The Legendary, Ghost-type Pokémon Giratina has entered Legendary Raids. This is the first Legendary Raid Boss to originate in the Sinnoh Region. But how good is Giratina in the current Pokémon GO metagame?
GIRATINA'S STATS
- TYPE: Ghost / Dragon
- STATS (ALTERED): Attack: 187, Defense: 225, Stamina: 284, Max CP: 3379
- STATS (ORIGIN): Attack: 225, Defense: 187, Stamina: 284, Max CP: 3683
- FAST MOVES: Shadow Claw, Dragon Breath
- CHARGED MOVES: Shadow Sneak, Dragon Claw, Ancient Power
HOW'S IT SHAPE UP?
GHOST-TYPE: Gengar has ruled the Ghost-types for a long while now, despite its poor defenses and weakness to Psychic-type attacks. Giratina was really the only hope to dethrone Gengar from this generation, and that was a long shot given its Attack stat is lower than Gengar's in both its Altered and Origin Formes. But that hope was eradicated with Giratina's moves.
Niantic gave Giratina Shadow Claw (which is great) and Shadow Sneak (which is horrible). Literally, Shadow Sneak is the worst possible Ghost-type Charged Attack they could've given to Giratina. Even Ominous Wind would be better in terms of DPS.
DRAGON-TYPE: As a Dragon-type, Giratina is more useful. By no means is it competition to Rayquaza, Dragonite, Garchomp, etc. in terms of DPS, but it isn't horrible. As demonstrated by Latios and legacy Dragonite, Dragon Breath and Dragon Claw is a very fast moveset that can be a good, usable alternative to Dragon Tail and Outrage.
MOVEPOOL: We would like to take a moment and end this segment by saying we are baffled by Niantic's move choices for Giratina. They must know, as partially evident by the promised stat rework, that defensive Pokémon are usually second-rate in this game; Defensive Legendary Pokémon even more so, since they cannot fulfill their true potential of defending Gyms. Niantic could have at least given Giratina Shadow Ball, Outrage, and/or Draco Meteor to make it a better Pokémon in the current metagame.
Niantic gave Giratina Shadow Claw (which is great) and Shadow Sneak (which is horrible). Literally, Shadow Sneak is the worst possible Ghost-type Charged Attack they could've given to Giratina. Even Ominous Wind would be better in terms of DPS.
DRAGON-TYPE: As a Dragon-type, Giratina is more useful. By no means is it competition to Rayquaza, Dragonite, Garchomp, etc. in terms of DPS, but it isn't horrible. As demonstrated by Latios and legacy Dragonite, Dragon Breath and Dragon Claw is a very fast moveset that can be a good, usable alternative to Dragon Tail and Outrage.
MOVEPOOL: We would like to take a moment and end this segment by saying we are baffled by Niantic's move choices for Giratina. They must know, as partially evident by the promised stat rework, that defensive Pokémon are usually second-rate in this game; Defensive Legendary Pokémon even more so, since they cannot fulfill their true potential of defending Gyms. Niantic could have at least given Giratina Shadow Ball, Outrage, and/or Draco Meteor to make it a better Pokémon in the current metagame.
THE VERDICT
Is Giratina worth powering-up? We say no. Not because it has less-than-optimal Attack, but because of the Origin Forme and Giratina's exclusive move: Shadow Force. Shadow Force, theoretically, will be much better than Shadow Sneak. And the Origin Forme has higher Attack, but it is still shrouded in mystery about how Niantic will handle it. Hopefully they will give us a method to morph between the forms, but if it comes out in a separate Raid cycle, you don't want to waste your resources on the worse of the two forms.
Thanks for reading, Trainers!
IMAGE CREDIT: Screenshot of Pokémon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior, From Pokémon Wiki - Fandom