Welcome to what is arguably the best physical wall in the game. With its colossal base 150 HP and massive base 120 Defense, Giratina defiantly stands in the faces of powerful physical sweepers such as Metagross and Groudon, blocking their pass to victory. As they unleash their most powerful attacks, it seems all but over. However, to the opponent’s disbelief, Giratina stands alive with over half of its health. Giratina’s physical walling ability is enhanced by its ability to Will-O-Wisp, effectively cutting the opponent’s Attack into pieces. Imagine the pain of those physical attackers, who are now incapable of hurting this beast. They continue harassing Giratina with powerful physical attacks, yet they only do so little. Then, they see their door to victory after continuous bombardment, and are fairly certain that one more shot will end Giratina once and for all. Giratina then Rests, effectively erasing all their hard-worked-on damage and leaves no hope for the physical attacker to pass. The opponent will soon find all its PP drained from Pressure. Sleep Talk enables Giratina to absorb status, and ensures that it isn’t a set up bait to Rayquaza and Arceus, seeing as Sleep Talk may pick Will-o-Wisp and ruin all their fun. Dragon Claw enables Giratina to severely damage other Dragon-types, OHKO Deoxys-A, and deal a respectable amount of damage to Ho-oh and Darkrai, whereas Dragon Pulse carries a dash more power against Groudon. Instead of using Impish and Dragon Claw, one might want to use Bold and Dragon Pulse. Dragon Pulse has a slight chance of 3HKOing an opposing Giratina, and will always break Groudon's Substitutes in case one tries to Substitute to block Will-O-Wisp.
This Giratina is specifically designed to counter an “Extreme Killer” Arceus. Giratina switches into it, and then proceeds to burn the equine. Following that, it either Roars Arceus away, or Protect for extra recovery and burn damage. While this set seems overspecialized, it has other uses too. Roar runs over annoying Baton Passers such as Ninjask and Mew (beware of Taunt), and Protect helps scout Choiced attacks. Wish support from the likes of Blissey and Latias helps keep this set alive longer. Unfortunately, this set lost a lot of its use due to the fact that Toxic Spikes are very common in the uber metagame. It is also incapable of switching into Ho-oh without the fear of being burned by Sacred Fire.
Giratina is a decent Calm Minder. With its high Defense, it can boost its specials without many problems from the physical side. To keep Giratina alive, it must Rest so it can continue to set up more Calm Minds and eventually unleash a powerful Dragon Pulse. To further aid its set-up, it can use Sleep Talk to enable it to use moves while it sleeps. Will-O-Wisp lowers the opponent’s Attack, allowing it to take hits on the physical side even better, Roar keeps other Calm Minders away, and finally, Shadow Ball lets it hit Psychic Ubers such as Mewtwo and Deoxys-D while still doing a decent amount of damage to Metagross. You must be aware, however, that most of Giratina’s weaknesses lay on the special side, which may hamper its ability to set up.
Choice Band Giratina might scare someone. Giratina is often looked down as an attacker since it is mostly known for its physical walling ability. However, it says otherwise with two STABed moves that causes chaos to those who don’t expect its attacking ability, since Dragon and Ghost hit most ubers super effective. Dragon Claw is a deadly move when used with 252 Attack EVs and Choice Band, and will be lethal to every dragon not named Dialga, an opposing Giratina, or Arceus. Shadow Claw rips Psychics apart. Earthquake destroys Metagross and Dialga, and Thunder or Hidden Power Fire does a nice amount of damage to Skarmory and Forretress.
Not nearly as dangerous as the Choice Band set even with the more powerful moves, mainly because Blissey walls this set completely. However, it can still surprise its other usual counters, such as Mewtwo and Arceus. Shadow Ball inflicts fainting on most Psychics, while Draco Meteor will dent anything that does not resist it except Blissey. Aura Sphere is for Dark or Steel-types such as Arceus, Dialga and Darkrai. While Draco Meteor does more to them, you sometimes do not want the special attack drop or the 90% accuracy. Thunder is mostly a filler move that hurts Kyogre and can possibly cause paralysis. Other OptionsNot much that is not mentioned above is here. Toxic and Roar are usable options on the Rest/Talking set, but that means you can’t touch Steels. Losing Will-O-Wisp means you lose part of its ability to wall things physically. Of course, one cannot forget its signature move, Shadow Force. While it does have base 120 power, it is incapable of hitting Normals such as Blissey and Arceus, who may attempt to switch in on the charging turn. In addition, Steel-types like Skarmory and Forretress can take it without much trouble. EVsGiratina’s EVs are listed in every set. Dumping the EVs into Special Defense instead of Defense is an option. However, since Giratina's weaknesses are more often special than physical, it isn't recommended. 24 EVs in Speed allows Giratina to outrun a max Speed Tyranitar and no Speed Groudon and Dialga. OpinionThe fact that it is a Ghost uber with an insane physical walling ability makes Giratina a staple on uber stall teams. Being a Ghost Uber means that Rapid Spin has no effect on it, meaning that Toxic Spikes, Spikes and Stealth Rock will not be removed easily. Giratina’s immunity to Explosion means that it cannot be swiftly brought down. While its weaknesses are actually commonly used types in the uber metagame, one should not overlook its 2 immunities and 6 resistances. Giratina’s massive defenses on both sides make it a huge task to KO (even a Modest Kyogre’s Ice Beam fails to 2HKO a Giratina with no SpD EVs). On the physical side, no unboosted physical attacks will OHKO the great wall. Giratina’s Defense is so high that it can even survive a Choice Banded Outrage from an Adamant Rayquaza (not guaranteed). It is often noted as one of the few counters to the “Extreme Killer” Arceus. Giratina may lack a reliable recovery move. For a winged lizard, it shamefully does not get Roost. However, it does not truly need such a move, as Rest and Sleep Talk is enough to make up for that loss thanks to its colossal defenses. CountersFor the standard Great Wall set, Dark Arceus will easily Calm Mind and deal a super effective Judgment on Giratina. The same applies for Ghost and Ice Arceus. Dragon Arceus can do the same too, but Dragon Claw will put a dent on it. Blissey can Calm Mind and eventually beat it with Ice Beam. Dialga can switch into anything Giratina throws at it and OHKO with Draco Meteor, or Bulk Up and eventually defeat it (Rest allows Dialga to remove a burn). Darkrai can come into Rest and Taunt it, and then proceeds to Calm Mind and wipe Giratina off the battlegrounds with Dark Pulse. With Giratina self-resting to remove the damages dealt to it, Darkrai is now able to put another member to sleep with Dark Void since Sleep Clause is not active as Rest is self inflicted. Mewtwo is capable of doing the same minus the Dark Void. Mew can Taunt Giratina, and then Nasty Plot and Baton Pass away to a dangerous recipient such as Palkia or Arceus. For the Normal Arceus counter set, all of the Pokémon mentioned above can easily counter it. It is also vulnerable to Burn or Poison. The Calm Minder set is harder to counter. Your best bet is a Dark Arceus with Substitute to laugh at any status attack it throws at you, but beware of Roar. Latios and Latias will easily Calm Mind alongside Giratina, Recovering any Dragon Pulse damage it throws at any of them. They must, however, be aware of Toxic, or Roar if they decide to Calm Mind alongside with Giratina. While Giratina Rests, physical attackers such as Ghost Swords Dancing Arceus are able to take advantage of the situation and set up a Swords Dance, following it up with a dangerous Shadow Claw. Tyranitar and its Special Defense boost from Sandstorm allow a safe switch in on Calm Mind, Dragon Pulse or Rest, but must be aware of Toxic and Will-O-Wisp. If those are absent, Tyranitar can easily inflict serious injury with Crunch. The Choice Bander is best countered by any defensive Arceus that are not weak to either Shadow Claw or Dragon Claw. These Arceus can inflict either Toxic or Will-o-Wisp to weaken Giratina. Forretress can come in, absorb anything but Hidden Power Fire and proceed to Toxic Spike. The Choice Specs set is easily stopped by Blissey. Dark Arceus is once again a great counter, but must avoid Aura Sphere. |
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