PISTOLERO
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
WreckDra is nice and his writing style is nice too :)
unfixable is bad
Jirachi
How Steel?
QC: Fireburn, Edgar, Problems
GP: Psywaves, GatoDelFuego
unfixable is bad
Jirachi
How Steel?
QC: Fireburn, Edgar, Problems
GP: Psywaves, GatoDelFuego
Overview
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Jirachi's typing allows it to competently check Fairy-types, as well as deal with Latias and Latios, thanks to Jirachi's secondary Psychic typing also giving it a quadruple resistance to Psyshock. Serene Grace alongside Iron Head only helps Jirachi to check various Pokemon, and rare support moves such as Healing Wish and Wish are fantastic, with U-turn, Ice Punch, and Fire Punch all useful as well. Solid 100 base stats across the board bolster Jirachi's durability, with base 100 Speed also being above-average in Ubers.
However, weaknesses to Ground, Ghost, Dark, and Fire are very exploitable in a metagame where Primal Groudon, Ghost Arceus, Ho-Oh, and several Dark-types appear on the majority of teams, and being bait for Primal Groudon in particular can cause Jirachi several problems. Its middling base 100 Attack and low Base Power moves mean that Jirachi can struggle to deal heavy damage to opposing Pokemon, even with super effective attacks.
Choice Scarf
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name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Healing Wish
move 4: Ice Punch / Fire Punch
ability: Serene Grace
item: Choice Scarf
evs: 176 HP / 152 Atk / 180 Spe
nature: Adamant
Moves
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Iron Head gives Jirachi utility in checking Fairy-types and going for fast, Serene Grace-augmented flinches, which can turn around bad matchups in dire circumstances. U-turn provides switch initiative against the extremely dangerous Pokemon that commonly switch into Jirachi, with the most notable being Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh. Healing Wish allows Jirachi to give many offensive Pokemon a second chance to run through the opponent's team after having been weakened by its first run. It can usually do this successfully due to its Choice Scarf allowing it to outrun the entire unboosted metagame besides Deoxys-S. Ice Punch is for revenge killing Rayquaza and unboosted Mega Salamence. Ice Punch also hits offensive Landorus-T, Latias, and Latios for slightly higher damage than U-turn. Never discount the 20% freeze chance on anything but Primal Groudon, either. Alternatively, Fire Punch gives Jirachi a way to hit Ferrothorn and Scizor, both of which wall Jirachi otherwise.
Set Details
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176 HP EVs allow Jirachi to survive Geomancy Xerneas's +2 Focus Blast after two rounds of Stealth Rock damage in order to hit it hard with Iron Head. They also give Jirachi a healthy chance to live a +1 Earthquake from Jolly Mega Salamence in order to hit it with Ice Punch. 152 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature allow Jirachi to bring Geomancy Xerneas into range of priority such as Extreme Killer Arceus's Extreme Speed, dealing 52-62% damage. The rest is poured into Speed, and conveniently allows Jirachi to outrun the albeit now rare Choice Scarf neutral-natured base 90 Pokemon and Deoxys-A. A Jolly nature can be used to outspeed Naive Deoxys-A and OHKO it with U-turn, with Jirachi being able to switch in on Psycho Boost due to its quadruple resistance.
Usage Tips
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With a Choice Scarf, a Jirachi on very low health can still be very useful due to its fast Healing Wish. Keeping Jirachi around no matter how much health it is on, unless paralyzed, is always a good idea. Because Jirachi baits extremely dangerous Pokemon in Ubers, U-turn should be used liberally, as it is probable that the opponent will switch in Pokemon such as Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon. Being able to U-turn out of them and into your own check works very nicely, as they take chip damage from U-turn and Stealth Rock and are then forced out. In dire circumstances it is also feasible to flinch opposing Pokemon to death, should you have no other way of dealing with them.
Team Options
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Choice Scarf Jirachi should be used on offensively inclined teams to make full use of its ability to check Xerneas, Latias, and Latios, revenge kill weakened threats such as Mega Mewtwo Y, gain and keep momentum with U-turn, lure out and chip away at Primal Groudon, and provide Healing Wish support to its teammates.
Due to the way Jirachi can U-turn out of its checks, reliable entry hazard setters such as Primal Groudon, Dialga, Greninja, and Klefki are all good partners for it. Extreme Killer Arceus and Rayquaza in particular work nicely alongside Jirachi, as Rayquaza has fantastic defensive synergy with it, both are able to take out opposing Geomancy Xerneas with Extreme Speed after Xerneas takes an Iron Head from Jirachi, and both also vastly appreciate a Healing Wish to restore them if they take damage or are burned. Calm Mind Primal Kyogre is another fantastic team member to consider, as it can switch into Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh via Jirachi's U-Turn and wreak havoc, and also appreciates the possibility of being brought back later in the game by Healing Wish.
Using Xerneas alongside Jirachi, especially Geomancy Xerneas, is also recommended, as Geomancy Xerneas fits well on the sorts of teams that Choice Scarf Jirachi will find itself on, and can also switch into Yveltal much more aggressively thanks to the possibility of Healing Wish bringing it back later on. Xerneas also tramples Dark Arceus, which can cause Jirachi problems otherwise, and can beat several other Calm Mind Arceus formes such as Ghost Arceus one-on-one.
Support
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name: Support
move 1: Wish
move 2: Thunder Wave / Body Slam
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Protect / U-Turn / Toxic
ability: Serene Grace
item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpD / 32 Spe
nature: Careful
Moves
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Wish is Jirachi's best form of recovery and can also be used to heal team members that do not have reliable recovery. Thunder Wave is used to slow down or force out Latias, Latios, Xerneas, and, to a lesser extent, Mewtwo. It also deters Mega Gengar and Mega Salamence that do not carry Refresh. Iron Head deals super effective damage to Fairy-types, and pairs nicely with paralysis. Protect ensures that Jirachi will receive its own Wish if it needs to. It can also be used to gain extra Leftovers recovery in a pinch. Serene Grace Body Slam is an alternative to Thunder Wave that deters a boosting Primal Groudon from setting up on Jirachi. It does make Jirachi bait for Mega Gengar though, and should therefore only be used with U-turn. U-turn allows Jirachi to switch out of incoming Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, Dark Arceus, and other threats, escape from Mega Gengar, keep momentum for its team. Lastly, Toxic can work alongside Iron Head in order to try to break down slower defensive Pokemon through poison damage, flinches, and chip damage from Iron Head.
Set Details
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Full investment in HP and Special Defense alongside a Careful nature makes Jirachi extremely sturdy on the special side, while providing large 202 HP Wishes to itself and its teammates. Leftovers allows Jirachi to passively recover HP every turn. 32 Speed EVs allow Jirachi to outspeed the rare, but not unheard of, positive-natured maximum Speed Tyranitar.
Usage Tips
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Use Jirachi's resistances to bring it in. It should be used to sponge attacks from Fairy-types, Latias, and Latios, and paralyze them. Passing Wishes is also something that Jirachi does well, and can work nicely alongside U-turn in order to bring teammates in on resisted moves and restore their health. Jirachi can also deal with defensive Xerneas very nicely, outspeeding it, dealing fair damage with Iron Head, and severely irritating it with flinches, which prevent it from Resting or using Aromatherapy. It is also possible for Jirachi to beat Calm Mind Rock and Fairy Arceus, as it resists their STAB moves and can paralyze them, and then flinch and 3HKO them with a super effective Iron Head.
Team Options
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A very solid switch-in to Primal Groudon is vital when using Jirachi. Yveltal works rather nicely, as it can come in on a predicted Earthquake and Jirachi can U-turn out of defensive Primal Groudon variants into it. Solid Yveltal switch-ins are also needed. Xerneas is the best because of Jirachi's Wish passing capabilities and can take on Calm Mind Dark Arceus, as well as potentially absorb Dark Void from Darkrai should it be running Sleep Talk. Jirachi makes up for Calm Mind Primal Kyogre's lack of recovery while also checking Latias and Latios, and can paralyze many threats that outspeed Primal Kyogre, allowing it to break the opponent's team much more effectively. Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rock and can be switched into Ho-Oh and Yveltal, as well as being able to Pursuit trap Mega Gengar, which can cause Jirachi problems if it runs Shadow Ball.
Other Options
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Stealth Rock is somewhat usable on the support set, but finding room for it is next to impossible, and there are several other, more viable setters in the Ubers tier. Trick on the Choice Scarf set can work, but there are a multitude of items, such as Arceus Plates, Red Orb, Blue Orb, and Griseous Orb, that cannot be Tricked away, making it a very risky option.
Checks & Counters
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**Fire-types**: Primal Groudon can OHKO Jirachi with either of its physical STAB moves while Ho-Oh can do so with Sacred Fire or Earthquake boosted by either Choice Band or Life Orb. All Fire-types in Ubers can wall Jirachi and eventually KO it with their STAB moves. Primal Groudon is also immune to Thunder Wave, meaning it can set up on support sets lacking Body Slam. Blaziken easily KOes Jirachi with Flare Blitz, but must be careful not to be caught by Thunder Wave or a paralysis from Body Slam.
**Steel-types**: Scizor can consistently damage Jirachi with either Pursuit or Knock Off while most Jirachi can do nothing to it. Ferrothorn easily beats Choice Scarf Jirachi with Leech Seed and Iron Barbs and can easily beat the support set one-on-one as well. Both are 2HKOed by Fire Punch, however.
**Ground-types**: Primal and regular Groudon, Landorus-T, Ground Arceus, Hippowdon, Excadrill and Gliscor all wall Jirachi and can easily beat it one on one with their super effective STAB moves. Arceus-Ground, Gliscor, and Excadrill are all crippled by a well-timed paralysis from Body Slam, however.
**Ghost-types**: Giratina-O and Ghost Arceus have the ability to beat both Jirachi sets, with the former being able to bypass any flinch chance from Iron Head thanks to its super effective priority Shadow Sneak. However, Ghost Arceus must be wary of being paraflinched by the support set, and Giratina-O cannot take too many Iron Heads either due to its lack of recovery. Mega Gengar can trap support Jirachi should it not carry Thunder Wave, and can deal heavy damage with Shadow Ball, but is crippled by Thunder Wave and gets promptly flinched to death by Iron Head. Should Mega Gengar not carry Shadow Ball, Jirachi will also easily be able to U-turn out of it and into a Pursuit trapper.
**Dark-types**: Yveltal easily beats Jirachi with its STAB Dark Pulse or Foul Play, as well as OHKOing Choice Scarf Jirachi with Sucker Punch. Darkrai needs to watch out because it is outsped by Choice Scarf Jirachi and can also be caught by Thunder Wave as it switches in, but can either put Jirachi to sleep or beat up on Jirachi with Life Orb Dark Pulse. Dark Arceus has very good odds of beating Jirachi with both Refresh and Recover.
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