Doubles Jirachi

Jirachi

Overview
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Jirachi is a strong contender as a support Pokemon in Doubles. With access to the coveted Follow Me, Jirachi can easily support its teammates by redirecting attacks to itself, sponging most attacks thanks to its resistances and immunities. It also has access to other various support moves, such as Helping Hand and Thunder Wave, which can come in handy if your teammate needs a boost. Jirachi also has a balanced stat spread, granting it great bulk. It can also provide flinch support with Iron Head and has a large moveset, allowing it to fill lots of roles.

Regardless of its high points, Jirachi still has its problems. The same typing that gives it lots of resistances opens up weaknesses to common attacking moves in Doubles such as Heat Wave and Earthquake. It can also only run one set well.

Follow Me
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name: Follow Me
move 1: Follow Me
move 2: Icy Wind / Thunder Wave
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Protect / Safeguard
ability: Serene Grace
item: Sitrus Berry
evs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 80 SpD / 108 Spe
nature: Careful

Moves
========

Follow Me redirects powerful attacks aimed at a teammate to Jirachi, which can take them with ease. Protect allows Jirachi to scout for attacks and stunt double targeting in case the opponent wants to get rid of Jirachi quickly. It also allows Jirachi's teammate to take out troublesome Pokemon while Jirachi takes no damage. Safeguard can also be used if your team is weak to status. Iron Head is a way of dealing damage and also has a nice 60% chance of flinching Jirachi's opponent opponent thanks to Serene Grace. It also prevents Jirachi from being Taunt bait. Icy Wind gives Jirachi a way of speed control by slowing down the opponent's Pokemon and giving Jirachi and its teammate a way of outspeeding and hitting its common switch-ins hard, such as Garchomp and Landorus-T. Thunder Wave can be used instead of Icy Wind for paralyzing the opponent as well as forming a ParaFlinch combo with Iron Head.

Set Details
========

Serene Grace doubles the chances of secondary effects occurring, allowing Jirachi to get past Pokemon by flinching them to death with Iron Head. Helping Hand can be used to provide power to Jirachi's teammates. Sitrus Berry provides Jirachi with recovery and can potentially let it avoid a KO. The given EV spread allows Jirachi to always survive Life Orb Bisharp's Sucker Punch in case Jirachi wants to go for the Iron Head flinch. It also allows Jirachi to outspeed max Speed Bisharp and Breloom and hit them with an Iron Head or Thunder Wave. Another EV spread that can be used is 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD, as it always lets Jirachi survive Modest Mega Charizard Y's Heat Wave. A Careful Nature works best to maximize the amounts of special hits Jirachi can take.

Usage Tips
========

Jirachi is used as a supporter and pivot, so do not use it for offensive pressure unless it hits something super effectively. Jirachi should also be used when you need to redirect attacks away from its teammates. It's also great at supporting teams with speed control. Hitting a threat with a Thunder Wave or Icy Wind on the switch-in is useful, as the slowed Pokemon can be finished off by a teammate or flinched to death with Iron Head. Jirachi can also use Follow Me for other purposes, such as to allow its partner to get behind a Substitute or begin setting up. If you suspect a double target on Jirachi, you can use Protect to shield it from the attacks and retaliate with Jirachi's untouched Pokemon partner. However, because of Follow Me, Jirachi is more prone to double targeting, so keep that in mind.

Team Options
========

Pokemon that appreciate Follow Me support and speed control greatly benefit from Jirachi's support. Setup sweepers such as Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Charizard X appreciate the redirection of powerful moves aimed at them, which results in a free turn to set up and sweep. Bulkier attackers such as Rotom-W like avoiding super effective attacks and can help defeat Jirachi's common enemies. Sylveon appreciates redirection of Poison- and Steel-type attacks and can clear out Dark-types for Jirachi. Water-types such as Politoed synergize well with Jirachi and appreciate speed control. Water-types can also destroy Fire- and Ground-types that Jirachi hates. Politoed can even provide rain to weaken Fire-type attacks aimed at Jirachi. Azumarill and Kyurem-B can defeat all of Jirachi's common enemies, and in return, Jirachi can redirect all super effective moves aimed at them. Kyurem-B is also protected from confusion after using Outrage if Safeguard is up.

Other Options
########

Safety Goggles can be used to redirect Spores without falling asleep. It also lets Jirachi ignore Rage Powder. Lum Berry is another option to avoid all status moves aimed at Jirachi once. A Choice Scarf set can be used for the surprise factor, but it is not advised because it removes Jirachi's unique ability to provide speed control and Follow Me support. Weather moves can be used if you need backup weather support, but it is generally not worth the moveslot. Body Slam or Thunder can be used to provide speed control, but their 40% chance not to paralyze hurts their supporting capabilities. Jirachi can set up dual screens, but it's generally outclassed by Klefki and Cresselia in this role. Stealth Rock, while generally not used in Doubles, can be used if you have a spare spot to cripple the Fire-type switch-ins. Healing Wish can bring a weak Pokemon to full health to clean up late-game, although it is a one-time use and sacrifices Jirachi. U-turn can be used to scout for moves and switch into a potential threat to your opponent's team safely. Skill Swap can be a cool move to use, as Skill Swapping Serene Grace to your teammates can be useful to get side effects for your partner's moves more often. Jirachi can even use Skill Swap to steal abilities from Pokemon that rely on them to succeed, such as Mega Kangaskhan. Trick Room is a nice form of speed control, and because Jirachi is the only user of Follow Me and Trick Room, it can utilize these traits to be a decent Trick Room setter.

Checks and Counters
########

**Offensive Typing Advantage**: Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y, Heatran, and Talonflame can easily switch in and deal heavy amounts of damage to Jirachi. Ground-Types such as Garchomp and Landorus-T can scare out Jirachi with a STAB Earthquake, but they must avoid Icy Wind on the switch-in. Dark-types and Ghost-types such as Bisharp and Aegislash can hit Jirachi super effectively, but must be careful, as Iron Head can deal good damage against some of them. Bisharp is probably one of Jirachi's best counters, as its Attack is doubled if Jirachi's Icy Wind hits Bisharp, making it easy to destroy Jirachi with Knock Off or Sucker Punch. Mega Gengar can trap Jirachi and hit it with a powerful Shadow Ball as long as it avoids Jirachi's move when switching in.

**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Disable, and Encore are annoying when using Thunder Wave Jirachi, because without Follow Me and some method of speed control, Jirachi is inevitably crippled.

**Miscellaneous**: Most spread moves are super effective against Jirachi. Spread moves also render Follow Me useless, as they can hit both Jirachi and its teammate.
 
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BLOOD TOTEM

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Pretty strong effort so I got kinda nitpicky =]

Overview
  • Fantastic support movepool, you mention Follow Me but it has a lot more going for it than that
Set
  • Since you're running enough speed to beat Breloom, I don't think Safety Goggles are worth the slash. If you want to keep them in the set I'd reccomened providing an alternative, bulkier, EV spread in set details
Moves
  • Crux of the set is a taboo phrase for GP, just change it to something like ''Follow Me is key to the set'' or somth
  • Mention some moves that Follow Me is great for redirecting, stuff like Draco Meteor from Lati@s, Sucker Punch from Bisharp and Play Rough from MMaw or Azu.
  • Mention Serene Grace boosting your flinch chance to 6/10 with Iron Head
  • Name some of the opps Psychic will hit, Top / Conk etc
  • It isn't really worth mentioning what coverage Icy Wind gives since you barely 2HKO Lando-T and Chomp, just talk about it from a speed control perspective
Set Details
  • Give an alternative, bulkier EV spread for the Safety Goggles spread.
Usage Tips
  • Give some examples of Pokemon that can sub up thanks to Jirachi.
  • Talk about using Protect over Follow me when you suspect your opponent will double target rachi to get it out of the way.
Team Options
  • Sylveon appreciates the redirection of Poison and Steel-type attacks. Jirachi also provides super effective coverage against Poison-type Pokemon like Gengar and Amoonguss that Sylveon struggles to blitz through.
  • Heatran can use the free turn provided by Follow me to get a sub up, bar the ground weakness they also have good deffensive synergy.
Other Options
  • Healing Wish can bring a battered Pokemon back from the brink to clean up late game.
Checks and Counters
  • Tran kinda fucks it and gets a free sub
  • Repeated hits will wear it down and it can't do much back


Feel free to not implement stuff that I've said if you don't think it's worth it, I'm not QC after all =]
 

finally

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not qc so ignore me if you want
4+ Atk ice punch is actually a decent set to 2hko most lando-t's on the switch.
-1 4+ Atk Jirachi Ice Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 176-208 (55 - 65%)
-1 4+ Atk Jirachi Ice Punch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 176-208 (46 - 54.4%)
just as a note, icy wind does more to lando-t, salamence, other intimidators but like ice punch is better for general coverage. icy wind calcs here:
0 SpA Jirachi Icy Wind vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-T: 192-228 (60.1 - 71.2%)
0 SpA Jirachi Icy Wind vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-T: 192-228 (50.2 - 59.6%)

u-turn is an ok moveslot if you are partners with like mega gengar and you trap stuff. it's also just fine because jirachi only needs 3 moves to function (only needs follow me, speed control, iron head) and you have a hyper offensive team that likes have offensive pressure.
you mention emergency negative tr, but it is also a decent setter for semi-tr teams. it dosen't necessarily redirect away taunts for tr setters as so much as it is the tr setter.
it is one of the premier stealth rock setters in doubles as it is bulky enough to set them up reliably, usually dosen't need that 4th slot , and it can even adapt its movepool to help it be an especially good lead. by that last part i mean to give it like drain punch or something over iron head to help beat the common kanga lead. in this sense, jirachi would be a dedicated stealth rocker and anti lead. just remember, in doubles rocks are a turn 1-3 thing. if you don't set them up by then, then you have messed up :'[

gets skill swap. like swapping serene grace onto something to flinch stuff is a possibility. can also seriously use skill swap against stuff like heatran to temporarily block fire moves. used very much like skill swap cress except that it cant swap levitate to heatran

gets the weathers, and is bulky enough to help set them up.

personally i like to run this much spdef to survive char-y. just throwing this number out here
252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 184+ SpD Jirachi in Sun: 338-398 (83.6 - 98.5%)
 
i'll put this all in when I get home, thanks! However, I'm not sure about ice punch

EDIT: Got everything, other than Ice Punch, thanks
 
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Electrolyte

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It would definitely be more informative to stress the traits that Jirachi has over other Follow Me users, because its access to the move (along with other things) is the main reason why anyone would ever use Jirachi in the first place. Thus, a primary focus on access to Follow Me AND THEN an explanation for bulk and access to Icy Wind AND THEN a note about its ability to flinchhax should be the general list of priorities in all explanations. Jirachi's flinchhaxxing is a very small portion of what it does, especially because it's slow by Doubles standards, easily double targeted, and very susceptible to Intimidate. Iron Head doesn't even have its own slot, so you don't have to specifically mention it that much.

Overview:
Stress more of:
- Follow Me
- Better overall bulk and different resistances immunities than Amoonguss / Togekiss give it a small niche over them
- Access to speed control in Icy Wind and Thunder Wave
THEN move onto:
- Iron Head flinching
- Weaknesses
- Predictability


The set:

This might be more because of personal preference, but I always greatly prefer bulk > Speed. If I wanted a redirector that could beat Breloom, I would use Togekiss, not Jirachi. Also, typical Jirachi partners (Zard X, Shaymin-S) all have no problem beating Breloom. Bulk > Speed.
Highlighting some QC members: Audiosurfer , Pwnemon , Laga , Nollan , Lolk - for their opinions on this.

Some nitpicky things:
- Iron Head should not be called "reliable STAB"; Jirachi rarely uses it for large-damage dealing purposes (except against select Fairy- and Rock-types, but they won't be staying in against you) Iron Head's main draw is that it flinches, and oh hey it deals damage too, why not. Psychic is the reliable STAB because its a lot more reliable, hits harder, and has more direct and relevant targets. Psychic's purpose is to deal damage; Iron Head, not so much.
- Icy Wind deters Ground-types as well, a lot more than the Base Power suggests. Not only does it hit them for fair amounts of damage but it also slows them down enough that with partner support or some flinchhaxxing, Jirachi can potentially muscle past them or cripple them enough that sending them in is no longer worth it.

Set Details:
-If you go with my suggestion above, simply switch the bulky spread with the current spread and explain it.


Usage Tips:
- No probs here nice job


Team Options:
- There a lot more things you can add here. Elaboration in this part is crucial, as the list of Pokemon Jirachi can help will often be the most determining factor of whether the reader chooses to use Jirachi or not.

Some things to consider adding:
- Setup sweepers. Mega Zard X is an excellent partner; it appreciates Jirachi's redirection of Dragon type moves and priority. The two are susceptible to EQ, but you can often at least gain some degree of surprise as opps tend to RSlide Chars before they evolve, assuming Zard Y. Mega Kang, Mega Scizor, and Mega Gyarados are also great partners, as each can target different ranges of opponents that threaten Jirachi.
- Bulkier attackers that appreciate Speed Control and redirection- LO Iron Fist Conk, Sash Loom, Bisharp loves avoiding CCs, Rotom-W loves avoiding Grass-types attacks and helps smash Ground / Fire-types of burn physical attackers.
- Glass Cannons- not just Shaymin-S, but Deo-A, Gengar, Kingdra, and the like as well. They can easily blast through opponents when they don't have to take any hits, and love Jirachi's ability to stun slower, bulkier Pokemon and slow down revenge killers so they can muscle past them. This is something Amoonguss and Togekiss cannot do nearly as well as Jirachi.
- Remove Gengar mention in Sylveon. M Gengar's SBall OHKOs your current spread (iirc. If not, it 2HKOs through Sitrus) so Jirachi is a very unreliable check.


Other Options:
- OO is fine, possibly mention Wish support but it's a tricky thing to pull off


Checks and Counters:
- Knock Off hurts like hell.
- Dark-types in general fuck with Jirachi, including special TTar, DD Mega TTar, Bisharp, and Scrafty. Bisharp's Defiant also deters Icy Wind Jirachi from spamming the move
- Ghost-types are also dangerous. Mega Gengar hits you really hard, TR Chand OHKOs and dgaf about anything you have. SBall coverage also hurts, but not as much.
- Taunt / Disable / Encore are slightly annoying, especially if you're TWave Jirachi. Without Follow Me and at least some method if speed control, Jirachi is a sitting duck.



Looks good! Nice work U-Turn Out :) (Not QC; take these suggestions as you would like)
 
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I'll get it when I get a computer, thanks!
Should I be using finally's spread?

EDIT: Finally finished, thanks a lot!
 
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Tbh I think Helping Hand is done better by different Pokemon. Jirachi does paraflinch so well, and that's what it should only do imo. Jirachi doesn't need to be filling three different roles in one set, so I would take it out imo. It makes a good Other Options bullet because it is surprising, but the set should have what Jirachi does best on it.

That being said, I see very few merits for Psychic as well. Jirachi can paraflinch practically anything to death, and Psychic just seems odd. The only benefit i see of Psychic is hitting Rotom-W, who is immune to Thunder Wave. Still, it can be hit by Icy Wind on the switch, and it can't do much to stop Follow Me. I am pretty sure Conkeldurr can live a psychic and OHKO with Knock Off + Mach Punch, and Hitmontop will be equally as hurt by Paraflinch, especially after a Close Combat defense Drop. Also, if uses Psychic, Jirachi will be the one steel-type in existance that can't stop fairy spam lol.
 
Tbh I think Helping Hand is done better by different Pokemon. Jirachi does paraflinch so well, and that's what it should only do imo. Jirachi doesn't need to be filling three different roles in one set, so I would take it out imo. It makes a good Other Options bullet because it is surprising, but the set should have what Jirachi does best on it.

That being said, I see very few merits for Psychic as well. Jirachi can paraflinch practically anything to death, and Psychic just seems odd. The only benefit i see of Psychic is hitting Rotom-W, who is immune to Thunder Wave. Still, it can be hit by Icy Wind on the switch, and it can't do much to stop Follow Me. I am pretty sure Conkeldurr can live a psychic and OHKO with Knock Off + Mach Punch, and Hitmontop will be equally as hurt by Paraflinch, especially after a Close Combat defense Drop. Also, if uses Psychic, Jirachi will be the one steel-type in existance that can't stop fairy spam lol.
I'll update later but I want more information on Psychic before I put it
Thanks anyways Lolk
 

Pocket

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Also supporting Lolk's motion to remove Psychic from the moveset - Iron Head's flinching utility is just as crucial to Jirachi's success as its misdirection. Iron Head is mandatory on Jirachi (Remove the Calm Nature slash, too).

Safeguard deserves a slash imo. Jirachi can set up Safeguard before Venusaur and Breloom (and obviously Amoonguss can put anything to sleep). It's also nice to block Wisps or Thunder Waves from crippling Jirachi or its partner. I would prefer to slash Safeguard instead of Thunder Wave, because there are many checks and counters that dgaf about Thunder Wave (Electric- and Ground-types); Icy Wind is almost always the preferred Speed control for Jirachi's case (although watch out for Bisharp). Alternatively, Safeguard can be slashed with Protect.

Mention Helping Hand under Moves or Set Details as a potential alternative move on the main set. Helping Hand is quite an underrated support option that can facilitate KOs, thereby reducing the Jirachi's need to absorb hits. I would also prefer that you mention Trick Room, too, as a potential speed control option for Jirachi, because it is the only Pokemon with a unique combination of TR and Follow Me iirc. Suggest an alternative spread that invests more in bulk rather than speed for this one (I like finally's spread that survives Charizard Y's Heat Wave)

I like using the following EV spread: 252 HP / 68 Def / 80 SpD / 108 Spe. This allows Jirachi to survive a +0 LO Sucker Punch from Bisharp if Jirachi happens to decide to go for an Iron Head flinch.

Some of the teammates I like to pair with Jirachi: Azumarill and Kyurem-B. Both can take care of Fire- and Ground-types that plague Jirachi, while Jirachi in turn shields Azumarill from Electric-, Grass-, and Poison-type moves and Kyurem-B from Dragon-, Fairy-, Fighting-, Steel-type moves. If Kyurem-B runs CB, Jirachi can prevent confusion from Outrage with Safeguard :d
 

Pocket

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I was actually proposing the bolded spread (252 HP / 68 Def / 80 SpD / 108 Spe) as the main spread - it survives LO Bisharp's Sucker Punch 100% of the time if Jirachi decides to Iron Head flinch something while an opposing Bisharp is out. The spread also survives Timid Charizard Y's Heat Wave with 15/16 chance.
The EVs allow Jirachi to take a Modest Heat Wave from Mega Charizard Y and cripple it with a Thunder Wave.
When explaining your original spread (either as the main or alternative) I would specify 13/16th of a chance of survival, because your sentence implies 100%.

Also I said to mention finally's spread when you were talking about Trick Room. Since it's Trick Room, Jirachi can invest all of its EVs into its defense. Specifically 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 SpD, Careful Nature. Not only does this spread survives LO Bisharp's Sucker Punch, but it also survives Modest Charizard Y's Heat Wave 100% of the time at full health.


QC APPROVED (2/3)
 
Thanks Pocket :)
I forgot to change it to finally's spread, thanks for catching that
I'll write it up in about 1-2 weeks, been busy
 

BLOOD TOTEM

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Moves
  • Protect lets Jiarchi's teammate take out dangerous threats while it takes no damage
  • Say how Icy Wind lets Jirachi's partner outspeed things that would usually threaten it
  • Rather than saying it hits ground-types, say it hits common switch ins like Landorus-T and Garchomp for good damage.
  • Move the Helping Hand and TR mentions and stick em in Set Details since they aren't slashed on the main set.
Team Options
  • Mega Zard Y is not a set up sweeper, X is though
  • Mention some specific glass canons like Deoxys-A and Weavile, say that the follow me support helps patch up for their awful defenses
  • Glass canons are fast af so the speed control point isn't needed
  • I would not describe Breloom as bulky :>
  • Say why Water-types synergise well, Politoed provides rain which makes it less fire weak, they slam ground-types.
Other Options
  • Don't say screens aren't advised in dubs, they're pretty good imo. Say Rachi is outclassed by Klefki and Cress in this role
  • The dedicated lead comment seems kinda off, ditch it imo
  • Skill Swap can also remove abilities from you opponent to make them easier to handle. Think Mega Khan, TFlame and Tran.
Checks and Counters
  • I wouldn't class Speed Control as a counter to Jirachi, drop this comment
Let me know when you implement this and I'll come and take another quick look.
Don't forget to change the title so people know it's written up :>
 

Darkmalice

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Add Lum Berry to OO. It makes Follow Me very useful for redirecting all status type attacks.

I would mention in Checks and Counters that spread moves are useful for bypassing Follow Me. Special mention to Heat Wave and EQ because they also hit Jirachi super-effectively.

Your Defensive typing advantage could probably be combined with offensive typing, as you're focusing on Pokemon that both resist Jirachi's STAB and deals loads of damage to it simultaneously but more on the latter. Such as Fire-types which you've already mentioned in Offensive typing. Also, Iron Head isn't an issue to Pokemon offensively unless they're weak to it, and Jirachi doesn't care that as it's more important to provide Follow Me and speed support with Jirachi.

This looks good. Blood Totem wants another look, so I'll let him finish the QC assessment.
 

Audiosurfer

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some things from a simple read-through U-Turn Out:
  • work on the prose in the overview. things like "however, not all is well..." and "don't let these characteristics fool you..." are cliched ways of writing analyses and are to be avoided. simply state what you need to in the overview, it doesn't have to be a really witty or clever way of putting it or somethin so long as it effectively communicates what the reader needs to know.
  • put a space between the section tags and the writing
  • "Sitrus Berry provides Jirachi with a means of recovery and also turns 2HKOs into 3HKOs" <--- if youre sayin somethin like this you need to have a specific calc or rephrase it. a better way to state it would be like and can potentially let it avoid a ko or something
  • "+0 LO Bisharp's Sucker Punch" <--- remove the +0, it's implied unless a boost is specifically stated
  • for team options you need to give examples where there aren't any
  • "Latios is a great example, being able to take out Jirachi's counters." <--- great example of what?
  • "Glass Cannons also appreciate Follow Me support from Jirachi. They also love Jirachi's ability to patch up their low defences." <--- they're not called glass canons, say frail attackers or somethin, and Jirachi doesnt patch up their defense, it redirects moves that would KO them.
In general you just need to work on your prose and stuff before i can think of giving this a check. in alot of places things are poorly worded or are inaccurately represented. in addition the formatting of this needs work as well. take a look at an analysis that has already passed the qc stage to see how they format it.
 

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