Jirachi

Steel/Psychic · Serene Grace · A tier · 100/100/100/100/100/100 — the Steel that hits back, a base-100 do-everything that flips between a Substitute flinch-lock and an all-out offensive Calm Mind sweeper, all behind a resist-stacked typing that lets it pivot into half the metagame.

Typing & role

Jirachi’s stat line is the flattest in the format — 100 across the board — and its Steel/Psychic typing is one of the best defensive shells in ADV. Run the multipliers and the resist sheet is absurd: it takes Normal, Ice, Steel, Grass, Flying, and Dragon at 0.5x, Psychic at 0.25x, is immune to Poison (Poison does 0 to Steel), and is hit neutrally by the Dark moves that everyone reaches for — Crunch and Pursuit land at exactly 1x because Steel’s 0.5x and Psychic’s 2x against Dark cancel out (Ghost is the same story: 0.5x × 2x = neutral, so Shadow Ball does not get the Steel resist here). The only weaknesses are Ground (2x) and Fire (2x). That shell is why it earns its A ranking: it walks into Tyranitar’s Rock Slide (Rock is 0.5x on Steel/Psychic), eats neutral Crunch, blanks Skarmory and Forretress, and pivots into special attackers all day.

For aggressive offense, Jirachi wears three hats from one species: a Substitute + Calm Mind special wincon that abuses Serene Grace flinch chains, an all-out Offensive Calm Mind sweeper (max Speed, max Special Attack) that boosts straight through the bulky-water tier, and a flexible base-100 glue piece that speed-ties the crowded Salamence/Celebi tier and bodies the field with its typing. The site renders Jirachi’s full TypeProfile widget above — use it to sanity-check the resist list as you read.

Mechanics note — Serene Grace. Jirachi’s ability doubles every secondary effect chance. Thunderbolt paralyzes 20% of the time, not 10%; Ice Punch freezes 20%, not 10%; and Body Slam (when run) paralyzes 60%, not 30%. That doubling is the spine of the Calm Mind sets: behind a Substitute, a flinch-or-status secondary on every attack turns the math into a genuine “flinch you to death” win condition, while the all-out CM set drops paralysis chip on the bulky walls it boosts against. Paralysis cuts Speed to 1/4 in Gen 3, so a paralyzed wall is now slower than your whole team.

Why it matters to aggressive offense

Aggressive offense lives and dies on breaking the SkarmBliss / Tyranitar / Snorlax backbone and then cleaning. Jirachi contributes to both phases:

• It pivots in for free. Against the special side of stall (Suicune, Starmie, Zapdos, Blissey’s Seismic Toss) Jirachi’s typing means it loses almost nothing on the switch, so it generates momentum rather than spending it. A mon that comes in clean, threatens, and is hard to punish is exactly the tempo engine offense wants.
• Calm Mind Jirachi + Dugtrio is a break package. Jirachi’s natural answers to a boosting special set — Blissey, Snorlax, opposing Steels — are mons Dugtrio can trap and delete, clearing the path before Jirachi sets up. You force the switch to the check, Arena-Trap the check off the field, then let Jirachi snowball. That is the whole ADV “trap-and-break” pattern in one core (see common cores).
• Sub + CM is a self-sufficient wincon. Behind a Sub, +1 Calm Mind, and Serene Grace, Jirachi pressures the slower defensive teams that out-grind your other breakers. It does not need the rest of the team to function — it makes its own win.
• It’s a glue piece offense can afford. Base-100 Speed ties the most-contested speed tier in the game; the typing covers Ice-, Dragon-, and Rock-weak teammates; and Wish support (Jirachi learns Wish) keeps your frail breakers alive between trades, all without giving the opponent a free turn.

Key sets (Gen-3-legal)

Substitute + Calm Mind — the special wincon

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Modest Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 80 SpA / 136 Spe
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt

The premier offense set, run with the canonical bulky-but-fast Sub/CM spread: 252 HP feeds the Substitutes, 136 Speed creeps the slower defensive tier, and 80 Special Attack plus Modest gives the boosted hits real teeth without dropping to a glass spread. Substitute on a forced switch, Calm Mind as they bring in a special wall, and now you out-bulk and out-power most of what tries to stop you. Psychic is STAB that 2x’s Gengar (Ghost/Poison) and Heracross (Bug/Fighting); Thunderbolt is the coverage that matters — it hits Suicune and Starmie (both 2x for the Water typing), threatens 4x on Gyarados (Water/Flying), and 2x’s Skarmory (Steel/Flying, where Psychic only does 0.5x). Behind a Sub, every Calm Mind makes Blissey’s Seismic Toss and the chip from a missed status irrelevant, and the only mons that break the Sub reliably also fear the boosted return fire. The canonical set lists Ice Punch over Psychic and Fire Punch over Thunderbolt as the other slots — the Thunderbolt line is the one that beats bulky Waters and Skarmory, so it’s the aggressive pick here.

Offensive Calm Mind (“Superachi”) — the all-out sweeper

Jirachi @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Modest Nature
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Fire Punch
- Thunderbolt

The maximum-investment Calm Mind sweeper — the “Superachi” line. No Substitute, no Wish: just 252/252 in Special Attack and Speed with a Modest nature, so it boosts straight through the field and outpaces the unboosted base-100 tier the moment it gets a Calm Mind off. Psychic is the STAB that 2בs Gengar and Heracross; Fire Punch is the dedicated Steel-breaker — it 2בs Skarmory and opposing Metagross/Jirachi and 4בs Forretress (all Steel), the mons that would otherwise wall the special STAB; Thunderbolt covers the bulky Waters and 4בs Gyarados. With Serene Grace the secondaries (20% para off Thunderbolt, 20% freeze off Ice Punch if you run it) double, so even the attacks Jirachi spams while boosting can cripple a wall on the way through. The canonical Superachi set lists Ice Punch and Hidden Power Grass as the alternative coverage slots; Fire Punch + Thunderbolt is the line that punches the Steel/Water core offense most wants gone.

This is the most aggressive of Jirachi’s real sets — it asks the team to clear its checks (Blissey, Snorlax, opposing Steels via Dugtrio) and then snowballs once it gets a free turn, rather than grinding behind a Substitute.

How aggressive offense uses it

As the Superachi sweeper: lead or pivot Jirachi into a forced switch, grab a Calm Mind on the passive turn, and make the opponent choose: stay in and eat a boosted Psychic/Thunderbolt, or bring the Steel that walls the STAB — at which point Fire Punch is already covering it and Dugtrio can trap-and-EQ the heavier Steels (Metagross, opposing Jirachi all eat 2x from Dug’s Earthquake). Fire Punch is the lever for the bulky Steel/Water core: with the team clearing Blissey, the all-out spread out-powers the field on a turn the opponent thought was safe. This is the trap-and-break engine — see building aggressive offense.

As the Sub + CM wincon: save it for the back half. Once the opponent’s Dugtrio is gone and their faster threats are weakened, Jirachi sets up on the first passive turn, Subs on the switch, and Calm Minds into a sweep. Thunderbolt keeps it from being walled by bulky Waters; Serene Grace + a paralyzed field means even the things that should outspeed it are now at 1/4 Speed. It is the cleaner that closes games your breakers softened up.

As glue: even when it’s not the star, base-100 Speed lets it speed-tie Salamence and outpace the bulky Tyranitar/Snorlax/Suicune backbone, the typing sponges Ice Beams and Rock Slides aimed at your frailer mons, and Wish patches the longevity offense usually lacks. It asks for very little and gives the team a Steel that actually threatens back.

Counters & checks

Jirachi is resilient but not unkillable — the answers split by set.

The throughline: trap it or out-grind it. Magneton and Dugtrio remove it by negating its switch; Blissey out-stalls the special set; everything else trades rather than walls because the typing is just that sturdy. When you’re on the building side, that’s the lesson — don’t expect to wall Jirachi, plan to trap it (and protect your own Jirachi from the same Magneton/Dugtrio package). See the viability tiers for where it sits and Magneton for the trapper that defines the matchup.