Forget blocking Rapid Spin - Donphan has a slew of issues this generation
1) It suffers from extreme 4MSS as well as competition from Defog / other spinners.
2) That is completely false on Excadrill not being able to switch into attacks. Excadrill with Balloon easily switches into Pokemon like Gliscor which rarely run Knock Off - let alone any other attacking move. Furthermore Mold Breaker Earthquake has fewer Pokemon that can wall Excadrill than Donphan. Know how much EQ from Donphan does to Rotom-W, the #1 Pokemon?
Yeah I thought so.
Sturdy is a minor gimmick that allows it to not get OHKOed. Donphan has to safely switch in to use it and if Donphan immediately switches into a Pokemon or sets up Stealth Rock it takes damage. And let's forget about the gimmicky suicide leads - most good Stealth Rock users can repeatedly come in and set it up.
You can easily lose Sturdy when using Rapid Spin too. Rocky Helmet Skarmory and Iron Barbs Ferrothorn really hamper spinners slightly this generation.
And since your desired moveset is Earthquake / Ice Shard / Rapid Spin, what is your suggested fourth move? If you use Knock Off you miss on Stealth Rock and vice-versa. And checking Latios at 25% health with Ice Shard is very unompressive when Excadrill can check Specs Latios anyway and do damage to it. Sand Rush also completely mitigates Donphans crappy niche. Meanwhile Donphan using Ice Shard to check Garchomp can get into huge trouble with Mega Garchomp. I mean max Attack Adamant barely KOes regular Garchomp as is.
Also the Terrakion calc someone provided is unimpressive. Choice Band easily 2HKOes Donphan - at best a check to Terrakion. That's one minor advantage over Excadrill. Except Excadrill's Earthquake makes sure Gengar nor Rotom-W are safe switch-ins.
Seriously using Donphan for lolIceShard is hilarious considering we have many offensive options with priority like Talonflame and Azumarill. Nevermind it being a shitty wall if you're attempting to abuse Sturdy with it. That's utterly pathetic to even call it a wall then state "well you switch into Stealth Rock". Okay, so in order to hit Sturdy range you have to force a double switch or assume the opponent is using a non-attacking move that isn't Whirlwind / Roar / WoW / Toxic / Leech Seed / etc.
Put bluntly I dont even have to touch Donphan for a single match to reach such a conclusion. When Excadrill, Starmie, and Defog exists Donphan has to rely on near-gimmicky and situational circumstances to be useful. That alone is worthy of being thrown out of B Tier.
Well this will be my final post on donphan because enough is enuf.
Extreme 4MSS? Donphan only has 5 viable moves in the first place... stop talking about things you don't know. EQ, Rapid spin, SR, Knock off, Ice shard. I personally forgo SR (especially if you want to vest up) but you can forgo ice shard too if you want, since knock off is effective on nearly every pokemon, but I don't recommend it.
Rotom W is a good switch in to donphan, but not exactly just cause of knock off being hot. Also it's not like rotom wash spinblocks donphan like in Gen4. Donphan shouldn't be spamming EQ in the first place, since that would be fucking retarded. Donphan will be using knock off and rapid spin more often, and ice shard when it's appropriate. I repeat, ice shard is useful.
Luckily for donpahn, it can repeatedly switch into most SR users cause of its typing. Something few defoggers can do. It faces competition from skarmory, but I don't like skarmory with defog cause it can't do much back besides toxic/taunt, which is not my cup of tea. In the end donphan can easily be chosen by teams as its spinner based on the team's needs and synergies. Excadrill is a better pokemon, but it's pretty different. If anything skarmory is a better comparison, and can defog, but doesn't have priority or knock off. Mega blastoise requires a megastone, and isn't even as bulky defensively, ESPECIALLY when you run 252 spatk+
Put bluntly I don't think you need to type more than single sentence for me to know you've never used donphan, so you didn't have to tell me. I still think it's fair for B-.
Now we're suggesting AV Donphan...
...No. Just no. Without Leftovers one of Donphan's gimmicks suddenly disappears - Sturdy while being resistant to Stealth Rock. Also it completely prevents Donphan from using Stealth Rock as well. I'm not even a huge fan of AV Excadrill (ffs run Chople Berry if youre that scared).
SR is honestly optional. I run 4 attacks and it's a good set. So there's no opportunity cost (move wise) for AV in my case.
Your opinion of C- is rather extreme, and you haven't used it. Perhaps your playstyle isn't one for donphan, in the same way I don't like to use offensive rapid spinners, which are clunky to use. Plus its not like excadrill is spinning in the sand like it was last gen, which was broke. Either way I think this is C+ at the lowest
