[BH] Giratina

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Giratina

(I've made a few temporary comments on my analysis in Pink)
Overview

*Giratina is a very poweful wall, it's massive mixed 150/120/120 bulk second only to that of Zygarde-C.
*It carves out a niche apart from to Zygarde, though, thanks to its unique Ghost-Dragon typing. Besides giving 2 immunities and 6 resistances, Giratina's typing does not come with a 4x weakness like Zygarde's, which makes it a lot less likely to get OHKO'd.
*Ghost-typing is a great utility type, as Ghost-types cannot be trapped and can block Rapid Spin.
*With 100/100 offensive stats and a STAB combination resisted only by 7 Pokemon, Mega Audino being the only one relevant in the BH metagame, Giratina may be very bulky, but it's not too passive.
* Mega Audino not only resists, but is immune to both of Giratina's STAB types.
*Common offensive threats in BH like Rayquaza-M, Gengar-M, Diancie-M, and both Kyurem variants can hit Giratina hard with super effective STAB.

Defensive Pivot
Giratina @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Fur Coat / Unaware / Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Spectral Thief / Anchor Shot
- Core Enforcer
- Shore Up / Strength Sap
- U-turn / Baton Pass

Set Comments

Moves

  • Spectral Thief lets Giratina stop setup sweepers, and couples very nicely with Unaware. Depending on the stats stolen, Giratina may be able to countersweep with Spectral Thief and Core Enforcer or help a teammate out by Baton Passing the stats. It should be noted, though, that Spectral Thief does not work on Normal-types, meaning Giratina has trouble with the likes of Slaking and Regigigas.
  • Anchor Shot lets Giratina trap opponents, which can be useful when paired with Core Enforcer. While most things with realiable recovery are hard for Giratina to kill, some, especially those with -Ate abilities, Poison Heal, and Contrary, may be killed by Giratina if they are trapped and lose their ability. Besides this, Anchor Shot also gives Giratina a way to hit Mega Audino. I think this whole paragraph gets the point across but I don't like how it sounds and I feel it could be worded a lot better.
  • Core Enforcer goes well with Giratina's naturally low Speed to remove the abilities of opposing Pokemon. While it usually does not open up the door for Giratina itself to net kills, it often cripples foes, either allowing a teammate to better deal with them, or forcing them to switch out and allowing Giratina to U-turn for momentum. This move, of course, cannot hit the metagame's Fairy-types like Mega Diancie and Mega Audino. Is the fact that Giratina is always able to underspeed opponent's switching moves if it already undersped them with Core Enforcer worth mentioning?
  • Shore Up and Strength Sap are Giratina's two best options for recovery. Whereas Shore Up is more reliable, and is especially useful on sand teams, Strength Sap cab be useful against strong physical attackers, especially if run alongside Anchor Shot. Two things. One: Is it worth mentioning Shore Up being better under sand/on sand teams? Two: Is it self explanatory enough why Anchor Shot and Strengh Sap go well together, or should I explain that?
  • U-turn is usually Giratina's best switching option. It gets off chip damage, scouts for Rocky Helmet on Pokemon that switch in on the same turn, kills Sturdy Shedinja after a Core Enforcer, and has no immunities. Despite Giratina's Ghost-typing allowing it to switch out freely at any time, the momentum gained by a slow U-turn can be very useful.
  • Baton Pass, while a much more niche option than U-turn, has the advantage of allowing Giratina to pass stats stolen by Spectral Thief to an ally. It is, however, blocked by Taunt.
Set Details

  • Giratina runs Max HP, Defense, and Special Defense to be as bulky as possible, and a positive Special Defense nature because many of the moves it fears most, like Pixilate and Refrigerate Boomburst, Draco Meteor, Core Enforcer, and variants of Judgement, are all special.
  • It runs Max Attack and Special Attack because it has both physical and special attacks, and 0 Speed IV's and EV's with a negative Speed nature to underspeed as many things as possible with Core Enforcer and switching moves.
  • Safety Goggles protect it from sleep, which can really cripple it.
  • Fur Coat lets it take physical hits extremely well, increasing its bulkiness.
  • Unaware couples nicely with Spectral Thief to come in on setup sweepers safely and steal their boosts.
  • Renegerator allows for passive recovery whenever Giratina switches out, and allows it to heal without losing PP on Shore Up or Strength Sap. Would this be best worded as "Shore Up or Strength Sap", "Shore Up/Strenght Sap", "its healing move", or some other way?

Usage Tips

  • This set is generally about gaining momentum for Giratina's team while breaking the foe's momentum, though how it's best suited to do so depends on its ability and moveset.
  • Giratina is best suited to coming in on opponents, possibly throwing out a Core Enforcer to mess with the opponent or another move for damage, and then U-turning out, Healing when necessary.
  • Unless running Unaware, Giratina should not try to stop setup sweepers, instead it should usually only use Spectral Thief for chip damage or to steal stats from boosting walls. Even if it is Unaware, it should be wary of Moongeist Beam on any offensive setup sweepers it tries to come in on.
  • While Anchor Shot can be used in some situations to trap and kill opponents, it is usually better used to trap opponents, breaking their momentum, and then followed by a U-turn into a check to the opponent.
Team Options

  • Mega Audino forms a strong defensive core alongside Giratina, as their typing synergizes very well. Giratina resists Poison moves that hit Mega Audino hard, while Mega Audino is immune to two of Giratina's weaknesses and resists another. Other Pokemon who's typing complements Giratina well include Magearna, Regigigas, and Registeel. I'm not sure if that last sentence is necessary or helpful
  • Pokemon that appreciate the support from Core Enforcer, like hazard setters and priority users who dislike Magic Bounce and Dazzling respectively, are good teammates to take full advantage of Giratina.
  • Unaware walls or strong fighting types like Mega Mewtwo X are very useful if Giratina is running Spectral Thief to deal with Normal Types like Regigigas setting up on Giratina.

Infestation Trap
Giratina @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute / Knock Off
- Infestation
- Leech Seed / Toxic
- Spore / Yawn / Taunt

Set Comments

Moves

  • Infestation is the center of this set. It traps any opponents that aren't Ghost-types and aren't carrying switching moves, and deals residual damage. This moves also allows Giratina to kill almost all Shedinja variants. This is chosen over other residual damaging trapping moves because it's the only one no typing or ability gives immunity to.
  • Leech Seed and Toxic allow Giratina to deal residual damage and chip down the health of trapped opponents. While Toxic is more powerful, it doesn't affect Steel types or Poison Heal users, can be an issue if an Imposter switches in on it, and keeps Giratina from being able to put opponents to sleep. On the other hand, Leech Seed deals with these issues, but can be Magic Bounced onto Giratina if it doesn't have Subsitute up, deals less damage, and doesn't affect grass types.
  • Spore puts Pokemon to sleep, allowing Giratina to safely set up a Substitute

Set Details

Describe the other aspects of the set such as what the EVs do and nature/item.

Usage Tips

Filler

Team Options

Describe some teammates that would be a good idea to pair with this Pokemon.

Hazard Control
Giratina @ Leftovers / Safety Goggles
Ability: Magic Bounce / Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpD / 252 Spe
Careful Nature
- Rapid Spin / Defog
- Spikes / Stealth Rock
- Shore Up
- Dragon Tail / U-turn

Set Comments

Moves

Describe what the moves on the set do.

Set Details

Describe the other aspects of the set such as what the EVs do and nature/item.

Usage Tips

Describe how to use the Pokemon in question.

Team Options

Describe some teammates that would be a good idea to pair with this Pokemon.

Strategy Comments

Other Options


  • Defensive Pivot Giratina can carry an Assault Vest for additional bulk, though if it does so it should have the Regenerator ability since it can't have a healing move. If it does so, it may choose to run all 3 of its offensive moves. This is not reccomended, though, because other Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Primal Kyogre generally do better with Assault Vest Regenerator sets.
  • An interesting ability to run on Defensive Pivot Giratina is Poison Touch. While it does not give it boosts to bulk like its other potentials, it gives it the potential to land crucial surprise poisons on opponents with its physical moves, namely U-turn. What I meant is that U-turn poisons can be especially useful. Would there be a better word to use here over "namely"?
  • Hazard Control Giratina can also run Toxic Spikes or Sticky Web, depending on what benefits its team best.
Checks and Counters

[Mega Audino]: Mega Audino is immune to both Spectral Thief and Core Enforcer, making it a solid wall to variants of Defensive Pivot Giratina.

[Magic Bounce]: Both Infestation Trap and Hazard Control Giratina without Mold Breaker are walled by Magic Bounce users, since they can no longer use their important moves. This is especially an issue for Infestation Trap Giratina, because its forced to hard switch out, losing momentum for the team.

[Grass Types]: An immunity to both Spore and Leech Seed allows Grass types to wall variants of Infestation Trap Giratina provided they are able to heal off Infestation damage.

[Boomburst]: Pixilate and Refrigerate-boosted Boombursts do huge damage to Giratina. While Defensive Pivot Giratina can check them by using Core Enforcer against their users, they have a good chance of OHKO'ing it before it gets the chance. Also, Boomburst bypasses Infestation Trap Giratina's substitute.
Refrigerate Kyurem-W has about a 50/50 chance of killing +SpD Giratina and a guaranteed OHKO on neutral SpD Giratina. Pixilate Diancie has a 30%ish chance to kill +Spd Giratina, and an 80%ish chance to kill neutral SpD Giratina. Is this info worth mentioning?

[Slow Walls]: A few Pokemon that underspeed Giratina, namely Ferrothorn, Mega Slowbro, and Zygarde-C, can give its Hazard Control and Defensive Pivot sets a lot of trouble because they win Core Enforcer exchanges, have an advantage by underspeeding on hazard control, and snatch momentum with slow switching moves. I feel this is all an important point, but I really dislike how its worded and can't think of a better way to word it


NOTE: I am aware of the fact that Giratina's bulk and typing almost certainly make it BH's best Curse user, but I'm also not very familiar with Curse strategy. Because of that, any input on it, like a sample set or an opinion on whether Curse strategies are good enough to deserve a spot in this analysis would be greatly appreciated. Thanks ;)

I took the team that I have these Giratina sets stored on to a fight just for fun and won so that's a thing
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7balancedhackmons-549412045
 
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dhelmise

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Pink Team A! you have 24 hours from this post until this is reassigned. Please post if you still want to work on this.

no reply, reassigned
 
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