will also inject a much-needed dose of design daring into an industry that has struggled to show much imagination over the past decade.

Tech journalists, myself included, are guilty of complaining about the homogenous designs of most smartphones, while urging companies to take more risks and give us something to really get excited about. The introduction of foldable phones has been a breath of fresh air, but the Robot Phone is a next-level example of thinking beyond the conventional boundaries of phone design.

I, for one, can’t wait to see — and hold — more.

Technologies

Finally, I’ve Found a Worthy Successor to the Iconic ’90s Tamagotchi

This virtual pet grows physically bigger the more you play with it.

Back in 1996, when Tamagotchis became the must-have toy, I was 8 years old — the perfect target audience. I remember handing over my crisp British £10 note to the good people at Toys R Us, shaking with anticipation. It was the most money I’d ever spent in one go, but I knew it would be worth it to own one of the magenta virtual pets just like all of my classmates.

Thirty years later at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, I finally found a worthy successor to my treasured pixelated companion. Sweekar is a Tamagotchi-inspired pocket pet, an AI companion that grows physically bigger as it matures.

Sweekar begins life as an egg with ears. In a demo, it lays in my hand, and I tap it gently three times on the head, making its yellow ears glow. The egg opens to reveal a screen displaying a cracking shell. A pair of sleepy eyes pops into view.

On the Las Vegas show floor, Sweekar was ready to go for my demo, but usually, the incubation stage can take up to two days. The egg perches on its base until the shell cracks open, from which point little Sweekar will spend between five and seven days in baby stage. Next up is the teen stage (21 to 45 days), followed by Sweekar adulthood.

With each life stage, Sweekar grows a little bigger. Just like the original Tamagotchi, each stage brings a series of new challenges for you as its owner. The early days mean high-frequency care with basic language learning. The teen years bring greater intelligence and a more distinct personality. Eventually, you can progress to owning a pet that’s autonomous, requiring less care, but which has more fun gameplay options. And… Sweekar can also die if you neglect it.

In all of these senses, it feels remarkably true to the spirit of the original Tamagotchi, but with AI technology that could ultimately provide a more rewarding experience in the long term. Hopefully, it will inspire owners to keep it alive longer than the many little Tamagotchi chicks that perished due to lack of care.

If you want to get your hands on a Sweekar to bring some ’90s-inspired magic to a kid’s childhood (or if you’re just feeling nostalgic — I won’t judge), it will be available via Kickstarter later this year. You’ll need more than a £10 note to secure one, however. Sweekar will be priced at a far more substantial $150.