Pokemon Legends: ZA debuted to mixed reviews and reception, with some fans praising the game's approach to exploration and combat and others being annoyed by the overall quality, the lengthy tutorial, or even the map. The game is not without bugs, but it can be a very enjoyable experience playing ranked battles online or shiny hunting in Pokemon Legends: ZA. It's also a love letter to the original Gen 6 games, with several returning characters and all of the Pokemon from Kalos returning and some of them getting a new Mega Evolution as well. However, it's not all roses for the Gen 6 Pokémon, as one of them is much worse in the new game, to the point where it may very well be the worst in the entire game.
With the road Pokemon Legends: ZAWild zones work, players can easily get a lot of creatures just by exploring, while others are more hidden or rare to find. For example, Pokemon Legends: ZAWild Zone 4 contains a wild Honedge that only spawns at night. Still, it's easy to find and many Gen 6 fans were happy to see it so early in the game due to the popularity of Aegislash. However, as great as Aegislash has been in Gen 6 games and even VGC over the years, it is far from good in Pokemon Legends: ZA. There are several reasons for this:
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Despite being an extremely popular Gen 6 Pokemon, Aegislash doesn't get the new form and power it deserves with Mega Evolutions.
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Changing stances with Aegislash Pokemon Legends: ZA it's very slow, almost 2 seconds for an animation, to the point that real-time combat can be very unforgiving to a Pokemon's performance.
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Aegislash's signature move, King's Shield, takes a long time to activate if you're in Blade Form, and also has a 16 second cooldown.
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Aegislash has a BST of 500, with low attack stats in Shield Form and low defense in Blade Form. As such, players use Doublade Pokemon Legends: ZA with Eviolite equipped to have a better Aegislash that doesn't need to change stances.
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No other Pokemon in the game requires players to wait for animations to finish just to start using a move, making Aegislash the slowest creature overall.
- Pokemon Legends: ZAThe best ranked teams often include Garchomp, Charizard, and/or Gyarados, all of which can easily KO Aegislash even in Shield Form.
Eviolite is a hold item in Pokemon Legends: ZA and other main games that increases Defense and Sp. Defense by 50% if not fully developed. With a base defense stat of 150 and Sp. Defense 49 on Doublade can get up to 225 and 73 respectively.
Say Goodbye to Aegislash in Pokemon Legends: ZA
Given how strong Doublade can be with Eviolite both defensively and offensively, there's no reason to play Aegislash over it, especially with its long stance-changing animations. Doublade does lose King's Shield, but one could argue that it's a glorified Protect, so it's not mandatory to succeed. Instead, Doublade can forgo defensive moves with Eviolite and deal heavy damage with moves like Iron Head, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw, and Close Combat.
Aegislash is one of the best Pokemon of Gen 6 thanks to its powerful gimmick and BST of 500, but that goes for the tried and true turn-based battles of the series. WITH Pokemon Legends: ZAIn real-time battles, Aegislash's gimmick is too slow to achieve any success, and if anything, it can be quite frustrating to play with. There are some not-so-great Pokémon in the game, but none of them feel inherently bad, unlike Aegislash.
- Released
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October 16, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ / Fantasy violence, in-game purchases
