GamePress

Any hope for Jirachi?

Well, we finally have our steel-type super-star in Metagross. In one four hour window, it went from a horrible disappointment to possibly the strongest thing that we've gotten out of gen 3 thus far, barring Rayquaza. But amid the fanfair being put on for this juggernaut, be it positive or negative, I am a bit haunted by how this monster has changed the fate of my favorite mythic: Jirachi.

Before Meteor Mash made us all go "What was Niantic thinking?!", Jirachi's Doom Desire was hailed as "stupidly strong". But what of it now? 80 damage at 3.1 second total duration VS 100 damage at 3.9 seconds doesn't seem that worth it by comparison, not to mention Metagross's (albeit lackluster) same-typed quick move, and its titanic stats! The literal only advantage that I can see on Jirachi is its faster move time and its access to Confusion, but even then only a few 'mons in the future will have a weakness to both Psychic and Steel, and among those I can only think of Terrakion and Nihilego as potentially important

So tell me: do you think that Niantic just doomed Jirachi to the same realative obscurity as Celebi? And what could change its apparent fate? Would adding a steel fast move in place of charge beam (which seems fairly ubiquitous as an "insert new move here" option) make it viable? Is there any hope for fanboys such as myself that just like the wish pokemon? =P

Asked by Raven86 years 5 months ago

Report

Answers

Probably not. Jirachi was going to be the best steel type only because Doom Desire is powerful and Metagross and Dialga had crappy moves. Meteor Mash went above and beyond expectations, so even if doom desire is “stupidly strong”, meteor mash is just ridiculous.

Jirachi, like Mew and Celebi, probably won’t be meta changing, but it could at least be decent. Charge beam is quick, and confusion is a good fast move. If it had a steel type fast move or a fairy type fast move (ugh), then it’d be even better.

If you don’t have 6 Meteor Mash Metagross then Jirachi could definitely be an addition to your steel team. Personally I like variation on my teams, so even though I have 6 Metagross now, I’d probably include a Jirachi, Dialga, and maybe Scizor (just cause I like it), unless I’m really desperate for premier balls.

Jirachi is steel/psychic, not steel/fairy.

Might be good if you want to make a 6 unique steel type team.

Scizor Metagross Dialga Heatran Jirachi Aggron or something like that against enemies weak to steel.

Did they ever say that Meteor Mash was going to be Metagross exclusive? If they didn't then the answer is simple. Jirachi could get Meteor Mash. While it seems like a Beldum family exclusive move in the main series other pokemon (though very few) could learn it as well like Clefable and and Riolu(egg move). Sure it's lame that the signature move won't as good but hey at least Jirachi could be really good.

Jirachi can't learn Meteor Mash in the main games, so it can't learn it in POGO.

False. Poliwrath doesn't learn Bubble in the main series, but it does in Pokémon GO.

It can learn it by prior evolution in the main series. Rare that they do moves like that, but it's still in the possible learnset. All the examples of mons learning moves they truly can't in the main series that I know of were made legacy in 2016 or before release (DT Kyogre).

Meteor Mash Jirachi was event-exclusive in main games (Gen 5 and 6).

Oh, couldn't see that in bulbapedia. I guess there's a small chance then.

Personally I always check Smogon when I can't remember if something learns a particular move. Every move a Pokemon can learn is listed, from level ups to previous evo's to move tutors to event exclusives.