Jirachi in SoulGold: Wishmaker plus Serene Grace

Jirachi is the most annoying thing I put on a SoulGold team. At level 75 it starts casting Wish on itself every time it comes in, and Serene Grace makes its Iron Head flinch far more often than it should. You switch it in, it heals, it flinches you, you switch it out, and it does it all again.

Why it’s broken

Wishmaker casts Wish for Jirachi the moment it enters battle. Wish heals half of Jirachi’s max HP at the end of the next turn, and it only fires if there isn’t already a Wish waiting. Every switch-in is a free Wish, so pivoting Jirachi in and out turns into a healing loop.

Serene Grace raises the chance of a move’s added effect. On Jirachi that means more Iron Head and Zen Headbutt flinches and more Body Slam paralysis. Jirachi has 100 base Speed, and a flinch only lands when you move first, so Speed is what makes the whole thing work.

Jirachi’s ability and innate ladder:

• Ability: Serene Grace (works at any level)
• Lv 75: Wishmaker. Casts Wish for itself on entry.
• Lv 85: Friend Guard. Protects your partner in doubles.
• Lv 95: Steadfast.

Jirachi is Steel/Psychic with 100 in every stat, for a 600 total. That’s bulky enough to sit in and wait for the Wish to land.

The set

Move	Why
Iron Head	Steel STAB and the main flinch move. Tutor.
Zen Headbutt	Psychic STAB and a second flinch move. Lv 28, or tutor.
Body Slam	Serene Grace paralysis. Paralyzed targets are slower, so you keep moving first. Tutor.
U-turn	Pivots out and lets you bring Jirachi back in for another free Wish. TM89, the Azalea Town Gym gift.

How I play it:

1. Lead with Jirachi, or bring it in on a hit it resists. Wishmaker fires as it lands.
2. Attack that turn with Iron Head. The Wish heals Jirachi at the end of the next turn.
3. Keep hitting while the flinches roll your way.
4. When it gets low, or something faster shows up, U-turn out.
5. Bring it back in later for a fresh Wish and start again.

In doubles, a Fake Out partner next to Jirachi gives the Wish a quiet turn to land. Friend Guard at 85 pays that partner back.

All three tutor moves come from the top-right house in Olivine City. Pay 44,444 once and you can teach tutor moves from the summary screen after that.

If you’d rather sit in and boost, Calm Mind (TM04, an item ball in the Goldenrod Underground Storage) goes in over Body Slam. Play Rough (TM98, Rinto Village Mart) is the other coverage option. The elemental punches are TMs here, not tutor moves. Fire Punch (TM69), Thunder Punch (TM63) and Ice Punch (TM100) are all sold at the Goldenrod Department Store 5F. Fire Punch is the one I’d take, for Steel types. Meteor Mash (Lv 49) is the other Steel hit. It can’t flinch, but Serene Grace doubles its chance to raise your Attack. Doom Desire only comes at level 98, so I never bothered with it.

Item: Leftovers. It’s in an item ball in the Goldenrod Underground Storage, and it stacks with Wish so Jirachi barely drops. I lost count of the times a Title Defense challenger chipped Jirachi to half and watched it come back full two turns later.

Nature and EVs: I use Jolly with 252 Attack and 252 Speed. Flinches only work if you move first, so the Speed matters more than bulk here. Mints are sold at the beach café by Olivine, a house on Route 40.

Where to get Jirachi

Jirachi is a gift egg at the Mt. Silver Summit. It isn’t wild anywhere.

1. Finish the rival’s story at Mt. Silver.
2. Go to the Mt. Silver Summit and take the gift egg.
3. Hatch it, mint it, and start feeding it Exp.

Getting Jirachi earns the “Wish on a Star” trophy. I hatched mine the same evening I finished the rival story and had it on the team the next day.

When Jirachi comes online

Wishmaker turns on at level 75. Serene Grace is its normal ability, so the flinch half of the set works from the moment it hatches. The story caps you at 70 until you’re Champion, so the Wish loop is postgame.

Every innate is on at any level in the Battle Tower, Factory, Pyramid and Café challenges. Jirachi is on the Classic ban list, though, so it can’t come into Classic mode at level 50. Chaos mode lets anything in and scales your party to level 100, so Jirachi has the full ladder there.

Title Defense and the Elite Four rematches are level 85. Get Jirachi to 85 before you go, so Friend Guard is on too. On Hard those fights are doubles, and Friend Guard helps whatever is standing next to it.

What beats Jirachi

• Fire and Ground types. Steel/Psychic is weak to both. A strong Earthquake or Fire Blast goes through the Wish heal faster than it lands.
• Ghost and Dark types. Also super effective, and Dark types don’t care about Zen Headbutt.
• Faster ‘mons. If they move first, you can’t flinch them. Anything over 100 base Speed, or anything with a Choice Scarf, takes away half the set.
• Flinch blockers. Inner Focus and the Indomitable innate both stop flinching, so Iron Head is just a hit against them.

When I saw a Fire type on the other side, I switched Jirachi out and saved it for later. Next, find it a partner that likes the heal in my best innate combos, and check the rest of the legends on the legendary list.