Toxapex @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Steel / Fairy / Dark
Modest / Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Infestation
[SET COMMENTS]
Assault Vest increases Toxapex's already amazing special defense to even greater heights, and although its at the cost of utility moves, Toxapex makes up for that with a diverse set of attacking moves. Toxapex easily switches into top special attackers like Iron Valiant, Dragapult, Enamorus, Iron Moth, and Primarina, while also threatening them with super effective attacks. Regenerator healing is typically enough for Assault Vest Toxapex to shrug off almost any special attack, making for an excellent bulky pivot. Sludge Bomb is the best attacking move Toxapex has, it not only covers notable Grass and Fairy-types such as Ogerpon-W, Enamorus, Iron Valiant, and Primarina but can potentially inflicting debilitating status on poisonable targets. Surf is the Water STAB of choice for Assault Vest Toxapex, with noteworthy 2HKO's on Cinderace, defensive Moltres, and Iron Moth. Ice Beam rounds out Toxapex's offensive coverage hitting Dragon-types for great damage, namely Dragapult, Raging Bolt, and Dragonite. In addition Ice Beam targets Landorus-Therian and Gliscor for 4x super effective damage. Infestation is the typical last move for Assault Vest Toxapex, due to its ability to trap and wear down opponents like Corviknight, Weezing-Galar, and Garganacl, able to outstall their recovery options due to its high PP. For teams particularly weak to Calm Mind Magic Guard Clefable, or Curse Garganacl, Acid Spray is an alternative option over Infestation. Toxapex's Tera typing greatly influences the potential targets of Infestation trapping too, a surprise Tera Steel allows you to trap kill notable Pokemon like Hatterene, or choice locked users such as Iron Crown, and Kyurem. Beyond Infestation Tera Steel also covers up Assault Vest Toxapex's extreme weakness to Psyshock and other Psychic-type attacks, with the added bonus of resisting Stealth Rocks, and being an emergency resist to +2 Ogerpon-W Power Whip which would otherwise OHKO Toxapex. Tera Fairy is another solid alternative particularly against Dragon Darts Dragapult, or Dark-Type attackers such as Weavile, Darkrai, or Samurott-Hisui. Tera Dark similarly resist the aforementioned Dark-types, alongside an immunity to threatening Psychic-type moves from Iron Crown, with the extra bonus of a Ghost-type resistance making the Dragapult and Gholdengo matchup more favorable. A Modest nature is preferred to mitigate Toxapex's weak special attack stat, however Bold can also be used for extra defensive bulk allowing you to avoid the guaranteed OHKO from Great Tusk Headlong Rush, and offensive Landorus-Therian Earthquake after Stealth Rocks. Lastly, the 4 speed EVs allows Toxapex to outspeed Garganacl.
Assault Vest Toxapex is best used on defensive builds ranging from hard stall to fat balance archetypes, as Toxapex's loves to have other defensive partners especially ones who mitigate it's weakness to hazard stack, and in general Toxapex's value becomes greater the longer the battle is. Assault Vest Toxapex pairs well with nearly every viable defensive Pokemon, but it has some extremely notable partners in Gliscor, Corviknight, Dondozo, and Weezing-Galar. With Knock Off being a major problem for Assault Vest Toxapex, Gliscor's utility in absorbing Knock Off is extremely valuable to it. Furthermore Gliscor's defensive profile lines up nicely, swapping into Volt Switches from Zapdos and Raging Bolt. Meanwhile Toxapex switches into the tiers top Water and Ice-type threats for Gliscor, such as Walking Wake, Primarina, and Weavile. Corviknight and Dondozo are also excellent defensive teammates, able to handle physical threats like Great Tusk, Kingambit, and Landorus-T, which Toxapex struggles with. Furthermore, Corviknight acts as a Knock Off absorber, while also clearing hazards with its Defog preventing Toxapex from being worn down easily. For Corviknight, Toxapex can wall Fire-types like Cinderace, Iron Moth, and Moltres for the former, and powerful special attackers like Primarina, Darkrai, Enamorus, Dragapult, Iron Valiant, and Walking Wake for the latter. However Gholdengo hazard stack teams can still deny Corviknight's Defog, which is exactly why Weezing-Galar is a fantastic partner as it's Defog cannot be blocked by Good as Gold due to Neutralizing Gas. All teammates mentioned previously also appreciate Assault Vest Toxapex's lack of passiveness, as the aggression limits opponents from setting up boost or getting up hazards freely. As for more offensive teammates Great Tusk works well since Rapid Spin removes hazards for Toxapex, while also threatening Raging Bolt and Galarian Slowking. In return Toxapex helps Great Tusk by taking the brunt of Will-O-Wisp from Moltres or Galarian Weezing, along with handling Fairy and Water-type threats that scare Great Tusk such as Iron Valiant, Enamorus, Primarina, and Walking Wake. For similar reasons to Great Tusk, Iron Treads pairs well with Toxapex for hazard removal, with the trade off of lower damage output for switching into Raging Bolt and Galarian Slowking more easily. Ting-Lu forms a nice core too, as Assault Vest Toxapex typically baits in Pokemon such as Gholdengo, Iron Crown, Raging Bolt, Zapdos and Galarian Slowking, all of whom are easily countered by Ting-Lu who can then set Spikes or spam Earthquake and Ruination. As an added bonus, Toxapex absorbs Toxic Spikes for Great Tusk and Ting-Lu. There's also Gholdengo who's a solid teammate for Assault Vest Toxapex, particularly on balance teams since Gholdengo blocks Defog and Rapid Spin, which Toxapex loves because it's great coverage along with hazard stack damage becomes genuinely threatening. Not just that but to make Toxapex's life easier, Gholdengo has favorable matchups against Iron Crown and Galarian Slowking, while on the other end Toxapex helps Gholdengo against Dragapult, Darkrai, Iron Moth, Cinderace, and Moltres. Toxapex helps Zamazenta out too by handling Fairy-type Pokemon for it, and conversely Zamazenta handles the physical end of things, checking Ogerpon-W and swapping into every Earthquake rather easily.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/shaymin-sky.521637/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/mcribs.677476/
Grammar checked by:
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Tera Type: Steel / Fairy / Dark
Modest / Bold Nature
- Sludge Bomb
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Infestation
[SET COMMENTS]
Assault Vest increases Toxapex's already amazing special defense to even greater heights, and although its at the cost of utility moves, Toxapex makes up for that with a diverse set of attacking moves. Toxapex easily switches into top special attackers like Iron Valiant, Dragapult, Enamorus, Iron Moth, and Primarina, while also threatening them with super effective attacks. Regenerator healing is typically enough for Assault Vest Toxapex to shrug off almost any special attack, making for an excellent bulky pivot. Sludge Bomb is the best attacking move Toxapex has, it not only covers notable Grass and Fairy-types such as Ogerpon-W, Enamorus, Iron Valiant, and Primarina but can potentially inflicting debilitating status on poisonable targets. Surf is the Water STAB of choice for Assault Vest Toxapex, with noteworthy 2HKO's on Cinderace, defensive Moltres, and Iron Moth. Ice Beam rounds out Toxapex's offensive coverage hitting Dragon-types for great damage, namely Dragapult, Raging Bolt, and Dragonite. In addition Ice Beam targets Landorus-Therian and Gliscor for 4x super effective damage. Infestation is the typical last move for Assault Vest Toxapex, due to its ability to trap and wear down opponents like Corviknight, Weezing-Galar, and Garganacl, able to outstall their recovery options due to its high PP. For teams particularly weak to Calm Mind Magic Guard Clefable, or Curse Garganacl, Acid Spray is an alternative option over Infestation. Toxapex's Tera typing greatly influences the potential targets of Infestation trapping too, a surprise Tera Steel allows you to trap kill notable Pokemon like Hatterene, or choice locked users such as Iron Crown, and Kyurem. Beyond Infestation Tera Steel also covers up Assault Vest Toxapex's extreme weakness to Psyshock and other Psychic-type attacks, with the added bonus of resisting Stealth Rocks, and being an emergency resist to +2 Ogerpon-W Power Whip which would otherwise OHKO Toxapex. Tera Fairy is another solid alternative particularly against Dragon Darts Dragapult, or Dark-Type attackers such as Weavile, Darkrai, or Samurott-Hisui. Tera Dark similarly resist the aforementioned Dark-types, alongside an immunity to threatening Psychic-type moves from Iron Crown, with the extra bonus of a Ghost-type resistance making the Dragapult and Gholdengo matchup more favorable. A Modest nature is preferred to mitigate Toxapex's weak special attack stat, however Bold can also be used for extra defensive bulk allowing you to avoid the guaranteed OHKO from Great Tusk Headlong Rush, and offensive Landorus-Therian Earthquake after Stealth Rocks. Lastly, the 4 speed EVs allows Toxapex to outspeed Garganacl.
Assault Vest Toxapex is best used on defensive builds ranging from hard stall to fat balance archetypes, as Toxapex's loves to have other defensive partners especially ones who mitigate it's weakness to hazard stack, and in general Toxapex's value becomes greater the longer the battle is. Assault Vest Toxapex pairs well with nearly every viable defensive Pokemon, but it has some extremely notable partners in Gliscor, Corviknight, Dondozo, and Weezing-Galar. With Knock Off being a major problem for Assault Vest Toxapex, Gliscor's utility in absorbing Knock Off is extremely valuable to it. Furthermore Gliscor's defensive profile lines up nicely, swapping into Volt Switches from Zapdos and Raging Bolt. Meanwhile Toxapex switches into the tiers top Water and Ice-type threats for Gliscor, such as Walking Wake, Primarina, and Weavile. Corviknight and Dondozo are also excellent defensive teammates, able to handle physical threats like Great Tusk, Kingambit, and Landorus-T, which Toxapex struggles with. Furthermore, Corviknight acts as a Knock Off absorber, while also clearing hazards with its Defog preventing Toxapex from being worn down easily. For Corviknight, Toxapex can wall Fire-types like Cinderace, Iron Moth, and Moltres for the former, and powerful special attackers like Primarina, Darkrai, Enamorus, Dragapult, Iron Valiant, and Walking Wake for the latter. However Gholdengo hazard stack teams can still deny Corviknight's Defog, which is exactly why Weezing-Galar is a fantastic partner as it's Defog cannot be blocked by Good as Gold due to Neutralizing Gas. All teammates mentioned previously also appreciate Assault Vest Toxapex's lack of passiveness, as the aggression limits opponents from setting up boost or getting up hazards freely. As for more offensive teammates Great Tusk works well since Rapid Spin removes hazards for Toxapex, while also threatening Raging Bolt and Galarian Slowking. In return Toxapex helps Great Tusk by taking the brunt of Will-O-Wisp from Moltres or Galarian Weezing, along with handling Fairy and Water-type threats that scare Great Tusk such as Iron Valiant, Enamorus, Primarina, and Walking Wake. For similar reasons to Great Tusk, Iron Treads pairs well with Toxapex for hazard removal, with the trade off of lower damage output for switching into Raging Bolt and Galarian Slowking more easily. Ting-Lu forms a nice core too, as Assault Vest Toxapex typically baits in Pokemon such as Gholdengo, Iron Crown, Raging Bolt, Zapdos and Galarian Slowking, all of whom are easily countered by Ting-Lu who can then set Spikes or spam Earthquake and Ruination. As an added bonus, Toxapex absorbs Toxic Spikes for Great Tusk and Ting-Lu. There's also Gholdengo who's a solid teammate for Assault Vest Toxapex, particularly on balance teams since Gholdengo blocks Defog and Rapid Spin, which Toxapex loves because it's great coverage along with hazard stack damage becomes genuinely threatening. Not just that but to make Toxapex's life easier, Gholdengo has favorable matchups against Iron Crown and Galarian Slowking, while on the other end Toxapex helps Gholdengo against Dragapult, Darkrai, Iron Moth, Cinderace, and Moltres. Toxapex helps Zamazenta out too by handling Fairy-type Pokemon for it, and conversely Zamazenta handles the physical end of things, checking Ogerpon-W and swapping into every Earthquake rather easily.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/shaymin-sky.521637/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/mcribs.677476/
Grammar checked by:
Last edited:
