MONSTROUS SET OF MONSTERS

Jestro
& The Book of Monsters

Jestro was once the jester of the royal court of Knighton, and unfortunately, not a very good one. He failed at being funny, and a certain disastrous comedy routine resulted in a kingdom wide power outage. Even worse, this power outage resulted in the release of the evil Book of Monsters, who decided to take Jestro under his wing and teach him how to be evil.

Literally corrupted by evil, and using the book’s power to summon an army of lava monsters, Jestro soon began his own personal quest of evil and destruction against the kingdom that shunned him. But, unknown to Jestro, the Book of Monsters had his own goal. Ages ago, the Book of Monsters was the evil necromancer Monstrox, who was defeated by having his body split into twelve different books. With Jestro as his pawn, Monstrox searches for the books, planning on using the hopeless jester as a new body.

Stats
Weight – 85
Running Speed – 1.7
Walking Speed – 1.1
Air Speed – 1
Fall Speed – 1.65

Jestro is, when standing straight, the size of Mario, mostly because he’s a LEGO figure, which all have the same homogenized size. However, Jestro is hunched over in his idle, making him slightly shorter than the plumber. Jestro’s stats personify the idea of a “squishy wizard”, with his best skill being his ability to run away. Jestro’s jumps are also rather unimpressive, though not truly awful by all means. He also carries around the Book of Monsters the entire time he’s in the match.

Also of note, nearly every attack has a bad joke Jestro can make. This usually happens about 1/10 times you use the attack. Don’t tell him the jokes are bad, that’s for the Book of Monsters to do.

Specials
Down Special – Bookkeeper
“Take this load off, will ya?”

Alright, first, we’re gonna have to jump forward a bit. See, Jestro’s Side Special has him throw the Book of Monsters, where he falls to the ground. We’ll get to just what that entails when we actually reach the move, but for right now, that’s all you need to know.

Jestro quickly waves his magic wand over the Book of Monsters, causing the Bookkeeper monster to appear in front of him in a burst of smoke. The smoke is a weak hitbox, causing minimal knockback and 2% damage. The actual summoning takes a rather lengthy time to do, about 40 frames, but only about half of them stop Jestro, as he can move around while the Bookkeeper appears. This applies to most of his minion summons.

The Bookkeeper monster is a rather chubby, demon looking monster. He stands at about Toon Link’s height, and shuffles forward at a very slow pace. As a minion, the Bookkeeper is nearly useless by himself. His pattern mostly involves running away from anyone who gets 2 Battlefield platforms close to him. His run speed is around the same as Jestro’s in fact! He also has no attacks, and has a rather pitiful 15% HP. So, why would you ever want to summon him?

Well, the Bookkeeper is one of the most important monsters in your surprisingly large roster. If the Book of Monsters is out of your hands, the Bookkeeper will head towards him, and pick him up. This turns the Book of Monsters himself into a sort of minion on his own, as the Bookkeeper will carry him around. Surprisingly, the Bookkeeper actually gets much faster while carrying around the book, and also a bit more reckless, mostly due to the BoM ordering him around. His HP is also increased to 50%, turning him into a bit of a tank, if a bit immobile and useless. Once he dies, the Bookkeeper will burst into smoke, dropping the book to the ground. This will come into play in a bit.

With the Book of Monsters in hand, the two gain a new set of abilities. Or rather, any set of abilities. If they get in range of an opponent, the Book of Monsters will activate a very simple melee attack where he swings his cover forward. It’s a rather short ranged attack, since he’s a book, but it is hitting someone with a hardcover book, so it deals a decent 6% damage, but still with very, very light knockback.

The second ability requires a bit of Jestro’s own input. See, most of Jestro’s attacks, minus the Specials, summon a different minion. While this is the case while the Book of Monsters is in the clown’s hand, Jestro himself also has his own attacks, which he can’t activate with a book in his hands. However, with the Book of Monsters in the Bookkeeper’s hands, Jestro will be able to both summon minions AND attack at the same time! The main downside of this is that each summon will take about 1.5x the amount of lag to complete.

Jestro can reclaim the BoM by pressing the input again while next to the Bookkeeper. The clown will, rather dickishly, push the monster over, catching the book as its dropped. This actually functions as a backwards hitbox, dealing 6% damage and minor knockback to whoever is in the Bookkeeper’s way. The range is decent, mostly because the Bookkeeper slides across the ground a bit, about half a Battlefield Platform. The lag on it is minimal, as Jestro pushes him over within a few frames, before being able to move on his own again.

So, what happens when you use this move while the Bookkeeper is out? Well, Jestro is a bit of a magic user on his own, so he has a handful of spells to make use of. Here, he’ll use that clone spell he read about in the Book of Deception!

With a wave of his wand, Jestro will create two purple, transparent copies of himself. They function rather simply, acting as Level 3 AI opponents, specifically of Jestro while he’s not carrying the Book of Monsters. The clones have 15% HP, and take reduced knockback, making them rather easy punching bags for opponents. The clones also have reduced damage output as well, only being able to cause half the damage Jestro is normally able to cause, and once we get to that, you’ll realize how awful that truly is. He can also have a total of 4 clones out at the same time. Clones are also not effected by any buffs seen later, as they are not technically part of the Book of Monster’s collection.

So, the clones also aren’t anything special. But, they come in handy, specifically at the start of a match. Jestro is, of course, looking to build an army, which he doesn’t start off with. It comes off a little flowchart-y, but it’s usually best to summon a few clones at the very start, as they can act as distractions while you get the Book of Monsters out of your hands and into the Bookkeeper’s. This is an integral part of Jestro’s gameplan.


Side Special – Throw the Book!
“Looks like you should HIT THE BOOKS! Wait, please do not actually do that.”

Jestro pulls his LEGO claw hand back, and then tosses the Book of Monsters forward. This will most likely cause the BoM to let out a line (“What are you doing!?” or even “AAAHHHHHH!”), but mostly acts as a bit of an odd projectile. The BoM doesn’t fly very far, about 2.5 Battlefield Platforms forward, but if it hits, it deals a surprisingly decent 10% damage, though the knockback itself is minimal. The lag on the throw is also pretty minimal as well, taking about 24 frames to complete.

So yeah, as mentioned above, book throwing attack. We’ve gone over the Bookkeeper’s own interactions with this, so what does throwing the Book of Monsters actually entail? Well, once the book hits the ground, it will open up, taking up about half a Battlefield Platform in size, and taking about 10 frames to complete. The BoM isn’t actually a solid construct, as opponents can wal through him if they want. During this, he actually functions very similarly to how it does when the Bookkeeper is holding him, as using an attack that summons a minion will cause the BoM to summon up that monster simultaneously, with the exact same lag. So, why have the Bookkeeper again?

Well, as Jestro says in his bad joke while using this move, the opponent can literally hit the book. The Book of Monsters takes knockback equivalent to a low middleweight character at 0%, and does not actually have any HP. But, if the Book of Monsters is hit off a stage, it will be KOed, complete with a final yell of anger (“You really are a clown!”). This is, obviously, not something Jestro wants to happen. The BoM being KOed will result in every monster currently on stage to be instantly destroyed, no matter their percentages. The book will reappear in jestro’s hands after about 10 seconds of being KOed, however.

This is why you want the Bookkeeper out, as he takes very minimal knockback while carrying the book, due to their combined weight, and the gracious 50% HP can keep him out for a long while before dropping him.

While opponents can’t pick the BoM off of the ground, Jestro can, simply acting like a basic item. You’re going to want to pick up the book, as you can’t re-summon a monster instantly, you have to grab the book yourself before you can do that! The Book of Monsters is the centerpiece of Jestro’s set, and he needs to protect it at all cost.

So, obviously, this attack needs to do something while the Book of Monsters isn’t in your hand, right? Maybe Jestro has another spell he can use? Well, not exactly. Using the attack again will cause Jestro to pull out a different book, one of six different evil books that formerly made up Monstrox’s body. The other half of the twelve weren’t considered worthy of getting actual toy releases.
Holding the input will cause Jestro to hold his LEGO claw hand to his chin, the symbols of the six books cycling above his head. The order of the books goes like so:

Chaos -> Evil -> Deception -> Fear -> Revenge -> Destruction

It takes around 5 frames for the symbols to cycle, and as soon as you let go, Jestro will pull out the selected book. If you don’t hold the input, it will immediately default to the Book of Chaos, or whichever book is next in the order if you started by selecting one.
These books, when thrown, behave exactly like the Book of Monsters when thrown, unsurprisingly. However, there are a few more unique aspects to them. Before we get to that, we’ll have to cover what happens when you throw a book AT the Book of Monsters.

This only works while he’s being carried by the Bookkeeper, another reason you’ll want him out. If a book that isn’t the BoM (An impossible feat, considering you can only have one of him out) hits the front of the two’s hitbox (Meaning BoM’s cover), the Book of Monsters will open his mouth wide as it flies in. He’ll quickly gobble the book down, taking about 20 frames, before gulping, glowing with a color related to the book he just swallowed. This actually grants certain buffs and unique abilities to any monsters summoned, which we’ll cover, as there is more to these books than just being book chow. Also, monster affected by the books will glow with the book’s specific color while active.

First, the Book of Chaos, grey in color. Each book has a specific power when it hits the ground, and the BoC’s cause it to summon a tornado… at first. We’ll get to that in a second. The tornado is about as wide as the book, and as tall as Ganondorf, but remains stationary. The tornado has rather decent suction on players, but has incredible suction when it comes to summoned monsters, as they will usually be sucked in instantly. After about a second of spinning, the tornado will explode, launching any captured monsters, as well as turning them into ice blocks.

The ice blocks, which still have the monsters visible inside them, are basically the size of monster, but trapped inside Stage Builder Blocks modified to fit them. The launching is actually fairly generous, even though it launches them at completely random trajectories, they will never go off the stage. The ice blocks, while flying, act as projectiles, causing 1%/5%/10%, depending on the size of the monster.

The tornado has a rather specific carrying capacity. It can carry monsters based on their size. Each monster has a specific size that only corresponds to this tornado. Small monsters have 1, while medium sized monsters have a 2, and large monsters have a 5. The tornado can only carry up to 10, which means, for example, it could carry 10 small monsters, or 2 large monsters. The tornado will specifically avoid sucking up the Bookkeeper.

After about 25 frames, the ice blocks will melt, freeing the monster and having their pattern reset. This leaves a patch of water on the ground, which is mostly cosmetic, but does reduce traction for the second it exists. Fire attacks can melt the ice blocks instantly, making it a bit quicker if you bother.

The tornado, if an opponent hits it, while perform rather decent knockback, KOing at 150%, while also dealing 12% damage. The suction is fairly weak, and the opponent can easily dodge through it as well. This is mostly used to shuffle up where you want your monsters to be.

Now, when the Book of Monsters eats the Book of Chaos, it will give any monsters it summons after a buff. 1.5x to damage and knockback, in fact, but it will also give the monsters, for lack of a better term, friendly fire. All of their attacks can now harm Jestro, even though they will never directly go after him. There is a way to get around this somewhat, but that’s for later. Also, eating another book will cause whatever effect it has to be overwritten with the new one.

Next, the Book of Evil, purple in color. When thrown, the Book of Evil will open up, and… nothing happens. Well, not until an opponent of monster passes over it. When someone passes it, a black blob will fly out and cover whoever passed by, turning them into a pure black, red eyed version of themselves. During this time, if you pass an object that is capable of taking damage, you will instantly attack, no matter what. This doesn’t activate specials, but rather standard (Or aerials if you are in the air, obviously).

The attack will have a 2x damage buff to it, but will also have twice the end lag, as the darkness dissipates, stunning the opponent. This mainly becomes a problem when you’re trying to dodge or do some trickery, as you will always exit any animation to perform an attack. This not only effects opponents and monsters, but also Jestro himself, making this somewhat of a problem for everyone. If you want to pick the book up, this is something you’ll have to put up with. Oh yeah, and this also grants friendly fire to your minions, even if just for one attack.

The range of the Book of Evil’s influence is fairly large as well, having a radius of about 1 Battlefield Platform on either side, as well as one and a half Ganondorf’s above it. Evil spreads, don’t you know?

When eaten, the Book of Evil will cause any monster summoned, excluding the Bookkeeper, to suddenly become much more reckless in battle. Monsters will now ignore all dangers in order to kill the opponent.  Monsters will ignore ledges if an opponent is attempting to recover, going in for a suicide kill, even if it’s against all common sense. It also gives them a 1.5x buff to damage.

The Book of Deception is next, yellow representing it. The Book of Deception’s effect becomes immediately obvious as soon as it hits the ground, as it simply vanishes, around 5 different monsters suddenly appearing around the stage! Sweet deal, 5 monsters for a single book throw? Well, not exactly.

They move like monsters, and they walk like monsters, but something is immediately off about them. For one, they’re destroyed instantly by any attacks. Pretty big tell. Second, they only deal 1% damage for each attack, and only have the monster’s basic melee attack, if they have any other moves other than that.

Yes, the Book of Deception creates deceptive illusions of your monsters. Not particularly useful, but a bit of a good distraction. So, where exactly did the book disappear to? Pretty simple, it will reappear once an illusion monster is destroyed… Every time one is destroyed, actually. Now you have a bunch of Books of Deception littering the stage, and only one of them is the real thing! Trying to interact with the fake books in any way, whether that be attacking it or trying to pick it up, will result in it exploding, at about 1/4th the strength and size of a Bob-Omb’s explosion. The fake books actually have higher priority than anything else your opponent can attack, even opponents themselves! And, the explosion only affects those who hit it.

You can see where that’s going. If you don’t, they make effective traps, as you can lure opponents to them, only for their attacks to literally blow up in their faces.

When eaten, any monsters summoned afterwards will have a bit of an odd effect. When destroyed, the monsters will burst into smoke like normal… only to suddenly reappear 4 seconds later. Surprise, they weren’t actually destroyed, it was a trick! However, they are only brought back with 1/3rd of their health, so that might be an issue.

Halfway through, hope you haven’t been scared off yet, because the Book of Fear is up next! Its color is blue. When thrown, the Book of Fear will summon a radius of darkness around it, approximating at about half the size of a Smart Bomb explosion. If an opponent walks through the dark aura, they will be slowed down to half speed on everything for the next 2 seconds. This is caused by them seeing their greatest fear while in the radius, making them a bit shaken and terrified. On top of that, during this time, attacks will cause a third of the damage as well!

Luckily for everyone, even the Book of Fear is terrified of itself, and will periodically close every 5 seconds. This gives Jestro a perfect opportunity to pick it up again.

When eaten, the Book of Fear will cause all monsters to become very scary to opponents. You can’t see it, but through their eyes, they see their worst fears. This makes them skittish, as they will now automatically jump whenever they get within 1 Battlefield Platform close to them, as well as halting them in their tracks for a second. As soon as their jump reaches its full height, they can move again, which means they can attack the monster after.

This can become a problem on ledges, of course, as instead of jumping, they will instead halt in the air, but will be able to move after 2 Kirbys worth of falling. Monsters do generally tend to avoid edges, however, so this takes some manipulating to pull off. As a downside, after this jump, opponents will become more alert, and their next attack will cause 1.5x damage.

The Book of Revenge, green in color. When opened, it acts similarly to the Book of Evil, doing nothing until someone passes by it. When that happens, a claw mark will appear over their head, but still, nothing will happen. It only truly activates when the afflicted character is hit by an attack. After this, the character will glow green. This effect gives them a 2x damage AND knockback boost to their next attack… but only against whoever hit them before it activated.

In the case of minions, they will completely ignore any pattern they had going, and instead rush towards that opponent, seeking to use this opportunity to KO them. For players, they’ll also want to make use of it, and while monsters tend to use whatever, you have the power of actually having a brain! Obviously, whiffing this and wasting it id pretty disappointing.

When eaten, the Book of Revenge actually doesn’t have an effect until you summon a monster who has previously been destroyed. After this, the monster will act as normal, but specifically prioritize the opponent who killed it previously. They actually gain a permanent buff against that opponents, 1.5x knockback and damage, which lasts until they get killed by a different opponent.
The downside here is mostly that, sometimes, prioritizing opponents won’t actually be helpful.  Monsters being more reckless, especially in a pinch, can also be a problem as well.

Finally, we have the Book of Destruction, colored orange. This is probably one the most simple of the books. When thrown open, the book will begin launching fireballs out of it, at various arcs. The fireballs can target basically any part of the stage (minus those under short flying platforms), making it a menace to basically anyone. The fireballs are around the size of Mario’s except they obviously don’t move in the same pattern. The book fires a fireball every half second, meaning every 30 frames.

The Book of Destruction will specifically target destroyable items and structures. If the item is something like a crate or barrel, the fireballs will completely obliterate it, including any items inside. The fireballs deal 10% damage, with knockback that can KO in the early 100%s. This, unfortunately, also affects Jestro and his monsters.

An eaten Book of Destruction results in some very destructive destructions, if you know what I mean. And if you don’t, here’s a run down. After a monster is destroyed, instead of dissipating into smoke, it will instead explode, though the explosions aren’t as strong as the fireballs. They only cause about 7% damage, but still do admirable knockback. The radius is equivalent to about half the size of a Bob-Omb’s explosion, and it basically happens as soon as the monster’s HP hits zero. Again, the main downside here is that this can harm Jestro and the Book of Monsters, even though they can’t kill monsters.

Congrats, you just read a lot about a bunch of books. And guess what, we’re not done yet! Well, we’re done for now, but each evil book corresponds to one of Jestro’s Scourges, his evil generals and main forces of evil. We’ll cover each of them soon enough, but for right now, all you need to know is that each has their own special abilities relating to the books. Also, celebrate that you’ve read this far, and then realize you’ve only read two moves.

It’s the Book of Monsters, EVERYTHING is a monster!

Neutral Special – Knock-Blast
“Hey, just back off!”

Jestro pulls his staff backwards, causing it to glow black and red. He then swings it forward, launching a purple fireball forward. The fireball travels at a respectable pace, not fast, but not slow either, able to travel Battlefield in 3 seconds, for example. The size of the fireball is large, almost the size of Jestro himself. The firing is rather laggy as well, specifically the pull back. This is important, however.

If the fireball hits an opponent, they will take 7% damage with knockback that can KO at 150%. Decent, but not really that impressive for such a slow moving, large projectile. That’s because that isn’t what its meant to be used for, dummy! First off, you need to input a direction while Jestro pulls his staff back. Inputting forward will cause the fireball to turn red (A solid red, not a fiery red), while inputting backwards will cause it to turn black. This is relative to which direction Jestro is facing.

This grants the fireballs different, but similar, effects. While red, the fireball causes some incredible knockback, but in a rather unique way. Instead of launching the opponent, it instead acts more as if they were jumping. They can activate their second jumps and recovery, both of which halt any momentum as well. The same goes for when its black, only the knockback is angled forward rather than backwards. In both cases, the damage is lowered to 3%.

So, what is the point of this? Well, it’s pretty obvious, actually. Your minions are affected by the move, and grants you a fairly easy way to move them around the stage. It also doesn’t damage them, so hooray for that. This comes in useful for some minions, which we’ll get to in a bit. There’s a lot going on here, alright?

But yeah, there is the risk of accidentally knocking monsters off the edge of the stage, but luckily for you, the monsters might be dumb, but they have survival instincts. If any monster (Well, any with a jump, we’ll get to that in a second) goes past the edge while affected by the fireball’s knockback, they will instantly use their jump as they cross over in what usually winds up being a successful recovery. If a monster has an aerial attack, they will usually perform it during the flight as well.

This generally acts as an order to a monster that they are needed somewhere else, and they’ll begin their unique patterns on the new part of the stage. This is an important part of Jestro’s magical arsenal, due to the rather limited natures of most of his monstrous minions. Of course, those recovery rates aren’t always 100%, so you’ll still need to be careful when using it. Its not a move to use willy-nilly, as it also has a fair amount of end lag, making a whiff pretty bad. The start-up lag can also be a problem.

Up Special – Up in Smoke
“Now you see me, now you don’t! …And now you do!”

Jestro waves his staff around, before stamping it into the ground, causing him to disappear in a puff of purple smoke. A few frames later, he reappears. The puff acts as a hitbox that deals 3% damage and minor knockback, and Jestro always reappears with another wave of his staff, which acts as another hitbox that deals 5% damage and decent upwards knockback.

As a recovery, this acts exactly like Farore’s Wind, having the same adjustable angles and distances to it, but is also a lot weaker, mostly due to Jestro being neither strong at magic, nor physically. The swing of his staff at the end basically works as a “Get off” move, and can’t combo as well as Farore’s Wind. Well, not at first, at least.

Thee is a tiny bit more to this rather simple move. If its used next to a monster, they monster will teleport alongside you. This acts as an alternate way of transporting monsters around, but there is a bit of extra lag added on as well. The Knock-Blast is better for a few reasons, but this spell should mainly be used for recovery and… not much else beyond that. Jestro really isn’t built that much for air.


Standards
Jab – Gobs of Globlins!
“You’ll have a ball with these guys!”

Since we’re out of the specials and into the summons, let’s start off with something simple, shall we? Jestro opens up the Book of Monsters, and waves his wand over it, causing a small, round monster to pop out of the book fairly quickly, taking about 5 frames. This is a Globlin, and they’re basically the Goombas of your army. The act of summoning them functions as a weak hitbox, dealing 4%. The hitbox exists as they hop from the book to the ground.

Globlins are small, weak, and dumb. They’re completely round, about 2/3rds the size of Kirby, and just as viable. They are potentially the lightest things in the game, matched with Pikmin. Their pattern consists of hopping around the platform they were summoned on at an admittedly fast pace, and performing a biting attack that leaves them latched on to the opponent, much like when a Pikmin is thrown. The Bite deals 3% damage on the first hit, and 1% for every half second the Globlin remains, but like a Pikmin, it can be shaken off easily.

Globlins are also weak, only having 5% stamina. They get killed incredibly quickly, and when they do, they explode into a small puddle of lava, which stays on stage for 1.5 seconds before vanishing. If an opponent touches it, they will take slight upward knockback, as well as 3% damage. It really isn’t something difficult to avoid, as it only takes up as much space as a Globlin usually does.

But them dying easily isn’t a problem. See, since Globlins are so weak and simple, you can have a total of 10 on stage at the same time. That’s right, TEN of the little lava loogies. They are your main infantry support during your set up period, given how quickly they can be summoned. In fact, if you mash the jab, you can summon all 10 out fairly quickly. Of course, their lack of, well, any damage potential or killing power makes them more of a distraction as you set other monsters up first.

Something to note is if a projectile or attack that does more than 5% hits a Globlin, it will continue as it normally does, potentially being able to kill another Globlin. This doesn’t act as a refresh if the projectile has limited distance, however. Another aspect of the Globlins is that they make good projectiles. If launched into the air by, say, your NSpec, they will catch on fire and become hitboxes that deal 7% damage. They still retain their health, and a well-placed attack can destroy one. Globlins are also the only monster where multiple of them can be affected by the NSpec, meaning you could functionally create a flying wall of them if you can gather them all up. Which, trust me, is a thing you’ll be able to do.

So, what if you want your Globlins to be a bit… more? Less stupid, a bit bigger, and more powerful? Well, that’s something you can do too! If you gather 10 Globlins in the same area (They simply have to be touching each other) and then hold the jab button down, they will begin to glow and fuse together, transforming from 10 simple Globlins into a much larger Bloblin!

The act of Globlin fusing is rather laggy, but you only need to hold the button for 10 frames before the fusion continues on its own. The total process takes about 30 frames to complete, and the Globlins aren’t invincible during this period either. If the fusion is interrupted by an attack that does more than 15% damage, the Globlins will explode out, and be instantly killed upon their landing… which means there will be lava all over the stage, so win-lose.

Now, onto the Bloblin itself. Size wise, its about the size of a Party Ball, slightly bigger, in fact. It isn’t a perfectly round sphere, so it can be a bit hard to tell. It has a respectable 25% stamina as well. They roll around at a mediocre speed, especially compared to the Globlin’s normal speed, but leave a trail of lava behind them as they move. This functions exactly the same as the lava created when a Globlin dies, only now it disappears after half a second.

Bloblins have their own attack as well. They rear up, and then leap into the air, slamming back down into the ground half a Battlefield platform in front of them. Its somewhat laggy to start, but it has some serious power behind it, doing 12% and knockback that can KO at 130%. Unfortunately, the bad start-up and end lag can put a downfall in making it actually useful. The Bloblin only uses this move if an opponent is standing a Battlefield platform away, while Globlins only use their bites when they’re directly next to an opponent.

Bloblins still count as ten Globlins, meaning that you can’t have more of them until the Bloblin is killed. Of course, you probably won’t use a Bloblin directly at the start of the match. The lag makes it too risky. Bloblins are best saved until later in the match, when you have some Scourges running around to keep opponents distracted. Also, when a Bloblin is killed, it will explode in basically the same manner as when it gets interrupted, launching the ten Globlins across the stage, where they then explode.

Oh yeah, Jestro needs an actual jab here, huh? Well, if the Book of Monsters is out of your hands, or you’ve summoned 10 Globlins, you can then actually bother using it. The jab is very simple, but certainly fitting for Jestro, as he swings his staff in a slightly awkward, terrified way. Jestro really does not like having to deal with things himself.

The staff doesn’t have an incredibly range to it, as its simply swung form left to right. This isn’t even an infinite jab either, but it can be used rapidly. Its kind of a “Oh god get away” kind of move if an opponent gets in too close to your face. There’s about 2 frames of lag in between each swing, making not as rapid as one might hope. The swipe is also pretty weak, dealing 4% damage, but having some alright knockback, just enough for Jestro to escape from opponents who have low percents.

Down Tilt – Scurry on, Scurriers!
“Scurry on, before you get hurt!”

Jestro plants the BoM on the ground, open, and waves his staff over it. A Scurrier appears from the book, and swings the weapon its carrying forward, thrusting its weapon forward. This is rather quick, and causes 7% damage, but the overall lag is more noticeable than the Globlin’s summoning. Important to note, if Jestro is hit before the monster completes its initial attack, the summon will be cancelled. The knockback is basically just a quick poke, but it gives enough time for a Scurrier to, uh, scurry away.

If Globlins are your Goombas, Scurriers are your Koopas. They’re small, about as tall as Kirby, but not as wide. You can only have 3 Scurriers on the stage at a given time. As given by their name, they are very quick, almost as fast as Sonic. Despite their speed, they have very little health 10% to be exact, so they can be easily defeated with a single jab combo. Opponents will have to catch them first, as Scurriers aren’t exactly the bravest of monsters. They prefer to gather in groups, either with other Scurriers, or with stronger monsters.

Scurriers each carry a weapon, which comes in three entirely aesthetic flavors, those being a spear, a sword, or an axe. They all act the same way, giving the Scurrier a fairly simple, but quick, melee attack. It behaves exactly the same as a standard swing from a Beam Sword, but has less range due to it not having the stretching model of the Beam Sword. It deals 4% damage, and slight knockback. Scurriers prefer to use this attack when grouped together.

If your 3 Scurriers manage to surround an opponent, which is how Scurriers operate while grouped with each other, this won’t result in an infinite combo. If a Scurrier (Or Scurriers) manage to hit an opponent 3 times in quick succession, they will be launched, giving the opponent an chance to escape. If a Scurrier is launched into the air, they’ll perform a different attack where they wave their weapon around in a circle. It has decent range, and causes upward knockback with 5% damage. Its only a few frameslong, of course, but decent for approaches.

If a Scurrier is hit, and goes under 5% health, their weapon will be destroyed. This makes them more pathetic, as they will now actively run away from opponents, even if there are other groups of monsters running around. They have a new attack, only used when an opponent is in front of them. It is a weak, but quick, punch that deals 2% and deals basically no knockback. Basically, useless, but its something.

So, when your Scurriers are basically useless, there is a way to supplement it, but only if you have items on. Any Scurrier without a weapon will go after any melee weapons laying around, and replace their destroyed weapons with them. The weapons get debuffed, only doing about half damage, and only get the basic jab swing.

Speaking of, Scurriers have an attraction to items as well, and love to pilfer them. This isn’t exclusive to actual items, but also prop items, like Wario’s bike. They will generally try to bring items to Jestro, even if he can’t use them while carrying a book. It’s a decent way to give your opponents a disadvantage during chaotic regular matches.

Scurriers are, after Goblins, your main infantry, even if there’s less you can do with them. They are stronger, actually being able to cause knockback, and have better HP. They can act as supports for your stronger, slower monsters, and are fairly decent for starting up matches.

For the actual Down Tilt, Jestro simply stamps his staff against the ground, causing a minor shockwave effect that just covers Jestro’s sides. It has minor upward knockback, deals 6%, and lasts a few frames. This makes it very spammable, like DK’s DSpec, only a bit less useful from an actual attack standpoint. It does, however, have another use.

Any monster within a Smart Bomb level radius will drop everything in order to regroup to where Jestro is. The only way they can be stopped is if they’re hit, which will reset their pattern. If they do manage to reach Jestro, their patterns will be reset there. Also, as a blanket statement I should address, each monster has a single, decent jump, and will usually pathfind their way towards the clown.

Dash Attack – Ash Attacker, Dash Attacker
“Have a dash of ash!”

During his dash animation, Jestro actively halts, thrusting the Book of Monsters forward and waving his staff. Out of the book comes a burst of black ash, which acts as a hitbox that deals rapid flinching damage to the opponent. It causes 4 hits of 2%, totalling up to 8%. However, this isn’t all, as the ash begins to form into an Ash Attacker in a fairly laggy process. It takes about 10 frames, and if it is hit during that, then it will be instantly destroyed, though it causes a burst of ash AOE attack that has some significant kick to it, as well as deals 4% damage.

Ash Attackers are the first of your three rather standard foot soldier monsters. They stand at the standard Minifig height (meaning they’re as tall as Jestro himself), but are a lot lighter, being made out of ash. This both means they aren’t particularly good at taking a hit, launch wise, and are fairly light on their feet, though not as fast as Scurriers. You can have 2 Ash Attackers on stage at once.

Ash Attackers like to keep their distance from opponents, but only a short distance away from them. This plays into their mid-ranged style. Ash Attackers are armed with spears, also made from volcanic ash, and are their main way of attacking. The attack is a simple poke with their spear, which is relatively quick and has decent range, due to being a spear. It has decent knockback for a poke, and deals 7% damage.

The Ash Attacker’s second attack has it blowing a cloud of ash at opponents. This is much laggier than the spear, taking 9 frames to finish. This is made up for by the cloud, which is around 2/3rds the size of Bowser, lingering around for a solid 5 seconds. It isn’t technically a hitbox, as it causes no knockback, but every frame an opponent remains in it, they will take 1% damage. As soon as they leave the cloud, they will become half as 2/3rds as slow as usual, due to the ash getting caught in their eyes. It lasts about 1.5 seconds, but gives an Ash Attacker enough time to follow up on the attack. Despite allowing two Ash Attackers, there can only be one of these clouds on stage at a time.

If launched into the air, Ash Attackers will quickly let out a puff of ash, which trails behind them, leaving a cloud in the sky. Its smaller than the cloud created on the ground, and is formed in an arching shape rather than a circular shape. It lasts only half a second before it fizzles out, but it behaves the same.

Ash Attackers have a relatively decent 15% HP, the weakest of the three foot soldiers. When an Ash Attacker is destroyed, it will enter a rather long animation where it starts convulsing. During this period, since it has no health, it is completely invincible. After this animation, it explodes into a cloud of ash, slightly larger than the one it can create, about twice the size in fact. It behaves exactly the same, however, aside from the explosion acting as its own hitbox that causes some rather impressive knockback, being able to KO in the early 100%s, as well as 15% damage. The death animation is long enough for the assaulting opponent to get out of the way long before it happens, however, though hitting an opponent into one before it explodes is a rewarding, if difficult, move to pull off.

As for the actual attack Jestro can use when not able to summon, its fairly pathetic. The clown stumbles, and falls flat on his face. While this may seem like slapstick on the jester’s part, this is entirely unintentional, it just keeps happening. This acts almost exactly the same as Dedede’s dash attack, as he slides a bit forward on his face, becoming a hitbox. The main difference is that, since Jestro isn’t a heavyset penguin, it isn’t as powerful, only dealing 8% damage with very weak knockback.

It does, however, help Jestro in approaches, as it has surprisingly little end lag, and the reduced height during the fall allows most projectiles to fly right over him. Of course, Jestro isn’t much of a fighter on his own, but hitting opponents with certain summon attacks can be important.

Forward Tilt – Whip it, Whiparella!
“Hey, whip it good!”

Now, we’ve covered the basics. Time to get into some advanced monsters, the first of our Scourges! Jestro holds the Book of Monsters out, and waves his staff, causing Whiparella to appear. She rears up for a moment, and then performs a three hit combo with her dual whips. The start up lag is the only laggy part of this attack, as the actual lashes come out fast an furious. The only one that causes knockback is the third strike, which is above average, but nothing impressive. The first two strikes cause 2% damage, while the last one causes 4%, totalling at 8%.

Whiparella stands at Jestro’s height, but has a slightly elongated hitbox due to her snake tail. She isn’t especially fast, however, but is heavy, and is difficult to launch. Her stamina is decent, 30%. When Whiparella spawns, and finishes her attack, she will actually spawn her own minion, a Spider Globlin. This looks like, well, a Globlin with spider legs. They stand around waist high to her, and simply follow her around, staying to the side of her model. They don’t actually do anything on their own, mostly acting as an extension of Whiparella herself.

Whiparella likes to keep close tabs on opponents, but still likes to keep her distance… at least, enough distance for her whips to still hit. Staying close to a foe can help her get a better read on them for later.

Each Scourge has a host of attacks compared to the normal minions. First, there’s her normal attack, which is a quick lash from her whips. A singular one this time, which deals 7% damage, with decent knockback. The whips have decent range, being whips, reaching out about 1 full Battlefield platform.

Next are her special attacks. Each Scourge is armed with a Shield of Absorption, which allows them to use the powers of the NEXO Knights. In Whiparella’s case, she wears it on her back. Special attacks are signified by the shield glowing. Each Scourge has 3 different special moves, so let’s get started.

The first is the Sour Strike. Whiparella starts glowing green, and begins to slither about, leaving a trail of green smoke behind her. This smoke is toxic, and any opponent who walks through it will take 2% damage every other frame. The smoke is actually separated in half a Battlefield platform sections, of which Whiparella can leave behind a maximum of 10. The smoke only starts to clear when the move finishes, which happens when she either dies using it, or lays out all 10. If they stack, then the opponent will not take double damage, that’d be stupid. The smoke clears after 1.5 seconds after the move ends.

The second special move is the Slime Blast. Whiparella’s whips begin to glow green this time, as she halts in her tracks. She then lashes them forward rapidly, creating a shower of green slime that fires forward. The slime fires in rather random arcs, but will always leave behind a green puddle, about the size of a full Battlefield platform. Whiparella can only fire 3 of them out at a time, however. The slime balls are about 2/3rds the size of Kirby, and have a pretty fast travel arc, only taking long if they get fired directly into the air. The puddles cause 3% every third frame someone stands in them, while the slime balls cause 7% damage with decent knockback if an opponent is hit by them. The puddles disappear after 2 seconds, once the move ends.

The final special move for Whiparella is the Funky Fungus. She lashes a whip forward, firing a small, purple projectile forward. When it hits the ground, a purple mushroom spawns, which also results in an odd purple aura that covers about half of Battlefield.  This is yet another AOE attack, obviously, which deals a similar 2% damage every other frame someone stands in it. Fortunately, despite it having a much larger, more precise area of effect, the purple orb flies in a very precise arc as well. The projectile is incredibly weak, dealing 2% damage and no knockback if it manages to hit an opponent. It has to be used precisely in order to get maximum effect.
But, how can you use it precisely when you don’t have any control of it? Sheesh, hold onto your briefs, we’ll get to that soon enough!
There’s also her attack when launched, where she whips her tail downwards. This is incredibly quick, and causes a pretty decent bounce if it manages to connect. It deals 8% damage when it hits as well.

We’re not done yet, because we still have to cover Whiparella’s ability when she uses the Book of Fear! In order for a Scourge to activate their respective book’s power, they need to be given the book itself. Instead of grabbing the book, it will be absorbed into them. When given the book, a Scourge will have the special ability granted by it until they die. The book is unusable until this happens, too.

When given the Book of Fear, Whiparella’s whips will glow purple. Now, her lash attack causes a pretty major effect on the opponent. The Spider Globlin next to her will transform into a shadowy duplicate of them, and begin to relentlessly chase the opponent. The shadow copy is an embodiment of their fears. The copy can only use basic attacks (In the case of a double against Jestro, it can only use his basic attacks, no summons). The copy lasts 7 seconds before it vanishes, or until it takes 10% damage from the foe. It cannot be hurt if other opponents are involved, however.

Now that we’re done with that, we can move on to Jestro’s rather simple FTilt. He simply juts the staff outward, with decent range, and surprisingly decent knockback as well. It deals 7% damage, and has a turn around effect. This applies to your monsters, as if you use it on one, it will cause their pattern to reset, just with them facing the other way. This can be useful for approaches, or quick getaways, if the need be.

Up Tilt – Leave it to Lavaria!
“Let’s get hot, Lavaria!”

Jestro holds the Book of Monsters up, and waves his wand, causing Lavaria to leap out of it, spinning her dual sided dagger. The attack hits in a directly upwards motion, and can actually be used to KO if you plan it well enough, due to the knockback being fairly decent. The attack hits three times if you get an opponent from the start of it, each hit dealing 3% damage, and the final hit being the one that launches. Lavaria has a bit of a pull once she is summoned, and can knock taller opponents into the air from the start of the move if they’re close enough. This is the absolute fastest of any Scourge’s summoning attack, but there is still a bit of end lag where Lavaria can be KOed.

Lavaria is fast, probably the fastest of the scourges. In response, she is incredibly light as well, and only has 20% stamina. Lavaria likes to stay behind opponents, and will actively distance herself from opponents. She only goes in for her main attack when the coast seems completely clear, which basically means when they are distracted.

Lavaria’s main attack is throwing her dual sided dagger forward, like a boomerang. It flies forward a bit, spinning, reaching about 1 Battlefield platform and hovering for a solid 7 frames before returning to Lavaria. During this time, the dagger is a hitbox that deals 8% damage, and has diagonal upward knockback. During this time, Lavaria can still move around, and will actively try to get away to increase the blade’s travel distance. It actually returning to her can take a while if it gets far enough, however.

Lavaria also has special attacks, surprise. The first is the Beetle Bomb. Lavaria lets out a red aura, summoning two Lava Scarabs, which are small scarab monsters. They will appear form the ground with some lag, and almost instantly head towards the nearest opponent on both sides of Lavaria. Once they reach the opponent, which won’t take that long since they are pretty quick, or if 10 seconds pass, they will begin to glow. After 7 frames of flashing, they will explode, with half the power of a Bob-Omb, but around the same size. They leave behind lava puddles that act the same as the puddles Globlins leave behind. The Scarabs are about as tall as Scurriers, but have a rather elongated model due to their beetle nature. They can also begin their explosion effect by being hit, and they can be hit even while counting down.

The second is Incinerate. Lavaria’s dagger glows red, and she thrusts it forward, firing a stream of flame from it. The fire reaches forward about 1 Battlefield platform, and Lavaria can move around while using it, but at 1/3rd of her usual speed. It acts fairly similar to Bowser’s flame breath, dealing several hits of 2% if the opponent gets caught in it. The flame only lasts about 1.5 seconds before it finishes with a final burst of flame that launches any opponents within the area of the fire, and deals 5% damage.

The final special move is Venom Bite. Lavaria’s dagger glows green, and she quickly dashes forward a full Battlefield platform. Opponents hit by the attack are launched into the air and take 6% damage, but also gain a sickly green aura. They have been poisoned, and now take 2% damage every other frame for the next 40 frames. The attack is relatively quick, happening nearly instantaneously compared to most of the monster’s special moves.

Lavaria also has an aerial attack where she swings her dagger around in a circle, causing upward knockback, as well as dealing 5% damage. It only encompasses half the blade, making it that the blade only sticks out a bit while she’s spinning.

Lavaria’s special book is the Book of Deception. Giving it to her will cause her to let out a laugh, and then dash towards the nearest opponent, and strike them with her dagger. This causes minimal knockback, and only deals 3%, but without any lag, Lavaria will have suddenly transformed into an exact copy of the opponent she hit, complete with player number floating above her head. Lavaria is a master of disguise, after all!

This effect lasts about 7 seconds, and acts as a shield for Lavaria, meaning she can take an extra 20% damage while in it. Once that is drained, she’s returned to her normal form, with however much health she had left. During this period, Lavaria has access to all the opponent’s basic moves (Again, in the case of a Jestro double, no summoning moves). This can mainly be used to trip opponents up.

For Jestro’s own UTilt, he simply waves the staff above his head in a circular motion. This is a very simple move, but deals 3 hits of 2% if the opponent gets caught in it.  It has rather large range as well, reaching almost Jestro’s entire height. Its fairly quick too, taking a few frames to start and end.


Smashes
Up Smash – Crust Smasher, Smash!
“Now that’s what I call smashing!”

Jestro opens up the Book of Monsters, and waves his wand over it during the charging animation. Once the move activates, a Crust Smasher appears, and performs a three hit combo. The first is a left hook, then a right hook, and then an uppercut. The hooks deal 5-7% depending on the charge, while the uppercut deals 6-8%. The hook has rather great upwards knockback, as the Crust Smasher is one of the more powerful soldiers you can summon. It can kill as early as 120%.

Crust Smashes, as I mentioned above, are very strong, and not just physically. They can take 35% damage, the most of the three foot soldiers, but is extremely heavy. They are also fairly slow, to go along with the whole heavyweight thing.

The Crust Smasher’s standard attack is a heavy, laggy punch. It has ridiculous start up lag, but is an absolute killer, dealing 13% damage, and is able to kill well before 100%, in the early 90%s at the very least. Fortunately for opponents, the start-up lag really is that bad, but hitting a Crust Smasher while its performing it won’t cause the animation to stop. Its kind of like super armor, but his health still gets drained.

Once a Crust Smasher’s health is downed by half, a very visible crack will appear on his stomach print. Out of it spills lava, which trails behind the Crust Smasher as it moves around. It behaves like the Globlin’s lava does, but has a significantly larger area of effect, as it isn’t restricted to small puddles. It clears a lot faster, however, taking about a half second for a standard puddle size of it to disappear.

The Crust Smasher’s aerial attack is a downward double handed punch, a lot like DK’s DAir. It acts as a meteor smash, causing pretty heavy downwards knockback if it hits directly from above. It causes 12% damage, but has a rather laggy start, for an aerial attack.

Crust Smashers are one of the more aggressive assets in your monstrous army, and will actively go after opponents, usually trying to land their main attack on them. Though its likely they will fail, their ability to create pools of lava is helpful in certain situations, particularly on flatter stages.

Jestro’s own USmash has him wave his staff around during the charge animation, where it begins to glow purple. He then thrusts it into the air, and fires a series of purple projectiles upwards. 5 of them are fired, and fly in very specific arcs, spreading out before falling down. To give some measuring, the projectile in the middle fires directly upwards, and then falls directly downwards, while the other four fly at arcs on either side. The overall area the projectiles cover covers about 2/3rds of Battlefield.

Luckily for opponents, this isn’t an exact coverage, as when the projectiles hit the ground, they burst into small patches of fire, roughly 1/3rd the size of a Battlefield platform, and half as tall as Kirby. They aren’t hard to avoid due to their small size,but cause minimal upwards knockback, alongside 3% damage. This is mainly used for area control.

The projectiles, while in the air, also cause damage, little to no knockback, and 2%. Hitting one has very little consequence, so it might be opportune for opponents to throw themselves into them when things get too hectic for the fire. The staff also has a hitbox on it when its thrust up, dealing 12-20% damage depending on the charge. Its fairly powerful, not as powerful as the Crust Smasher’s uppercut, but able to KO in the early 100%s at the very least.

Down Smash – Be Beastly, Beast Master!
“You’re gonna have to deal with the best of the beast… master!”

During the charging animation, Jestro holds the Book of Monsters in front of him, and waves his staff, causing Beast master to appear. He lets out a loud growl, and then quickly lashes his two chained Globlins around him. This covers both sides of Beast Master, and has range that basically covers just outside of Jestro’s own model. This causes decent knockback on both sides, and deals 13-24% damage depending on the charge. As soon as the move finishes, Beast master runs off.

Beast Master is fairly average in terms of stats, having 25% stamina, and fairly mediocre movement speed. However, Beast Master does have an interesting ability. When he’s on stage, all of your minion monsters (Globlins and Scurriers) will break from their patterns and gather with Beast Master, giving you chances to launch or merge them. Occasionally, Beast Master will make an exaggerated gesture with one of his LEGO claw hands, and send a monster near it to go back to its usual pattern.

Beast Master’s standard attack is a mid-range lash of one of his chains. It has considerable distance to it, reaching 2/3rds of a Battlefield platform, and is also fairly quick, taking a few frames to start. The attack has rather standard knockback to it, and deals 6%. However, sometimes, about half the time Beast Master uses it, the Globlin at the end will bite onto the opponent, behaving similarly to how a regular Globlin bites on, but causes 2% damage instead of the regular 1%.

In addition, this forms a tether between him and the opponent. It isn’t a very long tether, stretching out only about a Battlefield platform and a half, which doesn’t give much room for them to move around. Weight plays into this, as anyone above Beast Master’s own weight (Which is directly in the middle of the weight units) can tug him around, and he can pull around anyone below his weight. This has its uses going both ways, as monsters will still follow Beast Master even when he’s being pulled around. In the reverse, Beast Master will usually try to drag opponent towards the crowd of monsters.

Beast Master’s first special move is Globlin Attack. Beast Master whirls his chains around in a rather laggy animation, and then throws them forward as projectiles. They fly in an arc, and land approximately 2.5 Battlefield platforms forward, where the Globlins then explode into a large puddle of lava. It behaves the same, except it is about twice the size of a usual Globlin puddle. There is significant end lag to the attack, as Beast Master has to pull out two more Globlins on chains.

The second is Spirit Vortex. Beast Master spins around, creating a white vortex around him. He then stops spinning, causing the vortex to begin moving forward. It has a rather laggy start, but as soon as the vortex is created, Beast Master can go back to his usual business. This vortex has a suction effect, and sucks in items and opponents specifically. It basically behaves a lot like the Book of Chaos’ tornado, only it doesn’t effect your monsters. It also only deals 5% damage before launching them. The vortex disappears after about 3 seconds of moving around at a very slow pace.

The final special move is Dynamighty. Beast Master pulls out a stick of dynamite, and throws it at an arc. It travels forward about 2 Battlefield platforms before hitting the ground and exploding into a Bob-Omb sized explosion. The explosion is only half as powerful as a standard Bob-Omb, and deals 9% damage. From the explosion spring out three child dynamite sticks, which fly at rather random arcs, and hit the ground, causing much smaller explosions, about Kirby’s size, that deal 4% damage.

Beast Master’s aerial attack is a quick spin with his chains, both of them reaching their maximum distance as detailed above. Its quick, and deals 6% damage with a quick pop of upwards knockback if it hits.

Beast Master likes to stay close to his monster posse, but also isn’t afraid to directly attack enemies on his own. He is more likely to go after enemies with more monsters surrounding him, but this can lead to reckless attacks.

His special book is the Book of Chaos. Giving it to him causes it to act immediately, as he lets out a massive roar, shooting out a burst of magic. Any monster in his group will be upgraded into a new, more powerful form. Inferno Globlins in the case of Globlins, which are like the two on his chains, and Magma Scurriers for Scurriers, which are black and orange. While in this form, they gain double damage, 1.5x knockback, and double health as well. They remain like this until destroyed. For monsters that are under the effect of the Book of Chaos, Beast master can actually keep them under control just by being on stage, which makes them act as normal, but still gives them the buffs.

Finally, Jestro’s own Down Smash. He raises the staff into the air, where it glows purple. He then slams it into the ground, creating a burst of magic around him. The size of the field depends on how long the move is charged, covering just outside of Jestro’s model at the lowest charge, and covering a full Battlefield platform on both sides of him at full charge. The entire burst counts as the hitbox, and due to its range, its rather weak for a smash, dealing 9-17% damage. There actually isn’t much knockback to it, as it will simply push opponents to the edge of its range, making it a decent tool for getting opponents off Jestro’s rather weak self. This works on monsters as well, not damaging them, or even causing them to launch, but pushing them away.