The Dovahneer
UPL Champion
[OVERVIEW]
* Excadrill is the fastest Pokemon with the combination of Stealth Rock and Mold Breaker, making it usable as a suicide lead that is able to bypass Magic Bounce and reliably get Stealth Rock up against most teams.
* Access to Rapid Spin and Rock Tomb allows Excadrill to give its teammates an early-game advantage by clearing entry hazards and ensuring a Speed advantage.
* Cloyster, another common suicide lead, completely destroys Excadrill and can end up doing massive damage to Excadrill's team in lead matchups due to Shell Smash.
* Excadrill has to choose between Earthquake and Toxic, meaning it will be setup bait for Substitute Zygarde-C if it lacks Toxic or lose to certain Taunt users, such as Mega Gengar and Substitute Arceus-Ground, without Earthquake.
* Defog's prominence hurts Excadrill's viability, as the one-time nature of suicide leads ensures that once removed, Stealth Rock is staying gone. As a result, bulkier Stealth Rock users like Primal Groudon are often preferred due to their ability to set Stealth Rock up throughout the match.
[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Rock Tomb
move 3: Toxic / Earthquake
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Focus Sash
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Stealth Rock provides passive chip damage, breaks Focus Sashes, dissuades the repeated switching of Flying-types, and can almost always be set up thanks to Mold Breaker.
* Toxic allows Excadrill to put pressure on Defoggers and bulky Pokemon that take little damage from Earthquake and Rock Tomb. If used with Rock Tomb against a Defogger, Toxic lets a slower Excadrill keep up Stealth Rock while dealing passive damage. Another mention is Zygarde-C, which Excadrill typically outspeeds and can cripple before Substitute goes up.
* Rock Tomb lets Excadrill give your followup offensive threat a Speed advantage and allows it to defeat faster leads with Taunt while also dissuading setup, which is very important considering it is Excadrill's only response to setup Pokemon barring Toxic. The Speed drop also allows another teammate to Taunt other leads or Defog users trying to remove your Stealth Rock after Excadrill is KOed.
* Rapid Spin gives anti-entry hazard support by clearing away hazards your opponent sets without interfering with your own.
[OVERVIEW]
* Excadrill is the fastest Pokemon with the combination of Stealth Rock and Mold Breaker, making it usable as a suicide lead that is able to bypass Magic Bounce and reliably get Stealth Rock up against most teams.
* Access to Rapid Spin and Rock Tomb allows Excadrill to give its teammates an early-game advantage by clearing entry hazards and ensuring a Speed advantage.
* Cloyster, another common suicide lead, completely destroys Excadrill and can end up doing massive damage in lead matchups due to Shell Smash.
* Excadrill has to choose between Earthquake and Toxic, meaning it will be setup bait for Substitute Zygarde-C if it lacks Toxic or lose to certain Taunt users, such as Mega Gengar and Substitute Arceus-Ground, without Earthquake.
* Defog's prominence hurts Excadrill's viability, as the one-time nature of suicide leads ensures that once removed, Stealth Rock is staying gone. As a result, bulkier Stealth Rock users like Primal Groudon are often preferred due to their ability to set Stealth Rock up throughout the match.
[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Rock Tomb
move 3: Toxic / Earthquake
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Focus Sash
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Stealth Rock provides passive chip damage, breaks Focus Sashes, dissuades the repeated switching of Flying-types, and can almost always be set up thanks to Mold Breaker.
* Toxic allows Excadrill to put pressure on Defoggers and bulky Pokemon that take little damage from Earthquake and Rock Tomb. If used with Rock Tomb against a Defogger, Toxic lets a slower Excadrill keep up Stealth Rock while dealing passive damage. Another mention is Zygarde-C, which Excadrill typically outspeeds and can cripple before Substitute goes up.
* Rock Tomb lets Excadrill give your followup offensive threat a Speed advantage and allows it to defeat faster leads with Taunt while also dissuading setup, which is very important considering it is Excadrill's only response to setup Pokemon barring Toxic. The Speed drop also allows another teammate to Taunt other leads or Defog users trying to remove your Stealth Rock after Excadrill is KOed.
* Rapid Spin gives anti-entry hazard support, which lets Excadrill at least force a neutral playing field most of the time.
* Earthquake gives Excadrill some offensive punch, enabling it to deal significant damage against other leads, break Substitutes, and 2HKO Primal Groudon. Non-Ground-immune Taunt users like Mega Gengar dislike Earthquake as well due to Excadrill's decent Attack stat.
* Forgoing Rapid Spin in order to run Rock Tomb, Toxic, and Earthquake on one set is an option, but doing so leaves Excadrill without a way to clear hazards, which is one of the biggest reasons to use it.
Set Details
========
* 252 EVs in Attack and Speed combined with a Jolly nature give Excadrill the most effectiveness, letting it outspeed anything below maximum Speed base 90s, neutral-natured Zygarde, and everything except maximum Speed Deoxys-S after a Rock Tomb while making Earthquake and Rock Tomb do the most damage.
* Focus Sash is required because Excadrill's poor bulk and mediocre defensive typing leave it OHKOed by many Pokemon that it's trying to lead against.
* Mold Breaker gives Excadrill its niche of setting up Stealth Rock on Magic Bounce users and allows Earthquake to hit Pokemon with Levitate, such as Giratina-O.
Usage Tips
========
* Using Rock Tomb first is often a good option, as Excadrill can outspeed most Pokemon after one use, giving some chip damage and a Speed drop to go along with Stealth Rock.
* Excadrill unfortunately loses the lead matchup versus Cloyster, meaning going to an alternate lead is almost always a better plan.
* As a suicide lead, Excadrill's purpose is getting Stealth Rock up while denying your opponent's entry hazards. Sacrificing Excadrill is usually preferred over saving it because you are able to gain an advantage by switching in the appropriate threat.
* Excadrill has the ability to keep Stealth Rock up against support Arceus formes due to its Toxic immunity, the rarity of Will-O-Wisp, and Defog having less PP than Stealth Rock.
* While Taunt users can prevent Stealth Rock, Excadrill has other ways of crippling them. For example, Yveltal takes decent damage from Rock Tomb and Mewtwo along with its Mega Evolutions dislike the Speed drop and take significant damage from Earthquake.
* If not used as a lead, Excadrill can find some use later in the game provided that its Focus Sash isn't broken, as Earthquake 2HKOes Primal Groudon and can stop a sweep provided that chip damage is given.
* Against an Arceus-Ground, you must pay special attention to the opponent's team structure to determine your next move. If it appears to be the only Defogger, it is most likely a support variant, and you should use Rock Tomb. If it is not, Stealth Rock is best, as Swords Dance sets with Substitute can inflict massive damage otherwise and Rock Tomb does very little to the Substitute. Earthquake has value here in breaking the Substitute, as Rock Tomb does not.
* Dealing with Deoxys-S depends on if your opponent has a Ghost-type or not. If one is present, spamming Rapid Spin is a surefire way to clear hazards while slowly wearing Deoxys-S down. However, if one isn't present, two Rock Tombs let Excadrill outspeed it and set up Stealth Rock when Taunt runs out and click Rapid Spin until you win again. Something worth mentioning is Rocky Helmet, which makes the Rapid Spin spamming strategy useless if Deoxys-S is wielding it. Fortunately, Earthquake can easily dispatch the frail speedster.
Team Options
========
* As a suicide lead, Excadrill fits only on hyper offense archetypes, which have the offensive pressure to punish Defog users and appreciate Stealth Rock.
* Marshadow is a valuable Pokemon, as its combination of typing, Speed, and movepool lets it function as a priority safety net and anti-offense tool for defeating certain threats that otherwise could cause problems. In addition to this, Spectral Thief bypasses Substitute, allowing it to defeat the Substitute users that otherwise would set up on Excadrill. Its typing also gives it spinblocking capability, which is appreciated in certain matchups.
* Necrozma-DM is also useful, as it beats Cloyster one-on-one. However, it cannot prevent Cloyster from getting Spikes or Toxic Spikes up. Outside of this, Necrozma-DM is an excellent setup sweeper that appreciates the Stealth Rock that Excadrill sets because it pressures Ho-Oh and Yveltal, two common answers to Necrozma-DM.
* A Taunt user is useful, as the move tends to stop Cloyster from doing too much, beats Smeargle more easily, and prevents Defog. Popular users of the move include Yveltal and Mega Gengar.
* Mega Gengar in particular can trap and remove certain Defog users, such as Arceus-Water and Xerneas, and utilizes Taunt, providing the benefits mentioned above along with spinblocking capability. Icy Wind also lets it defeat Cloyster one-on-one while avoiding the KO, as +1 Cloyster does not outspeed.
* Priority users such as Yveltal, Marshadow, Extreme Killer Arceus, and Rayquaza can defeat runaway setup sweepers that set up on Excadrill.
* Almost every setup sweeper and wallbreaker appreciates Stealth Rock. Examples include Xerneas, Necrozma-DM, Primal Groudon, Zygarde-C, and Yveltal. Xerneas is able to directly threaten support Arceus formes, Primal Groudon can threaten almost everything due to the Speed drop, Zygarde-C appreciates support Arceus formes being hit with Toxic, and Yveltal is able to taunt support Arceus formes thanks to the Speed drop.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Excadrill can utilize an offensive sweeping set with sand support consisting of Swords Dance, Earthquake, Iron Head or Rock Slide, and Rapid Spin with either Groundium Z or Life Orb thanks to its Sand Rush ability. However, such a set is immediately shut down by the removal of sand, which is easily accomplished by Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, and is hampered by sand being limited to five or eight turns. Another thing to keep in mind if you use Life Orb is that Rapid Spin doesn't work if the recoil KOes Excadrill.
* Bulldoze combines the Speed drop of Rock Tomb with the STAB of Earthquake in one slot; however, if one forgoes Rock Tomb, Flying-types become an issue.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Cloyster**: Cloyster can use Shell Smash and easily remove Excadrill with Icicle Spear, as it bypasses Excadrill's Focus Sash and can Rapid Spin away the Stealth Rock Excadrill's trying to put up. Put simply, Cloyster always beats Excadrill in lead matchups.
**Substitute Setup Sweepers**: Bulky Pokemon such as Arceus, Zygarde-C, and Mega Salamence can easily set up on Excadrill's attacks by utilizing Substitute to block Toxic and repeatedly setting up, dealing massive damage very early on.
**Ferrothorn**: Iron Barbs makes Excadrill take damage every time it uses Rapid Spin, allowing Ferrothorn to set up two layers of Spikes, as Rapid Spin doesn't clear entry hazards if the user is KOed by recoil. Earthquake-less sets can't touch Ferrothorn, and even with it the damage dealt is easily healed with Leech Seed and Leftovers recovery.
**Rocky Helmet Skarmory**: Excadrill can't touch Skarmory, but Skarmory can't really touch Excadrill either without Rocky Helmet. With Rocky Helmet, Skarmory acts similarly to Ferrothorn in that Excadrill can't use Rapid Spin without suffering from recoil damage, which lets Skarmory get two layers of Spikes up.
**Defog Leftovers Lunala**: Excadrill can't set up Stealth Rock and break Shadow Shield at the same time due to Leftovers healing Rock Tomb damage and Moongeist Beam 2HKOing Excadrill, meaning that Lunala can easily Defog Stealth Rock away on whatever comes in; however, Toxic does prove a significant thorn in Lunala's side.
**Taunt**: Taunt prevents Stealth Rock and Toxic; however, keep in mind Excadrill can simply use its offensive moves to punish the most common users of the move.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[The Dovahneer, 186994]]
- Quality checked by: [[DMDW, 434601], [Nayrz, 212134], [Melee Mewtwo, 75110]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [GatoDelFuego, 91628]]
* Excadrill is the fastest Pokemon with the combination of Stealth Rock and Mold Breaker, making it usable as a suicide lead that is able to bypass Magic Bounce and reliably get Stealth Rock up against most teams.
* Access to Rapid Spin and Rock Tomb allows Excadrill to give its teammates an early-game advantage by clearing entry hazards and ensuring a Speed advantage.
* Cloyster, another common suicide lead, completely destroys Excadrill and can end up doing massive damage to Excadrill's team in lead matchups due to Shell Smash.
* Excadrill has to choose between Earthquake and Toxic, meaning it will be setup bait for Substitute Zygarde-C if it lacks Toxic or lose to certain Taunt users, such as Mega Gengar and Substitute Arceus-Ground, without Earthquake.
* Defog's prominence hurts Excadrill's viability, as the one-time nature of suicide leads ensures that once removed, Stealth Rock is staying gone. As a result, bulkier Stealth Rock users like Primal Groudon are often preferred due to their ability to set Stealth Rock up throughout the match.
[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Rock Tomb
move 3: Toxic / Earthquake
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Focus Sash
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Stealth Rock provides passive chip damage, breaks Focus Sashes, dissuades the repeated switching of Flying-types, and can almost always be set up thanks to Mold Breaker.
* Toxic allows Excadrill to put pressure on Defoggers and bulky Pokemon that take little damage from Earthquake and Rock Tomb. If used with Rock Tomb against a Defogger, Toxic lets a slower Excadrill keep up Stealth Rock while dealing passive damage. Another mention is Zygarde-C, which Excadrill typically outspeeds and can cripple before Substitute goes up.
* Rock Tomb lets Excadrill give your followup offensive threat a Speed advantage and allows it to defeat faster leads with Taunt while also dissuading setup, which is very important considering it is Excadrill's only response to setup Pokemon barring Toxic. The Speed drop also allows another teammate to Taunt other leads or Defog users trying to remove your Stealth Rock after Excadrill is KOed.
* Rapid Spin gives anti-entry hazard support by clearing away hazards your opponent sets without interfering with your own.
[OVERVIEW]
* Excadrill is the fastest Pokemon with the combination of Stealth Rock and Mold Breaker, making it usable as a suicide lead that is able to bypass Magic Bounce and reliably get Stealth Rock up against most teams.
* Access to Rapid Spin and Rock Tomb allows Excadrill to give its teammates an early-game advantage by clearing entry hazards and ensuring a Speed advantage.
* Cloyster, another common suicide lead, completely destroys Excadrill and can end up doing massive damage in lead matchups due to Shell Smash.
* Excadrill has to choose between Earthquake and Toxic, meaning it will be setup bait for Substitute Zygarde-C if it lacks Toxic or lose to certain Taunt users, such as Mega Gengar and Substitute Arceus-Ground, without Earthquake.
* Defog's prominence hurts Excadrill's viability, as the one-time nature of suicide leads ensures that once removed, Stealth Rock is staying gone. As a result, bulkier Stealth Rock users like Primal Groudon are often preferred due to their ability to set Stealth Rock up throughout the match.
[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Rock Tomb
move 3: Toxic / Earthquake
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Focus Sash
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Stealth Rock provides passive chip damage, breaks Focus Sashes, dissuades the repeated switching of Flying-types, and can almost always be set up thanks to Mold Breaker.
* Toxic allows Excadrill to put pressure on Defoggers and bulky Pokemon that take little damage from Earthquake and Rock Tomb. If used with Rock Tomb against a Defogger, Toxic lets a slower Excadrill keep up Stealth Rock while dealing passive damage. Another mention is Zygarde-C, which Excadrill typically outspeeds and can cripple before Substitute goes up.
* Rock Tomb lets Excadrill give your followup offensive threat a Speed advantage and allows it to defeat faster leads with Taunt while also dissuading setup, which is very important considering it is Excadrill's only response to setup Pokemon barring Toxic. The Speed drop also allows another teammate to Taunt other leads or Defog users trying to remove your Stealth Rock after Excadrill is KOed.
* Rapid Spin gives anti-entry hazard support, which lets Excadrill at least force a neutral playing field most of the time.
* Earthquake gives Excadrill some offensive punch, enabling it to deal significant damage against other leads, break Substitutes, and 2HKO Primal Groudon. Non-Ground-immune Taunt users like Mega Gengar dislike Earthquake as well due to Excadrill's decent Attack stat.
* Forgoing Rapid Spin in order to run Rock Tomb, Toxic, and Earthquake on one set is an option, but doing so leaves Excadrill without a way to clear hazards, which is one of the biggest reasons to use it.
Set Details
========
* 252 EVs in Attack and Speed combined with a Jolly nature give Excadrill the most effectiveness, letting it outspeed anything below maximum Speed base 90s, neutral-natured Zygarde, and everything except maximum Speed Deoxys-S after a Rock Tomb while making Earthquake and Rock Tomb do the most damage.
* Focus Sash is required because Excadrill's poor bulk and mediocre defensive typing leave it OHKOed by many Pokemon that it's trying to lead against.
* Mold Breaker gives Excadrill its niche of setting up Stealth Rock on Magic Bounce users and allows Earthquake to hit Pokemon with Levitate, such as Giratina-O.
Usage Tips
========
* Using Rock Tomb first is often a good option, as Excadrill can outspeed most Pokemon after one use, giving some chip damage and a Speed drop to go along with Stealth Rock.
* Excadrill unfortunately loses the lead matchup versus Cloyster, meaning going to an alternate lead is almost always a better plan.
* As a suicide lead, Excadrill's purpose is getting Stealth Rock up while denying your opponent's entry hazards. Sacrificing Excadrill is usually preferred over saving it because you are able to gain an advantage by switching in the appropriate threat.
* Excadrill has the ability to keep Stealth Rock up against support Arceus formes due to its Toxic immunity, the rarity of Will-O-Wisp, and Defog having less PP than Stealth Rock.
* While Taunt users can prevent Stealth Rock, Excadrill has other ways of crippling them. For example, Yveltal takes decent damage from Rock Tomb and Mewtwo along with its Mega Evolutions dislike the Speed drop and take significant damage from Earthquake.
* If not used as a lead, Excadrill can find some use later in the game provided that its Focus Sash isn't broken, as Earthquake 2HKOes Primal Groudon and can stop a sweep provided that chip damage is given.
* Against an Arceus-Ground, you must pay special attention to the opponent's team structure to determine your next move. If it appears to be the only Defogger, it is most likely a support variant, and you should use Rock Tomb. If it is not, Stealth Rock is best, as Swords Dance sets with Substitute can inflict massive damage otherwise and Rock Tomb does very little to the Substitute. Earthquake has value here in breaking the Substitute, as Rock Tomb does not.
* Dealing with Deoxys-S depends on if your opponent has a Ghost-type or not. If one is present, spamming Rapid Spin is a surefire way to clear hazards while slowly wearing Deoxys-S down. However, if one isn't present, two Rock Tombs let Excadrill outspeed it and set up Stealth Rock when Taunt runs out and click Rapid Spin until you win again. Something worth mentioning is Rocky Helmet, which makes the Rapid Spin spamming strategy useless if Deoxys-S is wielding it. Fortunately, Earthquake can easily dispatch the frail speedster.
Team Options
========
* As a suicide lead, Excadrill fits only on hyper offense archetypes, which have the offensive pressure to punish Defog users and appreciate Stealth Rock.
* Marshadow is a valuable Pokemon, as its combination of typing, Speed, and movepool lets it function as a priority safety net and anti-offense tool for defeating certain threats that otherwise could cause problems. In addition to this, Spectral Thief bypasses Substitute, allowing it to defeat the Substitute users that otherwise would set up on Excadrill. Its typing also gives it spinblocking capability, which is appreciated in certain matchups.
* Necrozma-DM is also useful, as it beats Cloyster one-on-one. However, it cannot prevent Cloyster from getting Spikes or Toxic Spikes up. Outside of this, Necrozma-DM is an excellent setup sweeper that appreciates the Stealth Rock that Excadrill sets because it pressures Ho-Oh and Yveltal, two common answers to Necrozma-DM.
* A Taunt user is useful, as the move tends to stop Cloyster from doing too much, beats Smeargle more easily, and prevents Defog. Popular users of the move include Yveltal and Mega Gengar.
* Mega Gengar in particular can trap and remove certain Defog users, such as Arceus-Water and Xerneas, and utilizes Taunt, providing the benefits mentioned above along with spinblocking capability. Icy Wind also lets it defeat Cloyster one-on-one while avoiding the KO, as +1 Cloyster does not outspeed.
* Priority users such as Yveltal, Marshadow, Extreme Killer Arceus, and Rayquaza can defeat runaway setup sweepers that set up on Excadrill.
* Almost every setup sweeper and wallbreaker appreciates Stealth Rock. Examples include Xerneas, Necrozma-DM, Primal Groudon, Zygarde-C, and Yveltal. Xerneas is able to directly threaten support Arceus formes, Primal Groudon can threaten almost everything due to the Speed drop, Zygarde-C appreciates support Arceus formes being hit with Toxic, and Yveltal is able to taunt support Arceus formes thanks to the Speed drop.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Excadrill can utilize an offensive sweeping set with sand support consisting of Swords Dance, Earthquake, Iron Head or Rock Slide, and Rapid Spin with either Groundium Z or Life Orb thanks to its Sand Rush ability. However, such a set is immediately shut down by the removal of sand, which is easily accomplished by Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, and is hampered by sand being limited to five or eight turns. Another thing to keep in mind if you use Life Orb is that Rapid Spin doesn't work if the recoil KOes Excadrill.
* Bulldoze combines the Speed drop of Rock Tomb with the STAB of Earthquake in one slot; however, if one forgoes Rock Tomb, Flying-types become an issue.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Cloyster**: Cloyster can use Shell Smash and easily remove Excadrill with Icicle Spear, as it bypasses Excadrill's Focus Sash and can Rapid Spin away the Stealth Rock Excadrill's trying to put up. Put simply, Cloyster always beats Excadrill in lead matchups.
**Substitute Setup Sweepers**: Bulky Pokemon such as Arceus, Zygarde-C, and Mega Salamence can easily set up on Excadrill's attacks by utilizing Substitute to block Toxic and repeatedly setting up, dealing massive damage very early on.
**Ferrothorn**: Iron Barbs makes Excadrill take damage every time it uses Rapid Spin, allowing Ferrothorn to set up two layers of Spikes, as Rapid Spin doesn't clear entry hazards if the user is KOed by recoil. Earthquake-less sets can't touch Ferrothorn, and even with it the damage dealt is easily healed with Leech Seed and Leftovers recovery.
**Rocky Helmet Skarmory**: Excadrill can't touch Skarmory, but Skarmory can't really touch Excadrill either without Rocky Helmet. With Rocky Helmet, Skarmory acts similarly to Ferrothorn in that Excadrill can't use Rapid Spin without suffering from recoil damage, which lets Skarmory get two layers of Spikes up.
**Defog Leftovers Lunala**: Excadrill can't set up Stealth Rock and break Shadow Shield at the same time due to Leftovers healing Rock Tomb damage and Moongeist Beam 2HKOing Excadrill, meaning that Lunala can easily Defog Stealth Rock away on whatever comes in; however, Toxic does prove a significant thorn in Lunala's side.
**Taunt**: Taunt prevents Stealth Rock and Toxic; however, keep in mind Excadrill can simply use its offensive moves to punish the most common users of the move.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[The Dovahneer, 186994]]
- Quality checked by: [[DMDW, 434601], [Nayrz, 212134], [Melee Mewtwo, 75110]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [GatoDelFuego, 91628]]
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