Featured Pokemon: Jellicent

History

Some call it amazing, some call it annoying, some even call it the "stupidest shit ever," but everyone calls it Jellicent. This new Water / Ghost type has made one hell of a splash in OU, as its unique typing makes it extremely effective against many of the top threats in the metagame. Jellicent quickly jumped up the ranks and found itself as one of the most prominent Pokemon in play today, and while its place as #1 bulky Water is currently a bit in contention, it's still more than capable of living up to its reputation.

Jellicent's Qualities

Looking at Jellicent's stats, it's clear that it stands out as a defensive Pokemon. Water / Ghost is a fantastic defensive typing, providing 2 useful immunities and 6 important resistances, making it a surefire counter to a number of notable Pokemon in OU, including Scizor, Politoed, Slowbro, and many others. Its 100 / 70 / 105 defenses give it plenty of bulk on both sides, and its 85 base Special Attack gives it some teeth when needed, especially since it can now use its main STAB to inflict burn through Scald.

Jellicent also has two fantastic abilities in Water Absorb and the brand new Cursed Body. While Jellicent already resists Water, making Water Absorb seem semi-redundant, it still has significant merit in the current metagame. There's a ton of extremely nasty Water-type attackers preparing to perforate your team, like Choice Specs Politoed with its brutal rain-boosted Hydro Pump or Choice Band Azumarill's Waterfall (especially in the rain as well). On top of that, there's Scald, which is officially the most obnoxious move in Generation 5, and being able to actually heal off of it instead of just eating it and falling victim to its burn rate is a great boon. On the other hand, Cursed Body is incredibly clutch, and can win games simply by existing. It can be unreliable at times, but when it kicks in and disables that crucial move your opponent needs to win, you'll be sold.

Jellicent's also got a pretty solid movepool, as far as defensive Pokemon go. It's got an impressive array of STABs, with Scald, Surf, and Hydro Pump for Water and Shadow Ball and Hex for Ghost. It can also reliably inflict burn with Will-O-Wisp, and heal off any damage it takes with Recover, helping its tanking ability immensely. It's also got a couple neat coverage moves, such as Ice Beam for Dragon- and Grass-types, and Energy Ball for Water-types and Water-resistant Ground-types, like Gastrodon and Quagsire. Taunt lets it put the kibosh on stat upping and recovery, and Trick Room can be useful for slow teams looking to abuse the field effect.

Playing with Jellicent

Jellicent really makes its name with one main set: a powerful defensive set that easily doubles as a stallbreaker. The set is simple: Scald and Surf act as STAB, with Will-O-Wisp acting as a reliable source of burn, Taunt to stop setup and shut down slower defensive Pokemon, and Recover to keep it alive. This set is perfect to shut down teams of all types. Water Absorb lets Jellicent absorb Scald, which can be extremely annoying to all sorts of teams due to the burn chance. Taunt is incredible against stall, as it excels against the slow Pokemon that populate stall teams, and its combination with Recover allows Jellicent to outlast essentially any Pokemon that doesn't pack a super effective attack against it.

Jellicent also has a bunch of other neat options that it can use to throw a wrench in the other team's plans. Toxic can cripple a number of notable Jellicent switch-ins, including Gastrodon and other Jellicent. Shadow Ball also gives it excellent neutral coverage, and can catch threats like Gengar and the Lati twins, which are usually okay with taking Scalds all day long. Energy Ball is also a decent option, as it hits Gastrodon hard, which normally doesn't care about anything else Jellicent carries, and is fairly good against other Water-types. Ice Beam is a staple on Water-types to hit Dragon- and Grass-types, which can otherwise be threatening.

Just to top it all off, if Jellicent wasn't annoying already, it can even run Cursed Body, which seems to be designed to piss people off. Given that Jellicent is incredibly difficult to OHKO, and many Pokemon only carry one attack that can damage it effectively, that means that 30% of the time, Jellicent is going to be impossible for your opponent to take down. Of course, this comes at the cost of its Water immunity, but when Cursed Body kicks in, it's a lifesaver.

Playing Against Jellicent

The main way to deal with Jellicent is to simply be faster than it, as most slower Pokemon get Taunted and then stalled out. Despite it being an exclusively special attacker, Blissey performs extremely poorly against Jellicent due to Taunt shutting down its ability to recover, so switching it in is usually close to a death sentence. Likewise, anything switching into Jellicent needs to be completely prepared to receive a burn as it comes in, due to the dual threat of Scald and Will-O-Wisp. Scald is especially nasty here, as the Fire-types that would usually be able to shrug off a burn get blasted for super effective damage by Jellicent's STAB Scald, and that's not safe at all.

The best bet for dealing with Jellicent in the current metagame is Rotom-W. It's got pretty much every threat needed to stop Jellicent in its tracks. Now that it's an Electric / Water-type instead of Electric / Ghost, it's not only neutral to Shadow Ball, but also resists Scald, and since it's entirely a special attacker, it doesn't really care about burn outside of the HP loss. It's also got STAB Thunder, Thunderbolt, and Volt Switch with which to hammer the incorporeal jellyfish, and can also wear it down with burn from its own Will-O-Wisp. Finally, Pain Split lets it take advantage of Jellicent's solid HP to heal up, and potentially put it in KO range of one of its Electric attacks.

Other than that, just to be sure pack plenty of ways to wear away at Jellicent. Toxic is utterly crippling to it, as it forces Jellicent to switch out on a regular basis, letting you chip away at the rest of its team before finishing it off as the last Pokemon. Toxic Spikes can help with this, though if the Jellicent user is smart he'll switch it in once the first layer goes down so that it only gets hit with regular Poison. There are also some more direct ways of dealing with it. Choice Band Tyranitar and Scizor can deal plenty of damage with Pursuit, and if Jellicent is low enough, it can end up in a checkmate situation where it can't switch out and can't stay in. Just be wary that Jellicent tends to run plenty of Speed to successfully Taunt against Skarmory, so if you're looking to shut down Jellicent with Pursuit, you'll want to run some Speed to outpace it before it can burn your Pokemon.

Fitting Jellicent Onto Your Team

As a largely supportive Pokemon, Jellicent is more in the business of lending support than requiring it. That said, there are a couple of things Jellicent can use to improve its usefulness in battle.

Environmental Factors

As a Pokemon that likes to switch in a lot, entry hazards can be extremely nasty for Jellicent to deal with. As such, running a Rapid Spinner can be extremely useful alongside Jellicent. Forretress is especially good, as Jellicent can absorb Fire attacks aimed at it, and can also provide crucial spinblocking to keep its Spikes on the field. In rain, Jellicent can also absorb Scalds and Surfs used against it, which is helpful. Donphan is also an interesting ally, as it sports an Electric immunity while relying on Jellicent to deal with its Water weakness.

Teammates

Jellicent doesn't have many Pokemon that it has to really worry about, but Rotom-W is one of them. Packing a Pokemon like Celebi or Shaymin can be extremely useful, as they both have Natural Cure to shrug off Will-O-Wisp and pack resistances to both of Rotom-W's STABs. It's also a good idea to pack a way to deal with Thundurus. A faster Electric resist can be a good way to deal with it, including slapping a Choice Scarf on an Electric-type like Magnezone or Celebi (though Celebi lacks a reliable way to hit Thundurus).

Get Out There!

While it may not be dominating the metagame like some of the other Pokemon floating around, Jellicent is definitely not something to be trifled with. Its excellent typing and incredible walling potential make it a force to be reckoned with in OU, and unprepared teams can find it incredibly hard to break through it. So next time you feel like putting opponents into a water-fueled rage, drop Jellicent in! It's tried, tested, and SOMALIA-approved!

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