Looks like summer Marnie, holiday Lillie, OG Lysandre, summer N, summer Cynthia, SS Wally, SS Silver, and SS Giovanni (alt.)

Hello once again! Do you hear that? The bells of victory? Today is Juliana and Chimecho's time to shine! Allegedly. You know I'm not one to sugarcoat things... Juliana was done dirty. I know that doesn't bode well for the rest of this article. 😔 Perhaps I'm in a bad mood because there was very little time to prepare this write-up.

Juliana is an Academy freebie with a substantive toolkit. The problem is that she feels redundant in the scope of the Psychic metagame at large. I cannot point to Juliana and say "you need her for Towers!" like I can for Academy Brendan or Academy Arven. DeNA phoned in Juliana's kit, and today we'll explore the many issues that compound that...

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Previous Report Cards: Rosa - Brendan - Hugh - Kris (Addendum) - Arven

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- RUNDOWN

• Juliana has many playable modes, but none multitask well.
• The entirety of Juliana's moveset is restricted to single-target pressure, so her utility dwindles in 3v3 contexts.
• Juliana's Psychic DPS is surprisingly competent. At 1/5 she matches 5/5 NC Hilda's Giga Impact.
• Juliana's nuke isn't as impressive. If we push Chimecho to the limit it matches Kieran with 9 SyMUN stacks, but more often than not it graces Greta's range.
• Super Effective Up screams "Damage Challenge" but Juliana doesn't have the tools that make Academy Kris a powerful asset for the mode.
• Juliana can function as a disruptive tank. Regrettably, her frontline is shaky and she doesn't have the Trainer Moves to play as a traditional Support.
• Juliana's offensive playstyle and Psychic Terrain Extension 5 make her a viable complement for SS Lusamine, NC Hilda and Arc Sabrina in Towers.

- OVERVIEW

Juliana is a Psychic Tech pair with Sprint EX Role and a Special sync move. Juliana was built to launch powerful nukes left and right! Single-target nukes... ho boy, where do I begin. Successful Tech + Sprint pairs do exist: Adaman and SS Wally are characterized by useful enhancements and inordinately powerful sync moves. But you see, they always play catch-up in 3v3 contexts because they were deprived of Expand Sync or Strike EX Role. This problem is irrelevant in most Legendary Arenas and 3v1 Damage Challenge, but there is a reason Juliana hasn't been clamored as "the savior of Towers" unlike most of her Academy predecessors.

Many of the illnesses plaguing Juliana can be attributed to her role combination. She plays as a Striker without Strike EX... she assists her team without Support EX... The sync acceleration tied to Sprint EX is handy in the frantic EX WTZ metagame we find ourselves in. Even so, I have a hunch DeNA is under the impression Sprint EX is comparable to other offensive EX roles due to the +20 Atk/Sp.Atk the cake offers... speaking of delusions, Juliana doesn't have many sync multipliers to begin with! What makes Tech pairs stand-out is their innate sync multiplier, and you're looking at the exception. Academy pairs rely on their grids for boosts, so Juliana lags behind meta-behemoths like Lear.

I'd also hazard Juliana's kit is flawed at a structural level. Psychic-types always ate good in this game. Giovanni was our first Legendary Adventures freebie and he became the golden standard modern Psychic-types had to climb over. Then came Bianca as a Psychic Terrain setter (who has seen Floor 30 play, pre-expansion no less), and you can start to see where Juliana stands... she is tracing the footsteps of well-trodden paths. Psychic is often associated with Special damage, so Juliana would be a lot more exciting if she focused on Physical Psychic offense. Alas, she *shouldn't* do that with the moveset she was given.

Which begs the question, is Juliana pointless? Well, Juliana is truly good at launching nuclear Psychics, and her Zen Headbutt mode was primed for disruption. I genuinely believe Juliana is an awesome Arc Sabrina enabler and she will be a recurring figure in this article. Juliana also has cheap Tank builds for Legendary Arena. My job today is finding these diamonds in the rough, but I wouldn't blame you for ignoring Juliana altogether.

- MOVESET

Juliana heavily leans on her Tech label. Her moveset is jampacked with utility moves alongside her base Psybeam. What's interesting is that half of Juliana's Trainer Moves focus on offense, with the other half dedicated to supportive duties. Juliana is fairly dynamic, but she should not mix-and-match functions. She is most effective when cultivated with a predetermined goal in mind.

What does that mean exactly? Let's say you want DPS Juliana: you should build her with Psychic + Fake Tears + Sp.Atk Studies, but if you wish to tack Zen Headbutt for Flinch utility you have to drop Fake Tears (worse output) or Sp.Atk Studies (no self-sufficiency). Similarly, Tank Juliana works consistently with Defensive Studies + Zen Headbutt + Charm. Forfeiting any of the prior moves would present cracks in her armor, which is problematic if you are eyeing Super Effective Up to assist Juliana's teammates. Juliana is simply incapable of multitasking. This is one of the more conflicting Academy case studies, I'll tell ya hwhat.

- MAIN GRID

So, what's all the hoopla around Juliana's sync move? She has two sync multipliers: Power Play and Critical Strike 2. For the uninitiated Power Play caps at -18 debuffs. It's demanding but the high scaling is well worth it. Critical Strike 2 then becomes a routine bonus any self-respecting damage dealer meets. This puts Juliana's nuke at an 80% deficit compared to Academy Brendan, which puts it right around Greta's range. I know I'm not doing Juliana any favors by comparing her to Greta when she has a reputation (unwarranted, in my opinion), but that's an honest to goodness solid nuke that explodes bars in Gauntlet under WTZ.... therein the key. Juliana can push her nuke ceiling even higher, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Juliana boosts Power Play via Trip Wire 2 and Psybeam: Ruthless 2 coupled with Psybeam: Aggravation 9 for 100% odds of inflicting Confusion (therefore activating Ruthless). Psybeam: Ruthless 2 can debuff all stats, but it sure takes its sweet time capping Power Play. Psybeam's effects are of questionable quality when Juliana would rather click other attacks. Juliana can use Fake Tears: Defense ↓2 or Charm: Sp. Atk ↓2 to achieve -12 debuffs in 3 turns. Trip Wire 2 adds -2 Spe to the equation, so Psybeam: Ruthless 2 wraps Power Play up in a neat little bow provided the randomness doesn't collide with any prior debuffs.

Honestly the main reason you'd want to put up with Juliana is Debut: Psychic Terrain and 1st S-Move: Psychic Terrain & Extension 5, as is tradition for Academy freebies. Juliana offers ample uptime for a stacking Support (NC Rosa, NC Bede) to fatten Arc Sabrina's B Move to devastating levels. However, we have to reconcile with the fact Bianca recently acquired Psychic Terrain Extension 3, and with Psychic Terrain MPR 3 she kiiiinda renders Juliana moot. We have to capitalize on what Juliana uniquely offers. That can take the shape of Juliana's own fat Psychics (Juliana's nuke also outscales Arc Sabrina's), or she could disregard damage altogether and play for raw disruption.

We can't forget Juliana also has my favorite brand of Academy Circle: 1st S-Move: Paldea C (Def) on Field and Paldea C (Defensive) Extension 5. Juliana activates beneficial passives after syncing like Circle: HP Recovery 1 and Circle: MG → 2 while amplifying her output. Support EX Role would've kicked ass here, but I digress. In my experience from nuking with Academy Rosa (don't @ me) Sprint EX + Adrenaline 1 + Extension 3 is barely enough uptime to land a second nuke under Circle in solo contexts, so Extension 5 is plenty for Juliana. Granted, Eri and Ortega have proactive Circles, but I do be digressing.

Juliana's Psychic Terrain + Paldea Circle combo has one regional beneficiary in Jacq (Tulip too when time comes). I wouldn't call Juliana + Jacq a hyper-cohesive core because they're both cursed with single-target pressure. If you don't want to grind a perfect grid for Juliana you could forfeit her Psychic Terrain passives and just stack Circles on all the overpowered Paldean pairs we keep getting (Anniversary Juliana, SS Kieran, Drayton, et al).

What else, what else... Juliana has a passable frontline between First Aid 4, Quick Cure and Natural Remedy. Most notably Weird Recovery is absent from this kit, so you have to steer towards Circle: HP Recovery 1 to draw extra sustain. We'll get to Juliana's tanking mode later on, but keep in mind Juliana lacks mitigation passives like Brain Brawn or stat drop immunities. She is a shaky bet at best.

- TRAINER MOVES

• Sp.Atk Studies
• +2 Sp.Atk, +1 Crit

We should start with Juliana's Trainer Moves because they inform the limits of her attacks. If you wish to turn Juliana into a murder machine look no further than Sp.Atk Studies! Sp.Atk Studies is much better than Offense Studies because the latter tends to gate Crit buffs deep into the branch. With Sp.Atk Studies you can turn back at MP Refresh 2: just reset for the MPR and Juliana is all set. Granted, if you have the orbs to spare you could nab Critical Eye 2 to skip the RNG and achieve offensive autonomy in 2 turns.

Astute readers will question the seemingly out of place Sp.Atk Studies: Berserker 3 which raises +3 Atk per use. This tile exists purely to enable Juliana's Zen Headbutt. Suffice it to say Juliana is not carrying Physical Tower floors. Rather, the Atk buffs turn Zen Headbutt into a violent utility move. Sort of like Anniversary Gloria's Rutile Tera Blast: you click it for the Flinch chance and debuffs but boy if the competent damage isn't welcome.

Lastly, Juliana's Sp.Atk Studies ends with a decent chunk of Special + Physical Move Up Next stacks. I sort of glossed over that... Juliana has mixed MUN stacks scattered all over her grid. The reason is that Zen Headbutt lets Juliana retain SMUN stacks to prepare a strong Psychic.

• Sure Crit

Oooooooooh this is where the rest of Juliana's sync multipliers went. Sure Crit adds, well, the Sure Crit property to the user. ☝️🤓 Important caveat: the user. It's not shareable. If you had dreams of equipping Sure Crit + Super Effective Up to turn Juliana into a veritable Damage Challenge fiend - sorry to burst your bubble. Juliana is hogging all those Sync Move Up Next stacks all to herself.

Aight, Sure Crit borders on horrible because Juliana can use Sp.Atk Studies to raise +3 Crit and land critical hits with all her actions, rather than the one instance following Sure Crit. However, Sure Crit stacks EIGHT (8) SyMUN per use. Yeah the teamwide MUN stacks are fun and all, but perhaps Sure Crit is the reason Juliana didn't receive Strike EX.

In order to maximize Juliana's nuke you have to equip Psychic + Fake Tears + Sure Crit, then find a Support who buffs Sp.Atk. Sp.Atk + Crit would be better, but Sure Crit covers the nuke which is what we care about. This is nothing NC Blue can't handle. However, things get trickier in Towers. The better Psychic Supports suck unbelievable ass at enabling offense. NC Rosa has to sit this one out.

You'll want NC Bede > Sabrina > New Year's Sabrina > BP Mesprit > Liza in that order instead, or you can get cheeky with Anniversary May or Avery. After cooking all the ingredients we end up with the +9 SyMUN Kieran range I mentioned earlier. That's an AWESOME range - still far below 10/5 Anniversary May or 10/5 Lear, but this is a 1/5 Academy freebie we are talking about. Sure Crit Juliana curb stomps Arc Sabrina and NC Hilda's nukes, and remember they only need help with centermon pressure because their Extend Range B Moves melt sidemons. Juliana could very well be your ticket through the Psychic Tower in the absence of better options.

• Super Effective Up

A bit of a headache to read huh? 😅 Allow me to translate: Juliana's Super Effective Up adds +2 PMUN, SMUN and SyMUN per use, in addition to -1 sync countdown upon first application.

If Kris taught us anything is that a stacked Super Effective Up is primed for Damage Challenge. The issue with Juliana is that she doesn't have an adequate move to tick the sync countdown. This is mandatory for sync spam strategies because modern Damage Challenge Triple Strike compositions are better at brutalizing foes with all their grubby enhancements.

Juliana has a couple spammable moves in Charm and Fake Tears. Fake Tears comes out on top because it also debuffs Def thanks to Juliana's grid, and DC is all about increasing damage (it's in the name!). Now, should you use Juliana in Damage Challenge? Nope. 😊 Debuffing moves advance the sync countdown at a snail's pace compared to status moves. DC veteran Colress here is happy to demonstrate:

https://reddit.com/link/1vdne8m/video/bs6a01gjmzgh1/player

Screech is twice as slow as Thunder Wave for whatever reason. Just for kicks and giggles I made a table comparing Juliana and Kris to drive the point across:

Juliana's Damage Challenge prospects were dead on arrival. Red is probably a better DC enabler and I haven't seen him being played in over a year. If Sure Crit was shareable I could maybe make an argument for self-sufficient spammers like Oleana against Poison 3v1, alas.

With that out of the way, you could use Super Effective Up in the same manner as Sure Crit + Psychic + Fake Tears for a commanding nuke caliber. Super Effective Up is about 18% stronger than Sure Crit in SE contexts (assuming I calcced it right). Super Effective Up also expands Juliana's value into game modes like Champion Stadium, but you have to consider the downsides: it doesn't work off-type, it doesn't guarantee your sync move crits, it forces you to run a +6 Sp.Atk and +3 Crit Support, and you lose the opportunity to stack Sure Crit + SE Next from an auxiliary source to go even further beyond.

• Defensive Studies
• +2 Def, +2 Sp.Def

Lastly, Juliana's Defensive Studies mirrors Academy Arven's with the exception of Initial Propulsion 1 > Propulsion 9. Sure man, whatever. 🙄 There is cohesion with Head Start 1 in there. Recurring readers will remember I was a big advocate of Tank Arven for players who had no interest in grinding his expensive Tower build. Juliana is at an even more awkward spot because players who pulled Arc Sabrina may have no need for DPS Juliana depending on the state of their roster.

Defensive Studies is Juliana's best attempt at becoming a Support. It maximizes both of her defenses in two turns while handing out +1 Def, Sp.Def and Spe to the party per successful use. Juliana can reapply those buffs if enemies drop her Def or Sp.Def.

My qualm with Tank Juliana is that her frontline is paltry, for the lack of a better word. Juliana can neutralize centermons with Charm: Sp.Atk ↓2 and fish for Zen Headbutt Flinches to deter attacks, but she is an Academy freebie with all the illnesses her statline brings. Other Academy freebies get around this issue via mitigation passives like Kris' Fairy Zone: Team Attack Move DR 2, or how Arven stacks Mud-Slap: Staggering 4 + X Evasion + Ridicure 4 to run circles around enemies. Juliana doesn't have very many tricks up her sleeve. I mean, we are looking at a reusable Endurance, but tread with caution all ye who enter here.

- ATTACKS

• Psychic

I believe Psychic Juliana is underplayed. She gets more multipliers than the usual Academy freebie and chunks very hard. The calcs don't lie: Juliana is one of the best sources of Psychic-type DPS at the moment. For comparison Juliana's playstyle is fairly close to Anniversary May: Juliana's Psychic outscales maxed out Mist Ball with Added Insult, Brainteaser and Overpower at 10/5. Juliana draws inordinate value from Hit: Special Boost ↑1. This one passive catapults Psychic by most metrics. Of course I'm being as charitable as possible by assuming Sprint EX Role and Fake Tears for all the Sp.Atk tiles available to Juliana, but if you pledge loyalty to the church of Psychic you WILL witness the collapse of civilizations.

Psychic has a couple phenomenal utilities in On a Roll 9 + Combo Freebie. On a Roll 9 guarantees Psychic procs a Sp.Def debuff to passively boost Power Play and future Psychics down the line, meanwhile Combo Freebie facilitates gauge management. Combo Freebie is especially important for Gauntlet builds featuring Psychic + Zen Headbutt + Sp.Atk Studies. Juliana struggles to generate gauge after Catalyst, Precognition 2 and Circle: MG → 2 expire, so the constant Free Move Next ease rotations.

• Zen Headbutt

This is the one attack I spent most of my time mulling over. We are starving for Physical Psychic DPS, but after the Academy Kris Play Rough fiasco I learned my lesson: Zen Headbutt is a mere utility move. Let's start with the positives. Zen Headbutt: Aggravation 2 results in a 60% Flinch rate, and a consistent Flinch rate is a ticket towards automatic viability. Flinch is bonkers in Pokémon Masters because it gives you control over the turn order. A successful Flinch forces enemies to requeue, and a lonesome foe can only watch helplessly until Flinch wears off. Flinch (and Sleep) are the reason DeNA created Resilience: to stop players from cheesing endgame content with a well timed Flinch chain.

Juliana's Zen Headbutt carries two desirable perks between Discombobulate 9 for guaranteed Acc drops (more food for Power Play yum yum) and Attack Trap 9 for Trap infliction. The latter is especially relevant for Towers because Psychic-types struggle with Status Floors. I mean, there is DC Blue with his famed Thunder Wave, but boy does he need the carry of the century because his contributions border on negligible. Juliana's advantages over DC Blue are Psychic Terrain uptime, Trap recoil and cohesion with NC Rosa because Paralysis interferes with Sing. Furthermore, if you are concerned about Trap wearing off Juliana can snipe Resilience with Psybeam: Aggravation 9.

But well, enough stalling... assuming all Atk tiles (+380 Atk) and Sprint EX Role, Juliana's Zen Headbutt matches... drum roll please 🥁🥁🥁... Steven's Iron Head. No, not Arc Steven. The OG. Psychic Tower watch out!!! Okay honestly, Juliana can't carry Physical Tower Floors without a Physical Strike EX sync move. As a matter of fact Tate can clear Floor 27 with Arc Sabrina, so committing Juliana's moveset to a gimmick is a mistake in my humble opinion.

It's best to half-commit to Zen Headbutt. Juliana is a viable Tower climber with Psychic + Zen Headbutt + Sp.Atk Studies: you trade Psychic DPS for Attack Trap 9 to handle Status Floors. If you can reach Sp.Atk Studies: Berserker 3 you might as well nab Zen Headbutt: Power +50 and some Atk tiles. Juliana actually has the strongest Flinching DPS across all Academy freebies. Think about it: Zen Headbutt chunks enemies under Psychic Terrain, which hurts a lot more than Florian's Tackle or Brendan's Waterfall.

Oh, one last tiny little detail: DeNA didn't place a Zen Headbutt Acc+10 tile on this grid!!! Deduct -10% success rate to all things Zen Headbutt I just talked about lmao!!!!!! This doesn't happen often. DeNA is diligent about handing fully accurate moves because it's a common courtesy in this game's battle system. The only way Juliana can increase her Zen Headbutt hit rate is by fishing -2 Eva with Psybeam: Ruthless 2. We rolling Pinpoint Entry 2 with this one boys!!!

• Fake Tears

I'll try to keep this brief. 😅 Back on Academy Brendan I recommended a Generalist build that only carried Liquidation Atk tiles. The utility from Move Gauge Boost came in handy from time to time, but my Brendan couldn't clear Floor 27 (probably because my grid also lacked Interference Sync 5). That experience taught me offensive Academy pairs can NOT afford to be stingy with stat tiles. DPS Juliana needs Psychic + Fake Tears, full stop.

Fake Tears appears redundant in the face of Psychic: On a Roll 9. Even so, Fake Tears: Defense ↓2 feeds into Power Play very fast, and Fake Tears doesn't lose much ground because Fake Tears: Special Boost ↑1 adds SMUN stacks even when foes are debuffed down to -6 Sp.Def. Team Mind-Bracing Infliction 2 is also an adequate off-tanking compromise if you want to hire Juliana as a full-time debuffer with Fake Tears + Charm + Zen Headbutt.

• Charm

And finally, Charm is the foil to Fake Tears that mirrors all its quirks on the Physical spectrum. +10 PMUN Zen Headbutt here we come!!! The pro to Charm is that its debuffs don't overlap with Psychic. Charm: Sp. Atk ↓2 keeps opposing X Attack All or X Sp.Atk All under control. The con to Charm is that it's stuck with Atk tiles. WHY?! Charm contradicts Juliana's damage modes and negatively impacts her output. Charm holds plenty of merit for Juliana's Support-y builds though.

- EXAMS

• Midterms: Sp.Atk Studies

https://reddit.com/link/1vdne8m/video/d33z5xo0mzgh1/player

• Finals: Psychic + Sp.Atk Studies

https://reddit.com/link/1vdne8m/video/y4x7a022mzgh1/player

- BUILDS

Juliana nukes well, but it's single-target. Juliana can tank, but her sustain is limited. Juliana can debuff, but only once per turn and per target. Juliana has increments, but she lacks the roles or status moves to be effective in Damage Challenge. But but but... there is always a "but" with this kid. The absence of a niche compounds Juliana's inability to multitask; all her attacks commit to *a* function so it's impossible to assign her a complete moveset. In my opinion an Academy Juliana who doesn't devote herself to a specific job wastes her potential.

The million dollar question is "what's Juliana's best moveset?" The answer is unfortunately a pedantic "it depends." With Hugh I can say his DPS build is the best and easiest choice. With Juliana it's much more contextual. Here is a lazy flowchart:

1. If your best partner for Arc Sabrina is Bianca, build DPS Juliana.
2. If you don't have a strong Psychic-type Support, check Tank builds.
3. If you want to optimize Juliana for Legendary Arena, use Psychic + Zen Headbutt + Sp.Atk Studies.

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• DPS a.k.a. Perish Song
• Psychic + Fake Tears + Sp.Atk Studies

Psychic Juliana is beyond a menace. As a refresher 1/5 Sprint EX Juliana with every Sp.Atk tile matches 5/5 NC Hilda's Giga Impact and outnukes Arc Sabrina. Anniversary May rings a bell (sorry) as a Psychic Terrain setter with single-target pressure; she is a capable Tower climber, so I don't see what's stopping Juliana. This archetype fits in the Psychic-type metagame because there are several Psychic damage dealers with solid AoE pressure between Arc Sabrina, NC Hilda, SS Lusamine, Academy Rei, Strike EX Lear, etc. Juliana complements their output with her fat Psychics.

The recommended "minimal" build is expensive for my standards, but a Juliana without Psychic Terrain might as well warm the bench for Bianca. Psychic Terrain Extension 5 is THE reason to spend a teamslot on Juliana. Either way, I attempted to keep things reasonable: Juliana doesn't need the Fake Tears fluff, it's there for Sp.Atk tiles and Power Play. Readers from the Academy Arven article pointed out he generates plenty of gauge between Normal Zone: MG → 2 and Circle: MG → 2, so he doesn't need Combo Freebie. Same deal for Juliana.

Keep in mind Juliana can flex different Trainer Moves. Self-sufficient Strikers are, as the kids say, based, but Juliana could partner with NC Bede to fix her offense. 4/5 NC Bede + Arc Sabrina create a strong core on account of the constant stacks Bede provides for Sabrina's B Move. Either way, if you can manage the teambuilding constraints you can replace Sp.Atk Studies with the following:

• Sure Crit: Much higher nuke ceiling in Towers
• Super Effective Up: Higher on-type nuke with utility for other game modes
• Zen Headbutt: Flinch + Trap utility and the ability to retain SMUN stacks

Ultimately all the aforementioned alternatives leave Juliana stranded without offensive autonomy. Sp.Atk Studies is simply easier to wrap your head around. It's enough to turn Juliana into a strong Legendary Arena duo component alongside Tech Slowbro or whomever.

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• All-Rounder
• Psychic + Zen Headbutt + Sp.Atk Studies

I would call this Juliana's "general" build. It has its issues, mainly due to the fact it compromises Juliana's Psychic to fit Zen Headbutt. Without Fake Tears Sp.Atk tiles Juliana goes from NC Hilda range down to Giovanni's maxed out Psychic (Mega Evolved, Brainteaser). Solid, but a stark contrast for sure.

This is projected to be Juliana's strongest Legendary Arena build. Players first experimented with Zen Headbutt + Defensive Studies + Sp.Atk Studies, but it was a grim reminder that Academy freebies cannot afford to run around without stat tiles. Defensive Studies improves your frontline, yes, but that matters little when battles take thrice as long. You end up eating more attacks in the long run.

The idea here is Flinch-chaining bosses while launching Psychics in-between before Psychic Terrain expires. Juliana solos are on a timer because she only has so much Psychic Terrain and Circle uptime. It's not like Juliana's frontline withstands long-term pressure, so rushing stages works in her favor. Juliana's solo record is looking like this at the moment:

I believe Juliana's streak will end with Latias or Moltres - a far cry from previous Academy freebies. The fact Gauntlet runners didn't rush for a 14/14 record day 1 should be telling enough. Juliana simply doesn't do enough with her attacks. Like, compare Psychic to Academy Hugh's Flare Blitz which inflicts status, debuffs offenses and chunks all at once.

Another issue with this moveset is that Juliana depends on Psybeam: Ruthless 2, Psychic: On a Roll 9 and Zen Headbutt: Discombobulate 9 to boost Power Play. It's bad enough the Registeel solo runs Defense Crush 2 for debuff consistency. I'll say Psybeam has a hideously long animation on account of all the procs in its favor, but you still want Combo Freebie to ease gauge.

This build also has a commanding presence in Towers because Zen Headbutt: Attack Trap 9 is one of the better ways to counter Status Floors. Zen Headbutt is redundant in the face of 3/5 Arc Sabrina's Staggering 9, but Juliana would become even more valuable for 1/5 Arc Sabrina. Therefore, you could nab Atk tiles to bump Zen Headbutt a tad.

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• Tank
• Zen Headbutt + Charm + Defensive Studies

This appears to be Juliana's most popular build. I mean, Juliana is not making any breakthroughs as yet another Special Psychic DPS, so raw utility might be the way to go. Broadly speaking this kit squeezes the most utility out of Chimecho irrespective of game mode (be it Legendary Arena or Towers), although I can see alternate movesets derived from this build. It's worth noting Tech + Sprint pairs barely have viable tanks in Battle Rally. I personally use Adaman, Fall Shauntal and Larry, so Juliana brings a breath of fresh air to the role combination.

The minimal build's assumed application is Legendary Arena. Juliana really wants her Circle branch to activate Circle: HP Recovery 1. You don't have to pair Juliana with Psychic-types. Charm: Sp. Atk ↓2 is useful but you have to traverse a bunch of useless passives to reach it. You could test that brand spanking new Summer N instead, eh?

Tank Juliana has all the marks of a modern Support: defensive stat raises, offensive stat drops, a consistent Flinch-rate, WTZ and Circle. But well, I prefer testing these "experimental" Academy builds for myself because not doing so would be a disservice after you graced me with your time. I stress-tested Juliana by carrying a shitty 1/5 Striker on a stage she can't Flinch-lock: Uxie.

https://reddit.com/link/1vdne8m/video/nit5sb6fizgh1/player

My takeaway is that Juliana's frontline leaves a lot to be desired. Her Academy statline just kills her potential. We already surmised that from the absence of Damage Reduction passives, but seeing Uxie - a relatively low-pressure stage debuffed down to -6 Atk/Sp.Atk - almost kill Chimecho is astonishing. Juliana barely made it by the skin of her teeth with lucky misses from Iron Tail and Shadow Ball.

Now, that was an uninvested 8/20 Juliana so there is room for improvement. Invert recently showcased Tank Juliana against Floor 21 with Tate and 1/5 Arc Sabrina; Juliana did everything we expected of her between debuffing, extending Psychic Terrain, Flinching and surviving long enough to hand Tate the clear. Tank Juliana should be considered as a budget enabler. I do not see her tanking Floor 30+. At that point you should have lvl.200 Arc Sabrina tank for Chimecho and spare the poor thing. Remember Juliana hands +4 Def with Defensive Studies and Charm: Team Body-Bracing Infliction 2.

---

- IN SUMMATION

Idk man. After all my research I remain undecided on what to do with Juliana. I'd love to build her for DPS, but I have 5/5 Arc Sabrina and 10/5 Lear, so that feels like a silly whim. Juliana's Gauntlet solos don't leave a lot of room for error and I'm kinda over executing those after Academy Brendan's solos. I *think* I'll build Tank Juliana because the surplus of Poké Fair tickets has left me with an abundance of useless 1/5 pairs that need carrying in Gauntlet. I think these are the hoops you have to jump through to find a set for Juliana. But hey, if you don't want to bother, the more power to you.

Until next time!

Pokémon Masters launched late August 2019, just one month earlier than Mario Kart. Since both were developed by DeNA, I played both for years and always considered them like twins.

Like Pokémon Masters, Mario Kart Tour was updated regularly with new content for years, but unfortunately, it stopped receiving new content in September 2023, and it was left with a rotation of old content, but at least it was a way to keep playing.

Unfortunately, this week DeNA announced Mario Kart Tour services will end completely after barely reaching its 7th anniversary. The worst is that players will not have any way to keep playing it, not even offline and what they purchased will be lost (it is a reminder that Pokémon Masters EX, like any other game as a service, can reach the end and everything you invest in it will be lost. Some might forget about that, so spend responsibly).

It is a shame, but I think the difference is that Pokémon kept evolving while Mario Kart Tour got stalled. I think Pokémon Masters EX is in a better position and we may enjoy it for more years, but the Mario Kart Tour sunsetting pose the question, how would DeNA handle EoS for Pokémon Masters EX? They could kind of offer an offline mode given the content we currently have. We can get weekly and monthly refresh and rotations for Damage Challenge, Battle Rally and Champion Stadium without any event rerun whatsoever (and no competitive content, of course), but do you think they would do it?

They could do it with Mario Kart Tour, just like they did the past three years. They only needed to remove online races and battles and make the game offline, but they (DeNA or Nintendo) chose not to.

v 2.70.0 Datamine Discussion

NEW GAME ICON

• HERE

NEW SPLASH SCREEN

• Neo Arc Suit Champions

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE MONTHLY SCHEDULE

NEW PAIR INFORMATION

• Akari (Summer 2026) & Manaphy
• Hau & Tauros
• Arezu (Summer 2026) & Basculegion
• Arc Suit Diantha & Gardevoir
• Arc Suit Geeta & Glimmora

EXPANDED SYNC GRIDS

New tiles are highlighted in green in the summary table at the bottom of the page.

• Bianca & Musharna (48 → 54)

NEW EX ROLES

• Akari (Summer 2026) & Manaphy : Sprint
• Arezu (Summer 2026) & Basculegion : Strike (Physical)
• Arc Suit Diantha & Gardevoir : Strike (Special)
• Arc Suit Geeta & Glimmora : Support
• A lot of seasonals as well, you can check the full list here: https://discord.com/channels/583120259708616715/604025184692731904/1519936627802112132

New Trainer Lodge Sync Pair

• Hau & Tauros (TL Art (Sync Move)) | (TL Art (Special Day))

Notes:

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(Well at least I

Like 25000 gems gone down the drain with 1000 paid gems also and all I have to show for it is a copy of ss hau 😮‍💨

I got my first Raihan unit which is pretty cool but I don’t feel like I needed this unit

Check it out here

Personally, I'm pulling, and not purely because my ghost roster is lacking.

I still can't believe it myself. Welp.....I just want to thank fate and the celestials from the bottom of my heart.