So I've recently been running 4 attacks leftovers Aegislash with Gyro ball, shadow sneak, headsmash, and sacred sword and I think it might be sort of cool to use a simalar set but with assault vest. Most of the stuff it wants to switch into (xerneas, mewtwo and mewtwo-y, palkia) are specially based, so it could help wall lots of stuff. Going to go test it right now
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Aegislash
- Thread starter Furai
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Please do not use a set like this. It set takes absolutely no advantage of its ability, which allows it to effectively have very good 60/150/150 defenses as opposed to awful 60/50/50 defenses most of the time. Giving it King's Shield in place of one of its moves and giving it Leftovers will do far more for it defensively than Assault Vest ever could. Using it purely offensively just makes it a slow, frail, relatively powerful attacker (for which it has awful typing, because its typing is great defensively but mediocre offensively). There are far better Pokemon to use such offensive sets with.
I've been having fun using Aegislash in Ubers, and to laugh at those who think they sweep with a Geomancy! But in all seriousness, however, it has trouble against most of the other Ubers. Kyogre and Groudon are two good examples, Groudon hard walls Slash and can smack it with a EQ. Kyogre is faster than Slash naturally and a Specs Water Spout in the rain(even Timid nature) will always knock it out, even when Slash has SpDefensive investment. There is a new comer that does stop Aegislash in it's tracks, Yvetal. It's Dark Pulse will always 2HKO Slash in it's Shield forme, unless you get lucky with a low damage roll with a SpDefensive variant of Slash. There are three others that I'd like to list as well, Dialga, Darkrai, and Arceus. Dialga, what is usually glanced as a SR user most of times, is a problem to Aegislash. While the standard Defensive Dialga set in gen 5 is still a thing, it's Fire Blast will always 2HKO a 252 HP Slash, after Leftovers recovery as well. While it's offensive potential against Slash can be scary enough to switch Slash out, it all depends on Slash's set as well. If you are a variant that packs Toxic, you cannot touch Dialga at all, only if it's HP is below 20% after lefties, then you have a chance to knock it out. Even if you are a Sacred Sword variant you must have Atk investment to even have a chance to 2HKO, while Dialga can Fire Blast you and switch on the KS. Now Darkrai, Darkrai makes Slash cry. While it can put it to sleep, it will always 2HKO Aegislash-Shield after that. Once again, a SpDefensive variant can't really do much, even when following up a Sacred Sword with Shadow Sneak will still not knock out Darkrai. Now, onto Arceus. Almost all Arceus variants ruin Slash's day. While offensive Slash with Sacred Sword 3HKO's Max HP EKiller with lefties, EKiller get's a free opportunity to set up 2 SD's. While KS'ing a Shadow Claw sounds nice, but EQ is what scares Aegislash the most. Not even EQ, but Shadow Force as well scares Aegislash. "Oh, let's King Shield on the second turn!" Not the best idea since Shadow Force goes through Protect moves, so it'd be very unnecessary damage to Slash.
While I point out many of the Ubers that stop Aegislash, but it's capability alone to stop Xerneas is a great reason why to use it.
While I point out many of the Ubers that stop Aegislash, but it's capability alone to stop Xerneas is a great reason why to use it.
Yes aegislash's main draw is being able to stop Xerneas without like a crit hp fire in sun or some hax, but you also forget how it can also nail many switc-ins and cripple them or wear down the threats with coverage. As you mentioned kyogre groudon and yvetal, all three of them are stressed with toxic on them, kyogre can attempt to KO a mon, but only fail when the toxic counter will take its toll. Even Spd variants with resttalk will be forced to lose momentum by resting. The other two are just troubled by it by it plain and simple. For dialga, yes it troubles aegislash, but it also lacks reliable recovery, so it can't switch into aegislash repeated times to get hit by sacred sword without dying to another threat. Also excuse me if I'm wrong but dialga darkrai and arceus aren't in XY so your argument is invalid about what it struggles against in official. But toxic and sacred sword will stop the former 2 after time as arceus normal can boost in the face of man mons, but if it can't beat it toxic will end the sweep.
My mistake on Dialga and Arceus, I had Pokebank in my brain.
Should Gyro Ball even be considered? With many ubers sitting at or around 90 base speed, Aegislash only reaches 50 BP against these pokemon when uninvested making Iron Head the more consistent choice.
Also, I think a mixed set could be the best choice for non SD Aegislash as shadow ball nails pokemon like Groudon and Girantina(who from personal experience is mostly physically defensive) and then combine that with Shadow Sneak for priority.
Also, I think a mixed set could be the best choice for non SD Aegislash as shadow ball nails pokemon like Groudon and Girantina(who from personal experience is mostly physically defensive) and then combine that with Shadow Sneak for priority.
Gyro Ball is necessary as Iron Head won't do enough to kill Xerneas without sacrificing bulk. Gyro still does a lot to Mewtwo and +0 Xerneas so its not worthless.
^ Iron Head does more damage against +0 Xerneas to the point where it has a chance to OHKO (81% chance with rocks) while Gyro Ball maxes at 90%. Also your point is void IMO against Mewtwo because in my opinion Aegislash should already be carrying Ghost STAB. I stand corrected that Gyro Ball isn't worthless because it guaruntees an OHKO on Xerneas after set up but I do think Iron Head is the superior choice.
Might have been discussed earlier, but if you have Shadow Sneak you can still effectively OHKO the +0 Xerneas while being free to invest more in defenses.
Great point, Iron Head is a guarunteed OHKO always in theory with shadow sneak. I really don't see a point to Gyro Ball.
Gyro ball is more damage efficient with the speed stat of most ubers. Also shadow sneak is weak and isn't as useful as its other coverage
I don't know if Gyro Ball really is more damage efficient. Many Ubers sit at base 90 speed and go uninvested leaving Gyro Ball at a pitiful 50 BP and if my memory serves, Gyro Ball only hits 75 BP against fully invested +speed natured base 100 pokemon making it still weaker than iron head. Even against max speed Darkrai for example as a faster threat, Gyro Ball only does 4% more and doesn't provide anything significant except a chance to OHKO with all layers of spikes which is highly unlikely in todays Metagame. Gyro Ball's niche is against scarfers and Scarfers only I think(maybe some obscure advantage against something else I'm not thinking of).
Your calcs are based off of max attack Aegislash, good Aegislash run max spdef. That said, only doing 55%ish with Iron Head to bulky GeoXern isn't that bad if you don't run up against something silly like HP Fire while having Iron Head will pay off against a fair amount of other mons that Gyro won't do much to. It's a personal preference/team thing.
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Toxic
- King's Shield
I've used this set a lot, but when I think about it, I've not used Shadow Sneak a lot, because of this letting you in blade forme.
Do you think I can use Shadow Ball instead ? I've missed it in many situations, especially against Bulk Up+Taunt MMX.
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Toxic
- King's Shield
I've used this set a lot, but when I think about it, I've not used Shadow Sneak a lot, because of this letting you in blade forme.
Do you think I can use Shadow Ball instead ? I've missed it in many situations, especially against Bulk Up+Taunt MMX.
Possibly, as unboosted shadow sneak isn't very painful, unless there is Megagar, but you can switch away from that.
It's also a nice surprise for the likes of Lando-T and groudon, due to lower SDef.
And the SDef build doen't need shadow sneak for xern.
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After some testing, I definitely think Shadow Ball is superior in the specially defensive set.
There is one situation where I do lack Shadow Sneak : against Deoxys-A. But just switching in with Aegislash usually mean sash-less Deoxys-A will switch out, fearing Sneak.
Against Gengar you can switch out anyway, as Aquasition said.
So I think the specially defensive set should be :
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball
- Shadow Ball / Shadow Sneak
- Toxic
- King's Shield
There is one situation where I do lack Shadow Sneak : against Deoxys-A. But just switching in with Aegislash usually mean sash-less Deoxys-A will switch out, fearing Sneak.
Against Gengar you can switch out anyway, as Aquasition said.
So I think the specially defensive set should be :
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball
- Shadow Ball / Shadow Sneak
- Toxic
- King's Shield
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I think you can use Iron Head if you want more consistent damage. You can also try Shadow Claw if you want a more physically-oriented build:
Aegislash @ Leftovers
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Sassy/Careful Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Gyro Ball / Iron Head
- Shadow Ball / Shadow Claw / Shadow Sneak
- Toxic
- King's Shield
If using Gyro Ball, Sassy and 0 Speed IVs are necessary to maximize its power. If using Iron Head, having a bit of Speed and a Careful nature may be optimal.
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