Beedrill2001 Presents : Let's Talk Pokémon

#681 - Aegislash

I've never been one to believe in conspiracy theories, and I certainly would never try to present one as fact even if I did.

That being said however, I firmly believe that the reason behind Game Freak nerfing the steel type in Generation 6 is largely because of Aegislash.

But before I get into that, I'll do what I always do and go over how Aegislash is as a pokémon.

Among the small group of pokémon introduced in X and Y (seriously, these games only had 72 new pokémon, compared to 86 in Sun and Moon, 96 in Sword and Shield, and 107 in Scarlet and Violet), Aegislash is definitely one of my favorites of the bunch in terms of design.

I have a soft spot for pokémon based on inanimate objects, so having a whole evolutionary line of living swords is just awesome to me.

Even though I love Aegislash, Doublade is my favorite of the whole line because two swords are much cooler than one in my opinion, but that's not to say Aegislash isn't really cool too.

Although, I do admit it is kind of weird how Honedge is one sword, its evolved form Doublade is two swords, and the final form Aegislash is back to being one sword, albeit a much bigger sword.

Pokémon evolution can be weird....and I love it for that.

Now, this is when I would usually talk about Aegislash's stats, but due to a certain aspect of this pokémon, I have to go over its ability first.

The only ability Aegislash can have (it doesn't even get a hidden ability for reasons that will become clear in a moment) is Stance Change.

Stance Change allows Aegislash to shift between its two forms depending on what kind of move it uses.

If Aegislash uses an attacking move, it will be in its Blade Forme.

When using a certain signature move that I'll go over later, Aegislash will change to Shield Forme.

Aegislash's stats depend on what form (or I guess forme in this case) it is currently in.

While in Blade Forme, Aegislash's base stats are 150 attack, 50 defense, 150 special attack, 50 special defense, and 60 speed.

Shield Forme Aegislash has 150 in both defenses and 50 in both attacks stats, plus still having 60 base speed.

This means that Aegislash can either be an insanely powerful mixed attacker, or a wall that can tank hits really well, all depending on how you choose to use it.

Unfortunately, Aegislash has a major drawback that hinders its usefulness in Blade Forme, that being a very low base speed.

Being a powerful attacker with bad defenses only works if you have a high speed stat, otherwise you're likely to get outspeed and taken out by your opponent before you even get the chance to attack them.

(Looking at you Rampardos, but I'll go over both you and Bastiodon another day.)

Not to say Aegislash is completely defenseless while in Blade Forme though, as being part steel type helps to circumvent having poor defenses by providing it with a multitude of resistances.

Steel is one of if not the best defensive types, even after the nerf it got in gen 6, so being able to resist attacks from many common types is greatly appreciated by Aegislash.

As for moves, Aegislash gets a lot of powerful attacks like Shadow Claw, Iron Head, Shadow Ball, Head Smash, Night Slash, and Sacred Sword, the latter of which were previously exclusive to the four Swords of Justice pokémon in gen 5.

Despite having that 150 base special attack, Aegislash unfortunately doesn't get many moves to take advantage of it outside of Shadow Ball and Flash Canon.

Like I mentioned earlier, Aegislash gets a signature move that is required in order for it to change into Shield Forme, that being King's Shield.

King's Shield is a steel type status move that works very similarly to moves like Detect and Protect, while also lowering the attack stat of the opponent's pokémon if the move it used makes physical contact.

This is a great move that not only is necessary for Aegislash to change forms, but it can also be used strategically by weakening your opponent's physical attacker and perhaps force them to switch pokémon, causing whatever they send in to take a strong hit from Blade Force Aegislash as a result.

Being able to block any attack with King's Shield before shifting into its Blade Forme to deliver a very strong attack makes Aegislash an amazing pokémon to use on your team....which leads me to the conspiracy theory I was talking about at the beginning of this chapter.

With the release of X and Y back in 2013, Steel types would no longer have a resistance to ghost and dark, and therein lies my belief that Aegislash is responsible for this change.

Aegislash is a steel/ghost type, which prior to X and Y would have been weak to only ground and fire.

I think Game Freak knew how powerful Aegislash would be, so they decided to make it easier to battle against by giving it an additional two weaknesses.

Some would argue that I'm overthinking things and that steel was nerfed to lessen the number of resistances it has so that it's easier to deal with in game, or to balance things out since it's one of only two super effective types against the new fairy type introduced in X and Y.

And those arguments are valid, but let me ask you this : why did Game Freak specifically take away steel's resistance to dark and ghost, the two types that are strong against ghost?

Is this merely coincidence, or a safety measure to prevent a certain new pokémon form being too overpowered?

I'll let you decide, but I know which option I believe is true.

Conspiracies aside, Aegislash is an incredible pokémon with an interesting form changing gimmick, and I always try to make room for it on my team whenever I play through X and Y.