[OVERVIEW]Ground
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Sand Rush alongside its phenomenal Attack stat allows Excadrill to become a potent revenge killer for Ground teams, taking on threats such as Zarude, Keldeo, Barraskewda, and Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu under sand. Excadrill's decent natural bulk allows it to live attacks such as unboosted Galarian Moltres's Fiery Wrath, Choice Specs Dragapult's Shadow Ball, and Hydreigon's Flamethrower. Excadrill's part-Steel typing allows it to take neutral damage from Ice- and Grass-type attacks such as Weavile's Ice Shard and Tapu Koko's Grass Knot and resist Dragon- and Psychic-type attacks such as Latias's Draco Meteor and Psychic. It also has Rapid Spin, which allows Excadrill to clear entry hazards off the field; this gives Ground teams their only and reliable form of entry hazard removal. However, Excadrill relies on sand to outpace most offensive threats such as Choice Specs Zapdos, Victini, Tapu Lele, Blacephalon, and Nidoking, leaving it easily revenge killed outside of sand.
[SET]
name: Sand Rush (Ground)
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Rapid Spin / Rock Slide
item: Choice Band
ability: Sand Rush
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Earthquake allows Excadrill to take on most Pokemon that are weak or not resistant to Ground-type attacks such as Zeraora, Victini, Ferrothorn, Garchomp, Urshifu-R, and Dragapult. Iron Head targets Ice- and Fairy-types such as Avalugg, Alolan Ninetales, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Lele. X-Scissor is used to take on Zarude and Celebi while also dealing with other Dark- and Psychic-types such as Hydreigon and Slowbro. Rock Slide targets Flying-types such as Zapdos, Galarian Moltres, and Mantine. Sand Rush allows Excadrill to outspeed threats such as Blacephalon, Zeraora, Zarude, and Choice Specs Dragapult under sand. Maximum Speed investment allows Excadrill to outspeed threats such as Tapu Bulu, Adamant Diggersby, and Choice Specs Pelipper. An Adamant nature paired with a Choice Band allows Excadrill to OHKO threats such as Keldeo after Stealth Rock and 2HKO Slowbro with X-Scissor. A Jolly nature can be used to outspeed threats such as +1 Adamant Dragapult and Choice Scarf Weavile in sand. Excadrill should be safely brought in to take advantage of the sand with methods such as Eject Button Hippowdon or by bringing it on resisted attacks such as Latias's Draco Meteor.
All of Excadrill's teammates appreciate its ability to take on Ice-, Psychic-, and Fairy-types, clear entry hazards with Rapid Spin, and act as a revenge killer in sand against threats such as Barraskewda, Choice Specs Dragapult, and Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu. Hippowdon is a mandatory partner for Excadrill, as it sets sand and Stealth Rock, as well as being able to bring in Excadrill safely with Eject Button. Hippowdon can also take on physical threats such as Dragon Dance Dragapult, Zeraora, and Bisharp for Excadrill. Gastrodon and Seismitoad offer Excadrill an immunity to Water-type attacks such as Mantine's Scald and Barraskewda's Waterfall. Gastrodon offers a more defensive presence thanks to Recover,(period to comma) while Seismitoad checks Azumarill, which would otherwise beat Excadrill. Swords Dance Garchomp wears down shared checks like Celesteela with Fire Fang, takes on Mantine with Stone Edge, and can become dangerous setup sweeper with Scale Shot, which makes handling Pokemon like Spectrier much easier. Landorus-T provides a Ground immunity, allowing it to switch into Hippowdon's Earthquake; it is also a great revenge killer that can take on weakened threats such as Zeraora, Spectrier, and Urshifu-R with its Choice Scarf set. Gravity Landorus-T can threaten Pokemon such as Skarmory, Celesteela, and Corviknight for Excadrill, as well as taking on Steel teams in their entirety if it carries Bulk Up and Substitute. Nidoking can beat Steel-types such as Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Celesteela with Earth Power + Flamethrower or Flying-types such as Mantine, Pelipper, Corviknight, and Dragonite with Thunderbolt + Ice Beam. Mamoswine is a great late-game cleaner that can pick off weakened threats such as Garchomp, Dragapult, and Hydreigon with Ice Shard while also being able to remove items such as Slowking's Heavy-Duty Boots with Knock Off.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Ground
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Swords Dance + Rapid Spin can be used on both Sand Rush and Mold Breaker Excadrill. It allows Excadrill to act as a sweeper outside of sand thanks to Rapid Spin allowing it to outspeed Pokemon such as Kyurem. Mold Breaker can be used to target Levitate users such as Rotom-W, Hydreigon, and Latios with Earthquake. A Choice Scarf set can be used on sand less Ground teams to allow Excadrill to act as a revenge killer without the boost from sand or Rapid Spin and take on threats such as Choice Specs Tapu Lele. Shadow Claw can be used to take on Psychic teams, allowing Excadrill to 2HKO Pokemon such as physically defensive Bronzong.
Checks and Counters
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Ground
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**Ground-immune and -resistant Pokemon**: Pokemon that are immune to or resist Earthquake present a problem to Excadrill. However, Pokemon like Landorus-T, Galarian Moltres, and Zarude have to watch out for its other STAB and coverage moves in Iron Head, Rock Slide, and X-Scissor, respectively. The only Pokemon that truly wall all of Excadrill's coverage are Celesteela, Corviknight, and Skarmory; the former can wall its attacks and wear it down with Leech Seed + Protect, and the latter two can threaten it with Body Press in return.
**Physically Defensive Walls**: Physically defensive walls such as Rotom-W, Porygon2, Galarian Corsola, and Hippowdon can easily take all of Excadrill's attacks and either cripple it with status or threaten it with their STAB attacks.
**Revenge Killers**: Revenge killers such as Spectrier, Garchomp, Cinderace, and Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu outspeed and revenge kill Excadrill outside of sand. Dragon Dance Dragapult also only needs one Dragon Dance to outpace Excadrill in sand, and Choice Scarf Weavile outspeeds Adamant Excadrill in sand.
**Status**: Being burnt severely hinders Excadrill's performance as a wallbreaker, as it can no longer break past defensive Pokemon such as Mandibuzz and Amoonguss or OHKO offensive threats such as Choice Specs Zapdos, even after Stealth Rock. Whimsicott and Zapdos can paralyze Excadrill with Stun Spore and Static respectively, preventing it from outspeeding threats such as Zarude and Zeraora.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[maroon, 305839]]
- Ground analysis by: [[maroon, 305839]]
- Quality checked by: [[Rotten, 491896], [Maple, 473171]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Milak, 262594], [DC, 449990]]
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