[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 8
**Price Range**: 2-3 points
**Overview**: Despite appearing fairly immobile and possessing a low Speed stat, Alolan Exeggutor can be tailored to get the upper hand on a surprising amount of more powerful Pokemon. It's not the type of Pokemon that wins a game on its own, nor is it the type of niche Pokemon that can counter several relevant top tiers, but it is great at trading itself for a foe of choice and doing as much damage as possible before it faints. Its bulk, offenses, and movepool allow it to beat many Pokemon in a 1v1 situation, but it is almost always immediately revenge killed afterward due to its low Speed and poor defensive typing. However, Alolan Exeggutor rarely goes down without a fight, as it can potentially chain together Harvest activations for repeated Custap Berries to go first until it faints or set up Trick Room for itself if it can survive just one attack. These gimmicks aren't reliable and other Pokemon can perform Alolan Exeggutor's role as a trade piece better, which keep its price at the bottom of the draft board, but it's a viable Pokemon for its price point.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Harvest Wallbreaker**: Alolan Exeggutor leverages its solid mixed offenses, great offensive movepool, and high-Base Power STAB moves in combination with Harvest and a Berry of its choice to break through foes. These sets most often use a Custap Berry to get around its low Speed, but it may also use any other Berry depending on what it needs to break through.
**Offensive Trick Room**: Alolan Exeggutor can embrace its low Speed and set up its own Trick Room to outspeed and wallbreak, provided it can survive long enough to use Trick Room. These sets typically utilize a damage-boosting item or Weakness Policy to maximize damage output during Trick Room's limited turns.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, Grass Knot, Wood Hammer, Draco Meteor, Dragon Hammer, Dragon Pulse
**Setup Moves**: Calm Mind, Curse, Swords Dance
**Utility Moves**: Endure, Trick Room, Brick Break, Dragon Tail, Knock Off, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Moonlight, Protect, Reflect, Rest, Synthesis
**Coverage**: Earthquake, Flamethrower, Low Kick, Psychic, Psychic Noise, Sludge Bomb, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Sleep Powder**: Sleep Powder is far from a consistent move, but its rewards are potentially very high. If Alolan Exeggutor can successfully put something to sleep, it usually has the raw power to break through them in a 1v1 situation.
**Growth**: If sun is expected to be present, Growth can be used as a powerful setup move, which can turn Alolan Exeggutor into a legitimate threat along with Harvest's guaranteed activation in the sun.
Common Items
========
**Custap Berry**: Usually paired with Endure, Alolan Exeggutor uses a Custap Berry to mitigate its poor Speed and capitalize on its strong offenses, and unlike most other Pokemon that often use Custap Berry, it may get more than one opportunity to do so during a game thanks to Harvest.
**Life Orb**: Life Orb is often seen on Trick Room sets to maximize Alolan Exeggutor's damage output while still allowing it to set its own Trick Room. The recoil is of little impact to it, as these sets don't expect to have much longevity.
Niche Items
========
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries, and Yache Berry in particular, can be very useful if Alolan Exeggutor is designed to check a specific foe that may carry coverage for it.
**Weakness Policy**: On offensive Trick Room sets, Alolan Exeggutor can attempt to withstand a super effective attack, activate its Weakness Policy, and then set up Trick Room on the same turn to become very dangerous very quickly.
**Sitrus Berry**: In some matchups, Alolan Exeggutor may opt to stay healthy with the combination of Sitrus Berry and Harvest, increasing its longevity significantly if Harvest activates often enough.
**Eject Pack**: Alolan Exeggutor can use Eject Pack in combination with Leaf Storm or Draco Meteor for a one-time gain of slow momentum on the enemy team.
Tera
========
While Alolan Exeggutor doesn't need Tera to function, and it's incredibly hard to justify even as a secondary Tera Captain, it certainly appreciates Tera to shed its poor base typing and enable it as a more consistent wallbreaker. It often runs defensive Tera types such as Tera Water and Fairy, since its offenses are already high and most of its issues result from its poor defensive typing. Alternatively, it may double down on its offense with a Tera type such as Tera Dragon, Grass, Fire, and Ground to increase the damage output of its STAB moves or coverage.
Draft Strategy
========
Alolan Exeggutor doesn't provide real utility to a draft and it's not strong enough to make up for this, so it should only be drafted on teams that are functionally complete. On the bright side, it is a largely self-sufficient Pokemon that doesn't require much support from its teammates to accomplish what it needs to do.
**Type Resistance Coverage**: Alolan Exeggutor has many weaknesses to common types, so it appreciates teammates that can resist them. Notably, Steel-type Pokemon such as Gholdengo, Empoleon, and Jirachi are resistant to all of its weaknesses.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ice-type Moves**: Ice-type coverage is fairly common, and the tropical Alolan Exeggutor is unfortunately very sensitive to the cold. If a Pokemon has a strong Ice-type attack, it's unlikely that Alolan Exeggutor will be able to beat them unless it uses a Yache Berry or Endure + Custap Berry to survive.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types resist Alolan Exeggutor's STAB moves and are usually too bulky for its coverage to be able to break through them. Typically, it carries coverage for Steel-types while only having the expectation of weakening them rather than beating them.
**Knock Off**: Berries removed via Knock Off cannot be regained from Harvest, so Alolan Exeggutor sets that rely on its Berry must be careful not to switch into Knock Off.
**U-turn**: Alolan Exeggutor is slow and weak to Bug, making the very common U-turn a massive nuisance for it to deal with.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scribble.356084/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Round 8
**Price Range**: 2-3 points
**Overview**: Despite appearing fairly immobile and possessing a low Speed stat, Alolan Exeggutor can be tailored to get the upper hand on a surprising amount of more powerful Pokemon. It's not the type of Pokemon that wins a game on its own, nor is it the type of niche Pokemon that can counter several relevant top tiers, but it is great at trading itself for a foe of choice and doing as much damage as possible before it faints. Its bulk, offenses, and movepool allow it to beat many Pokemon in a 1v1 situation, but it is almost always immediately revenge killed afterward due to its low Speed and poor defensive typing. However, Alolan Exeggutor rarely goes down without a fight, as it can potentially chain together Harvest activations for repeated Custap Berries to go first until it faints or set up Trick Room for itself if it can survive just one attack. These gimmicks aren't reliable and other Pokemon can perform Alolan Exeggutor's role as a trade piece better, which keep its price at the bottom of the draft board, but it's a viable Pokemon for its price point.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Harvest Wallbreaker**: Alolan Exeggutor leverages its solid mixed offenses, great offensive movepool, and high-Base Power STAB moves in combination with Harvest and a Berry of its choice to break through foes. These sets most often use a Custap Berry to get around its low Speed, but it may also use any other Berry depending on what it needs to break through.
**Offensive Trick Room**: Alolan Exeggutor can embrace its low Speed and set up its own Trick Room to outspeed and wallbreak, provided it can survive long enough to use Trick Room. These sets typically utilize a damage-boosting item or Weakness Policy to maximize damage output during Trick Room's limited turns.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, Grass Knot, Wood Hammer, Draco Meteor, Dragon Hammer, Dragon Pulse
**Setup Moves**: Calm Mind, Curse, Swords Dance
**Utility Moves**: Endure, Trick Room, Brick Break, Dragon Tail, Knock Off, Leech Seed, Light Screen, Moonlight, Protect, Reflect, Rest, Synthesis
**Coverage**: Earthquake, Flamethrower, Low Kick, Psychic, Psychic Noise, Sludge Bomb, Tera Blast
Niche Moves
========
**Sleep Powder**: Sleep Powder is far from a consistent move, but its rewards are potentially very high. If Alolan Exeggutor can successfully put something to sleep, it usually has the raw power to break through them in a 1v1 situation.
**Growth**: If sun is expected to be present, Growth can be used as a powerful setup move, which can turn Alolan Exeggutor into a legitimate threat along with Harvest's guaranteed activation in the sun.
Common Items
========
**Custap Berry**: Usually paired with Endure, Alolan Exeggutor uses a Custap Berry to mitigate its poor Speed and capitalize on its strong offenses, and unlike most other Pokemon that often use Custap Berry, it may get more than one opportunity to do so during a game thanks to Harvest.
**Life Orb**: Life Orb is often seen on Trick Room sets to maximize Alolan Exeggutor's damage output while still allowing it to set its own Trick Room. The recoil is of little impact to it, as these sets don't expect to have much longevity.
Niche Items
========
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries, and Yache Berry in particular, can be very useful if Alolan Exeggutor is designed to check a specific foe that may carry coverage for it.
**Weakness Policy**: On offensive Trick Room sets, Alolan Exeggutor can attempt to withstand a super effective attack, activate its Weakness Policy, and then set up Trick Room on the same turn to become very dangerous very quickly.
**Sitrus Berry**: In some matchups, Alolan Exeggutor may opt to stay healthy with the combination of Sitrus Berry and Harvest, increasing its longevity significantly if Harvest activates often enough.
**Eject Pack**: Alolan Exeggutor can use Eject Pack in combination with Leaf Storm or Draco Meteor for a one-time gain of slow momentum on the enemy team.
Tera
========
While Alolan Exeggutor doesn't need Tera to function, and it's incredibly hard to justify even as a secondary Tera Captain, it certainly appreciates Tera to shed its poor base typing and enable it as a more consistent wallbreaker. It often runs defensive Tera types such as Tera Water and Fairy, since its offenses are already high and most of its issues result from its poor defensive typing. Alternatively, it may double down on its offense with a Tera type such as Tera Dragon, Grass, Fire, and Ground to increase the damage output of its STAB moves or coverage.
Draft Strategy
========
Alolan Exeggutor doesn't provide real utility to a draft and it's not strong enough to make up for this, so it should only be drafted on teams that are functionally complete. On the bright side, it is a largely self-sufficient Pokemon that doesn't require much support from its teammates to accomplish what it needs to do.
**Type Resistance Coverage**: Alolan Exeggutor has many weaknesses to common types, so it appreciates teammates that can resist them. Notably, Steel-type Pokemon such as Gholdengo, Empoleon, and Jirachi are resistant to all of its weaknesses.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ice-type Moves**: Ice-type coverage is fairly common, and the tropical Alolan Exeggutor is unfortunately very sensitive to the cold. If a Pokemon has a strong Ice-type attack, it's unlikely that Alolan Exeggutor will be able to beat them unless it uses a Yache Berry or Endure + Custap Berry to survive.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types resist Alolan Exeggutor's STAB moves and are usually too bulky for its coverage to be able to break through them. Typically, it carries coverage for Steel-types while only having the expectation of weakening them rather than beating them.
**Knock Off**: Berries removed via Knock Off cannot be regained from Harvest, so Alolan Exeggutor sets that rely on its Berry must be careful not to switch into Knock Off.
**U-turn**: Alolan Exeggutor is slow and weak to Bug, making the very common U-turn a massive nuisance for it to deal with.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scribble.356084/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
