One of the more frustrating characters that we seem to face more and more regularly is Jigglypuff. She has a wonderful aerial game, an insane recovery and an edgeguarding ability that could make us all break down in tears. She also has some devastating KO moves; most famously, her 'Rest' move. Though very effective, if missed can have some unfortunate endings for the Jigglypuff's current stock. This high risk - high reward move can be punished effectively and here's how:

(Disclaimer: A lot of these techniques can be horizontal killing moves which are prone to being Amsah teched, so killing off the top tends to be more reliable. Many of these options will also depend on DI, stage placement and Jigglypuff's percentage. They have all been written as though it is centre stage on the floor of Battlefield)

Credit for research goes to Setchi, Iceman, Rishi, Dizzkidboogie, Chillindude, Tails, MINT, Frenzy, Flash and PPMD. Thank you to Setchi for the video demonstrations.

Marth

If Jigglypuff has managed to catch you with the rest and you're onto your next stock, you don't have much time to punish. Don’t panic! In this situation, a quick dair into grab can work well. This is only guaranteed between 0-18% unstaled; she can be daired and she will not leave the ground until 18% which is why the following grab is possible. After the 18% mark, she can ASDI down the dair and tech away in which you can dair into a tech chase or follow up with an aerial to start a combo to rack up some much needed damage. If you’ve been lucky enough to have Jigglypuff miss her rest, you can still punish her in the same way unless she’s at a kill percent. If this is the case, the best punish is to walk gently into her side, roll to the opposite side and charge a down smash as you'll have enough time to do this setup. This will space your sword so that the move tippers and sends them upwards into the air but beware, this option won't kill until 72% uncharged/42% charged in the centre of the floor of Battlefield.This is more effective than a shieldbreaker or an f-smash as they can be Amsah teched, whereas this option can not be.

Fox

If Jigglypuff has snatched away your stock with a rest and you're strapped for time, you have a multiple options depending on her percent. If she's at 84% with any DI on the floor of Battlefield, you can obliterate her stock with an uncharged up-smash or 37% with a charged up-smash. If she’s not at these kill percents, a suitable option would include falling up air into an aerial if she's under 10%, For instance, if Jigglypuff doesn't ASDI down the uair, you can get away with a triple uair for some sizeable damage. The falling uair will do more damage than an up-throw aerial and is still good after 10% if you're trying to rack up damage. However, if she does ASDI down, you can tech chase her. When she's at around 80%, you can go for up-throw uair, or if she’s been SDI’ing the first hit of your uair, you can also up-throw bair. Alternatively, while Jigglypuff is under 30%, you can dair, uptilt. She can either tech the up-tilt in which you can react and follow her so that you can grab and convert it into an up-throw combo, such as pummel up-throw uair or up-throw bair. If she does not tech it and you can combo with aerials from that point.

Sheik

Sheik is one of those characters that has something significant to gain from a little time to herself: charged needles. So an unsuccessful rest is a great time to do so! Depending on the time you have, charged needles, down-throw into aerial like nair seems to be the most reliable and will rack up 28% of damage; though beware, she can hold away so the grab isn't necessarily guaranteed in which you can wait and choose your next move. If you try to go in for a grab and she DI's away, she can crouch on frame 1 and if you miss the grab, she can get that pesky rest on you. However, if the Jigglypuff is around 80-90% on the floor of Battlefield for example, a fully charged up-smash will kill, even if the Puff DI's well.

If you don't have time to charge an up-smash, you can use down-throw uair unstaled which can be fatal to Puff over 87%. If you can't kill her, down-throw fair is a good option to get Puff off the stage so that Sheik can start trying to wall her out. There are more stylish ways to punish her rest but you have more to gain with a dependable non-stylish punish and getting those needles charged in time; ready for the next stock!

Peach

Typically, sassy Princess Peach has some extra stylish work to do when punishing Jigglypuff but it can be a little awkward to pull off! Under 55%, you can approach one side of Jigglypuff and throw a turnip up, (preferably smash throw it up so that you have more time to charge the next attack) and jump over to Jigglypuff's other side and charge a down-smash. When the turnip hits, let go and you'll see a sizeable amount of damage racked up already. If they're over 55%, you can do much the same but with a charged up-smash instead so that it kills! Unfortunately, this will only work if the Jigglypuff is not under a platform so you can jump over her and Z drop a turnip on her and land at close range and follow up with a down smash or aerial to get some further damage.

Unfortunately for Peach, Jigglypuff can also tech the turnip so be prepared. This will make the timing for the up-smash a little stricter and from around 90%, it will make you unable to sweetspot the up-smash, so alternatively, from this percent, you can use the turnip uair as a kill option instead. If you have enough time, you can gently push Puff into an open space to get this punish but you have only 4.15 seconds until Jigglypuff wakes up so it's on you to determine if you can risk this or go for a more basic punish.

Captain Falcon

One of the more simple punishes for the electrifying Captain Falcon is a charged up angled f-smash is his best kill option if he has time. This is more likely your best option if Jigglypuff has missed the rest as this can kill as early as 37% on the floor of Battlefield if you’re situated in the middle of the stage. If the Puff is anywhere under 30%, you have lots of alternate options to choose from. If you stomp at a low percent, you can determine what the best option is, depending on if they tech or not. If they do tech, you can react by tech chasing them. If they don't, you can follow it up with a combo such as knee or another stomp or grab is appropriate to get some damage into an aerial combo.

If you can get a grab following the stomp or techase, strings of uair can stack up the damage well. When you start to hit around 30%, an ideal option would be to stomp, nipple spike into tech chase providing you have no platforms to limit your space. Alternatively, you can also stomp aerial or dthrow aerial to get them closer to the kill percent! When they're over the 75% mark, you can comfortably dthrow knee for the kill.

Falco

Falco has a few mixups when it comes to punishing Jigglypuff but they're not as reliable so here are some of the more straightforward ones. Charged forward smash is useful, especially if Jigglypuff is over 54% and you have time to gently push her closer to the edge of the stage. If she’s above 89% in the centre of the floor of Battlefield, an unstaled dtilt will be fatal to the Jigglypuff! If she’s under these kill percents, you can try dair uptilt into an aerial combo but just be prepared for her to DI away in which you can follow it up with another uptilt. Another option is a charged fmash which will put 23% on Jiggypuff unstaled and you can follow that with an aerial too but it does stand the risk of being Amsah teched.

Ice Climbers

WOBBLE! Of course, there are the usual consequences to just going in for a wobble. If the Jigglypuff is at low percent, they can mash out and you've missed an extremely important punish. The wobble escape depends on their mash speed so there's no specific percent. De-syncing the Ice Climbers so that you can blizzard into wobble is a wonderful option but the Jigglypuff can SDI the blizzard so make sure you grab them before the blizzard hits so that this wipes all chances of escape of the Jigglypuff and they cannot mash out. If you're a lone Sopo, you can charge up a reverse upsmash on the floor of Battlefield and if Jigglypuff is at over 50%, you can get that juicy kill!

And finally, Jigglypuff!

If you've been unfortunate enough to have to play this gruelling match, getting this punish is important. It's a tough match of spacing and patience so how can you do it? Of course, if you're under 8%, you can just go for an unstaled rest punish on the floor of Battlefield. You shouldn't lose your stock when they rest you back as long as you have good DI; they will have just gotten a substantial amount of damage on you. If not, you can use unstaled charged f-smash which will kill anytime after 50%, even with good DI, again, center stage of Battlefield. Choose wisely!

Keep in mind that these punishes and percents have been tested on the centre floor of Battlefield but you can use these as guidelines when trying to punish her on different stages. Of course, kill percents with vertical moves will be higher than the ones given here on stages such as Fountain of Dreams and Dreamland.

With some characters, there’s room to be creative but Jigglypuff is one of the deadliest characters in the game; the adorable pink pokémon can take the stock away with a precise ease so be wary of your options and how safe they are against her. You can get away with sloppier punishes with lower level players but always be prepared for a Jigglypuff to Amsah tech your horizontal moves or ASDI down a lot of your punishes as these are, more or less, her only options to stay alive! Good luck!

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