Pok�mon of the Week

Sigilyph, The Avianoid Pok�mon. They never vary the route they fly, because their memories of guarding an ancient city remain steadfast. The guardians of an ancient city, they use their psychic power to attack enemies that invade their territory.

Sigilyph. Gaze upon what can only be described as the most beautiful Pokemon to have ever existed. Do not doubt Sigilyph's divine glory lest you face the wrong end of its Cosmic Power fueled wrath. Known in ancient China as the Xi�ngzhengniao, sightings of this mystic being date back hundreds of years. Stare in awe and fear of the ageless protector known only as Sigilyph.

Wonder Skin: This ability.. frankly, it sucks. Giving status moves a 50% chance of working if they hit is only useful against Sleep and Paralysis (Magic Guard protects against Poison / Burn) and its not even guaranteed to work.
Magic Guard: Easily the best ability, and one of the best in the game. Being immune to damage from annoying things like Toxic, Leech Seed, Life Orb and best of all.. Stealth Rocks.. is too good to pass up.
Tinted Lens: This ability isn't bad. Doubles the power of not very effective attacks meaning offensive sets will not have problems with things that resist your STAB moves. Magic Guard is still BY FAR the better option due to it shielding you from Stealth Rocks and Life Orb. Also Tinted Lens isn't released yet due to being a Dream World ability.

- Cosmic Power
- Roost
- Psycho Shift
- Stored Power
Item Attached: Flame Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

If you have to name a set that "fits" a Pokemon, the Cosmic Power set is it. Just like Sigilyph itself this set is.. really weird. The idea is that with Magic Guard you are immortal against passive damage like Sandstorm, Burn and Leech Seed. Cosmic Power boosts your defenses against traditional direct damage to insane levels. Psycho Shift early game so you can keep up pressure on things like Terrakion, Haxorus, Rotom W and Politoed. Later in the game as all your counters fainted / are worn down you can Cosmic Power up for a sweep! After one Cosmic Power Heatran can't 2HKO you and if burned, neither can Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge! But its not all walling. Once you hit +6/+6 defenses from Cosmic Power you can take the fight to the opponent with a max power of 260. Not a set to be taken lightly.

- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Psycho Shift
- Stored Power
Item Attached: Flame Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Def / 64 Spd
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)

You might look at this and think.. what's the difference between Calm Mind and Cosmic Power? Generally speaking Cosmic Power fits Sigilyph's role as a weird defensive Pokemon better but Calm Mind has destructive potential that is difficult to describe. Each time you Calm Mind your Special stats go up, but so does Stored Power's... uhh.. power. Here's some examples of how crazy the damage can get. (Base Power includes STAB, Stored Power's level and Calm Mind boosts).
+0 Calm Minds - 30 Base Power - Very weak. Only a little stronger than a Rapid Spin.
+1 Calm Minds - 135 Base Power - Decent hit. Enough to hurt something like Conkledurr or slap a Tentacruel.
+2 Calm Minds - 300 Base Power - Generally enough to OHKO anything weak to it and quickly bring Forretress down.
+3 Calm Minds - 525 Base Power - Very powerful. You can take a Skarmory out in one hit with Stealth Rocks.
+4 Calm Minds - 810 Base Power - Sigilyph's inner power is clear as it plows aside even Blissey in two shots.
+5 Calm Minds - 1155 Base Power - This has more destructive power than Choice Specs Kyogre's Water Spout.
+6 Calm Minds - 1356 Base Power - The power of this hit is so great that not even the strongest of Blisseys will survive a blow. Even the most Specially Defensive of Jirachi will crumble before its power. Anything that does not have either a 4x resist or immunity is eliminated immediately. This is much stronger than even a +2 Porygon Z Hyper Beam.
So as you can see the Calm Mind set outdamages the Cosmic Power set in the short and long term by a LOT. The flaw here is that things like Choice Band Terrakion and other hard hitters are a much bigger threat. Due to more emphasis on power some Speed EVs were added. This lets you outrun most defensive Jirachi (not being flinched to death is always nice), offensive Magnezone, Politoed and Breloom. This set is not as easy to set up as the Cosmic Power set as it requires a more specific set of Pokemon to be wiped out. On the other hand this set rips through Stall teams like they're nothing.

- Calm Mind
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Roost / Air Slash / Ice Beam
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Say that three times fast. Welcome to the world of offensive Sigilyph. Not as potent as the defensive sets, but a real threat in its own right. Its hard to make Sigilyph stand out apart from other Calm Minding Magic Guard Pokemon like Alakazam and Reuniclus so its better to use this kind of set in UU or RU. The idea is to Calm Mind up and begin sweeping with Sigilyph's near flawless coverage. Hidden Power Fighting lets you muscle past Tyranitar while putting pressure on Steel and Dark types. Psychic vs Psyshock is a matter of choice. If you run Roost you will beat Blissey no matter what anyway, so Psyshock is only usable if you fear other Calm Minders or don't run Roost. If you really want coverage you can try Air Slash in the last slot as Flying / Psychic / Fighting hits every Pokemon in the game for neutral damage or better. Ice Beam is worth mentioning because most Calm Minding Psychics don't learn it, and its a nice surprise weapon to toss aside something like Haxorus or Salamence. Its a lesser option but worth mentioning.

- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Hypnosis
- Tailwind / Thunder Wave
Item Attached: Light Clay
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Ok I'll come out and say it. Support Sigilyph is outclassed by tons of things. Xatu does the dual screening mystic Psychic / Flying bird thing better because Magic Mirror, which reflects annoying things like Thunder Wave, Spikes etc. So why use Sigilyph in a support role? Because.. you REALLY like Hypnosis I guess. Sigilyph also has slightly better stats overall and Magic Guard gives it better survivability against teams that rely on Stealth Rock or Sandstorm as Magic Guard protects if from both of those. Speed EVs lets this Sigilyph outrun most Timid Rotom Wash, Haxorus, Adamant Salamence, Adamant Lucario etc. One cool thing you can do with this is Hypnosis something, set up a screen as they switch and then Thunder Wave or Tailwind against the switch in. This gives your next Pokemon a tremendous advantage possibly letting something like Haxorus, Terrakion, Infernape or Volcarona win you the game.

Sigilyph
The EV spreads on the Cosmic Power and Calm Mind sets are built to take hits, but either set can use the other's EVs. If you want to just simplify it there is nothing wrong with 252 HP / 252 Defense Bold or 252 HP / 252 Special Defense Calm.. even 252 HP / 128 Defense / 128 Special Defense. After a few Cosmic Powers it really makes no difference. Offensive sets should just run max Speed and Special Attack Timid. Sigilyph really appreciates the speed.

Tonnes. Gravity, Shadow Ball, Toxic Orb / Psycho Shift, Energy Ball, Charge Beam, Trick Room, Flash Cannon, Ancientpower
Gravity gets a mention as Sigilyph has the staying power and support options to set it up several times per game. It doesn't really benefit from it on its own though.
Shadow Ball has great coverage with Hidden Power Fighting and Psychic.
Toxic Orb alongside Psycho Shift lets you have an immunity to status while retaining the ability to spread status. The advantage of this over just using Toxic to spread Poison is that this isn't reflected by Magic Mirror.
Energy Ball hits Gastrodon / Quagsire hard but at +6 Stored Power will salt them both anyway. Get it. Salt. Because slugs. Heh.
Charge Beam can be used over Calm Mind for some boosts while doing damage but it is unreliable and weak.
Trick Room, like Gravity, can be used by Sigilyph but its a little too fast to really use it well.
Flash Cannon hits Ice and Rock types slightly harder than Hidden Power Fighting but its almost always useless.. unless you REALLY hate Lunatone.
Ancientpower is bad nine times out of ten, but the one in ten it boosts all your stats.. Well, its still bad even then.

Not too much. Tailwind support is what it is best at but besides Pidgeot its probably the worst doubles user. Actually Pidgeot gets Heat Wave so maybe it is the worst. Tailwind + some lucky strikes with Hypnosis and Psychic / Air Slash coverage may let Sigilyph actually pull its weight. Kind of hard to use Sigilyph when Tornadus exists.

Dugtrio stands out as it is able to trap and destroy Heatran, Terrakion and Tyranitar. It can also hit the "super" hard hitters like Choice Band Haxorus and Specs Politoed for enough damage to either finish them off or harm them enough that they can no longer counter Sigilyph. Toxic Spikes help the Cosmic Power set bring down Blissey as it lacks its own power to KO the pink blob. Spikes + Stealth Rocks do a number on pretty much anything and with ample use of Psycho Shifting Burns most of Sigilyph's counters will quickly find themselves dead.

Specially Defensive Heatran does a good job. It will always lose one on one but it can switch in, set up Stealth Rocks and Roar Sigilyph away. Life Orb or Choice Specs Heatran can usually 2HKO Sigilyph regardless of the defensive boosts and take little to nothing from anything the mystic bird can do back. Terrakion can wipe out Sigilyph in one shot, but doesn't like a burn. Tyranitar can do the same, but isn't as fast and has a lot more difficulty killing Sigilyph before the burn takes it down. Rotom Wash can Trick a Choice Scarf on it and play mind games with Volt Switch. Tricking it a Choice Scarf in general screws Sigilyph so anything like Scarf Jirachi or the off Scarf Latios do well. Keep in mind you will get a Burn Orb in return so its not without punishment. Also don't forget that Trick is easy to see coming and you only get one shot at it. Extremely strong hits like Choice Band Haxorus and Life Orb Zapdos can punish Sigilyph regardless of a burn. In general just be aware that if you give it too many free turns it will become unstoppable. Barring a burn its not hard to switch in on. Just find something that can take it out quickly.
As for beating the offensive Life Orb and Defensive Calm Mind this is usually easier. Just hit it from the physical side.. Its defense isn't that great. A well placed Stone Edge or Outrage should put it down for good.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game.

Colosseum/XD:

Not in game.

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game

Black/White:
Desert Resort