Would an Assault Vest Armaldo be a good counter against Pokemon like Charizard, Ninetales, and Talonflame?

Question

My team has been getting eaten up by by these Drought-Solarbeam spammers. My water types are too slow to get a hit off, and the typical rock type gets destroyed too. What about Armaldo? EV his attack and Sp. D and give him an Assault Vest, then spam Stone Edge. He also learns solid moves like Aqua Jet and EQ. I even like seeing Knock Off to get pesky items off.

Answer 1

He would be a pretty legitimate choice for that, just remember that most people switch out pretty quick when they see a threat; unless they think they are all powerful SOLARBEAM GODS lol
Might want to give him a way to bump up attack or Sp. Def even more, in case you get a trick or a knock-off.
Giving him sandstorm might be wise, just to make them mad and force a switch, giving you precious setup time.

Comments

I know about the stupid Trick and Knock Off. My Dusclops always runs into trouble whenever it sees a Rotom W. But honestly, I am not too scared of it.

I considered Sandstorm as well, but I feel like its not worth the turn.

I also forgot to mention that I plan on doing this in Double Battles, so he will have solid support and possible Trick Room to get some quick kills.

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^ If Armaldo is running Assault Vest, it can't use Protect to let it safely pass a turn into Trick Room.

Answer 2

Not particularly.

>252 SpA Ninetales Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Armaldo in Sun: 160-189 (45.1 - 53.3%) -- 33.2% chance to 2HKO

Armaldo isn't a particularly good counter to these Pokemon; it has poor typing in that it doesn't have a lot of resistances and only base 80 sp. def. As a switch in, it will still have to take around 50% damage from Fire Blast before being able to do anything, not to mention it also has a Stealth Rock weakness. Aqua Jet will do jack in sun, especially with no STAB.

The best counters to these fire Pokemon is Tyrantitar, especially when packing Sand Stream & Assault Vest. If you don't want sand stream, then Assault Vest Goodra is a viable switch in. Scarf Terrakion will OHKO most of them with a Rock Slide, but cannot be a safe switch in.

Comments

I'm sorry I didn't mention this in the description, but I plan to use him for double battles, and usually start out with him if I see Drought abusers.

I did consider T-Tar, but that 4x weakness to fighting is huge. An Azumarill or any faster fighting type will OHKO easily.

I have considered Stealth Rock, and honestly, I haven't seen it too much in X and Y. Maybe once every 15-20 battles.

I don't plan on using Aqua Jet on the Drought abusers, thats what Stone Edge and EQ function as. Aqua Jet is best for finishing off what almost kills.

Thanks for the thoughts though!

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Armaldo is still too slow. If you want something for doubles, choose a fast fighting type like Mienshao or Hawlucha who can use Rock Slide, and other useful stuff like Wide Guard/ Quick Guard. Infernape wouldn't be bad either considering its typing and access to Mach Punch.

Also you see less of hazards in doubles because switching is more costly, so people don't tend to switch, therefore people don't tend to set up hazards.

Azumarill is still not good enough to deal with these Pokemon. It's too frail, and if you choose to run Sap Sipper > Huge Power, it's essentially useless offensively.