If you’re looking for help getting your Water Badge in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, our Cascarrafa Gym Guide is here to assist!
The Cascarrafa Gym is one of the more challenging gyms you’ll face in the early game, and it’s best to go in prepared.
This guide will help you know which Pokémon to put on your team to help you wreck your competition in battle.
Where Is the Fourth Gym in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet?
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are not like most other games in the series. You can do the gyms in seemingly any order. That being said, if you’re going by what level your opponents’ team will be, the Cascarrafa Gym makes the most sense as your fourth destination due to it having a level 28 to 30 range.
Cascarrafa is a city in the western portion of the middle of the map. Part of the Gym Test for this badge involves going to Port Marinada on the westernmost part of the map, so if you’re heading to Cascarrafa after defeating the Levincia Gym Leader, it makes the most sense to fly to Cortondo or a nearby city and ride your mount Pokémon there.
Preparing for Cascarrafa Gym
If you’ve read our other Pokémon Scarlet and Violet gym guides, like the ones for Cortondo and Artazon, you’ll know that the key to any successful battle is knowing your type advantages and disadvantages.
Defeating this gym gets you the Water Badge which means you’ll be dealing with Water-type moves and Pokémon. You’ll face three pure Water-types, one Water and Psychic dual type, and one Ice and Fighting dual type that terastallizes into a pure Water-type.
Let’s take a look at their strengths and weaknesses.
Pure Water-type Pokémon are weak defensively only to Electric- and Grass-type moves. They’re resistant to Fire-, Ice-, Steel-, and Water-type moves. Water-type moves are not very effective against Dragon-, Grass-, and Water-types while being super effective against Fire-, Ground-, and Rock-type Pokémon.
Water and Psychic dual type Pokémon are weak defensively against Bug-, Grass-, Electric-, Ghost-, and Dark-type moves while being strong against Fighting-, Steel-, Fire-, Water-, Psychic-, and Ice-type moves. Psychic-type moves are super effective against Poison- and Fighting-type Pokémon while being not very effective against Steel- and Psychic-types.
What does all this mean for your team? You should take advantage of the type matchups and bring along at least one Electric- or Grass-type.
Grass is the stronger option as these types are resistant against Water-type moves defensively while having moves that are super effective against them. Electric-types are also a good choice, but they don’t have as strong of a defense against Water-type moves.
If you picked the Grass-type starter Sprigatito/Floragato/Meowscarada at the start of the game and have it at level 28 or higher, this gym should be very easy for you.
Some other strong Pokémon for your team when tackling this gym are Sunflora, Skiploom, Pikachu, Raichu, Dolliv, Luxio, Luxray, Flaafy, Magnemite, Magneton, or basically any other Grass- or Electric-type you can find in the game so far.
No matter which type you go for, make sure they’re in the range of 28-30 or higher, otherwise, your team might be too weak to win.
Cascarrafa Gym Test: Making the Winning Bid at the Auction
When you first approach the gym in this city, you’ll see its leader, Kofu, in a hurry to get to an auction for a special cooking ingredient. On his way out, he drops his wallet, and the receptionist at the gym tasks you with returning it to him in Port Marinada instead of the normal Gym Test.
Returning the wallet involves crossing the Asado Desert directly west of Cascarrafa to West Province Area Two until you get to Port Marinada. While this test involves a lot of traveling through the desert, it’s one of the easier tests in the game.
If you avoid all of the wild Pokémon you encounter in the desert, you only need to go against one gym trainer before facing against Kofu.
If you choose to fight them either to level up or to catch them, you’ll run into ones like Cacnea, Flittle, Larvesta, Donphan, Cyclizar, Flaafy, Tauros, and Girafarig. In the desert, they’re around level 24 while in West Province Area Two, they’re around 28.
Head west from Cascarrafa through the Asado Desert until you get to Port Marinada. If you get confused about the direction you’re heading, simply check your map and make sure the location is marked to make navigation simpler.
You’ll know you’re close to the city when you see a brief cinematic of Kofu stopping to smell some wildflowers in West Province Area Two. Who knew this big, bearded gym leader was such a softy?
After heading west for a while, you’ll encounter a foot/bike path that marks the entrance to the port. After traveling up it briefly, there should be a spot between two houses that leads to an area with a tree. Make sure to stop here to obtain a Chipped Pot, an item that’s used to evolve the authentic form of Ghost-type Sinistea to Polteageist.
Keep heading up the town’s main road until you get to the big market in the middle of the town. Head to the center of it to start a cinematic involving Kofu and Gym Trainer Hugo.
After some talking, Hugo will challenge you to a fight before he lets you talk to Kofu. Who knew returning a wallet was so hard?
Hugo has two level 28 pure Water-type Pokémon on his team: Floatzel and Clauncher.
Floatzel knows Aqua Jet and Take Down. If you’re following the strategy from the Before Going to Cascarrafa Gym section, this fight should be easy. If you have a strong enough Electric- or Grass-type move, you can take him down in two shots or, if you get a critical hit, only one.
Clauncher knows Hone Claws and Aqua Jet. Follow the same strategy and take the Clauncher down easily with Electric- or Grass-type moves.
After defeating Hugo, you’ll eventually be able to return the wallet to Kofu. He gives you 50,000 Pokédollars to use in an auction for wakame seaweed from the Hoenn region. Go to the stall where the auction is being held.
Once the auction begins, I recommend bidding as low as possible each time. At first, go with 10,000 then 30,000, and lastly, go with 45,000. If you choose 45,000, you’ll obtain the wakame seaweed for Kofu, and he lets you pocket the extra 5,000. I learned this the hard way by missing out on some wallet reward money.
After helping him obtain the seaweed, fly back to Cascarrafa, heal your team, buy some potions and revives, and prepare for the big battle for your Water Badge.
Gym Leader Kofu: The Supercharged Chef Battle Strategy
Recommended Pokémon for Battling Kofu
If you’ve only done the Bug, Grass, and Electric Badges so far, this could possibly be the most challenging fight for you yet even with the right type matchups. Throughout the battle, a Sandstorm will rage on in the background, slowly eating at both your team’s and Kofu’s team’s HP.
Like with Hugo, the best way to win this gym is to stick to the strategy of using Electric- or Grass-type Pokémon or at least those types of moves.
The first Pokémon he sends out is the dual Water- and Psychic-type mentioned earlier in the guide, a level 29 Veluza with the Mold Breaker ability. It knows Aqua Cutter, a rather strong Water-type move.
After Veruzel, you’ll be dealing with a level 29 Wugtrio, the Water-type regional form of Dugtrio. It knows Water Pulse, a middle-strength Water-type move, and Headbutt, a Normal-type move that can cause flinching. If you’re unlucky (like me), you might get hit with Headbutt and flinch multiple times in a row, eating damage with no ability to land any moves back against Wugtrio. Use potions and revives if you have to, and kick its three-headed butt.
Lastly, you’ll fight against a level 30 Crabominable, an Ice and Fighting dual type that has become a pure Water-type through terastallizing. It uses Crabhammer, a Water-type move, and Slam, a Normal-type move. Both are strong, so don’t be afraid to use potions if you need them.
After defeating the Crabominable, you’ll receive your Water Badge. This grants you the ability to catch and command Pokémon up to level 40. Kofu will also give you TM022 Chilling Water.
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Now that you have your Water Badge, the most logical next step for progress on your Victory Road campaign is the Normal-type gym in Medali. If you haven’t gotten your Electric Badge from Iono in Levincia yet, that’s also another solid next step. You can also check out my review of Scarlet and Violet.