Battle Spot Aegislash Preview [Doubles]

Theorymon

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[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.
 
Last edited:

Theorymon

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Sorry for the long wait, I've had a hectic week with class starting again + getting an awful stomach bug. This is now ready for checking regardless!
 

Demantoid

APMS Founder
is a Top Tiering Contributor
[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 With 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: Special Attacker
move 1: King's Shield
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Flash Cannon / Sacred Sword
move 4: Substitute / Wide Guard / Shadow Sneak
item: Leftovers / Weakness Policy / Ghostium Z
ability: Stance Change
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe

Wide Guard currently has 30% more usage than sub so maybe slash it first (although Shadow Sneak also does and it should be last). I would also put either Wide Guard/Sub in the third slot for the aegis that use both. Also I prefer King's shield in the 4th slot but that doesn't really matter.

[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. Sacred Sword deals much more damage to Tyranitar. Hydreigon, and Bisharp. You may want to talk to someone else about this but I've always hated Sacred Sword on Aegislash so I would remove it

* 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. Mention faster spreads can be used to avoid celes Leech Seed

* 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 or Sacred Sword, so partners that deal with those can also be beneficial.

* If using Wide Guard, consider pairing Aegislash with Pokemon that have a difficult time with common spread attacks, such as Mega Charizard Y.
 
  • I would change the ordering on the set slightly:
@ Ghostium Z / Weakness Policy / Leftovers
Shadow Ball
Flash Cannon / Substitute
Wide Guard / Substitute / Shadow Sneak
King's Shield​
  • Leftovers is only used with Substitute, so should go last. King's Shield should be move #4 as it's Protect-esque.
  • The name "Special Attacker" is inaccurate due to Shadow Sneak, so rename it to "Bulky Attacker" or something.
  • On the bullet point regarding threatening Dark-types you left in a mention of Sacred Sword.
  • Landorus-T is good with pretty much everything, but especially so for Aegislash, so I'd give it its own bullet point.
    • It deals with the Fire-types and Dark-types you mentioned, and Intimidate helps activate Weakness Policy.

Just going to give you the stamp, as the above is pretty minor

1/1 QC
 
Last edited:

Theorymon

Have a wonderful day, wahoo!
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  • I would change the ordering on the set slightly:
@ Ghostium Z / Weakness Policy / Leftovers
Shadow Ball
Flash Cannon / Substitute
Wide Guard / Substitute / Shadow Sneak
King's Shield​
  • Leftovers is only used with Substitute, so should go last. King's Shield should be move #4 as it's Protect-esque.
  • The name "Special Attacker" is inaccurate due to Shadow Sneak, so rename it to "Bulky Attacker" or something.
  • On the bullet point regarding threatening Dark-types you left in a mention of Sacred Sword.
  • Landorus-T is good with pretty much everything, but especially so for Aegislash, so I'd give it its own bullet point.
    • It deals with the Fire-types and Dark-types you mentioned, and Intimidate helps activate Weakness Policy.
Just going to give you the stamp, as the above is pretty minor

1/1 QC
Thanks, now that I'm out of the mountains (literally and figuratively), I implemented your stuff! cant say Hulavuta feel free to upload when you get the chance!
 

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