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Community POTW #115

Serebii

And, as if by magic, the webmaster appeared...
Staff member
Admin
Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this week we finish off our Hisui tie-in

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It's Giratina!

 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Giratina returns as one of the most formidable walls in the game, with its great bulk and unique typing that gives it a plethora of important resistances, as well as being one of the best Pressure users in the game. Unfortunately, it's not all good for Giratina. In fact, if we're being honest, it's mostly bad, although not completely unsalvageable. While he doesn't have a whole lot of weaknesses, the weaknesses he does have are very common in the formats he's usually allowed in. He has to worry about common breakers like Calyrex-Shadow, Marshadow, Arceus-Ghost, Yveltal, Tyranitar, Hydreigon, Urshifu-SS, and the plethora of powerful Dragon-types that roam the most inclusive formats.

He is also forced to rely on Rest as a form of recovery, gaining no other recovery moves, but makes surprisingly good use of it compared to many other Pokemon. Lastly, he does suffer heavily from 4MSS, and he's forced to drop something that's fairly important and he's probably going to miss no matter what set you run. You can't have Rest, Sleep Talk, Defog, a status move, an attacking move, and a phasing move all on the same set.

In all, he's a very hard Pokemon to just slap on any team and he quite often finds himself outclassed by Pokemon like Arceus-Ghost and Lunala, but if you happen to be able to make use of his specific niches (being a Defogger that can check specific opponents like Necrozma-DM and Groudon, while also quite literally pressuring entry hazard setters thanks to, well, Pressure) he can prove to be a very potent defensive Pokemon.


giratina.gif

Giratina @ Chesto Berry / Leftovers
Bold - Pressure
248 HP, 252 Defense, 8 Sp. Def
-Will-O-Wisp / Toxic
-Defog / Roar / Dragon Tail
-Rest
-Hex / Sleep Talk

There's a lot of room for customization on this set, but that's not as much of a good thing as it sounds, because no matter what four moves you choose, you'll be leaving some behind that you're going to wish you brought in many encounters. The choice between Will-O-Wisp and Toxic comes down to whether crippling physical powerhouses like Groudon, Landorus, and Necrozma-DM with a burn is more important to you than wearing down bulkier walls with Toxic. It's not entirely unheard of for some sets to utilize both.

Defog is a big part of the reason to use Giratina in the first place, as combined with Pressure it makes him very effective at keeping hazards off the field, especially in match-ups against opposing stall teams. However, you could attempt to run a shuffling set by utilizing RestTalk, a phazing move, and a status move of your choice. When combined with entry hazards such a set can rack up a surprising amount of damage over time, but this set is really a relic of the DPPt days. Defog removing entry hazards, the introduction of Heavy-Duty Boots, and the legion of new Pokemon who can threaten him make it difficult for this set to pull its weight in the current metagame.

Rest keeps him healthy, and is the one move pretty much all sets are going to carry. Pain Split might seem tempting at first but almost never a good idea, being very unreliable thanks to Giratina's gargantuan base HP stat.

Finally, the last slot is again determined by what exactly you want Giratina to do, or rather, what you're prepared to give up it doing. Hex gives you the means to deal some damage, and has overall good coverage (the relatively few Normal or Dark types that Giratina is likely to find itself facing aren't opponents it's going to want to stay in on anyways), but it means you'll be running Rest without Sleep Talk, which can be hazardous without a Chesto Berry. Running Sleep Talk takes up a valuable moveslot and forces you to drop something that you're probably going to sorely miss in some battles, but it significantly enhances his overall staying power and makes him not completely passive after using Rest. Shadow Ball or even Draco Meteor could be carried over Hex if an attacking move is desired; they all have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The EV spread could also be customized depending on what particular threats you plan on checking with him. A simple max HP/max defense spread is hard to go wrong with, though, as most of the things that Giratina is usually used to check are physical attackers.

For teammates, this version of Giratina really only ever works on stall teams. As such, you'll probably want to pair it with other stall staples like Chansey/Blissey, defensive Yveltal, Ferrothorn, and Necrozma-DM.​
 
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Mestorn

Wandering Battler
Giratina, the lord of antimatter... what a confusing title. If Giratina was truly made of Anti-Matter, the second it would have arrived at Wayward Cave/Spear Pillar, the entire area would be up in nuclear fire.

Disturbing portents of the apocalypse aside, Giratina reprises its roles in Ubers as a frustrating wall or mix up attacker. Giratina-Alter maintains its niche as a dedicated stall Pokémon. Massive 150/120/120 bulk goes a long way, especially with moves like Defog, Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, and Roar, although facing incredibly stiff competition in Lunala lacking reliable recovery and only having Pressure instead of the amazing Lunar Shield/Multiscale. Giratina-Origin on the other hand thanks to its wide movepool, balanced stats and excellent STABs for Ubers along with a wide defensive profile allows it to continue as a bulky attacker that can run either Physical or Special sets without issue.

What matters most for Giratina is what changed. Giratina-Alter abhors nearly all of the new introductions to Ubers -more Dragon (Eternatus, Dracovish), Ice (Galarian Darmanitan, Calyrex-Ice Rider), Ghost (Calyrex Shadow Rider) and Fairy (Zacian) types to prey on its weaknesses while it struggles to maintain its niche as a wall (thankfully, the Pokémon it does wall -Groudon, Ho-Oh and Dusk Mane Necrozma are fairly popular). Giratina Origin however enjoys most of these newcomers, as the Dragons and Calyrex are both mutually weak to Giratina, which prevents them from switching in freely. Additionally, Poltergeist is quite the boon to Giratina-Alter, giving it a terrifying Physical STAB that isn't blanked by Zacian or any other fairy wandering around.

Overall, the changes this generation have been fairly hostile to Giratina, but some boons have occurred too, especially to its Origin Form and it remains in the shadows waiting to strike at an unsuspecting game.

Also I should note, Knock Off does not work on the Griseous Orb, so while Giratina still doesn't want to eat a Knock Off (especially as the most common user is Yveltal), Origin Form is less badly affected

Preferred Partners
Marshadow makes a great partner for most Giratina, being an offensive Ghost that compliments Giratina's defense. Marshadow threatens most Dark types not named Yveltal, and threatens faster Ghosts with its own STABs while punishing Pokémon that think they can use Giratina as setup fodder.
Dusk Mane Necrozma makes an excellent partner for Giratina, loving its ability to check Ho-oh, Groudon and opposing Dusk Mane, while in turn covering for Giratina's Dragon related weaknesses.
Xerneas and Zacian can work well with Giratina in a Shield and Sword fashion -both resist Dragon and Dark moves that Giratina loathes while Giratina can cripple targets with Will-o-Wisp or Thunder Wave to provide prime setup opportunities for them
 
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