Giratina Movesets & Competitive Sets

Giratina's main selling point is its effectiveness as a Defogger. With its sheer bulk, it can switch into many threats and use Defog without fear of being taken down instantly. Toxic and Will-O-Wisp wear down and cripple many threats Giratina can switch in on, such as Ho-Oh, Groudon, and Necrozma-DM. Burn can annoy common switch-ins like Yveltal and Eternatus, additionally nullifying the latter's Black Sludge recovery. Will-O-Wisp cannot be absorbed by Steel- and Poison-types Pokemon like Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Eternatus, and it especially cripples physical threats like offensive Necrozma-DM, Groudon, and Zekrom. Roar can be used to phaze Pokemon that would use Giratina's passiveness to set up, such as Zygarde-C, Kyogre, and Groudon. It can also rack up damage with entry hazard support. Giratina can be a good status sponge thanks to Pressure and Rest. Pressure also depletes the PP of entry hazard moves and forces switches alongside Giratina's status moves and ability to sponge status, giving free momentum to use Defog. You want to keep Giratina healthy as long as possible so it can take many boosted attacks and handle sweepers with either Roar or status. Giratina struggles to work efficiently alone; as a result, it fits on stall teams exclusively. A reliable cleric, such as Blissey or Clefable, is mandatory to not leave it completely useless when it uses Rest. Blissey can switch into many attackers Giratina cannot check or that take advantage of it sleeping, including Eternatus, Xerneas, Calyrex-S, and Kyogre. Clefable can also absorb status and is a good answer to the Dark-type attackers in the metagame. To take advantage of other stall teams, Eternatus is also a good choice, forming a bulky Pressure core with Giratina to PP stall rapidly. While Giratina is a good Defog user, it can't do much while it is asleep, so it works better with a secondary Defog user. Ho-Oh fits well because it provides an offensive answer to Steel-types, punishes Yveltal, Lunala, and Calyrex-S, and can spread status. It also stays very healthy over a long period even while statused thanks to Regenerator. Due to its crippling Ghost and Dark weaknesses, Giratina fits well with a bulky Dark-type, such as Tyranitar or Yveltal; both can take many attacks from both opposing Yveltal and Calyrex-S. Tyranitar is able to set Stealth Rock and threaten them in return with Rock Blast and Foul Play, and Yveltal can cripple them with Knock Off and be Giratina's secondary Defog user while recovering reliably with Roost. Toxapex is able to provide entry hazards that Giratina can benefit from with Roar while checking Marshadow and Dracovish.

Moves Giratina's ability to contend against threatening foes like Primal Groudon makes it a solid user of Defog. Rest is the only form of recovery Giratina has access to, and it fully restores Giratina's health while removing any status ailments. Toxic puts switch-ins on a timer, and the spread of poison is generally useful for Giratina to wear down foes like Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and certain Arceus formes it is tasked to face. Will-O-Wisp burns Steel-types like Ferrothorn and Celesteela, ensuring that they aren't taking advantage of Giratina for free. The move also prevents dangerous setup sweepers like Necrozma-DM and Mega Lucario from freely using Giratina as setup fodder. Roar can be used to phaze foes and is preferred over Dragon Tail, as Dragon Tail fails to properly break Substitute from Zygarde-C, Arceus-Ground, Primal Kyogre, and Extreme Killer Arceus. Set Details 52 Special Defense EVs allow Giratina to avoid the 2HKO from Modest Primal Kyogre's Ice Beam with Leftovers recovery. The rest of the EVs are invested in HP and Defense to reliably take on physical attackers. A Relaxed nature is used for Giratina to be slower than most Primal Groudon sets so it can use Defog after Primal Groudon uses Stealth Rock. Dropping Speed IVs to further ensure this is possible. Leftovers provides Giratina with passive recovery, which is especially valuable, as it reduces Giratina's reliance on Rest. Pressure makes any move directed at Giratina lose an additional PP, limiting entry hazard setters' effectiveness against Giratina and generally limiting the number of times foes can attack Giratina. Usage Tips Thanks to its colossal bulk and typing, Giratina can switch into essentially most physical attackers that can't hit it super effectively. Other than taking hits, Giratina can take advantage of Pressure to PP stall entry hazard setters like Primal Groudon, defensive Necrozma-DM, Ferrothorn, and Toxapex, as all of them are unable to immediately threaten Giratina. Giratina can also be switched into status moves to limit their PP with Pressure as well, and it is especially effective with absorbing them while asleep. Due to Giratina's obligations to switch into possible entry hazard users the majority of the time, it will mostly end up removing entry hazards with Defog if they were set on the switch. Otherwise, Giratina can proceed to cripple a foe with an appropriate status move. Roar can be utilized to rack up damage on foes with entry hazards up. Do the best to minimize the loss of momentum and keep Giratina in a healthy condition. A healthy Giratina can handle many boosted attacks and respond with a status move or Roar. In order for this to be possible, one of the clerics on your team has to cure Giratina as fast as possible after it has used Rest so foes that would otherwise be walled by Giratina won't freely set entry hazards or set up. Though Giratina is bulky enough to survive strong attacks when healthy, it must be wary of possible Z-Move users like Necrozma-DM and Arceus-Ground, as a boosted Z-Move is capable of outright OHKOing Giratina. If Giratina's Defog support is desired in the long run, refrain from recklessly taking on the aforementioned foes until their movesets and items have been identified. Team Options As Giratina cannot function effectively without its teammates and is very passive, it is best fit on stall teams. Cleric support is mandatory, and Blissey can fulfill this role well, as it also avoids Shadow Tag trapping with Shed Shell, wakes up Giratina with Heal Bell, checks Fairy-types and Calm Mind Arceus formes, and can easily switch into most attacks and status moves from support Arceus formes. Magearna is also a valid option for similar reasons, and it can handle Dark-types well. Common clerics paired with Giratina appreciate Giratina's ability to cover their vulnerability against Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Steel-types. Although Giratina is a good Defog user in its own right, it is recommended to pair it with another Defog user or even a Magic Bounce user, as repeated attacks will eventually draw Giratina to the point where it is forced to use Rest and be left asleep until it yields a significant amount of momentum or a cleric cures its status. Ho-Oh is a good choice, as it can take more offensive approaches to punish Steel-types, check Fairy-types, Yveltal, and Lunala, and aid Giratina with spreading status. Support Arceus formes are also solid Defog users and additionally blanket check Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, and Marshadow depending on their typing. Arceus-Dark deserves a special mention, as it is not vulnerable to Shadow Tag users, checks Ghost- and Dark-types, and appreciates Giratina's ability to keep Primal Groudon and Fighting-types in check. Skarmory can switch into Toxic for Giratina, provide utility in phazing for Giratina lacking Roar, and notably stand against Arceus-Ground, Arceus-Fairy, and Necrozma-DM with Stealth Rock without much struggle. Ho-Oh can also fit alongside Giratina and provide offensive and defensive utility. Ho-Oh appreciates Giratina's Defog support and ability to spread burns which improves its matchup against physical attackers. Lugia also appreciates Defog support, as it cannot utilize Multiscale when Stealth Rock is on the field. In return, Lugia can employ Ice Beam to deal with Substitute variants of Zygarde, which use Giratina lacking Roar as setup fodder. Lugia also can blanket check some formidable threats to stall teams, such as physically oriented Primal Kyogre and Swords Dance Primal Groudon. Primal Groudon aids Giratina in various ways. It checks Fairy-types and Primal Kyogre, sets Stealth Rock, threatens Steel-types, and makes up for Giratina's passivity to a large extent. In return, Giratina can check opposing Primal Groudon and support Arceus-Ground and cripple Mega Salamence. Ferrothorn and Toxapex can fit with Giratina thanks to their ability to check Fairy-types. They are also able to provide entry hazard support that Giratina can take advantage of with Roar. Ferrothorn also checks Primal Kyogre, while Toxapex checks Marshadow. Both of them appreciate Giratina checking Primal Groudon. It is important to note, however, that neither of them are reliable checks to Xerneas.

Moves Will-O-Wisp allows Giratina to check Extreme Killer Arceus, Mega Mewtwo X, and non-Refresh Mega Salamence. It also spreads residual damage through burns, preventing opposing Pokemon from easily taking advantage of Giratina. Toxic can be used instead, however, to punish support Arceus formes that can deal with being burned, while also catching Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh switch-ins that predict Will-O-Wisp. Roar can phaze incoming entry hazard setters and most setup sweepers that may try to accumulate enough boosts to break Giratina, such as Refresh Mega Salamence and Refresh Extreme Killer Arceus, and it can also punish overeager Geomancy Xerneas, making it waste its Power Herb. Dragon Tail is an alternative that allows Giratina to phaze a foe if Taunted and can nail incoming Latias, Latios, and other Dragon-types for good damage. Using Dragon Tail does come with the unfortunate consequence of being complete Xerneas bait, so use it with caution. Rest is Giratina's best form of recovery, and Sleep Talk can prevent a sleeping Giratina from giving free turns away if it is lucky enough. Set Details 248 HP EVs and maximum Defense EVs allow Giratina to wall pretty much all physical attackers besides Swords Dance Arceus-Ghost and Giratina-O while minimizing entry hazard damage. Use a Bold nature if running Roar and use an Impish nature if running Dragon Tail. Leftovers is very useful for Giratina when it comes to walling attackers, as it has no source of reliable recovery otherwise. Pressure is infinitely more useful than Telepathy, and it can actually prove useful against other stall teams, as they can be potentially Pressure stalled out of PP. Usage Tips Giratina fares excellently against most physical attackers if it's at full HP and should be switched in on them without fear. Use Rest when Giratina has been worn down, especially if it has been afflicted by Toxic. Avoid Fairy-types such as Xerneas and Klefki, as they can switch into Giratina easily, while Giratina cannot do much against them. Avoid staying in for too long, as Giratina will attract many threats that it cannot deal with after it has forced out a physical attacker. If Giratina is weakened and a Pokemon is looking dangerous, such as a boosted Mega Salamence, look to phaze the foe instead of hitting it with a status move, as it may punch holes into your team or outright sweep your team if Giratina is not able to stop it. Giratina can act as a one-time switch into Primal Kyogre if at full HP, but it is not a consistent check, as Primal Kyogre will overwhelm Giratina in the long run. Giratina has an excellent matchup against teams utilizing the Tyranitar and Excadrill combination, as Giratina can completely stop Excadrill. Team Options Giratina can only viably fit stall teams, as balanced and offensive teams cannot afford the momentum loss that Giratina brings after it comes in. Answers to Fairy-types such as Xerneas and Klefki are essential as Giratina cannot do anything other than phaze them, with the best answer that can fit stall being Primal Groudon. Clefable can be a great partner, as it can check most Dark-types barring Sludge Bomb Darkrai, while also checking Calm Mind Arceus formes that might be able to break through Giratina. Blissey makes for a great partner, as it can handle most special attackers that Giratina cannot, while Giratina easily handles the physical attackers that try to take advantage of Blissey, such as Mega Lucario or Primal Groudon. Blissey can also pass large Wishes to Giratina thanks to its huge HP stat. Tyranitar can provide an answer to Dark-types if running Low Kick and can also check Arceus-Ghost. Entry hazard setters are great to have, as Giratina can force many switches, dealing residual damage in the process. Using Primal Groudon as the Stealth Rock setter gives Giratina more breathing room when checking Ho-Oh. Using a Spikes setter such as Ferrothorn can also pressure switch-ins, allowing the team to slowly win the war of attrition.

One playstyle is always associated with Giratina, and that is stall. This set attempts to capitalize on that stereotype and catch the opponent by surprise, although it should be noted that the lack of Leftovers might prematurely reveal it to the opponent, as it is one of the few viable Giratina sets that does not use Leftovers. While standard Giratina is more suited for stall teams, ChestoRest Giratina can be used as an aggressive spinblocker on more offensively based teams. Giratina is easily the bulkiest Pokemon in the entire game, which means that it can very easily snag one or two Calm Mind boosts. This set plays a lot like ChestoRest Kyogre, but trades power for much more overall bulk and coverage. While an offensive Calm Mind set is usually more suited to Giratina-O, its inability to hold a Chesto Berry automatically disqualifies it from running this particular set. This Giratina hits surprisingly hard after a Calm Mind or two, and outside of extremely powerful physical attacks, it will not faint without first netting at least one or two kills. To illustrate, it easily 2HKOes Extreme Killer Arceus and Dialga with a +1 Aura Sphere; neither Pokemon is able to OHKO in return, unless Dialga is carrying Choice Specs. The best part about that set is that most people attempt to take it out like they would the regular defensive sets; that is, by using Toxic and attacking it while it is sleeping. ChestoRest Giratina flips that concept on its head by casually setting up with Calm Mind until its health gets low, using Rest to get back to full health, and waking up immediately thanks to the Chesto Berry. Dragon Pulse is preferred for the main STAB. Aura Sphere gives the best overall coverage as it is unresisted alongside Dragon Pulse, and most importantly, it 2HKOes Ferrothorn and Tyranitar at +1. However, if Ferrothorn is of no concern, Thunder is useful as it takes down Kyogre, Skarmory, and Lugia much more easily. Shadow Ball can be used as the STAB attack to hit Mewtwo, Lugia, and Arceus-Ghost harder, but its relatively low power and inability to take out Dragon-types is a letdown. Will-O-Wisp can be used in the last slot to cripple physical attackers, but as this set is attempting to sweep, it isn't exactly helpful. Earth Power is Giratina's best weapon against Jirachi and Metagross, who could potentially be annoying, and also grants it an easy OHKO on Heatran. Hidden Power Fire allows Giratina to OHKO Scizor and do more damage to Ferrothorn, but it is rather useless otherwise. Substitute allows Giratina to avoid Ferrothorn's Leech Seed, status, and helps it avoid getting revenge killed by faster Dragon-types, but it is largely useless outside of that. A Modest nature and maximum Special Attack investment allow Giratina to hit as hard as possible, while the rest of the EVs make it as bulky as possible. A more physically bulky spread of 112 HP / 252 Def / 144 SpA can be used to survive a Life Orb-boosted Outrage from Jolly Rayquaza at full health, although the power drop is very significant. Additionally, even if Giratina does survive such a hit, it's not going to be sweeping much anyway. Giratina can reallocate EVs from its HP stat into its Speed stat to Speed creep, but doing so lowers its bulk, which might make it harder to get Calm Minds. On the other hand, it is useful for outspeeding slower Kyogre, Zekrom, Reshiram, Dialga, and Giratina and Resting or killing said Pokemon before they can harm Giratina. Strong, super effective physical attacks are the key to taking down Calm Mind Giratina. Life Orb- or Choice Band-boosted Outrage from Rayquaza, Zekrom, and Garchomp can OHKO Giratina, and Choice Band Crunch from Tyranitar and Icicle Crash from Mamoswine will also leave a huge dent. In addition, Bulk Up Dialga can defeat Giratina if it has some Speed investment and Outrage. Choice Band Metagross can be problematic as it resists Dragon Pulse and has enough bulk to tank Aura Sphere, and Giratina's lack of Will-O-Wisp allows Metagross to Meteor Mash it with impunity. Skarmory can force +1 Giratina out with Whirlwind if Giratina lacks Thunder; Jirachi can also be annoying with paralysis and Iron Head flinches. Physically defensive Steel-types are excellent teammates for Giratina. Forretress can Rapid Spin away the Toxic Spikes that might force Giratina to Rest earlier than is desirable, and can set up Toxic Spikes of its own, allowing Giratina to defeat Blissey and Chansey more easily. Skarmory can also switch into Outrage and set up Spikes, but it must watch out for Zekrom's Bolt Strike and Rayquaza's V-create. It is worth noting that these entry hazards are easily kept on the field by Giratina's spinblocking abilities. Magnezone can trap and KO Skarmory as well as Metagross locked into Meteor Mash. Groudon, especially Swords Dance variants, can take on Dialga, Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Metagross easily. Giratina's other major enemies are specially defensive Calm Mind users. Arceus-Steel resists Giratina's STABs and outspeeds it, allowing Arceus-Steel to cushion Aura Sphere with its own Calm Mind; Arceus-Dark and Arceus-Ghost can do the same thing. Ho-Oh is therefore another great teammate for Giratina, as it can defeat most of the Calm Mind users that Giratina has trouble against. Darkrai is also an excellent offensive check to Arceus-Ghost as it outspeeds and can put Arceus-Ghost to sleep with Dark Void and then set up Nasty Plot to sweep. Giratina won't be able to sweep all the time either, but it will generally leave a hole in the enemy team for another Pokemon to take advantage of and sweep. As such, Pokemon that can finish off Giratina's sweep are appreciated. Arceus-Steel excels at this. It not only synergizes nicely with Giratina but can also wage a winning Calm Mind war against any enemy Calm Mind Arceus that Giratina encounters, thanks to its access to Roar.

While Giratina is usually seen as a wall, its amazing defenses in conjunction with Calm Mind mean it can easily set up on many threats. After a Calm Mind, it is nearly impossible to OHKO Giratina with any attack. Only extremely powerful attacks like Kyurem-W's Choice Specs Draco Meteor and powerful physical attackers such as Kyurem-B can OHKO Giratina. If supported properly, Giratina should be able to achieve six Calm Minds, but as always, exercise discretion when setting up. Unfortunately, even after six Calm Minds, Giratina fails to 2HKO Blissey and Chansey, but both of them can be PP stalled with Pressure, a strategy that works better with Toxic Spikes support from Forretress. This set beats mono-attacking Calm Mind Kyogre and Arceus-Fire one-on-one due to its resistances and Pressure. If you want to forgo Sleep Talk, Giratina has a number of options. Shadow Ball is useful against Mewtwo, and Will-O-Wisp is an option if you want this Giratina to act as a lure for Tyranitar, or as a check to physical Arceus variants and Groudon. Roar allows Giratina to boost alongside the opponent and Roar it out. Unfortunately, none of these options let Giratina defeat its counters, which include many powerful attackers such as Darkrai, Arceus-Dark, Arceus-Ghost, Arceus-Steel, and Dialga. As such, Scizor, Genesect, Blissey, and Chansey are good options for teammates. You might want Heal Bell support from Chansey and Blissey particularly because of the BW sleep mechanics. Finally, you will probably want Toxic Spikes support from Forretress to help handle Chansey and Blissey, who give Giratina trouble otherwise. Ho-Oh also checks most Calm Mind Arceus and Darkrai for Giratina and scares of Chansey and Blissey. Heatran is a decent partner for Giratina as it resists all of Giratina's weaknesses and Giratina protects it from Groudon and Earthquake Ho-Oh. Heatran can also check Arceus-Dark, Arceus-Ghost, and Arceus-Steel, all of whom can beat Giratina easily. Kyogre can be used to absorb Ice Beam and check most Calm Mind Arceus. Weather doesn't really matter to Giratina, but Groudon is recommended as a check to the physical attackers Giratina cannot handle such as Zekrom and Rayquaza. One of the Steel-type Spikers, Forretress, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory, is a required partner for Giratina because of their type synergy and ability to lay entry hazards. Genesect can also work as a partner for Giratina, switching into Rayquaza or Zekrom's Outrage and KOing in return with Download-boosted Ice Beam. Forretress is probably the best partner for Giratina, as it also removes Spikes with Rapid Spin, which can be a particular nuisance if Giratina gets phazed while they are up. Giratina is greatly annoyed by enemy phazers, especially Perish Song Arceus, as they can completely remove its boosts, so it's recommended that you either weaken or take down the phazers so that Giratina can more easily sweep. Chansey, Blissey, Ho-Oh, and Kyogre all help check the special attackers that trouble Giratina. Kyogre's turbulent rain will make Reshiram sad while a powerful Surf can easily drown it. Chansey and Blissey can handle the special attacks that are too powerful for Giratina to handle such as a Choice Specs Dialga's Draco Meteor. They can also wake Giratina up immediately after using Rest with Aromatherapy or Heal Bell. Kyogre can set up alongside most Calm Mind Arceus formes and eventually win the Calm Mind war with Surf or Scald, thanks to the weather and Kyogre's superior special stats. If Giratina is used with Groudon and Forretress, you can use Ho-Oh and Heatran, which are other excellent checks to Giratina's counters such as Arceus-Dark, Arceus-Steel, and Arceus-Ghost. Heatran can Taunt and eventually kill most special attacking Arceus formes, and Ho-Oh can bypass Calm Mind boosts with its incredibly powerful Sacred Fire and Brave Bird. Scizor and Genesect can still work as partners to counter Darkrai and Arceus-Dark. Outside of that, however, Scizor and Genesect are pretty much useless. Metagross is also a decent teammate for Giratina, thanks to its Steel typing and great Attack stat. Metagross can 2HKO most Arceus formes with its bone-shattering Choice Band Meteor Mash. Lugia can assist Giratina in walling physical or mixed attackers such as Rayquaza and Garchomp. Arceus-Steel resists most of Giratina's weaknesses and beats Arceus-Dark one-on-one. Excadrill gets a mention for Rapid Spin and resistances to Dragon-, Ghost-, and Dark-type moves. It can also beat Arceus-Dark and Arceus-Steel one-on-one.

Giratina's impressive defenses and access to Will-O-Wisp allow it to counter many prominent physical threats, including most physical Arceus variants, any Groudon, Ho-Oh, Blaziken, Scizor, Metagross, and many more. Giratina's enormous defenses make it the only spinblocker capable of preventing Kabutops and Excadrill that have used Swords Dance from spinning. It should be noted that Excadrill will 2HKO Giratina after it has used Swords Dance, so Giratina is at best able to phaze it and Rest. Giratina can't even burn Excadrill without fainting. Dragon Tail is an alternative phazing move that works even while Taunted, which stops Giratina from being setup fodder for many powerful setup sweepers such as Mewtwo. It also allows Giratina to punish any Dragon-type or Pokemon with weak defenses that thinks it can switch in freely, denting said Pokemon while forcing it out. The ability to phaze and deal respectable damage in the process often makes Dragon Tail appear to be the preferred move, but its inability to phaze Pokemon that use Substitute, such as Ho-Oh and Excadrill, often makes Roar the better choice. Giratina can use both phazing moves, but forgoing Will-O-Wisp prevents it from permanently crippling physical attackers. However because Giratina is often used on general Uber stall teams, Will-O-Wisp might be worthless if your team focuses heavily on wearing down the opponent with Toxic Spikes. Will-O-Wisp, however, still has the ability to burn Steel-types such as Arceus-Steel and Ferrothorn, slightly hampering their bulk. Needless to say, Giratina has the ability to block Rapid Spin, but it's worth noting that Giratina cannot hurt Forretress at all, while it has an easy time setting up Spikes on Giratina. Whether or not you want to use Roar depends upon what your team needs. You can consider investing additional Speed EVs if you wish to engage in a Speed creep contest with opposing Groudon, Dialga, and Giratina. Other moveslot options include Toxic and Thunder Wave. Thunder Wave might have some use as a lure for fast attackers such as Darkrai, but Will-O-Wisp has more overall utility as this Giratina is supposed to counter physical threats. Earthquake pairs well with Dragon Tail and kills Heatran in one hit, when it would otherwise wall Giratina completely. Giratina is countered by sweepers who can capitalize on its numerous common weaknesses. In particular, Darkrai, Arceus-Dark, and Dialga terrorize Giratina as it can't really hurt them aside from preventing them from coming in through smart Dragon Tail use. Powerful Dragon-types such as Rayquaza, Reshiram, Zekrom, Latios, Latias, Kyurem-W, and Palkia can also easily 2HKO Giratina at worst with their incredibly powerful Dragon attacks provided they safely switch in. However, all of these Dragon-types hate to stomach a Dragon Tail or a potential Will-O-Wisp. In order to deal with these Pokemon, it's recommended to use partners such as Chansey, Blissey, Groudon, and Lugia. All in all, the best partner for Giratina is probably Forretress: the two have excellent type synergy, Giratina protects the entry hazards set up by Forretress, and Forretress spins away the nasty Spikes that hurt Giratina. Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Genesect are decent partners to Giratina too. All three boast Dragon-, Dark-, and Ghost-type resistances and the first two can launch Spikes onto the opposing battlefield that Giratina conveniently blocks. Genesect can assist in stacking entry hazard damage and also destroys Latios and Latias with its powerful U-turn. Ho-Oh is a decent partner because its special bulk and typing help against the strong special attackers such as Arceus-Dark and Palkia that plague Giratina. Lugia might share Ice-, Dark-, and Ghost-type weaknesses with Giratina, but it checks most physical Dragon-types that plague Giratina and Giratina in return can absorb Thunder and Bolt Strike for Lugia. Groudon checks the physical sweepers Giratina cannot stop such as Rayquaza, Garchomp, Zekrom, Dialga, and Salamence thanks to its massive Defense stat and lack of Dragon-type weakness. Scizor gets a mention for sharing good type synergy with Giratina and countering most Dark-types.

Many people argue that Arceus-Ghost overshadows Giratina. This set utilizes Giratina's main advantage over Arceus-Ghost: resistances and Leftovers. While Arceus-Ghost lacks nasty Dragon- and Ice-type weaknesses, Giratina has resistances to Fire-, Water-, Electric-, and Grass-type moves, something Arceus-Ghost can only dream about. Instead of focusing on Defense, this set takes a different approach to using Giratina. With the EVs and nature used on this set, Giratina can even survive two full-power Choice Specs-boosted Water Spouts from the most powerful of Kyogre given that no entry hazards are up. This in conjunction with Pressure allows Giratina to stall out Choice Specs Kyogre locked into any move not named Ice Beam with ease. If your team lacks something to stomach Blue Flares from the deadly Reshiram or a check to Calm Mind Arceus, Mewtwo, or Deoxys-A, this Giratina can do it well. No Calm Mind Arceus, Mewtwo, or Deoxys-A will be able to 2HKO it even after Stealth Rock damage. In fact, Giratina will always a survive Life Orb-boosted Draco Meteor from Reshiram or Rayquaza, given that no entry hazards are up. Arceus-Ghost can never achieve such amazing feats. In fact, Arceus-Ghost is always OHKOed by Choice Specs Kyogre. Giratina can easily stall out Shaymin-S's Seed Flare as well with its resistance, bulk, and Pressure. Even when using this set, Giratina still retains a lot of its physical bulk. For example, it can still survive a Choice Scarf Zekrom's Outrage after Stealth Rock damage, taking only 74% - 87.5%, and it can still stop Excadrill and Kabutops from spinning. It should be warned that Swords Dance boosted Earthquake from Excadrill will OHKO with Stealth Rock and sandstorm damage though. Will-O-Wisp ruins physical attackers such as Garchomp and Zekrom that might attempt to take advantage of this Giratina's weaker Defense stat. Dragon Tail phazes and damages Pokemon, which helps quickly accumulate damage onto an opponent's team, and is not blocked by Taunt. This combined with its ability to severely harm Dragon-types that try switching into Giratina makes it a wonderful move. Roar blasts through Substitute, which can be useful if you are facing a Kyogre or Shaymin-S with Substitute. RestTalk is all Giratina has as recovery, but it's really all it needs. With those moves, Giratina can also act as a status absorber for the team. You can consider investing additional Speed EVs if you wish to engage in a Speed creep contest with opposing Groudon, Dialga, and Giratina. Other moveslot options include Toxic and Thunder Wave. Thunder Wave might have some use as a lure for fast attackers, but Will-O-Wisp has more overall utility. This Giratina is meant to utilize its resistances and absorb resisted powerful special hits such as Kyogre's Water Spout. However, even with this layout, Giratina still hates facing powerful Draco Meteors. Therefore, Blissey and Chansey are great teammates. Other teammates, such as Forretress, Lugia, Groudon, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory, work for this set as well. Forretress and in fact spinners in general, are a particular necessity for Giratina. Because the presence of entry hazards will make Giratina get 2HKOed by attacks that it would otherwise avoid getting 2HKOed from, such as Choice Specs Water Spout from Kyogre, a spinner or Magic Bounce user greatly helps it perform its job as a special sponge.

Giratina is arguably one of the best physical walls in the game. With colossal base 150 HP and massive base 120 Defense, Giratina can easily wall some of the most dangerous threats in Ubers, such as Groudon, Metagross, Scizor, and Ho-Oh, with little effort. Earthquake allows Giratina to handle Taunt Heatran, which otherwise dominates most sun stall variants. Will-O-Wisp cuts Giratina's enemies' Attack stats to pieces, rendering them incapable of hurting this great wall, as well as biding time for Giratina to use Rest to restore all of its HP, thus becoming ready to take on the next opponent it faces. Sleep Talk enables Giratina to absorb status and ensures that it isn't set up bait for Rayquaza and Arceus, seeing as Sleep Talk may pick Will-O-Wisp and ruin their fun. Roar also allows Giratina to act as a good phazer and can be used over Will-O-Wisp if your team relies heavily on Toxic Spikes, because then Giratina could not burn as many opponents. Giratina also has a distinction as being one of the few spinblockers that can phaze. Dragon Claw enables Giratina to severely damage other Dragon-types, OHKO Deoxys-A, and deal a respectable amount of damage to Ho-Oh and Darkrai; whereas Dragon Pulse carries a dash more power against Groudon. Many of the powerful special attackers in Ubers will quickly decimate Giratina with their powerful strikes. It doesn't help that Giratina possesses weaknesses to Dragon-, Ice-, Ghost-, and Dark-type attacks, all of which are commonly used attack types in the tier. Mewtwo and Darkrai can both make Giratina useless with Taunt and then proceed to set up quickly and wipe Giratina away with powerful super effective special attacks. Many of the powerful Dragon-typed special attackers, such as Dialga, Palkia, Giratina-O, Latios, and Latias, will easily steamroll Giratina with STAB Dragon-type moves; though the last two will not want to eat Giratina's STAB Dragon Claw. Kyogre can easily pick off Giratina with Ice Beam or sometimes Water Spout, should Giratina be weakened, or set up on it with Calm Mind. Finally, there a few physical sweepers that will easily KO Giratina, such as Rayquaza (after it sets up), Choice Band Garchomp, and Bulk Up Dialga; although the former two will hate Will-O-Wisp. Steel-types make great teammates for Giratina, as they resist all of Giratina's weaknesses, and can beat many of its common counters. Specially Defensive Scizor is a superb example of a good teammate. It can easily switch in on Mewtwo (beware of Flamethrower), Darkrai (watch out for +2 Focus Blast), Latias, and Latios (watch for Hidden Power Fire), and OHKO them all with U-turn, trap them with Pursuit, or pick them off with Bullet Punch. Thanks to Scizor's Dragon-type resistance, it can easily switch on Dialga's, Palkia's, Giratina-O's, Garchomp, and Rayquaza's Dragon-type attacks as well, provided they aren't holding a Choice item that boosts attack power. (If they're not holding a Choice item or locked into Outrage, do not switch into them or you will likely get roasted.) Another good partner for Giratina is Jirachi, since it can take any Dragon- or Ice-type attacks aimed at Giratina and can cripple threats such as Calm Mind Mewtwo, Calm Mind Kyogre, Latias, and Latios with Toxic, hampering their ability to set up on Giratina effectively. It can also stall out non-Choice Specs Kyogre and Palkia with a combination of Wish, Protect, and Toxic, and, like Scizor, Jirachi can revenge kill Garchomp and Rayquaza locked into Outrage. Jirachi can also enhance Giratina's ability to take hits with Wish, Reflect, and / or Light Screen. Blissey can take any special attack thrown at Giratina and use Wish to help ease Giratina switching in to battle or Aromatherapy to cure Giratina's self-induced Sleep status. Forretress also resists all of Giratina's weaknesses and can easily switch to set up entry hazards, which will greatly hinder the opposing team. Giratina also blocks Rapid Spin, so you will not lose your entry hazards. A supporting Dialga can deal with non-Choice Specs Kyogre and can cripple Mewtwo, Latias, Latios, and other special attackers by using Thunder Wave. Additionally, a Calm Mind Latias of your own, despite sharing Giratina's weaknesses, can take on most Kyogre variants, Giratina-O if it does not have Stealth Rock damage, mixed Dialga, and Palkia. Be careful though, as Latias is 2HKOed by Choice Specs Kyogre's Ice Beam. Groudon also gets a mention, as it can deal with the physical attackers that Giratina cannot, thanks to its high Defense, lack of a Dragon weakness, and Dragon Claw as well as access to Thunder Wave to cripple fast sweepers. Giratina walls physical attackers, such as Groudon, Scizor, Metagross, Heracross, some Tyranitar, and physical versions of Ho-Oh almost effortlessly, so sweepers who normally have trouble with these threats make good offensive teammates for Giratina. Pokemon such as Mewtwo, Darkrai, Latios, Latias, Shaymin-S, and Deoxys-A all benefit from having Giratina around to incapacitate these threats, as they can all block sweeping attempts made by any of these Pokemon. Rayquaza is also an excellent complement, as Groudon (watch out for Thunder Wave), Scizor, and Metagross can no longer stop Rayquaza from sweeping once they have their Attack cut by Will-O-Wisp. Garchomp works the same way as Rayquaza.

Giratina can also utilize Calm Mind in order to boost its stats on the special side without having many problems with taking physical assaults, thanks to its high Defense. It can set up a Substitute on a multitude of defensive Pokemon, such as Bronzong, and use Protect to stall out the PP of various attacking moves. Will-O-Wisp lowers the opponent's Attack, allowing it to take hits on the physical side with greater ease. Roar keeps opposing Calm Mind users from setting up on Giratina. Shadow Ball lets it hit Psychic-type Ubers such as Mewtwo and Deoxys-D while still doing a decent amount of damage to Metagross. You must be aware, however, that most of Giratina's weaknesses lay on the special side, which may hamper its ability to set up, unless it already has a few Calm Minds under its belt. Even though Giratina will be boosting its Special Defense with Calm Mind, it still has problems with all of the Pokemon listed above in the previous set, so any of the teammates from that set will work just as well with this Giratina. However, there are a few more Pokemon with whom this Giratina will have a tough time. The first is Tyranitar because it can 2HKO Giratina with a Choice Band boosted Crunch, and will laugh at even a boosted Dragon Pulse , especially since the sandstorm will boost its Special Defense. Tyranitar can also employ Taunt and Dragon Dance to set up on Giratina, as it can Taunt Giratina to prevent it from setting up, then Dragon Dance while it tries to hurt Tyranitar with Dragon Pulse. This, however, cannot be done if you are using Will-O-Wisp on the switch. Lastly, this set greatly fears phazers because they can Roar or Whirlwind away Giratina's boosts. It certainly doesn't help that the most common phazers, Lugia, support Arceus formes, and Skarmory, can all survive a Dragon Pulse without much of a problem. Forretress helps Giratina immensely, because it can switch into Tyranitar's Choice Banded Crunches and defeat it with Gyro Ball. Forretress can also lay down the dreaded Toxic Spikes, which are mandatory for this Giratina set to sweep. Giratina also has the advantage of blocking Rapid Spin, thanks to its Ghost-typing; furthermore, Toxic Spikes are only removed by Tentacruel, Qwilfish, and Arceus-Poison in Ubers.

Although Giratina is usually seen as a nearly impenetrable physical wall or sturdy Calm Mind booster, this set allows it to effectiely fill the role of an attacking lead. The combination of powerful attacks, strong priority, and Haban Berry makes Giratina one of the most reliable ways to defeat common leads such as Deoxys-S, Deoxys-A, Groudon, Mew, Rayquaza, Giratina-O, and Tyranitar. Draco Meteor followed by Shadow Sneak is a guaranteed KO on 252 HP / 4 Def Deoxys-S, limiting it to a maximum of one layer of entry hazards. Deoxys-A is defeated by the same combination of attacks, while Groudon and Mew will struggle to do any meaningful damage as Giratina hacks away at their health with its attacks. Will-O-Wisp is useful for burning Groudon, but Hidden Power Fire is also an option to defeat Forretress and Scizor provided that rain isn't present. Unlike Giratina-O, this Giratina also has the ability to defeat Rayquaza, and by extention, Giratina-O leads, thanks to Haban Berry. Finally, Aura Sphere 2HKOes 252 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar, and gives Giratina a reliable way of damaging Dialga and Heatran. Despite its role, this Giratina also has a great deal of late-game potential. If Haban Berry isn't used up against your opponent's lead, it can be used in a pinch later on against the many Dragon-types of the Uber tier. For instance, Giratina takes less than 50% from Timid Lustrous Orb Palkia's Spacial Rend thanks to Haban Berry, allowing it to easily OHKO back with Draco Meteor. Shadow Sneak makes Giratina a great revenge killer, hitting speedy threats, like Mewtwo and Latios, for super effective damage. Despite a Hasty nature, Giratina still possesses excellent bulk, and thank to Will-O-Wisp, it can still play the part of a physical tank if needed during the later stages of a match. Most bulky leads that are not hit super effectively by Giratina's attacks will be problematic. Kyogre is the worst match-up, as it can take repeated Draco Meteors and will KO Giratina with Ice Beam. Barring Hidden Power Fire, Forretress doesn't take much from anything Giratina can do, Will-O-Wisp included, allowing it to comfortably set up Spikes. Darkrai is also very threatening, as it can either put Giratina to sleep with Dark Void or deal massive damage with Dark Pulse. Although almost never seen as a lead, Blissey fears none of Giratina's attacks, and can wither Giratina's HP down since Giratina has no form of recovery. Pairing Giratina with Choice Scarf Palkia gives it a reliable check for Kyogre, as well as a way of OHKOing Forretress and Darkrai. Palkia also appreciates Giratina's ability to reduce the number of entry hazards that Deoxys-S sets up, as Spikes quickly wears Palkia down. A mono-attacking Kyogre with Calm Mind will not only force Forretress out, but can absorb Darkrai's Dark Void and set up against and defeat Blissey. Additionally, Kyogre's typing synergizes well with Giratina. Speaking of synergy, Scizor perfectly covers Giratina's weaknesses and can take Dragon-type attacks well once Giratina's Haban Berry is used up.