Pokémon Aegislash

[Dragontamer]

Aargh, I just can't decide for him...I wanna abuse his ability with king's shield, but at the same time, there's the mixed attacker set.... The mixed attack set is good and all, but using stance change is so good not to abuse and it's fun. I just don't know when or what it will all crystallize into...

King's Shield isn't good competitively.

The main problem with King's Shield is that it's redundant. If the opponent switches in something scary for Aegislash, just switch out. It will be in shield form if you ever return to it IIRC.

King's Shield does not help in a single matchup as far as I can tell, and we haven't even looked at any Sp. Attacker yet who ignores all the negative effects of King's Shield. (ie: Hydregon spamming Fire Blast)

 

[Thorhammer]

Regarding the mixed Automize set, is there any possible merit in running a -Def or -SpD nature? Cutting Atk or Spe seems counterproductive when it needs to boost those stats back up anyway, and it'll only have actual defenses while setting up anyway.

 

[UltiMario]

The only real difference neutral attack provided when I did calcs was making the 2hko on ferro reliable, you don't really gain anything else out of it unless huge chunks (like 40%) have already been taken out of stuff like hydreigon. Yeah, theres a reason to run neutral atk I suppose, but with a nearly uninvested stat with 1 move only being used for coverage, its usually just better to protect yourself from random damage in shield form while setting up so you don't kill yourself with LO recoil or something.

Run like naive or something if you want the guaranteed 2hko on ferro. If you either don't care or have like 2 layers of spikes out to guarantee the 2hko, just keep the bulk and run modest/timid

 

[Kalut123]

Regarding the mixed Automize set, is there any possible merit in running a -Def or -SpD nature? Cutting Atk or Spe seems counterproductive when it needs to boost those stats back up anyway, and it'll only have actual defenses while setting up anyway.

Well it really depends. Losing out on your bulk isn't the most optimal thing either.

Something I like about Brave Nature and loss of speed is versus the Aegislash mirror. Those things are pretty hell if you can't predict. Brave Nature make sit A LOT easier to defend against Shadow Sneak in the event of an SS "tie." Brave Nature breaks this "tie" by making you go last....sounds bad on paper, but bear with me. If you go first when Shadow Sneak (hence you are faster/not brave 0 Speed IV's) you will always hit the Defensive Stance, leaving yourself wide open to the slower Aegislash's Shadow Sneak smacking you in Sword Stance. So, really, you want to be slower.

Gyro Ball is also a thing that makes Brave Nature viable, but its really up to player preference and what coverage your team can take care of. Being slower makes the mirror easier to manage. However, this all goes out of the wazoo when you have to Speed Tie with other Brave 0 Spd IV users...imagine that, anti-speed creep, lol.

EDIT: Whoops, thought you were talking about the SD set and not UtliMario's set; my bad. Post still stands otherwise.

 

[Kalut123]

What about something balanced in defense, like Brave 252hp/128def/128spd? With SW he can work on his attack while the bulk help him to stay alive... after that he should have King shield, Shadow sneak and Sacred sword.

To be honest, I'd rather specialize in one type of Defense (personally it's Sp. Def) so it can work in tandem with it's other teamamtes and act as a relliable switch-in. Skarmory + Aegislash is a pretty fun duo as skarm provides the defense and Aegislash has the Sp. Def taken care of.

Skarmory provides the hazards, Aegislash spinblocks (yet Defog exists sadly)
Skarm is also an immunity to the omni-present EQ and can whirlwind other set-up sweepers such as other Aegis.

Eh its really the tip of the iceberg to me as both are weak to Fire and Skarmory cant resist Dark/Ghost anymore, as its not THE optimal core. But it works nonetheless.

 

[Kalut123]

Dragon Tamer's very good posts pointing out the massive weaknesses of King's Shield and SD Aegislash come full circle to this:



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.

I agree, LO Autotomize is amazing in its own right. There's nothing wrong with the other sets as I feel they are more of a support variant and more reliant on the teammate; but if someone wants a sweeper who can sweep on its lonesome this is it. To be honest, you really need defensive stance once, and simply for the set-up. After that, barring priority (really only Choice Band Scizor BP, Water Ahuriken, Ice Shard..all resists) you gotta sack ASAP.

What are the calcs on CB Bullet Punch on Sword Stance Aegis?

 

[El Coqui]

Judging from everyones comments and my own experiences i think i have been able to make a list of at least the top 3 defensive walls against aegislash and offensive threats...

Defensive:
-Unaware Quagsire
-Standard defensive Gliscor
-Defensive Rotom-W (or Oven)
*Mega-Gyrados may be viable because of taunt though Intimidate Gyrados can as well*

Offensive:
-Offensive Garchomp (and Mega)
-Landorus Therium (perhaps SandForce Lando as well though intimidate helps more)
-Volcarona (FlameBody+FieryDance)
*coming up the rear would be Contrary Malamar who can NightSlash and get the plus 2 from King's Shield)

 

[UltiMario]

For a defensive threat against aegi I'd use SpD hippowdon. It just kinda flat out destroys all the sets aegi can run, even moreso by the fact it underspeeds and guaranteed to hit blade form with EQ

Something like 0 atk on mixed would miss a 2hko on ferro unless you're neutral attack natured, but otherwise you're not doing too bad. Secret Sword is still nailing stuff like Blissey regardless of atk IV and you can just Shadow Ball a bunch of fighting weaks (like terrakion) and still net solid damage. It's not the end of the world if you have bad IVs because 150 atk is so damn good.

 

[L0rdL33t]

Stop investing speed at all with aegislash. he benefits from being slower. aegislash is shield form with innitial switch in see? so the enemy hits first when you are in shield form see? And king's shield is a priority move. Use it next turn to become shield form again. The turn after when they have a chance to attack you, you will still be in shield form. Be slow and the enemy can't catch you off guard. Unless with taunt or negative priority move like avalanche.

Do him some justice and get a speed lowering nature and low speed IV's

 

[UltiMario]

Stop investing speed at all with aegislash. he benefits from being slower. aegislash is shield form with innitial switch in see? so the enemy hits first when you are in shield form see? And king's shield is a priority move. Use it next turn to become shield form again. The turn after when they have a chance to attack you, you will still be in shield form. Be slow and the enemy can't catch you off guard. Unless with taunt or negative priority move like avalanche.

Do him some justice and get a speed lowering nature and low speed IV's

Why be slower and have to tank these hits in Shield Form when you can outspeed and OHKO those things instead?

Edit: Not even going to waste my breath on this guy after that response lol

 

[L0rdL33t]

swords dance is better. Speedy pokemon and scarfers will outrun it after 1 autotomize. Pokemon that resist his attacks will still think twice before switching into a 2+ boosted aegislash. He is very good at tanking because King's shield really punishes physicall attackers. Just add HP ev's and BAM. a sword who can sponge hits like a boss.

 

[Kriptini]

I apologize if I do not write in the SMOGON way. no offence, but SMOGON has very high grammar/wording control.

i know it may NOT be ideal but how about AUTOTOMIZE and SWORD DANCE.

with some ev (about 200) invested in speed and AUTOTOMIZE, Aegislash's speed would be over 400. He would be faster than many pokemon.
not to mention after a sword dance, he'd be deadly.

his typing is good that he can just switch into an attack and get no damage. switch into normal/fight moves. while normal isn't as common in the metagame, fight is.
SHADOW SNEAK also gives Aegis a priority move if spd and autotomize is a concern, but it won't hit as hard as his other options.

switch into a conkledure and set up. AUTOTOMIZE, SWORD DANCE and start blasting away moves.
all priorities moves are useless against him. unless another pokemon shadow sneaks.

The major issue is that without King's Shield, you have to switch out when anything that threatens you shows up, and a +2 Aegislash even with LO still has a lot of things that it can't OHKO. Which means that if you want to get Aegislash back into the game, you'll have to switch him back in and then boost AGAIN, which will be very difficult to do without King's Shield.

The reason why the Stance Dance build works is because you can literally come in on almost anything and then brute force your way through almost anything else. The reason why LO Autotomize Special Attacker works is because it only needs 1 turn to setup, and so if it switches out it won't have as hard of a time getting back in the game as your set will.

And Aegislash is susceptible to Sucker Punch btw.

 

[Dragontamer]

You guys realize that Hippo is tanking +2 Shadow Claw from 252 Atk Life Orb Aegislash, right? Hippo is a solid counter, it doesn't matter what set he's running. The best Aegislash can do vs Hippo switchins is to either CB Shadow Claw on the switch, or do the Mix-Set with Life Orb Shadow ball. Swords dance set sits there, potentially gives Hippo a free turn for Stealth Rocks as you King's Shield, and then dies to repeated Earthquakes.

The major issue is that without King's Shield, you have to switch out when anything that threatens you shows up, and a +2 Aegislash even with LO still has a lot of things that it can't OHKO. Which means that if you want to get Aegislash back into the game, you'll have to switch him back in and then boost AGAIN, which will be very difficult to do without King's Shield.

How does losing an attack (and therefore coverage) to King's Shield help you with this situation?

Hippo, or some other bulky water / bulky ground unit is going to switch in while Aegislash stats up, and then forces it out. It doesn't matter if its using King's Shield to block the hit: Aegislash still loses because Shadow Sneak doesn't do enough damage, and EQ 2HKOs even in Shield form. Icing on the cake: Earthquake is a non-contact move, so King's Shield does NOTHING. In contrast, Hippo welcomes the weaker attacks on King's Shield / SD sets, laughs off all attacks, slacks-off all the damage, sets up Stealth Rocks while you're twiddling your thumbs playing King's Shield games, and then still owns Aegislash no matter what happens. Aegislash is forced to switch out or die when Hippo switches in, no matter what set Aegislash is doing.

Its not just Hippo, its the entire class of bulky waters / bulky grounds that can implement this strategy. Gliscor walls Aegislash. Gyarados walls him. Gastrodon walls him. Old School players can pull out Suicune or Swampert and own him. Any decent wall... hell... Sp. Def Togekiss take the +2 Shadow Sneak / Sacred Sword, laughs at it, and probably wins with Thunderwave / Flinchax. Garchomp can set up and out-Swords Dance the Aegislash due to threatening to OHKO with CB Earthquake. Two attacks are NOT enough for Aegislash. Worse, many of these threats set up Stealth Rocks... or Dragon Dance (Gyarados) or Swords Dance / Baton Pass (Gliscor). Wasting turns playing King's Shield games opens the door to extremely powerful counter-attacks from the enemy, from a wide variety of threats.

This is NOT the game plan you want, especially not against the better players around here.

Kriptini, you're right. +2 LO Aegislash fails to OHKO a number of threats. Hell, it fails to 2HKO a number of threats. The default mode of Aegislash is to switch in, and then be forced to switch out. Good opponents understand the concept of "pivoting", and against those opponents, you will lose an Aegislash in the best case... and allow a scarrier threat to set up in the worse case. The answer therefore is to find a better set than the Swords Dance / King's Shield set.

Again, UltiMario's Life Orb set however, can threaten Hippo as it runs +Speed EVs, and can hit Shadow-Ball on a predicted switch in. Non Sp. Def Hippos will get 2HKOed before they can attack, but the Sp. Def Hippo is a solid 3HKO. The best chance with the Life Orb set is to Shadow Ball and hope for the Sp. Def lowering luck-hax, and then switch out. If the Life Orb Aegislash player predicts a Slack Off, a risky 2nd Shadow Ball (and more importantly: a 2nd Chance at Sp. Def drop) can potentially destroy the Hippo right here, right now. It relies on luck and out-predicting the opponent. The chance of victory is slim, but is significantly higher than the guaranteed loss than the lulzy King's Shield / SD set that everyone keeps talking about.

The 2nd set that actually does something is the Choice Band set, which honestly deserves more discussion. Aegislash has a 75% chance of 2HKOing Sp. Def Hippowdon with CB Shadow Claw. Each Shadow Claw is a 50% chance for crit, and if either one crits... then Hippowdon is dead. If the Shadow Claw on the switchin fails to Crit, the CB user is welcome to choose between switching out, or going for the kill. Again, if the CB user predicts the slack-off, he gets another chance for Crit and potentially beats the Hippo.

UltiMario's mixed set, and the CB Set are the two sets for Aegislash. King's Shield / SD is walled by damn near everyone worth talking about, while the Mixed Set and CB Set have extremely hard to deal with options.

 

[N1ght123]

With so many of Aegislash's weaknesses being bulky water and bulky defensive Pokes do you think that Toxic might be viable for hitting them on the switch in? It would then wear them down so they would lose effectiveness over the battle.

Obviously it does nothing against Gliscor but it does hit Hippowdon, Gastro, etc.

 

[Pac-man9]

And get raped by Life Orb Shadow Ball on the switch in, after which Gengar switches to a counter like Mega Kanga or Hippo.

Aegislash cannot survive long enough in the OU meta to get its momentum going.

It doesn't hit hard enough, its bulk is lacking due to low HP and it can't outspeed its threats.

Who puts a physical aegislash in front of hippowdon anyway?
You really think this monster will end up lower than OU. There is not enough below OU that can stop it efficiently and how is shadow claw and shadow ball coming off of 150, not hitting hard enough when most OU pokes have 130-140. At least he can take a hit unlike gengar and doesn't need the speed to get kills. His role really isn't a sweeper anyway, more of an annoying wallbreaker. With steel losing its resistance to ghost this gen he laughs at skarmory with shadow ball.

 

[Dragontamer]

Everything has counters, 'Slash has too many to justify competitive usage.

I wouldn't go that far. The only reason he has "so many counters" is because people keep trying to do stupid things with King's Shield as if its actually a decent attack. CB Aegishield and UltiMario's Aegishield have much fewer true counters... and thanks to the occasional luck-hax from Shadow Ball, UltiMario's set may occasionally 2HKO when the Sp. Def drop occurs.

Aegislash is hard to counter when running a proper set. But when people run this wonky King's Shield / Swords Dance crap, he all of a sudden becomes a very very easy pokemon to counter. Considering the amount of firepower this pokemon has, making it run King's Shield / Swords Dance is simply stupid. People have to stop talking about this crap set.

Who puts a physical aegislash in front of hippowdon anyway?

The opponent, because Hippowdon is damn near a textbook definition of a "counter". Even with a Swords Dance on the switchin, Aegislash will lose the fight.

Since Aegislash is countered by Hippowdon, it is now our job to optimize for the opponent's best move. If the opponent puts Hippowdon out, how can Aegislash best beat him? As I stated before, the Choice Band set, and UltiMario's Mix-Aegishield set have options against physical Hippowdon, and may get some luck-hax and even 2HKO the Sp. Def based one. Aegislash switches out, lives to fight another day and cripples Hippowdon's walling ability (at least forcing Hippowdon to Slack Off soon. The Hippo ain't getting free Stealth Rocks out of the deal, like he would vs the Swords Dance set).

CB Set is useful for revealing the opponent's wall. With a 50% chance of criting on the switch-in, (Sp. Def) Hippowdon is in for some trouble if CB Aegislash crits for some 70% dmg. Rolling the dice on the switch in no longer favors the Hippowdon player, unless the Hippo is running a physical defensive Hippo.

And now all of a sudden, the Hippo isn't a textbook counter anymore, and degrades into a "Check". THIS is how you improve a set, by minimizing the number of counters a pokemon has. Gasping and Awing about weird situational attacks like King's Shield is a waste of time: keep your focus on minimizing counters and checks.

 

[Dragontamer]

Dragontamer I wasn't talking about Hippo in my post, but do realize that Stance Dance is a lategame sweeper. Once you take out the enemy Taunter or Earthquaker, he is unstoppable. Until that point comes, you can use him to pivot or bait attackers into King's Shield.

Everyone knows about King's shield.

The problem happens when your opponent decides to use Substitute and goes all TyraniBOAH on you. What happens if Gyarados Dragon Dances while you mess around with King's Shield? What happens if Togekiss T-Waves you? (hint: King's Shield does not protect against status). And King's Shield fails to punish the cannonical attacks against Aegishield: Earthquake (non-contact) and Fire Blast.

There are so many ways to get around King's Shield. Its just not a good strategy at all.

 

[DarkFuzz]

The issue here is not SAtk or Atk. The issue is sweeper or wall.

Is Aegislash meant to be a sweeper or is Aegislash meant to wall with King's Shield?

What I'm hearing from those defending its role as a sweeper is that you either A) Shadow Sneak your way through opponents, or B) Autotomize to special sweep his supposed "counters". All are defendable to some extent except when you look at his horrible Speed and Health stats. Both methods of sweeping take some time to set up, method A taking just a little bit longer. And judge this, will you be dead by then? By playing sweeper Aegislash, you are not investing your EVs in Def or SDef. You cannot justify Aegislash being able to take hits like a tank if you're not investing points into him being able to take hits. A Neutral Nature with no IVs or EVs will give him only 305 Def and SDef. A CB Garchomp will just eat that up, now boasting ATK at above 400 in Mega Form. I don't care if you get your Speed to double his; you die the first turn if you try to set up.

And for those of you who have done the research and countered his "counters" with Special Aegislash, we leave Aegislash with a whole new problem. So what if you can outspeed a Garchomp and kill him the next turn? Who cares if you can smash a Hippowdon in one turn? Like what do we do if we're up against a Volcarona, who will now just burn the crap out of us and we have no super effective moves against it? And remember, once you get out of Shield form, you can't change back (since apparently none of you guys like King's Shield). His defenses are significantly lowered, and what happens if someone with Shadow Sneak or even Aqua Jet comes in?

The biggest problem with UltiMario's set IMO is that A) it takes a turn or two to set up, and B) it is too reliant on "surprise countering" its own counters.

Now for those of you who vote for Wall Aegislash (one that I'd personally prefer), keep in mind that is it far from being the perfect wall. King's Shield does not prevent status moves, and you can get Taunted out of it easily. King's Shield is really only useful against physical sweepers, and a good chunk of sweepers in OU are specially offensive. You can play mind games and stall for a while, but that's all he can do: stall. He's going to need to land an attack or two, and when he needs to, he's going to get hit with the hardest blow possible. Can you survive it: yes you can. But can you dish out equally punishing damage? Perhaps with a Life Orb, but not likely at all. Your Aegislash will be limping, their sweeper will most likely still be standing.

So the eternal debate: sweeper or wall?

 

[Kriptini]

Everyone knows about King's shield.

The problem happens when your opponent decides to use Substitute and goes all TyraniBOAH on you. What happens if Gyarados Dragon Dances while you mess around with King's Shield? What happens if Togekiss T-Waves you? (hint: King's Shield does not protect against status).

There are so many ways to get around King's Shield. Its just not a good strategy at all.

I run Lum Berry on my Aegislash, so if my foe tries to status me, they just gave me a free Swords Dance.

Protip: You only King's Shield when you can't outspeed the opponent and OHKO them, and it's more about going back into Shield Stance than it is actually reducing the foe's Attack. Also, Aegislash in Shield Stance doesn't give a crap about a +1 Crunch from Gyarados, he will survive it because 150 base Defense. (It can 2HKO him, sure, but being able to 2HKO Stance Dancer Aegislash means nothing.) A Substituting Tryanitar is harder to deal with, but aren't ALL set-up-sweepers more or less countered by Substitute tanks?

If you run Stance Dancer right, he completely destroys teams that aren't prepared to handle it. He has his fair share of counters, but no more than any other Pokemon in this game.

 

[Dragontamer]

The issue here is not SAtk or Atk. The issue is sweeper or wall.

Is Aegislash meant to be a sweeper or is Aegislash meant to wall with King's Shield?

Aegislash is a Pivot. Nothing more, nothing less. He switches in, survives a hit, and then tries to turn momentum into his favor.

Sweepers must be fast and powerful. Shadow Sneak is not strong enough to sweep. Walls must constantly be bulky, but Aegislash loses his bulk as soon as he attacks once. He must waste precious turns reverting back to shield form to bulk back up, giving the setup opportunity to the opponent.

The biggest problem with UltiMario's set IMO is that A) it takes a turn or two to set up, and B) it is too reliant on "surprise countering" its own counters.

UltiMario's set in the early game simply uses Shadow Ball to hurt whatever the heck is switching into Aegislash. It then tries to sweep, but its primary purpose remains a pivot pokemon that uses Mixed attacks that are hard to wall. For end-game sweeping potential, it uses Automatize, but only after it knows that it has secured victory. Otherwise, it is a better strategy for Aegislash to hit hard with Shadow Ball, and then switch out. (as a Pivot should do).

 

[DarkFuzz]

Aegislash is a Pivot. Nothing more, nothing less. He switches in, survives a hit, and then tries to turn momentum into his favor.

Sweepers must be fast and powerful. Shadow Sneak is not strong enough to sweep. Walls must constantly be bulky, but Aegislash loses his bulk as soon as he attacks once. He must waste precious turns reverting back to shield form to bulk back up, giving the setup opportunity to the opponent.



UltiMario's set in the early game simply uses Shadow Ball to hurt whatever the heck is switching into Aegislash. It then tries to sweep, but its primary purpose remains a pivot pokemon that uses Mixed attacks that are hard to wall. For end-game sweeping potential, it uses Automatize, but only after it knows that it has secured victory. Otherwise, it is a better strategy for Aegislash to hit hard with Shadow Ball, and then switch out. (as a Pivot should do).

If we're talking about the opponent's "set up opportunity", if the opponent is expecting a switch after getting hit with a Shadow Ball, won't he just use that time to put in another Dragon Dance or set up more entry hazards?

We're essentially allowing the opponent to get two free hits on Aegislash (provided it's not Normal or Fighting), one hit on entry, one hit because he's dead slow. Unless you we're thinking about making Aegislash a revenge killer, then one hit because he's dead slow, and one hit on the Pokemon you're trying to switch into (provided you didn't kill the opponent yet).

I'm assuming a lot of situations right now, but I'm not seeing how Pivot Aegislash works without him taking massive amounts of punishment throughout his switches.

 

[Dragontamer]

He can easily become a sweeper in the lategame or against teams that aren't prepared to handle him. He does make a fantastic pivot though.

+4 Shadow Sneak fails to OHKO Tyranitar (Incoming EQ coming at you), Hydgregon, Heatran, Dragonite,

+3 Shadow Sneak (Thanks Intimidate) fails to OHKO Landorus-T, Gyarados.

You are NOT going to sweep with Aegishield. He needs something more powerful than Shadow Sneak to sweep, and 60 Base Speed is too little to sweep on its own.

If we're talking about the opponent's "set up opportunity", if the opponent is expecting a switch after getting hit with a Shadow Ball, won't he just use that time to put in another Dragon Dance or set up more entry hazards?

Shadow Ball is on the switch-in, because aside from Chansey/Blissey (who doesn't like Sacred Sword), no one in OU seems to resist Shadow Ball anymore.

Your opponent gets one free Dragon Dance or Stealth Rocks. The point of a Pivot like Aegishield is to damage the wall hard enough such that you set up a real sweep later. Your opponent of course, will switch in a pivot of his own, and the switch battles will commence. Eventually, you'll lose a Pokemon...

Then you switch in Lucario and rape face with a REAL sweeper, with 112 Base speed in Mega Form, off of STAB Adaptability Mach Punch and 240 BP Close Combats. Since Aegishield has dealt 40% or more damage to all of the opponent's physical walls, Mega Lucario now has free reign to win the game.

-----------------

UltiMario's Aegishield has the unique property that it sets itself up. Early in the game, it cripples the opponent's wall, and later in the game it can take advantage of the damage it did earlier and use Automatize to outspeed the rest of the opponent's team.

I am quite fearful of his set.

 

[Thorhammer]

So, what nature are you supposed to use on him? Someone told me Impish works best, but I don't really understand why. Is it because he starts off in his defense stance and needs the extra bulk while he uses swords dance? But I somewhat disagree with a speed lowering nature. His base speed is simply too high, and iron head will always (I think) do more than gyro ball.

If you're not using special moves, his SpA is no use, so there's no reason to drop a defensive stat. Meanwhile, Speed lowering natures are usually to take advantage of Stance Change. If he's not going to KO the enemy, it's better to go second so he takes the hit while his defenses are up. It's no use on a setup+3 attacks set, since Aegislash will be trying to stay in even while the shield is down, but for King's Shield sets, Choice sets, or other sets that give him a lot of chances to refert to Shield Form, it comes in handy.

 

[Hugg]

I've been using a Doublade with eviolite as a counter for everyone's Aegislash in battle spot. They almost always go for a shadow claw while I go for a swords dance. I survive and then use shadow sneak to knock them out in one turn while their defense is low due to their stance switch.

 

[Dragontamer]

Also, the goal of Stance Dance is to get to +6, and with the support for him that I run, it's easy for me.

Getting to +6 just doesn't happen in competitive games with respectable opponents. Good players never let you "Assemble the Voltron". Thats why Phazers, Walls, counters, Pivots and so forth exist. The furthest you're gonna get vs a good player is +2.

I'm trying to think of solid counters for Aegislash because a +2 boosted Shadow Sneak is going to hurt a lot of pokemon what with steel no longer resisting ghost.

No, it is not. Assuming +2 Life Orb (the best Aegislash can do):

Gliscor laughs with ~35% dmg from the Life Orb version. The earthquake threat forces you out, and Roost recovers the damage easily.
Gyarados laughs with ~33% damage from +1 Shadow Sneak (-1 from Intimidate). Waterfall OHKOs if you're in sword form, and you're walled if you try to lol Sacred Sword.
Garchomp takes 50% from Shadow Sneak, and outruns and OHKOs with Earthquake even in Shield Form.
Togekiss is 3HKOed... 4HKOed without Life Orb (and roosts off the damage easily)
Hippowdon takes 35%, 4HKOed
Hydregeon Resists Shadow Sneak at ~40% dmg, and outruns and OHKOs with Fire Blast if he stays in Shield Form.
Heatran survives Shadow Sneak, and outruns / OHKOs with Fire Blast in Shield Form.

There are PLENTY of counters to the Swords Dance set, because Shadow Sneak just isn't enough damage. 40BP is too low, too little.