The Next Best Thing

[The DragonKnight]

The Next Best Thing

What is this?:
Have you ever watched as the metagame shifted a Pokemon's dominate set to a completely new set? Early DPP, Special Lucario was all the rage, later on, Swords Dance Lucario took the front seat. In BW, many completely new things emerged, such as SubSalac Terrakion, SubDisable Gengar, and many more.

Wouldn't you like to say you started the rise of ChestoRest Kingdra in DPP, SuperRachi in ADV, or Sub Salac Terrakion in BW? Here, we will attempt to discover these sets on our own, and not wait for it to become popular.

The Process:
Each week, I will choose a different Pokemon to be used in OU. I will sometimes choose at random or choose based on my own curiosity. Your goal is to create a set that is uncommon and effective. Do not make minor changes to well known sets, such as simply changing Iron Head -> Knock Off on Mega Mawile, Iron Head -> Low Kick on Bisharp, or changing Life Orb -> Lum Berry on Bisharp. You can, however, change a single move if it makes a big difference in its viability vs certain Pokemon. A few examples are: standard Landorus-I with Knock Off, Grass Knot on Bisharp, or SuperPower + Mirror Coat Deoxys-Defense.

To see if your set is common, I suggest you look at the OU Analysis Forum on Smogon. I, however, will make the final call on if your set is uncommon enough. Please post your set on this thread, even if you are worried about it being common. I will respond as soon as I can and let you know if it is not acceptable.

Rules
1. The set must be legal. Check the legality of your set before posting it.
2. Don't flame other people for their sets, the point here is to be creative.
3. Do not post the same thing or something very similar to something someone else has already posted.
4. Submit only one set per round.
5. Do not vote for your own set during voting periods.


Current Subject

Hall of Fame

ger9119
Minedreigon
ger9119
jesusfreak94
MetalSonic​

 

[The DragonKnight]

Our first subject will be Aegislash!

Deadline to submit a set will be Saturday at midnight. Voting for sets will be Saturday and Sunday.​

 

[ger9119]

Aegislash @ Choice Band
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature/Hasty Nature
- Sacred Sword
- Shadow Sneak/Shadow Ball
- Head Smash
- Iron Head

Choice Band Aegis, putting an emphasis on destroying it's main counter Mandibuzz.

 

[Snorby]

Since this nig Ger stole my set that I was usin all the way back in October, here's another thought:

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Spd / 4 Atk / 252 SAtk
Naive Nature / Hasty Nature
- Autotomize
- Shadow Ball
- Destiny Bond
- Sacred Sword / Iron Head

The idea of this set is to take an SE hit while using Autotomize, since SE hits are one of the only ways to deal with normal Aegislash. this will give you +2 in all your offensive stats, allowing you to go to town with Shadow Ball and your coverage move of choice. when you run into something that beats you, use you're newfound speed to take the opponent down as well with Destiny Bond. Kind of gimmicky, but it will generally get at least two kills if you can pull it off.

 

[Mye]

I think a pseudo-bulk up set could be useful if you wanted to run something that can not only hit hard but tank hits with ease:

Aegislash @ Leftovers (Stance Change)
Sassy, 248HP/252SpDef/8Atk
-Iron Defense
-Swords Dance
-King's Shield
-Iron Head

Thing works much like any other double-dancing pokemon, only that it focuses both on bulk AND power. To put it into perspective of how bulky it is, after one Iron Defense a max-attack adamant mega-tyrannitar will merely 3hko it.

 

[Clone™]

Screw set up and screw Bands I have a scarf

Aegislash @ Choice Scarf
Naive Nature
Stance Change
4 Atk 252 SpAtk 252 Spe
-Shadow Ball
-Flash Cannon
-Sacred Sword
-Head Smash

Outspeeds the Benchmark while being unexpected yet effective. Head Smash Is for Bird who think that they can outspeed Aegi. Everything else is pretty much self explanatory.

 

[Mye]

Hmm, couldn't assault vest aegis work as well? Think about it: aegis' counters tend to fall into three categories, those being things that can quickly threaten it with a burn (rotom), things that can hit it heavily for super-effective damage (garchomp), and things that can trick it choice items. With an assault vest equipped, it can not only ruin that third option by giving them a bad item but possibly kill the pokemon (in the case of rotom/whimsicott, who usually run this in addition to a status move and healing move).

 

[The DragonKnight]

Good stuff guys, keep it coming.

Hmm, couldn't assault vest aegis work as well? Think about it: aegis' counters tend to fall into three categories, those being things that can quickly threaten it with a burn (rotom), things that can hit it heavily for super-effective damage (garchomp), and things that can trick it choice items. With an assault vest equipped, it can not only ruin that third option by giving them a bad item but possibly kill the pokemon (in the case of rotom/whimsicott, who usually run this in addition to a status move and healing move).

I personally have tried AV Aegislash before, I found it very lackluster. The extra special defense was near worthless compared to the very helpful Leftovers recovery or the extra power from Spell Tag / Spooky Plate / Life Orb. If your goal is to mess up people who want to trick you items, it is probably a better idea to run something silly like Iron Ball + Gyro Ball, halving the holders' speed while doubling the power of Gyro Ball while Aegislash has it.

 

[The Imposter]

Let's combine old and new together into something that can put the hurt on various types of teams if given the chance.

Aegislash @ Leftovers / Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 Atk
Brave Nature / Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword / Iron Head

The combination of Substitute and Swords Dance enables Aegislash to quickly turn into a potent offensive threat while shielded from status by the Substitute. If one can hold the substitute until it's time to sweep, it acts as a damage sponge for Aegislash's shrimpy Blade form. Shadow Sneak is pretty obvious, getting good damage and STAB priority in. The last slot goes to either Sacred Sword or Iron Head, depending on what your team needs.

Due to the number of switches Aegislash forces, usually to a burner, it can be easy to set up a Substitute and Swords Dance up. If they're expecting the SubToxic set and switch to something that can take the Toxic, yet again a free Substitute. If one can bring it in on something it forces out, it can quickly lay the hurt on many teams, usually offensive. While current sets are more suited to wallbreaking, this is better used as a mid-late game sweeper.

 

[Mye]

Let's combine old and new together into something that can put the hurt on various types of teams if given the chance.

Aegislash @ Leftovers / Air Balloon
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 244 HP / 12 Def / 252 Atk
Brave Nature / Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword / Iron Head

The combination of Substitute and Swords Dance enables Aegislash to quickly turn into a potent offensive threat while shielded from status by the Substitute. If one can hold the substitute until it's time to sweep, it acts as a damage sponge for Aegislash's shrimpy Blade form. Shadow Sneak is pretty obvious, getting good damage and STAB priority in. The last slot goes to either Sacred Sword or Iron Head, depending on what your team needs.

Due to the number of switches Aegislash forces, usually to a burner, it can be easy to set up a Substitute and Swords Dance up. If they're expecting the SubToxic set and switch to something that can take the Toxic, yet again a free Substitute. If one can bring it in on something it forces out, it can quickly lay the hurt on many teams, usually offensive. While current sets are more suited to wallbreaking, this is better used as a mid-late game sweeper.

Doesn't substitute work off of a pokemon's base defenses AND HP? If it does, having it on aegis would be pretty bad as it'd break with ease should it ever attack. On the other hand, that does offer an interesting idea:

Aegislash @ Leftovers/Air Balloon (Stance Change)
Brave/Quiet, 248HP/252SpAtk/8Atk
-Substitute
-Shadow Ball
-King's Shield
-Sacred Sword

Mixed wallbreaker sub-slash anyone? Substitute on the switch (preventing the opponent from using status moves), then go to town. King's shield enables you to keep the substitute relatively healthy, while the moves deal pretty decent damage to anything without boosts.

 

[jesusfreak94]

Although Masterclass's SPL team was one of the main ones to popularize SubToxic Aegislash, I was actually using a very similar set a while before his team became famous. The team that the set was a part of can be seen in this RMT, which I believe I posted about a month before Masterclass's team made an appearance in SPL. The main difference between my set and the current standard version is a focus on SpD instead of SpA. Here's the exact set:

Aegislash @ Leftovers
Trait: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Calm Nature
-Shadow Ball
-King's Shield
-Substitute
-Toxic

Specially defensive Aegislash is really cool set on stall teams. Aegislash naturally brings a lot of defensive quality to teams with its great defensive typing and solid defensive stats, and the increased special bulk makes it even better at taking hits. It takes on a handful of threats such as Latios, Latias, Mega Gardevoir, Alakazam, Togekiss, Unaware Clefable, etc. with relative ease. In fact, it has the potential to keep quite a lot of special attackers in check. For instance, Choice Specs Keldeo completely fails to 2HKO with Hydro Pump and gets 2HKOed in return after a little prior damage. Aegislash can even take Modest Landorus's Earth Power from full health and knock off about half its health in return if you're really desperate. It also still packs quite a punch, having about as much power as a Jolly Arceus while boasting one of the most spammable STAB moves in the game. Definitely a set you'll want to consider for balanced or stall teams.

 

[The DragonKnight]

Just a quick note for everyone, you can not submit two sets, nor can you vote for your own. Not a problem, just making sure you know and don't get confused when I don't post both your sets / don't count your votes.

---

Here's my submission:

Aegislash @ Life Orb
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Head Smash
- Shadow Sneak
- Iron Head
- Sacred Sword

This set plays a very similar role to the one Ger has posted, but this one doesn't wish to be choice locked and also runs enough speed to catch multiple things by surprise, namely Bisharp, Rotom-W, Mandibuzz, Heatran, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Tyranitar, all of whom rarely ever run a Speed+ Nature.

---

Alright, time to vote for the sets:

ger9119's Choice Band Set
Mean Mr. Snorlax's Automatize + Destiny Bond Set
Mye's Pseudo-Bulk Up Set
Cloneblazer12's Scarf Set
The Imposter's Sub SD Set
jesusfreak94's Specially Defensive Substitute Set
The DragonKnight's Life Orb Set

Voting ends Sunday at midnight Eastern Time.

 

[Volcer]

Voting TDK because he told me to vote for someone :$

 

[Minedreigon]

Gotta vote TDK, awesome set. Gotta try it sometime lol.

 

[jackinthebox1210]

Aegislash @ leftovers
trait: stance change
evs: 252 spatk/ 240 hp/ 16 speed
Modest nature
-King's Shield
-Metal Sound
-Shadow Ball
-Hidden Power Fighting

This set is pretty self explanatory you just metal sound and hit em with some powa :]. Metal Sound can be used to catch things on the switch obviously and helps aegislash beat many things 1 on 1. Rotom-W for example after a metal sound is almost always ohko'd and is ohko'd after rocks as you can see by this calc - 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. -2 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 301-355 (99 - 116.7%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO. And if you are wondering what it does to specially defensive Rotom-W here is the calc for that :] - 252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball vs. -2 252 HP / 252+ SpD Rotom-W: 220-259 (72.3 - 85.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery. The evs on this set are for a few specific reasons. The hp and speed evs are as they are because with that amount of hp investment, you have an odd hp number for leftovers and with that speed you will outspeed neutral speed natured t-tars so you can hit them with a hidden power fighting which, btw, is used to hit bisharps and t-tars aswell as provide the ghost/fighting coverage. I hope you guys enjoy this set and try it out since it's a fun twist on aegislash and is still completely viable.

Oh and DK i didn't realize the deadline was already met but you should put me in anyway :].

 

[WailordOfDaRings]

if it still matters, voting for jackinthebox1210

 

[Snorby]

jackinthebox1210 has the realest set around, though I'd like to see Flash Cannon over King's Shield

so voting for him :$

 

[jesusfreak94]

I'm voting ger9119 because Head Smash for Mandibuzz is pretty useful, but I prefer the Choice Band myself to avoid Life Orb recoil and maintain Aegislash's solid defensive abilities when you're not using Head Smash.

 

[The Imposter]

Voting ger because CB Aegis is the most real thing anybody has ever come up with

also volcer you're an avy stalker D:

 

[Clone™]

Ger because Choice >All