King's Shield (move)

Main article: Protection

King's Shield protects the user from all effects of physical and special moves that target it during the turn it is used. If King's Shield blocks an attack that would make contact with the user, the attacker's Attack stat is lowered—in Generation VI and VII, it is lowered by 2 stages; in Generation VIII, it is lowered by 1 stage.

If a contact multistrike move is blocked by King's Shield, the resulting Attack drop will only apply once. King's Shield causes the Attack stat to drop even if the user of King's Shield was immune to that contact move. Moves that are blocked do not activate other effects that require making contact, like Rocky Helmet or Rough Skin.

King's Shield also triggers Aegislash's form change. If Aegislash has Stance Change and uses King's Shield while in Blade Forme, it will change to Shield Forme before using King's Shield. If King's Shield is called by another move, such as Sleep Talk, Aegislash's form will not change.

If the user goes last in the turn, the move will fail. The chance that King's Shield will succeed also drops each time the user successfully and consecutively uses Endure, any protection move that only affects the user, Quick Guard, or Wide Guard. Each time, the chance of success is divided by 3.

Some moves will do damage through King's Shield. Most damaging Z-Moves and Max Moves will only do 25% of their original damage, except G-Max One Blow and G-Max Rapid Flow which do full damage. Moves that break protection, like Feint, will do their full damage and remove the effects of King's Shield. The Ability Unseen Fist allows contact moves to bypass King's Shield.

King's Shield is an increased priority move that will go before most attacks in a turn.

Generation VI

In this generation only, if the user of King's Shield is immune to a move, that move will not be blocked by King's Shield (and cannot trigger its stat drop).

Also in this generation only, Aegislash will change form if King's Shield was selected but fails to execute. This may occur if it goes last or it is prevented by a status condition.

King's Shield can also be used as part of a Contest Spectacular combination, with the user gaining an extra three appeal points if the move Encore, Taunt, or Torment was used in the prior turn.

Generation VII

If powered up by a Steelium Z into Z-King's Shield, all of the user's lowered stats are reset.

Generation VIII

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

King's Shield cannot be selected in a battle.

Generation IX

King's Shield is programmed into Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, but it cannot be used in a battle as no available Pokémon can learn it, and it cannot be called by Metronome.

By leveling up

#	Pokémon		Types	Egg Groups		Level
						VI	VII	VIII
							SMUSUM	SwSh
0681		Aegislash		Mineral		Mineral	1	1	1, Evo.
Bold indicates a Pokémon gains STAB from this move. Italics indicates a Pokémon whose evolution or alternate form receives STAB from this move. A dash (−) indicates a Pokémon cannot learn the move by the designated method. An empty cell indicates a Pokémon that is unavailable in that game/generation.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

The user gains the King's Shield status for one turn. During this turn the Pokémon takes no damage from attacks or moves. When the Pokémon evades a contact move from an opponent, the opponent's Attack will decrease by one stage. Aegislash will also change into its Shield Forme if it was in its Blade Forme.

The chance of the move failing rises if the user's most recently used move was King's Shield or a move that evades enemies' attacks (such as Protect).

Pokémon Masters EX

• Description prior to Version 2.10.0 (from June 28, 2021): [...] Nullifies moves that target the user while it is in this defensive posture. Sharply lowers the Attack of opponents that use physical moves to attack the user while it is in this defensive posture.

Description

Pokémon animated series

Sawyer's Aegislash Wikstrom's Aegislash
The user takes a defensive stance while it protects itself from damage. It also lowers the attack power of any attacker that makes direct contact.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Used In		Notes
	Aegislash swirls around while in Blade Forme and then turns into Shield Forme. Light blue hexagonal shapes then appear one by one in front of Aegislash until they form a shield, blocking itself from attacks. If the opponent makes direct contact with the shield, they glow blue, lowering their attack power; or, Aegislash switches from Blade Forme to Shield Forme. When the opponent tries to attack Aegislash, light purple hexagons appear in front of it, protecting it from attacks.
Sawyer's Aegislash	Valuable Experience for All!		Debut
A wild Aegislash	Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel		None
Wikstrom's Aegislash	Searching for Chivalry!		None

Pokémon Adventures

Aegislash
The user takes a defensive stance while it protects itself from damage.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Aegislash switches to its Shield Forme, using its shield to protect itself from attacks.
Celosia's Aegislash	Lucky Lucario Was Here		Debut

Core series games

Generation I	RBY	Generation I (Japanese)	Generation I (international)	Generation II	Generation II (Japanese)	Generation II (international)	Crystal	Generation III	Generation III (Japanese)	Generation III (international)	RS	FRLG	FRLGE	Generation IV	Generation IV (Japanese)	Generation IV (international)	PtHGSS	HGSS	Generation V	BW	B2W2	Generation V (Japanese)	Generation V (international)	Generation VI	XY	ORAS	Generation VII	SMUSUM	LGPE	Generation VIII	SwSh	BDSP	Legends: Arceus	Generation IX	Stadium (JP)	Stadium	Stadium 2	Colosseum	XD	Battle Revolution	Battrio	MD: Red and Blue	MD: Time, Darkness, and Sky	MD: Blazing, Stormy, & Light Adventure Squad	MD: GTI	SMD	MD: RTDX	Rumble	Rumble Blast	Masters EX

Spin-off series games

Generation I	RBY	Generation I (Japanese)	Generation I (international)	Generation II	Generation II (Japanese)	Generation II (international)	Crystal	Generation III	Generation III (Japanese)	Generation III (international)	RS	FRLG	FRLGE	Generation IV	Generation IV (Japanese)	Generation IV (international)	PtHGSS	HGSS	Generation V	BW	B2W2	Generation V (Japanese)	Generation V (international)	Generation VI	XY	ORAS	Generation VII	SMUSUM	LGPE	Generation VIII	SwSh	BDSP	Legends: Arceus	Generation IX	Stadium (JP)	Stadium	Stadium 2	Colosseum	XD	Battle Revolution	Battrio	MD: Red and Blue	MD: Time, Darkness, and Sky	MD: Blazing, Stormy, & Light Adventure Squad	MD: GTI	SMD	MD: RTDX	Rumble	Rumble Blast	Masters EX

• King's Shield is the only Steel-type move introduced in Generation VI.