Giratina Meta Game Analysis in Pokémon GO

Giratina Origin Forme has emerged from the Distortion World and is ready to test your strength until April 29. If you clicked on this article’s link, it was most likely because you wanted to know how the Origin Forme performs in the current meta and how it compares to the Altered Forme. Don’t worry; you came to the right place to know that (and more!).

Giratina’s Best Moveset

Giratina (Origin) Ghost Dragon
Stats
ATK 225		DEF 187		HP 284
Weak To			Strong Against
Dark Dragon Fairy Ghost Ice			Dragon Ghost Psychic
Giratina (Origin Forme) Best PvP Moveset
Shadow Claw Ghost		Shadow Ball Ghost		Dragon Pulse Dragon
Super Effective Against
Ghost Psychic		Ghost Psychic		Dragon
PvP Move Stats
Power 6 Energy 8 Duration 2 DPT 3.00 EPT 4.00		Power 100 Energy 55 DPE 1.82		Power 90 Energy 60 DPE 1.50 Dust Cost 100000 Candy Cost 100
Giratina (Origin Forme) Best PvE Moveset
Shadow Claw Ghost		Shadow Ball Ghost		Dragon Pulse Dragon
Super Effective Against
Ghost Psychic		Ghost Psychic		Dragon
PvE Move Stats
Power 9 Energy 6 Cooldown 0.7s EPS 8.57 DPS 12.86		Power 100 Energy 50 Cooldown 3.0s Bars 2 DPS 33.3		Power 90 Energy 50 Cooldown 3.6s Bars 2 DPS 25.0

If you also want to know the best PvP moveset for the Altered Forme, you can go with Dragon Breath or Shadow Claw as fast moves (both get STAB and are excellent in PvP) + Dragon Claw. If you want to unlock a second charge move, Shadow Sneak gets STAB, and Ancient Power does not, but it could get you a nice ATK & DEF boost when used. Both are mediocre charge moves, but you decide if you want to risk going for the boosts or go for the STAB option. We don’t need to discuss Giratina-A’s best PvE moveset, because it’s not a PvE-oriented Pokémon.

Now let’s go back to the Origin Forme. Regarding its fast moves:

• Shadow Claw is its best Fast Move (not only for PvP but also for PvE). If you want to use Giratina as a ghost type attacker (you should), Shadow Claw is your best bet.
• Dragon Tail is inferior to Shadow Claw in PvP. Only choose it if you’re planning to use Giratina-O as a dragon type attacker for raids and gyms (PvE). Even then, there is fierce competition. Rayquaza and the other top-tier dragons outperform it because Giratina-O lacks a better dragon-type charge move (Outrage>>Dragon Pulse) and a higher attack stat.

And regarding its charge moves…

• Shadow Ball is a must-have charge move on Giratina-O. It’s an excellent move in PvE and also really good in PvP.
• It’s debatable whether you should pick Dragon Pulse or Ominous Wind in PvP as a secondary charge move. The situations where you’d use Ominous Wind over Shadow Ball are when you want to risk going for the ATK and DEF boosts, when you want to bait out shields, or when you don’t have enough energy to fire off a Shadow Ball. Dragon Pulse, on the other hand, covers a broader variety of matchups and its performance is not that RNG dependent. For PvE, Shadow Ball >> Ominous Wind, and Dragon Pulse should only be used if you want to use Giratina-O as a dragon-type attacker (with Dragon Tail).

Giratina as a Raid Attacker

This article will only consider the Origin Forme of Giratina for the PvE analysis and both formes for the PvP one. Giratina-O can be used both as a ghost and dragon-type attacker for raids and gym battles. However, its performance as a ghost-type attacker is significantly better.

The following flow chart will summarize how to use it in raids effectively:

So, to sum up:

• Giratina-O shines against Psychic-type raid bosses with Psychic-type moves (e.g., Psychic Mewtwo) and Ghost-type raid bosses with Ghost-type moves. This is mainly because of two reasons: Gengar is a bit frail, and as a ghost and Poison-type, it takes super effective damage from both psychic and Ghost-type moves.
• It’s important to mention that in the scenarios where Gengar outperforms Giratina, Giratina ranks as the 2nd best attacker most of the time. When Giratina is the best option, Gengar usually has plenty of contenders that perform way better. Thus, Giratina is a consistent option in almost any scenario. Furthermore, Gengar faints a lot, which usually means that you will need to lobby several times.
• As a dragon-type attacker, it is outclassed by the other top-tier dragons also because of two reasons: Dragon Pulse is significantly worse than Outrage and Giratina-O’s attack stat is a bit too low to compete with the other dragons.

Psychic & Ghost-type Attacker Examples

The chart above was made after running plenty of simulations, as always on Pokebattler. Are you curious to see a few examples? Below you can find some of them. As you can see, against a Tier 6 Mewtwo with Psychic, Giratina-O‘s performance is outstanding, whereas Gengar ranks a bit lower and up to four other Pokémon have better estimator and overall better performance (Gengar has 78 deaths to win!).

Now, if Mewtwo has Focus Blast instead (which Gengar TRIPLE resists), things change. Gengar is now much more reliable to use, faints fewer times and can fire off more Shadow Ball moves to show its true offensive power.

If you are curious to see how both Pokémon perform against other raid bosses (with different movesets), here is a short recap. Deoxys-D is included in the mix but as an outlier. Due to its lower-tier offensive power, Gengar does not faint as much and can showcase its potential a bit more.

Psychic-type Raid Bosses

Raid Boss	Fast Move	Charge Move	#1	#2
Mewtwo	Confusion Psychic	Psychic Psychic	Giratina (Origin) 2.96 estimator 850.8s TTW 33 deaths	Gengar 3.37 estimator 902.6s TTW 78 deaths
Mewtwo	Confusion Psychic	Flamethrower Fire	Giratina (Origin) 2.95 estimator 853.8s TTW 22 deaths	Gengar 3.02 estimator 822.2s TTW 61 deaths
Mewtwo	Confusion Psychic	Thunderbolt Electric	Gengar 2.92 estimator 797.4s TTW 58 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 2.96 estimator 855.2s TTW 22 deaths
Mewtwo	Confusion Psychic	Ice Beam Ice	Gengar 3.01 estimator 818.2s TTW 60 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 3.14 estimator 878.8s TTW 45 deaths
Mewtwo	Confusion Psychic	Focus Blast Fighting	Gengar 2.92 estimator 818.2s TTW 44 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 2.99 estimator 863.5s TTW 21 deaths
Azelf	Confusion Psychic	Futuresight Psychic	Giratina (Origin) 1.71 estimator 487.8s TTW 20 deaths	Gengar 1.95 estimator 520.1s TTW 45 deaths
Azelf	Confusion Psychic	Swift Normal	Gengar 1.56 estimator 447.4s TTW 18 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 1.67 estimator 496.5s TTW 8 deaths
Azelf	Confusion Psychic	Fire Blast Fire	Giratina (Origin) 1.70 estimator 493.2s TTW 13 deaths	Gengar 1.79 estimator 487.5s TTW 35 deaths
Deoxys (Defense)	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Psycho Boost Psychic	Gengar 3.18 estimator 899.7s TTW 39 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 3.39 estimator 1010.6s TTW 16 deaths
Deoxys (Defense)	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Rock Slide Rock	Gengar 3.11 estimator 896.0s TTW 34 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 3.38 estimator 1006.0s TTW 18 deaths
Deoxys (Defense)	Zen Headbutt Psychic	Thunderbolt Electric	Gengar 3.09 estimator 890.0s TTW 33 deaths	Giratina (Origin) 3.41 estimator 1016.9s TTW 13 deaths

Dragon-type Attacker Scenario

Two aspects hold back Giratina’s performance as a dragon-type attacker, its dragon-type moveset and its attack stat (225). The following graph will be a perfect example to show that, and we even included SC/SB Giratina-O to show how different movesets yield very different results (both dealing SE damage against this raid boss):

Altered or Origin Forme in PvP?

Here comes the big question: which forme should I use in PvP? This question, believe it or not, is not difficult to answer.

• In Great League, none of the Giratina Formes can participate at the moment. However, both formes can have less than 1500CP at level 15, provided they eventually get released as research rewards. In lower leagues, where there is a CP cap, Pokémon with high TDO, bulk, and good movesets reign supreme. Giratina-A has a better stat distribution for this league than Giratina-O. Furthermore, even though it cannot learn Shadow Ball, it has access to Dragon Claw (a good, low-energy requirement charge move) and Dragon Breath too. Thus, Giratina-Altered Forme would be better.
• The same happens in Ultra League. Giratina-Altered Forme has a better stat distribution given the 2500CP cap and reigns supreme in this league. However, Giratina-O can still perform well, if you want to use it.
• Here is where things get interesting, what happens in the Master League? To sum it up, both formes are good in this league, and there is no clear winner. They are the dominant forces in the Master League. In a “mirror” match, Giratina-O wins. Furthermore, due to its higher offensive power, it wins more and better against a wide variety of opponents. However, since it is more fragile than the Altered Forme, it suffers more in its non-favorable matchups. Against checks and counters such as Dialga, Snorlax or Tyranitar, Giratina-O suffers more and loses harder than Giratina-A, which usually puts up a fight despite losing. Overall, Giratina-O is probably a little bit better in this league, but it also relies more on how the rest of your team cover its weaknesses, whereas Giratina-A does not count on that aspect as much.

Giratina-A looks better for the lower leagues, but the Master League is where things get exciting, and Giratina-O shines. Which one will you choose? You decide!

Conclusion

• Giratina-O is a great Pokémon to add to your PvE and PvP lineup at the same time, so make sure you get out and raid it!
• As a Ghost type attacker, Giratina-O performs well and is firmly in the discussion as the most consistent ghost-type attacker in the game. Check the cheat sheet below the flow chart in the section “Giratina as a Raid Attacker” for more details!
• As a Dragon type attacker though, it is outperformed by the top-tier dragons due to its lack of offensive power (225 attack stat) and the fact that Dragon Pulse is significantly worse than Outrage
• Altered Forme Giratina is still better in Great and Ultra Leagues, but Origin Forme Giratina can be as good and even better than the Altered Forme in Master League, depending on your team and matchup. Giratina-O wins more and better, but it has worse losses than Giratina-A against non-favorable matchups and relies a bit more on how your team supports its weaknesses. Both are fantastic Pokémon in PvP!