Community POTW #33

[svenosman]

you shouldnt use areial ace because of its base power. a super effective areial ace is equivilent to 120 base power. STABed EQ is 150 base power. simply put a neutral EQ is stronger than a super effective areial ace. just use EQ

and in doubles dig is even worse. when you are underground EQ deals double damage. you use dig and if they use EQ (which is ALWAYS going to be seen in doubles because it hits both your pokemon) excadrill is done. unSTABed EQ against excadrill is like taking a base 200 power move. if you are underground that becomes equivilent to a base 400 power move. now add STAB and you see why dig is a horrible option. being weak to EQ means its hard enough to take a normal one. forget about trying to survive one while you are underground

I understand.

So what set do you recommand, after giving your view about the set of others?

 

[PokeMaster366]

Double Battle Potential

Excadrill can be a good choice for double battles with its access to EQ and Rock Slide, but he needs to be careful around other weather teams. Another big threat would be users of wide guard: Mienshao, Machamp, Gigalith, etc. Mienshao is a big threat to Excadrill b/c he can limit his offensive potential with Wide Guard and Fake Out.

 

[tecannon521]

I understand.

So what set do you recommand, after giving your view about the set of others?

excadrill doesnt really have many viable sets. pretty much exactly what everyone has said. EQ, rock slide, x-scissor (mainly for grass types because EQ gets not very effective hits on grass), and then your choice of swords dance, rapid spin, or shadow claw (which is only useful for gengar). item is up to you. choice band for pure power at the cost of move switching or life orb for slightly less power and move switching at the cost of HP. and then EVs, ability, and nature are standard.

 

[Jak2551]

EXCADRILL!!! <3


Type: Ground/Steel
Ability: Sand Rush/Sand Force/Mold Breaker (Dream World)
Base Stats: 110 HP / 135 Atk / 60 Def / 50 SAtk / 65 SDef / 88 Spd
Pros: Excellent attack, great type combination, lots of resistances, very
deadly in the Sandstorm
Cons: Weakness to Fighting priority like Mach Punch

Excadrill @Balloon
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly/Adamant Nature
Ability: Sand Rush
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-X-Scissor/Brick Break
-Swords Dance

Excadrill is the most terrifying physical sweeper in Gen V as long as Sandstorm is activated. Capable of reaching over 600 Speed and over 700 Attack after a
Swords Dance, very few Pokemon will stand in its way. Earthquake and Rock Slide provide excellent coverage, while your third move is up to you. X-Scissor is for bulky Grass and Psychic types like Celebi and Slowbro, but Brick Break is needed for enemys who often carry a Balloon like Heatran, Terrakion,or even enemy Excadrills.

 

[ASB]

Oh joy. The POTW is one of the main reasons I think permasand should be banned, if not all permanent weather. Anyway, it's a boss. Counters to sand rush excadrill in sand: Azumarill, who can priority OHKO with STAB Aqua Jet if its ability is Huge Power and it's holding a Choice Band. Conkeldurr can 2HKO with Drain Punch followed by Mach Punch, IIRC. So make sure your team includes one of those pokemon unless you wanna get swept mercilessly. Also, Erufuun helps because of Prankster. You can trick an Iron Ball onto Exca or maybe throw up a priority Cotton Guard with a Bold set. Not sure if this saves you though.

 

[Guildenstarn]

Honestly,Excadrill works much better as a sweeper with the ability to spin rather than a dedicated spinner. There are far better pokemon to use as spinners after all (Forretress, Starmie) Excadrill prefers coverage.
Also, Drill Run and Shadow Claw have no place on an Excadrill set. Earthquake hits harder than Drill run, and a SE Shadow Claw still has about 10BP less than STAB Earthquake, The two it would really hit harder are Gengar and I think Mismagius, due to levitate, but theyre frail enought that rock slide should KO anyways.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

@E_E, thanks for clearing that up, I was figuring that'd probly be the only use...

I must say though that Excadrill is quite usable in Ubers especially if you need a spinner; Great team-mate for the likes of Ho-Oh, x4 resist to Rock and SR and in immunity to Electric are quite fun, but watch out for Water. Then he'd switch in, Spin, switch out.

Also able to Revenge Kill with a Scarf,(Sometimes without it despite the lack of two Base Speed against most,) and the ability to manage quite a few Ubers. Examples being; Scarfed Variant taking the kill to a Resh/Zek, taking a hefty chunk out of Specsogre(Last Time I checked, I may be wrong), and just being able to smack Rayquaza pretty hard with Rock Slide.

I've not played Ubers in a while; I'd not know alot of examples.

 

[Kraleck]

Ghosts. NVE/Uneffected. My question was to E_E, and if EQ/Rock Slide hit harder or not. But otherwise whatever is like yeah.

@Kraleck: Aggron and Bastiodon in OU is really hard to use, I should know, they're like, never used. Plus, switching in on a x4SESTAB Attack isn't fun. Unless you're holding Air Balloon, but then he can Spin and pop it while Metal Burst does barely anything, due to the fact it's calculated via damage done. Otherwise I'd agree for like 75%. So yeh.

I just post individual counters, not tier-based counters. Helps with those who say tiers are crap, like myself. Some "high tier" Pokemon have "low tier" counters.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

EQ-OHKO. Balloon? Brick Break.

No offence or anything, but Tiers are based on the Pokemon's usage, and thus it means that if they're not used alot, they're in the low tiers, and they've got little use in main battles.

Tiers aren't stupid, they're educated and decided by those who use them; Aggron is RU because it's got horrible typing, if it was Steel and had Recovery aside from Rest it would be used alot more. But, it's got plenty of weaknesses, and it's hard to use.

 

[Meowmeow]

After reading through, it's very clear that Excadrill is very one-dimensional. It can hit hard and fast, and it can rapid spin. Beyond that, Excadrill's usefulness is completely gone. I always try to find some fancy and gimmick set to put up that can be effective, but that's not possible.

That being said, Excadrill is still powerful. But I think we have a shallow barrel in terms of options for Excadrill because we made the only good sets right away.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

^Gimmicks? I know one. Hax.

Haxcadrill, the Gimmick.
Ability: Sand Rush
Item: Scope Lens
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Atk, 252 Spd
-Drill Run
-Slash
-Shadow Claw
-Swagger

Hax it up. Never use this, ever.

 

[Guildenstarn]

If you want Gimmicks, Toxic stall is the say to go
Excadrill@Balloon
Jolly 252HP, 4DEF, 252SPE
Toxic
Dig
Mud-Slap
Rock Slide

Toxic, Then dig. 2X Power Earthquakes after dig? Not with the Balloon. You'll move fast enough to attack before they Earthquake. Mud Slap lowers their accuracy so they have less chance to hit.
Best set ever. Believe it.

 

[Ciliano]

Sweeper Soup With a Hint of Support
Excadrill@Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/ 252 Spe
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Rapid Spin
-Rock Slide

Swords Dance, Rock Slide and Earthquake are common attacking moves on Excadrill and Rapid Spin is thrown in for the added bonus of a speedy Spinner under and only under Sandstorm. I go with Leftovers over Air Balloon because Skarmory's Brave Birds start to take their toll after a while.

No Sand Rush? Noob!
Excadrill@Choice Scarf
Nature:Adamant
Ability:Sand Force
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Metal Claw/Return
-X-Scissor

A little bit gimmicky but it's sort of cool nonetheless. I've tested this set many times and it surprisingly works. You can use Metal Claw for the STAB and Sand Force boost which takes its base power all the way to around 99. That hits hard off of a max Attack Excadrill. For you speed demons, don't worry. He's still pretty fast with a Scarf reaching 412 in speed.

 

[Kraleck]

A little bit gimmicky but it's sort of cool nonetheless. I've tested this set many times and it surprisingly works. You can use Metal Claw for the STAB and Sand Force boost which takes its base power all the way to around 99. That hits hard off of a max Attack Excadrill. For you speed demons, don't worry. He's still pretty fast with a Scarf reaching 412 in speed.

That's my one beef with Exca' - I hate not having a decent Move for every STAB on those that can use their offense. Having only 1 usable attack Move for its second STAB (Hidden Power (Steel) is crap in Exca's hands...er, claws) is a letdown. It may have actually been better off without the Steel Type (STAB-wise), but then you'd be vulnerable to Toxic.

Why it didn't get Iron Head is beyond me...could've had Gyro Ball, but wouldn't need it (much like Electrode)...lack of a tail means Iron Tail is out in the design anyway. A unique Steel Move would've been nice, game designers.

It is a nice gimmick, but Sand Force applies to Rock and Ground Moves, so you'll likely have a better option over Steel, barring Claydol. Even then, you have access to anti-Psychic Moves for Bronzong and Claydol. Maybe against a Flying/Rock Type or Levitate Ability Rock Type, but those aren't too common...

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

^Metal Claw gets the Sand Force boost;

Ground-type, Rock-type & Steel-type moves have their power increased by 33% in a Sandstorm

Actually, Metal Claw could be noted for a bit more tanky Exca with Sand Force and Choice Band, which makes Metal Claw actually quite usable, and his Attack is... Frightening. Of course it shouldn't be used more oft then not, but it's an interesting though. I'd like some Calcs if someone could check, maybe CBSand Force STAB Metal Claw/EQ with the boost from Sandstorm. I'd love to see what they can do to common walls. Of course, Metal Claw would be little used anyways, because common walls barely will ever use Air Balloon or the like and more resist Metal Claw than not, and... It should go in OO as a strong attack when backed up by it's other stuff ut outclassed by it's other moves. There.

 

[svenosman]

Countering Excadrill

Since Excadrill is a Physical sweeper, being burned would ruin your offense. That's as easy as it can get. Fire-type Pokémon can easily use a random Fire-type move and 2HKO it. Watch out for Earthquake and Rock Slide, cause they will hurt you badly. Camerupt on an Air Balloon can survive it. Shedinja can switch in, resist everything Excadrill has (except Shadow Claw) and burn it. Gardevoir can switch in, trace your Sand Rush and burn you.

Weezing can come in, levitate over your Eartquake (Rock Slide will hit it, but doesn't do much damage) and burn you.

I think the one of the best counters to Excadrill is Cofagrius. One physical hit and bye bye extra speed or extra power.

Guts Conkeldurr can Protect the first turn, and than Fling its Flame Orb to Excadrill to burn it. After that it can Mach Punch it till Excadrill faints.

Hitmontop should be noticed too. Fake Out, after that Mach Punch. All this with Technician, afcourse.

Last solution for the mole problem is setting up all kinds of entry hazzards, and when you predict a switch to Rapid Spin it: Ghost Pokémon with Focus Blast or a Hidden Power (Fight). That will do the job.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

^OU listings, perhaps? Gardevoir, Camerupt, heck, most of the suggested are in NU/RU. The best bet to countering Excadrill is likely Jellicent, It's got great defenses and can burn him. Also, Shedinja is, like, dead in OU.(No pun intended)

But yeah Jelli and Conk are his most common counters, each doing great.

 

[tecannon521]

regarding metal claw... you might as well forget about it without sand force. poor base power coupled with poor coverage makes it relatively useless. steel typing is a defensive blessing and an offensive curse. i guess if you are deathly afraid of ice types it could work. and even on sand force sets excadrills mediocre speed allows it to easily be killed before it attacks.

 

[TimmahX]

In terms of counters, since a few mentions went out Shedinja, I should just point out that Sandstorm downs it in one hit, and it's almost always active when Excadrill is in play. Cofagrius' Mummy ability ruins Excadrill, making it a viable switch in. Sableye's Priority Will-O-Wisp and Trick ruin Excadrill. Rotom-W and Rotom-H both work wonders with their exclusive moves.

And since we're discussing Ubers, lets talk about some of the threats he has to contend with there:

Mewtwo: Aura Sphere, Grass Knot, and Flamethrower all hit Excadrill for Super Effective damage, and Excadrill needs Sand Stream in order to hit first.
Lugia: Walls him fairly well, but needs Hydro Pump to fight back.
Ho-Oh: Nukes it with Sacred Fire, as long as it's Sandstorm is out of the picture.
Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza: All three of them negate Sandstorm and 1hko him.
Latis: Grass Knot does solid damage to Excadrill, and pack Earthquake immunities.
Deoxys: Superpower, done.
Dialga: Aura Sphere. It should have something to take down Sandstorm on it's side though.
Palkia: Aura Sphere or Surf boosted by Rain Dance should down it.
Arceus: Arceus has a lot of ways to hit it, but most of the main sets it runs don't exactly cover Excadrill, so he might have an edge here.
Darkrai: It needs Sand Stream to outrun Dark Void, but Darkrai doesn't have much else to use against Excadrill.
Giratina: Aura Sphere and Earth Power work well, and it has Will-O-Wisp.
Shaymin-S: Seed Flare can gun down Excadrill, unless it gets in Rock Slide first.
Zekrom: Excadrill can wreck Zekrom with STAB Earthquakes, and little fear of it's retaliations.
Reshiram: Reshiram on the other hand, can annihilate Excadrill with Blue Flare.
Thundurus: Thundurus needs Grass Knot to hit Excadrill, and it doesn't always carry it. Excadrill is immune to Thunderbolt/Thunder and Thunder Wave and can fire back Rock Slides.

Basically, most stuff there can handle hit or counter him. Thundurus, Zekrom, Darkrai may be the only real exceptions, but even then, Darkrai can put it to sleep. He won't do too well there.

 

[WeatherEffectRain]

^Steel resists Grass, so it's neutral.

Why does everyone seems to forget some obvious resists :I

But actually, Excadrill should be played, and is typically played, as a Scarfed Revenge Killer and Spinner. I prefer it on Sun team w/Groudon, as Ho-Oh(As well as others) really need it.