Rate My Set: Milotic!

[DdogTheKing]

I was inspired to test this set more after the thread I made on using the Assault Vest. So, not suprising this one is also a AV Milotic. But, before you leave. At least give her a read lol. Milotic base stats are: 95/60/79/100/125/81

Milotic @ Assault Vest
Ability: Marvel Scale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SAtk
Bold Nature
-Scald
-Ice Beam / Icy Wind
-Mirror Coat
-Dragon Tail​

Scald- Scald is the STAB of this set. Scald comes with the nifty 30% to cause a burn on a target which is very useful to help Milotic take physically offensive hits in the RU tier.

Ice Beam- Ice Beam is a good move to use as coverage on grass types. It's able to deal some damage against them it also has the 10% change to freeze mons in the battle. This is very unlikely but it can happen.

Icy Wind- Icy Wind is a alternative to Ice Beam. If you're not interested in the power you can run Icy Wind as a move to slow down mons. This in favor puts scarfers at their regular speed stats, makes Milotic out speed some other faster mons to get off some extra damage, or a partner can switchin.

Mirror Coat- This is what makes this set so special. Mirror Coat can still be used even with your Assault Vest on. Cause Mirror Coat is classified as a special move. Mirror Coat is a great way to get off huge amounts of damage on mons suchas Shaymin, Raikou aand others this can essentially OHKO if they hit hard enough.

Dragon Tail- Dragon Tail is perfered to stop mons from setting up on Milotic. Of course, this fails if the opposed has a active Substitute up. But otherwise. This stops mons from doing so allowing Milotic to be protected from the boosted damage coming from different mons.

Checks & Counters​

- Raikou [Sub + Calm Mind]​

Yeah, I mentioned Raikou as being a answer to using Mirror Coat with. But, If Raikou turns out to be a Sub + Calm Mind set then it utterly beats Milotic since Dragon tail doesn't bypass Substitutes. It can get up to +6 on Milotic with no problems then kill it with Thunderbolt.

- Roserade [Sleep Powder + Giga Drain]​

This becomes a problem only if your asleep long enough. Being put asleep enough is a problem in itself. Cause Milotic can't ulitilze it's improved bulk cause I don't carry Sleep Talk. Roserade can also ware it down with repeated Giga Drains. Sure, it can be Mirror Coated back but you still have that damage on you. Which can be problematic.

- Empoleon [Defensive Variants]​

Empoleon can outstall Milotic in the long run. It can Toxic which wares down Milotic, it can also Knock Off your Assault Vest make it harder to use Mirror Coat. It's able to freely get off hazards on your field.

- Virizion [Swords Dance + Life Orb]​

Virizion can wound Milotic badly even with a neutral Leaf Blade. This 99% will force you out. This set also allows to get off a free Swords Dance since you're fearing the Leaf Blade attack which can deal alot the following turn to the next switchin.

I Recommend!​

- Cresselia [Defensive Wall + Lunar Dance]​

Cresselia makes for a decent switchin for some of it's threats and it's a better switchin for stronger moves that still hurt Milotic even the mons who have Guts as a ability. Cresselia can deal with most of them. For even better support you give it Lunar Dance so it can fully heal & cure Milotic for more usage.

- Flygon [Scarf Variants]​

Flygon is a good scarfer to have in the case of Milotic. It's reliable enough to get off alot of damage on the threats listed above. It can U-Turn out to keep offensive momentum going on your side.

- Entei [Assault Vest + Sacred Fire]​

Entei undoubtly handles any and all grass type issues barring the chances to sleep. Entei is able to deal amounts of high damage and also able to cripple down walls with a remarkable 50% chance to burn cause of Sacred Fire. It also has a decent priortized move by extremespeed.

 

[King Arceus]

The trouble is that Milotic really appreciates having the ability to use Recover or Rest because of how its defenses are. AV ruins any chance at that so while it can take special attacks better, it doesn't have the same staying power that it does with healing moves. Mirror Coat isn't exactly something that is rare on Milotic, at least not from my experience so it won't catch opponent's off guard. They will likely know after just one attack that you have AV. I believe Haze would actually be a better option than Dragon Tail in the event they try and lower your status and it also goes through sub and Protect.

 

[DdogTheKing]

I don't think you can use Haze alongside Assault Vest. The item disables all 'other' marked moves. Only reason how I could use Mirror Coat is cause it was marked as special.

As for recovery, I have Cresselia who has Lunar Dance which allows for 100% on Milotic as a second chance type of thing. I probably could added a Wisher like Blissey who is UU now. And has Aromatherapy / Heal Bell. Thanks for the feedback!

 

[Void]

Assault Vest just isn't a good item on Milotic tbh. It's good for a select few mons, generally those who are used as bulky pivots on more offensive teams. Running Lunar Dance isn't the same as being able to stay in with it and Rest/Recover repeatedly, it's only a one time thing and you have to sac a team member just to do it.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

Milotic can't function well with Assault Vest in my opinion. It's too dependent on utility moves. Besides, Milotic doesn't need a Vest, if anything it needs something to boost its Defense. A Vest means you're making the life harder for the very few Special Attackers that might have given you trouble otherwise, but it leaves you way too open to anything physical and takes away all recovery.

 

[DdogTheKing]

Assault Vest just isn't a good item on Milotic tbh. It's good for a select few mons, generally those who are used as bulky pivots on more offensive teams. Running Lunar Dance isn't the same as being able to stay in with it and Rest/Recover repeatedly, it's only a one time thing and you have to sac a team member just to do it.

I could've added a Wisher tbh. The main reason I was using Cresselia was for screens. Which decreased the damage output for Milotic even more. I had considered Blissey originally but Lucario, Virizion makes Blissey look like a fool. I could try Florges but the recovery wouldn't be as high. I wouldn't say that Assault Vest is a item for a few. There are many pokemon that could use it.

As for what you said about Resting / Recover. Every Milotic runs that. Sure, every Milotic runs Scald as well but I like to steer away from using the same moves unless it is needed. Mirror Coat is extremely rare as a move on this set. And could be viable. I didn't wanna run 248 HP / 252 SDef+ then it's defensives really would've been bad. I cannot tell you how many times have I gotten to use Mirror Coat with great success. It takes a bit out of Milotic but it works for me.

@Chaos Jackal: I do have Scald which the only that helps it in this set. Sure, I can just run Rest and take the AV off but I don't really think that helps it against like Specs Raikou, LO Shaymin, NP Lucario are some of the other stuff out there that could be ran special in UU would surely take advantage of it.

Thank you both for the feedback.

 

[Void]

Deviating from the standard is all fine and good, but not if it results in an inferior set.

People seem to love slapping assault vest on things and calling it a bulky special wall/pivot, it just makes so many mons worse than they really are because they can't have recovery from leftovers, run support moves etc. There are mons that can run a 4 attacking move set well like azumarill, raikou, entei, metagross sort of so it works on some mons but definitely not on milotic tbh.

Why are you trying to beat specs raikou and LO shaymin with milotic in the first place? All this does is give you a gimmicky way of beating these mons 1v1 (you can't switch into them anyway) and if you predict the wrong set on raikou and it subs up as you mirror coat, you've just become easy set-up fodder.

 

[DdogTheKing]

Well of course. People are gonna experiment cause it's a new item. People are gonna run it on stuff to test for results. Would Assault Vest Tyranitar be a bad thing cause it can't set up Stealth Rock? Or even use its megastone which probably gives it the same boost as it would with a Assault Vest? Would Slowbro be a bad Assault Vest as well cause it loses it support in Slack Off & Thunder Wave / Toxic. But, people use that too. Sure it has Regenerator but to heal you have to switch out.

Tell me, If you saw this Milotic without knowing it had Assault Vest + Mirror Coat. Would you switch out Specs Raikou, or a Life Orb Shaymin? Probably not. You would attack and get OHKOd by Mirror Coat and that's why I am using it. It allowed Milotic to beat some of the mons 1v1.

 

[Chaos Jackal]

Tell me, If you saw this Milotic without knowing it had Assault Vest + Mirror Coat. Would you switch out Specs Raikou, or a Life Orb Shaymin? Probably not. You would attack and get OHKOd by Mirror Coat and that's why I am using it. It allowed Milotic to beat some of the mons 1v1.

To do this, one of two things must happen. First, Milotic would have to beat a Pokemon... something kinda hard, and there's a good chance that you would use Mirror Coat in the process, therefore losing your surprise factor and failing to lure. Second, Specs Raikou/LO Shaymin would have to have already beaten one of your mons, and in this case, two things happen. Either your opponent thinks you're dumb and therefore attacks, losing his Pokemon but inflicting severe damage in the process, or your opponent thinks something's fishy and switches freely due to your failed Mirror Coat, which again gives away your set. In either case, you have already lost a Pokemon, and even if you manage to beat Raikou/Shaymin, your Milotic is in a pretty bad shape and capable of being KO'd easily, with no recovery options.

252 SpA Choice Specs Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 222-264 (56.4 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Shaymin Seed Flare vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Milotic: 237-281 (60.3 - 71.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Add Stealth Rock or Spikes damage into that and you get a pretty badly beaten Pokemon.

 

[One Approved]

Honestly, I think we're looking at this wrong. I don't think Milotic with Assault Vest is "bad" persay. Assault Vest is such a great item that I'm not sure it can be "bad" on any pokemon, barring one that uses 0 attacking moves, like Blissey. However, using Assault vest on Milotic is not as good as some other item choices because you're not letting Milotic be as good as it could be.

A) Milotic already has a ridiculously high Special Defense stat - it's base 125. If you think about it, that's higher than some pokemon that are used as all-out walls, like Suicune, Ferrothorn, or Celebi. It doesn't need Assault Vest because its Special Defense is already really high, and you have Scald to help lower the damage physical attacks will do to you. So it's not that Assault Vest is bad, you just don't NEED it to tank special hits.

B) Milotic NEEDS Recover. Yes, it really does need it. If you're not using it, you would be better off using a different bulky water type. For example, Suicune. Suicune can do all the things Milotic can do: Scald, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, and it can phaze with roar. However, suicune has much higher physical defense, and it can use Calm Mind to boost its special stats IN ADDITION to anything Milotic can do. So at this point, it's essentially just a better Milotic. However, Suicune doesn't learn recover. It has to use Rest, and put itself to sleep if it wants to heal itself. If Milotic needs to recover, it doesn't need to give up 2 free turns to do so. Recover is essentially what makes Milotic stand out.

I understand the point is to lure out things like Raikou and Shaymin, however I think being able to switch into a better counter like Snorlax or Blissey would be much more reliable because even if your oponent crits you, paralyzes you, or has multiple entry hazards on the field, you will still be able to survive the incoming hit just fine, wheras Milotic kind of needs to be at full health with little-to-no entry hazards in play for it to work.

 

[Professor Palutena]

Gonna go with the majority here and say that Assault Vest on Milotic isn't a good choice considering what she can do.

Milotic is a Pokemon that relies on her support movepool, with moves like Haze, Dragon Tail, Scald, Recover, Toxic, etc. By choosing to use Assault Vest on Milotic, you are taking away her greatest strength: her ability to support the team. In addition, Milotic's offensive presence isn't very good to say the least, and since attacking is the one thing you can do with an Assault Vest, you want to make sure that your Assault Vest holder is a good attacker.

With Milotic, I would probably only run Assault Vest on a really gimmicky set with Competitive where you can get the +2 SpA boosts from Defog switchins.

 

[Void]

Well of course. People are gonna experiment cause it's a new item. People are gonna run it on stuff to test for results. Would Assault Vest Tyranitar be a bad thing cause it can't set up Stealth Rock? Or even use its megastone which probably gives it the same boost as it would with a Assault Vest? Would Slowbro be a bad Assault Vest as well cause it loses it support in Slack Off & Thunder Wave / Toxic. But, people use that too. Sure it has Regenerator but to heal you have to switch out.

Tell me, If you saw this Milotic without knowing it had Assault Vest + Mirror Coat. Would you switch out Specs Raikou, or a Life Orb Shaymin? Probably not. You would attack and get OHKOd by Mirror Coat and that's why I am using it. It allowed Milotic to beat some of the mons 1v1.

Not being able to set up rocks isn't a huge deal as you only need one rock setter on your team. Assault vest slowbro isn't good tbh, turns it from a top-tier physical wall into a pretty meh mixed wall. People might use it but doesn't mean it's good, lol.