The Pokemon series boasts plenty of great Mythical and Legendary Pokemon, but few are quite as cool as Giratina. The terrifying Creation Pokemon is capable of tearing apart the very fabric of reality, creating devastating space-time rifts in the process. With this in mind, it's only natural that Pokemon Legends: Arceus players would want to catch Giratina for themselves.
Unfortunately for these players, Giratina is buried fairly deep within Pokemon Legends: Arceus' post-game content. Players will therefore need to find and catch numerous other Legendary Pokemon before they'll be able to encounter Giratina and must then overcome what many consider to be the toughest trainer battle in recent memory.
Updated May 20, 2022, by Tom Bowen: When compared to some of the game's other Mythical and Legendary Pokemon, catching Giratina in Pokemon Legends: Arceus is actually fairly straightforward. It's easy to find thanks to its fixed spawn and it doesn't have access to any healing moves, meaning that players can gradually whittle away its HP until it's low enough to be caught. What's not so simple, however, is coming up with a decent build for the Pokemon after catching it. In particular, trying to figure out the best nature for Giratina in Pokemon Legends: Arceus can be incredibly tricky as it can vary quite a bit depending on how players plan on using the Pokemon. As such, this guide has been updated to provide some additional information regarding the best options for nature.
How to Catch Giratina in Pokemon Legends: Arceus
Before players can catch Giratina, they'll first need to complete the main story and then beat Volo and Giratina in a trainer battle. This fight can be incredibly difficult for those who have thus far focused solely on catching Pokemon rather than training them, so a little bit of preparation may be required first.
After defeating Volo and Giratina, players will be able to unlock a special request by returning to Jubilife Village and speaking with Ress and Professor Laventon near the front gate. The pair will mention that Giratina has been spotted lurking around the Cobalt Coastlands region, which is where players will need to make their way next.
Upon their arrival, they should head towards the Spring Path area, which can be found in the northwestern region of the Cobalt Coastlands. Once there, they'll need to Climb the outer walls of the large mountain using Sneasler and then make their way down to the entrance of the Turnback Cave down below.
Unlike Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, in which players needed to solve a puzzle in order to find Giratina, Pokemon Legends: Arceus players will encounter the Creation Pokemon almost immediately after entering the cave. It's standing around directly in front of the entrance and will attack if players get too close.
When the battle begins, Giratina will be in its Origin Forme, so players should expect it to hit noticeably harder than it usually does. Even so, as with other Mythical and Legendary Pokemon in Legends: Arceus, catching it should be fairly simple providing players don't run out of Pokemon first. They should aim to lower its HP to around 20% and then start chucking Ultra Balls until it's caught.
How to Transform Giratina into Its Origin Forme
Upon being caught, Giratina will drop the Griseous Core, which can be used to transform the Pokemon into its Origin Forme. To do so, players simply need to find it in the Key Items pocket of their Satchel and then use it on Giratina. This will instantly trigger the transformation, which sees Giratina's Attack and Special Attack stats increase by 20 and its Defense and Special Defense stats falling by the same amount.
Stat | Giratina | Giratina (OF) |
|---|---|---|
HP | 150 | 150 |
Attack | 100 | 120 |
Defense | 120 | 100 |
SP. Attack | 100 | 120 |
SP. Defense | 120 | 100 |
Speed | 90 | 90 |
The Best Nature for Giratina in Pokemon Legends Arceus
Due to Giratina having multiple forms and its physical and special offensive and defensive stats being the same, players have a surprising amount of freedom when it comes to how they build their Giratina. It's an incredibly versatile Pokemon in that respect and one that can fulfill a variety of different roles on a player's team. Sadly, however, this versatility can make choosing a nature for Giratina rather tricky.
If players plan on using Giratina's Altered Forme more than its Origin Forme, they'll likely want to choose a nature that boosts one of its defensive stats. Given the Pokemon's immunity to Normal and Fighting-type moves (the best of which tend to be physical attacks) and its weakness to Ghost, Ice, Dragon, Dark, and Fairy-type moves (the best of which tend to be special attacks), many players opt to choose a nature that will boost Special Defense in these instances.
As Giratina's Speed is its lowest stat regardless of form, logic would suggest that choosing a Sassy (+ Special Defense - Speed) nature would be the best option for an Altered Forme Giratina. However, as players will likely be specializing in one type of attack over the other, there's an argument to be made for choosing a nature that sacrifices either Attack (Calm) or Special Attack (Careful) instead. Of course, which one is better will depend entirely on the player's offensive build and whether they skew more toward physical or special attacks.
When it comes to Ghost-type attacks, Shadow Force (physical) and Shadow Ball (special) are perhaps the two best options, while Outrage (physical) and Draco Meteor (special) are among the strongest options for Dragon-type coverage (even if both do come with their own slight drawbacks). Giratina also has access to attacks of various other types as well, including Normal, Psychic, and Fighting, so players should also take this (and the class that these attacks fall into) into account when deciding on a nature.
In the event that players plan on using their Giratina in its Origin Forme more than in its Altered Forme, they should instead be looking for a nature that will boost one of its offensive stats. Again though, which one they should boost will depend on the moves that they plan on teaching to their Giratina. Those who lean more towards physical attacks should choose a Brave (+ Attack - Speed) or an Adamant (+ Attack - Special Attack) nature, while special attackers will instead want to opt for either a Quiet (+ Special Attack - Speed) or a Modest (+ Special Attack - Attack) nature.
For players who plan on regularly switching between Giratina's two forms, things get quite a bit more complicated. The above recommendations for Altered Forme Giratina would technically still work, though some players may instead opt for a neutral nature (Hardy, Docile, Serious, Bashful, or Quirky) to avoid complications. Of course, it's also possible to change a Pokemon's nature on the fly using Nature Mints, though, depending on how often players plan on switching forms, this may not always be a viable option.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
