Exeggutor (Revamp) (QC 0/3)

[erisia]

We jammin'... jammin'... and we hope you like jammin' too!

[Overview]

• One of the most effective and powerful offensive Grass-types in the metagame.
• Special Attack stat is eggcellent, letting Exeggutor punch holes in teams with Choice Specs Leaf Storms or sweep with Chlorophyll and its excellent coverage.
• Being able to break through Roselia with a powerful STAB Psychic or Psyshock is no yolk, and separates Exeggutor from its competition.
• Typing is a mixed bag defensively; while it can abuse its resistances to Water, Electric, Ground and Fighting attacks, a 4x weakness to U-Turn and other Bug moves is really rotten.
• However, Harvest alongside a Lum or Custap Berry can make defensive Exeggutor very difficult for the opponent to respond to.
• Low Speed means that Exeggutor will struggle to sweep without Chlorophyll being active.

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Psychic / Psyshock
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Sleep Powder
move 4: Giga Drain
item: Choice Specs
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Modest
evs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe

[Set Comments]

• 2HKOes most of the tier if it predicts correctly, and 2HKOes a lot of Pokemon even if it doesn't.
• Breaks holes in teams for sweepers such as Ludicolo and Samurott to exploit later in the match.
• Most powerful Leaf Storm out there, pretty much. Meanwhile, STAB Psychic takes care of Amoonguss if it tries to block Leaf Storm.
• Psychic is a powerful secondary STAB that is much easier to spam now that Absol is absent from the tier. Psyshock performs better than Psychic against specially-defensive targets, particularly Roselia, but also Lickilicky, Regice, and Flareon. However, it is generally worse against other targets.
• Hidden Power Ground is extremely useful, dealing heavy damage to Skuntank and Steel-types. On the other hand, Sleep Powder lets Exeggutor remove counters, such as Specially Defensive Flareon and Skuntank, from the game momentarily, breaking open even more holes in defensive teams.
• Giga Drain is a more reliable Grass-type STAB, and the recovery it provides can be invaluable in letting Eggy switch into battles and maintain offensive pressure throughout longer matches.
• Good physical bulk and a wide range of resistances gives Exeggutor many opportunities to switch into battle, and Giga Drain's recovery only bolsters Exeggutor's defensive capacity.

[Additional Comments]

• EVs outspeed uninvested base 70s, while leaving Exeggutor with a massive Special Attack stat and excellent physical bulk. More Speed can be run if your team has trouble with 252 Spe Golem, or Spikes from standard Garbodor.
• Hidden Power Ice removes Altaria as a counter, while Giga Drain can be used for when Exeggutor needs to heal off residual damage. It's still plenty powerful enough to secure kills against many opponents.
• Hidden Power Ice can be used for Altaria, but it's not great to be locked into, and makes it easier to trap and kill Eggy with Skuntank.
• Nature Power hits Skuntank while bypassing Sucker Punch, but is much less powerful than Specs Hidden Power Ground and much easier to switch into.
• Use teammates that provide defensive synergy against revenge killers, such as Regirock to deal with Fire, Normal, and Flying types.
• Flareon takes on Fire-types with ease while providing cleric support that allows Exeggutor to fire off more Leaf Storms throughout the match.
• Hazard support lets Eggy secure even more kills, with Probopass being able to set up Stealth Rock fairly reliably, while bringing Eggy into battle safely with a slow Volt Switch or Paralysing faster threats with Thunder Wave so that Eggy can revenge kill them later.
• Sawk and Gurdurr can deal reliably with the Dark-types that can switch into Psychics.

[SET]
name: Sun Sweeper
move 1: Sunny Day
move 2: SolarBeam / Giga Drain
move 3: Psychic / Psyshock
move 4: Sleep Powder / Substitute
item: Heat Rock / Life Orb
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[Set Comments]

• Eggy is an extremely powerful and fast sweeper under sunlight, and can break through unprepared offensive teams with ease, often with its STAB attacks alone.
• Counters to Eggy and other sweepers on Sunny Day teams can be shut down with a fast Sleep Powder, forcing defensive teams to play carefully around Exeggutor, otherwise risking losing a key member.
• Alternatively, Exeggutor can use Substitute to bypass Sucker Punch from Skuntank, not to mention it provides a buffer against Scarfers that outspeed it in sunlight (Haunter, Zebstrika) and other priority (Piloswine's Ice Shard?)
• Can set up Sunny Day pretty well due to its good physical bulk, numerous resistances, and the offensive pressure it places on other teams.
• SolarBeam is a very powerful STAB attack, and can only really be disrupted by opposing weather inducers such as Volbeat, Murkrow, and Ludicolo. On the other had, Giga Drain is the weaker but more consistent Grass-type attack; the healing it provides also helps Eggy stay healthy throughout the match and set up Sunny Day multiple times if necessary.
• Usual dilemma with Psychic STAB attacks. Psyshock can be used over Psychic to deal with specially defensive Pokémon more easily, but the loss of power against offensive targets such as Braviary can stop Eggy's sweep abruptly.

[Additional Comments]

• The item choice depends largely on Exeggutor's role on a team. If you're using a lead to set up Sunny Day in advance, such as Volbeat or Probopass, then Life Orb is the best option for maximizing Eggy's sweeping capacity. Likewise, if you're using Exeggutor as a standalone sweeper on an otherwise weatherless team, then the extra Sunlight from Heat Rock is somewhat unnecessary, and a Life Orb should again be used to maximize power. However, one of Eggy's best niches as a Sunny Day user is its ability to switch into opponents, using its defensive capacity to set up Sunny Day for a team without relying on a dedicated setter. Heat Rock is definitely the best choice for this role.
• If you lack Fire-types on your team, then Hidden Power Fire provides a more powerful response to opposing Grass-types, when sunlight is on the field. However, Sleep Powder and Substitute usually have more utility in this metagame.
• Three attacks + Sleep Powder can be used if you already have numerous teammates with Sunny Day, but bear in mind that Exeggutor is a pretty good candidate for setting the move itself, and the presence of Fire-types such as Charizard and Rapidash on your team somewhat mitigates the need for Hidden Power Fire.
• Modest nature is the default choice, giving Exeggutor the most power while still letting outrun Swellow, Tauros etc in sunlight. However, a Timid nature can be used if you want Eggy to outspeed Pokémon such as Choice Scarf Rotom-S and Shell Smash Gorebyss in sunlight.
• Stealth Rock support is highly appreciated, as it gives Exeggutor a much better chance of breaking through bulky Flying, Fire, and Ice types. Probopass and Regirock again provide Stealth Rock support, and are also great defensive users of Sunny Day, removing some pressure from Exeggutor to set the move up itself.
• If you're running Exeggutor on a Sunny Day offense team, then Fire-types should be used alongside it, so that they can break through their mutual checks. Rapidash with Drill Run can smash specially defensive walls, especially the likes of Regice and Flareon, while Charizard destroys most Grass-types. Sawsbuck is a useful partner as well, using physical attacks to break through special walls, while also dealing with Skuntank via Nature Power, and potentially setting up a deadly sweep with Swords Dance.
• If you're running Exeggutor as a standalone sweeper, it loves switching into Rock-types such as Golem and Carracosta, forcing them out ad setting up Sunny Day in the process. Thus, Flying-types such as Swellow and Braviary can appreciate Exeggutor dealing with these threats. Skuntank also appreciates Exeggutor's ability to switch into choiced Fighting-type moves and Gurdurr. Finally, Rock types of your own will appreciate having their Water-weaknesses reduced.

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Giga Drain / Leech Seed
move 3: Sleep Powder
move 4: Rest
item: Lum Berry
ability: Harvest
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 84 Spe

[Set Comments]

• Amoonguss? Never heard of him.
• While Exeggutor has a lot of weaknesses, its resistances to Grass, Water, Ground, and Fighting, in combination in above-average physical bulk when invested, make it a good physically defensive tank.
• What makes Exeggutor a GREAT physical tank is that Lum + Harvest Rest essentially gives it a 100% recovery move, not to mention immunity to all status effects so long as it can retrieve its berry.
• Great at switching into things like CB Sawk, Choiced Superpowers from various things, Torterra in general, most Rock-types in the tier, Gurdurr, etc, and recovering off any damage they inflict.
• While it's not quite as good as Amoonguss' Spore, Sleep Powder can still be used to shut down threats, and Exeggutor can use it to respond to more targets thanks to its better Speed stat.
• Meanwhile, its attacking power is still pretty good even without investment. It's certainly not as easy to set up on as something like post-Spore Amoonguss, with Psychic breaking bulky Braviary's Substitutes 100% of the time. Giga Drain breaks through Water, Ground and Rock types more easily, although Leech Seed can also be used to stack up residual damage on threatening switchins like Regice.

[Additional Comments]

• EVs allow Exeggutor to outspeed uninvested Alomomola, letting you kill it with Giga Drain or disable it with Sleep Powder before it can fire off a Wish. The rest go into physical bulk so that Eggy can take on physical attackers such as Sawk more effectively.
• I wouldn't recommend going specially defensive since Ice, Fire, Poison, and Ghost weaknesses in this metagame are terrible, and Exeggutor's special defense is unspeggtacular.
• Chesto Berry prevents double activations, where the opponent uses a status move before you use Rest, thus putting yourself to sleep without waking up until your berry recharges. Lum Berry is useful for switching directly into status moves without repercussions.
• Exeggutor's main weakness as a physical tank is its 4x weakness to U-Turn, meaning that sweepers such as Cinccino and Swellow can threaten it while conserving offensive momentum. Make sure to pack something that can take repeated U-Turns above all else, such as Probopass, Regirock, or even Misdreavus. The former two can provide Stealth Rock support to wear these threats down and prevent them from switching in too often.
• Exeggutor has a lot of weaknesses, and if you're using it in a defensive role, then dealing with them is necessary. Specially Defensive Flareon is a great partner, taking on most offensive responses to Exeggutor with ease, while retaining useful team support options, and using Lava Plume to give Exeggutor an even easier time against physical attackers. Other special tanks such as Lickilicky are also cool.
• As always, using a Fighting-type to deal with Absol and Skuntank is very helpful, with Swords Dance Absol being a particularly potent threat. Emboar is a good choice as it can also switch into Ice and Fire type pokemon, threatening both with Superpower.

[Other Options]

• Substitute + Sitrus Berry + Harvest is an incredibly annoying staller. BIG MENTION.
• Likewise, Nature Power bypasses Sucker Punch while dealing damage, particularly to Skuntank, but is generally less useful.
• Custap Berry + Harvest allows Exeggutor to attack first against all faster Pokemon (or use Sleep Powder!) but it can be difficult to get Exeggutor below 25% HP. Furthermore, it does nothing to defend against Sucker Punch and other priority moves, which still move before Exeggutor, and Harvest can be too inconsistent for a sweep without Sunlight.
• Starf Berry + Harvest is fun but extremely inconsistent, and Exeggutor can't really pull it off with low initial Speed.
• Type resist berries can be used with Harvest to sort-of remove one of Exeggutor's weaknesses, but this is only situationally useful.
• Trick Room can be used to give Exeggutor a Speed advantage via different means, but the Sunny Day set is generally more useful unless your team is specifically Trick Room based.
• Other support moves like Wish, Dual Screens, Gravity, Stun Spore etc.
• Can go physical with Swords Dance, Wood Hammer, Zen Headbutt and Explosion, but special Grass and Psychic attacks are far better in the NU metagame, especially considering the gap in Exeggutor's attacking stats.

[Checks and Counters]

• Countering the Specs set is actually pretty difficult, as almost everything either gets maimed by its STAB attacks or crippled by Sleep Powder. For instance, even Regice gets 2HKO'd by Leaf Storm after SR.
• Lickilicky is the best response, being able to switch into any attack and heal off the damage. However, Sleep Powder can be annoying.
• Flareon is also pretty good and poses more of an offensive threat, but takes heavy damage from Psyshock or Nature Power.
• Altaria excels at taking Leaf Storms, but Psychic inflicts heavy damage after Stealth Rock, and Altaria will have to Roost constantly to stay alive. Natural Cure also lets Eggy stay in and spam Sleep Powder to hit something else if Altaria switches out.
• Revenge killing Specs Exeggutor is much easier, with Braviary, Swellow, Cinccino, and others, being able to threaten it with U-Turn.
• The aforementioned are able to counter the Sun Sweeper such much more easily due to the overall lower damage output.
• It's harder to revenge kill the Sun Sweeper set, but Absol and Skuntank can use Sucker Punch to stop variants without Substitute. Scarf Zebstrika and Haunter also outspeed Exeggutor in sunlight, as does +1 Ninjask.
• Meanwhile, the defensive set is liable to being OHKOed by special attackers. Even coverage attacks from modest SpA stats (like Ludicolo) can secure a OHKO after Stealth Rock.

[DTC]

I would change the Choice Specs set to this:

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Sleep Powder
move 4: Giga Drain
item: Choice Specs
ability: Chlorophyll
nature: Modest
evs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe

Giga Drain /needs/ to be the main slash. Recovery + attacking is so useful for a Pokemon like Exeggutor, because it will be taking many heavy blows. Giga Drain greatly assists in alleviating those heavy blows. I actually find myself using Giga Drain much more often than Leaf Storm.

Skuntank's prominence in the NU metagame makes Hidden Power Ground very important. It's arguably the best answer to Exeggutor, and if you can snipe it on the switch, you just took care of a potentially huge threat to the team. Altaria is not particularly common to warrant using Hidden Power Ice and being locked to Hidden Power in general sucks.

Hidden Power Ice would go in AC if you change the set to this.

Also, Psyshock is not as awful as you make it out to beat. Besides Lickilicky, it also hits Altaria, Flareon, and Regice harder. The latter two are increasingly more common with the new hail meta.

The rest of this skeleton looks fine so far.

[erisia]

Okay, I've done a little updating. Sorry for getting sidetracked...

I think that the two Sunny Day sets on the current analysis should be merged, with Substitute possibly replacing Hidden Power Fire as the main slash on the main set. Substitute is undeniably important in a metagame where Absol is everywhere, and even stuff like Ice Shard Piloswine is becoming more popular. Hidden Power Fire's main use seems to be hitting Grass-types (and attempting to scratch Regice), but Amoonguss takes more damage from Psychic, and Amoonguss's presence in the tier has drastically cut the viability of other available Grass-types.

Would like to know QC's opinion on this.

[Django]

I would tend to agree, I never really "got" Sub Sunny Day Eggy, and like you said its uses can be summarised pretty easily. While we're talking about the Sunny Day set, I think HP Ground should be an AC mention on that, obviously for getting around Skuntank. I like the rest of what you've got up so far, good work as usual erisia!

[Ernesto]

Minor comment, if you wanna get around Skuntank, Nature Power, even with a -Atk nature, hits the standard Skunk set harder than HP Ground and bypasses Sucker Punch, making the 2HKO possible without having to predict around it (that is, on the Sunny Day set, of course).

[erisia]

I wasn't even aware that Exeggutor got Nature Power... that's definitely worth a mention. Will finish this up tonight, will be merging the sets unless there are any objections.

[ThePillsburyDoughBoy]

Would it be more efficient for Exeggutor to use Chesto Berry instead of Lum Berry as to prevent dual activation of the berry (thus consuming it) from an opposing status user as you Rest?

[erisia]

I've tested both and found Lum Berry to be more useful in general. It lets Exeggutor switch into status attacks from faster users without taking the residual damage from Burns or Toxic (it highly reduces the chances of Misdreavus OHKOing with Will-O-Wisp + Shadow Ball after Eggy's taken some residual damage, for instance) Plus it avoid unfortunate circumstances where Exeggutor switches into a Thunder Wave and gets fully paralysed at eggsactly the wrong moment. Chesto Berry will get an AC mention for sure, though.

[erisia]

Okay! The thread is more or less complete now. I'd like to see some more feedback for the defensive set's EVs in particular.

[Cherub Agent]

Yeah, regarding the defensive set's EVs. I'd really appreciate an AC mention of a more offensive spread with Leaf Storm over Giga Drain. I use a spread of 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe wth a Modest nature. The Speed EVs allow him to outspeed minimum Garbodor and crush it with Psychic (although I might be speed-creeping, in that case just bump them down). This set is particularly effective at ripping apart Amoonguss, Alomomola and other slow tanks such as Carracosta, Golem and Golurk. The instant recovery is a godsend for Exeggutor and cheerfully lets it also switch into Spore and Sleep Powder. The massive power of Leaf Storm and full Special Attack investment means that this Exeggutor is both very hard hitting and long lasting.

[EBeast]

Never seen a physically defensive LumRest Eggy before, all of the ones I have seen have been the offensive variant that Cherub mentioned. (Although Giga Drain was more common than Leaf Storm on these as well) The offensive and defensive variants use the same moves, but their EVs and roles are slightly different. I think you should split them apart into Offensive LumRest and Defensive LumRest sets, but if other QC members have other ways to go at it we could look into that as well.

[SET]
name: Offensive LumRest
move 1: Rest
move 2: Sleep Powder
move 3: Giga Drain / Leaf Storm
move 4: Psychic
item: Lum Berry
ability: Harvest
nature: Modest
evs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe

• Mention that Leaf Storm allows Exeggutor to blast the opponent, however Giga Drain provides more consistancy against the Alomomola + Amoonguss core
• Say that it sets itself apart from the Defensive LumRest set with the ability to pose as a much bigger offensive threat
• Unlike the Defensive LumRest set this one can OHKO standard Amoonguss and Alomomola
• Mention an alternate 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe spread that allows Exeggutor to outspeed standard Garbodor

The Defensive LumRest set looks good, just make sure to capitalize in its advantage over the offensive build. That would be its ability to tank powerful physical hits such as Choice Band Sawk's Close Combat and take advantage of Exeggutor's great resistances while still maintaining decent offensive prowess.

If other QC members think that there is a better way to go at this, mention it. If not, then I'll come back and give you a stamp because everything else looks great.

[Django]

I'm not keen on having two LumRest sets tbh. I think the role of the offensive spread could fit in AC comfortably, or vice versa if we deem Offensive to be the better spread. All the information in ^that post should definitely go in the analysis, I just think giving it probably its own paragraph in AC should suffice. There would be a lot of repeated information if we did two sets, something we should look to avoid.

[Wobble]

Well if you insist on picking either of the two the Offensive set is vastly superior. I've used it quite a bit and it destroys slower pokemon and support mons. It's only real fault is that it can't reliable take other Psychics due to Signal Beam.

88/252/168 is a spread that I've personally tinkered with to actually outspeed Stealth Rock Golurk, but outspeeding Garbo seems important as well, although you are trapped by Skuntank more easily without the HP.

[EBeast]

Alright, I think that the offensive version of LumRest should be the main with the alternate 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe spread in AC along with the defensive variant.

Remove any mentions of Snover/Hail, Emboar, Amoonguss, Cinccino, Absol as they moved up to RU

Mention Rotom-S and Rotom-F in checks and counters

Add in Roselia as a Pokemon that Exeggutor helps break, but make sure to mention that Exeggutor must watch out for the offensive Spikes variant as it will outspeed and OHKO. Add in Offensive Spikes Roselia as another Pokemon that the faster EV spread on Choice Specs will help outspeed. (List the actual spread as well: 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe)

This will be a big update so I'll give you a QC stamp after you finish implementing everything.

[Raseri]

im just gonna go ahead and approve this


QC Approved 1/3

you have an absol mention in c&c still, and cinccino. Remove all of those (i know this has been sitting here forever) and I think its good to go

[DTC]

QC Approved 2/3

[MMF]

Yep yep

QC Approved 3/3

[erisia]

Apologies for everyone involved, but I'd like to give up this analysis. I've been out of the (NU) game for far to long, and I reckon more up-to-date users can do a much better job in providing a high quality revamp for Exeggutor. As this has been sitting for two months, some edits will probably need to be made due to metagame changes, but this should be a pretty good backbone for anyone willing to pick this up.

[Raseri]

okie moving this