I can see Gyarados being a decent check for most Aegislash builds. He resists Iron head, Sacred Sword, and can taunt to prevent Swords Dance and King's Shield. Additionally, he can retaliate with Dragon Danced Earthquakes, or, hell, even boosted waterfalls, as taunt means he doesn't need to worry about the shield.
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Pokémon Aegislash
- Thread starter ArkWelder
- Start date
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Haven't thought about this, but it's very possible that it would work. Cofagrigus uses a similar set in UU to great success, but Aegislash has way more power, a better typing, and is harder to wall. Only thing i don't like in your set is the use of Life Orb. Pokemon that aim to setup up twice need all the bulk they can get so Leftovers is the best item for this set. Oh, you should also slash Iron Head after Sacred Sword, or even before. Ghost + Steel is only resisted by Bisharp, Houndoom, Mega Gyarados, Crawdaunt, Sharpedo, Heliolisk, Pyroar, and Bibarel, all Pokemon with few or zero reasons to be used in OU, which means that Iron Head + Shadow Claw provide perfect neutral coverage against the OU tier, and Iron Head is the stronger move of Aegislash.
Re-attempt at that choice band set-up.
Aegislash @ Choice Band
Nature: Brave
IV: 0 Speed
EVs: 252 Atk/252 hp/4 Def
-Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw
-Head Smash/Rock Slide
-Sacred Sword
-HP Ice/Iron Head
Main idea is go last to tanks hits on a switch and retaliate afterwards with stance change. Thus, lower speed nature and less investment in IVs. Hp gives the greatest ability for survival than investment in defence and special defence. Shadow Sneak is an option to allow a strong STAB revenge KO. If running Shadow Sneak, then Iron Head is a good choice to throw on for STAB and fairly decent neutral coverage coupled with Sacred Sword. Otherwise, Shadow Claw/Sacred Sword covers most things for neutral coverage. Rock Slide/Head Smash is thrown in for super effective damage on flying and fire types. Head Smash for more damage at risk of accuracy while Rock Slide is a safer bet. Aegislash unfortunately has a pathetic move pool. If running Shadow Claw, then Iron Head is not necessary unless wanting to cover Fairy types. Otherwise, HP Ice gives Aegislash an opportunity to hit more pokemon grass, flying, ground, and dragon and utilize its high special attack stat. Especially, the dragon/flying, dragon/ground pokemon variants.
Aegislash @ Choice Band
Nature: Brave
IV: 0 Speed
EVs: 252 Atk/252 hp/4 Def
-Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw
-Head Smash/Rock Slide
-Sacred Sword
-HP Ice/Iron Head
Main idea is go last to tanks hits on a switch and retaliate afterwards with stance change. Thus, lower speed nature and less investment in IVs. Hp gives the greatest ability for survival than investment in defence and special defence. Shadow Sneak is an option to allow a strong STAB revenge KO. If running Shadow Sneak, then Iron Head is a good choice to throw on for STAB and fairly decent neutral coverage coupled with Sacred Sword. Otherwise, Shadow Claw/Sacred Sword covers most things for neutral coverage. Rock Slide/Head Smash is thrown in for super effective damage on flying and fire types. Head Smash for more damage at risk of accuracy while Rock Slide is a safer bet. Aegislash unfortunately has a pathetic move pool. If running Shadow Claw, then Iron Head is not necessary unless wanting to cover Fairy types. Otherwise, HP Ice gives Aegislash an opportunity to hit more pokemon grass, flying, ground, and dragon and utilize its high special attack stat. Especially, the dragon/flying, dragon/ground pokemon variants.
This seems it would definitely be OU.
My first thoughts were this set:
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
The speed can be modified based on the speed tiers. Creeping Assault Vest Tyranitar would definitely have utility to hit it with Sacred Sword and also other Aegislash. I really think this would work well on a team utilizing paralysis support, since 60 base speed without any EVs is more than enough to work with, assuming paralysis wasn't nerfed beside the Electric immunity to it. I was using a Sheer Force Conkeldurr on a team with paralysis support and I was upset that it could not outspeed Chansey/Blissey without paralysis to hit it with Drain Punch, although Aegislash does not get STAB on its fighting move. Paralysis support will definitely pay off with Iron Head as it gives you a 47.5% chance of a free turn [1 -(1 - 0.25)(1 - 0.3)]. Moreover, it is an excellent recipient of Wish due to its high defenses while in its initial Shield Form. I could not immediately think of a Wish passer, preferably one with paralysis. Jirachi is not good, even though it can provide paralysis support, because of its common weaknesses to Dark, Fire, Earth, and Ghost. Chansey/Blissey would have to forfeit Toxic, which has excellent synergy with Protect, to provide paralysis support.
With a 2+ boost, Sacred Sword is usually enough to get the job done on Fighting weak Pokemon, as I plugged in max physical defense Heatran (91/106 252/252 neutral, although almost no one uses that spread in Gen 5 OU), Ferrothorn (74/131 252/252 + nature), and Chansey while also "handicapping" Aegislash by imputing a 130 base attack on Aegislash and an 85 on Sacred Sword (so it would have equal base power as Secret Sword) and they scored OHKOs. Heatran illustrates the importance of paralysis support in a sweep since Heatran can hit it with a Fire-type move if Heatran is free from status.
A 2+ Shadow Sneak would not still not guarantee a OHKO without hazards on physically defensive Jellicent who could potentially cripple it with Wisp. However, I don't know how relevant Jellicent would be in the metagame, partly due to Aegislash's presence discouraging its use and the likely decreased presence of Rain abusers. Obviously, Skarmory would wall it.
My first thoughts were this set:
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sacred Sword
- Iron Head
- Shadow Sneak
The speed can be modified based on the speed tiers. Creeping Assault Vest Tyranitar would definitely have utility to hit it with Sacred Sword and also other Aegislash. I really think this would work well on a team utilizing paralysis support, since 60 base speed without any EVs is more than enough to work with, assuming paralysis wasn't nerfed beside the Electric immunity to it. I was using a Sheer Force Conkeldurr on a team with paralysis support and I was upset that it could not outspeed Chansey/Blissey without paralysis to hit it with Drain Punch, although Aegislash does not get STAB on its fighting move. Paralysis support will definitely pay off with Iron Head as it gives you a 47.5% chance of a free turn [1 -(1 - 0.25)(1 - 0.3)]. Moreover, it is an excellent recipient of Wish due to its high defenses while in its initial Shield Form. I could not immediately think of a Wish passer, preferably one with paralysis. Jirachi is not good, even though it can provide paralysis support, because of its common weaknesses to Dark, Fire, Earth, and Ghost. Chansey/Blissey would have to forfeit Toxic, which has excellent synergy with Protect, to provide paralysis support.
With a 2+ boost, Sacred Sword is usually enough to get the job done on Fighting weak Pokemon, as I plugged in max physical defense Heatran (91/106 252/252 neutral, although almost no one uses that spread in Gen 5 OU), Ferrothorn (74/131 252/252 + nature), and Chansey while also "handicapping" Aegislash by imputing a 130 base attack on Aegislash and an 85 on Sacred Sword (so it would have equal base power as Secret Sword) and they scored OHKOs. Heatran illustrates the importance of paralysis support in a sweep since Heatran can hit it with a Fire-type move if Heatran is free from status.
A 2+ Shadow Sneak would not still not guarantee a OHKO without hazards on physically defensive Jellicent who could potentially cripple it with Wisp. However, I don't know how relevant Jellicent would be in the metagame, partly due to Aegislash's presence discouraging its use and the likely decreased presence of Rain abusers. Obviously, Skarmory would wall it.
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If you're going to run Shadow Claw + Iron Head, you're forced to run LO. You lose to stuff like Heatran because you flat out can't hit it hard enough if you're running Shadow Claw and Iron Head with lefties. While the moves have good neutral coverage, their Super effective coverage is frankly completely awful, and this really holds the set back without LO. So you either run Lefties and are forced to Sacred Sword or you can opt to run Iron Head but you're forced to go LO.
First, you don't know that. No existing sweeper has its typing and can setup on Pokemon such as Terrakion, Latios, and Conkeldurr. Second, Aegislash is not just a sweeper, it's a sweeper and a spinblocker, a combo of roles which no other Pokemon could do in OU before, except from Cofagrigus which was very mediocre. Third, double boosting Aegislash still has midgame potential and is still a very useful pivot, as long as you give it Leftovers and some HP EVs. The spread i would use on such a set is 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe Adamant @ Leftovers. Enough Speed to outrun base 130s at +2 Speed, max Atk for obvious reasons, and the rest in bulk.
if you use a brave nature and min speed IVs, would you consider aegislash to be an adequate user of gyro ball? the significant power increase over iron head is qute appealing, although im not sure how necessary it would be
it's not worth it. iron head actually outdamages gyro ball vs terrakion, one of the fasest mons out there, so aegislash is just way too fast for gyro ball
for reference, aegislash gyro ball vs terrakion is 77 bp not including stab and se
Welcome to the anti-meta
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 SAtk / 12 Atk / 244 Spd
Timid / Modest Nature
- Autotomize
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword / Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Ice
Yes, that's special-mixed Autotomize Aegislash. Yes, that's -Atk Sacred Sword.
What does this set do? Beat a lot of the shit Aegi struggles with, and flat out massacres a huge chunk of the meta after SR + 1 Spikes Layer. It really comes down to the facts: Aegislash is absolutely amazing, but the stuff that shuts it down are all staples and shut it down HARD. What people DON'T realize is that a specially oriented set is not only just as effective, but beats the living pulp out of most things that Aegi currently hates. Autotomize seems counter-intuitive for the soak-a-hit-then-retaliate strategy that normal Aegislash provides, but it basically just upgrades itself to Deo-N after a single turn of set-up, which is absolutely insane. Shadow Ball can nearly OHKO Skarm after Rocks, and it does with Modest. HP Ice is there for Landorus, Gliscor, and the 4x weak Dragons, who all fall to it easily. In general, Shadow Ball proves enough neutral coverage to just stomp over everything, and since the resists for it are very vulnerable to physical fighting type moves, you can just KO them with Sacred Sword even with a -Atk nature thanks to its massive 150 Atk, but Flash Cannon is a very good alternative thanks to having dual STAB and netting some important KOs like on Kyu-B, at the cost of stuff like being useless against Bisharp (who is already one of Aegi's premier checks) and Flamethrower Blissey, as well as being unable to 2HKO Ferrothorn or OHKO TTar. This set can flat out OHKO many of the things that the current SD set has to play around with using correct predictions involving King's Shield to even try and beat, or what Double Dance can beat while using only 1 turn of set-up rather than 2. It's incredibly deadly and can very easily get a kill against any team expecting a physical variant of Aegislash.
It's flat out better to run Modest until Poke Bank is out since there's nothing except Scarf Lando-T between those tiers that's relevant (unless I'm missing something?), but once Lando-T is back it's obviously advantageous to outpace it using this set.
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 SAtk / 12 Atk / 244 Spd
Timid / Modest Nature
- Autotomize
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword / Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Ice
Yes, that's special-mixed Autotomize Aegislash. Yes, that's -Atk Sacred Sword.
What does this set do? Beat a lot of the shit Aegi struggles with, and flat out massacres a huge chunk of the meta after SR + 1 Spikes Layer. It really comes down to the facts: Aegislash is absolutely amazing, but the stuff that shuts it down are all staples and shut it down HARD. What people DON'T realize is that a specially oriented set is not only just as effective, but beats the living pulp out of most things that Aegi currently hates. Autotomize seems counter-intuitive for the soak-a-hit-then-retaliate strategy that normal Aegislash provides, but it basically just upgrades itself to Deo-N after a single turn of set-up, which is absolutely insane. Shadow Ball can nearly OHKO Skarm after Rocks, and it does with Modest. HP Ice is there for Landorus, Gliscor, and the 4x weak Dragons, who all fall to it easily. In general, Shadow Ball proves enough neutral coverage to just stomp over everything, and since the resists for it are very vulnerable to physical fighting type moves, you can just KO them with Sacred Sword even with a -Atk nature thanks to its massive 150 Atk, but Flash Cannon is a very good alternative thanks to having dual STAB and netting some important KOs like on Kyu-B, at the cost of stuff like being useless against Bisharp (who is already one of Aegi's premier checks) and Flamethrower Blissey, as well as being unable to 2HKO Ferrothorn or OHKO TTar. This set can flat out OHKO many of the things that the current SD set has to play around with using correct predictions involving King's Shield to even try and beat, or what Double Dance can beat while using only 1 turn of set-up rather than 2. It's incredibly deadly and can very easily get a kill against any team expecting a physical variant of Aegislash.
It's flat out better to run Modest until Poke Bank is out since there's nothing except Scarf Lando-T between those tiers that's relevant (unless I'm missing something?), but once Lando-T is back it's obviously advantageous to outpace it using this set.
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I have a question. I do love Aegislash; I mean, he's pretty much all I've ever wanted in a multipurpose Tank and power hitter. Thing is.......well, it's his ability.
I think it's cool to be able to change forms like that, but that ability essentially becomes useless if Aegislash doesn't know King's Shield.
I'm actually curious about which is better; Aegislash, or Doublade. I know, Doublade's stats are all lower, but its Defense is the same as Aegislash's Shield Form. Give it an Eviolite, and suddenly it has a Defense twice as high as Aegislash's and a Special Defense almost as high. It also has the ability No Guard.....which has proved useful for me in the past, but I'm still not all that clear on the Honedge Line's movesets, so I don't know if they have any moves that could take advantage of this ability. It's proved useful for me against enemies who like to spam Accuracy/Evasiveness moves, in any case...
All of that, plus the fact that...well, I've found that Aegislash's form changing is actually quite easy to take advantage of. I don't know about others, but I find it easy topredict when an enemy Aegislash is about to use King's Shield, since their strategy kinda revolves around it. And after Aegislash attacks, it's left wide open in its Blade Form. I understand that Aegislash is slow, so it'll probably attack and go into Blade Form AFTER the opponent moves. I also understand that King's Shield has the same priority as Protect and Detect and all of those moves, so Aegislash is usually able to go back into Shield Form before the enemy can do anything. Still, all it takes is apowerful Priority move, or someone using every opportunity of Aegislash hidng behind his shield to boost up stats, then turning the tables. And it's not like there aren't any Pokémon slower than Aegislash; they can take that whole "I'll only become vulnerable after you move" thing and flip the table on it. And that's not even including the possibility of Trick Room. I dunno.
Thoughts, anyone?
I think it's cool to be able to change forms like that, but that ability essentially becomes useless if Aegislash doesn't know King's Shield.
I'm actually curious about which is better; Aegislash, or Doublade. I know, Doublade's stats are all lower, but its Defense is the same as Aegislash's Shield Form. Give it an Eviolite, and suddenly it has a Defense twice as high as Aegislash's and a Special Defense almost as high. It also has the ability No Guard.....which has proved useful for me in the past, but I'm still not all that clear on the Honedge Line's movesets, so I don't know if they have any moves that could take advantage of this ability. It's proved useful for me against enemies who like to spam Accuracy/Evasiveness moves, in any case...
All of that, plus the fact that...well, I've found that Aegislash's form changing is actually quite easy to take advantage of. I don't know about others, but I find it easy topredict when an enemy Aegislash is about to use King's Shield, since their strategy kinda revolves around it. And after Aegislash attacks, it's left wide open in its Blade Form. I understand that Aegislash is slow, so it'll probably attack and go into Blade Form AFTER the opponent moves. I also understand that King's Shield has the same priority as Protect and Detect and all of those moves, so Aegislash is usually able to go back into Shield Form before the enemy can do anything. Still, all it takes is apowerful Priority move, or someone using every opportunity of Aegislash hidng behind his shield to boost up stats, then turning the tables. And it's not like there aren't any Pokémon slower than Aegislash; they can take that whole "I'll only become vulnerable after you move" thing and flip the table on it. And that's not even including the possibility of Trick Room. I dunno.
Thoughts, anyone?
* +2 Shadow Sneak does 30% dmg against Gliscor, who then heals back 12.5% hp per turn. Gliscor threatens back with Earthquake, which isn't a contact move, and is therefore immune to the effects of King's Shield.
* +2 Sacred Sword 3HKOs Skarmory. Brave Bird is a contact move though, but Spikes / Roost probably will be Skarm's strategy.
* +2 Shadow Sneak does ~35% dmg against Togekiss, giving a chance of 3HKO against a Roost user. Togekiss counter attacks with plenty: Shadow Ball, Nasty Plot, Thunder Wave, Fire Blast. The Togekiss now 4x resists Fighting attacks, so Sacred Sword is not an option.
* +1 Shadow Sneak does 30% vs Gyarados (only +1 because of Intimidate), who attacks back with Taunt, Earthquake, or Dragon Dance.
IMO, it seems like Shadow Sneak's pitiful 40BP isn't enough to break through your typical wall for competitive play. Against any physical fighting-resist wall, Aegislash becomes walled hard.
Fair enough. But I just wanted a reminder to everyone that "abusing Stance Change" isn't as important a goal as "awesome dmg coverage across a wide variety of threats".
I'm not saying Aegislash "can't wallbreak", I'm saying that particular Shadow Sneak set cannot. Change things up to CB Shadow Claw for instance, which has a 50% chance to ignore Intimidate and crit for 105 BP dmg and all of a sudden, Gyarados is OHKOed on the switch-in (with Stealth Rocks support).
Of course, the other 50% of the time Gyarados takes pitiful damage. But with the crit-changes to Shadow Claw (1.5x damage 50% of the time), I think we cannot underestimate the importance of Shadow Claw.
Aegislash is probably going to be a great pokemon, but I'm fairly critical of the Shadow Sneak set. There are better priority users IMO. Aegislash should instead focus on his role as Pivot, and abuse CB.
Hell, CB Garchomp EQ handily deals with all of Aegislash's options. CB Garchomp outruns Aegislash and OHKOs even 252/252 HP/Def builds in Shield form. If Aegislash hits Shadow Sneak, Garchomp takes lulzy amounts of damage and OHKOs even harder. King's Shield shennanigans don't even do anything, because EQ isn't a contact move.
We're looking at a pokemon who is very easily countered: weak to Earthquake, THE premier physical attack of the game. Aegislash does NOT sweep teams with a proper physical defender (Gliscor, Gyarados), or hell, even a bulky sweeper like Garchomp. The lists of Aegislash counters is too large, too vast, for him to sit around and try to get up to +6 Shadow Sneaks.
Maybe Aegislash can do it, but he'll need more than Shadow Sneak / Sacred Sword / King's Shield / Swords Dance. There's not enough type-coverage there to threaten any of the premier OU walls... no matter how many SD's you get in the process.
There are better "endgame sweepers". Garchomp is bulkier and faster and has better attacks in general. I don't see "Swords Dance Sweeper Aegislash" actually winning matches in a competitive setting. If it does, you'll need to work hard to bait your opponent's walls before Aegislash comes down.
EDIT: Calcs were done assuming Serebii's estimated 60 HP and 150 Def stats on Aegislash.
We're looking at a pokemon who is very easily countered: weak to Earthquake, THE premier physical attack of the game. Aegislash does NOT sweep teams with a proper physical defender (Gliscor, Gyarados), or hell, even a bulky sweeper like Garchomp. The lists of Aegislash counters is too large, too vast, for him to sit around and try to get up to +6 Shadow Sneaks.
Maybe Aegislash can do it, but he'll need more than Shadow Sneak / Sacred Sword / King's Shield / Swords Dance. There's not enough type-coverage there to threaten any of the premier OU walls... no matter how many SD's you get in the process.
There are better "endgame sweepers". Garchomp is bulkier and faster and has better attacks in general. I don't see "Swords Dance Sweeper Aegislash" actually winning matches in a competitive setting. If it does, you'll need to work hard to bait your opponent's walls before Aegislash comes down.
EDIT: Calcs were done assuming Serebii's estimated 60 HP and 150 Def stats on Aegislash.
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A specially biased Aegislash seems like an interesting concept, 252spA LO HP ice eliminates Landoge / Landman which seem to be a popular counter. You could even throw on Automotize to ease on prediction as it ensures that Aegislash maintains decent bulk if they opponent mon decides to stay in and you have a boost that can outspeed the check / counter that comes in. Sacred Sword also seems like a neat option that helps deal with Excadrill which also seems like a favored switch in and, to an extent Heatran.
If Aegislash does Swords Dance (or King's Shield) but is then forced out, he has literally done "nothing" except waste turns and potentially give your opponent a setup opportunity. My point is that if you are going to build a SD set, it needs to do something that greatly threatens major walls of OU. Shadow Sneak simply doesn't have enough BP to threaten a wall... but I think Shadow Claw is perfectly viable.
Ex: Gliscor switches in on the Swords Dance, then Earthquakes while Aegislash survives and counter-hits with +2 Shadow Claw. Off the 50% chance of a crit, Aegislash can finish Gliscor off with +2 Shadow Sneak and then continues to threaten +2 Shadow Sneaks for the rest of the opponent's team.
The other 50% of the time (non-crits), Aegislash is forced to switch out, but still has ~50% HP left for future shenanigans... and Gliscor is feeling the pain from ~57% dmg. Unless Gliscor risks a Roost soon, his walling is over for the rest of the match.
Still, Aegislash is going to be forced out eventually, but at least with this strategy, you've taken out a key pokemon of your opponent's team. I'm simply trying to say that Shadow Sneak / Sacred Sword / King's Shield / Swords Dance is a suboptimal build: Aegislash can do better.
Dragon Tamer's very good posts pointing out the massive weaknesses of King's Shield and SD Aegislash come full circle to this:
SD is bad. Stance Change and King's Shield are flawed. This loses to virually nothing other Aegi sets don't already lose to, and beats many of the things they do lose to as well.
I will continue to call it. This is the set. This is what's deadly. This is what eliminates everything that so far we call Aegislash checks and counters.
SD is bad. Stance Change and King's Shield are flawed. This loses to virually nothing other Aegi sets don't already lose to, and beats many of the things they do lose to as well.
Lure Aegislash that works well to Partner with Lucario using Crunch over Ice Punch.
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Jolly Nature
- Autotomize
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Claw
Outspeeds up to base 95 using Choice Scarf after +2, OHKOs 252/0 Lando-T and 4/0 Garchomp 100% of time no rocks needed. Outspeeds base 70 neutral as a plus.
Shadow claw because you need the power. Set has perfect coverage. Didn't see if he actually gets Shadow Claw since I used PS, so Shadow Sneak over it then if it doesn't get. Meh.
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SAtk
Jolly Nature
- Autotomize
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Claw
Outspeeds up to base 95 using Choice Scarf after +2, OHKOs 252/0 Lando-T and 4/0 Garchomp 100% of time no rocks needed. Outspeeds base 70 neutral as a plus.
Shadow claw because you need the power. Set has perfect coverage. Didn't see if he actually gets Shadow Claw since I used PS, so Shadow Sneak over it then if it doesn't get. Meh.
What about Air Balloon? If we're worried about an CB EQ Garchomp, we force him to use options other than Earthquake and lock him into at worst a Fire Fang, which you can abuse the King's Shield contact. You might not live long enough to set up 3 Swords Dances, but you can definitely stall him and hurt him for long enough and lock him into a less than ideal situation.
I dunno; I think Stance Change is still pretty cool for taking a hit before starting your stuff. I would say that it's King's Shield that is flawed, rather than Swords Dance; Stance Change allows it to raise stats and take a hit before dishing out some major hurt, and it has solid enough coverage with two moves that it can certainly use Hidden Power to smash through some checks on a read with that great Special Attack.
The unfortunate thing about Autotomize is that you pretty much forego the benefit of Stance Change entirely when the inevitable opponent switch happens, given that you'll have no Defenses by the time an opponent swings on you. I suppose it might not matter at that point, but without boosted stats, I think he's better off just straight attacking without Autotomize and trying to play some hit-and-run.
That said, the fact that all of these sets are threatening to certain subsets of Pokémon mean that the unpredictability will cause all of them to work on some level. That's really nice.
EDIT: DarkFuzz, that's pretty clever. Aegislash probably gets more potential benefit from Air Balloon than most. Could be cool on a general mixed set, though running some calcs would be necessary to see by how much. The reasonable synergy with King's Shield cannot be denied. That said, Shadow Sneak just doesn't have enough raw power to sweep teams unless you manage to get to +6, so it would have to function as a late-game cleaner for that, but the other move might be able to do enough by itself without having to be nothing but a cleaner at the end. Just gotta play your cards right so you don't lose your Air Balloon (or the advantage of people not knowing before you switch in the first time) too early.
The unfortunate thing about Autotomize is that you pretty much forego the benefit of Stance Change entirely when the inevitable opponent switch happens, given that you'll have no Defenses by the time an opponent swings on you. I suppose it might not matter at that point, but without boosted stats, I think he's better off just straight attacking without Autotomize and trying to play some hit-and-run.
That said, the fact that all of these sets are threatening to certain subsets of Pokémon mean that the unpredictability will cause all of them to work on some level. That's really nice.
EDIT: DarkFuzz, that's pretty clever. Aegislash probably gets more potential benefit from Air Balloon than most. Could be cool on a general mixed set, though running some calcs would be necessary to see by how much. The reasonable synergy with King's Shield cannot be denied. That said, Shadow Sneak just doesn't have enough raw power to sweep teams unless you manage to get to +6, so it would have to function as a late-game cleaner for that, but the other move might be able to do enough by itself without having to be nothing but a cleaner at the end. Just gotta play your cards right so you don't lose your Air Balloon (or the advantage of people not knowing before you switch in the first time) too early.
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Not sure if its mentioned yet or not but I don't feel like going through 10 pages just for one thing.
But a potential counter is Gyarados. Gyarados has Intimidate to lower its Attack as well as Taunt for wrecking King's Shield and Sword's Dance. Its much faster obviously and can get a Taunt in before it can boost its stats. Gyarados has a great movepool and can hit Aegislash hard with Earthquake. And it can resists both its STABs, though you will have to Mega Evolve Gyarados to make it resist its Ghost moves. So it can shutdown Aegislash if you give it a chance.
I'd mention Aerodactyl too with its fast Taunt as well. But it will have to watch out for Iron Head (\M/).
But a potential counter is Gyarados. Gyarados has Intimidate to lower its Attack as well as Taunt for wrecking King's Shield and Sword's Dance. Its much faster obviously and can get a Taunt in before it can boost its stats. Gyarados has a great movepool and can hit Aegislash hard with Earthquake. And it can resists both its STABs, though you will have to Mega Evolve Gyarados to make it resist its Ghost moves. So it can shutdown Aegislash if you give it a chance.
I'd mention Aerodactyl too with its fast Taunt as well. But it will have to watch out for Iron Head (\M/).
You don't +2 with a Shadow Sneak/Iron Head/King's Shield/Swords Dance set, you need to +6 or bust. If you're going to run this set, you need to make sure you can take out Aegislash's counters before you send him out, as this is a lategame sweeper build (though in my opinion, he's the best lategame sweeper in the meta). Make use of that Team Preview!
(If you don't believe me, try him in 3v3s and watch as you absolutely destroy people.)
UltiMario's set is the scariest by far in this thread. Take a good look at it again:
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
Timid / Modest Nature
- Autotomize
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword / Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power Ice
Aegislash Autotomizes first. CB Tar tries to revenge kill, but is instead OHKOed by Sacred Sword. Even Scarf-Tar is outsped and OHKOed by Sacred Sword. Props to UltiMario for thinking up this set: but he was a bit arbitrary with the Speed Tiers. Choosing a more careful speed tier, I think the following stats are better:
Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 SAtk / 140 Atk / 116 Spd
Quiet Nature
- Autotomize
- Shadow Ball
- Sacred Sword
- Hidden Power Ice / Shadow Claw
116 Speed with neutral nature hits 202 Speed, which is 404 after autotomize. Scarf Heracross is 403, and Base 130 (ex: Mega Gengar and Jolteon) are slower than that. The goal is now to OHKO as many "quick" Pokemon as possible.
Bulky Waters are good switch-ins to Autotomize. But Gastrodon is 2HKOed by Shadow Ball and is outsped even without Autotomize. The extra Atk EVs are filler, but help out against Hydregon. (giving Aegislash a near unassisted OHKO). Shadow Claw helps vs Jolteon (almost a guaranteed OHKO after stealth rocks). Without Shadow Claw, Aegislash is forced out by those OU pokemon.
Tentacruel and Rotom-W are not within OHKO range, even with Stealth Rocks. But bulky waters like them are best dealt with Shadow Claw.
HP Ice straight up murders Landorous, Gliscor, and Garchomp however, so I think HP Ice is the standard attack... with Shadow Claw as a potential backup attack for the tricky player.
Bulky Waters like Gastrodon don't like it when Aegislash uses Shadow Ball on the switch-in. Aegislash then is faster than a lot of those slower bulky waters, and then 2HKOs them. Otherwise, bulky waters are very good switches into Autotomize.
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Dragontamer
Ok I admit my spread was SLIGHTLY unoptimized, but you shouldn't be running less than 244 Speed, this puts you above CRUCIAL speed tiers for both Timid and Modest (+1 95s and +1 Gyarados/Dnite respectively). The speed spreads you've recommended would make Aegi lose to things that beat SD, which completely destroys the purpose of the set.
12 Atk / 252 SpA / 244 Spe should be the EVs. I'll edit my original post accordingly.
Ok I admit my spread was SLIGHTLY unoptimized, but you shouldn't be running less than 244 Speed, this puts you above CRUCIAL speed tiers for both Timid and Modest (+1 95s and +1 Gyarados/Dnite respectively). The speed spreads you've recommended would make Aegi lose to things that beat SD, which completely destroys the purpose of the set.
12 Atk / 252 SpA / 244 Spe should be the EVs. I'll edit my original post accordingly.
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