DP Girafarig

[Caelum]

Fun little lead I've been using for awhile. Probably need modification later on when the BL / UU testing happens since the tier will likely become more powerful and this lead is very specific (well the EVs are) but I'll modify it when that happens since Girafarig will likely end up in NU anyway.

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/girafarig

[SET]
name: Lead
move 1: Magic Coat
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Wish / Reflect / Light Screen
item: Leftovers
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 32 Def / 160 SpA / 64 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With decent defenses, Inner Focus, and Magic Coat, Girafaring is able to make an excellent lead, thwarting many of the most common UU lead strategies. Girafarig's ability, Inner Focus, prevents flinching from common leads, such as Fake Out Hitmontop, Persian, and Purugly, all while Girafarig Psychics each for an OHKO or 2HKO. Magic Coat turns the tables on sleeper leads, such as Venusaur and Persian, allowing you to sleep their lead by firing back Hypnosis or Sleep Powder, as well as crippling other status leads such as Froslass. Grass Knot is used to damage bulky ground leads such as Claydol. Wish is a useful move in the final slot for team support and general scouting purposes. Wish also helps to keep Girafarig itself healthy and with this more defensive build Girafarig will find ample time to make use of the move. Reflect or Light Screen also help in supporting the team and with Magic Coat often giving Girafarig free turns you'll find more then enough time to set up the defensive screen of choice.</p>

<p>The EVs are highly specialized for the UU metagame. 68 Speed EVs let Girafarig outrun 221 Speed Hitmontop. A Modest nature with 160 Special Attack EVs guarantee a 2HKO on common leads such as Electrode and Persian with Psychic, amongst several others. The remaining EVs were delegated to HP and Defense to allow Girafarig to take a few hits in the process.</p>

 

[jumpluff]

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With decent defenses, Inner Focus, and Magic Coat, Girafaring is able to make an excellent lead, thwarting many of the most common UU lead strategies. Girafarig's ability, Inner Focus, prevents flinching from common Fake Out leads, such as Fake Out Hitmontop, Persian, and Purugly, all while Girafarig Psychics each for an OHKO or 2HKO. Magic Coat turns the tables on sleeper leads, such as Venusaur and Persian, allowing you to sleep their lead by firing back Hypnosis or Sleep Powder, as well as crippling other status leads such as Froslass. Grass Knot is used to damage bulky ground leads such as Claydol.</p>

<p>Baton Pass may seem odd as the final choice since Girafarig is not passing any stat boosts; however, you'll find a dry Baton Pass to be incredibly useful. Baton Pass is a useful scouting move, particularly if paired with a Pursuit user such as Choice Band Absol. The most common switch-ins to Girafarig are going to be Ghost-types, such as Drifblim or Rotom, or bulky Psychic Pokémon, such as Grumpig or Hypno. By using Baton Pass you can scout the opponent's team and gain a favorable match up, possibly allowing you free turns of setup, or the ability to cripple the aforementioned bulky Psychics by Baton Passing to a Pursuit user.</p>

<p>The EVs are highly specialized for the UU metagame. 68 Speed EVs let Girafarig outrun 221 Speed Hitmontop. A Modest nature with 160 Special Attack EVs guarantee a 2HKO on common leads such as Electrode and Persian with Psychic, amongst several others. The remaining EVs were delegated to HP and Defense to allow Girafarig to take a few hits in the process.</p>

hi

 

[Caelum]

thanks

 

[Metric]

This is a good set, but I have a major gripe with the inclusion of baton pass in the moveset.

For the situations that you mentioned within your analysis, you could achieve exactly the same effect just by switching.

I don't know maybe I'm missing something but I think baton pass would be better replaced with a move that can help more. Perhaps HP Fighting for more coverage, or Reflect/Light Screen to aid the team.

 

[jrrrrrrr]

Wish, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, HP Fighting or Ice or Ground or Water, the screens, Agility, Calm Mind....I'm sure there are more useful moves than Baton Pass in that last moveslot. I agree with Metric here, since Pursuit isn't very common in UU.

 

[Jimbo]

Girafarig Psychics each for an OHKO or 2HKO

Good set, I also think there are better options than Baton Pass though.

 

[Caelum]

Baton Pass is an alright move, not a particular favorite of mine. The last slot was originally Wish. It's probably the best option on this Girafarig since I find myself getting lots of free turns after I use Magic Coat or something. but two different people have told me Wish + Magic Coat were illegal Egg Moves. I don't have much knowledge of in-game things (as in, I barely understand how breeding works so I have no idea how to check for that) so if anyone could resolve that it would be nice. I'd prefer to run Wish but I was under the impression it was illegal, if they aren't illegal egg moves then I'd change it to Wish. Shoddy lets you run the combination together but I know that isn't a perfect method to check. I figured if two different people (whom I consider reliable) thought this, it might have some validity, so I removed it as an option. I'd prefer Wish though

Edit:

Someone PM'd me and explained how Magic Coat + Wish are legal so Wish is the primary option now. Sorry about that guys, I need to figure out how egg moves work so I can check these things myself ~_~.

I also included the Screens as secondary options to Wish as suggested here.

 

[twash]

I would probably change "flinching from common Fake Out leads, such as Fake Out Hitmontop, Persian, and Purugly," to
"flinching from common leads, such as Fake Out Hitmontop, Persian, and Purugly,". The double use of Fake Out originally made it a bit annoying to read, and it isn't really needed because of "such as".

Just because it will annoy me otherwise, add a space between "/32" on the EVs part.

Also, do those Defense EVs guaruntee anything? Because if you changed Girafarig's SpA EVs to 216 it would mean you always OHKO neutral 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom with Psychic, which could be useful I guess. Then you would have to use 228 HP / 216 SpA / 64 Spe though, and it isn't a priority seeing as you OHKO with SR anyway, and can Magic Coat any Will-o-Wisp that may come your way for slow damage.

 

[Caelum]

Well, considering that Girafarig is immune to Rotom's Ghost STAB and you OHKO w/ SR I don't see Rotom really mattering. The defense EVs, however, have come in handy for example to take a U-Turn from a Jolly Choice Band Primeape.

Anyway, this is on site now and can be moved to the archive.