[OVERVIEW]
What Exeggcute lacks in stats, it makes up for in status moves and typing, utilizing its key Psychic and Electric resistances to spread sleep and paralysis. Its typing does come with drawbacks, however, making it extremely vulnerable to the plentiful Fire- and Ice-type attacks in the tier. Even though it resists Earthquake, its very low Speed and lack of viable Grass-type STAB moves makes Golem only fear status, and its low Special and Ice weakness make it an extremely unreliable switch-in to Nidoking. Its physical bulk, while passable, is insufficient to avoid OHKOs from Kingler's and Pinsir's +2 Hyper Beams, making its team more vulnerable to being swept by them. Additionally, its low offensive stats leave it rather passive after it spreads status.
Despite these faults, Exeggcute is a contender in RBY NU. It is one of the few Pokemon available that can inflict sleep. It can switch into, status and wear down the opponent's Mr. Mime without exposing your own Mr. Mime to paralysis, keeping it healthy so it can run rampant later in the match. Its resistance to Mr. Mime's, Electrode's, and Venomoth's primary attacks, and it taking paralysis without much worry, makes it good support for teams otherwise vulnerable to these Pokemon. Water-types in particular have good synergy with Exeggcute, covering for its weakness to Fire and Ice while Exeggcute in turn covers their Electric weakness. Powerhouses below base 90 Speed like Nidoking and Pinsir enjoy Exeggcute as a relatively safe means to escape heavy damage or paralysis from Mr. Mime, Electrode, or Venomoth, as well as inflicting status that they can take advantage of to blow apart the opposing team. And while Exeggcute can't fight Ground- and Water-types one on one, its resistances to their STAB attacks let it bait their weaker coverage moves to more safely switch in teammates.
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Sleep Powder
move 2: Stun Spore
move 3: Psychic
move 4: Rest / Explosion
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Exeggcute's primary goal is to get in and put something to sleep with Sleep Powder as soon as it can, then attempt to spread paralysis with Stun Spore to support its team. Teammates shouldn't paralyze Pokemon Exeggcute struggles to handle like Fire-types before Exeggcute gets in and puts a foe to sleep. Psychic is Exeggcute's STAB move and hits most Pokemon in the tier for neutral damage. Psychic's 33.2% chance of reducing Special helps Exeggcute to overcome its passiveness, preventing most Pokemon from safely using it to recover with Rest or burn sleep turns. For example, Blastoise and Seadra can't trap Exeggcute in a Rest loop at -1 Special and can no longer reliably 2HKO it with Blizzard. Special drops can also create opportunities to spread status. At -1 Special, even the nuclear Fire Blasts from Moltres can't OHKO Exeggcute from full health without a critical hit, giving a healthy Exeggcute the option to boldly stay in on Fire-types and cripple them with status without falling to Fire Blast.
Rest gives Exeggcute longevity against Mr. Mime and Electrode, letting it continually frustrate their attempts to make progress and provide a safe switch for Pokemon vulnerable to them. However, due to its low bulk and common weaknesses, it invites sweepers like Nidoking and Raticate in to throw out devastating attacks while it is asleep. Explosion is a more aggressive option over Rest, trading the ability to continually wall Mr. Mime and Electrode for taking out over two thirds of Mr. Mime's maximum HP, leaving it in KO range of Seismic Toss or any decently powerful attack. Explosion also takes out about half the maximum HP of everything else that isn't Mr. Mime or a Rock-type, heavily weakening one of the opponent's Pokemon once Exeggcute has done its job spreading status and is no longer needed.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Psywave ignores stats and typing and can deal up to 150 damage, which can heavily pressure Psychic-types that are otherwise only concerned about Exeggcute's status moves. However, its shaky 79.03% accuracy and highly variable damage make it unreliable and usually not worth using. Toxic is an alternative means of crippling partial trappers such as Moltres and Charizard attempting to switch in, impairing their partial-trapping moves with continual poison damage. Double-Edge could be used to pressure Mr. Mime slightly more heavily than Psychic; however, Exeggcute's dismal Attack stat only threatens a 5HKO and the move weakens Exeggcute with recoil damage. Alternatively, Egg Bomb avoids recoil damage at the cost of a poor 74.7% accuracy. Solar Beam is Exeggcute's only Grass-type attack, and it threatens Kingler, Kabutops, and Golem with a OHKO and inflicts massive damage on Blastoise and Seadra. However, since the opponent can simply switch out during its charge turn, Solar Beam is only possibly useful late-game when they might lack healthy teammates or Grass-resistant Pokemon to tank it.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Water-types**: Defensive Water-types like Blastoise are faster than Exeggcute, aren't threatened much by its Psychic or Explosion, aren't affected heavily by paralysis, shred Exeggcute with Ice-type attacks, and have a decent chance of waking up later in the match if they take Sleep Powder.
**Fire-types**: All fully-evolved Fire-types outspeed and OHKO Exeggcute with Fire Blast, and they are either 5HKOed or 4HKOed by Exeggcute's weak Psychic. Due to their Speed and Fire Spin resistance, they also stand a good chance to wake up if they take Sleep Powder, making them decent sleep absorbers. Stun Spore on the switch heavily cripples them, though.
**Clefable and Wigglytuff**: Both Clefable and Wigglytuff outspeed and 2HKO Exeggcute with Blizzard, and if they don't have that, they can 3HKO with two Body Slams followed by Hyper Beam. They are already slower than most of the tier and thus aren't crippled much by paralysis, and Psychic only 5HKOs them, letting them bully Exeggcute without much issue once Sleep Powder isn't an option.
**Unevolved Psychic-types**: Exeggcute and Drowzee can easily use each other to get in and spread status once sleep can no longer affect them. However, Exeggcute will struggle to break other Exeggcute with Rest without Psywave or attempting to trade with Explosion, Drowzee needs luck with Special drops or full paralysis to break through Rest Exeggcute, and Explosion Exeggcute can trade with Drowzee after some chip damage.
**Fearow, Raticate, and Nidoking**: In a pinch, these fast offensive Pokemon 2HKO Exeggcute to win one-on-one, but all are severely crippled by paralysis and Nidoking especially does not take Psychic well. They are very effective at punishing Rest Exeggcute, taking advantage of its sleeping turns to switch in safely and blow holes in its team if Exeggcute doesn't let itself be KOed.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Enigami, 233818]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353], [pac, 520967]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
What Exeggcute lacks in stats, it makes up for in status moves and typing, utilizing its key Psychic and Electric resistances to spread sleep and paralysis. Its typing does come with drawbacks, however, making it extremely vulnerable to the plentiful Fire- and Ice-type attacks in the tier. Even though it resists Earthquake, its very low Speed and lack of viable Grass-type STAB moves makes Golem only fear status, and its low Special and Ice weakness make it an extremely unreliable switch-in to Nidoking. Its physical bulk, while passable, is insufficient to avoid OHKOs from Kingler's and Pinsir's +2 Hyper Beams, making its team more vulnerable to being swept by them. Additionally, its low offensive stats leave it rather passive after it spreads status.
Despite these faults, Exeggcute is a contender in RBY NU. It is one of the few Pokemon available that can inflict sleep. It can switch into, status and wear down the opponent's Mr. Mime without exposing your own Mr. Mime to paralysis, keeping it healthy so it can run rampant later in the match. Its resistance to Mr. Mime's, Electrode's, and Venomoth's primary attacks, and it taking paralysis without much worry, makes it good support for teams otherwise vulnerable to these Pokemon. Water-types in particular have good synergy with Exeggcute, covering for its weakness to Fire and Ice while Exeggcute in turn covers their Electric weakness. Powerhouses below base 90 Speed like Nidoking and Pinsir enjoy Exeggcute as a relatively safe means to escape heavy damage or paralysis from Mr. Mime, Electrode, or Venomoth, as well as inflicting status that they can take advantage of to blow apart the opposing team. And while Exeggcute can't fight Ground- and Water-types one on one, its resistances to their STAB attacks let it bait their weaker coverage moves to more safely switch in teammates.
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Sleep Powder
move 2: Stun Spore
move 3: Psychic
move 4: Rest / Explosion
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Exeggcute's primary goal is to get in and put something to sleep with Sleep Powder as soon as it can, then attempt to spread paralysis with Stun Spore to support its team. Teammates shouldn't paralyze Pokemon Exeggcute struggles to handle like Fire-types before Exeggcute gets in and puts a foe to sleep. Psychic is Exeggcute's STAB move and hits most Pokemon in the tier for neutral damage. Psychic's 33.2% chance of reducing Special helps Exeggcute to overcome its passiveness, preventing most Pokemon from safely using it to recover with Rest or burn sleep turns. For example, Blastoise and Seadra can't trap Exeggcute in a Rest loop at -1 Special and can no longer reliably 2HKO it with Blizzard. Special drops can also create opportunities to spread status. At -1 Special, even the nuclear Fire Blasts from Moltres can't OHKO Exeggcute from full health without a critical hit, giving a healthy Exeggcute the option to boldly stay in on Fire-types and cripple them with status without falling to Fire Blast.
Rest gives Exeggcute longevity against Mr. Mime and Electrode, letting it continually frustrate their attempts to make progress and provide a safe switch for Pokemon vulnerable to them. However, due to its low bulk and common weaknesses, it invites sweepers like Nidoking and Raticate in to throw out devastating attacks while it is asleep. Explosion is a more aggressive option over Rest, trading the ability to continually wall Mr. Mime and Electrode for taking out over two thirds of Mr. Mime's maximum HP, leaving it in KO range of Seismic Toss or any decently powerful attack. Explosion also takes out about half the maximum HP of everything else that isn't Mr. Mime or a Rock-type, heavily weakening one of the opponent's Pokemon once Exeggcute has done its job spreading status and is no longer needed.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Psywave ignores stats and typing and can deal up to 150 damage, which can heavily pressure Psychic-types that are otherwise only concerned about Exeggcute's status moves. However, its shaky 79.03% accuracy and highly variable damage make it unreliable and usually not worth using. Toxic is an alternative means of crippling partial trappers such as Moltres and Charizard attempting to switch in, impairing their partial-trapping moves with continual poison damage. Double-Edge could be used to pressure Mr. Mime slightly more heavily than Psychic; however, Exeggcute's dismal Attack stat only threatens a 5HKO and the move weakens Exeggcute with recoil damage. Alternatively, Egg Bomb avoids recoil damage at the cost of a poor 74.7% accuracy. Solar Beam is Exeggcute's only Grass-type attack, and it threatens Kingler, Kabutops, and Golem with a OHKO and inflicts massive damage on Blastoise and Seadra. However, since the opponent can simply switch out during its charge turn, Solar Beam is only possibly useful late-game when they might lack healthy teammates or Grass-resistant Pokemon to tank it.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Water-types**: Defensive Water-types like Blastoise are faster than Exeggcute, aren't threatened much by its Psychic or Explosion, aren't affected heavily by paralysis, shred Exeggcute with Ice-type attacks, and have a decent chance of waking up later in the match if they take Sleep Powder.
**Fire-types**: All fully-evolved Fire-types outspeed and OHKO Exeggcute with Fire Blast, and they are either 5HKOed or 4HKOed by Exeggcute's weak Psychic. Due to their Speed and Fire Spin resistance, they also stand a good chance to wake up if they take Sleep Powder, making them decent sleep absorbers. Stun Spore on the switch heavily cripples them, though.
**Clefable and Wigglytuff**: Both Clefable and Wigglytuff outspeed and 2HKO Exeggcute with Blizzard, and if they don't have that, they can 3HKO with two Body Slams followed by Hyper Beam. They are already slower than most of the tier and thus aren't crippled much by paralysis, and Psychic only 5HKOs them, letting them bully Exeggcute without much issue once Sleep Powder isn't an option.
**Unevolved Psychic-types**: Exeggcute and Drowzee can easily use each other to get in and spread status once sleep can no longer affect them. However, Exeggcute will struggle to break other Exeggcute with Rest without Psywave or attempting to trade with Explosion, Drowzee needs luck with Special drops or full paralysis to break through Rest Exeggcute, and Explosion Exeggcute can trade with Drowzee after some chip damage.
**Fearow, Raticate, and Nidoking**: In a pinch, these fast offensive Pokemon 2HKO Exeggcute to win one-on-one, but all are severely crippled by paralysis and Nidoking especially does not take Psychic well. They are very effective at punishing Rest Exeggcute, taking advantage of its sleeping turns to switch in safely and blow holes in its team if Exeggcute doesn't let itself be KOed.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Enigami, 233818]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353], [pac, 520967]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
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