Jirachi Analysis

[JB]

Jirachi

Type: Steel/Psychic

Abilities:
Serene Grace - Jirachi's secondary effect's chances are doubled (i.e. 30% flinch turns into 60%)

Base Stats:
HP: 100
Attack: 100
Defense: 100
Special Attack: 100
Special Defense: 100
Speed: 100

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/385.shtml

Overview
Jirachi was quite the bugger back in the 4th generation and it hasn't really changed much with Black and White. People who want a Choice Scarf user usually go with Jirachi, and having Serene Grace does it some favors. Serene Grace doubling moves' secondary effects, making it the king of para-flinch. 100 base stats across the board also isn't too shabby. It is even viable in Ubers, being a great annoyer and supporter. With Black and White, it got except more threats like Doryzzu, but it also got Psycho Shock, which helps it take out Blissey and Chansey. Doom Desire now has 140 base power and 100% accuracy. Even though it didn't change much, Jirachi's moves such as Iron Head and Thunder Wave still make it difficult to beat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Depth/Move Sets


Specially Defensive
Jirachi w/ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Careful/Calm
Evs: 252 HP,220 SpDef,36 Spe

• Wish
• Thunder Wave/Body Slam
• Iron Head
• Fire Punch / Protect / U-turn

Set Comments

Jirachi has the capability to become very durable on the Special Defense-side if need be. Wish is for reliable healing and you can switch out for a teammate to use. Thunder Wave paralyzes the enemy, with the exception of Ground types, so they are unable to do anything 60% of the time. You can also put Body Slam in for damage, and still have a chance of paralysis that Ground types are not immune to. Iron Head provides useful STAB and flinch. For slot 4, you could go with Fire Punch to hit the common Steels that switch into it. Protect could also be used to ensure that Jirachi gets the healing from Wish, or protect itself from something if you predict correctly. U-turn can allow Jirachi to switch out if it needs to and can hit Celebi very hard. There are also other options in Thunder and Ice Punch. Thunder is for considerable damage, but doesn't have the best accuracy. Thunder is also mainly used on rain teams, where Drizzle gives it 100% accuracy. Ice Punch handles Dragon type counters very well.

Additional Comments

Jirachi can be a good Pokemon to set up Rocks, so Stealth Rock could also be used in this set.


Calm Mind + Wish
Jirachi w/ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Bold
Evs: 252 HP,224 Def,32 Spe

• Calm Mind
• Wish
• Thunderbolt
• Psychic/Flash Cannon

Set Comments

If Jirachi switches into a good matchup and runs a Calm Mind set, it can raise its Special stats to high levels. This enables it to take special moves a lot more easily, and to hit very hard. Wish allows Jirachi heal itself, or its teammates. Thunderbolt is for bulky Waters that would otherwise wall Jirachi. For the 4th slot, you can either run Psychic or Flash Cannon. Psychic can really do damage with STAB, and can lower Special Defense. This, along with Thunderbolt, is almost impossible to block completely, with only a few exceptions. Flash Cannon is for Celebi and Tyranitar (who would otherwise resist anything Jirachi has) and it does decent STAB damage


ScarfLead
Jirachi w/ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
Jolly
Evs: 4 SpDef,252 Atk,252 Spe

• Stealth Rock
• Iron Head
• Trick/U-turn
• Ice Punch/Fire Punch/ThunderPunch

Set Comments

Jirachi makes speedy lead with Choice Scarf on. Stealth Rock is for entry hazard damage that might help Jirachi out later. Iron Head is for STAB and flinch. For slot 3, either run Trick to switch items and trap the enemy into a loop, or U-turn to get a speedy switch out and to scout for counters. The 4th slot can be one of three punches. Ice Punch is good for Dragons, or Fire Punch for Steels and to counter other leads like Ferrothorn/Nattorei and Forretress. ThunderPunch is good against Waters, but it isn't exactly going to be strong against bulkier Waters, so either Ice or Fire Punch would be better.


Superachi 2.0
Jirachi w/ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Timid
EVs: 4 HP,252 SpAtk,252 Spe

• Calm Mind
• Psychic/Psycho Shock
• Thunderbolt / Thunder
• Grass Knot / Hidden Power (Fire/Ground)

Set Comments

Using Calm Mind alone is fine as well, letting Jirachi become even more powerful on Special Defense. This also gives 4x resistance to Psychic moves like Psycho Shock, and several moves to hit with. With Calm Mind, Jirachi can take hits from special attacking Dragon types. Psychic helps against Fighting types that have higher defense, and helps hit Blissey and Chansey hard. You can use Thunderbolt for good coverage against Waters but it doesn't have as much power as Thunder, which can be very useful if Rain Dance is up. Grass Knot is good for Water types and can hit Grounds like Landorus/Landlos. You can also fit either Hidden Power Fire for Steel threats like Scizor andFerrothorn/Nattorei, or Hidden Power Ground against Fire types.


Mixed Attacker
Jirachi w/ Expert Belt
Ability: Serene Grace
Naive/Hasty
EVs: 252 Atk,4 SpDef,252 Spe

• Iron Head
• Ice Punch
• Fire Punch
• Grass Knot/Thunderbolt

Set Comments

This set is very hard to fit into teams, but if you manage to adjust to meet its needs, then this can be very useful. Expert Belt is to increase Jirachi's super effective hits for 30%. Iron Head is for usual STAB and high flinch rate. Ice Punch is for Dragons like Flygon, and Grounds like Gliscor. Fire Punch is mainly for Steel and Grass types like Ferrothorn/Nattorei. Grass Knot is for Waters like Vaporeon and some Ground types like Hippowdon, but it is unlikely to 2HKO any of them barring Jellicent/Burungeru, Swampert, and Quagsire. You could also run Thunderbolt for coverage also on Waters, and OHKO Gyarados.


Dual Screens
Jirachi w/ Light Clay
Ability: Serene Grace
Careful
EVs: 252 HP,100 Def,156 SpDef

• Reflect
• Light Screen
• Wish
• U-turn

Set Comments

Jirachi can also pull off a dual screen support for itself and other team members if need be. Usually you'll want to get Light Screen up first as Jirachi's counters are usually special-oriented. Then you should have no problem getting Reflect up on your team. With Light Clay on, both of them will be prolonged for 3 extra turns. Wish is for excellent healing for Jirachi or its team mates. U-turn provides a way out for Jirachi, while doing damage in the process.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Other Options

Charge Beam: With Serene Grace, Jirachi gets a Special Attack boost 100% of the time, but it doesn't do as much initial damage as Thunderbolt, making it hard to find a spot for it.
Cosmic Power: Given Jirachi's good defensive typing, Cosmic Power can increase its defenses to make it hard to KO, even from its counters.
Rain Dance: This makes Thunder 100% accurate, strengthens Water moves, and weakens enemy Fire type moves.
Water Pulse: This is a decent move to squeeze in a set. It has a 60% chance of confusion and can go with Rain Dance to power up.
Gravity: If you have a teammate with Ground moves, you can use this to ensure they hit foes that are Flying type, or have Levitate.
Drain Punch: This deals decent Fighting type damage to hit some of its Steel counters for super effective damage, and really hurting one of Jirachi's biggest counters, Tyranitar.
Doom Desire: With increased accuracy and STAB power, Doom Desire will do loads of damage on anything that doesn't resist it. However, it takes a few turns to go off, giving the enemy plenty of time to prepare for it.
Icy Wind: This can do super effective damage against Dragons like Flygon and Dragonite, and can slow them down. Ice Punch is generally preferred as it does more damage.
Choice Specs: If you want a little more power from Jirachi's special moves, Choice Specs can be used to take a bit more health off of enemies.
Choice Band: With Jirachi's movepool, it is able to hit just about anything for super effective damage, and a Choice Band can help boost power of a single move. Although, Jirachi will need to switch out to use another move.
Safeguard: Jirachi can use this on a Wish set (providing it has U-turn) and it can pass the healing and status ailment immunities to another teammate.
Toxic: This can cripple some counters to Jirachi, but this move slot is more frequently reserved for something with more impunity.
Signal Beam: This can do more damage than U-turn, and helps counter Tyranitar and Celebi.
Shadow Ball: This can go on a mixed set and can hit Ghosts like Rotom's forms and Psychic types.
Stealth Rocks: Jirachi can be a good Pokemon to set up Rocks.

You can also try running a Substitute/Thunder Wave set with Iron Head and Fire Punch, bit it is generally inferior to the Specially Defensive set.

Teammates

Jirachi gets its reputation mainly from Solum's Core. This core has tons of threats in the meta, so Rotom-W and Gliscor make good teammates. Gliscor can also taunt counters, preventing burns or paralysis. Jirachi is also threatened by Venusaur and Sun Teams, so a counter for those (such as Heatran) also makes a good teammate. Sun halves Politoed's fire weakness, making it an excellent support Pokemon for Jirachi. Dragon Types, especially Levitaters and Flyers, also make good teammates because they resist all of Jirachi's weaknesses. Jirachi also likes having entry hazards on the battlefield, as they helps do more damage and potentially poison, making Jirachi's jobs easier. Jirachi resists Ice Attacks, so it can check and unboosted Thundurus, but a defensive Pokemon, like Flygon or Gyarados, would make a good teammate. Both Flygon and Gyarados have moves that common Jirachi counters with super effective damage.

Counters

Poison Heal Gliscor can check Jirachi under two conditions: if Jirachi doesn't have Ice Punch/Hidden Power Ice (Ojama's Rachi) and if Gliscor's Poison Heal is up, as Jirachi's means of paralysis is Thunder Wave. Heatran is one of the best counters to Jirachi, as it can hit Jirachi with STAB Fire Blast/Flamethrower and Earth Power for super effective damage. Swampert can switch into any Jirachi set that doesn't have Grass Knot, as it can set up Stealth Rock or use Earthquake. Without a Fire move, Ferrothorn can also be very annoying for Jirachi, and Volcanora in the sun can come in an threaten Jirachi with a Fire move such as Flame Body. Blissey and Snorlax both have a high Special Defense which allows them to switch in to more special-sided sets and do almost anything to Jirachi. Gyarados and Metagross can make decent counters as well, but they can be hit had by Thunder Punch and Fire Punch, respectively.

Opinion

I think Jirachi is one of the better Pokemon from the 3rd generation. The overall concept of it granting wishes sounds like an enjoyable tale to hear about. I once had the pleasure of getting one as an event and it was very cool to have and show off. It is really adorable and it has a small and compact body that makes you want to hug it. Haha. It makes me want to buy a plushie of it.

Credit to Serebii for info.
Credit to Smogon for EV spread info.
Credit to Pokemon Online for Jirachi's set usages.
Credit to everyone who has brought suggestions, especially Eevee.

[pokemonisfun]

What happened to the Sub CalmMind set? ;-;

[MikeDecIsHere]

I'm going to look more into Jirachi before I rate, but I feel as though you're missing some sets.

Note: Doom Desire also gained STAB, that should be mentioned

[Eos]

Good job with this.
i'm surprised you put in toxic! i was going to recommend that Along with Sub/Wish, Fire Punch, and Iron head this can be effective even against something that usually would love to have a status (Example: Roobushin or Concheldurr or w.e. lol).
Also in "other options" you could note a rain dance set. with the set of: Thunder, Iron Head, Ice Punch, Wish.
Otherwise, great imo

[Valentine]

Did Rachi lose Stealth Rocks or something? o_O

[JB]

I'm going to look more into Jirachi before I rate, but I feel as though you're missing some sets.

Note: Doom Desire also gained STAB, that should be mentioned

Added Scarf Lead and Sub-Calm Mind sets. STAB is also included on Doom Desire.

[JB]

Did Rachi lose Stealth Rocks or something? o_O

Implemented Stealth Rock into a lead set. Thanks!

[PSN_Eevee]

Actually use the Pokemon, don't just copy from the smogon gen 4 analysis. Literally half of the sets that you listed are never used nowadays.

The only sets worth listing in fact are mostly ones that you don't have, namely offensive CM Jirachi and Specially Defensive Jirachi.

Jirachi@Leftovers
Timid | Serene Grace
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP

- Calm Mind
- Psycho Shock
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Grass Knot / Hidden Power [Fire/Ground]

This was reasonably common during suspect stage 2 (aka RAIN DANCE TIME), and has its merits, being able to take a couple of hits from Rankurusu and Dragons and such.

And

Jirachi@Leftovers
Calm | Serene Grace
252 HP / 220 SpD / 32 Spe

- Wish
- Thunder Wave
- U-Turn/Fire Punch
- Iron Head/Protect

Or something like that, also mention Ice Punch and Thunder in the other options for that set.

Remove both scarf sets (base 100 at +1 doesn't outspeed anything in this meta), consider removing SubCM (it's just not that good anymore, with its main coverage moves being resisted easily and ttar all over the place), and SubTWave (it was really only good in the Mence/Latias period of gen 4...might merit a mention, but generally inferior to specially defensive).

Use the Pokemon before writing an analysis on it. And by that I mean like, get to 1250 - 1300 cre on smogon with a team that uses it. Please.

[JB]

Actually use the Pokemon, don't just copy from the smogon gen 4 analysis. Literally half of the sets that you listed are never used nowadays.

The only sets worth listing in fact are mostly ones that you don't have, namely offensive CM Jirachi and Specially Defensive Jirachi.

Jirachi@Leftovers
Timid | Serene Grace
252 SpA / 252 Spe / 4 HP

- Calm Mind
- Psycho Shock
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Grass Knot / Hidden Power [Fire/Ground]

This was reasonably common during suspect stage 2 (aka RAIN DANCE TIME), and has its merits, being able to take a couple of hits from Rankurusu and Dragons and such.

And

Jirachi@Leftovers
Calm | Serene Grace
252 HP / 220 SpD / 32 Spe

- Wish
- Thunder Wave
- U-Turn/Fire Punch
- Iron Head/Protect

Or something like that, also mention Ice Punch and Thunder in the other options for that set.

Remove both scarf sets (base 100 at +1 doesn't outspeed anything in this meta), consider removing SubCM (it's just not that good anymore, with its main coverage moves being resisted easily and ttar all over the place), and SubTWave (it was really only good in the Mence/Latias period of gen 4...might merit a mention, but generally inferior to specially defensive).

Use the Pokemon before writing an analysis on it. And by that I mean like, get to 1250 - 1300 cre on smogon with a team that uses it. Please.

Removed and added sets you suggested. And I took the liberty of testing them for a while myself this morning. Thank you.

[MikeDecIsHere]

You neglected to mention Ice Punch or thunder in the other options for eevee's last set. Also please credit eevee on both sets that he listed.

As for content, I feel as though the set you named "Calm mind" should be remaned as Superachi 2.0 or something to that effect. Also please mention that Jirachi is 4x resistant to psycho shock.

For the mixed attacker, how much damage does a expert belt grass knot do to vaporeon? Im curious to see as I don't believe that it can 2HKO. Mention its used to hit swampert as well.