Excadrill [QC 2/2]

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mymble

Mymble

Overview
########
[Pros]
  • High Attack.
  • Two good offensive abilities: Mold Breaker and Sand Rush.
  • Iron Head OHKOes Sylveon and other Fairy-types.
  • Mold Breaker Earthquake hit Rotom formes and Cresselia.
  • Rock Slide + Earthquake coverage.
  • Great typing 8 resistance and 2 immunities. Checks Thundurus, Fairy-types, et cetera.
[Cons]
  • Poor bulk, takes around 40% from Specs Sylveon's Hyper Voice.
  • Tiny movepool, extremely predictable.
  • Middling Speed, outside of sand (if Sand Rush) slower than Landorus-T, garchomp, and base 100s.
  • Weak to common offensive types, Fire, Fighting, Ground.
  • Weak to Intimidate and burns.

Mold Breaker
########
name: Mold Breaker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Protect
move 4: Iron Head / Swords Dance
ability: Mold Breaker
item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant / Jolly

Moves
========
  • Earthquake is a Ground-type STAB spread move, which will OHKO most Fire-, Electric-, and Steel-types. Useful for clearing the way for sweepers such as Mega Salamence.
  • Rock Slide is Rock-type spread move which rounds out Excadrill's coverage hitting the Flying-types which are immune Earthquake for super effective damage.
  • Protect is useful for allowing Excadrill to allow its partner to KO the threat. Also useful for burning Trick Room, weather, and Tailwind turns.
  • Iron Head OHKOes Fairy-types such as Sylveon, Gardevoir, and Mega Altaria. Bypasses Wide Guard to hit Rock-types.
  • Swords Dance boosts Excadrill's Attack two stages. +2 Earthquake picks up the OHKOes on Sylveon and Gardevoir.

Set Details
========
  • Mold Breaker hits levitate Pokemon with Earthquake.
  • 252/252 Spread works to let Excadrill hit as hard and as fast as possible, this all it needs to do.
  • Adamant ensures OHKOes on bulkier Rotom-W, Jolly lets you outspeed max Speed Rotom formes.
  • 4 EVs in SpD just to keep the HP number odd for maximum Life Orb hits.
  • Life Orb lets Excadrill hit significantly harder. Focus Sash lets Excadrill survive a guaranteed one hit, potentially letting get off two attacks before going down.

Usage Tips
========
  • Generally do not switch Excadrill in it will take huge amounts of damage or straight up get KOed.
  • Leading with it along side Togekiss or Mega Salamence allow Excadrill to get or provide it's desired support to guarantee usefulness.
  • Holding Excadrill back until Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, and other Pokemon it has a bad match up with, have been KOed helps Excadrill ensure it can deal damage safely.

Team Options
========
  • Togekiss is immune to Earthquake, provides Follow Me support to help Excadrill set up a Swords Dance, and Tailwind to remove Excadrill's Speed issues.
  • Mega Salamence appreciates Excadrill's ability to OHKO the Rotom formes and Heatran, this lets Salamence set up more easily or attack more frequently without worries of Will-O-Wisp or Hidden Power Ices.
  • Thundurus can spread Thunder Waves helping with Excadrill's Speed problems, and can check Landorus-T by OHKOing it with Hidden Power Ice.
  • Talonflame enjoys Excadrill's ability to remove the Rotom formes and Tyranitar, making Brave Bird easier to spam. Tailwind support is appreciated.
  • Ludicolo can take Excadrill's Earthquake while helping it with taking on Water-types.

Sand Rush
########
name: Sand Rush
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Iron Head
move 4: Protect
ability: Sand Rush
item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant

Moves
========
  • Earthquake hits Fire- and Steel-types for super effective damage. Powerful STAB spread move deals decent damage on neutral targets.
  • Rock Slide has good coverage with Earthquake and OHKO Mega Charizard and Talonflame, Excadrill outspeeds both in sand.
  • Iron Head OHKOes Fairy-types, Sylveon, Mega Gardevoir. Secondary STAB.
  • Swords Dance could be used, but wastes a turn of sand. Normally better off just attacking.
  • Protect lets Excadrill's partner take out a Pokemon which threatens Excadrill.

Set Details
========
  • Sand Rush doubles Excadrill Speed in sand.
  • Given Sand Rush Excadrill is only played on sand there is no benefit to running a Jolly nature. As it hits 280 Speed in sand with Adamant.
  • Life Orb boosts the power of Excadrill by 1.3 times letting it harder.
  • Focus Sash ensures Excadrill survive one hit potentially getting off two attacks.

Usage Tips
========
  • Lead with Tyranitar or Hippowdon, to get up sand on turn one.
  • Excadrill is too frail to switch safely.
  • Because of Excadrill's high Speed in sand it can easily clean up games against weakened teams.

Team Options
========
  • Rotom-w is immune to Earthquake and can take on Water-types and burn physical attackers.
  • Tyranitar, or the more niche Hippowdon, are required to set up sand for Sand Rush Excadrill to be worth using.
  • Cresselia can prevent Trick Room from getting set-up, and provide Helping Hand support.
  • Flying-types, Thundurus, Talonflame, all of have some form of Speed control.
  • Thundurus can OHKO opposing Ground-types with Hidden Power Ice, and spread Thunder Waves and Taunts. Threatens Flying- and Water-types which trouble some for Excadrill.
  • Talonflame can OHKO Grass-types which resist Earthquake, Taunt and Tailwind support can be nice.

Other Options
########
  • Choice Band can be used on the Mold Breaker set, hits a lot harder than Life Orb. The loss of utility to switch moves hurts and forces Excadrill to switch out or be dead weight.
  • Choice Scarf Mold Breaker is an option that aims to solve Excadrill's speed issues, has the same problems as Choice Band.
  • Drill Run is a single target Ground-type which can be useful if you are concerned about Earthquake hitting Escadrill's partner Pokemon. Is less accurate than Earthquake.
  • Lum Berry cures Burn, can be useful but Excadrill is more concerned about staying alive or dealing damage. Swagger + Lum Berry can boost Excadrill's attack two stages for free.
  • Rock Tomb could be used over Rock Slide as a form of Speed control, but is very weak and the Speed drop can be reset by switching out.

Checks & Counters
########
  • **Ground-Types**: Landorus-T has Earthquake which can OHKO, is immune to Excadrill's Earthquakes, and has Intimidate to cripple Excadrill. Garchomp can outspeed excadrill, take any hit, and OHKO back with Earthquake.
  • **Bulky Water-Types**: Gyarados has Intimidate, resists Excadrill's dual STAB, and can comfortably set-up Dragon Dances on it. Ludicolo resists Excadrill's dual STAB and can OHKO it with Hydro Pump. Milotic can take any hit and OHKO Excadrill back. Rotom-W beats the Sand Rush set 100% of the time, must be wary of Mold Breaker.
  • **Fighting-Types**: Hitmontop and Scrafty have intimidate and can OHKO Excadrill with their Fighting-types STAB moves. Conkeldurr and Hariyama are bulky enough take any hit from Excadrill and OHKO back. Breloom has a good chance OHKO Excadrill with Mach Punch, and is guaranteed to OHKO after one turn of Life Orb damage.
  • **Opposing Weather**: Both Sand Rush and Mold Breaker has bad match-ups against Sun and Rain. Mega Charizard Y can OHKO Excadrill with Heatwave, must be wary of Rock Slide. Rain, Politoed can OHKO Excadrill, Ludicolo resists dual STAB and can OHKO, Mega Swampert has Wide Guard and can OHKO.
  • **Intimidate and Burns**: Excadrill is a physical attacker so can be greatly weakened by Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp.
  • **Wide Guard**: Blocks two of Excadrill's main attacks Earthquake and Rock Slide, Aegislash and Hitmontop are two good users as neither minds taking Iron Head. Wide Guard should be used to get the KO on Excadrill.
 
Last edited:
tofucocoa

tofucocoa

is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
looks good to me, though you should put choice scarf+mold breaker and drill run in OO. mention potential swagger+lum combo when talking about lum berry.

QC 1/2
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

  • ... and 1 more.
    • Top