Giratina-Origin Duo Guide
Giratina-Origin is still the best overall Ghost-type attacker in the game. While its DPS falls short of Chandelure and Gengar, Giratina is much bulkier. With Psychic being the most-represented type in Legendary Raids, Giratina will only become more valuable. Furthermore, Giratina also has a signature Ghost-type move, Shadow Force. Even if you don't want to power up a Giratina now, its Candy will be invaluable in the future.
The Giratina-O duo is fairly demanding in terms of minimum requirements, but it's still one of the more reasonable duos to try and accomplish.
- Dragon Tail and Shadow Claw both receive STAB, but Dragon Tail hits Dragon-types much harder, and is therefore significantly more difficult to go against.
- Ominous Wind is boosted by STAB and can be spammed very frequently due to being a 3-Bar move; however, its low Base Power means that it is by far the easiest Charge Move to go against.
- Shadow Ball is boosted by STAB, has good neutral coverage, and hits very hard. Shadow Ball Giratina is a steep spike in difficulty compared to Ominous Wind.
- Dragon Pulse is boosted by STAB, comes out frequently due to being a 2-Bar move, and hits Dragons for super effective damage. This is, without a doubt, the most difficult Giratina-O Charge Move to go against. Against Dragon Pulse, you will need to relobby twice, and possibly a 3rd time with bad RNG.
- Windy boosts the power of your Dragon-type attacks, which makes the duo much easier.
- Snow boosts the power of your Ice-type attacks. Under Snow, Level 40 Mamoswine, Weavile, and Glaceon are capable of duoing against all movesets.
- Cloudy boosts the power of your Fairy-type attacks. With Cloudy, Level 40 Togekiss is capable of duoing against all movesets; Level 40 Gardevoir can duo against all movesets except Shadow Ball.
- Fog boosts the power of your Ghost- and Dark-type attacks. With Fog, Level 40 Giratina-O, Weavile, and Hydreigon are capable of duoing against all movesets; Level 40 Chandelure and Gengar can duo against all movesets except Shadow Ball. However, Fog in-game is extremely rare and essentially nonexistent.
Viable Counters
Minimum viable levels assume Best Friends, no Weather, no Dodging.
Italics indicate a Legacy move.
Ominous Wind is the 'easy mode' of Giratina-O. If you're short on resources, the barrier to entry for duoing Ominous Wind is significantly lower than it is for the other Charge Moves.
Shadow Ball is a significant step up in difficulty. Rayquaza is king; the more Rayquazas you have, the more leeway you will have with the timer.
Against Shadow Ball, you will likely need to relobby twice. Dodging Shadow Balls will allow you to avoid a second relobby while not lowering your DPS too much.
With no dodging, Salamence is the only duo-viable counter against Shadow Claw/Dragon Pulse.
Against Dragon Tail/Dragon Pulse, Level 40 Dialga and Rayquaza are also duo-viable - this is because Dragon Tail hits harder, which results in more energy gained, and therefore more Charge Moves used.
If you can consistently dodge Dragon Pulses, Level 40 Rayquaza, Palkia, Dialga, and Gengar become duo-viable. Level 40 Dragonite falls just a bit short of duo-viability, but one or two Dragonites can be slotted in if you have nothing better.