Bruh, Aegislash has already been in Sword/Shield.
Dude, by "returning" I meant "not new" (as in "returning for another generation", although you could also argue that Aegislash is "returning" to OU from Ubers), which should be obvious by the structure of my post and that fact, and I'm not sure why you felt the need to say this in response to an old post in an otherwise mostly constructive thread.
Anyway, on to the main reason I'm here! I think Volcanion deserves some consideration in this metagame. The unholy abomination that is Dracovish has turned Water Absorb from a minor bonus to a near-necessity on a lot of teams, bringing things like Seismitoad from irrelevant to viable, and Volcanion stands out to me as a strong Water Absorb user that NatDex gives us access to. It has solid bulk, good special attack, and a decent movepool including its signature super-Scald, Steam Eruption. Heavy-Duty Boots are a big upgrade for this 'mon, as hazards used to be a real problem for it, and Fire/Water typing has some relevant resists against some of the major new threats, most notably quad resists to Ice and Fire from G-Darm, but also a quad resist to Steel and resists to Fairy and U-Turn. Its weaknesses to Rock, Electric, and especially Ground hurt, but these types of attacks can be fairly easily exploited by partners such as the infamous Lando-T. Volcanion also gets access to some solid utility options, such as Toxic and Defog. Here's the set I'm going to be starting with:
Volcanion @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Steam Eruption
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Earth Power / Sludge Bomb
- Toxic / Defog / Protect
(protect would allow it to scout for G-Darm's Earthquake to lock it in and get a safe switch to a Flying 'mon. This is less effective while Dynamax is legal, but is still an option worth considering)
Some relevant calcs:
Scarf G-Darm:
+1 252 Atk Darmanitan-Galar Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8+ Def Volcanion: 268-316 (73.8 - 87%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Volcanion Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Darmanitan-Galar: 474-560 (135 - 159.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Dynamaxing G-Darm's Max Quake actually hits for less, but Volc can't OHKO back thanks to the extra health and SpDef boost, even if it Dynamaxes itself (although if they max simultaneously Volc easily takes two quakes and wins the 1v1)
Volcanion still can't survive Band G-Darm's EQ without maxing tho:
+1 252 Atk Choice Band Darmanitan-Galar Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8+ Def Volcanion: 400-472 (110.1 - 130%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Dracovish:
252+ Atk Choice Band Dracovish Outrage vs. 248 HP / 8+ Def Volcanion: 195-229 (53.7 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Scarfed:
252+ Atk Dracovish Outrage vs. 248 HP / 8+ Def Volcanion: 130-154 (35.8 - 42.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
I believe Dynamaxed Vish 3HKO's with Max Wyrmwind as well, as it loses Band bonus, but I haven't checked what the base power on Maxed Outrage becomes to do an exact calc, I tried with 140 BP and it 3HKO's:
252+ Atk Dracovish
Outrage140BP vs. 248 HP / 8+ Def Volcanion: 151-178 (41.5 - 49%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Either way, it forces the use of Dynamax on Vish (which is generally a really bad Dynamax user, as Rend hits harder without it) or locks it into Outrage (which would only happen on a prediction anyway, switching into Rend forces it to Dynamax or switch) allowing an easy switch to a fairy.
Overall, Volcanion seems like a solid option for answering both Dracovish and G-Darm, and would be even better if/when Dynamax goes, as it can exploit both of their choice locks very well to force them out, while being an overall solid pokemon beyond those two major matchups. I'll be testing it a bit more, but thought I should put it out there.
(In theory, Volcanion should pair well with Lando-T, as it is immune to both its electric and ground weaknesses while offensively covering rock-types and Lando appreciates Volcanion's ability to deal with G-Darm or force it into Quake, and with fairy-types, as Volcanion can struggle to deal with dragons, but I'll be doing more testing to see what works best.)
Lastly, I’ve added Shedinja, Salamence and Volcanion to the potentially viable list. Shedinja can finally be seen without immense hazard support thanks to HDB, while Salamence has become an incredible Max Airstream ahuser on par with Gyarados or Kartana. Volcanion is interesting though, as it is the only Draco check I can find who Defogs and has incredible offensive presence thanks to Fire+Water+Ground coverage being very strong. In other words, it turns offensive threats into momentum for you to abuse.
And I see someone else beat me to the punch on Volcanion as I was writing this lol. It seems definitely worth considering in the brave new world of Vish and G-Darm.