Giratina in the Pokemon GO Meta: Not so Violent After All

Giratina is a dual Ghost and Dragon type Legendary Pokémon and comes in two forms: Origin and Altered form. As of the time of writing this article, only Altered Giratina form is available as a Tier 5 raid boss. In this article, we’re focusing on Giratina’s role in the metagame, rather than anything else. Giratina does not evolve, nor does it evolve from any other Pokémon.

This guide contains only information about Altered form Giratina as it’s the only form currently available.


Giratina in the Pokemon GO Metagame

Giratina has the unfortunate fate of competing in two Type categories where we already have pretty good Pokemon. Gengar, if we put his glassy nature aside, is an incredible damage dealer that can outperform several higher tier generalists with ease. Shadow Ball Mewtwo is also a thing, and that’s without event entering the Land of Dragons, where Rayquaza is a god, and Pokemon like Garchomp, Dialga and Palkia are expected soon.

However, we’ll start with Giratina’s moves first, as they are the defining feature of this Pokemon.

Giratina Moves Analysis

Unfortunately, Giratina got a terrible move pool in Pokemon GO, on par with good old Metagross before Meteor Mash. It’s hard to find any rhyme or reason in Giratina’s move sets, but see it for yourself.

Fast Moves Charge Moves
  • Shadow Claw Ghost
  • Dragon Breath Dragon
  • Dragon Claw Dragon
  • Ancient Power Rock
  • Shadow Sneak Ghost

Fast Moves

  • Shadow Claw is a simply amazing Ghost type move and a wet dream for everyone who doesn’t have a legacy Shadow Claw Gengar. Shadow Claw is what hardcore players’ dreams are made of.
  • Dragon Breath is a fine Dragon type move, but strictly inferior to SC (lower DPS and lower EPS)

Charge moves

  • Dragon Claw is all right, not as good as Outrage, but it activates fast, deals solid damage, not bad for a Dragon-type, but not the best either.
  • Ancient Power is essentially throwing rocks at your target. Sure, you can make it work, but this move will suffer the same fate as Ancient Power Rayquaza: TM-it away.
  • Shadow Sneak is where it all breaks down. Shadow Sneak is a terrible, terrible move, a move that shouldn’t be even considered on a legendary Pokemon as powerful as Giratina. You may be reading this and thinking why. Consider this:
    • Shadow Sneak is a Ghost type, 3 bar move with 50 Power and 2.9s cool down
    • Shadow Sneak has 11% less DPS than Ominous Wind (Ghost, 3 bar, 50 PWR, 2.3s CD)
    • Shadow Sneak has 40% less DPS than Shadow Ball (Ghost, 2 bar, 100 PWR, 3s CD)

And now you understand. Shadow Sneak bad, Shadow Ball good.

Giratina as a Dragon-type attacker

Giratina doesn’t shine among its dragon brethren, not because of it’s move selection, but rather because the existing dragons are already amazing Pokemon…

Dragon-type Max CP Attack Defense Stamina
Giratina (Origin) 3683 225 187 284 
Giratina (Altered) 3379 187 225 284
Dialga 4038 275 211 205
Garchomp 3962 261 193 239
Palkia 3991 280 215 189
Rayquaza 3645 284 170 191
Latios 3644 268 228 160
Dragonite 3581 263 201 182

While Giratina’s Attack stat is the lowest in the table, its elite Defense and Stamina stats make it extremely bulky. This will mean it has more opportunity to fire off its attacks and output as much damage as its fellow dragons, over the entire battle

Giratina as a Ghost-type attacker

Dragon-type Max CP Attack Defense Stamina
Giratina (Origin) 3683 225 187 284
Giratina (Altered) 3379 187 225 284
Gengar 2619 261 156 120
Mismagius 2465 211 211 120
Banette 2298 218 126 162

Offensively, Ghost-type moves are particularly useful as they’re super effective (1.4x damage) against the Psychic-types which make up a good proportion of Legendary Raid Bosses. They are also super effective against other Ghost-type Pokémon but as we can see from the table above, Gengar is the only other Ghost-type that can put up a decent fight in the current metagame.

Defensively, Giratina’s typing gives it a weakness (takes 1.4x damage) to Ghost, Ice, Fairy, Dragon, and Dark type moves, but also gives it a resistance (takes 0.714x damage) to Poison, Bug, Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric moves and immunity (0.51x damage) to Normal and Fighting type moves.


Weather Influence on Giratina

In weather that has pros, use Giratina all you want and let it tear through its enemies, but in the weather with cons, avoid using it against foes that may have super-effective moves. The chart below will help you visualize what weather is beneficial or harmful for Giratina.

Weather Pros Cons
Sunny
Partly Cloudy
Cloudy Boosts defenders’ super-effective Fairy moves
Rainy
Fog Boosts its potential Ghost moves Boosts defenders’ super-effective Ghost or Dark moves
Windy Boosts its potential Dragon moves Boosts defenders’ super-effective Dragon moves
Snow Boosts defenders’ super-effective Ice moves

Shiny Giratina in Pokemon GO

Shiny Giratina is noticeably different in colour to normal; the red detailing on its wings and chest become blue. The yellow parts around its head and neck become white/grey. Its grey skin becomes more of a pale yellow, and its dark grey feet become brown.

Normal Shiny
   

Pokédex Entries and Facts

Giratina’s Pokédex entries from various games give some insights into its mysterious home:

  • A Pokémon that is said to live in a world on the reverse side of ours. It appears in an ancient cemetery.
  • It was banished for its violence. It silently gazed upon the old world from the Distortion World.

Author & tags

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Qoncept
Qoncept
Age 32, from Grantham UK. Team Valor - Admin of the Pokémon Go Grantham Community.

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With massive Stamina and high Defense, Giratina is a very curious addition to the meta game, as its bulk is never-before-seen among Ghost-Type Pokemon. Unfortunately, Giratina's move pool is terrible and there is no real usage for it.Giratina in the Pokemon GO Meta: Not so Violent After All