This page includes strategies for fighting Wielder Volo and Giratina in Pokémon Legends Arceus (PLA).

You will fight Volo at the Temple of Sinnoh at the end of the postgame mission, “Seeking the Remaining Plates”.

Pokémon Wielder Volo¶

Those who played Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum may recognize his team. It’s exactly the same as the Champion’s, but with Milotic swapped for Hisuian Arcanine. Needless to say, you can treat Volo as this game’s Champion.

First up is Spiritomb. It can use STAB Dark Pulse and Shadow Ball, Extrasensory just in case, and Hypnosis to cause drowsiness. Only Fairy-types are super-effective and we highly recommend bringing one. Togekiss and Clefable are great choices. Use Calm Mind to buff your stats, Baby-Doll Eyes to weaken your foe and Draining Kiss to siphon HP.

Next can be Roserade, especially if you sent out a Fairy. This one can use STAB Petal Dance and Poison Jab, plus Spikes to inflict residual damage. Fire, Flying, Ice and Psychic-types can handle it easily. If your Fairy-type used Calm Mind, they may survive one hit; you can then counter with Mystical Fire or Flamethrower etc.

When fighting Togekiss, expect STAB Moonblast and Air Slash, Extrasensory yet again, and Calm Mind to raise its offensive and defensive stats. Steel-types are highly recommended. Poison, Rock, Ice and Electric are fine too. You’ll definitely want to nail it with super-effective moves or it’ll be hard to punch through when it uses Calm Mind. Heatran will laugh at Togekiss’s face.

Hisuian Arcanine can use STAB Raging Fury and Rock Slide, plus Crunch for coverage. After using Raging Fury, the next Raging Fury will deal more damage, but Arcanine will receive more damage from your attacks. In any case, Water or Ground-types are ideal, since they deal quadruple damage.

Lucario is a tough cookie to crack. It can use Close Combat (massive damage, but lowers Lucario’s defensive stats), Bullet Punch (faster turn order), Crunch (may lower your defensive stats) and Bulk Up (raises offensive and defensive stats). Fire, Fighting or Ground-types are strongly recommended. Otherwise you may struggle when Lucario uses Bulk Up.

Last but not least (although Volo can, of course, send it out earlier) is Garchomp. This monster can use STAB Dragon Claw and Earth Power, Slash, plus Iron Head to wrangle Fairy and Ice-types. Volo’s Garchomp is much less scary than the original though. Due to the turn order system, you’ll always get a chance to attack; it won’t outspeed and KO all your Pokémon. Ice-types are king. But strong Fairy or Dragon-types can steal a win.

Giratina, the Renegade Pokémon¶

Volo’s trump card is Giratina, the third Legendary dragon. This fearsome foe can use Shadow Force (strong and makes Giratina obscured, lowering your accuracy), Dragon Claw (STAB), Aura Sphere (to punish Dark-types) and Earth Power (to whack Steel-types etc.).

Tempting as it may be, it’s risky using your own Legendary dragons. Dialga is weak to Earth Power and Aura Sphere, while Palkia is weak to Dragon Claw. If you have them ready and waiting as back up, that’s fine. Just try not to rely on them heavily.

Instead, the safest way to take on Giratina is by fielding a bulky Fairy-type. This will prevent Giratina using Dragon Claw, but your Fairy will constantly get barraged with Shadow Force. If you’re patient, Shadow Force only has 5 PP, so you can stall out Giratina by spamming Max Potions. If it’s safe, you can use Calm Mind and Baby-Doll Eyes to reduce the damage you take.

Although it may be slightly boring, stalling Giratina will also reduce the risk factor of missing Giratina because it’s obscured. In addition to wasting Shadow Force’s PP, you can also wait until Giratina’s obscured status is gone, before attacking. Or if you have access to Dragon Pulse (never misses), you can safely use that.

After Giratina transforms into its Origin Form, the battle is more of the same. However, Giratina’s PP will be renewed. So you may have to stall out Shadow Force once again. Also, Origin Giratina has higher Attack, so Shadow Force will hurt slightly more.

There’s another interesting option you could use. Because of its unique typing, Hisuian Zoroark is immune to Shadow Force and Aura Sphere. However, it has poor defensive stats, so it’ll likely take heavy damage from Dragon Claw. That said, if your lead Pokémon faints, you can safely switch in Zoroark, then use Snarl to weaken Giratina’s offensive stats and go from there.