http://serebii.net/pokedex-bw/561.shtml
[Base Stats]
72 HP
58 At
80 Def
103 SpA
80 SpD
97 Spe
[Overview]
Pros
The Ability Magic Guard – This ability is insane. It prevents Sigilyph for taking Stealth Rock damage (which he would normally be weak to) and negates passive damage (Sandstorm, Leach Seed, ect.) therefore preventing from being stalled. Also gets major boosts with this as it can use Toxic and Flame Orb (preventing a crippling status like paralysis or sleep) without the negative side effects, and can use a recoilless Life Orb to become a powerful sweeper.
Decent (base 97) Speed - This guy is pretty actually pretty fast. He won’t be out speeding most major offensive threats like Terrekion and Hydreigon but his speed is nothing to scoff at.
A Good Offensive Movepool - Psycho Shock, Psychic, Air Slash, Charge Beam, Ice Beam, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, and Flash Cannon, all options. He kind of needs Hidden Power for coverage but there is no denying he has a lot of options.
Amazing Support Movepool – This is where Sigilyph really shines. He can provide fantastic team protection with Safeguard and Dual Screens. He can provide “movement” support with Trick Room and Tailwind. It also has access to Rain Dance and, if you want, can set up Gravity. He also has the ability to spread status like Santa Clause, learning T-wave, Toxic, Hypnosis and can even spread burn with Psycho Shift and a Flame Orb (because of Magic Guard, it doesn’t hurt Sigilyph itself). And as if that wasn’t enough, he can learn Roost and some Stat Boosters.
Cons
Bad Typing - Psychic / Flying has quite a few common weaknesses in VGC 2011. It is weak to Electric-, Rock-, Ice-, Dark-, and Ghost-type. What, may I ask, does he resist. Grass-, Psychic-, and Fighting-type (4x). While the fighting resist is nice, it has way to many other weaknesses to take advantage of this. It is also worth adding that it is very Pursuit-weak.
Too Weak Defensively - With 72 HP | 80 Def | 80 SpD it won’t be talking very many hits without some boosts from Cosmic Power, or to a lesser extent Calm Mind.
Shut down by Taunt – As most of his sets depend on non-attacking moves, he has massive problems with pokemon with Taunt.
All right lets look at some possible sets.
[SET]
name: Life Orb Sweeper
move 1: Psycho Shock / Psychic
move 2: Hidden Power Fighting
move 3: Charge beam
move 4: Air Slash / Ice Beam / Shadow Ball
nature: Modest
ability: Magic Guard
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[Notes]
<p>Psycho Shock or Psychic is really a personal preference. I like Psycho Shock better because it can hit Pokemon with higher SpD, which would otherwise be hard for Sigilyph to take out.
HP Fighting is there to hit Dark-types that are immune to Psychic-type attacks. Charge beam is there mostly because of the SpA boost, but it provides nice coverage as well. The last Attack is again a personal preference, with Air Slash being some extra STAB, Ice Beam dealing with Grounds (most notably Landorus), and Shadow Ball for opposing psychics and ghosts. </p>
[SET]
name: Stored Power Sweep
move 1: Cosmic Power / Calm Mind
move 2: Roost
move 3: Stored power
move 4: Psycho Shift / Hidden Power Fighting
ability: Magic Guard
items: Flame Orb
nature: Modest (Cosmic Power) / Bold (Calm Mind)
evs (for Cosmic Power): 252 Hp / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
evs (for Calm Mind): 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe
[Notes]
<p>This set consists of three vital moves and one other move. This set takes full advantage of Stored Power. For those of you who don’t know, Stored power is a Psychic-type attack that get more powerful the more “stat boosts” you have, which you can build up with Cosmic Power or Calm Mind. The choice between Cosmic Power and Calm mind is between longetivity (and less risk) and immediate and more power (along with more risk), respectively. Note that your evs and nature are slightly different for each “booster move”. Roost is there so that you can raise your stats and not faint. For the final move you could choose Psycho Shift to give out burn, or HP Fighting to hit the Dark-type pokemon that are immune to psychic. Both are great choices. </p>
[SET]
name: Player’s Little Helper
move 1: Reflect
move 2: Light Screen
move 3: Tailwind / Trick Room / Rain Dance
move 4: Air Slash
ability: Magic Guard
item: Light Clay
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid
[Notes]
<p>This set is specifically designed to be your “little helper”. The Dual Screens are pretty self-explanatory while Tailwind, Trick Room, or Rain Dance all depends on your team. Air Slash is for STAB, but almost any other attacking move would do. This sets biggest downfall is it is shut down by Prankster pokemon with Taunt. </p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Sigilyph actually has a lot of common and powerful counters. He has problems with, most notably, Thundurus, Terrekion, Hydreigon, and Scrafty. Thundurus can taunt Sigilyph or rip him apart with a STAB Thunderbolt or Discharge. Terrekion, while being weak to Psychic, can inflict a to ton of pain with a Rock Slide or Stone Edge. Hydreigon is immune to Psychic and can hit incredibly hard with Dark Pulse. Scrafty is, in my opinion, the worst though. He is immune to Psychic and, with Shed Skin, can be very hard to keep under status. He can also hit you hard with ThunderPunch, IcePunch, Head Smash, Rock Slide, and even a STAB Crunch. It is worth knowing that all but Scrafty are faster than Sigilyph. </p>
[Teammates]
<p>Sigilyph himself is kind of a support pokemon, but certain pokemon can be huge blessings to it. The most notable of these is Amoongus. He can learn Rage Powder, Spore, and Protect, allowing Sigilyph to do the setting up he needs to do to sweep. Mienshao is also a fantastic partner utilizing Fake Out for a turn of boosts and Wide Guard to block the very common Rock Slide. </p>
[Conclusion]
<p>Sigilyph can fit many a role on your team and can be quite useful. He won’t be an enormous game-changer in VGC 2011 but can be very effective if used well. </p>
[Base Stats]
72 HP
58 At
80 Def
103 SpA
80 SpD
97 Spe
[Overview]
Pros
The Ability Magic Guard – This ability is insane. It prevents Sigilyph for taking Stealth Rock damage (which he would normally be weak to) and negates passive damage (Sandstorm, Leach Seed, ect.) therefore preventing from being stalled. Also gets major boosts with this as it can use Toxic and Flame Orb (preventing a crippling status like paralysis or sleep) without the negative side effects, and can use a recoilless Life Orb to become a powerful sweeper.
Decent (base 97) Speed - This guy is pretty actually pretty fast. He won’t be out speeding most major offensive threats like Terrekion and Hydreigon but his speed is nothing to scoff at.
A Good Offensive Movepool - Psycho Shock, Psychic, Air Slash, Charge Beam, Ice Beam, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, and Flash Cannon, all options. He kind of needs Hidden Power for coverage but there is no denying he has a lot of options.
Amazing Support Movepool – This is where Sigilyph really shines. He can provide fantastic team protection with Safeguard and Dual Screens. He can provide “movement” support with Trick Room and Tailwind. It also has access to Rain Dance and, if you want, can set up Gravity. He also has the ability to spread status like Santa Clause, learning T-wave, Toxic, Hypnosis and can even spread burn with Psycho Shift and a Flame Orb (because of Magic Guard, it doesn’t hurt Sigilyph itself). And as if that wasn’t enough, he can learn Roost and some Stat Boosters.
Cons
Bad Typing - Psychic / Flying has quite a few common weaknesses in VGC 2011. It is weak to Electric-, Rock-, Ice-, Dark-, and Ghost-type. What, may I ask, does he resist. Grass-, Psychic-, and Fighting-type (4x). While the fighting resist is nice, it has way to many other weaknesses to take advantage of this. It is also worth adding that it is very Pursuit-weak.
Too Weak Defensively - With 72 HP | 80 Def | 80 SpD it won’t be talking very many hits without some boosts from Cosmic Power, or to a lesser extent Calm Mind.
Shut down by Taunt – As most of his sets depend on non-attacking moves, he has massive problems with pokemon with Taunt.
All right lets look at some possible sets.
[SET]
name: Life Orb Sweeper
move 1: Psycho Shock / Psychic
move 2: Hidden Power Fighting
move 3: Charge beam
move 4: Air Slash / Ice Beam / Shadow Ball
nature: Modest
ability: Magic Guard
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[Notes]
<p>Psycho Shock or Psychic is really a personal preference. I like Psycho Shock better because it can hit Pokemon with higher SpD, which would otherwise be hard for Sigilyph to take out.
HP Fighting is there to hit Dark-types that are immune to Psychic-type attacks. Charge beam is there mostly because of the SpA boost, but it provides nice coverage as well. The last Attack is again a personal preference, with Air Slash being some extra STAB, Ice Beam dealing with Grounds (most notably Landorus), and Shadow Ball for opposing psychics and ghosts. </p>
[SET]
name: Stored Power Sweep
move 1: Cosmic Power / Calm Mind
move 2: Roost
move 3: Stored power
move 4: Psycho Shift / Hidden Power Fighting
ability: Magic Guard
items: Flame Orb
nature: Modest (Cosmic Power) / Bold (Calm Mind)
evs (for Cosmic Power): 252 Hp / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
evs (for Calm Mind): 252 Hp / 252 Def / 4 Spe
[Notes]
<p>This set consists of three vital moves and one other move. This set takes full advantage of Stored Power. For those of you who don’t know, Stored power is a Psychic-type attack that get more powerful the more “stat boosts” you have, which you can build up with Cosmic Power or Calm Mind. The choice between Cosmic Power and Calm mind is between longetivity (and less risk) and immediate and more power (along with more risk), respectively. Note that your evs and nature are slightly different for each “booster move”. Roost is there so that you can raise your stats and not faint. For the final move you could choose Psycho Shift to give out burn, or HP Fighting to hit the Dark-type pokemon that are immune to psychic. Both are great choices. </p>
[SET]
name: Player’s Little Helper
move 1: Reflect
move 2: Light Screen
move 3: Tailwind / Trick Room / Rain Dance
move 4: Air Slash
ability: Magic Guard
item: Light Clay
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid
[Notes]
<p>This set is specifically designed to be your “little helper”. The Dual Screens are pretty self-explanatory while Tailwind, Trick Room, or Rain Dance all depends on your team. Air Slash is for STAB, but almost any other attacking move would do. This sets biggest downfall is it is shut down by Prankster pokemon with Taunt. </p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Sigilyph actually has a lot of common and powerful counters. He has problems with, most notably, Thundurus, Terrekion, Hydreigon, and Scrafty. Thundurus can taunt Sigilyph or rip him apart with a STAB Thunderbolt or Discharge. Terrekion, while being weak to Psychic, can inflict a to ton of pain with a Rock Slide or Stone Edge. Hydreigon is immune to Psychic and can hit incredibly hard with Dark Pulse. Scrafty is, in my opinion, the worst though. He is immune to Psychic and, with Shed Skin, can be very hard to keep under status. He can also hit you hard with ThunderPunch, IcePunch, Head Smash, Rock Slide, and even a STAB Crunch. It is worth knowing that all but Scrafty are faster than Sigilyph. </p>
[Teammates]
<p>Sigilyph himself is kind of a support pokemon, but certain pokemon can be huge blessings to it. The most notable of these is Amoongus. He can learn Rage Powder, Spore, and Protect, allowing Sigilyph to do the setting up he needs to do to sweep. Mienshao is also a fantastic partner utilizing Fake Out for a turn of boosts and Wide Guard to block the very common Rock Slide. </p>
[Conclusion]
<p>Sigilyph can fit many a role on your team and can be quite useful. He won’t be an enormous game-changer in VGC 2011 but can be very effective if used well. </p>
