Pokemon Legends: Z-A debuted to mixed reviews and reception, with some fans praising the game's approach to exploration and battle, and others upset at the overall quality, long tutorial, or even the map. The game is not without flaws, but it can be a very enjoyable experience when playing ranked battles online or shiny hunting in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. It's also a love letter to the original Gen 6 games, with several returning characters and all Pokemon from Kalos making a comeback, and some of them also got a new Mega Evolution. However, it's not all roses for Gen 6 Pokemon, as one of them is much worse in the new game, to the point it may very well be the worst in the entire game.

Pokemon Legends Z-A Press Image 6

With the way Pokemon Legends: Z-A's Wild Zones work, players can easily get a lot of critters just by exploring, whereas others are more hidden or found more rarely. For example, Pokemon Legends: Z-A's Wild Zone 4 includes wild Honedge, which only spawns at night. Still, it's an easy find, and many Gen 6 fans were happy to see it so early in the game due to Aegislash's popularity. However, as much as Aegislash was great in Gen 6 games and even in VGC over the years, it's far from being good in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. There are a few reasons for this:

  • Despite being an extremely popular Gen 6 Pokemon, Aegislash doesn't get a much-deserved new form and power up with Mega Evolutions.
  • Changing stances with Aegislash in Pokemon Legends: Z-A is very slow, at almost 2 seconds for the animation, to the point that the real-time combat can be very unforgiving for the Pokemon's performance.
  • Aegislash's signature move, King's Shield, takes a long time to activate if in Blade Forme, and it also has a 16-second cooldown.
  • Aegislash has a BST of 500, with low attack stats in Shield Forme and low defenses in Blade Forme. As such, players are using Doublade in Pokemon Legends: Z-A with Eviolite equipped to have a better Aegislash that doesn't need to change stances.
  • No other Pokemon in the game requires players to wait for animations to end just to start using a move, making Aegislash the slowest critter overall.
  • Pokemon Legends: Z-A's best teams for ranked often include Garchomp, Charizard, and/or Gyarados, all of which can easily KO Aegislash even in Shield Forme.
honedge location in wild zone 4 in pokemon legends za

Eviolite is a held item in Pokemon Legends: Z-A and other mainline games that increases the holder's Defense and Sp. Defense by 50% if it's not fully evolved. With a base Defense stat of 150 and Sp. Defense of 49 on Doublade, it can get up to 225 and 73, respectively.

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Say Goodbye to Mega Steelix and Scizor in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Pokemon Legends: Z-A fans who are interested in getting both Mega Steelix and Mega Scizor may be in for a bitter surprise.

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Say Goodbye to Aegislash in Pokemon Legends: Z-A

Wikstrom's Aegislash in its Shield Form.

Considering how strong a Doublade with Eviolite can be both defensively and offensively, there is no reason to play Aegislash over it, especially with its long stance-changing animations. Doublade does miss out on King's Shield, but one could argue that it's a glorified Protect, so it's not mandatory to find success. Instead, Doublade can forgo defensive moves with Eviolite and deal great damage with moves like Iron Head, Rock Slide, Shadow Claw, and Close Combat.

Doublade has access to Brick Break, which is very helpful in the current meta due to Light Screen and Reflect being played in most online battles in Pokemon Legends: Z-A.

A Doublade appearing in the Pokemon anime

Aegislash is one of Gen 6's best Pokemon thanks to its powerful gimmick and BST of 500, but this is true for the series' tried and true turn-based combat. With Pokemon Legends: Z-A's real-time battles, Aegislash's gimmick is just too slow for it to find any success, and if anything, it can be rather frustrating to play with. There are some not-so-great Pokemon in the game, but none of them feel inherently bad to play, unlike Aegislash.

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Pokemon Legends: Z-A
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RPG
Adventure
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Systems
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Top Critic Avg: 79 /100 Critics Rec: 66%
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Released
October 16, 2025
ESRB
Everyone 10+ / Fantasy Violence, In-Game Purchases
Developer(s)
Game Freak, Creatures Inc.
Publisher(s)
Nintendo, The Pokemon Company
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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Genre(s)
RPG, Adventure