It took a little while (why must you have so many sets?), but it's mostly completed (still need so add in the Team Options section, as theres only a paragraph there. It'll come tomorrow.) Oh and sorry for spelling mistakes in advance, Spell check was literally not working (wasn't written on Word).
The lowdown:
~Rewrote every set & section (except for opinion, which I found nicely worded), and added Team Options to every set
~Updated for UU status, but the first two sets and the counters section have OU comments mixed in
~Support Exeggutor was moved to OO, it's outclassed by Celebi in OU and Leafeon, Tangrowth and Torterra in UU.
~The ubers set has yet to be tested, so I guess I'll do that soon (but I dont have much ubers experience, so if someone more acquainted with ubers could write it or tell me how it plays, that would be appreciated)
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/exeggutor
[SET]
name: Bring on the Sun!
move1: Sunny Day
move2: SolarBeam / Grass Knot
move3: Explosion
move4: Sleep Powder
item: Heat Rock / Leftovers / Focus Sash
nature: Rash
evs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Of the many Chlorophyll Pokemon populating UU, Exeggutor sticks out with its base 125 Special Attack, the highest of all Chlorophyll Pokemon. This set uses that high special attack in conjunction with its high speed with the Chlorophyll ability to make a powerful attacker. Use Sunny Day to double your speed and turn SolarBeam into a one-turn 120 base power attack that causes serious damage to most things without a Grass resistance. Your last two options are for taking on those Pokemon intent on walling you. Explosion takes Exeggutor out with a bang, causing huge damage to any non-Ghost or Steel Pokemon unfortunate enough to be hit. With a Rash nature Explosion will OHKO Chansey every single time, and will also OHKO all Altaria. To round off the set, Sleep Powder allows you to incapacitate a counter and continue to sweep, or give you time to initially set up by sleeping a slower Pokemon and using Sunny Day on the switch.</p>
<p>If you're using Exeggutor on an OU Sunny Day team, there's some changes to make. In OU, Grass Knot becomes a competitive option over SolarBeam as it often can reach the same 120 Base Power as SolarBeam, and it lets Exeggutor attack without needing to have the sun up first. It's also good because if Tyranitar, Hippowdon, or Abomasnow switch in on your Solarbeam you're stuck charging and can‘t switch out, giving them a turn to do seriously damage you with Crunch or Blizzard. With Grass Knot you can OHKO Hippowdon and 2HKO Tyranitar, although you'll still lose to the occasional Abomasnow. Lastly, you‘ll need to max your speed EVs to outspeed Timid Scarf Heatran under the sun, which is very important because Heatran is typically the Pokemon that plagues Sunny Day teams the most because of its typing and Flash Fire.</p>
<p>Heat Rock gives you a few more minutes in the sun, which benefits both Exeggutor and its teammates if they can take advantage of it. Leftovers improves Exeggutor’s survivability and is a good option if you intend on Exeggutor coming out more than once. Focus Sash is a one use option to ensure you get the sun up, but the abundance of Stealth Rock limits its usefulness.</p>
<p>This set doesn’t tend to see too much interaction with its teammates because of its tendencies to set up its own sun, disrupt the opposing team for 5 turns and blow up, so it can also be used on a non-Sunny Day team. Of course, Exeggutor is classically a Sunny Day team Pokemon, so it works best when surrounded by that type of support. Having Sunny Day set up already when Exeggutor comes in makes its job much easier.</p>
<p>Once Exeggutor has done all it can, you can blow up to give the sun to another Pokemon. Popular Pokemon to take advantage of the sun to sweep include Tangrowth, Shiftry, and Victreebel, and chances are they’re already on your team if you’re using Exeggutor. Another notable Pokemon that can take advantage of the sun is Jumpluff, who becomes ridiculously fast under the sun and can SubSeed or set up for other Pokemon. Exeggutor tends to draw out Chansey / Blissey, and by Exploding on them you leave a gaping hole on the other team for the mentioned sweepers to take advantage of.</p>
[SET]
name: Sunny Day Sweeper
move1: SolarBeam/ Grass Knot
move2: Hidden Power Fire
move3: Psychic
move4: Explosion / Sleep Powder / Sunny Day
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry
nature: Modest
evs: 40 HP / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While it’s similar to the last set, that was more a standalone Pokemon that only sported SolarBeam, so it would have to resort to sleep and Explosion when a counter came. This set is a much more offensive set, taking better advantage of Exeggutor’s colossal Special Attack stat with a wider range of attacks to beat its counters.</p>
<p>SolarBeam still hits like a train, more so with the addition of a Life Orb. Hidden Power Fire is also an option which gets pseudo STAB from Sunny Day and has nice synergy with SolarBeam, letting you smack Grass, Bug and Steel-types like Registeel and Venusaur, 2HKOing both, that will inevitably switch into your Grass-type attacks with impunity, and Hidden Power will make them think twice. In OU a few other Hidden Power types like Ground and Ice also have use , specifically to take out Heatran, who resists your entire moveset otherwise, and Salamence / Dragonite who have 4x resistances to Grass. Both options will leave you open to Celebi and un-grounded Steels, and neither get the Sunny Day bonus though. Psychic is a great STAB option that will get hits on many of the Fire-types, like Blaziken and Moltres, both OHKO’d after Stealth Rock, and Poison-types, like Muk and Weezing, that resist your main attacks. It will also score stronger hits on dual-typed Grass-types like Roserade and Breloom than Hidden Power will, OHKOing both of them, and will take out Naïve Salamence and offensive Altaria after Stealth Rock damage. Your last slot is decided by your preferences. If you’d like to take out Exeggutor while likely taking out a very sturdy Pokemon like Chansey, use Explosion. If you don’t like the idea of having to blow up Chansey on sight, you can use Sleep Powder to buy you more time against counters. And lastly, you can plug in Sunny Day if you want Exeggutor to create its own sun to sweep with, although that job is better left for another Pokemon.</p>
<p>Life Orb gives Exeggutor the extra power boost it often needs to sweep, and ensures the 2KOs on Calm Roserade and Registeel, along with most of the UU tier, and ensures that Explosion will OHKO Blissey and Chansey, even with those EVs and nature. Lum Berry cures troublesome status, especially paralysis, which will typically be thrown at it by counters to hinder its sweep.</p>
<p>Since this set doesn’t usually have Sunny Day as part of its moveset, outside Sunny Day support is necessary. Bulky Pokemon like Uxie, Entei and Hariyama all work well to set up Sunny Day for Exeggutor. They all boast their advantages; Uxie has U-turn and screens to make the transition to Exeggutor easy. Hariyama covers Exeggutor’s Dark, Fire and Ice weaknesses well. And Entei is able to take advantage of the sun with its Fire STAB, along with Exeggutor’s ability to take out bulky Water-types that plague Entei.</p>
[SET]
name: SpecsEggutor
move1: Leaf Storm
move2: Psychic
move3: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ground
move4: Explosion / Sleep Powder
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest
evs: 208 HP / 252 SpA / 48 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Choice Specs pushes Exeggutor’s already high Special Attack over the roof. Leaf Storm is perfect for the hit and run style of attack associated with Choice Specs. It hits like a freight train with 140 base power and STAB, so your opponent will find it incredibly hard to switch anything not named Chansey or with a 4x resistance into this repeatedly, especially in the NU environment where even Regice takes 40%~, making it only possible to switch in alive once with Stealth Rocks. Psychic is complementary STAB that doesn’t suffer from an attack drop, hits Poison-types hard as well as Dragon-types, and is your best bet for hitting Moltres and Charizard.</p>
<p> Your choice of Hidden Power is purely up to preference. Hidden Power Fire hits Grass, Steel and Bug types, OHKOing most Leafeon, Tangrowth, Scyther, Yanmega and Scizor after Stealth Rock or Spikes damage. Only pure Grass-types, Shiftry and Jumpluff are hit harder than it than by Psychic though, and it leaves you more open to Fire-types. Hidden Power Ground nails Fire-types as well as Steel-types, dealing devastating damage to Houndoom, Ninetales, and Heatran seeking a Flash Fire Boost. It also hits Drapion and Skuntank, as well as OHKOing the NU Steel / Rock trio. But it leaves you walled by bulkier Grass-types, and Shiftry / Cacturne resist your entire moveset.</p>
<p>The choice for your last move is the same as the Sunny Day sweeper, although both become worse options when you have a choice item. The EVs are to make the most out of Choice Specs, and the speed out runs minimum speed Lapras and Weezing.</p>
<p>Specs Exeggutor’s Leaf Storms are very hard to take repeatedly in the lower tiers, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Chansey will always be able to take special attacks and heal of the damage in UU, and bulkier Roserade, Registeel, Moltres, and Altaria can do the same with their resistances to Grass, and a resistance to Fire in latter two’s cases. While you can blow up on them, that takes prediction and you could end up Exploding on a Ghost-type. A Dugtrio is a special attacker’s best friend, being able to trap and Earthquake Chansey, Registeel and slower Roserade to death, usually leaving a gaping hole in the other team’s defensive core. Pursuiters like Drapion and Absol are also good at trapping Chansey, and as a consolation Exeggutor can switch into Fighting attacks well. Setting up Stealth Rocks is a good measure for weakening Flying-types like Moltres and Altaria, and if you predict right a well placed Psychic will do them in.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Support
move1: Trick Room
move2: Sleep Powder
move3: Explosion
move4: Leaf Storm / Psychic
item: Life Orb / Leftovers / Focus Sash
nature: Quiet / Brave
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>DP gave Exeggutor a new field trick to mess around with its speed; Trick Room. With it, a -Speed nature, and a 0 Speed IV you’ll become “faster” than most common Pokemon. And with Sleep Powder, Explosion, and a naturally slow speed Exeggutor becomes a very good choice to set up Trick Room for another Pokemon.</p>
<p>The general plan should be to set up Trick Room and either switch out to your sweeper or Explode, hopefully taking out another Pokemon in the process, to get your sweeper in safely at the cost of Exeggutor’s life. Sleep Powder aids in this tremendously, putting something to sleep allowing you to easily set up Trick Room on the switch. It can also disable a counter that they might switch in expecting the Specs or Sunny Day sweeper sets. Explosion is great on a Pokemon that sets up Trick Room, as Trick Room will most likely make you move first, so you can blow up on a switch in before they can move and let a sweeper in for free if you KO them (which is likely). Your last move is if you get Taunted and can also let Exeggutor sweep by itself since it does have that huge Special Attack stat to work with. Leaf Storm takes out Rock-types that resist Explosion, and will heavily damage Steelix and most other Pokemon that don‘t resist it. Psychic doesn’t suffer from an attack drop and can let Exeggutor sweep late game on weakened opponents.</p>
<p>Your EVs for this set are basic for a Trick Room Pokemon. Max HP makes use of Exeggutor’s decent defensive stats and ability to come in easily on choiced Fighting and Ground-type attacks, notably Medicham and Donphan, letting you come in more than once to set up. If you want Exeggutor for a one time only set up, max out Exeggutor’s Attack to likely KO every Pokemon that’s not a Rock, Steel or Ghost-type. However, with Explosion’s extreme power the Attack investment shouldn’t be making a big difference to most Pokemon. Special Attack is maxed for your one attack move and to take advantage of Exeggutor’s great special attack. You’ll want your Speed to be as low as possible, so a Quiet nature or Brave nature are what you want along with a 0 Speed IV.</p>
<p>A Life Orb will put more oomph into your attacks and is the best choice if you’d like Exeggutor to be able to sweep on its own. Leftovers is the item you want if you want Exeggutor to come in more than once to set up. Since Exeggutor will have to take at least one hit to set up, you can attach a Focus Sash to ensure you get Trick Room up or to get off a Sleep Powder.</p>
<p>The teammates for this set are similar to the Sunny Day set in the sense that you want Pokemon that take advantage of the arena effect. Good Trick Room sweepers to pair up with Exeggutor include Marowak, Clamperl, and Rampardos who like Exeggutor’s ability to take out Bulky Water-types with Leaf Storm, as well as being able to take both Mach Punch and Vacuum Wave well, both moves which plague Trick Room sweepers. In turn they take out fast Fire-types that Exeggutor fears.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move1: Swords Dance
move2: Wood Hammer / Seed Bomb
move3: Zen Headbutt
move4: Explosion / Sleep Powder / Hidden Power Fire
item: Life Orb / Expert Belt / Leftovers
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While it may seem foolish to go physical with Exeggutor considering its base Special Attack is 30 points higher, access to Swords Dance and surprise value more than makes up for it.</p>
<p>This set works similarly to Swords Dance Ludicolo, opting to use Swords Dance in the weather to take out its counters and sweep. Exeggutor can get an easy switch on those Pokemon fearing Special Exeggutor, netting it a boost to start sweeping with 634 Attack and 410 Speed (or 578 Attack and 450 Speed with a Jolly nature). Wood Hammer is your main attack here, with a strong 120 Base Power it will do plenty of damage to most Pokemon after a Swords Dance, notably OHKOing the dreaded Chansey with ease. Seed Bomb is an alternative to Wood Hammer if recoil damage alongside Life Orb recoil doesn’t sound appealing. Zen Headbutt acts as secondary STAB and under the sun it can abuse the 20% flinch rate. A Swords Dance boosted Explosion is no joke, actually OHKOing standard Registeel, and OHKOing standard Steelix with some Spikes damage. If you’d like to beat those two without resorting to Explosion, sun boosted Hidden Power Fire should 2HKO Steelix with some EV investment and a neutral nature, although your sweep will likely be stopped by Registeel’s Thunder Wave and Steelix’s Gyro Ball will hurt a lot. With a neutral nature and 16 SpA EVs taken out of HP, you’ll 2HKO standard Skarmory, Metagross, Celebi, and Bronzong in OU. Sleep Powder is also a choice, and could give you time to set up or stop a counter.</p>
<p>Unlike the other sweeper sets, this set doesn’t have an easy way of getting past Registeel without heavy Special Attack investment, so taking him out of the game will be important if you don’t want Exeggutor stopped cold. Both Magneton and Dugtrio can trap a weakened Registeel and clear the path for Exeggutor and other Grass-typed sun sweepers to sweep. Pokemon like Blaziken, Moltres and offensive Donphan scare away Registeel while punching holes into the other team, and they pair well with Exeggutor resisting Water while they resist Bug (and in Blaziken‘s case, he resists Dark while Exeggutor takes Psychic attacks well. Both unfortunately share a Flying-type weakness, though).</p>
[Team Options]
<p>While Exeggutor is fast, it’s not the fastest thing under the sun as a good handful of scarfed Pokemon still outspeed you. The most notable of these being Typhlosion, Houndoom, and Charizard. They can all switch in on their resistances to SolarBeam and Hidden Power (and in Houndoom’s case, immunity to Hidden Power and Psychic), and can all fire at Exeggutor with Sunny Day boosted Fire attacks, so having a bulky water or Flash Fire Pokemon waiting in the wings is a smart idea. Milotic works best as a general purpose Water-type in this situation, because Typhlosion’s sun boosted Eruption 2HKOes Slowbro, and Slowbro also takes heavy damage from Houndoom’s Dark Pulse. Even then, Milotic has a chance to get 2HKO'd by Eruption with Stealth Rocks or minor previous damage, so you’ll need to be heavily EV’d in Special Defense, or use a Water-type with better special defense, like Mantine. Mantine’s colossal 140 Special Defense can take Fire attacks all day, and it’s Water Absorb ability works very well to aid the common Fire-types on a typical Sunny Day team.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Exeggutor can run a dual screen set with Reflect and Light Screen, but lacks the initial speed and bulk of Pokemon like Uxie, Mr. Mime or Torterra. Synthesis works well in the sun, giving Exeggutor instant 66% recovery, but it often doesn’t have enough merit to take up space on a moveset. AncientPower functions to destroy Yanmega, Charizard and Moltres, but has no use at all otherwise. Exeggutor can run a defensive support set with Wish or Leech Seed, but that’s better done by Leafeon or Tangrowth who have better Defensive stats and typing. Wish can go on the Trick Room set though, if you'd rather heal your sweeper (and waste a turn of Trick Room) instead of Exploding to get them in. Sludge Bomb can work on the Specs set to hit Grass types harder than Hidden Power, but has poor coverage otherwise</p>
[EVs]
<p>For most sets you’ll want Exeggutor to be as strong as possible, as well as really fast. You should always be maxing out your attacking stat of choice, along with a positive nature. 216 Speed EVs hits 400 speed under the sun, which is enough to outspeed every unboosted Pokemon in UU bar Electrode, who you won’t ever be facing with Exeggutor. The remaining EVs can go into HP or Attack. You can max out Speed if you’d like, but the only thing you’ll achieve is a speed tie with neutral natured Scarf Moltres and Roserade (and an, albeit important, speed stat out running Scarf Heatran in OU), who you’ll lose to regardless. Going with a positive Speed nature will let you outspeed neutral Scarf Rotom, Drapion, Houndoom, Typhlosion, and Charizard, but the loss in power is a huge turn off so you should let your team handle them.</p>
<p>The Specs set is the set that doesn’t need the Speed investment. 48 EVs put you just above base 60 Pokemon like Lapras and Clefable, although you can go higher. 88 EVs (167 Speed) outspeeds base 65s (Sandslash, Flareon), 104 EVs (171 Speed) outspeeds Lanturn, 128 EVs (177 Speed) outspeeds base 70s (Claydol, Hitmontop), 176 EVs (189 Speed) outspeeds base 75 and 76s (Claydol, Nidoqueen), and 216 EVs outspeeds base 81s and down (Milotic, Venusaur, Blastoise), this is all assuming Hidden Power Fire and minimum Speed investment on your target’s part.<p/>
<p>The Trick Room set also wants to be as “fast” as possible, so use as low a Speed IV as possible and a minus Speed nature.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>Exeggutor has a horrible tendency to take a hit every time a new generation comes out. He was basically an obligatory Pokemon in the RBY generation when he had that then astonishing Special, but nowadays Exeggutor has so many issues 20 Mr. Mimes can’t count them all on their hands. Celebi gets the nod over him as a defensive Grass / Psychic. As a sweeper, his rather poor offensive typing means he is often very easy to wall, despite that massive Special Attack.</p>
<p>Don’t worry though, there is some positivity under the sun, of course. Exeggutor movepool didn’t grow much during the last era, although Grass Knot, Leaf Storm, Seed Bomb, and Wood Hammer do give him plenty of options for Grass STAB, and he is a decent user of Trick Room. The additions of items like Choice Specs, Heat Rock, and Life Orb are also good news for Exeggutor. Add that to all his other fine options including Sleep Powder and Explosion, it all comes together to make a flawed, but nonetheless effective Pokemon.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Every time you switch in a counter, remember that you’ll likely be outsped, and you risk being put to sleep, or Exeggutor blowing up on you. It’s important that you know you’re never completely safe (unless you’re Banette, who can't switch in safely).</p>
<p>Like most Special sweepers, the pink blob lineage of Pokemon, Chansey and Blissey, are the bane of its existence. They can easily switch in and sponge its attacks, only fearing Explosion, a weakness that can be remedied by scouting with Protect. Speaking of Protect, it stalls out a turn of precious sun for Exeggutor to sweep under. Registeel and Clefable can also take the special attacks, but Registeel has to watch out for Hidden Power while Clefable needs to be heavily invested in Special Defense to not get 2HKO'd. Registeel does stop the Swords Dance set with ease, however</p>
<p>Dark-types can manage to switch into Psychic and threaten with STAB or Pursuit. Houndoom gets the biggest mention here, resisting or being immune to ¾ of the sweeper set, and can grab a Flash Fire boost with some prediction. Honchkrow is in a similar boat, being immune to Sleep Powder instead of Hidden Power, and takes out Exeggutor easily with its powerful Sucker Punch. In fact, Exeggutor is very vulnerable to priority. Other Sucker Punch users like Absol and Toxicroak make Exeggutor’s life hard, and can only be stopped by Sleep Powder. Banette gets a special mention by being immune to both Sleep Powder and Explosion, forcing Exeggutor to get Sucker Punched or switch. Fake Out users like Ambipom can waste a turn of sun while taking a chunk out of Exeggutor’s HP, and slower Exeggutors fear a 4x effective hit from U-turn. Technitop (a Hitmontop set specializing in priority moves) terrorizes Exeggutor, possessing both Fake Out and Sucker Punch.</p>
<p>Moltres, Roserade, Scyther, and Yanmega all 4x resist Exeggutor’s main attack move, outspeed with a Scarf or a turn of Speed Boost, and can nail Exeggutor with a STAB, super effective move. Other scarfers like Rotom, Houndoom, and Typhlosion also outspeed Exeggutor and can strike it super effectively, but they have a harder time switching in directly. Lastly, opposing sun sweepers Shiftry, Victreebel, and Jumpluff, and can either hit you with Super Effective STAB, sleep you, or Encore you (which, on Shoddy, is glitched. So when you get Encored on to SolarBeam, you have to take a turn to charge up. Even in the sun).</p>
<p>In OU, Heatran is the perfect counter to Exeggutor as it resists everything in its arsenal except for the rare Hidden Power Ground, and can OHKO with its own boosted STAB move, and can gain a Flash Fire boost with some prediction. Likewise, Latias resists all of Exeggutor’s main moves, but is OHKO'd by Explosion.</p>
