[SET]
name: Choice Band (Ground)
move 1: Iron Head
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Rock Slide / Rapid Spin
item: Choice Band
ability: Sand Rush
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Excadrill is one of the best answers to fast threats for Ground teams due to its access to Sand Rush, outspeeding dangerous Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Weavile, Mega Gallade, and Tapu Koko in sand. Additionally, its Steel typing is crucial, as it gives Ground teams a way to deal with Ice-, Psychic-, and Fairy-types such as Alolan Ninetales, Tapu Lele, Latios, and Tapu Bulu, which are otherwise very tricky to handle. Iron Head is needed in order to hit the aforementioned foes, as well as hitting other Pokemon that can easily switch in on Earthquake such as Latias, Mega Aerodactyl, and Hydreigon. X-Scissor nails Psychic-types such as Slowbro and Celebi while OHKOing Zarude. Rock Slide provides good coverage against Flying-types that can take both of Excadrill's STAB moves with ease such as Mantine, Mega Charizard Y, and Zapdos. Rapid Spin may be used over Rock Slide instead to remove entry hazards; however, this causes Excadrill to lose momentum, as being locked into Rapid Spin forces it to switch out afterwards. Choice Band gives Excadrill the power to handle foes such as Swampert, Mega Sableye, and Slowbro while letting it sweep weakened teams more easily. A Jolly nature is preferred on this set, allowing Excadrill to outspeed Choice Scarf Greninja and Choice Scarf Weavile in sand and foes like Nidoking, Mamoswine, and Kommo-o outside of it. An Adamant nature can be used instead to have a better chance at 2HKOing Ferrothorn and Slowbro and guarantee an OHKO against physically defensive Toxapex. Excadrill is best used as a late-game sweeper once physically defensive walls that check it like Skarmory and Porygon2 are extremely weakened or removed from a match. It can also act as an early-game wallbreaker against types that lack sturdy checks to Excadrill, such as Psychic and Dragon.
Hippowdon is needed in order to set sand for Excadrill to outspeed the previously mentioned offensive threats due to Sand Rush. It can also set Stealth Rock and switch into threatening physical attackers such as Mega Gallade, Cinderace, and Zeraora. Landorus forms an excellent wallbreaking core with Excadrill; it can weaken physically defensive foes like Porygon2 and Ferrothorn, while Excadrill can take on specially defensive foes like Blissey and Slowking. Landorus also provides Gravity support, which enables Excadrill to OHKO its traditional Ground-immune checks like Celesteela, Skarmory, and Rotom-W with Earthquake. Gastrodon and Seismitoad provide an essential immunity to Water-type attacks for Excadrill, which allows them to switch in on threats like Rotom-W, Mega Swampert, and Mantine. Gastrodon's high bulk and access to Recover also lets it shrug off most of their other attacks, while Seismitoad's better Speed tier, superior offenses, and potent coverage allows it to offensively check them. Seismitoad can also check Azumarill, which is otherwise a huge threat to Ground teams. Mega Garchomp is a ferocious wallbreaker that can lure in and weaken Skarmory and Celesteela with Fire Blast, pressure Flying-types like Mantine and Zapdos with Stone Edge, and break through physically defensive walls like Mega Venusaur and Galarian Corsola with its Swords Dance-boosted attacks for Excadrill. Mamoswine is another good offensive partner that can beat Flying-types like Zapdos, Landorus-T, and Mantine for Excadrill with its STAB Ice-type moves, relieving the need for it to use Rock Slide.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance (Ground)
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Iron Head
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Steelium Z
ability: Sand Rush
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Swords Dance Excadrill works as a fearsome setup sweeper for Ground teams, being able to deal with some of its traditional checks by virtue of the power boost while retaining the ability to outspeed and dispose of fast foes like Choice Scarf Greninja, Tapu Koko, and Barraskewda in sand. Iron Head nails Ice-, Psychic-, and Fairy-types such as Kyurem, Tapu Lele, and Tapu Bulu while hitting Pokemon that are immune to Earthquake such as Tornadus-T, Hydreigon, and Latios. Rapid Spin allows Excadrill to act as one of Ground's only forms of entry hazard removal. Additionally, Rapid Spin provides a useful Speed boost to Excadrill, which lets it outspeed foes like Hydreigon and Tapu Koko even outside of sand. Steelium Z gives Excadrill a one-time opportunity to break through walls such as Mandibuzz and Avalugg with a powerful, STAB Corkscrew Crash after a Swords Dance boost. Excadrill can also use it to break through offensive threats like Kommo-o more easily. A Jolly nature lets Excadrill outspeed Choice Scarf Greninja and Choice Scarf Weavile under sand and stay in on foes like Nidoking and offensive Heatran by outspeeding them outside of it. Excadrill should be able to set up Swords Dance in front of Pokemon that it can easily force out like Blissey and Latias, breaking through the opposing team more easily. It should also use Rapid Spin with Swords Dance to become an even more fearsome sweeper, outspeeding most foes outside of sand.
Hippowdon is a key partner for Excadrill, as it summons sand to let Excadrill outspeed almost the entire metagame with Sand Rush. Additionally, it wears down foes with Stealth Rock and sand while switching into threatening physical attackers such as Terrakion, Mega Scizor, and opposing Excadrill. Landorus deals with physically defensive foes like Porygon2 and Slowbro for Excadrill, while Excadrill can take on specially defensive foes like Blissey for Landorus. Landorus also provides Gravity support, which enables Excadrill to threaten checks like Celesteela, Skarmory, and Rotom-W with Earthquake. Gastrodon and Seismitoad both provide a switch-in against threatening Water-type attacks from the likes of Rotom-W, Mega Swampert, and Mantine due to their immunity-granting abilities. Gastrodon's higher bulk and access to Recover also make it a consistent check to these Water-types, while Seismitoad's better offensive stats and Grass-type coverage allows it to pressure them offensively. Mamoswine helps against Flying-types that Excadrill struggles against, such as Dragonite, Landorus-T, and Gliscor, forcing them out with Icicle Crash or Ice Shard. Similarly, Mega Garchomp is a fierce wallbreaker that can threaten Flying-type teams by luring in and beating Skarmory, Celesteela, and Mantine with Fire Blast and Stone Edge. Its Swords Dance sets are also able to beat physically defensive walls like Hippowdon and Mega Venusaur, allowing Excadrill to preserve its Z-Move.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Ground
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Rock Blast can be used over Rock Slide on Choice Band sets in order to break Substitute from Pokemon like Kyurem and Moltres, but it is more inconsistent. Rock Slide can be used on the Swords Dance set in order to prevent Flying-types like Zapdos, Mantine, and Thundurus-T from stopping Excadrill's sweep. However, forgoing Rapid Spin leaves Ground teams more vulnerable to entry hazards and renders Excadrill unable to outspeed foes like Mega Lopunny outside of sand, diminishing its sweeping potential. Shadow Claw over X-Scissor on the Choice Band set helps greatly in the Psychic matchup by at least 2HKOing most relevant Psychic-types like Victini, Jirachi, and Slowbro without the need to predict. However, Excadrill then loses the ability to OHKO Zarude. A Choice Scarf set with Mold Breaker can be used on teams lacking Hippowdon in order to handle fast threats while easily beating foes like Rotom-W. However, other Choice Scarf users like Krookodile and Landorus-T are generally preferred over Excadrill.
Checks and Counters
===================
Ground
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**Physically Defensive Walls**: Physically defensive walls such as Skarmory, Celesteela, Mandibuzz, and Porygon2 can prevent Excadrill from being a threat, tanking its attacks while weakening it with their coverage moves in return. However, some foes like Mandibuzz and Porygon2 are heavily damaged by a Corkscrew Crash after a Swords Dance boost.
**Water-types**: Defensive Water-types such as Swampert and Mega Slowbro can take multiple hits from Excadrill and threaten it back with their STAB moves, while offensive Water-types such as Mega Swampert under rain, Barraskewda, and Keldeo can revenge kill Excadrill and force it out. However, certain bulkier ones like Toxapex and Empoleon struggle to tank an Earthquake from Excadrill, while offensive Water-types are outsped by Excadrill in Hippowdon's sand.
**Rotom-W**: Rotom-W is able to completely wall Excadrill lacking Mold Breaker, being immune to its Earthquake due to Levitate while resisting Iron Head. In return, Rotom-W is able to threaten Excadrill with Hydro Pump or cripple it with Will-O-Wisp. However, it fears Excadrill with Landorus's Gravity support.
**Revenge Killers**: Revenge killers such as Zeraora, Mega Lopunny, Victini, and Choice Scarf Blacephalon outspeed and threaten to OHKO Excadrill if sand isn't active. Alolan Raichu is a particularly huge threat, as it can outspeed Sand Rush Excadrill if Electric Terrain is active, OHKOing it with Focus Blast.
**Burns**: Burns from the likes of Mega Sableye, Rotom-W, and Galarian Corsola significantly cripple Excadrill by reducing its damage output, making it unable to break past foes.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Rotten, 491896]]
- Ground analysis by: [[Rotten, 491896]]
- Quality checked by: [[Mateeus, 321991], [maroon, 305839]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
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