Pokémon Excadrill

[Vashimus]

Excadrill - #530
Type:

Base Stats: 110 HP / 135 Atk / 60 Def / 50 SpAtk / 65 SpDef / 88 Spe
Abilities: Sand Rush / Sand Force / Mold Breaker (Hidden)

Notable Moves:
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Swords Dance
Rapid Spin
Brick Break
Shadow Claw
Sandstorm
Iron Head*
Stealth Rock*

*5th gen tutor moves

Overview:
Excadrill left BW OU as one of the most dominant weather threats in the tier, thanks mostly to Sand Rush doubling its decent speed in a sandstorm in combination with Swords Dance. It was soon banished to Ubers, and while its old sweeping set was still around, it found a new niche as a bulky offensive Rapid Spinner, making use of its DW ability Mold Breaker to muscle past Giratina-O. In this gen, Excadrill's taken a hit in its effectiveness as a sweeper with auto-weather no longer being permanent, in addition to losing its resistances to Dark and Ghost. Despite these nerfs, Excadrill still retains its status as one of the best Rapid Spinners in the tier.

Movesets:

Offensive Spinner
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide / Shadow Claw

This is what Excadrill does best. Laying on the pressure, spinning away hazards while still being a huge threat afterwards. Gengar and Aegislash don't even dare switching in to spin-block for fear of Earthquake. Excadrill's also one of the few spinners that can actually threaten stall, as very few Pokemon enjoy taking +2 Earthquakes, with Mold Breaker being icing on the cake(Hi Rotom-W!) Rock Slide gives you bootleg EdgeQuake coverage, while Shadow Claw is run solely to hit Trevenant / Gourgeist, who block Rapid Spin, eat Earthquakes and Rock Slides all day, burn you and set up their Leech Seed nonsense.

Bulky Spinner
Excadrill @ Air Balloon / Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 176 HP / 52 Atk / 80 Def / 202 SpDef
Adamant Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide / Shadow Claw / Substitute

Hey, if it worked Ubers, why not try it here? With his nice set of resistances good bulk, he's easily able to find time and come in to do his job. The EVs are a custom set, and allow Excadrill have the best all around bulk while still keeping power. 52 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature hits plenty hard. The defensive investments allow you to tank standard offensive Rotom-W's Hydro Pump, and not getting totally destroyed by Azumarill's Banded Aqua Jet. Excadrill's one of those Pokemon that is very flexible in terms of the EVs, so feel free to experiment with your own custom spread to whatever fits your teams needs. (e.g. 72 Spe EVs to outspeed Adamant Max Speed Scizor)

Sandstorm Sweeper
Excadrill @ Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spe
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Shadow Claw

The classic sand sweeper set can still work even with the weather turn nerf, as long as T-tar or Hippo are around to provide the sand Excadrill loves, especially with Smooth Rock. Excadrill hits hard enough at +2, so forgoing Life Orb for Air Balloon provides a crucial immunity to switch in and give set up opportunities. SD up, QuakeSlide coverage, Shadow Claw because Trevenant and Gourgiest hate you.

Personal Thoughts:
With the new entry hazard Sticky Web and better spin-blockers and offensive spikers around, OU is demanding better and better Rapid Spinners. Excadrill makes fine addition to a team looking for a spinner with an actual punch, and once Pokebank drops it can set up hazards of its own. Unfortunately, the newly introduced Trevenant and Gourgeist are massive thorns in Excadrill's side by preventing it from doing its job, and team support will be needed for handling them. What do you think of Excadrill in this current meta?

 

[Riskbreakerz]

Since gen 6 gave only one new spinner i think mold breaker excadrill is a must have for a team thats weak to SR.
and not many ghosts can take a hit from it especially if you run shadow claw,
when pokebank opens iron head might be usefull too.

 

[Surgo]

In the Pokebank meta, I've been using CB Excadrill as a heavy hitter on my team. I don't think SD Excadrill is all that useful anymore thanks to the weather nerf; you're better off just using Mold Breaker at this point.

CB is great though. I throw some EVs into defense to make him unexpectedly tanky, and while I happen to get a free agility while Tyranitar is alive the set is entirely usable while he's dead. I run Earthquake/Iron Head/X-Scissor/Rock Slide. X-Scissor is pretty much entirely for Celebi. Rock Slide is a coverage move for Zapdos and Thunderus, but its power is rather disappointing.

 

[diablolo]

Has anyone try him as anti-lead with stealth rock and rapid spin in pokebank meta?

 

[Lazybeef]

Has anyone try him as anti-lead with stealth rock and rapid spin in pokebank meta?

Yeah it's great as a lead, especially since so many lead with rotom-w. Just don't use it like a suicide lead. It is usually worth to keep around so it can set up SR/spin/own rotom later in the match.

 

[SmashBrosBrawl]

Sandstorm Sweeper
Excadrill @ Life Orb / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe
- Sandstorm
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Swords Dance / Rapid Spin / Shadow Claw

Dont run sandstorm, seriously. Smooth Rock hippowdon is all you need to keep sand up, that thing wont die as long as you play it carefully. Excadrill would rather run Swords Dance / Earthquake / Rock Slide / Shadow Claw with rapid spin over one of the coverage moves if youre having problems with hazards and have no other options. Also 252 speed evs is preferred. Speed typing with other excadrill is important and the hp investment wont help that much. About the bulk rapid spin set, Assault Vest could also be an option as it means you dont need to invest that much in sp def anymore, saving evs for other areas.

 

[Dinosaurman]

Honestly a max speed max attack with a balloon and a jolly nature is the best set IMO. The balloon is 100% the best item on it without a doubt. Most teams pre bank hate this thing as not many teams want to be taking an EQ from it, due to the lack of mons, and those that can take it are usually beat by Excadrills team mates. Teams jammed with Gengar and a Rotom are usually sighing as soon as they see excadrill on team preview. It's pretty crazy. The best spinner in the game, period. Pairs very nicely with Rotom-W also as pre bank the only real things not scared of excadrill are Gliscor and Skarm who Rotom deals with very easily.

Earlier I stupidly made a team that had one resistance to excadrill (talonflame), completely discounting it during team building. Very foolish thing to do. My team was Tyranitar, Gengar, Rotom-W, Talonflame, Aegislash and Starmie. My switch ins to just the threat of Excadrills EQ was limited, I managed to win by sheer luck, double switching into Aegislash and catch excadrill with a shadow ball on switch in. Won't be balling again. Teams not prepared for the new premier spinner are doomed to fail.

Obviously this is not a great example, I made a quick team on a throw away account and just forgot about it all together. My usual team consists of my own excadrill over Starmie, I just wanted to test it out.

 

[MonarchVVV]

There has recently been a lot of talk about an 4 Attack set of Excadrill with the Assault Vest in the OU Analyse of it, but I figure the discussion would be better seen in this thread.

In comparison to the Jolly 4 Attacks Excadrill I'm currently using, it seems that the Assault Vest set is vastly superior to my needs. Unfortunately I'm concern with the loss in power and speed. 252 EVs with a positive nature gives Excadrill 302 speed, just enough to outspeed 252 neutral natures such as Modest Volcarona; however, I could instead place said EVs from speed and into special defense and instead survive the Focus Blast from Mega Gengar while OHKO-ing back with a Mold Breaker EQ.

I'm just really concerned about the loss in power as certainly with the Specially defensive bulky version some attack EVs will be placed into HP. As the OU analyse thread stated, a spread of 160 HP / 96 Atk / 252 SpD Adamant Nature gives the best defensive spread with an HP of 401 for Leftovers.

I'm just truly curious if the HP matters if you're using a Assault Vest. I'll probably try and run some calcs to see if there is a legit spread for an Excadrill lightly invested into HP EVs.

 

[Dinosaurman]

I honestly do not see the point of an assault vest as there are a few pokemon that can make way better use of it. Excadrills base 65 something defences are terrible, even with an assault vest. The balloon in my opinion is way way superior, it provides an extra immunity, a vital one at that.

I just don't believe a bulky excadrill is a good idea at all. I think it's loss of speed is just way too significant, the attack as well. When you're bulky, what are you going to do? Take a few extra hits and then what? Usually when I use excadrill I get off spins when I need them. Which often ends up being once, at most twice. What does bulk offer? Sorry but instead of tanking rotoms hydro (providing we are healthy and with no recovery I don't see it happening, even with the right plays) I would rather just OHKO it.

And if they have a Gengar on their team the last thing they're going to do is switch into to block your spin, fearing a EQ. Now if you switch into it? A shadow ball is going to take a huge chunk, followed by that focus blast? You're not living. This isn't even to say if they aren't running sub 3 attacks mega gengar (who isn't) switching into a subbing gengar is just going to end up in you breaking it's sub and dying.

Gengar should be the least of your concerns as Excadrill.

 

[RufflesPro]

I agree with above post, I'd rather run a fast physical sweeper Mold Breaker for Gengar, Rotoms, Hydreigon (if you don't have X-Scizzor) and notable pokemons, if this thing runs a Scarf, It can OHKO Talonflame before Talonflame even moves (Unless it decided to use BB) while it doesn't OHKO Aegislash (removes 90% though), it definitely does if given CB, LO, after Swords Dance, or after 2-3 layers of spikes damage. Rock Slide + Earthquake just got you out of 1/2 of the common threats, with CB it can OHKO Salamance, Hydriegon etc. The only two pokemons that I see them (from memory) countering Excadrill are Azumarill and Garchomp, because both survive CB EQ, outspeed Excadrill (Azumarill Belly Drum + Aqua Jet) and can OHKO or 2HKO at least.

While Excadrill loves the sand, it can't have it as often.

 

[Vashimus]

I just don't believe a bulky excadrill is a good idea at all. I think it's loss of speed is just way too significant, the attack as well. When you're bulky, what are you going to do? Take a few extra hits and then what? Usually when I use excadrill I get off spins when I need them. Which often ends up being once, at most twice. What does bulk offer? Sorry but instead of tanking rotoms hydro (providing we are healthy and with no recovery I don't see it happening, even with the right plays) I would rather just OHKO it.

You have a point about having running max speed, but I'm a bit skeptical about Jolly over Adamant. Though outspeeding all un-boosted Rotom and neutral Hydreigon has me considering.

The loss of Attack in the bulky sets isn't TOO significant for what it does. Adamant Excadrill, even with only a few Attack EVs, hits as hard as Scarf Terrakion. And Rotom-W dies every time to EQ, so no need to worry there.

Ehhh, I'll experiment with Max Speed nonetheless. Can't really knock unless I do. I'll add them to the OP too.

 

[hotcoldyay7]

This thing is going to be awesome this gen. I can already feel it.

But the coverage and nature is really bothering me though, and I can't stop debating with myself. The power drop is pretty obvious with jolly, but adamant loses out on a few things jolly doesn't in terms of speed. Then you have shadow claw and rock slide debating, and it comes down to flying types vs haunted plants. And then there's stealth rock vs swords dance once pokebank is released. Decisions, decisions... What's best for this thing on its standard set?

 

[Double Electric]

Mold Breaker Excadrill may very well be the main reason why the two Ghost/Grasses are being considered as spinblockers in the pre-pokebank metagame. (What are the calcs on them with an unboosted Shadow Claw, by the way?) None of the other common ghosts can switch into it without extreme risk.

Pre-pokebank Excadrill really wants Stealth Rock though. Right now the only real set you can use is Earthquake/Rapid Spin/Rock Slide/filler.

 

[Jaroda]

I use a scarf on a team with Tyranitar.

Excadrill@Choice Scarf
Mold Breaker
Adamant
252 At / 72 Df / 172 Spd
~ Earthquake
~ Rock Slide
~ Rapid Spin
~ Iron Head/X-Scissor/Shadow Claw

The beauty in this lies in its deception. Excadrill + Tyranitar = Sand Rush right? Well, that's what they are inclined to believe, thanks to scarf making him faster than usual in the sand. But when Tyranitar is gone and they think Excadrill is helpless BAM! STAB EQ to the FACE! The speed let's it outspeed Talonflame by 1 if it decides to try and Flare Blitz you. With 24 more EVs in Spd though you can outpace 130s including Mega Gengar so if that thing is giving you issues this could be a decent answer to that. You'll need full speed and Jolly though if you insist on outrunning scarf Rotom-W. Certain Ghosts like Gengar and Aegislash dare not attempt to spin block this thing.

 

[Dinosaurman]

No offense or anything, but that sounds terrible. It sounds so useless and your statement is a bit redundant lol. Why are you letting your Tyranitar die if they have a Talonflame. "Bam STAB" sounds like "Bam set up on me". I mean... Who really expects sand rush nowadays? And uh, I don't know if what you were trying to say was to bluff no mold breaker with a scarf making them think you're sand rush... but how does this work when the cart and sim both explicitly say "Excadrill is breaking the mold" all I see this really accomplishing is beating scarf rotom lol and I don't know if you know this but Gengar and Aegis do not want to spin block it if it was air balloon either, they wouldn't want to even if you're specs (only joking but you get the point) the item has zero impact on threatening spin blocking.

 

[Jaroda]

I'm not "letting" it die, but its insurance if it does. Yes, scarf in the sand was supposed to bluff sand stream, but I never noticed it says that text on the side for Mold Breaker. That's unfortunate. Well outside of the bluff, you bet your ass getting Talonflame, Rotom-W and Gengar with no set up necessary is worthwhile. It's not bulky enough to set up Sword Dance and do consistent damage without Sand Rush, it's better outspeeding things and not trying to tank attacks altogether and hitting important things with EQ, especially if you want to use him as a Rapid Spinner where there is even less use for Sword Dance imo. Anyway, it's been working great in practice honestly. They still don't know it isn't Sand Rush based on Team Preview until he's actually sent out. Just knowing I have one is big pressure.

 

[Dinosaurman]

I don't think you're using excadrill properly dude. Why are you trying to set up SDs? If you want something with a scarf and strong EQ garchomp is right there. Am I missing something? You're objective with excadrill should be to do the following.

- Beat Rotom
- Spin when possible
- Beat every single spin blocker bar trevenant and gourgeist

Most teams pre bank have only 1 maybe 2 things that can take an EQ, not many teams at higher ratings have many viable switch ins for it.

And btw who said anything about tanking attacks? Jolly max speed max attack is the premier excadrill set 1800+ I haven't seen anyone not using it. This bulky set is what people are using from gen 5 uber meta lol. The jolly max speed beats all rotom apart from scarf.

If you're trying to use him as a scarfer you're pretty much wasting a slot

 

[ryan]

Someone earlier brought up Assault Vest, and I was hoping there would be more discussion on it. I haven't personally tried it out yet, but it absolutely does sound viable to me. Base 65 Special Defense might make Assault Vest Excadrill sound bad, but it's really not, especially when you look it at its great base 110 HP. As for its movepool, the only non-attacking moves it ever really runs are Stealth Rock and occasionally Swords Dance. In Pre-Bank, it doesn't even get Stealth Rock, so that's not even an issue for said meta. I can't really say much about it without ever having used it, but anyone who has should definitely post about it!

 

[hotcoldyay7]

Mold Breaker Excadrill may very well be the main reason why the two Ghost/Grasses are being considered as spinblockers in the pre-pokebank metagame. (What are the calcs on them with an unboosted Shadow Claw, by the way?) None of the other common ghosts can switch into it without extreme risk.

Pre-pokebank Excadrill really wants Stealth Rock though. Right now the only real set you can use is Earthquake/Rapid Spin/Rock Slide/filler.

252+ Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gourgeist Super: 146-174 (39.03 - 46.52%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gourgeist Super: 134-158 (35.82 - 42.24%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gourgeist Tiny: 146-174 (46.49 - 55.41%) -- 71.09% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Gourgeist Tiny: 134-158 (42.67 - 50.31%) -- 1.17% chance to 2HKO

252+ Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Trevenant: 216-256 (57.75 - 68.44%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Trevenant: 198-234 (52.94 - 62.56%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 120 Def Trevenant Subseed: 188-222 (50.26 - 59.35%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill Shadow Claw vs. 252 HP / 120 Def Trevenant Subseed: 170-202 (45.45 - 54.01%) -- 41.8% chance to 2HKO

The damage isn't too bad, and this is taking into consideration he has mold breaker and air balloon. With a SD, I'm sure he could KO them, or at least come close to that (too time crunched to do calcs for boosted hits, could do that later if no one else does it before then).

So is stealth rock viable/recommended over swords dance post-bank?

 

[Dinosaurman]

You should deffo use rocks over SD post bank, anyone using SD should be castrated or atleast shown the error of their ways ;)

Also shadow claw is obviously superior pre bank to sd as well, does anyone even use their sd pre bank? I know I've used it a grand total of 1 game out of 60 games to secure a 2hko on a mega scizor that had u-turn over thief (was late game and we both had 2 mons left)

 

[Super Mario Bro]

I'm skeptical about Assault Vest on Excadrill. Even with the boost, it doesn't seem like he can confidently switch into very many threatening Special Attackers.

 

[ClockworkLad]

No. With Ferrothorn and Forretress out there to keep the rocks up, I think we're good

New topic: Sandstorm sucks. I mean, I have a successful Sandstorm team, but 1 wrong thing = death from Water.

But eh, Excadrill is still an awesome thing.

 

[Jaroda]

I don't think you're using excadrill properly dude. Why are you trying to set up SDs? If you want something with a scarf and strong EQ garchomp is right there. Am I missing something? You're objective with excadrill should be to do the following.

- Beat Rotom
- Spin when possible
- Beat every single spin blocker bar trevenant and gourgeist

Most teams pre bank have only 1 maybe 2 things that can take an EQ, not many teams at higher ratings have many viable switch ins for it.

And btw who said anything about tanking attacks? Jolly max speed max attack is the premier excadrill set 1800+ I haven't seen anyone not using it. This bulky set is what people are using from gen 5 uber meta lol. The jolly max speed beats all rotom apart from scarf.

If you're trying to use him as a scarfer you're pretty much wasting a slot

People are talking about Assault Vest, which can't even use SD. I'm not trying to use SD with him. And Garchomp doesn't have Mold Breaker, and perhaps I don't need what Garchomp offers on my team.

You seem to not appreciate the human element of this game and prediction. Excadrill is a great Rotom-W lure. A EQ from a poke you expected to outspeed can many times be more useful than a slower +2 EQ that never even gets to hit. Scarf Mold Breaker allows for good surprise KOs, often crucial ones and frankly, it's been working for me. I have yet to regret my decision. Besides my set with Shadow Claw in the last spot DOES beat spin blockers including Trevenant, Ghourgheist and Mega Gengar which SD set cant boast. Try in practice before you write it off.

 

[hotcoldyay7]

No. With Ferrothorn and Forretress out there to keep the rocks up, I think we're good

New topic: Sandstorm sucks. I mean, I have a successful Sandstorm team, but 1 wrong thing = death from Water.

But eh, Excadrill is still an awesome thing.

I agree. With sandstorm nerfed, sand rush isn't as great as it once was. Even sand force isn't too awesome anymore. Don't get me wrong: they're good abilities, just not as good as they were in gen 5. Thank god he still has mold breaker to fall back on.

With the doubled speed of sand rush now not as prevelant or awesome as before due to the nerf, is it advisable to use a jolly nature or an adamant nature while running mold breaker?

Edit: also, on the offensive spinner set, maybe swords dance should be slashed for shadow claw instead of rock slide, considering the topics just discussed.

 

[Double Electric]

With the doubled speed of sand rush now not as prevelant or awesome as before due to the nerf, is it advisable to use a jolly nature or an adamant nature while running mold breaker?

Jolly allows it to outrun unscarfed Rotom-A all the time, which is reason enough for me. You could technically skimp on a few points and EV it specifically for Rotom, but speed tying with other Excadrill is actually relevant, so it's still a good idea t go max.