GameFreak’s latest Pokémon title, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, holds a variety of legends for the player to discover and solve. One of those legends include that of the Renegade Pokémon Giratina. The process of catching Giratina can be very challenging for casual players, since it calls for dedication.
If you’re interested in completing your collection of the Creation Trio, this guide will help you out. There will be main-game and post-game spoilers ahead, so continue at your own discretion.
Complete The Main Story
The first thing you’ll need to do before catching Giratina (and most of the Legendary Pokémon in the game) is complete the main story. This is done by catching both Dialga and Palkia, then beginning the end credits. After you’re done with that, you’ll start the game back in Jubilife Village. From here:
- Meet up in the Survey Corps office to discuss completing the Pokédex.
- Travel to the Heights Camp in the Obsidian Fieldlands to meet with Volo. He comes across some hieroglyphs telling a story about a traveler who searched for all of the fragments of the all-encompassing deity, Arceus. These fragments are the plates you’ve been collecting throughout the game.
- Your next task is to collect all of the remaining plates.
- Acquire the Stone Plate from defeating the Alpha Vespiquen at Grueling Grove
- Visit Cogita at her Ancient Retreat to find the remaining plates.
Complete Cogita’s Quests
You and Volo meet with Cogita at her Ancient Retreat. She tells you of more “tremendous Pokémon” and mysteries in Hisui. These Pokémon are the previously mentioned Lake Trio (Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf), Heatran, Cresselia, and Regigigas.
- Seek out and catch these six legendary Pokémon.
- Be mindful of the mission order–you’ll need to have acquired certain plates (Stone, Icicle, and Iron) to be able to catch Regigigas.
- Return to where your journey first began and face Kamado once more in battle.
After you’ve completed all of the quests, you’ll get one more plate from Cogita (that she was hilariously using as a cutting board) after helping her out.
Battles on Mount Coronet
- Head to Celestica Ruins with Volo to find more clues.
- After finding a ruined statue, Volo will tell you of Giratina, who was banished by Arceus to the reverse side of your world. Volo wants to use Giratina’s hatred toward Arceus to draw it out at the Temple of Sinnoh at the top of Mount Coronet.
Upon arriving at the Temple of Sinnoh, Volo reveals his true motive. He is obsessed with meeting Arceus himself. In an effort to make this happen, he sought out Giratina and had it open up the rift that was in the sky (the very rift that you fell out of at the beginning of the game). When this failed, he used you to gather the plates that were said to be the deity’s fragments. It’s after he tells you all this that he reveals two things: he has the final plate you need, and he plans on using them all himself, even if it has to be by force.
Defeating Volo
Volo uses an oddly familiar team of Pokémon: Spiritomb, Togekiss, Lucario, Garchomp, Roserade, and Arcanine. It’s a very strong team that demands a strong team in return, with great type coverage and strategic use of the Strong Style and Agile Style mechanic.
- Using some of the Legendary Pokémon will make it a bit easier for you, especially Cresselia since she has high defensive stats and the ability to heal and increase evasiveness with Lunar Blessing.
- Stack up on items like Revives and Full Restores just in case things go south quickly (which it most definitely will for your first time).
- Try to heal up your team before defeating Volo (more on that in the next section).
If you keep these tips in mind, you should be able to make it past Volo’s team. However, defeating him is only half the battle.
Meet Giratina In Battle
After you defeat Volo, Giratina will appear to stand against you and your team at Lv. 70. It’ll be powered up by its “terrible might,” which will increase all of its stats and make it more resistant to status conditions and move effects. To make matters worse, your team will be in the same state that it was in at the end of the battle against Volo; their HP, status and PP will not be fully restored.
- Make sure you heal up your team during the battle with Volo when you have the opportunity. Unless you have a Pokémon that can withstand Giratina’s attacks, you’ll consistently be on the backfoot the entire battle if you don’t do this.
- If you manage to defeat Giratina despite all this, it’ll take one final stand in its Origin Forme, even stronger than before and completely healed.
- This makes this fight on Mount Coronet a three-phase battle, and one of the hardest battles in the history of Pokémon.
When you defeat Giratina, it’ll fly off to an unknown location, forcing Volo to surrender the last plate to you. This will put you in possession of all the plates, which will transform your flute and allow you to meet Arceus (after you seek out all Pokémon).
- Return to Jubilife Village.
- Professor Laventon and Ress will tell you about a huge shadow that had been cast over the Cobalt Coastlands.
- Laventon sends you on a mission to find Giratina.
Find Giratina In Turnback Cave
When you get to Cobalt Coastlands, travel to Turnback Cave. It’ll be the cave located at the top left region of the map, right above where Spring Path is marked. When you enter the cave, Giratina will menacingly stand before you in its Origin Forme. When you walk up to it, a Pokémon battle will begin. You can catch it like you would any other Pokémon at this point. When you succeed, you will obtain the Griseous Core, which allows Giratina to change between its Origin Forme and Altered Forme.
When you finish, all that’s left to do is report to Laventon at a base camp. He’ll tell you that he and Volo talked a bit more and that Giratina chose to protect the region when it lost to you. With that, the mission will officially be complete. Now you’re free to catch any remaining Pokémon and complete the Pokédex in any order you wish!
