[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Poltergeist
move 2: Dragon Tail
move 3: Defog
move 4: Toxic / Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave / Shadow Sneak
item: Griseous Core
ability: Levitate
nature: Impish / Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 68 Atk / 192 Def or 248 HP / 240 Atk / 20 Def
tera type: Poison / Steel
[SET COMMENTS]
* Giratina-O's great offensive typing, coupled with Levitate, allows it to reliably Defog against staple entry hazard setters such as Primal Groudon and Necrozma-DM; it is also able to check strong attackers including Extreme Killer Arceus, Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, and Ho-Oh. However, although its typing is excellent offensively, it leaves a bit to be desired defensively, since Giratina-O is weak to a lot of common types in the tier, which doesn't go well with Giratina-O's lack of reliable recovery. Regardless, these useful traits make Giratina-O a staple on bulky offense and balance teams alike.
* Dragon Tail prevents setup from opposing threats such as Arceus and Primal Groudon, which Giratina-O would otherwise struggle to slow down due to their natural bulk.
* Toxic punishes switch-ins such as Arceus-Fairy and Yveltal, as well as threatening defensive Primal Groudon that would handle Poltergeist more directly, making it the most consistent of the bunch because it will always be useful in a game. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers such as Zacian-C and Necrozma-DM, preventing Giratina-O from being too passive against the former, while Thunder Wave handles threats such as Eternatus and Calm Mind Arceus formes lacking Refresh.
* Shadow Sneak is a niche alternative that allows Giratina-O to revenge kill frailer foes such as Deoxys-A and Mega Mewtwo Y, but this comes at the cost of not being able to punish bulkier switch-ins like defensive Yveltal or Arceus-Fairy.
* The following EV spread allows Giratina-O to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Salamence's Double Edge while 2HKOing defensive Necrozma-DM and offensive Eternatus with Poltergeist. An alternative EV spread can be used for Shadow Sneak variants, allowing Giratina-O to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Mewtwo Y's Psystrike while ensuring a 3HKO on defensive Primal Groudon and an OHKO against offensive Necrozma-DM, both after Stealth Rock.
* Giratina-O's typing is really important to the balance and bulky offense playstyles it fits on, so Terastallizing Giratina-O is only useful in emergencies. Tera Poison allows Giratina-O to gain a poison immunity while also providing a resistance to Fairy, which is useful versus Arceus-Fairy and Play Rough Zacian-C. Unlike Tera Steel, it avoids being weak to Fire and Fighting, preventing Giratina-O from being weak to Low Kick Marshadow and Overheat Primal Groudon.
* Tera Steel, however, grants a Rock resistance, which is useful versus Stone Edge Primal Groudon and Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, while also letting Giratina-O handle Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, and Ultra Necrozma more comfortably. It also lets Giratina-O tank Dragon-type attacks from offensive Eternatus and phaze it away with Dragon Tail, removing its boosts and hitting it hard. However, it makes Giratina-O a riskier switch-in to Overheat and Heat Crash variants of Primal Groudon, as well as making it weak to Fighting-type moves from Marshadow and Zacian-C.
* Because Giratina-O cannot reliably heal, health management is very important, which includes avoiding status, such as poison from Ho-Oh. This is to ensure Giratina-O has enough HP to reliably check what it needs to, since it would otherwise be overwhelmed by boosted attacks from Primal Groudon and Extreme Killer Arceus.
* Against bulkier teams, it would be more beneficial for Giratina-O to use status moves such as Toxic or Thunder Wave to benefit its teammates more rather than attempting to deal damage with Poltergeist. This is because the status moves have better long-term impact against switch-ins like Arceus-Dark and Arceus-Fairy, while they would otherwise be able to just heal up any damage taken from Poltergeist. This is also why Toxic is generally the best option out of the three status moves, since it allows Giratina-O to make more progress versus Zygarde and Primal Groudon; the latter is a Pokemon Giratina-O should ordinarily check but can't due to its lackluster damage output against it.
* Due to Giratina-O's lack of healing, Alomomola is an excellent teammate for it, as it is able to pivot into Giratina-O against Pokemon that would otherwise take advantage of it, such as Necrozma-DM and Primal Groudon, while also healing it up via Wish; Alomomola is also a great status absorber for Giratina-O, letting the latter avoid the residual damage it hates taking, such as Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire burns, while letting Giratina-O run status moves aside from Toxic such as Thunder Wave to better handle Zacian-C and Eternatus. Alomomola is also good at enabling Pokemon that Giratina-O appreciates, such as Chien-Pao, which threatens out Zygarde and Yveltal, and Ditto, which helps pressure out offensive sweepers such as Zacian-C and Meteor Beam Eternatus.
* Arceus-Fairy makes up for Giratina-O's weaknesses to Dark-types including Yveltal and Arceus-Dark while handling Marshadow and switching into opposing Dragon-type attacks from Palkia-O to preserve Giratina-O's health. Stealth Rock variants are especially appreciated, since Giratina-O can abuse hazards well with Dragon Tail. This also applies to other hazard setters including Primal Groudon and Necrozma-DM, both of which handle the Fairy-types that Giratina-O cannot deal with; the former also helps versus Primal Kyogre, which would chip Giratina-O down with Ice Beam.
* Offensive teammates such as Zacian-C and Necrozma-DM appreciate Giratina-O breaking down defensive walls such as Primal Groudon and defensive Necrozma-DM, while they in return handle the Dragon-, Fairy- and Ice-types that Giratina-O cannot handle, including Eternatus, Arceus-Fairy and Calyrex-I; the former also handles Dark-types such as Yveltal and Arceus-Dark.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sami.604820/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bumboclaat.523420/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/anchor9.652323/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/tbolt.555379/
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Poltergeist
move 2: Dragon Tail
move 3: Defog
move 4: Toxic / Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave / Shadow Sneak
item: Griseous Core
ability: Levitate
nature: Impish / Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 68 Atk / 192 Def or 248 HP / 240 Atk / 20 Def
tera type: Poison / Steel
[SET COMMENTS]
* Giratina-O's great offensive typing, coupled with Levitate, allows it to reliably Defog against staple entry hazard setters such as Primal Groudon and Necrozma-DM; it is also able to check strong attackers including Extreme Killer Arceus, Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, and Ho-Oh. However, although its typing is excellent offensively, it leaves a bit to be desired defensively, since Giratina-O is weak to a lot of common types in the tier, which doesn't go well with Giratina-O's lack of reliable recovery. Regardless, these useful traits make Giratina-O a staple on bulky offense and balance teams alike.
* Dragon Tail prevents setup from opposing threats such as Arceus and Primal Groudon, which Giratina-O would otherwise struggle to slow down due to their natural bulk.
* Toxic punishes switch-ins such as Arceus-Fairy and Yveltal, as well as threatening defensive Primal Groudon that would handle Poltergeist more directly, making it the most consistent of the bunch because it will always be useful in a game. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers such as Zacian-C and Necrozma-DM, preventing Giratina-O from being too passive against the former, while Thunder Wave handles threats such as Eternatus and Calm Mind Arceus formes lacking Refresh.
* Shadow Sneak is a niche alternative that allows Giratina-O to revenge kill frailer foes such as Deoxys-A and Mega Mewtwo Y, but this comes at the cost of not being able to punish bulkier switch-ins like defensive Yveltal or Arceus-Fairy.
* The following EV spread allows Giratina-O to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Salamence's Double Edge while 2HKOing defensive Necrozma-DM and offensive Eternatus with Poltergeist. An alternative EV spread can be used for Shadow Sneak variants, allowing Giratina-O to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Mewtwo Y's Psystrike while ensuring a 3HKO on defensive Primal Groudon and an OHKO against offensive Necrozma-DM, both after Stealth Rock.
* Giratina-O's typing is really important to the balance and bulky offense playstyles it fits on, so Terastallizing Giratina-O is only useful in emergencies. Tera Poison allows Giratina-O to gain a poison immunity while also providing a resistance to Fairy, which is useful versus Arceus-Fairy and Play Rough Zacian-C. Unlike Tera Steel, it avoids being weak to Fire and Fighting, preventing Giratina-O from being weak to Low Kick Marshadow and Overheat Primal Groudon.
* Tera Steel, however, grants a Rock resistance, which is useful versus Stone Edge Primal Groudon and Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, while also letting Giratina-O handle Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, and Ultra Necrozma more comfortably. It also lets Giratina-O tank Dragon-type attacks from offensive Eternatus and phaze it away with Dragon Tail, removing its boosts and hitting it hard. However, it makes Giratina-O a riskier switch-in to Overheat and Heat Crash variants of Primal Groudon, as well as making it weak to Fighting-type moves from Marshadow and Zacian-C.
* Because Giratina-O cannot reliably heal, health management is very important, which includes avoiding status, such as poison from Ho-Oh. This is to ensure Giratina-O has enough HP to reliably check what it needs to, since it would otherwise be overwhelmed by boosted attacks from Primal Groudon and Extreme Killer Arceus.
* Against bulkier teams, it would be more beneficial for Giratina-O to use status moves such as Toxic or Thunder Wave to benefit its teammates more rather than attempting to deal damage with Poltergeist. This is because the status moves have better long-term impact against switch-ins like Arceus-Dark and Arceus-Fairy, while they would otherwise be able to just heal up any damage taken from Poltergeist. This is also why Toxic is generally the best option out of the three status moves, since it allows Giratina-O to make more progress versus Zygarde and Primal Groudon; the latter is a Pokemon Giratina-O should ordinarily check but can't due to its lackluster damage output against it.
* Due to Giratina-O's lack of healing, Alomomola is an excellent teammate for it, as it is able to pivot into Giratina-O against Pokemon that would otherwise take advantage of it, such as Necrozma-DM and Primal Groudon, while also healing it up via Wish; Alomomola is also a great status absorber for Giratina-O, letting the latter avoid the residual damage it hates taking, such as Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire burns, while letting Giratina-O run status moves aside from Toxic such as Thunder Wave to better handle Zacian-C and Eternatus. Alomomola is also good at enabling Pokemon that Giratina-O appreciates, such as Chien-Pao, which threatens out Zygarde and Yveltal, and Ditto, which helps pressure out offensive sweepers such as Zacian-C and Meteor Beam Eternatus.
* Arceus-Fairy makes up for Giratina-O's weaknesses to Dark-types including Yveltal and Arceus-Dark while handling Marshadow and switching into opposing Dragon-type attacks from Palkia-O to preserve Giratina-O's health. Stealth Rock variants are especially appreciated, since Giratina-O can abuse hazards well with Dragon Tail. This also applies to other hazard setters including Primal Groudon and Necrozma-DM, both of which handle the Fairy-types that Giratina-O cannot deal with; the former also helps versus Primal Kyogre, which would chip Giratina-O down with Ice Beam.
* Offensive teammates such as Zacian-C and Necrozma-DM appreciate Giratina-O breaking down defensive walls such as Primal Groudon and defensive Necrozma-DM, while they in return handle the Dragon-, Fairy- and Ice-types that Giratina-O cannot handle, including Eternatus, Arceus-Fairy and Calyrex-I; the former also handles Dark-types such as Yveltal and Arceus-Dark.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sami.604820/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bumboclaat.523420/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/anchor9.652323/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/tbolt.555379/
Last edited:
