[SET]
name: Utility (Psychic)
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Thunder Wave / Toxic / Healing Wish
item: Leftovers
ability: Serene Grace
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 176 SpD / 80 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Jirachi's good natural bulk, good support movepool, and great defensive typing with few weaknesses and plenty of resistances against types like Dragon, Grass, and Fairy make it a good utility Pokemon for Psychic-type teams. Stealth Rock allows it to wear down teams and is great against defensive and offensive types like Poison, Dragon, and Electric. Iron Head makes Jirachi less passive and is important to threaten Fairy-types, Ice-types, and defensive Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Alolan Ninetales, and Mega Venusaur, respectively. U-turn lets it get momentum for the team against a predicted switch-in like Celesteela and bring an appropriate teammate safely. Thunder Wave allows it to spread paralysis and cripple Pokemon such as Latios, Mega Aerodactyl, and Greninja, which makes it much easier for its teammates to deal with such threats. Thunder Wave also works well with Iron Head to wear down defensive Pokemon such as Porygon2, Mega Venusaur, and Alolan Muk. Toxic can also be used over Thunder Wave to cripple some of Jirachi's switch-ins like Swampert, Gastrodon, Hippowdon, and Slowbro. Healing Wish lets it bring any weakened wallbreaker or setup sweeper teammate like Mega Gallade, Tapu Lele, or Victini back to full health and cure it of any status condition as to threaten the opponent's team. Maximum HP investment improves Jirachi's overall bulk, whereas 80 Speed EVs let it outspeed Adamant Choice Band Diggersby and take it out with Iron Head in a pinch . The rest of the EVs are used in Special Defense so that it can take on Fairy-, Ice-, and Dragon-type moves from Pokemon like Mega Diancie, Kyurem, and Latios.
All Psychic-type teams benefit from Jirachi's utility . Jirachi covers Fairy-, Ice-, and Dragon-type Pokemon for teammates like Mega Gallde, Latios, Latias, and Celebi. Mega Gallade can break apart defensive cores of types like Poison and Water for Jirachi, taking care of Pokemon like Toxapex, Alolan Muk, and Galarian Weezing. Mega Gallade also loves Thunder Wave support so it can wallbreak even better. Latios, Latias, and Celebi cover Jirachi's weakness to Ground-type attacks. The former two can deal with Fire-type Pokemon such as Torkoal and Volcanion as well, while the latter can do a better job of handling Water-type teams. Victini also appreciates Jirachi taking on certain Rock-type Pokemon such as Nihilego and Terrakion for it. In return, Victini wallbreaks and beats Steel-, Bug-, and Grass-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Mega Venusaur. Fairy-type Pokemon like Tapu Lele and Hatterene can cover Dark-type Pokemon such as Hydreigon, Zarude, and Urshifu-S for Jirachi. Slowbro forms a good defensive core with Jirachi, where Slowbro can take on physical attackers such as Mega Aerodactyl, Excadrill, and Garchomp, provide Teleport support to the entire team, and switch into Fire-type attacks directed at Jirachi from Pokemon such as Cinderace and Victini. Deoxys-S can run a Nasty Plot set to take care of Ground-, Water-, and Flying-type Pokemon such as Garchomp, Toxapex, and Mantine.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Psychic
A Choice Scarf set is usable to greatly improve the Fairy and Ice-type matchups; however, Jirachi sits in a crowded Speed tier and finds itself outpaced by faster Choice Scarf users like Blacephalon, Gengar, and Weavile, and its mediocre Attack stat and lack of high Base Power attacks mean there are other Pokemon that are generally better suited to be revenge killers. Moreover, Psychic-type teams benefit more from Jirachi's utility support.
Checks and Counters
===================
Psychic
**Super Effective STAB Moves**: Pokemon with super effective STAB attacks like Hydreigon, Excadrill, Cinderace, and Gengar have no trouble beating Jirachi and can OHKO it or leave it extremely weakened.
**Steel-types**: Jirachi struggles to beat Steel-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Heatran that can easily wear it down and against which Jirachi cannot do much in return.
**Water-types**: Bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Toxapex, Mantine, Swampert, and Gastrodon do not really care about Jirachi and can weaken it with Scald or set entry hazards against it; however, except Toxapex, all others should watch out for Toxic.
**Electric-types**: Electric-type Pokemon such as Zapdos, Rotom-W, Rotom-H, and Magnezone check Jirachi easily, as it struggles to do anything meaningful against them and it can get crippled or weakened in return.
**Setup Sweepers**: Certain setup sweepers like Mega Scizor, Bulk Up Zeraora, Swords Dance Bisharp, and Swords Dance Excadrill set up against Jirachi without any trouble, beating Jirachi and threatening the entire team. Zeraora should watch out for Toxic, hough.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Harpp, 320110]]
- Quality checked by: [[maroon, 305839], [Dugza, 473171]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [username2, userid2]]
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