PKMN of the Week: Jigglypuff
/
Wooooooooooooot!!!
My dudes and ladies - it is a special time of year. A time when friends from all over come in to town to visit, party, and generally cause a ruckus! The best parade makes its way through town. Nights go long with dancing well past last call. At the street fair - what is that up on the stage? A diva belting out the latest disco hits?
You got it! It's June, it's Pride, and Jigglypuff is making it work!
I'll tell you all right now, it's a mistake to think that Jigglypuff is the gayest of all Pokémon. Actually, three out of every four Jigglypuff are female (same for the Clefairy evolutions). Jigglypuff is the Pokémon diva belting out the club hits that keep you moving through the night.
Everyone has a favorite Jigglypuff memory - who can deny the uh-oh factor of that little wandering minstrel always stumbling across the twerps? She'd whip out her mic/marker (where can I buy one of those?) start to sing, and everyone would fall asleep. Then she takes out the marker and draws on everyone's faces. I'll confess, I do the same when my buddies pass out on me.
My favorite Jigglypuff moment comes from the episode where the Clefairy kidnap Ash's Pikachu to power their spaceship. Jigglypuff gets recruited to help out and girl is not having it. What ensues is the slap battle of the century and you know who comes out on top - Jigglypuff snatches first prize.
Everyone knows the Jigglypuff song - just think about it, you even know the lyrics - jigglypuff, jigglypuff, jigglypuff, jiggly, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
So, for real, you would want to evolve your Jigglypuff into a Wigglytuff for battle purposes, but let's look at what the Pokédiva has to offer on her own merits.
Her strongest base stat is HP - more than double any of her other stats. Comparing attack vs. defense she is clearly in the Attacker quadrant with Attack and Special Attack as her next highest stats and Defense and Special Defense about half as high. Her speed, well, let's just say it's hard to be fast when you're a balloon! Girl is full of hot air!
Keep a few things in mind before evolving your Jigglypuff. She remains an attacker after evolution - the Defense stats get a little closer to the Attack levels but not overwhelmingly so. Wigglytuff doesn't learn any moves by leveling up; Jigglypuff mainly learns Physical moves when leveling up (last one is Double Edge at level 53). EV train for HP and Attack, go for a Brave nature, and you may just raise a contender.
I find Jigglypuff's move-set potential to be pretty impressive. Not only does she learn power moves by leveling up - Body Slam and Double-Edge - she has a lot of options from TMs and a few really cool choices by breeding. Unfortunately, no Flying-type moves to assist against Fighting-types.
Start out leveling up your Jigglypuff so that you can get Double-Edge. The recoil after-effect from Double-Edge kind of stinks but it is a sure hit power move. Body Slam should be your secondary attack move. There are some alternatives for your next two. One combo that is always fun is Rest plus Sleep Talk (an egg move). She'll go to sleep, restore all of her HP, but still keep attacking while she's asleep. I think I would be more inclined to try a combo of Shadow Ball (in case you are up against a Ghost-type) and Last Resort. Last Resort's power and accuracy help to offset its limitation (it can only be used after every other move has been used once).
A little Jigglypuff oddity to keep in mind: she can have the ability Friend Guard which is lost when she evolves into Wigglytuff. Friend Guard automatically reduces damage to allies in Double and Triple battles by 25% plus it doesn't require a turn PLUS it can't be broken with Brick Break. I don't know - raise your Friend Guard Jigglypuff to level 100 and have her hold Eviolite. Will that get you anywhere?
I think your hold item options vary depending on your Jigglypuff strategy. Eviolite if you want to boost her Defense and Special Defense. A Sitrus berry can work to counteract recoil from Double-Edge if necessary. Chople Berry helps a little against Fighting-types. If you use the Rest/Sleep Talk combo a Chesto Berry may be a good idea - it may give you two chances to use Rest if necessary. Finally, if you do carry Shadow Ball, maybe have her hold a Ghost Gem to put more pop in your play.
If you need to beat up Jigglypuff, use Mienfoo. Look at the kitty playing with the balloon!!!
OK, girl, I need to head off to the tea dance now. I heard Jigglypuff is going to show and she is going to turn us all out! It's gonna be fierce!
