How Steel?
QC Checks; (Fireburn, Edgar, --)
Overview
########
- Its Typing allows it to check Fairy-types very well.
- Eon Twin check!!!
- Serene Grace boosted, STAB Iron Head builds on this.
- It supportive movepool contains both Wish and Healing Wish. Two of the best support moves in the game.
- Its usable movepool is relatively shallow otherwise, though.
- It bears a good Speed tier, passable bulk, but mediocre attacking stats by Ubers standards.
- A large part of its offensive movepool is composed of weak moves, which doesn't stack well with its mediocre attacking stats.
- Its Weakness to Ground-type attacks is pretty bad considering Primal Groudon is the Pokemon to use in this metagame.
Choice Scarf
########
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: U-Turn
move 3: Healing Wish
move 4: Ice Punch / Fire Punch
ability: Serene Grace
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 176 HP / 152 Atk / 180 Spe
nature: Adamant
Moves
========
- Iron Head is Jirachi's only STAB move on this set. It gives Jirachi utility in checking Fairy-types, and going for fast, Serene Grace augmented flinches which can turn around bad match ups in a heart beat.
- U-Turn is for switch initiative against the extremely dangerous switch ins Jirachi has with the most notable being Primal Groudon. It allows easier abuse of a partnered Mega Gengar or Wobbuffet also.
- Healing Wish is one of the best support moves in the game. It allows Jirachi to give many offensive Pokemon a second time to smack around the opponent's team after it has been weakened by its first run. It can usually do this successfully due to its Choice Scarf allowing it to outrun the entire un-boosted metagame besides Deoxys-S.
- Ice Punch is for revenge killing Rayquaza and un-boosted Mega Salamence. It also hits offensive Landorus-T and the Eon Twins for good damage. Never discount the 20% freeze chance on anything but Primal Groudon either.
- Fire Punch gives Jirachi a way to hit Ferrothorn and Scizor, both of which wall Jirachi without this move.
Set Details
========
- 176 HP EVs allow Jirachi to survive Geomancy Xerneas's +2 Focus Blast after 2 rounds of Stealth Rock damage in order to hit it hard with Iron Head. They also give Jirachi a pretty healthy chance to live +1 Earthquake from Jolly Mega Salamence in order to hit it with Ice Punch
- 152 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allow Jirachi to bring Geomancy Xerneas into the common priority KO range.
- The rest is in Speed and it conveniently outruns the now rare Choice Scarf neutral natured base 90 Pokemon and Deoxys-A.
- Be careful when deciding to Fire Punch a Ferrothorn switch in, as Iron Barbs + Stealth Rock easily punJirachi in range of Focus Blast from Geomancy Xerneas.
Usage Tips
========
- With its Choice Scarf, a very low health Jirachi is still very useful due to its fast Healing Wish. Keeping Jirachi around no matter what health it is in, unless paralyzed, is always a good idea.
- Because Jirachi does bait in extremely dangerous Pokemon in Ubers, U-Turn should be the move you use most with this set.
- To build on this, if your team doesn't need Healing Wish, locking Jirachi into Iron Head will always force out a Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, Primal Kyogre etc, all of which are big threats in the Ubers metagame. Sacing Jirachi to one of these will immediately give you an offensive edge or a trapped metagame titan given Jirachi's team is built well. You could also end up flinching one of these to death if you're lucky enough.
Team Options
========
- Due to the slow, but massive threats Jirachi baits, Mega Gengar and Wobbuffet are fantastic partners to remove the threat for another teammate.
- Because Jirachi can force these Pokemon out multiple times and they have limited forms of recovery, reliable setters of entry hazards like Primal Groudon, Dialga, Greninja etc are all good partners for it.
- Rayquaza deserves a special mention due to its fantastic defensive synergy with Jirachi, Extreme Speed being able to make use of Jirachi's damage on Geomancy Xerneas, and it being a perfect recipient for Healing Wish because of its Life Orb, Stealth Rock weakness, and lack of recovery. It also preys on damaged Primal Groudon, Kyogre, and Ho-Oh.
- Choice Scarf Jirachi should be used on offensively inclined teams to make full use of its ability to revenge kill, lure out threats, and Healing Wish.
Support
########
name: Support
move 1: Wish
move 2: Thunder Wave / Body Slam
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Protect / U-Turn
ability: Serene Grace
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
nature: Careful
Moves
========
- Wish is Jirachi's best form of recovery and can also be used to pass chunks of 202 HP to its teammates.
- Thunder Wave is used to slow down or force out Latias, Latios, Xerneas, and, to a lesser extent Mewtwo. It also deters Mega Gengar and Roost Mega Salamence.
- Iron Head is Jirachi's STAB move of choice since it has perfect accuracy, is super effective on Fairy-types, and forms the nasty, Serene Grace augmented para-flinch combo with Thunder Wave or Body Slam.
- Protect ensures that Jirachi will receive its own Wish if it needs it. It can also be used to gain extra Leftovers recovery in a pinch.
- Serene Grace boosted Body Slam is an alternative to Thunder Wave that deters boosting Primal Groudon from setting up on Jirachi. It does make Jirachi bait for Mega Gengar though, so only use this with U-turn.
- U-turn is to be used alongside Body Slam in order to escape Mega Gengar. It also has extra utility for switch initiative due to Jirachi luring in big threats like Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh.
Set Details
========
- Maximum HP and Special Defense investment with a Careful nature make Jirachi extremely sturdy on the special side, while giving it the "biggest" wishes possible.
- The last four in EVs in Attack add the tiniest boost to Iron Head, U-Turn, and Body Slam, but that is all they do.
- Leftovers are just for passive recovery every turn.
Usage Tips
========
- Use Jirachi's resistances to get it in. It is here to sponge attacks from Fairy-types and the Eon Twins and paralyze them.
- Passing wishes is also something that Jirachi does well. Make sure he recipient has a safe window to receive it though.
Team Options
========
- You need a very solid switch in to Primal Groudon when using Jirachi. A very good example here is defensive Yveltal, but other variants of Yveltal can be used also because of the Wish Jirachi can pass it. Yveltal also helps with Giratina-O
- Solid Yveltal switch-ins are also needed. Xerneas is the best here, once again because of Jirachi's Wish passing capabilities.
- Jirachi makes up for CM 3 attacks Primal Kyogre's lack of recovery while also checking the Eon twins and can paralyze many threats that outspeed Kyogre.
Other Options
########
- Stealth Rock can be usable on the support set but finding room for it is net to impossible.
- Trick on the scarf set can work, but there are a lot of items in Ubers that are "immune" to it (i.e. mega Stones, Red Orb, Blue Orb, Griseous Orb, Arceus Plates).
- It really doesn't have very many due to metagame restrictions
Checks & Counters
########
**Fire-types**: Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh are the biggest of this group. Groudon can OHKO Jirachi with either physical STAB while Ho-Oh can do so with Sacred Fire or Choice Band / Life Orb boosted Earthquake. All Fire-types in Ubers can wall Jirachi and eventually KO it with their STABs. Primal Groudon is also immune to thunder Wave, meaning it can set up on support sets lacking Body Slam. Blaziken needs to watch for coming in on T-Wave or Body Slam.
**Steel-types**: Ferrothorn and Scizor are the two big ones. Scizor can consistantlydamage Jirachi with either Pursuit or Knock Off while most Jirachi can do nothing to it. Ferrothorn easily KOs Choice Scarf Jirachi with Leech Seed and Iron Barbs and can beat the support set one on one due to Leech Seed. Both of these two need to watch out for Fire Punch when facing Scarf Jirachi though.
**Ground-types**: Primal Groudon, Groudon, Landorus-T, Arceus-Ground, Hippowdon, and Gliscor all wall Jirachi and can easily beat it one on one with their super effective STABs.
**Ghost-Types**: Giratinta-O and Arceus-Ghost have the ability to beat both Jirachi sets, but Arceus-Ghost must be wary of being paraflinched against the support set and Giratina-O needs to be more wary of just flat out being flinched to death due to its lack of recovery. Mega Gengar can have success vs the support set not carrying Thunder Wave, but paraflinch is something it hates if Thunder Wave is the move carried.
**Dark-types**: Yveltal just plain beats Jirachi with its STAB Dark Pulse or Foul Play and can Taunt Thunder Wave. Darkrai needs to watch out since it may get paralyzed on the switch, but other than that, it can easily check the support set. Arceus-Dark has very good odds of beating Jirachi due to it carrying both Refresh and Recover. Tyranitar can't check it at all though.
Last edited:
