I'll start off with the fact that I'm really new to competitive battling/VGC so this team most likely has major flaws. My goal here is to get some people that are much more experienced with the current meta or just VGC in general to point out the flaws and suggest some better ways of shaping up my team.
My main piece, and one I don't want to change but rather build around, is a physical and bulky Giratina set. Right now I have it in its Altered form so that I can get more all-around power with Life Orb, but I'm trying and would be open to switching it to Origin form for more base attack and the lack of Life Orb damage. I'll give more details when I list my team, but in short I love Giratina's natural bulk, access to ghost moves that as far as I know hit a ton of stuff for at least neutral, and the physical set gives an element of surprise because it seems like most players assume Giratina is a special attacker. The rest of my team is a kind of patchwork defensive support for it, with Cradily being specifically for rain since I'm not sure of a great way to handle it, and Excadrill that I had planned to combo with Max Rockfall but find myself never really using (or not knowing when to use).
Anyways, I would appreciate any feedback or Pokemon suggestions since I definitely think I could swap at least a few of my team out. At the bottom, I'll put my reasoning behind why I included each team member.
Common opponents that have given my team serious issues are Xerneas, Zacian, Lapras, Single-Strike Urshifu, Lapras, and Ice-Calyrex. I also seem to have an issue with Intimidate/stat-lowering, so I would like some ideas on how to keep my Giratina in fighting shape or do a better job of countering intimidate.
Giratina @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 108 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Force
- Shadow Sneak
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Muddy Water
- Heal Pulse
Obstagoon @ Expert Belt
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot
- Obstruct
Cresselia (F) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Reflect
- Trick Room
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower
- Iron Head
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Cradily @ Assault Vest
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Def / 148 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Ancient Power
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb
1) Giratina: Something I noticed when looking over many of the common meta pokemon was that they had invested in special bulk and could be hit hard by Giratina's physical ghost moves w/ Life Orb. Specifically, I was playing against a lot of Tapu Fini and Shadow Calyrex (Max Phantasm could hit Tapu Fini hard and Shadow Sneak could OHKO Calyrex if it didn't dynamax). In addition to this, Giratina was the only hard hitting physical Ghost type that seemed viable, which was amazing to me because Max Ghost on it could combo into itself. I invested a lot into HP to give more dynamxed HP, and SpD to help out against Fairy/Ice/Ghost attacks. My tiny speed investment was to hopefully out-speed some 90 base speeds, and sometimes I have been surprised that I am faster than some things, but I'm thinking I would be better off going with no speed investment and banking on trick room. Earthquake gives SpD boost when dynamaxed and has good coverage as far as I know, and Stone Edge was also for coverage against stuff like Galarian Moltres (there was also the Excadrill/Sand Rush setup but I find myself barely using it and am not sure if it's even a good idea). I went for Shadow Force as my hard hitting Ghost move instead of Poltergeist because of Poltergeist's unreliable accuracy and Shadow Force's ability to hit through Protect, which has actually put some teams in weird spots despite the predictability. An idea I have is using a Power Herb w/ Shadow Force, although I'm not sure if sacrificing the Life Orb would be a good idea.
Problem pokemon against Giratina that I'm looking for better ways to counter are Dark Urshifu, Xerneas, Zacian w/ Weakness Policy.
2) Tapu Fini: I initially put in Tapu Fini because I wanted a terrain setter that was slower than Indeedee, which I ran into paired with Shadow Calyrex as a lead, shutting down my Shadow Sneak strategy to unexpectedly snipe Calyrex early. Indeedee also was a pain to run into in general, so even aside from the Calyrex pairing I wanted to shut down Psychic Terrain. Something else I realized later was that Misty Terrain was great for my Giratina, as I was running no Dragon moves and would also be guarded against one of its weaknesses. Moonblast is standard for the STAB and terrain boost, and Muddy Water hits both opponents while also being decent damage against Incineroar and Landorus-T. Protect gives insurance against Fini's bad match-ups, like Venusaur or Rillaboom while also giving it time to get some Leftovers healing. Heal Pulse in theory was meant to support my bulky Giratina, but now that I've played some I'm thinking there may be a better move there since I only use Heal Pulse every once in a while. As far as EV investment goes, I think I just went for the most common Calm Nature set because I am not experienced enough to know what match-ups to calculate for.
3) Obstagoon: Besides Giratina, Obstagoon is the other team member that I would really like to keep/improve if my set isn't a good one. Obstruct is very handy in general, especially against things like Kartana that try to get an easy Fighting move off on it, and can combo really well into Giratina when the two end up on the field at the same time. Knock Off as far as I know is just a really good move in general and in theory should be able to mess up weakness policy pokemon, but often I find they simply outspeed, which would mean I would have to run choice scarf or Jolly and lose either power or Obstruct. Close Combat and Gunk shot are for hard hitting coverage with the Expert Belt, but I'm thinking I would be better suited to use Body Slam instead of Gunk Shot (or even replace both). Something I had tried was Taunt, but I'm too slow to handle Whimsicott and Regieleki without taking a lot of damage, although Obstagoon would be fantastic against Trick Room.
4) Cresselia: As I noticed that Giratina was for the most part pretty slow, along with my intentional slowness on Tapu Fini to underspeed Indeedee and set terrain, I decided that I should go the Trick Room route and went for Cresselia as a setter because of its great bulk and access to Moonblast that could threaten Dark Urshifu, and Ice Beam that could hit Landorus-T hard. I went for Cresselia over Dusclops so I wouldn't have two Ghosts. I took the most common bulky set, and added on Reflect since Giratina and Tapu Fini were specially bulky (Light Screen may be a better choice, or another move altogether). Not too much to say other than suggestions about movepool or switching to another Trick Room user.
5) Excadrill: Originally, I put in Excadrill to deal with Zacian and Xerneas with a speed buff from Max Rockfall, but it hasn't worked out as perfectly as I would have liked and is making me really want to look for a replacement to dealing with them. Focus Sash is for persistence, and Adamant gives max attack while max speed and Sand Rush seems like plenty of speed. Not too much to say, I'm really looking for ways to counter Zacian or Xerneas.
6) Cradily: Specifically to counter rain teams/Kyogre. Big health and physical bulk and the Assault Vest gives it tons of bulk to be a nuisance to the other members besides Kyogre, and switching it in to Storm Drain one of Kyogre's attacks gives it the SpA to be a threat. In addition to this, its slow speed gives it utility in Trick Room if I am able to set it up. I really control games where the opponent has Kyogre, because if they don't bring it they are out of their restricted Legendary and will have a hard time keeping up, and if they inevitably do bring it I have consistently been able to shut it down and gain huge momentum with Storm Drain switch ins. However, the huge flaw of Cradily, and the reason I really want to replace it, is because it seems way too situational. There has to be a serviceable Kyogre counter that has versatility outside of that matchup. However, I would be fine with keeping it as a trump card over Kyogre if my team can be more well rounded with other tweaks, because Cradily is never used and is definitely something Kyogre teams seem unprepared for.
If you've actually read all of this and want to give me some tips or suggestions, thanks so much!
My main piece, and one I don't want to change but rather build around, is a physical and bulky Giratina set. Right now I have it in its Altered form so that I can get more all-around power with Life Orb, but I'm trying and would be open to switching it to Origin form for more base attack and the lack of Life Orb damage. I'll give more details when I list my team, but in short I love Giratina's natural bulk, access to ghost moves that as far as I know hit a ton of stuff for at least neutral, and the physical set gives an element of surprise because it seems like most players assume Giratina is a special attacker. The rest of my team is a kind of patchwork defensive support for it, with Cradily being specifically for rain since I'm not sure of a great way to handle it, and Excadrill that I had planned to combo with Max Rockfall but find myself never really using (or not knowing when to use).
Anyways, I would appreciate any feedback or Pokemon suggestions since I definitely think I could swap at least a few of my team out. At the bottom, I'll put my reasoning behind why I included each team member.
Common opponents that have given my team serious issues are Xerneas, Zacian, Lapras, Single-Strike Urshifu, Lapras, and Ice-Calyrex. I also seem to have an issue with Intimidate/stat-lowering, so I would like some ideas on how to keep my Giratina in fighting shape or do a better job of countering intimidate.
Giratina @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 108 SpD / 36 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Force
- Shadow Sneak
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
Ability: Misty Surge
Level: 50
EVs: 244 HP / 4 Def / 12 SpA / 244 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Muddy Water
- Heal Pulse
Obstagoon @ Expert Belt
Ability: Defiant
Level: 50
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot
- Obstruct
Cresselia (F) @ Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Ice Beam
- Reflect
- Trick Room
Excadrill @ Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower
- Iron Head
- Protect
- Rock Slide
Cradily @ Assault Vest
Ability: Storm Drain
Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 252 Def / 148 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Ancient Power
- Earth Power
- Sludge Bomb
1) Giratina: Something I noticed when looking over many of the common meta pokemon was that they had invested in special bulk and could be hit hard by Giratina's physical ghost moves w/ Life Orb. Specifically, I was playing against a lot of Tapu Fini and Shadow Calyrex (Max Phantasm could hit Tapu Fini hard and Shadow Sneak could OHKO Calyrex if it didn't dynamax). In addition to this, Giratina was the only hard hitting physical Ghost type that seemed viable, which was amazing to me because Max Ghost on it could combo into itself. I invested a lot into HP to give more dynamxed HP, and SpD to help out against Fairy/Ice/Ghost attacks. My tiny speed investment was to hopefully out-speed some 90 base speeds, and sometimes I have been surprised that I am faster than some things, but I'm thinking I would be better off going with no speed investment and banking on trick room. Earthquake gives SpD boost when dynamaxed and has good coverage as far as I know, and Stone Edge was also for coverage against stuff like Galarian Moltres (there was also the Excadrill/Sand Rush setup but I find myself barely using it and am not sure if it's even a good idea). I went for Shadow Force as my hard hitting Ghost move instead of Poltergeist because of Poltergeist's unreliable accuracy and Shadow Force's ability to hit through Protect, which has actually put some teams in weird spots despite the predictability. An idea I have is using a Power Herb w/ Shadow Force, although I'm not sure if sacrificing the Life Orb would be a good idea.
Problem pokemon against Giratina that I'm looking for better ways to counter are Dark Urshifu, Xerneas, Zacian w/ Weakness Policy.
2) Tapu Fini: I initially put in Tapu Fini because I wanted a terrain setter that was slower than Indeedee, which I ran into paired with Shadow Calyrex as a lead, shutting down my Shadow Sneak strategy to unexpectedly snipe Calyrex early. Indeedee also was a pain to run into in general, so even aside from the Calyrex pairing I wanted to shut down Psychic Terrain. Something else I realized later was that Misty Terrain was great for my Giratina, as I was running no Dragon moves and would also be guarded against one of its weaknesses. Moonblast is standard for the STAB and terrain boost, and Muddy Water hits both opponents while also being decent damage against Incineroar and Landorus-T. Protect gives insurance against Fini's bad match-ups, like Venusaur or Rillaboom while also giving it time to get some Leftovers healing. Heal Pulse in theory was meant to support my bulky Giratina, but now that I've played some I'm thinking there may be a better move there since I only use Heal Pulse every once in a while. As far as EV investment goes, I think I just went for the most common Calm Nature set because I am not experienced enough to know what match-ups to calculate for.
3) Obstagoon: Besides Giratina, Obstagoon is the other team member that I would really like to keep/improve if my set isn't a good one. Obstruct is very handy in general, especially against things like Kartana that try to get an easy Fighting move off on it, and can combo really well into Giratina when the two end up on the field at the same time. Knock Off as far as I know is just a really good move in general and in theory should be able to mess up weakness policy pokemon, but often I find they simply outspeed, which would mean I would have to run choice scarf or Jolly and lose either power or Obstruct. Close Combat and Gunk shot are for hard hitting coverage with the Expert Belt, but I'm thinking I would be better suited to use Body Slam instead of Gunk Shot (or even replace both). Something I had tried was Taunt, but I'm too slow to handle Whimsicott and Regieleki without taking a lot of damage, although Obstagoon would be fantastic against Trick Room.
4) Cresselia: As I noticed that Giratina was for the most part pretty slow, along with my intentional slowness on Tapu Fini to underspeed Indeedee and set terrain, I decided that I should go the Trick Room route and went for Cresselia as a setter because of its great bulk and access to Moonblast that could threaten Dark Urshifu, and Ice Beam that could hit Landorus-T hard. I went for Cresselia over Dusclops so I wouldn't have two Ghosts. I took the most common bulky set, and added on Reflect since Giratina and Tapu Fini were specially bulky (Light Screen may be a better choice, or another move altogether). Not too much to say other than suggestions about movepool or switching to another Trick Room user.
5) Excadrill: Originally, I put in Excadrill to deal with Zacian and Xerneas with a speed buff from Max Rockfall, but it hasn't worked out as perfectly as I would have liked and is making me really want to look for a replacement to dealing with them. Focus Sash is for persistence, and Adamant gives max attack while max speed and Sand Rush seems like plenty of speed. Not too much to say, I'm really looking for ways to counter Zacian or Xerneas.
6) Cradily: Specifically to counter rain teams/Kyogre. Big health and physical bulk and the Assault Vest gives it tons of bulk to be a nuisance to the other members besides Kyogre, and switching it in to Storm Drain one of Kyogre's attacks gives it the SpA to be a threat. In addition to this, its slow speed gives it utility in Trick Room if I am able to set it up. I really control games where the opponent has Kyogre, because if they don't bring it they are out of their restricted Legendary and will have a hard time keeping up, and if they inevitably do bring it I have consistently been able to shut it down and gain huge momentum with Storm Drain switch ins. However, the huge flaw of Cradily, and the reason I really want to replace it, is because it seems way too situational. There has to be a serviceable Kyogre counter that has versatility outside of that matchup. However, I would be fine with keeping it as a trump card over Kyogre if my team can be more well rounded with other tweaks, because Cradily is never used and is definitely something Kyogre teams seem unprepared for.
If you've actually read all of this and want to give me some tips or suggestions, thanks so much!
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