Giratina-o
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Code:
QC: firecape, Fireburn [B][2/2]
[/B]GP: Calm Pokemaster, NixHex [AeronEe1] [B][2/2][/B]Jibaku's Original Thread
[Overview]
<p>Giratina-O's titanic base 150 HP, in conjunction with its decent base 100 defenses, grant it enough bulk to switch into attacks repeatedly. Levitate makes this even easier, as it allows Giratina-O to avoid Toxic Spikes and Spikes and act as its team’s Ground-type immunity. Offensively, Giratina-O can cause serious amounts of damage with its amazing base 120 offenses, access to very powerful STAB moves such as Draco Meteor and Outrage, and a priority move in Shadow Sneak. But Giratina-O’s most powerful utility comes with its Ghost / Dragon typing, which grants it many resistances and immunities, gives STAB to powerful moves, and allows it to function as a spinblocker. However, Giratina-O is not without its flaws. It has weaknesses to common Ice-, Dragon-, Dark-, and Ghost-type attacks, and can only hold the Griseous Orb. Its average base 90 Speed also leaves it outsped by a large number of threats, and the lack of Choice Scarf leaves it with no way to reliably boost its Speed without resorting to the weak and gimmicky Bulldoze to decrease its opponent's Speed. However, the aforementioned traits are more than enough to make Giratina-O a monster offensively and defensively, and of course, one of the best spinblockers in the game.</p>
[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Hidden Power Fire
move 3: Shadow Sneak
move 4: Dragon Tail
item: Griseous Orb
evs: 248 Atk / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
nature: Naughty / Lonely
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Thanks to its STABs, high offensive stats, and the boost from Griseous Orb, Giratina-O is a deadly mixed attacker. It may not be as powerful as Dialga or Rayquaza, but its typing and bulk set it apart. Draco Meteor is Giratina-O’s strongest attack and will leave huge dents on anything that does not resist it, bar Blissey and Eviolite Chansey. Hidden Power Fire allows Giratina-O to fulfill its spinblocking role by roasting Forretress and Excadrill, the two most common Rapid Spin users in Ubers. It also complements Draco Meteor well and takes care of problematic Steel-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Metagross. Shadow Sneak appears weak at first, but it allows Giratina-O to pick off weakened sweepers. Among the most notable are Mewtwo and Ghost Arceus, as they are both weak to it. Dragon Tail allows it to phaze enemies around to rack up damage with entry hazards and make setting up on Giratina-O extremely difficult. Combined with STAB, Giratina-O's naturally high Attack, and Griseous Orb boost, it will often leave a fair-sized dent in most Pokemon.</p>
<p>Unlike what is normally expected on mixed attackers, Giratina-O’s EVs maximize its offenses instead of its Speed. This is because Giratina-O is already one of the slowest Pokemon in Ubers, and thanks to Hidden Power Fire requiring a 30 Speed IV, Giratina-O cannot even Speed tie with Pokemon with base 90 Speed. However, Giratina-O should not run a Speed-dropping nature, such as Brave, as it would be unable to outspeed defensive base 90s without any investment in Speed, such as Groudon and Kyogre. If the Speed EVs are insufficient, you may drop some from either offensive stat and invest more in Speed. Naive and Hasty are also options to boost Giratina-O's Speed. With at least 244 Speed EVs, Giratina-O can outrun Excadrill when sandstorm is not raging. Giratina-O can also run Defense EVs instead of Special Attack to make it a great emergency check to the likes of Swords Dance Arceus, Groudon, and Blaziken. For instance, with max Defense, Giratina-O will always survive max Attack Adamant +2 Life Orb-boosted Shadow Claw from Arceus and Blaziken after taking Stealth Rock damage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Giratina-O absolutely loves entry hazard support, perhaps more than any other Pokemon due to its ability to block Rapid Spin and its tendency to wreak havoc with Dragon Tail. Forretress, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Deoxys-S are all able to set up Stealth Rock and Spikes. Forretress in particular is a great choice, as it can lay down Toxic Spikes and has great defensive synergy with Giratina-O. Groudon, Dialga, and some Arceus variants are great at setting up Stealth Rock and providing defensive backup. Since Giratina-O lacks recovery, Wish support is helpful. Blissey can sponge special attacks (particularly Draco Meteor) aimed at Giratina-O and act as a Wish-passer. Jirachi has great defensive synergy with Giratina-O, but Giratina-O’s massive HP stat means Jirachi’s Wish won’t heal as much.</p>
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Shadow Ball
move 4: Aura Sphere / Shadow Ball / Thunder
item: Griseous Orb
evs: 212 HP / 72 Def / 224 SpA
nature: Modest
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Although Giratina-O's Speed may not be appealing, Giratina-O can still attempt a sweep via Calm Mind due to its excellent bulk and reasonably powerful attacks. What makes this set dangerous is Giratina-O's Ghost / Dragon typing and access to Levitate, which grant it crucial immunities to Seismic Toss, Rapid Spin, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. These traits allow it to set up Calm Mind with relative ease against stall teams and use Substitute to render Blissey or Chansey useless.</p>
<p>It's recommended to have Dragon Pulse as Giratina-O's main attack, due to its amazing neutral coverage; it also hits a myriad of Pokemon in Ubers super effectively. However, Shadow Ball allows Giratina-O to deal significant amounts of damage to Mewtwo, Mew, Wobbuffet, and most importantly, Lugia, who could otherwise wall it to an extent. Whichever move you choose, Aura Sphere complements the coverage, hitting Pokemon such as Steel Arceus, Heatran, Dialga, Ferrothorn, and Tyranitar for super effective damage. Thunder should only be used with Dragon Pulse for the best coverage. It hits Forretress, Kyogre, and Ho-Oh harder than any of its other moves and deals a decent amount to Lugia. However, rain support is needed to ensure that it never misses. Finally, you can use both of Giratina-O's STAB attacks to hit many Ubers super effectively, sacrificing general neutral coverage in the process. Be warned, however, that Ferrothorn can defeat Giratina-O without Aura Sphere.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Hidden Power Fire may be used to cut through Forretress and Ferrothorn in the sun. The combination of Hidden Power Fire and Dragon Pulse is only resisted by Heatran. The EV spread allows Giratina-O to survive Choice Scarf Garchomp's Outrage and Choice Scarf Palkia's Spacial Rend after Stealth Rock damage. The rest are thrown into Special Attack to power up its attacks. However, if being slow and defensive does not suit you well, you can use a Timid nature and maximize Speed and Attack. </p>
<p>Like the previous set, Giratina-O appreciates Steel-type teammates and entry hazard support. It's also fortunate that most of the viable Spikes-laying Pokemon in the Uber metagame are Steel-type. Wish support is highly recommended to keep Giratina-O at high health so that it can have more chances at pulling off a successful sweep, so Jirachi, Blissey, and Chansey work well as partners. There aren't a whole lot of counters for this set, because Giratina-O can take just about any special attack with a Calm Mind and inflict massive damage back. However, it suffers from being limited to two attacks. Lugia and Ghost Arceus can take on those without Shadow Ball, while Dragon-types such as Palkia and Zekrom pose problems to those without Dragon Pulse. Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and Heatran also annoy those without Aura Sphere.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Should Dragon Tail's negative priority and low Base Power not appeal to you on the mixed set, Dragon Claw or Outrage are viable options. If defensive Kyogre and Ho-Oh are problematic, Outrage is the superior option as it 3HKOes the former and 2HKOes the latter. It can also deal over 50% to all Arceus formes with 4 HP, barring Steel Arceus, and in conjunction with Toxic Spikes, Arceus will have a difficult time trying to stall it out. If none of those problems are of your concern, Dragon Claw is better as it lacks the locking drawback of Outrage, and thus can be thrown about much more easily. Keep in mind that in conjunction with entry hazards, Dragon Tail will do more damage on average than Dragon Claw and can potentially place the opponent in a bad position.</p>
<p>RestTalk allows Giratina-O to preserve its bulk but severely limits its attacking options. It's best used with Calm Mind and Dragon Pulse. Will-O-Wisp can burn unsuspecting enemies such as Tyranitar. With a physically defensive spread, Giratina-O can act as a check to Ground Arceus. Stone Edge can be used to take down Ho-Oh but offers no real use outside of that. Giratina-O's signature move, Shadow Force, deals an incredible amount of damage, but its charge-up turn gives the opponent a free turn to possibly set up or put up a substitute, potentially leaving Giratina-O vulnerable to a powerful oncoming attack. Thunder Wave can cripple faster attackers such as Arceus and Choice Scarf Dialga. Destiny Bond is usable for surprise kills once in a while, but with Giratina-O's middling Speed, it is extremely unreliable and should not be used often. Magic Coat can be used to bounce back Spikes from Deoxys-S and Ferrothorn, as well as Dark Void from Darkrai, should you want to use Giratina-O as a lead. Giratina-O can also attempt to sweep from the physical side using Hone Claws, Shadow Sneak, Earthquake, and Dragon Claw, but its power in that department leaves a lot to be desired.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Lugia can generally wall whatever Giratina-O throws at it and whittle it down with Ice Beam or blow it away with Whirlwind, while setting up Reflect to weaken its physical moves significantly. The rare Cresselia also follows the same principle, minus Whirlwind. Steel and Dark Arceus, with their great bulk and Speed, can switch into almost anything that Giratina-O throws at it and heal off the damage with Recover. It can proceed to severely damage Giratina-O with Judgment. Heatran can counter mixed versions without Earthquake and Calm Mind versions without Aura Sphere. Tyranitar and Jirachi are also annoying for the Mixed Attacker set without Earthquake. Dialga can take a hit from Giratina-O and OHKO back with its own STAB Dragon-type attacks. Keep in mind, though, that Dragon Tail makes countering Giratina-O harder than it seems.</p>
<p>Giratina-O isn't too difficult to revenge kill due to its weaknesses, lack of item options, and average Speed. Choice Scarf Palkia, Dialga, Reshiram, and Zekrom can easily OHKO Giratina-O with their STAB Dragon-type attacks. Darkrai outruns Giratina-O, resists Shadow Sneak, and can severely cripple it with Dark Pulse or put it to sleep with Dark Void. Be wary of the Calm Mind set, as it won't be so easily taken down. However, it doesn't have as much initial power as the Mixed Attacker set and requires setup.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Giratina-O did not receive a new Dream World ability.</p>
