Sigilyph
[Overview]
<p>While this flying totem pole might not initially strike fear into your heart, Sigilyph's reasonable bulk and good Speed stat, along with access to Tailwind and Magic Guard, make it an excellent Tailwind attacker. Its powerful Psychic-type STAB gives it super effective coverage against the abundant Fighting-types, while its typing allows it to take any Fighting-type attack with ease. That typing also hurts it, though, since it gives Sigilyph weaknesses to many common attacks such as Rock Slide and Shadow Ball, and while Sigilyph's good bulk allows it to take a hit, its somewhat low Speed makes it susceptible to many faster attackers such as Archeops and Terrakion. Overall, Sigilyph is a great Tailwind user and abuser, and makes a useful addition to almost any team.</p>
[SET]
name: Tailwind Attacker
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Ice Beam / Air Slash
move 3: Tailwind
move 4: Shadow Ball / Protect
item: Life Orb
ability: Magic Guard
nature: Modest
evs: 36 HP / 252 Def / 220 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Sigilyph's access to both Tailwind and Magic Guard, along with a usable Special Attack stat, make it an effective Tailwind attacker. Psychic is its STAB move of choice, attaining key OHKOs on every Fighting-type Pokemon and hitting Amoonguss for huge damage. Ice Beam adds to Sigilyph's coverage, OHKOing the genies and most of the many Pokemon weak to Ice-type attacks. Tailwind allows Sigilyph to support its team and boost its own Speed. Shadow Ball deals decent damage to most Ghost- and Psychic-types, making Sigilyph much more effective against opposing Trick Room teams.</p>
<p>Air Slash hits various Pokemon for more damage than Ice Beam, including Virizion, Zoroark, Scrafty, and Whimsicott, and provides better neutral coverage than Ice Beam. However, Ice Beam still hits the genies, Haxorus, Hydreigon, and Krookodile harder, and due to their high usage, it's usually the better option. As Sigilyph was various weaknesses, Protect can be useful, allowing a teammate to take out a Pokemon such as Thundurus that may threaten Sigilyph. However, it does make Sigilyph far less effective against opposing Trick Room teams, meaning it is an inferior option.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Magic Guard removes Life Orb recoil, allowing Sigilyph to hit hard without compromising its good bulk. The EVs and nature allow Sigilyph to always OHKO 4 HP genies with Ice Beam while maintaining great physical durability; it can even take an Archeops's Flying Gem Acrobatics and have a 67.3% chance to survive. An alternative EV spread of 28 HP / 252 SpA / 228 Spe is a viable option, allowing Sigilyph to outspeed Timid Chandelure and Adamant Krookodile outside of Tailwind, but the reduced bulk in comparison to the first spread is quite noticeable, and makes Sigilyph far more susceptible to Rock Slide than a bulkier spread.</p>
<p>Most Pokemon that enjoy a Tailwind boost will appreciate Sigilyph as a partner. Additionally, its ability to OHKO Terrakion and other Fighting-types with its STAB Psychic makes it a good partner for Pokemon such as your own Terrakion or Scrafty, which can then proceed to attack with their common checks removed. Sigilyph's ability to OHKO Tornadus with Ice Beam and set up Tailwind is especially useful for Pokemon such as Conkeldurr or Amoonguss which Tornadus commonly checks.</p>
<p>This set requires a good deal of support to work well. Although it has excellent physical bulk, allowing it to tank many hits, Sigilyph is often KOed by super effective special attacks such as Thundurus's Thunderbolt and Chandelure's Shadow Ball. For this reason, a Fake Out user such as Scrafty or Mienshao can help tremendously, immobilizing these checks while Sigilyph sets up Tailwind, allowing it to do good damage the next turn. A powerful Choice Scarf user such as Chandelure or Darmanitan can also be helpful, OHKOing Pokemon that threaten Sigilyph, such as Thundurus, before they can attack.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Sigilyph's good defenses, excellent Psychic typing, and Magic Guard makes it an ideal initiator of a Skill Swap chain. If it is able to transfer, for example, Thundurus's Prankster to Amoonguss, your opponents are in for a world of hurt. Magic Guard is also an excellent ability to Skill Swap to another Pokemon, making Sigilyph ideal for the role. However, the strategy is ruined if any Pokemon in the chain is KOed, and as such is not very reliable. Sigilyph has access to Reflect and Light Screen, and with its relatively high Speed and good defenses, it can make for a useful dual screen user. However, Sigilyph's ability to burn opponents with Psycho Shift makes Reflect generally useless, and Sigilyph is much more effective setting up Tailwind than setting up dual screens. Thunder Wave may seem useful for lowering an opponent's Speed, but Tailwind does that far more effectively, making Thunder Wave useless. Sigilyph has access to Trick Room, but with its relatively high Speed stat for a Trick Room team, it's easily outclassed by slower Trick Room users such as Musharna or Reuniclus.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Thundurus can do severe damage to Sigilyph with its STAB Thunderbolt, but a specially defensive EV spread allows Sigilyph to take a Thunderbolt and set up Tailwind. Many Rock Slide users can do significant damage to Sigilyph, but must watch out for the odd Psycho Shift, which will neuter their offensive capabilities, and Roost, which allows Sigilyph to take a slower Rock Slide with ease while recovering health. Taunt users such as Thundurus, Tornadus, and Whimicott can stop Sigilyph from using Tailwind, but must watch out for Mental Herb.</p>
<p>Dark-types such as Scrafty and Krookodile can deal severe damage with their STAB Crunch, but must watch out for Psycho Shift, which neuters their offensive capabilities by inflicting burn. A special attacking Hydreigon doesn't care about a burn, and can deal significant damage with its STAB Dark Pulse, but it must watch out for a Life Orb-boosted Ice Beam, which will do severe damage. Ice-types such as Vanilluxe can do huge damage with their super effective STAB attacks, but Sigilyph's good defenses allow it to take most Ice Beams and set up Tailwind with a defensive set, and Roost will allow it to remove its weakness while recovering health.</p>
