[OVERVIEW]
Aegislash's unique Stance Change ability is a great fit for doubles, making it a great bulky attacker that can heavily punish physical attackers with an Attack drop from King's Shield, and is very difficult to wall thanks to Ghost's great neutral coverage.. Aegislash is arguably one of the best tanky users of Substitute, and its also excellent at stopping spread attackers with Wide Guard. However, Aegislash's reliance on King's Shield to regain bulk can make it overly predictable, especially in the face of its common weaknesses such as Fire, Dark, and Ground.
Below is a sample set. This set is likely to be the standard, but it will be expanded upon and updated as the metagame progresses.
[SET]
name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Flash Cannon / Substitute
move 3: Wide Guard / Substiute / Shadow Sneak
move 4: King's Shield
item: Leftovers / Weakness Policy / Ghostium Z
ability: Stance Change
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* King's Shield is needed for letting Aegislash return to its shield forme and protecting it from attacks.
* Shadow Ball is by far Aegislash's best STAB, having the least resists.
* Flash Cannon works well for hitting Fairy-types like Sylveon and Tapu Bulu harder than Shadow Ball.
* Substitute takes advantage of physical attacker's attempts to avoid King's Shield, making Aegislash much harder to take down. Wide Guard is an excellent support move for blocking spread attacks, and Shadow Sneak lets Aegislash pick off weakened threats.
* Leftovers is the best choice for sets that use Substitute due to keeping Aegislash's health up. Weakness Policy can be used to get an extremely powerful attack in against the weaker super effective moves.
* Ghostium Z lets Aegislash deal serious damage with Z-Shadow Ball, notably OHKOing Mega Salamence. Steelium Z can be used with Z-Flash Cannon if Mega Kangaskhan is especially worrisome.
* A Quiet Nature and 0 Speed IVs ensures that Aegislash will underspeed Celesteela, which is important in case it uses Flamethrower. It also makes Aegislash a usable mixed attacker. If using Substitute, consider running Speed EVs and a Modest nature to outspeed Celesteela and block its Leech Seed with Substitute.
* Strong Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Heatran are a major problem for Aegislash, so consider pairing it with a partner that deals with either of those two well.
* Dark-types are also problematic for Aegislash, even though it can hit all of them hard with Flash Cannon, so partners that deal with those can also be beneficial. LandorusT is especially good, since Intimidate helps it soak attacks for Weakness Policy, and Wide Guard will let Aegislash avoid Earthquake without using King's Shield.
* If using Wide Guard, consider pairing Aegislash with Pokemon that have a difficult time with common spread attacks, such as Mega Charizard Y.
Aegislash's unique Stance Change ability is a great fit for doubles, making it a great bulky attacker that can heavily punish physical attackers with an Attack drop from King's Shield, and is very difficult to wall thanks to Ghost's great neutral coverage.. Aegislash is arguably one of the best tanky users of Substitute, and its also excellent at stopping spread attackers with Wide Guard. However, Aegislash's reliance on King's Shield to regain bulk can make it overly predictable, especially in the face of its common weaknesses such as Fire, Dark, and Ground.
Below is a sample set. This set is likely to be the standard, but it will be expanded upon and updated as the metagame progresses.
[SET]
name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Flash Cannon / Substitute
move 3: Wide Guard / Substiute / Shadow Sneak
move 4: King's Shield
item: Leftovers / Weakness Policy / Ghostium Z
ability: Stance Change
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* King's Shield is needed for letting Aegislash return to its shield forme and protecting it from attacks.
* Shadow Ball is by far Aegislash's best STAB, having the least resists.
* Flash Cannon works well for hitting Fairy-types like Sylveon and Tapu Bulu harder than Shadow Ball.
* Substitute takes advantage of physical attacker's attempts to avoid King's Shield, making Aegislash much harder to take down. Wide Guard is an excellent support move for blocking spread attacks, and Shadow Sneak lets Aegislash pick off weakened threats.
* Leftovers is the best choice for sets that use Substitute due to keeping Aegislash's health up. Weakness Policy can be used to get an extremely powerful attack in against the weaker super effective moves.
* Ghostium Z lets Aegislash deal serious damage with Z-Shadow Ball, notably OHKOing Mega Salamence. Steelium Z can be used with Z-Flash Cannon if Mega Kangaskhan is especially worrisome.
* A Quiet Nature and 0 Speed IVs ensures that Aegislash will underspeed Celesteela, which is important in case it uses Flamethrower. It also makes Aegislash a usable mixed attacker. If using Substitute, consider running Speed EVs and a Modest nature to outspeed Celesteela and block its Leech Seed with Substitute.
* Strong Fire-types such as Mega Charizard Y and Heatran are a major problem for Aegislash, so consider pairing it with a partner that deals with either of those two well.
* Dark-types are also problematic for Aegislash, even though it can hit all of them hard with Flash Cannon, so partners that deal with those can also be beneficial. LandorusT is especially good, since Intimidate helps it soak attacks for Weakness Policy, and Wide Guard will let Aegislash avoid Earthquake without using King's Shield.
* If using Wide Guard, consider pairing Aegislash with Pokemon that have a difficult time with common spread attacks, such as Mega Charizard Y.
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