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Uber Pokemon, according to the competitive battling community at Smogon University, are those who have access to stats, moves, and abilities that can lead to bans in competitive formats for being "too strong or uncompetitive." Among these creatures in Generation VI and VII, Aegislash was considered one because of its legendary-like base stats and its mighty King's Shield move.
Aegislash is no longer classified as an Uber Pokemon as of the release of Generation VIII with Sword and Shield. It was effectively nerfed during that generation and remains as such in Generation IX's Scarlet and Violet titles. Still, how did a relatively innocuous Pocket Monster reach such a high classification that often includes heavy hitters like legendary species?
Why Aegislash was considered an Uber Pokemon in competitive Generation VI-VII battles
While it didn't have the most complete range of stats in the Pokemon X and Y or Sun and Moon games, Aegislash's stats benefitted from its ability to change between its Blade and Shield forms.
In its Shield Forme, Aegislash had a stat spread of 60 HP/50 Atk/150 Def/50 Sp. Atk/150 Sp. Def/60 Spd. Meanwhile, its Blade Forme had a stat spread of 60 HP/150 Atk/50 Def/150 Sp. Atk/50 Sp. Def/60 Spd.
This gave Aegislash, for the time, the highest base Sp. Defense of all Ghost-type Pokemon. The creature also tied for the highest base Defense of all Ghost-type creatures and the highest Sp. Defense among Steel-type critters in its Shield Forme.
When switched to Sword Forme, Aegislash matched Dialga with the highest Sp. Atk among Steel-type Pocket Monsters and tied with Mega Scizor for the highest Atk among Steel-type critters.
Another factor that led to Aegislash being classified as an Uber Pokemon (banning it from Smogon's competitive metagame) was its access to the move King's Shield. The move protected the creature from damaging moves and lowered its attacker's Attack stat by two stages in Gens VI-VII (though only one stage in Gen VIII post-nerf), and would trigger its transition between Blade and Shield Forme.
King's Shield forced opponents into a game of 50/50 chances. If opponents guessed wrong and hit Aegislash after King's Shield was used, their attack was nullified and they took a substantial Attack stat debuff.
Additionally, Aegislash's ability to switch between a glass cannon and a defensive powerhouse made it incredibly flexible in battles. The creature could switch between offensive and defensive base stat spreads that could rival Mega Evolved and Legendary Pokemon. It could effectively reduce battles into a guessing game when attempting to predict King's Shield's usage.
All this means that an established Aegislash user could effectively rarely (if ever) get hit while still walloping opposing targets by switching to Blade Forme.
Moreover, at its competitive apex, Aegislash was the only fully-evolved Ghost/Steel-type creature of its kind (this was changed in Generation IX with the release of Gholdengo, but the type combination remains rare).
Due to all of these factors, Aegislash was forcing Smogon competitive battlers to design entire counter strategies to deal with it due to its regular appearances in the meta.
The Smogon University community eventually spoke out and stated that, at least in Generations VI-VII, Aegislash was such an indomitable influence on the competitive meta that it was oversimplifying competitive battles and making them more stale or boring overall. With this information in mind, Smogon's Ubers Tiering Council made Aegislash an Uber Pokemon, banning it from many formats.
Not every competitive battler agreed with the decision, but it was made nonetheless. Once Generation VIII arrived, King's Shield was nerfed to only reduce an opponent's Attack stat by one stage before the move was completely defanged and made unusable in the Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl and Scarlet/Violet games, removing the guessing game that Aegislash could impose.
Aegislash also received a 10-point base stat nerf to its offensive stats in Blade Forme and its defensive stats in Shield Forme, making it less daunting overall when compared to those it used to share its Uber classification with.
As of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Aegislash is considered a capable contender in the National Pokedex tier, making it a legal meta participant in non-standard formats.
All things considered, Aegislash's competitive dominance was short, but its story is a fascinating one, especially in regards to the state of competitive battling formats. Ubers like Annihilape have since replaced its dominant streak, but plenty of Smogon competitors still have scornful flashbacks of Aegislash's appearance on the battlefield before it was ultimately classified as an Uber.
