Unleash the Sword: A Look at Aegislash

Introduction

One of the closest and most controversial suspect tests ever, Aegislash's ban is certainly one of the most interesting tiering decisions. The initial results were so close, and opinions so mixed, that a retest was conducted shortly after the ORAS OU meta got rolling. Arguments raged on both sides. "It's overcentralizing!" cried some. "It's not that bad!" yelled others. Add a small controversy about people changing their votes at the last minute, and it's easy to see why the Aegislash suspect drew so much attention.

The Suspect

Why was Aegislash so threatening? Why did it come under so much scrutiny? To start, Aegislash has an incredibly good defensive typing. Ghost / Steel offers several valuable resistances, in Dragon, Flying, Fairy, Rock, Grass, Psychic, Bug, Ice, and Steel. It also possesses valuable immunities in Fighting, Normal, and Poison. Its typing, when combined with Aegislash's Shield forme's 60 / 150 / 150 bulk, allows it to handle many threats defensively, such as Mega Gardevoir, Latios, and Mega Medicham.

Aegislash was a very threatening offensive force at the same time. Stance Change allows it to switch its base Attack and Special Attack with its base Defense and Special Defense. This gives rise to one argument in favor of Aegislash being unhealthy for the metagame, as it can seem to have have 150 Attack, 150 Defense, 150 Special Attack, and 150 Special Defense almost all the time due to Stance Change. Additionally, Aegislash is also blessed with a deep movepool. STAB Shadow Ball provides incredible neutral coverage. Flash Cannon provides a second STAB move that adds to Shadow Ball's already solid coverage and hits Fairies such as Clefable super effectively. Shadow Sneak gives it priority, which can make up for its lacking Speed stat. Sacred Sword has perfect coverage with Shadow Ball and can hit targets such as Chansey and Bisharp for super effective damage if they try to switch in. There are other, more niche options beyond that. A physical Swords Dance set can be used to good effect. Head Smash, Autotomize, Magnet Rise, Pursuit, and Substitute are among the viable options outside of the aforementioned ones.

Common sets for Aegislash include a bulky attacker that ran King's Shield, Shadow Ball, Sacred Sword, and coverage; a set that ran Substitute and Toxic to wear down common checks; and an all-out attacking set that ran maximum Speed, held a Life Orb, and used four attacks for maximum coverage. Near the start of XY, Swords Dance sets were also common but fell off in favor of sets that were less setup focused. Aegislash was also very versatile and could run items such as Colbur Berry to surprise would-be checks.

Aegislash's signature move, King's Shield, is arguably the single unhealthiest aspect of the Pokémon. King's Shield is a variation of Protect that allows Aegislash to switch between its Blade and Shield formes. An important note is that King's Shield does not block status moves such as Thunder Wave and Encore, meaning the move isn't a totally risk free play. However, King's Shield also comes with the bonus of causing a -2 Attack drop to contact moves that King's Shield blocks. This leads to a lot of 50/50 situations. For example, say we have standard 252 HP EV Aegislash against standard Swords Dance Weavile, with Weavile at full health and Aegislash within range of a +0 Knock Off. If the Weavile user uses Knock Off and the Aegislash user uses King's Shield, the two-stage Attack drop essentially cripples Weavile. The Weavile user can anticipate the King's Shield and use Swords Dance, but then the Aegislash user can predict that and attempt to attack. King's Shield also led to some downright odd scenarios, such as Fighting-types using their STAB moves on Aegislash to avoid the Attack drop. While not all King's Shield scenarios favor the Aegislash user, the odds are more often than not in the Aegislash user's favor.

Another relevant point, why was there a second suspect? After the Mega Metagross suspect resulted in no ban, the metagame was still not in a healthy place according to most. There weren't many other clear suspect options, so why not retest an Uber that would counter Mega Metagross, while also not something with a power level that merited a quickban or spot on the initial banlist? These reasons more or less led to the council taking a second look at Aegislash. Unlike the first test, the second test was a blowout in favor of keeping Aegislash outside of OU.

The ORAS Additions

Mega Metagross

In the current metagame, Mega Metagross is a force to be reckoned with. High natural bulk and good typing allow it to check a good deal of threats while still retaining offensive presence. It also possesses the coverage to beat many checks, such as Grass Knot to beat Slowbro and Hippowdon and Ice Punch to beat Garchomp and Landorus-T. Mega Metagross boasts a strong Speed tier, especially for something with its bulk. It also has utility options available to it such as Bullet Punch and Pursuit to provide additional support to the team, at the cost of coverage.

Aegislash not only resists or is immune to almost all of Mega Metagross's coverage options, but many of them also result in an Attack drop from King's Shield due to Mega Metagross wanting to take advantage of Tough Claws as much as possible. Pursuit, which would trap most Dark-weak threats, also results in a King's Shield Attack drop. Most likely, Mega Metagross would run Earthquake over Hammer Arm as a form of adaptation to hit Aegislash. This negatively impacts Mega Metagross's ability to hit some other Steel-types, primarily Ferrothorn.

Mega Diancie

Mega Diancie is another huge threat in the current OU metagame. While being forced to go mixed seems like a negative at first glance, it benefits Mega Diancie in that Diamond Storm hits Assault Vest users and specially bulky walls, such as Clefable, hard when they try to absorb Moonblast and other special coverage moves. Similarly, Moonblast provides a strong STAB move to hit physical walls like Hippowdon and Slowbro that try to stomach Diamond Storm. These factors, combined with Mega Diancie's base 110 Speed tier, make it a large threat. Additionally, access to Magic Bounce gives Mega Diancie increased utility, allowing it to bounce backs hazards, Taunt, and status-inducing moves like Toxic and Thunder Wave.

Aegislash resists both Diamond Storm and Moonblast. Earth Power barely scores a 2HKO, and Hidden Power Fire becomes a niche option at best. This is also assuming Mega Diancie invests in Special Attack; sets that opt to run heavy Attack investment are almost completely hard walled or require significant prior damage to beat Aegislash. Additionally, some of Mega Diance's use in the current meta comes from its ability to use its STAB moves initially and follow up with Earth Power or Hidden Power Fire to secure KOes. In an Aegislash meta, Mega Diancie users may feel the need to overpredict, and being forced to attack with non-STAB moves increases the number of checks it has and makes it easier to play around.

Mega Altaria

Mega Altaria is another Fairy that suffers at the hands of Aegislash. +1 Adamant Earthquake caps out at 82% damage, and +0 Adamant Earthquake doesn't even guarantee a 2HKO on a fully healthy Aegislash. Specially based Mega Altaria sets don't fare a whole lot better. Aegislash, just by being present on the opposing team, also makes Mega Altaria much easier to play around. Aegislash takes next to nothing from Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice and Return, and as a result, any significant chip damage must come from hitting it with a Fire Blast or Earthquake on the switch. These non-STAB attacks, coming off of Mega Altaria's lackluster base 110 Attack and Special Attack, are much easier to handle with teammates of Aegislash's. Mega Altaria already has a hard enough time setting up in the current OU metagame, and having to potentially overpredict Aegislash would only further exacerbate these issues.

Mega Lopunny

Mega Lopunny possibly creates the most Aegislash-based 50/50s out of any current OU threat. This is because King's Shield not only threatens an Attack drop but also causes crash damage from High Jump Kick. Not is all bad for Mega Lopunny, though. As a result of its perfect Normal / Fighting STAB coverage, it has two virtually free moveslots. In the current meta, options such as Fake Out, Power-Up Punch, and Ice Punch see the most mileage. However, Mega Lopunny can adapt its moveslots to Aegislash and the meta changes that come along with it. Notably, Encore can be used to lock Aegislash into King's Shield, causing it to fail when used multiple times in a row. Encore is far from a niche option only for Aegislash, as it can also create momentum by locking other checks into certain moves. For example, Encore can lock Slowbro and Hippowdon into Slack Off.

Mega Lopunny also benefits from having Aegislash around as a teammate. Aegislash, by virtue of its typing, decreases the number of Fairy- and Psychic-types used. This cuts down on several common checks to Lopunny, such as Slowbro and Clefable. In general, the Aegislash meta also featured less balance teams and more stall and offensive teams. This benefits Mega Lopunny, as most offensive teams get hugely pressured by it.

Mega Latias

Mega Latias is done no favors by Aegislash. The initially hyped set around the start of ORAS, the Stored Power + Calm Mind set, actually beats standard Aegislash. However, that set is flawed in many ways and fell out of popularity rather quickly. Later on, defensive Mega Latias became more popular, often running two attacks, Roost, and a filler move. Aegislash really hurts these sets, especially since it doesn't care about Thunder Wave Speed drops much at all. Mega Latias also rarely invests in Attack or Special Attack, making non-STAB attacks that hit Aegislash super effectively rarely effective.

Hoopa-U

While they never were OU legal in the same meta, with Hoopa-U being first available in July 2015, Hoopa-U would have benefited from Aegislash if anything. Hoopa-U's primary physical Dark STAB move, Hyperspace Fury, ignores Protect-based moves, allowing it to hit through King's Shield. Hoopa-U can also run special sets as effectively as physical ones, and those do not care about King's Shield. More important, Hoopa-U can threaten an OHKO with either of its Dark STAB moves, not caring about King's Shield or relying on otherwise weak coverage. Hoopa-U holds the rare distinction of being one of the few threats that benefit from Aegislash.

Honorable Mentions

Mega Gallade has a tough time dealing with Aegislash, relying on Knock Off to hit it and thus falling victim to the Attack drop associated with King's Shield. Mega Slowbro, by virtue of being a fat Psychic, is hampered by Aegislash to a fair degree. Mega Beedrill gains yet another common check on top of the bulky Ground-types that populate OU. Mega Sceptile has to rely on weak non-STAB attacks to even chip away at Aegislash. Dragalge, which received Adaptability in ORAS, is utterly walled by Aegislash. Tyrantrum received Rock Head as an ability, allowing it to spam Head Smash. However, Aegislash largely removes the effectiveness from Tyrantrum's sets. Some of the other niche Mega Evolutions like Mega Pidgeot, Mega Swampert, and Mega Sharpedo are largely unaffected by Aegislash.

The rest of the OU Meta

Aegislash limited a number of wallbreakers in the OU metagame due to its outstanding defensive typing. Mega Medicham had to run Fire Punch just to hit Aegislash over otherwise more viable options such as Bullet Punch and Ice Punch. None of Pin Missile, Close Combat, or Rock Blast hit Aegislash neutrally or super effectively and as a result Mega Heracross had to run Earthquake to even threaten it. With Aegislash banned, Mega Heracross is able to run Swords Dance or Substitute in its last slot, making it a much more threatening wallbreaker. Mega Gardevoir had to run Shadow Ball to hit Aegislash, and with that moveslot freed without Aegislash, it can run many different options such as Taunt and Will-O-Wisp. As a result of Aegislash's presence, Mega Pinsir preferred Earthquake, but with Aegislash's absence, it is often better off running Close Combat, as that can hit Skarmory and Rotom-W neutrally. Mega Scizor's offensive set didn't emerge until after the Aegislash ban, as Bullet Punch / Bug Bite / Superpower couldn't touch Aegislash. Defensive Swords Dance Mega Scizor was preferred, but even that set improved with the Aegislash ban, as it can invest more in Defense instead of Special Defense. Rock / Fighting is generally outstanding coverage, but both of those are resisted by Aegislash. Without Aegislash around, Terrakion is free to throw around STAB Close Combats and Stone Edges. Choice item users were also practically useless, as Aegislash's King's Shield made them extremely easy to play around. For example, a Choice Scarf user that used Earthquake on an Aegislash that used King's Shield would be a free switch in for a Ground-immune teammate of Aegislash's. It's also important to note that many of the Pokémon that were forced to run coverage to hit Aegislash, such as Mega Gardevoir, were made practically useless by Aegislash. This is because Aegislash pigeonholed some threats into oddly specific coverage moves. Many of these threats still had to hit Aegislash twice with coverage to beat it, and this lead to more of a prediction game. Threats like Mega Heracross, Mega Gardevoir, and Terrakion would much rather throw around their high-powered STAB moves. Additionally, running coverage just to hit Aegislash cut down on available moveslots, preventing Pokémon from using otherwise optimal movesets, such as Taunt Mega Gardevoir and Swords Dance Mega Heracross. Why even run a mon when it can't reach even close to its full potential? That question determined the fate of many Aegislash-influenced threats.

Some Pokémon did benefit in the Aegislash metagame, however. Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y both did well, because as offensive Fires, they could both threaten to OHKO 252 HP Aegislash in Shield forme. Hippowdon and Mandibuzz both thrived as Aegislash answers as well. Stall teams in general are a bit stronger in an Aegislash meta, as threats such as Mega Heracross and Mega Medicham are less viable in such a metagame. Landorus was also legal during the Aegislash meta, and it was very effective due to its high power level without the drawbacks of Choice item move-locking or Life Orb recoil.

Conclusion

Aegislash certainly impacted a wide variety of Pokémon in the OU metagame. While it will most likely not see OU again this generation, maybe next generation will give Aegislash another shot to define the OU metagame.

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