Item Assault Vest

[Shroomisaur]

Except that Aegislash relies on boosting moves like swords dance and automize, as well as the ability to switch between forms with king's shield, all of which can't be used with AV

That's not entirely true, since its mixed/special sets are Aegislash's best sets at the moment. The real question is whether the huge Special Defense boost is worth losing the attack power boost of Spooky Plate or Life Orb. It's certainly a good option to consider!

The Snorlax discussion thread has some excellent calcs demonstrating just how amazing Assault Vest Lax is at absorbing special hits, taking under 10% from a 252+ Volcarona Fire Blast, for example. Since Snorlax doesn't depend on status moves nearly as much as most walls, he makes for one of the best AV users.

 

[Ciar]

The calcs for special defense seem amazing with this item, but does it really give you more effective bulk then leftovers in notable cases? It seems to me the lack of recovery really hurts it. As said before perhaps useful on drain punchers.

 

[Banryu]

This thing is seriously my favorite item in the game right now. It's so useful on so many guys; right now I'm running it in-game on my Flygon to let him tank special attacks, extending his life by at least one extra attack the vast majority of the time.

Some of my favorite AV users are Chesnaught with P-up Punch, Clawitzer with max HP / Def, and friggin' tank-ass Goodra. Practically no attacking mon that's even semi-bulky CAN'T make good use of it, and things with Drain Punch/Giga Drain are even better.

 

[keleryn]

It looks like everyone is just pointing out that AV TTar is insane, but there's not really any actual builds for him in this thread.

I can't decide on what nature to put on him.

Would you go Careful for even more SpD? Adamant for the beats? The problem there is that he's lacking a lot of coverage without Fire Blast and maybe Ice Beam.

I don't want to run a -SpA nature, because I rely on him being able to use those two moves to wreck face on steel, grass, and dragon. With a -SpA nature, I can't even OHKO a Ferrothorn with a Fire Blast, and that's embarrassing.

The problem is, any other nature is bad on him as a mixed bruiser as well. You could run Gentle or Lonely, but then he's even weaker to Close Combat / Iron Head, etc.

I've even tried Naughty/Lax, under the basis that AV gives him enough SpD that he can afford to lose some, but then what's the point of using it in the first place?

I think AV TTar is just best with a neutral nature.

 

[Banryu]

being indecisive

Or you could just go with a speed-lowering nature. It's not like there's much you need to outrun, and if you're up against something that threatens you physically, you just switch out.

 

[Flamebot]

If you are using Assualt Vest on a pokemon with high sp defence already, wouldn't it make more sense to build on defence or attack or sp attack asuming its on a sweeper or revenge killer?

 

[Innocent Criminal]

On any kind of Pokemon, unless you absolutely need to survive one particular attack to check one particular pokemon, the higher your SpDef is, the worse Assault Vest becomes compared to Leftovers.

The Snorlax discussion thread has some excellent calcs demonstrating just how amazing Assault Vest Lax is at absorbing special hits, taking under 10% from a 252+ Volcarona Fire Blast, for example. Since Snorlax doesn't depend on status moves nearly as much as most walls, he makes for one of the best AV users.

The same Snorlax would take 15% damage without an Assault Vest, which amounts to 9% after Lefties if he survives the hit (which shouldn't be too hard). Leftovers also helps against physical attacks, residual damage and grants healing every time your opponent doesn't attack. Assault Vest is pretty bad. It could have some potential on Regenerator users, but offensive Tangrowth would rather use Sleep Powder, Reuniclus doesn't really have the typing to be a good pivot and Tornadus_T would rather use an offensive item.

 

[Darkflagrance]

I think Assault Vest is optimized for a certain kind of mon:
Firstly, this mon must be an attacker with a wide movepool so that it can use 4 attacking moves for great coverage.
Secondly, the assault vest must boost the pokemon's special defense such that ohkos turn into 2hkos, and 2hkos turn into 3hkos. It is best if the pokemon is naturally bulky because it's going to want as much attack as possible without being able to depend on its item. Clawitzer and Flygon are probably good examples of mons that use Assault Vest. You could probably even run an Assault Vest max hp Talonflame with BB, FB, Steel Wing/Overheat, and U-Turn to live random Thunderbolts.

After reading that Snorlax post above, I'm not sure if Assault Vest Tar is really what it's cracked out to be. It's good in-game due to item clause, but on showdown, why not just run calm/careful/sassy special def tar+lefties?

 

[Recursion]

Assault Vest TTar sounds good, but there aren't many players who will try to take him out with special attacks anyway unless they're already saccing something. It's much easier to take him out with physical moves (such as megahorn or earthquake or mach punch) than to deal with his higher Special Defense that's already boosted by sandstorm.

This item is best on a pokemon that your opponent will expect to OHKO, but can OHKO in return if it survives. I've had good results with Mold Breaker Excadrill, who can take out threats like Rotom-W or Gengar after tanking a hit that would usually KO.

 

[Pistol]

Anyone thought about using Assault vest on Rhyperior? He is pretty bulky HP, Def, and Atk wise. Only problem is his speed. What effort values does one go with aside from max attack power with an Assault vest on Rhyperior? Nature?

As for moveset, something along these lines-
Earthquake
Megahorn (to hit grass types)
Hammer Arm
Stone Edge

 

[Kejmur]

I think Assault Vest is optimized for a certain kind of mon:
Firstly, this mon must be an attacker with a wide movepool so that it can use 4 attacking moves for great coverage.
Secondly, the assault vest must boost the pokemon's special defense such that ohkos turn into 2hkos, and 2hkos turn into 3hkos. It is best if the pokemon is naturally bulky because it's going to want as much attack as possible without being able to depend on its item. Clawitzer and Flygon are probably good examples of mons that use Assault Vest. You could probably even run an Assault Vest max hp Talonflame with BB, FB, Steel Wing/Overheat, and U-Turn to live random Thunderbolts.

After reading that Snorlax post above, I'm not sure if Assault Vest Tar is really what it's cracked out to be. It's good in-game due to item clause, but on showdown, why not just run calm/careful/sassy special def tar+lefties?

I mentioned that Sheer Force Nidoqueen is another good candidate. Her natural bulk is good and with AV she for example 100% counters Gengar and Thundurus forms for example. Also if she's healthy and SR is not up, she's able to handle BOTH versions of Lucario as long as she doesn't need to take +2 Ice Punch. Heck, she can still run Dragon Tail for phazing and/or Sludge Bomb for 30% chance to poison target, so she still may hold some utility if needed. Also great thing about Nidoqueen is that he has great synergy with technically all Wish passers. Blissey ? You easily tank fighting hit. Chansey ? The same. Vaporeon ? You easily take Grass and Electric attacks aimed on him while he easily do the same with Water ones. Clefable ? You take without problems Poison attacks aimed on her, etc. etc. My calcs on previous page prove that AV Nidoqueen is 100% viable option. Also with Modest Nature + Sheer Force boost she reaches same offensive potential as Snorlax (without SE hits), but on special side with the ability to hit for SE damage technically everything with her great special movepool which matches up nicely with Sheer Force. She KO all targets she needs while still packs more than decent punch against everything else as long as it's hit for SE damage (which isn't this hard taking into account her special movepool).

 

[RowDog]

I really think that Zygarde would be a very good candidate for an AV with its good bulk only lacking slightly in Sp Def which could be made up for easily with one of these items.

Zygarde@Assault Vest
Adamant 252Atk/252HP/4Spe
Earthquake
Dragon Tail/Outrage
Extremespeed
Stone Edge/Crunch

I'm not too sure about EVs or nature, this is just all a guesstimate. But with a 100 Atk stat paired with 95 Speed, on top of 108/121/95 defences with an Assault vest boost, you have a very tanky Pokemon with even a bit of speed behind it to take out lower threats. Earthquake for Ground type STAB and should be the move of choice where possible. Outrage as Dragon-type STAB, but if you don't like being locked in Dragon Tail might work as a nice phase as well (though otherwise kinda disappointed about no other real good physical Dragon type moves). Extremespeed can be used to take out low health targets without taking anything in return or works as just a nice priority move for any situation where you want to get in a quick hit. Stone Edge and Crunch works as some nice final coverage nice final coverage, Stonedge hits Ice-types, Togekiss and Talonflame hard, whereas Crunch can be used for Ghosts and Psychic types. May be other moves for this final slot but these are the main ones that I can think of.

Although set up works really nicely on Zygarde, this is also a very nice set, and if Big Z ends up in OU may be quite formidable.

 

[DaiGuren]

Anyone thought about using Assault vest on Rhyperior? He is pretty bulky HP, Def, and Atk wise. Only problem is his speed. What effort values does one go with aside from max attack power with an Assault vest on Rhyperior? Nature?

As for moveset, something along these lines-
Earthquake
Megahorn (to hit grass types)
Hammer Arm
Stone Edge

I run a Rhypeior with max HP and SpDef EVs holding AV, and it is unbelievably tanky on both sides. With 140 attack as well as a wide movepool, it is able to hit everything for at least neutral damage. Speed should be of no issue,

I haven't ran any calculations yet, but just to show it effectiveness, my rhyperior took a focus blast from what i would assume to be a modest max SpA MegaGar and took 38% dmg, effectively making it a 3HKO.

 

[newtonja]

Best pokemon ever, ASSAULT VEST SABLEYE, jk, one of the only actually viable users would be goodra simply because of its stats and move pool

 

[Fundance]

Sandslash@assault vest
Sand Rush

Sand Tomb
Rapid Spin
Dig
Knock Off/Rock Tomb

Yeah, Sandslash still sucks, but with this set it actually gets to be fairly cool so long as sand is up. It gets decent speed, decent bulk all around, can spin and knock off items, and does a lot of passive damage with sand tomb/dig combo, ensuring that at the very least it takes a sizeable chunk of health off whatever it ended up trapping, providing it isn't a bird, in which case he can knock its item off or hit with rock tomb.

 

[Jaroda]

I will say that anything that uses Assault Vest needs at least a decent SpD stat to begin with, and a REALLY good attacking stat. I'm talking 120 or higher here, 110 bare minimum. Without boosting moves I am struggling to keep up with other bulky mons who have access to status moves, boosting and recovery. I think if bulky offense proves to be a more popular playstyle than this item actually begins to lose effectiveness. It's better against faster frail things like Greninja. It's great on Tyranitar because of his stupid high Attack stat and good STAB moves. Zygarde however only has 100 At that is BEGGING to get boosted to kill anything. Garchomp's bulk is at least comparable, he's faster and has a much better initial Atk stat so he'd technically be a better candidate but I don't think it's really optimal. And his attack options are nor varied enough to be dangerous. The big reason to even use Zygarde is Coil or Dragon Dance. I agree that the list for pokemon that this item is of net benefit is quite small when it comes to recovery/move options. Golem/Rhyperior would be better if their SpD wasn't so abysmally low with two 4x weaknesses to Water and Grass. It can be situationally beneficial to Conkeldurr who has great HP, Atk and Df already and good enough SpD and move options to diversify his repertoire as well as a means of healing in Drain Punch which gets STAB and an Iron Fist boost if you choose. Snorlax has great HP and sufficient At with access to many move options also. He's good as long as you keep him away from physical moves. Mamoswine has the HP, Atk and Thick Fat to benefit from the item and good moves to use, especially with priority Ice Shard. Since he normally can't outspeed or boost this is actually a decent item for him.

 

[DaiGuren]

^you forget that Rhyperior's ability turns his 2x and 4x weaknesses to 1.33x and 2.66x weaknesses respectively.

 

[Jaroda]

^you forget that Rhyperior's ability turns his 2x and 4x weaknesses to 1.33x and 2.66x weaknesses respectively.

I didn't. I've run calcs with Solid Rock, Assault Vest AND Sandstorm with full SpD investment and the results were very underwhelming for all those buffs.

 

[DaiGuren]

I didn't. I've run calcs with Solid Rock, Assault Vest AND Sandstorm with full SpD investment and the results were very underwhelming for all those buffs.

Would you be able to post this calcs? I'm not convinced that he is as "underwhelming" as you say he is, because in action he is not, but maybe we just have different expectations. He is no Blissey nor Gliscor but he can definitely take 2 hits or more, and he can strike hard.

 

[Torty73]

skarmory might work
I think I might try goodra with assault vest. is this any good or is it too high to make worthwhile.
I want to run dragon pulse, flamethrower and sludge wave and another move.
also rhyperior has dire sp def. don't use it. it would make a specially defensive skarmory look strong.

 

[Pidgey Airlines]

Empoleon
Modest
Assault Vest
252 SA 252 SD

-Whirlpool
-Flash Cannon
-Signal Beam
-Ice Beam

Other viable moves: Surf, Hydro Pump , Hidden Power

Empoleon has a nice defensive typing, he looses 2 resistences this gen but therefore his steel-stab hits the news fairies (which are mainly special) for very effective damage.
A base stat of 101 special defense already is nice; combined with his typing and assault vest he becomes a great wall.

Whirlpool got its damage buffed to 1/8th instead of 1/16 which is pretty damn nice if you ask me - plus it allows to lock special attackers who underestimate Empoleons newly won bulk.

 

[Patrick1088]

I like the idea of assault vest empoleon but whirlpool is kind if meh. Empoleon has the power and coverage to go all out attacker. I ran empoleon as a great quiverpass receiver in gen v uu and its very powerful. But i think a set with hydro pump/ice beam/grass knot/flash cannon with av makes this set tough to break down.to top it off it has great synergy with cleric wish passing sylveon.

 

[Velits]

Has anyone considered using this on Arcanine? I would say with its good Defensive bulk combined with assault vest for more Special bulk it would make a hard opponent to take down, though it loses the option to use leftovers and Morning Sun.

 

[Littha]

Has anyone considered using this on Arcanine? I would say with its good Defensive bulk combined with assault vest for more Special bulk it would make a hard opponent to take down, though it loses the option to use leftovers and Morning Sun.

Tried it a few times and its pretty underwhelming. Arcanine was awesome but I found it better off with leftovers and morning sun.

 

[Recursion]

Putting it on something like Goodra isn't going to help much because a smart opponent is using physical attacks to take it down anyway. Putting it on a physical wall is counterproductive it removes access to recovery. You don't need to diversify your wall - it has 5 team mates to do what it can't.

Trying to find a pokemon that can use this item well is the wrong way to go about it. I think it's better suited to patching holes in your team. Take this example: the only pokemon on your team that can OHKO Mega Alakazam is Excadrill, but it can't outspeed it and it can't survive a Focus Blast. But if you give it AV, suddenly you have the bulk to survive a hit and kill it with an Earthquake. You've created a check to a major threat, and your opponent doesn't know it's a check. You should put assault vest on a pokemon that can get unexpected KOs against major threats because it's usually checked by those threats.

To get the most out of this item, you need to put it on something your opponent won't expect. It gives your pokemon extra bulk, but it's only valuable if it surprises your opponent.