Aegislash is perhaps one of the most unique Pokémon in the game. It currently cannot be used in Raids or Gyms at all. It won't even show up in the search menu before PvE battles.

Even if either form is run in PvE, the Blade form has a terrible DEF of 97 and despite the 291 ATK, a lack of Steel or Ghost Fast Move in its arsenal holds it back from being meta.

The Shield form has 291 DEF but only 97 ATK. It could be a decent Gym defender, especially when you see that it boasts 12 type resistances as well.

But all that's left in the air because Aegislash is not usable in Raids and Gyms at the time of its release.

In PvP, Aegislash starts battle in its Shield form and its Fast Moves have zero base power, meaning it will round up to doing a magnitude of only 1 DMG, regardless of the opponent.

During this time, you will see “Charging” appearing above Aegislash.

When you use a Charged Move, Aegislash changes to its Blade form and remains that way until you use a shield or it's switched out.

Anyway, getting to the Shield form, whose stats are PvP-friendly, it works best in the Great League. It boasts one of the highest stat products, putting it just behind Blissey, Chansey, and Bastiodon. As such, Aegislash Blade is bulkier than Cresselia, Mandibuzz, Azumarill, Toxapex, Registeel, Clodsire, and Carbink.

But as far as the battle mechanics go, Aegislash Blade is flimsy and it stays that way until you shield or switch out.

Also, the CP changes during this transformation and the Aegislash adopts its Blade form before it uses a Charged Move, meaning a Charged Attack fired off will boast the massive Blade form stats (291 ATK).

🔵 Great League

With Aegislash Shield maxing out at only 1803 CP, it's not worth running in the Great League.

Not surprisingly, Aegislash excels when shields are down, using the onslaught of its Blade form to eliminate big threats like Skeledirge, Primeape, Shadow Sableye, Shadow Drapion, Malamar, and Alolan Sandslash with ease.

While its worst naturally comes in the (2-2) shield play (where the Blade form’s power goes for a toss), in other situations (both no shields and with 1 shield each) Aegislash can generally beat Shadow Golisopod, Samurott, Shadow Gligar, Jellicent, Dusclops, and even the usual Dragon and Fairy types one would come across in this format.

Do note that many of these opponents pack super-effective moves against Aegislash (like Shadow Golisopod’s Shadow Claw, Shadow Gligar’s Dig, Jellicent’s STAB Ghost, etc) and Aegislash Shield is strong enough to tank all these attacks.

At the same time, Aegislash has its fair share of losses, going down to Shadow Claw Shadow Feraligatr and Rage Fist Shadow Primeape, and Sucker Punch Furret among others. Blastoise, Lapras, and Dedenne are too overpowered for Aegislash as well.

Overall, it may not be the outstanding Pokémon it was during its buggy release, but it's still quite a challenge to face for any of your opponents. 🗡️🔰

💎 The best PvP moves for Aegislash are Psycho Cut, Shadow Ball and Flash Cannon.

Keep in mind that the energy generation for both moves is 6, and not the traditional value of 9. But Psycho Cut winds up being better due to its lower cooldown (1s) than Air Slash (1.5s).