[QC Ready 0/3] Excadrill

[Jukain]

[Pros]

<ul>
<li>Great bulk for an offensive Pokemon.</li>
<li>Access to Rapid Spin and ability to beat every spinblocker.</li>
<li>Powerful with a strong STAB Earthquake.</li>
<li>Boosted Speed in sandstorm thanks to Sand Rush with access to Swords Dance to sweep.</li>
<li>Steel typing is great for setup.</li>
<li>Mold Breaker for outside of sand.</li>
</ul>

[Cons]

<ul>
<li>Sand nerf means it's harder for Excadrill to function as a revenge killer.</li>
<li>Some common weaknesses to Ground and Water.</li>
</ul>

[Set Recommendations]

<p>Excadrill @ Assault Vest / Life Orb<br />
Ability: Mold Breaker / Sand Rush<br />
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe<br />
Adamant Nature<br />
- Rapid Spin<br />
- Earthquake<br />
- Rock Slide<br />
- Shadow Claw / Swords Dance</p>

<p>This set's primary function is as an offensive Rapid Spin user. The idea is that between Earthquake plus Rock Slide in addition to Shadow Claw for Gourgeist-H and Trevenant, Excadrill can spin against virtually anything. Mold Breaker should generally be used, as it allows Excadrill to land Earthquakes on Levitating Pokemon. On the other hand, with Swords Dance and Sand Rush, this set becomes your typical sand sweeper, and pretty much requires the use of a Smooth Rock Tyranitar or Hippowdon in order to properly complete a sweep. With a Sand Rush boost, Excadrill is extremely difficult to revenge kill. A Swords Dance boost makes Excadrill a powerhouse; setup opportunities can be found by virtue of its resistances and bulk. Dragon-type attacks, Choice-locked Stone Edges, etc. provide ample opportunities, for example.</p>

<p>Insofar as item, Excadrill loves the power boost from Assault Vest. However, it much appreciates the power boost from Life Orb when it runs Swords Dance so it can do as much as possible.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Mach Punch users like Breloom and the Aqua Jet-wielding Azumarill are the best offensive checks to Excadrill. In sandstorm, they are the only Pokemon able to revenge kill it whilst remaining unscathed other than conflicting weather starters. Speaking of which, Mega Charizard Y and Choice Scarf Politoed are excellent ways to turn the tables on Excadrill. They change the weather and leave Excadrill vulnerable to revenge killers. If it is not running a weather-based set, it is fairly easy to revenge kill either way. Even if Excadrill is in weather and you can't change it yourself, you can stall out the turns of sand, you can outlast Excadrill long enough to render it harmless enough. Aegislash and Mega Mawile can prey on weakened Excadrill with their Sucker Punches.</p>

<p>There are also some decent defensive checks. Gliscor, Skarmory, and Hippowdon stand out among them. The first is almost a perfect counter, being able to withstand a lot of punishment and retaliate with an Earthquake. Skarmory can't do much in return other than use Defog to remove hazards, set up Spikes, or phaze it out with Whirlwind. Hippowdon is likely the most reliable of the three, boasting reliable recovery and a super effective STAB. Among new threats, Zygarde appears threatening, possessing great physical bulk and a super effective STAB. Chesnaught, heavy Gourgeist, Trevenant are also great counters, having immense bulk and resistance to Ground with the ability to strike back hard.</p>

<p>In terms of revenge killers outside of sand, any stock Water-, Fire-, Fighting-, or Ground-type or one with such coverage will suffice. Notable examples include Greninja, Delphox, Chesnaught, Gyarados, Mega Lucario, Mega Charizard X and Y, Mega Heracross, and more.</p>

 

[GULLY]

Iron Head should be a slash imo. With it being SE to fairy and being able to deal STAB neutral damage on things like Lando-T and Gliscor, its definatly a better option that Shadow Claw, which seems to be just taken from the Ubers set.

 

[AccidentalGreed]

Iron Head should be a slash imo. With it being SE to fairy and being able to deal STAB neutral damage on things like Lando-T and Gliscor, its definatly a better option that Shadow Claw, which seems to be just taken from the Ubers set.

Iron Head Excadrill is currently not legal at the moment due to a lack of a tutor for it, and Landorus-T also does not exist Pre-PokeBank.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Perhaps a mention of Leftovers in OO? I have found the passive recovery useful.

 

[ginganinja]

Mold Breaker needs a mention somewhere imo, or at least a slash next to Sand Rush. I imagine people will be looking to Excadrill as a quality rapid spinner, and many of them would just run Mold Breaker over Smooth Rock so mention it somewhere on a set please.

 

[alexwolf]

I don't think that Swords Dance is mandatory with the weather nerf. You are not always going to have sand up, and sweeping with base 88 Speed and no weather is impossible. Also, Shadow Claw is really important without Iron Head available as it lets you get past Trevenant and Gourgeist, and also OHKO Gengar and Mega Gengar on the switch, which could otherwise switch-in without being OHKOed by anything you can do (not that you can do much, your best bet would be unboosted Rock Slide), assuming of course sand is not up. Imo, Shadow Claw should maybe be slashed even before Rock Slide, if we give bigger value to Excadrill as an offensive spinner rather than a sweeper, which as i said again i don't see him doing that well with the weather nerf. Actually, probably the best way to go is 3 attacks + Rapid Spin, so you can be both difficult to switch into and beat all the spinblockers. Let's see what others have to say on this...

 

[Jukain]

trevenant kinda blows anyways, it can't stand up to boosted rock slide

gourgeist and gar i guess, but still spin > shadow claw

excadrill sweeps. that's what it does. 3 attacks spin is just meh because its coverage isn't strong unboosted.

 

[Bughouse]

Also, Shadow Claw is really important without Iron Head available as it lets you get past Trevenant and Gourgeist, and also OHKO Gengar and Mega Gengar on the switch, which could otherwise switch-in without being OHKOed by anything you can do

Just a reminder that if Gengar has already Mega Evolved, it no longer has Levitate and cannot take an EQ.

 

[PK Gaming]

I agree with alexwolf in that the main set should be geared towards being more of an offensive Rapid Spinner than a sweeper. Even with 8 turns, it's just not possible to make a sweep happen, since you need to bring Excadrill early in to abuse those turns, and that's usually not feasible. Worst of all, you deprive Tyranitar of a decent item. The reason why gen V Excadrill dominated was because you could bring it in at your leisure to sweep (ie preferably when your opponents team was weakened), but in gen VI there just isn't enough to sweep, imo.

I'd retool the analysis and incorporate this moveset:

<p>Excadrill @ Life Orb / Leftovers (Leftovers is much more useful than balloon imo)<br />
Ability: Sand Rush / Mold Breaker<br />
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe<br />
Adamant / Jolly<br />
- Rapid Spin<br />
- Earthquake<br />
- Rock Slide<br />
- Shadow Claw / Swords Dance</p>

And maybe AC Tyranitar w/ smooth rock. Regardless of what happens, don't forget to remove Iron Head from your set comments.

 

[alexwolf]

trevenant kinda blows anyways, it can't stand up to boosted rock slide

gourgeist and gar i guess, but still spin > shadow claw

excadrill sweeps. that's what it does. 3 attacks spin is just meh because its coverage isn't strong unboosted.

It's coverage is great. Excadrill is better used as a spinner than a sweeper for two reasons; nerfed sand, ton of priority users around.

Agreeing to make the set as PK described.

Oh, and a bulky Rapid Spin set definitely has merit. One pro of this set is that it can switch into Aegislash a couple of times and threaten it with EQ, while avoiding the 2HKO from most of its moves with the proper investment.

 

[alexwolf]

Fuzznip, Snunch, and dragonuser also agreed that the offensive set should be exactly as PK described. Balloon goes in AC for stupid Excadrill vs Excadrill scenarios.

 

[Jukain]

retooled somewhat, give feedback

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

You mean Rapid Spin in the first slot right not Swords Dance? I assume that is an error.

Honestly, from playing with Excadrill, my opinion is that Sand Rush is an irreplaceable ability to check Pokemon, especially in end game scenarios. I suppose Mold Breaker is worth merit, but IMO Sand Rush (and Swords Dance) are still the superior options overall.

And that's coming from the mouth of a Stall player.

 

[Jukain]

i am actually fairly against the shift as a whole. it'd be nice to get a strong opinion, as i kinda just see weak preferences. in my experiences, the 8 turns, especially with their ability to be replenished easily, are plenty for excadrill to sweep. thoughts?

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Perhaps a more offensive player can speak his mind on this, but I have yet to run many Swords Dance sweeps with Excadrill, although perhaps that's because I am just not really trying to, I often use it to just sweep in the end game after everything is worn down, usually with no Swords Dance boos even. Instead I find Swords Dance useful to beat hazard setters like Skarmory off 1 on 1, and to force switches / wall break, nothing is more scary than a +2 Exadrill coming down on you, even if you don't have the threat to sweep behind it.

 

[alexwolf]

As i mentioned again, PK Gaming, Snunch, dragonuser, Fuzznip, and me all agree that the set main set should be Rapid Spin + 3 attacks, with SD slashed after one of the coverage moves, exactly as the one that PK has mentioned above.

 

[Jukain]

alex...i am frustrated with the lack of strong reasoning, and want some.

 

[ShootingStarmie]

Alex, you can add me to that list too. Excadrill is a Rapid Spinner first and a sweeper second. With the nerf to Sand, Excadrill's biggest perk right now is it's ability to Rapid Spin and get past Aegislash.

Edit: Lol, you're mentioning Swords Dance twice, but not Rapid Spin. Are you trolling Jukain?

 

[Jukain]

that was a mistake, woops

 

[mikelos]

maybe use a steel move like Metal Claw,

 

[Thorhammer]

Expert Belt may be worth a mention; it lets Excadrill hit its big targets hard without killing itself any faster.

 

[alexwolf]

Imo, you should add a bulky set like this:

<p>Excadrill @ Leftovers<br />
Ability: Sand Rush<br />
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD<br />
Adamant Nature<br />
- Rapid Spin<br />
- Earthquake<br />
- Shadow Claw / Rock Slide<br />
- Swords Dance / Rock Slide</p>

I used this on a team that needed a good switch-in to Aegislash + Rapid Spin user and worked great. Avoids the 2HKO from 252 SpA Quiet Aegislash's Shadow Ball and makes a great check to it in general. You still have plenty Atk to OHKO Trevenant at +2 with Shadow Claw after Stealth Rock, making Rapid Spinning really easy. Good check to Aegislash, good spinner, and can still dish out a decent amount of pain. Not sure if it deserves a main set but i liked it...

 

[meddle]

Imo, you should add a bulky set like this:

<p>Excadrill @ Leftovers<br />
Ability: Sand Rush<br />
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD<br />
Adamant Nature<br />
- Rapid Spin<br />
- Earthquake<br />
- Shadow Claw / Rock Slide<br />
- Swords Dance / Rock Slide</p>

I used this on a team that needed a good switch-in to Aegislash + Rapid Spin user and worked great. Avoids the 2HKO from 252 SpA Quiet Aegislash's Shadow Ball and makes a great check to it in general. You still have plenty Atk to OHKO Trevenant at +2 with Shadow Claw after Stealth Rock, making Rapid Spinning really easy. Good check to Aegislash, good spinner, and can still dish out a decent amount of pain. Not sure if it deserves a main set but i liked it...

Might as well run Mold Breaker on that set? Or at least slash it?

 

[PK Gaming]

QC APPROVED (1/3)

I'm also throwing my support behind alexwolf's set.

 

[alexwolf]

Yeah Mold Breaker is a perfect alternative to Sand Rush. Depending on which ability gets slashed first, we should also decide what EV spread bulky Excadrill should have. For example, with Sand Rush the best EV spread could be 116 HP / 252 SpD / 140 Spe, always outspeeding +1 Jolly Mega Charizard X under sand.