Dealing with Aegislash on Battlespot teams
Aegislash is banned from standard singles play, but remains popular on battle spot, where its typing and bulk make it very hard to break if unprepared.
What's worse,super effective physical hits such as flareblitz and knockoff are less reliable due to king shield.
The best route to go down is to outslow Quiet 0speedIV Aegislash (58 speed at lv50),take an attack then hit back with a super-effective attack whilst it is in blade form. If you're faster, you swagger it or hit it with a very high-power special move using (for example) mega charizard-y.
Even so, 'fast' offensive pokemon (where 'fast' is a speed stat of 58 or more) will find it difficult to OHKO it in shield form, and the popularity of weakness policy will usually cause the attacker to be OHKO'd immediately after.The following turn,it will return to shield form,and likely sweep your remaining choices.
I list some other options for dealing with Aegislash, other than 'hit it really hard and hope it dies':
-Iron Ball + Fling: The user halves their speed until the ironball is thrown,outslowing aegislash,taking a hit and retaliating with a 130 base power dark move on blade form, a guaranteed OHKO if the user has a reasonable attack stat (~100 after factoring in nature and evs, nonSTAB ).
This has an advantage over knock off or payback, in that it doesn't make physical contact (so you're safe from king shield).
If your opponent is a more defensive set however, with moves such as sword dance or toxic, they may remain in shield form. Fortunately,you move before aegislash on the following turn after losing the iron ball, and depending on your attack investment and coverage you can followup the fling with a knockout.King Shield scouts and switches make this option shaky however if your opponent expects a super effective hit.
An option for a faster pokemon for a stronger initial hit on aegislash- if naturally slower stick with earthquake etc.
- Substitute
Substitutes put a lot of pressure on Aegislash - if they use king shield, they give you an opportunity to get behind a substitute.If they do not,they risk KO by remaining in blade form This is particularly effective on 'fast' special attackers with recovery options, against defensive sets.
(I will also mention Phantom Force here - it bypasses king shield, but is not a OHKO. Even Max attack Adamant Mega Banette only deals ~ 85% to 252HP Quiet Aegislash in shield form,so without substitute or prior damage from a teammate you cannot secure a safe KO,unless they do not attack that turn(e.g.king shield).Shadow sneak is also not a rare move on Aegislash, and all decent users are ghost type. An option,but not the safest.)
-'Slow' Foul Play.
Very reliable option against blade form that works effectively on spiritomb and umbreon,amongst others.
-Pangoro
Scrappy Pangoro can also run storm throw to bypass king shield attack drops.
-Bisharp
Bisharp is also a good answer to non-sacred sword aegislash.
-Slow earthquakes/earth powers from the likes of mega camerupt,hippowdon,AV swampert,etc.
-Burns
Burns from will-o-wisp,flamebody,scald and lava plume are all murder on the physical set,which is why special/ mixed sets are most common(Aegislash is also a common partner for mega kangaskan,and as such is often required to switch into attempts to burn it,preventing shadow claw/ironhead/sacredsword sets from being particularly strong overall).
-Swagger
Works similarly to foul play.It is strong against all aegislash, and hits through kingshield. Of course, you still need the confusion to work in your favour though.
-Taunt/Disable
Prevents kingshield usage. Effective if you can take a hit or two. Best used on a predicted kingshield to minimise damage taken.
Summary
Aegislash was banned from competitive singles because of its nine resistances and 3 immunities,and its crazy versatility with its effectual 50/150/150/150/150/60 stat spread against the majority of common pokemon and movesets(where offensive pokemon tend to be fast,not slow and carried coverage and statboosting moves over options like substitute, and defensive pokemon were slow,but could do nothing to aegislash outside of burning with scald).
Pack swagger, or something slower which can hit aegislash blade for strong damage. Or add substitute to most offensive sets.
Very dangerous, easy to use. Prepare for it!
