Prankster Will-O-Wisp and T-Wave. Everything must be priority!
I think most people are playing Aegislash wrong. For example: Aegislash 2HKOs Gliscor with Life Orb Shadow Ball / Shadow Sneak. That is _plenty_ of enough power for me. KOing many `mon on the switchin with twin 150 Attack stats makes it one of THE best wallbreakers in the game. I agree however, that Shadow Sneak is mostly an afterthought on Aegislash. Its useful for revenge killing (as usual), but it fails to reliably OHKO Mega Gengar (among other threats).Aegislash is incredibly prediction reliant. Its slow, and, depending on the situation, can have abysmal bulk. It also lacks powerful offensive moves. Now, of course, it has plenty of upside is a fine defensive typing, great stats, and all the rest, but its priority is mostly an afterthought, and not something that can make it carry a team. It is one feature that helps make a good Pokemon, but not a defining feature that takes a good Pokemon and makes it great.
It depends. In regular OU, they're banned. In Pokebank OU, they're legal, and if people are playing that metagame, they should be using what's available.I assume people aren't using them because they are not legal yet? At least until December.
And this is why Rotom-W is the best Pokemon ever.Furthermore, the most important thing about the new priority users is that the majority of them (except from Mega Lucario and maybe a couple more) are absolutely manageable. Talonflame, Aegislash, and Azumarill all have a great deal of checks and a few solid counters. With the PokeBank Pokemon taken into account, Talonflame is checked/walled by Tyranitar, Heatran, Rotom-W, Slowbro, Hippowdon, Landorus-T, Gyarados, Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Ampharos, and Zygarde. Aegislash is checked/walled by Mandibuzz, Hippowdon, Rotom-W, Excadrill, Garchomp, Zygarde, Landorus-T, Heatran and a couple more that are checks only to certain sets (Skarmory and Gliscor to purely physical sets for example). Finally, Azumarill is checked/countered by Tentacruel, Mega Venusaur, Mega Scizor (max HP / max Def+ sets avoid the 2HKO from Waterfall), Gourgeist, Celebi, Gyarados, Rotom-W, Slowbro, Aegislash, Tangrowth, Amoonguss, and Ferrothorn.
And people get to put more useful Defoggers into the matches as well. Do want my Empoleon up and at em.Bulkier pokemon, heavier priority, lots of new toys... I'm loving this metagame.
At least, until pokebank allows every fucking pokemon in the world to run stealth rocks again.
And then it gets matched up with just what it likes in doubles and voila, instant banstick.We need an ability that neutralizes all attacks into the same priority bracket.
And then never give that thing high speed and a phazing move.
Not if opponents catch wise and bring folks that outspeed the phazer.And then it gets matched up with just what it likes in doubles and voila, instant banstick.
Talonflame doesn't die to a round of Iron Barbs+Rocky Helmet, and Ferro doesn't enjoy the followup Flare Blitz either.You know what does bad things to a lot of priority? Most of it's contact moves. Plowing into Rocky Helmets tends to hurt, especially the LO-equipped types. Let that Talonflame Brave Bird swap straight into your Iron Barbs/Rough Skin + Helmet Pokemon and SPLAT (better, a lot of those are bulky enough to absorb a few hits along those lines while passive damage wrecks the one doing it.) you've got yourself one less problem.
I don't think Rough Skin Druddigon has the same problem, though. He has the bulk and typing to shrug off most of Talonflame's hubris and then destroy it with rock slide, and can also dragon tail it away to phase any potential boosts.Not if opponents catch wise and bring folks that outspeed the phazer.
Talonflame doesn't die to a round of Iron Barbs+Rocky Helmet, and Ferro doesn't enjoy the followup Flare Blitz either.
Then, yeah, Talon's taken some hefty passive damage, including recoil. But it's still alive, and still fast, and still has priority flying. It dies to basically one hit anyway, taking some passive damage isn't gonna matter too much.
And if you're into survival, oh no, priority Roost!
Until SnatchAbsol comes out. Substitute is pretty easy to predict. Gliscor/Skarmory/etc. will still be a huge problem, but lots of fast substitute users will be screwed. And Absol's got more attacks than just Sucker Punch, and it's fast. Not a lot of stuff outruns it. The main thing holding Absol back is it's inability to take a hit AT ALL, so even a single misprediction is deadly. (Whereas Mawile can get away with a misprediction) And while it's fast, there's a lot of stuff that outruns it, and it's mach-punch weak.Of course, with Absol being the "king of priority power" last gen, one wonders whether Mega Absol will become relevant in this debate at all. Of particular note is the fact that Magic Bounce reflects status moves while Sucker Punch punishes damaging ones, meaning an opponent whose status moves are all of the offensive variety (WoW, Thuderwave, whatever) is equally screwed. Although I'll admit Substitute is a serious issue.
aegislash takes like 40% from life orb psycho boost and 60-70 from shadow ball. Shadow ball also beats cresselia, metagross, jirachi, latios, latias, mew, celebi, and deo-D on switch ins, so it's a pretty good move to carry. Im pretty happy with aegislash being able to switch into deo-N just once if that's the best check.I think it's great that the deoxys forms are fair game now. Priority keeps them in check, they are only 600bst pokemon and the ability isn't very good, espeed+psychoboost+superpower is tanked by aegislash and checked by many other things. They are not very threatening as leads anymore because "guaranteed hazards" just isn't a threat... I'm happy they're in the game.