One little, two little, six little stallers...
Overview
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- Typing is a blessing and a curse by giving it a walloping 7 weaknesses, yet also 6 resists
- Access to two great abilities that both work well on Sun-based teams
- Has a myriad of recovery options
- Wrecked by Knock Off in every way possible, which just so happens to be everywhere nowadays
- Good Defense and Special Attack means it can go either offensive or defensive
- Lackluster Speed and Special Defense leaves it prey for most special attackers
Harvest Abuser
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name: Harvest Abuser
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Sleep Powder / Leech Seed
move 3: Giga Drain / Leaf Storm
move 4: Psychic / Hidden Power Fighting / Protect
ability: Harvest
item: Oran Berry
evs: 196 Def / 196 SpA / 156 SpD / 36 Spd
nature: Bold
Moves
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- Substitute can abuse the Harvest and Oran Berry combo to force
- Sleep Powder allows a free Substitute and also disables a single Pokémon for a short period of time.
- Alternatively, Leech Seed can be used to wear down walls and provide even more recovery on top of Oran Berry spam and Giga Drain, and because of new mechanics in Gen 6 it hits everything Sleep Powder would be hitting.
- Giga Drain provides a way of dealing damage while also providing more recovery.
- Leaf Storm can hit things harder than Giga Drain can, and with so many other recovery options already the loss of one shouldn't hurt. The drop of Special Attack can make things awkward, though.
- Psychic is the second STAB move and can deal good amounts of damage to Fighting types that may want to stick around to use Knock Off or otherwise.
- Hidden Power Fighting can be used as a way to nail Pawniards on the switch or while behind a sub, as otherwise it would effortlessly switch in and murder you with Knock Off.
- Protect should only be used in conjunction with Leech Seed to buy some extra sap turns.
Set Details
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- 156 Special Defense EVs is just enough to allow Exeggcute to live a Flamethrower from Swirlix provided that it hasn't used Calm Mind yet.
- 36 Speed EVs bump Exeggcute's speed up just enough to speed tie with the common Tirtouga set before a Shell Smash.
- The rest of its EVs are dumped into Defense and Special Attack to support its two best stats.
- The combo of Harvest and Oran Berry gives Exeggcute infinite recovery as long as it isn't hit with a move that can KO it while Substitute isn't up.
Usage Tips
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USAGE TIPS GO HERE
Team Options
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- Sun support can be helpful to get Harvest going, so Vulpix is nice to provide that support with Drought.
- Pokémon that can come in on Pawniard (or other Knock Off-using Pokémon in general) and threaten it, such as Gligar and Timburr help immensely.
- tba
Other Options
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- Sludge Bomb is a way to deal with Swirlix if you don't already have a good counter, as it can kill it with a high damage roll and Stealth Rocks. However, it can only kill on the switch, and even then it may not kill and you'll have to deal with Unburden activated.
- Synthesis can provide a quick and easy way to regain HP, but there are so many other ways to do it automatically that there's no point in doing it manually.
- Toxic can wear other Pokémon down faster in the long run than Leech Seed, but doesn't provide the recovery that Leech Seed does.
- Stun Spore can cripple opponents for the match, but unlike Sleep Powder doesn't give Exeggcute a chance to immediately set up properly.
- Starf Berry can be run over Oran Berry on the Harvest set to start boosting stats like crazy to turn Exeggcute into a formidable sweeper on its own, but if you don't get the right stat boosts all the effort will be a waste.
- Similarly, Lum Berry can be used with Rest to provide instant full recovery on a moments notice numerous times. However, this leaves the opponent an opportunity to get a check in safely when it could be seeded or Exeggcute could have set up a Substitute.
- Trick Room in conjunction with Explosion can be used as a nice way to get it up and bring something in unscathed while possibly also taking something out, but like all Trick Room setters it should only be used on a dedicated Trick Room team.
- Light Screen and Reflect can be set up reliably due to Exeggcute's high Defense.
Checks & Counters
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- Not only is Knock Off super-effective against Exeggcute, but it permanently gets rid of the Oran Berry that makes Harvest what it is. Pawniard is an excellent answer to it as it is not only resistant to one of Exeggcute's STABs, but also is immune to the other once. Gligar isn't immune to a STAB, but can tank all of its hits rather well anyway, and Fighting-type users like Mienfoo and Timburr also work but need to be weary of Psychic.
- The lack of Eviolite leaves Exeggcute open to being killed by a lot of strong attacks, even neutral ones.
- Substitute can't save Exeggcute from the new sound-move mechanics or Pokémon with the ability Infiltrator, so things like Noibat's Air Slash, Zubat's Brave Brid and Joltik's Bug Buzz, abeit rare, will hurt A LOT.
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