Pokémon Excadrill

[Dr Ciel]

Approved by Aragorn the King. Original thread here.

Name: Excadrill (#530)
Type:

Base Stats: 110 HP / 135 Atk / 60 Def / 50 SpA / 65 SpD / 88 Spd
Notable Moves: (STABs in bold)

• Iron Head
• Earthquake
• Rock Slide
• Rapid Spin
• Swords Dance
• Toxic
• Stealth Rock
• Return / Frustration

Abilities:
Sand Rush: If Sandstorm is active, this Pokemon's Speed is doubled; immunity to Sandstorm.

Sand Force: This Pokemon's Ground/Rock/Steel attacks do 1.3x in Sandstorm; immunity to it.

Mold Breaker: This Pokemon's moves and their effects ignore the Abilities of other Pokemon.

Overview: Since being banned from OU in the Black/White Metagame, Excadrill has returned for another round of competition in XY / ORAS. With a fantastic Steel / Ground typing, a high base attack stat coupled with a solid speed stat & an ability that doubles it in Sandstorm along with a rather solid move-pool. However, Excadrill is not without it's downsides. Being weak to common priority moves, most notably Aqua Jet & Mach Punch, lackluster Speed when Sandstorm runs out, leading it to be easily out-sped by faster Pokemon. Last but not least, Excadrill stacks weaknesses with it's Sand Streaming partners, Tyranitar, & Hippowdon.

Potential Sets:

Sand Rush Sweeper

Excadrill @ Life Orb / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin / Swords Dance

This set showcases Excadrills excellent offensive capabilities, with an extremely high base Attack stat of 135 coupled with a base Speed stat of 88, which is doubled when in sandstorm. Earthquake is the first STAB move of the set, hitting most of the meta for neutral or super effective damage by having solid neutral coverage. Iron Head is the second STAB move of choice, hitting flying types that are immune to Earthquake while also hitting Fairy types for super effective damage. Rock Slide is the coverage move of choice, being able to score OHKOs on Pokemon such as Thundurus, Talonflame & Mega Pinsir while also being Excadrills best option vs Rotom-W & Skarmory. Rapid Spin is an excellent move, removing hazards for Excadrills teammates, allowing a sweeper to clean up late game, while Swords Dance makes Excadrill a fearsome wall-breaker / sweeper, being able to 2HKO most of the meta after a single use.

Bulky Spinner

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic / Stealth Rock

With Mold Breaker, Excadrill is able to break through & hit Pokemon that the previous set can't. With a solid bulk of 110 / 60 / 65, Excadrill can hold its own against some of OU's most fearsome attackers. Once again, Earthquake is the main STAB on this set, being able to hit Flying types & Pokemon with Levitate, most notably Gengar & Rotom-W, while still hitting Electric & Steel types. Iron Head once again provides coverage for Fairy type Pokemon. Rapid Spin is an excellent move once again, being able to remove hazards from it's side of the field while being able to support it's team. Toxic is an absolutely fantastic move on this particular set, being able to hit the bulky Pokemon that switch into it, while also being able to hit Mega Sableye thanks to Mold Breaker. However, Stealth Rock is an option as once again Mold Beaker negates Magic Bounce & due to Excadrills solid bulk on this set, can come in & set up multiple times during the match.

Choice Scarf

Excadrill @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Nature: Jolly
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Toxic / Filler

With a Choice Scarf equipped, Excadrill becomes a surprisingly fast revenge killer / cleaner, being able to revenge several threats. Earthquake once again is the main STAB move on the set & is used to beat Gengar, Rotom-Wash & the Lati Twins due to Mold Breaker ignoring Levitate. Iron Head is Excadrill's second STAB move & it's best option against opposing Landorus-T & Gliscor, while also getting super-effective damage on opposing fairy types. Rock Slide once again OHKOs most Flying types while providing super useful coverage. The last slot can go to either Toxic or a coverage move such as Return / Frustration. Toxic helps Excadrill put it's counters looking to switch in on a timer, while Return / Frustration provides solid neutral coverage against prominent threats. Rapid Spin isn't used on the set due to the fact once you remove SR from your side of the field, you'll be locked into a 20 BP Normal Type move, which sacrifices a ton of momentum.

Conclusion:
Excadrill has made a very triumphant return to OU in Gen VI. Being one of the faces of Sand Offense, Excadrill once again rules the roost over OU. However, with Rain Offense becoming more popular, can the sand mole keep up with opposing weather archetypes?

 

[BlazeLatias]

Alright it might be worth noting multiple teamates such as talonflame or mega diancie (scarf with mega diancie). Due to how they synergize well offensively and talon loves hazard removal. Also would it worth noting AV on the mold breaker set?

 

[Dr Ciel]

Alright it might be worth noting multiple teamates such as talonflame or mega diancie (scarf with mega diancie). Due to how they synergize well offensively and talon loves hazard removal. Also would it worth noting AV on the mold breaker set?

I'm not sure if AV is worth a mention on the Mold Breaker set, since it prevents you from using Toxic / SR, which you need to have to get through Mega Sableye if you're facing stall.

 

[bludz]

Well I think the OP is more just for general info on the pokemon (sets, uses etc) and good teammates are more the kind of things that get posted throughout the thread based on specific questions. Maybe a few mentions but I don't think it needs its own category or anything. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I'll list a few general good teammates for the Sand Rush set though. Hippo/Ttar obviously, Charizard Y helps wallbreak + dual weather setters are pretty sick Mega Altaria is a Keldeo switch-in and can wallbreak depending on the set, Latis (also provide a switch-in to Zard Y which is a threat to sand offense) or Starmie fulfill a similar role and provide hazard control support for SD variants. Lando-I compounds a water weakness but helps offensive pressure and breaks down physical walls that Excadrill dislikes or sweeps with RP after an Excadrill rampage. In general water and fighting type attacks are good to have switch ins to because of Excadrills weakness to their priority moves. Healing Wish support from mons such as Celebi / Latias is sick as it lets you be really aggressive with the Life Orb early on and break down some of your own checks only to sweep them later.

There's way more such as Mega Metagross and other basic wallbreakers like Kyurem-Black and Thundurus. Even stuff like Magma Storm and/or Power Herb Heatran for wearing down walls and bopping Rotom-Wash.

I have a question about good partners actually. Has anyone tried Mega Venusaur? It seems great because it can take on Slowbro, Hippowdon, Rotom-Wash and Skarmory (some of the main walls / checks to Sand Rush Exca), but its recovery suffers under sandstorm. Would it still be usable with Leech Seed or is this just too much of a problem? If it doesn't work out that's a shame as it also has great type synergy with Tyranitar and resists both Aqua Jet (reliable Azu counter in general too) and Mach Punch.

Anyway if you can't tell I love Sand Rush Excadrill. Choice Scarf is actually probably the most popular Mold Breaker set, but suffers from some issues like being weak to Scarf Lando-T and also choiced Rapid Spin kinda blows. It is quite useful in some regards but yeah I'm not a big fan of it personally.

 

[pika pal]

I have a question about good partners actually. Has anyone tried Mega Venusaur? It seems great because it can take on Slowbro, Hippowdon, Rotom-Wash and Skarmory (some of the main walls / checks to Sand Rush Exca), but its recovery suffers under sandstorm. Would it still be usable with Leech Seed or is this just too much of a problem? If it doesn't work out that's a shame as it also has great type synergy with Tyranitar and resists both Aqua Jet (reliable Azu counter in general too) and Mach Punch.

Anyway if you can't tell I love Sand Rush Excadrill. Choice Scarf is actually probably the most popular Mold Breaker set, but suffers from some issues like being weak to Scarf Lando-T and also choiced Rapid Spin kinda blows. It is quite useful in some regards but yeah I'm not a big fan of it personally.

I think Venusaur might be usable under Sand, considering the things it's checking (Water types and bulky grounds in particular) are weak to Giga Drain. Between that and Leech Seed I think he can manage the recovery he needs under the sand.

 

[bludz]

My general concern is possible Scald burns compounded with sandstorm and synthesis nerf in sand could be kinda problematic. It's one of those things that while it seems like a great teammate in theory might not actually work out so well so I was wondering if anyone's tried it. Appreciate the support for the idea because I think it sounds really cool but it would be nice to hear from anyone who's experimented with it. If not then I guess I'll do it myself to find out :)

 

[AM]

M-Venusaur is definitely usable in sand, even factoring in sands attribute of mitigating its recovery a bit.

 

[Kurona]

Return, Shadow Claw, X-Scissor and Poison Jab are listed in notable moves. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious but I'm incredibly interested in what possible application they have; as they either seem to have redundant coverage in comparison to STAB and Rock Slide/Stone Edge and/or low power to be useful. Especially Poison Jab, as poison moves are generally only run to beat fairies.

 

[DarkNostalgia]

Shadow Claw is generally used to beat Gengar, but with Mold Breaker EQ does so, and with Sand Rush Iron Head OHKOs anyway, so Shadow Claw should be removed imo. Also Poison Jab is kinda useless, it hits Celebi I guess. Return should be removed. X-Scissor is probably fine? If you want to hit Celebi and Latios, but Iron Head does exist though.

 

[Clone]

Out of those, only return is viable. The others should be removed. Return has a legit use in hitting Rotom hard on SD sets.

 

[Karxrida]

Pretty sure -Clone- means the SD Sand Rush sets, because otherwise you have Mold Breaker. :P

Also, there probably needs to be an Offensive Spinner set for non-Sand teams. It's pretty much just the Sand Rush set but without the Life Orb, no Swords Dance slash, and Mold Breaker over Sand Rush for the ability.

 

[Dr Ciel]

Out of those, only return is viable. The others should be removed. Return has a legit use in hitting Rotom hard on SD sets.

Okay, I removed all mentions of the moves (Bar Return / Frustration). Might add some more stuff later today.

 

[DarkNostalgia]

You could mention soft creeping in the second set maybe? It's not an analysis so I guess you could give it a mention?
Also yeah, a non-sandrush set should be added as well imo

 

[MaestroDeSWAG]

Frustration and return are under abilities... Just sayin.

 

[Dr Ciel]

Alright, great discussion so far. Now, is a Choice Scarf set worth a mention, & followup question, is it viable anymore? I know it was in XY, but dunno about ORAS.

 

[Celticpride]

Alright, great discussion so far. Now, is a Choice Scarf set worth a mention, & followup question, is it viable anymore? I know it was in XY, but dunno about ORAS.

Only if you specify it shouldn't be used with Rapid Spin. EQ / Rock Slide / Iron Head / [filler or Toxic] with Mold Breaker is passable, but Rapid Spin cedes way too much momentum to be useful and just gives up free turns.

 

[12-XVI]

Excadrill can be good but he can also be bad depending on the situation.

 

[tigers jaw]

I haven't really seen or used Scarf Driller in ages, but I don't remember seeing one without Rapid Spin. Seems like it'd be outclassed by Lando for the most part, outside of being a terrible Fairy check and Flying resist. Besides, being locked into Rapid Spin and not having rocks on your side of the field seems better than being locked into Toxic/random junk filler. I don't see how landing Toxic on, say, Slowbro, Rotom, or Mega Eye and then being forced out is any less of a momentum sap than getting rid of rocks.

Either way, I don't think Scarf should be added, it's terrible.

 

[pika pal]

I haven't really seen or used Scarf Driller in ages, but I don't remember seeing one without Rapid Spin. Seems like it'd be outclassed by Lando for the most part, outside of being a terrible Fairy check and Flying resist. Besides, being locked into Rapid Spin and not having rocks on your side of the field seems better than being locked into Toxic/random junk filler. I don't see how landing Toxic on, say, Slowbro, Rotom, or Mega Eye and then being forced out is any less of a momentum sap than getting rid of rocks.

Either way, I don't think Scarf should be added, it's terrible.

Toxic usually means that the wall in question is crippled to the point it won't be able to function as well anymore, which is a big detriment to the core, whereas removing rocks from your field, while useful, doesn't immediately help anything get around anything, and you can't always guarantee that it'll be the most helpful. It also tends to be harder to undo the former than the latter (without a Cleric or one of maybe 5 Refresh/Resttalk mons vs. having the Rock setter alive).

If Slowbro is Toxiced, for example, Zard-X can boost and Roost on it until Toxic wears it out or forces it to switch, instead of being hard walled.

4 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 100-118 (31.7 - 37.4%) -- 86.8% chance to 3HKO
4 SpA Mega Slowbro Scald vs. 72 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 124-147 (39.3 - 46.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

 

[MaestroDeSWAG]

Excadrill can be good but he can also be bad depending on the situation.

Um yeah? And? Lando is bad in some situations, too. So is Megagross. Heck, so is Mewtwo. Your post is so pointless. I'm sorry, not to be THAT guy, but it's really true. If you're gonna post something, can we please keep it intelligent?

 

[firehusky]

I think a scarf set should definitely be mentioned, it's a reliable spinner with moldbreaker, being able to defeat common spinblockers such as Gengar, while also being a relatively solid late game cleaner thanks to it's great dual STABs and decent power.

 

[Dr Ciel]

I've added a Choice Scarf set as per suggestions, but am more than willing to remove it if needed.

 

[12-XVI]

Um yeah? And? Lando is bad in some situations, too. So is Megagross. Heck, so is Mewtwo. Your post is so pointless. I'm sorry, not to be THAT guy, but it's really true. If you're gonna post something, can we please keep it intelligent?

What do Lando, Megagross, and Mewtwo have to do with this? You are the one who starts going off topic!

Besides I am right. For example he is really good against Pokemon that he can kill. But he is often not so good against Pokemon who wall him.

 

[Karxrida]

I think that Rapid Spin should still be slashed on the Scarf set, since a fast spin can be very useful against Offensive teams.

 

[Hootie]

Honestly why is scarf even listed here? I fail to see any viable use out of it. Unlike Landorus-T it cannot grab momentum with U-Turn or has more useful options like Knock Off and Superpower, and all of the moves listed on the set bring Excadrill in to very unfavorable situations since being locked into any of those moves is easily exploited by your opponent. If you are using it as cleaner then sand rush is waaaaaaaaay better. A fast emergency spin can be nice, but honestly it's just not worth it.