Jellicent (QC 2/3, writing)

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pancake

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qc 2/3: blast, earth

[OVERVIEW]

Jellicent's good bulk, typing and ability allow it to act as a great check to Water-, Fighting-, Fire-, and Normal-types, including Emboar, Hitmonlee, and Slowbro. It also allows it to act as a potent spinblocker. This good natural bulk allows it to invest in Physical Defense to take on physical attackers while still having a good matchup against special attackers. Its access to reliable recovery and Will-O-Wisp further increases its effectiveness as a wall, while Taunt allows it to stallbreak and prevent slower Pokemon such as Steelix from getting up Stealth Rock. However, it faces major competition from other Water-types in the tier, mainly Slowbro but also Vaporeon, Slowking and Seismitoad. These Pokemon have access to Calm Mind, Stealth Rock, or Wish, or better abilities, making them better choices than Jellicent a fair amount of the time. Finally, Jellicent is also easily exploitable by the plethora of popular Grass-types in the tier, such as Sceptile, Rotom-C, Virizion, and Whimsicott.

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Hex / Scald
move 2: Taunt
move 3: Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Recover
item: Colbur Berry / Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Bold
evs: 248 HP / 216 Def / 44 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hex is a decent STAB move that synergizes with Will-O-Wisp and allows Jellicent to hit Slowbro and Hitmonlee for the most damage possible. Scald can be used over Hex as its burn chance threatens a wide variety of physical attackers, but generally hits less of what Jellicent is supposed to check. Taunt hinders Pokemon that are reliant on their utility movepools, namely Stealth Rock setters like Steelix and Uxie as well as other support Pokemon like Defensive Mega Audino and Vaporeon. Will-O-Wisp boosts the power of Hex while crippling physical attackers and working with Taunt to break bulkier Pokemon. Recover allows Jellicent to check what it is supposed to check throughout the battle.

Set Details
========
Colbur Berry is the preferred item as it gives Jellicent a better matchup against Hitmonlee and Sneasel, both of which it can then cripple with Will-O-Wisp or weaken with its STAB move. Leftovers can be used as it puts less pressure on Jellicent to use Recover by giving it a passive form of recovery. 44 Speed allows Jellicent to outspeed Vaporeon, allowing it to use Taunt preventing Vaporeon from using Wish. The rest of the EVs go into maximizing its physical bulk. Water Absorb makes Jellicent an even more reliable check to bulky Water-types like Slowbro and Vaporeon, as it is immune to burns from Scald.

Usage Tips
========
Use Taunt if you predict a utility move or a setup move, i.e. Stealth Rock from Steelix, Calm Mind from Slowbro, or Wish from Vaporeon. Combined with Will-O-Wisp, Taunt can be used to wear down bulkier teams. Switch into Pokemon that Jellicent checks, such as Hitmonlee, Emboar and Slowbro, in order to reduce the pressure on its teammates and weaken the opposing Pokemon with Will-O-Wisp, Hex or Scald. Even though this set is fully invested in Physical Defense, keep in mind that Jellicent's good special bulk will let it take almost all neutral special attacks in a pinch. Typically, it is better to burn the opponent with Will-O-Wisp before using Hex, as that in the longterm will result in more damage. Meanwhile, if using Scald, it is important to decide whether a reliable burn or damage is more important against the target. Against many physical attackers, using Will-O-Wisp will be the right choice, but against many bulkier Pokemon Scald is preferred.

Team Options
========
Jellicent fits best on more balanced teams that appreciate its ability to switch into threats like Emboar and Hitmonlee. Grass-types like Rotom-C, Sceptile and Virizion can take advantage of Jellicent easily, so good switch-ins to them like Golbat and Vileplume make good teammates. Jellicent also acts as a very good check to both opposing Water-types and Fighting-types. As a result, Pokemon like Steelix, Rhydon, Sneasel and Emboar make good partners for it. Jellicent makes a decent spinblocker because it beats the most common Rapid Spin user, Hitmonlee. As a result, Spikes and Toxic Spikes users like Garbodor, Omastar and Qwilfish make good teammates. Toxic Spikes support also useful as it powers up Hex, making it especially useful.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Toxic is a decent option over Will-O-Wisp, especially if Scald is being used, as it improves Jellicent's matchup against opposing Water-types and other bulky Pokemon like Uxie. A Specially Defensive EV spread could be used to better take on Pokemon like Delphox and Vanilluxe, but the given EV spread helps take on more relevant threats. A Choice Specs set could be used on a very offensive team as a spinblocker. Water Spout and Trick give bulkier Pokemon some trouble, but this set still remains very niche.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Grass-types**: Sceptile, Rotom-C, Whimsicott, Virizion, and Lilligant can threaten jellicent with their powerful STAB attacks and Jellicent can do minimal damage back to them. Virizion and physical Sceptile sets don't like burns from Will-O-Wisp or Scald, though.

**Super-Effective Moves**: Pokemon like Vikavolt, Vanilluxe, and Guts Hariyama all have access to powerful super effective moves to take on Jellicent easily; none of them are crippled by Will-O-Wisp, either.

**Residual Damage**: Colbur Berry sets especially have to watch out for Toxic and even Will-O-Wisp, as Jellicent can be worn down fairly easily despite its access to reliable recovery. Spikes and Stealth Rock also can be used to easily pressure Jellicent offensively and wear it down.

**Dark-types and Pursuit**: Guzzlord is the best check to Jellicent, as it does not care about any of its moves and can retaliate with a super-effective Dark Pulse. Sneasel, Houndoom, Malamar, and Alolan Raticate can all OHKO Jellicent if it not holding a Colbur Berry. However, they do have to watch out for Colbur Berry sets or they risk getting burned or weakened majorly by Scald.
 
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Blast

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Mention in the Overview that a big niche of Jellicent's is its ability to spinblock

You mention Aromatisse as a Taunt target in Moves but Aroma Veil makes it immune to Taunt

Also some of your usage tips are kinda weird. You say "sometimes" it's better to just Hex an unstatused switchin but burning them almost always causes more longterm chip damage than a weak Hex. And in the point about Scald you say there's generally no drawbacks to clicking Scald but you do have to weigh the pros and cons of a reliable burn vs damage + an unreliable burn

C&C could use some expanding too, Jellicent has a lot of weaknesses. Add another section for super effective moves (Grasses can stay separate since they resist Scald) and replace status with residual damage. Jellicent's pretty prone to being worn down by hazards and strong neutral attacks.

QC 1/3 once that's done
 
not qc so don't bother editing my suggestions until a qc member says so, but here are my 2 cents since i think the analysis is kinda outdated.

overview:
  • you say that jelli can check "Water-, Fighting-, Fire-, and Normal-types", but i think you should mention examples of pokemon it does check, instead of just the types
moves:
  • mention that taunt also helps against defensive mega audino sets
  • remove machamp
set details:
  • remove machamp
  • i really don't know if you should keep houndoom there b/c it doesn't exactly help jelli that much, and some variants run unnerve these days to not get blocked by colbur berries, so that's probably not worth mentioning at all, imo.
oo:
  • i don't think that wacan / rindo are viable alternatives at all. colbur and lefties are pretty much the only items i would ever consider running for jellicent, as you're not gonna do much back to anything that's gonna hit you with an electric / grass attack in the tier rn.
c&c:
  • remove mentions of drapion and machamp.
  • you should definitely talk about guzzlord somewhere. it became pretty popular lately and jelli struggles a lot against it.
 
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etern

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Overview:
  • I'd mention that Jellicent is much more susceptible to Dark-types, particularly Sneasel, Absol, and Raticate-A, as opposed to most other bulky Water-types.
Set Details:
  • The most important part about Taunting Vaporeon is stopping it from crippling you with Toxic.
Checks & Counters:
  • Remove Physical Sceptile, Mixed is the only relevant set.
  • Add a section for Ghost-types, and talk about Mismagius, Haunter, Rotom-N, and Spiritomb (Special set, not Physical)
QC 3/3, good.
 
^In addition to the above, I would note that Jellicent is a really solid Klinklang check as well, because it counters Steelium Z variants and Electrium Z isn't as widespread or as effective.
 
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