Among all the new creatures introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Paradox Pokemon are some of the most interesting and powerful mons Gen 9 has to offer. With their unique designs as past or future forms of existing monsters, Paradox Pokemon shed new light on their original versions—for better or for worse. One such example of a Paradox Pokemon that is a direct downgrade from its inspiration is Iron Jugulis—a Pokemon Violet exclusive and the Future Paradox form of Hydreigon—whose stats and design are so disappointing that it may be one of the worst of Gen 9.
First introduced in Pokemon Black and White, Hydreigon is a pseudo-legendary—a Pokemon with a base stat total of 600—with the Dark and Dragon typing. It was quite powerful during Gen 5 but took a massive hit when the Fairy type was introduced in Gen 6 and granted it a 4x weakness. Since then, fans have been hoping for a new, more powerful version of Hydreigon to be added, so it's unfortunate that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Iron Jugulis doesn't live up to the original might Hydreigon saw in its heyday. On the plus side, the addition of the Terastral phenomenon has opened the door for Hydreigon's competitive use once again now that it can shed its Dark/Dragon-typing when it Terastallizes.
Iron Jugulis' Stats and Typing Leave Much to Be Desired
With a base stat total of only 570, Iron Jugulis is already worse than Hydreigon with its 600 base stat total as a Dragon-type pseudo-legendary. Across the board, Iron Jugulis' stats pale in comparison to Hyrdeigon's with only HP and Speed being slightly higher than the Gen 5 critter's. Hydreigon saw use as a mixed attacker as it has both good Attack and Special Attack, but Iron Jugulis' 80 base Attack and 122 base Special Attack stats make it weaker than Hydreigon in both stats and a mediocre choice for an offensive pocket monster in general.
The change to its typing doesn't help it that much either. Hydreigon's Dark/Dragon-typing made it effectively useless once Fairy was introduced, but Iron Jugulis' Dark/Flying-typing still leaves it weak to Fairy-type Pokemon while maintaining three other weaknesses as well. This is not as bad as Hydreigon's four weaknesses—one being a 4x weakness to Fairy—but Iron Jugulis isn't enough of an improvement to make it worthwhile. A better combo would have been Dragon/Steel as it only has two weaknesses—Fighting and Ground—and could have helped Iron Jugulis deal with Fairy types.
Iron Jugulis Has the Blandest Design of the Paradox Pokemon
Most of the Paradox Pokemon introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet remix or reinterpret the designs of their original forms to fit the past or future theme of their respective games. Iron Hands is an interesting, Rayman-esque take on Hariyama and Iron Valiant creatively mashes together Gardevoir and Gallade in its design. Seeing how some of these monsters were iterated upon as future versions of themselves makes Iron Jugulis all the more disappointing since it looks far too similar to Hydreigon, only made out of metal.
The lore of how Iron Jugulis came to be is also rather uninspired as the Pokedex states that it's thought to be the offspring of a Hydreigon that fell in love with a robot. Aside from this being biologically impossible, it's a drastic departure from the usual thoughtfully-crafted inspirations and origins behind Game Freak's design choices. Iron Jugulis is also described as having the ruthlessness of a machine and the ferocity of a Hydreigon, which is among the top 5 Pokemon in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. As such, this piece of lore could have been the groundwork for a much more interesting background. Ultimately, it could be that the paranormal magazine describing Iron Jugulis is just a sensational tabloid, but it still makes Iron Jugulis' existence sound like a joke.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are available now for Nintendo Switch.
