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Im gonna take over Matchmaking for this week for PTF. Cant replicate his wonderful aesthetic posts but both of us appreciate the support provided by everyone who keeps on posting and voting!
Without further ado wanna congratulate uhuhuhu7 for winning with his Stoutland submission! Great offensive synergy provided by these two that players keep coming back to! Also gz to jonago for achieving runner up with Aurorus, another great pair of offensive mons that are able to support each other nicely!
Week 3!
Jellicent has had a wild ride when it comes to its viability during the year. After the Specs sets became less relevant it would take on more of a defensive role with a great amount of utility. To this day that’s what it does best and its ability to check many physical threats, function as a spin blocker and utility options makes this mon incredibly relevant in the sphere of PU, but which is the partner that’s gonna help it excel in its qualities? ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ
Double points this week for winner and runner up! Good luck and thank you for supporting our project!
This week is double points as my dear friend Kelly mentioned so whoever wins this week could potentially see themselves at the top of the leaderboard with 4 points! Good luck.
Roselia is an excellent partner for Jellicent because Roselia first of all can absorb T-Spikes and can in return set Spikes itself to wear down the opposing team in the long run.
Roselia can also help when a Toxic gets predicted and can just switch into the Toxic as its good typing allows it to be immune to Toxic.
The good synergy goes even further because Roselia can counter mons for Jellicent which Jellicent doesn't like to face, such as Lanturn and Victreebel. Roselia can also help against Ludicolo with its good
typing and bulk with its Eviolite. Also Roselia can take care of Tangela which recently rises up in usage as it is a good check to physical attackers, but Tangela is threatening enough for Jellicent so Roselia can act against Tangela.
Furthermore Roselia can use T-Spikes instead of Spikes if you want to power up Jellicents hex and instantly want to cripple down the opposing team faster.
In Return Jellicent can act as a Spin-Blocker so the Hazards will stay on the battlefield throughout the entire game and Jellicent can also help to check fire-type pokémon for Roselia, which Roselia has trouble with.
Jellicent can also help against Qwilfish because Jellicent is immune to its strong Water STABs with its good ability in Water Absorb and furthermore its strong Poison STABs is getting resistet as well.Jellicent can also help keeping Alola-Sandlash at bay.
The Hellyfish can also help against Dodrio and can threaten it with its Scald-burns and Dodrio - especiellay when Choice Item locked - has trouble bypassing this core as
Jump Kick and its Normal STABs won't do anything to Jellicent.
In Overall Roselia and Jellicent build a nice bulky core, which cover up each others weaknesses very well and can synergize in a multitude of ways
such as Roselia spreading out the hazards and Jellicent spin-blocks so these Hazards have a chance to stay up on the field.
This week, I try a pretty similar core to my last submission with a partner, that helps out with an archetype the main Pokemon struggles dealing with - and like last week, this Jellicent has problems with offensive builds. Also, this Pokemon offers a sweet defensive typing that I can abuse with this submission. But let's go in detail!
@ Choice Specs / Water Absorb
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe / Modest
- Water Spout
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
For the Jellicent, I want it to be the offensive Choice Specs set. It nukes everything that is physically defensive basically, so the partner preferebly lures in such physically defensive Pokemon! In addition, it should, if possible, get rid of most of Specs Jellicent's checks - namely Roselia, Audino or Lanturn. Fortunately, the trend nowadays is that many decide not to run such Water resists. People prefer to run Eelektross or Hitmonchan which do not like taking Specs Water Spouts or Hydros. Eitherway, it would be nice if the partner hits those as well.
The set itself isn't special. I want to point out the importance of Trick however. Jellicent's partner will have some issues dealing with Pokemon like Audino or Articuno, so tricking them a Choice Specs can help immensely when trying to break with these two!
The second part of this core is Silk Scarf Kangaskhan. It is everything Jellicent wants: A lure to Regirock/Mudsdale/Quagsire/Gurdurr, a way to defeat Offense as well as a physical breaker to get through specially defensive threats. Together, they function amazingly since they can defeat their partner's checks easily.
In addition, Kangaskhan enjoys Jellicent being immune to Fighting (for obvious reasons) and Normal type attacks. The benefit of being immune to normal is the following: Kangaspikes. For as long as I know what Kangaskhan does competitively, this combination always found usage. And since you want to prevent your opponent from removing the hazards, a Spinblocker can't be a bad idea.
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So when looking for another teammate, the obvious choice would be Spikesetters.
If you want to go a very offensive route, you can use Icium-Z Froslass that helps you pressure down Drampa or chip away at Eelektross and Hitmonchan for Jellicent to break easier.
Another option, something I'd personally recommend, is Roselia. It opens up a door to build a more bulky offensive team by giving you a special sponge and, which is more important to me, another water resist. That way, you don't have to pivot in your Jellicent, that wasn't meant to take hits in the first place.
Jellicent @ Choice Specs
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Water Spout
- Hydro Pump
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
Type: Null is a solid partner for jelli whether it wants to be offensive or defensive, as jelli likes a good special sponge that deals with eel. The synergy here is relatively simple, as jelli can come in on null answers like Mudsdale and Gurdurr, and start spreading status and dealing damage, while null can sit on jelli answers such as Eelektross and Ludicolo and either fire off returns or just allow status to naturally wear them down as they can't really do anything to hurt null back. Colbur jelli in particular helps out null by also providing a good knock off absorber so null's eviolite stays intact, and null can absorb any toxics thrown jelli's way and rest them off.
A pretty fun core, Jellicent is able to defensively support Drampa by switching into offensive checks including Hitmonchan (Jellicent is not 2HKOd by Thunder Punch and can abuse Cursed Body pretty freely even if the Hitmonchan user gets a correct prediction), Sandslash-Alola (and Aurorus, though it doesn't like Freeze-Dry), and Silvally-Fairy (Thunderbolt isn't even a 3HKO).
In return, Drampa abuses Jellicent checks like Lanturn, Roselia and Eelektross, using its resistances to Electric and Grass to its advantage and making room to break down teams. Drampa also indirectly benefits from Jellicent's role as a spinblocker, as it's a great addition to spikestack teams.
Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 44 Atk / 212 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up
Gurdurr and Jellicent work well together. Utility Jellicent will usually be running Hex or Scald and either Hex won't work on certain mons like Stoutland or Kangaskhan, or Scald just isn't doing considerable damage and it gets punished for it. This is where Gurdurr comes in, it can take on both Stoutland and Kangaskhan by switching into it, taking the big hit, take another hit, and recover all that HP right back and then pick them off with Mach. Gurdurr also serves as a Knock Off absorber but since Gurdurr kind of needs it for its bulk, it should be taken with a grain of sand.
Great work to everyone with the submissions this week! Jellicent is definitely a Pokemon capable of encompassing a lot of roles in the current meta and support a great number of Pokemon, most of which have been mentioned here so without further ado lets vote for which of these will be the winner!
The winner of the double points round is Katy with Roselia putting her at the top of the leaderboard with four points!! Our runner-ups are jonago with Kangaskhan and Oathkeepre with Gurdurr!
In our second last week we are matching Primeape. Primeape is one of our best scarfers in the tier and can capitalise on fast U-turn to bring its match in. This is going to be an exciting week and right now the race to becoming PU's Next Top Cupid is tighter than ever. Good luck!
Primeape @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Gunk Shot
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
Dodrio @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Jump Kick
- Return
- Knock Off
A fun offensive core that takes advantage of people assuming the items will be the other way around, enabling surprise KOs. Scarf dodrio allows primeape to take advantage of a choice band to break teams, such as 2hkoing most pokemon including quag, while still having speed control.
Skuntank is a formidable teammate for Primeape as Primeape has trouble against Psychic and Ghost types and Skuntank can take care of them for Primeape,
Skuntank can Pursuit-trap the Ghosts and Psychics or can just spread out good damage on them with a super effective Crunch. It can also play Sucker Punch mindgames with the
opposing team and Poison Jab is just an awesome poison-type STAB as it also has a nice chance to poison the opposing mons and whittle them down in the process for Primeape.
It can heavily pressure with its existence in the team alone mons like Froslass, Haunter and Oricorio-Sensu heavily as with a smart double the Primeape/Skuntank User can switch into these threats
with Skuntank and can either Suit-trap these mons or just OHKOing them with Crunch. It also pressures Silvally -Fairy and Clefairy as both of these mons dislike getting Poison Jabbed and
due to the dual typing in poison/dark the Multi-Attack from Silvally-Fairy and the Moonblast from Clefairy are only neutral on it.
Furthermore it can help against the uprising Musharna with its strong STAB in Crunch, which has a Chance to 2HKO Musharna and Musharna can't do much to it, as Skuntank is faster than it,
also Skuntank can eat a non-boosted Twinkle Tackle from Musharna and Skuntank is capable of eating a +1 Twinkle Tackle from it as well. So Skuntank in itself is a big threat to Musharna.
Primeape in return can threaten many mons which Skuntank won't threaten such as Kabutops, Aurorus, Alola-Sandslash and Ferroseed
because Close Combat is a clear OHKO on all of them. It can also help against opposing dark-types such a Alolan-Persian.
Also Primeapes Ability in Defiant is really good because it gets an Attack raise when the opposing player Defogs the Hazards away. You can use that as your own set-up opportunity and thus making
Primeape a big threat with its power afterwards. So it is even capable of OHKOing/2HKOing bulkier checks to Preimeape.
In overall Skuntank and Primeape build a good nice offensively threatening core, due to a multitude of mindgames included here. They fit each other really well as Skuntank can just switch into psychic-type and fairy-type moves
and in return can spread out nice damage and Primeape can clear the way late game with more ease with its fighting-type STAB in Close Combat.
Spikes makes it easier to beat opposing pokemon with Close Combat. Taunt and Will-O-Wisp beat status pokemon and weakens physical pokemon. Hex is super-effective against Psychic/Ghost type pokemon that are annoying for Primeape.
Primeape is a nice scarf user. Probably the best one in the meta. It cannot, however, deal with so many things like Quag, Gurdurr, Mudsdale (requires quite a bit of previous damage), Jellicent, Qwilfish, Tangela, etc. This is where Victreebel comes in. It deals with all of these problems while Primeape can deal with the stuff that Vic doesn't particularly like such as Stoutland, Aurorus, Abomasnow, boosted Omastar, Simisear, Rotom-F among others.
This is a pretty straightforward core - a lot of the Pokemon that switch into Primeape can be heavily abused by Stoutland. This includes Qwilfish, Sableye, Silvally-Fairy, Froslass, Spiritomb and Jellicent. In addition to this, both Primeape and Stoutland share some checks that can be worn down by one of the two before being taken out by the other; Mudsdale and Tangela for example can find it hard to switch into Stoutland consistently, and with spikes support Primeape can do a fantastic job of weakening both of these pokemon by clicking U-Turn and forcing them out with a third member (often something like Victreebel, which I noted was a good partner for Stoutland in the last round).
There's not much more to it, Primeape just does a fantastic job of giving Stoutland opportunities to come in and break something.
With this pairing, I think about a battle I had in the PUPL where I used the exact same core because of it being a very efficient one.
I won't go in too much detail with this because it's a very self-explanatory Breaker+U-turn user core; so one or two paragraphs should be enough this time!
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Initially, the team I used in the replay was actually built around Choice Specs Drampa, so it's just normal I wanted a pivot as its partner. Not only is Primeape a great pivot, it also speeds up the team directly. That's important to note, since many teams struggle with Speed when building around something so slow - at least that's the problem I have often enough.
So speed wise we are golden here. But what about the synergy? That's where the core shines especially. Primeape forces out Pokemon that wall Drampa, like Spdef Alolaslash or Audino (Hitmonchan and Regirock too). In addition, Pokemon that have to come in on Primeape's U-Turn's get boned by Drampa! Pokemon like Tangela, Mudsdale, Jellicent, Oricorio, Victreebel, Quagsire, Gastrodon, Spiritomb or Sableye don't like being in on Drampa at all! Also, Primeape lures in certain threats that Drampa has struggle dealing with like Clefairy and Silvally-Fairy with Gunk Shot.
This week we have a very strong line up of matches with Primeape. A common theme with the matches were that they were either breakers - Vic, Stout, Drampa and Dodrio or were mons that helped deal with Ape's weaknesses.
PU, seven matches stand before Primeape. Cast your vote on the best match from the following submissions: