This Royal Sword Pokemon could be benched soon.
Smogon are currently in the final process of deciding if Aegislash, a Steel/Ghost type Pokemon, should be banned in their competitive battles.
The main reason why a lot of Pokemon Trainers wants to ban Aegislash is the fact that its Stance Change Ability and King's Shield move creates in a noncompetitive battle.
Stance Change allows Aegislash to switch between Shield Forme (high defensive stats), and Blade Forme (high offensive stats): in Shield Forme, Aegislash has a solid 150 Defense and 150 Special Defense base stat; in Blade Forme, Aegislash has a powerful 150 Attack and 150 Special Attack base stat.
Worst of all, if a physical opponent makes contact with Aegislash on the same turn it used King's Shield -- the attacker's Attack stat will drop by 2 stages (50 percent).
Aegislash is also immune and/or resistant to 12 move types, as seen in the lists below:
Damaged normally by:
- Electric (1x).
- Water (1x).
Weak to:
- Dark (2x).
- Fire (2x).
- Ghost (2x).
- Ground (2x).
Immune to:
- Fighting (0x).
- Normal (0x).
- Poison (0x).
Resistant to:
- Bug (1/4).
- Dragon (1/2).
- Fairy (1/2).
- Flying (1/2).
- Grass (1/2).
- Ice (1/2).
- Psychic (1/2).
- Rock (1/2).
- Steel (1/2).
The best item that Aegislash can hold is "Weakness Policy" -- because that item will double the holders Attack and Special Attack stats if it's hit by a move that it's weak to.
Although Aegislash's moveset is limited -- the few moves that it can learn along with a "Weakness Policy" will help that Pokemon to check or counter almost every Pokemon in the Overused (OU) tier.
A majority of the Aegislash's that I've battled against had this moveset:
- King's Shield (Status)
- Swords Dance (Status)
- Shadow Sneak (Ghost | Physical | 40 Power)
- Sacred Sword (Fighting | Physical | 90 Power)
The rest of the Aegislash's that I've battled against replaced one or two of the moves above with these moves:
- Shadow Ball (Ghost | Special | 80 Power)
- Flash Cannon (Steel | Special | 80 Power)
Question: Should Smogon ban Aegislash in their competitive battles?