[overview]
**Draft Order**: Late round 2 onwards
**Price Range**: 14-15 points
**Overview**: Excadrill is a powerful Pokemon that becomes even more dangerous by outspeeding nearly everything, including most Choice Scarf users, under sand. With its fantastic Attack stat, Swords Dance, and Z-Crystals, it can do massive damage to even the bulkiest of foes, although offensive sets tend to be relatively frail and often rely on finding opportunities to set up. It can also fit in a utility role to deal with entry hazards for its partners. For Excadrill to be this threatening, it takes a decent amount of investment and support from its team, but it is generally worth it for the value it provides.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Sand Sweeper**: When sand is active, Excadrill is able to use its great power effectively due to its boosted Speed. If it is given the opportunity to use Swords Dance while sand is active, it becomes a massive offensive threat that is able to outspeed most foes. With Z-Moves, it is able to break through many Pokemon, even those that resist or are immune to its Ground-type attacks.
**Cleaner**: Late game Excadrill's fantastic Speed in sand allows it to finish off weakened teams effectively, especially with the help of damage-boosting items. Outside of sand, it can use Choice Scarf and Mold Breaker to still be quite fast while having the ability to use Earthquake against foes with Levitate.
**Defensive Utility**: With Rapid Spin to remove entry hazards and Stealth Rock to set its own, Excadrill can effectively support its team. Its solid defensive typing helps it to be effective in this role with the ability to switch into opposing Electric- or Fairy-types. It can use Mold Breaker to get around foes with Levitate or Toxic and Substitute to deal with Pokemon that normally wall it.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Earthquake, Iron Head
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance
**Utility Moves**: Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock, Substitute, Toxic, Protect
**Coverage**: Stone Edge, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Brick Break, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab
Niche Moves
========
**Bulldoze / Rock Tomb**: Lowering foes' Speed with Bulldoze or Rock Tomb can allow Excadrill or its partners to outspeed and revenge kill them.
**Magnet Rise**: Replacing its Ground weakness with an immunity through Magnet Rise can allow Excadrill to set up on certain foes.
Common Items
========
**Z-Crystals**: Z-Moves allow Excadrill to break through many foes attempting to wall it, especially after a Swords Dance. Rockium Z and Buginium Z are often used to break through Ground-resistant or -immune Pokemon. Steelium Z is generally preferred as a STAB Z-Crystal option, since Earthquake is already very strong and most Excadrill checks are Ground-resistant or -immune. Groundium Z can still be a solid option in certain situations, however.
**Leftovers**: For sets that plan to stick around, such as bulkier sets focused on entry hazard control, the healing from Leftovers is greatly appreciated.
**Life Orb**: Life Orb provides a consistent, albeit weaker, damage boost compared to Z-Crystals. It's generally less preferred for an offensive item due to its recoil damage and its lower effectiveness at breaking, but it works well if Excadrill's partner would be better off using a Z-Crystal.
**Choice Scarf**: Outside of sand, Excadrill can utilize Choice Scarf to still outspeed many foes with the bonus of being able to break through foes with Levitate or Sturdy with Mold Breaker.
Niche Items
========
**Air Balloon**: Removing Excadrill's weakness to Ground with an Air Balloon can give it a free opportunity to set up.
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: Items like Soft Sand, Expert Belt, and Choice Band can provide Excadrill an important boost in power without using a team's Z-Crystal or having recoil damage.
**Resistance Berries**: Its reasonably high HP combined and common weaknesses makes Excadrill a solid user of resistance Berries. Chople, Shuca, Pasho, and Occa Berry can allow it to survive super effective attacks that would normally KO it.
**Focus Sash**: With a Focus Sash, Excadrill is able to survive a hit, allowing it to set Stealth Rock or set up a Swords Dance.
**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest provides Excadrill with the ability to switch into special attackers while still being able to utilize Rapid Spin.
Draft Strategy
========
Excadrill should not be the premiere offensive threat or only fast Pokemon on a team, since it works best with fast and strong round one picks. It gains immensely from being paired together with partners that set sand to activate its abilities. Even though it can be effective without sand, passing on a sand setter prevents it from reaching its full potential.
**Sand Setter**: Sand greatly enhances the offensive pressure Excadrill exerts on opposing teams. Partners with Sand Steam like Tyranitar, Gigalith, and Hippowdon are all great complements to it.
**Faster Partners**: Although Excadrill can be extremely fast, it needs its team to set sand, and it has limited time to utilize its Speed advantage. Even though sand can be set multiple times a match, Excadrill would rather have consistently faster offensive partners like Zeraora, Mega Gallade, and Mega Lopunny so its team is not reliant on Sand Rush for Speed.
**Pivots**: When sand is activated, Excadrill has limited turns to get in and apply offensive pressure. Due to this time constraint, pivots like Tapu Koko, Zapdos, and Tornadus-T are effective partners, allowing it to switch in safely and quickly apply pressure.
**Alternative Entry Hazard Control**: Excadrill can be effective at setting and removing hazards, but it often wants to be in more offensive roles, especially since Rapid Spin causes it to lose lots of momentum. Sand setters are able to set Stealth Rock, but alternate removal options from the likes of Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, and Serperior allow it to be more flexible.
Checks and Counters
========
**Bulky Flying- and Grass-types**: Excadrill's strong Earthquakes are the center of its damage, so foes that are Ground-resistant or -immune are difficult to break. Bulky Flying-types like Landorus-T, Celesteela, and Skarmory are especially difficult to deal with, since Excadrill cannot hit them supper effectively its coverage.
**Bulky Water- and Ground-types**: Physically defensive Water-types resist Steel and can often take Excadrill's Earthquake relatively well. Foes like Mega Blastoise and Tapu Fini can take a hit and threaten it back with a super effective attack. Even if Excadrill is able to take a hit, being burned by Scald is devastating. Physically defensive Ground-types are similarly difficult to deal with. Krookodile and Swampert can take an unboosted hit and threaten it with a super effective attack in return.
**Removing Sand**: When sand fades, Excadrill's offensive sets lose a lot of their pressure. By taking out its sand setting partner, it cannot use sand in the long run. Opponents can also remove sand by utilizing weather-changing moves like Rain Dance and Sunny Day, disrupting its gameplan without needing to KO its partner and stall the remaining.
**Priority and Faster Foes**: Even with sand active, Excadrill is still susceptible to priority like Mach Punch, Aqua Jet, and Water Shuriken. Outside of sand, its middling Speed allows fast foes like Mega Lopunny, Mega Gallade, and Keldeo to easily outspeed it and take it out.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/odinrm.613514/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Late round 2 onwards
**Price Range**: 14-15 points
**Overview**: Excadrill is a powerful Pokemon that becomes even more dangerous by outspeeding nearly everything, including most Choice Scarf users, under sand. With its fantastic Attack stat, Swords Dance, and Z-Crystals, it can do massive damage to even the bulkiest of foes, although offensive sets tend to be relatively frail and often rely on finding opportunities to set up. It can also fit in a utility role to deal with entry hazards for its partners. For Excadrill to be this threatening, it takes a decent amount of investment and support from its team, but it is generally worth it for the value it provides.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Sand Sweeper**: When sand is active, Excadrill is able to use its great power effectively due to its boosted Speed. If it is given the opportunity to use Swords Dance while sand is active, it becomes a massive offensive threat that is able to outspeed most foes. With Z-Moves, it is able to break through many Pokemon, even those that resist or are immune to its Ground-type attacks.
**Cleaner**: Late game Excadrill's fantastic Speed in sand allows it to finish off weakened teams effectively, especially with the help of damage-boosting items. Outside of sand, it can use Choice Scarf and Mold Breaker to still be quite fast while having the ability to use Earthquake against foes with Levitate.
**Defensive Utility**: With Rapid Spin to remove entry hazards and Stealth Rock to set its own, Excadrill can effectively support its team. Its solid defensive typing helps it to be effective in this role with the ability to switch into opposing Electric- or Fairy-types. It can use Mold Breaker to get around foes with Levitate or Toxic and Substitute to deal with Pokemon that normally wall it.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Earthquake, Iron Head
**Setup Moves**: Swords Dance
**Utility Moves**: Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock, Substitute, Toxic, Protect
**Coverage**: Stone Edge, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Brick Break, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, Poison Jab
Niche Moves
========
**Bulldoze / Rock Tomb**: Lowering foes' Speed with Bulldoze or Rock Tomb can allow Excadrill or its partners to outspeed and revenge kill them.
**Magnet Rise**: Replacing its Ground weakness with an immunity through Magnet Rise can allow Excadrill to set up on certain foes.
Common Items
========
**Z-Crystals**: Z-Moves allow Excadrill to break through many foes attempting to wall it, especially after a Swords Dance. Rockium Z and Buginium Z are often used to break through Ground-resistant or -immune Pokemon. Steelium Z is generally preferred as a STAB Z-Crystal option, since Earthquake is already very strong and most Excadrill checks are Ground-resistant or -immune. Groundium Z can still be a solid option in certain situations, however.
**Leftovers**: For sets that plan to stick around, such as bulkier sets focused on entry hazard control, the healing from Leftovers is greatly appreciated.
**Life Orb**: Life Orb provides a consistent, albeit weaker, damage boost compared to Z-Crystals. It's generally less preferred for an offensive item due to its recoil damage and its lower effectiveness at breaking, but it works well if Excadrill's partner would be better off using a Z-Crystal.
**Choice Scarf**: Outside of sand, Excadrill can utilize Choice Scarf to still outspeed many foes with the bonus of being able to break through foes with Levitate or Sturdy with Mold Breaker.
Niche Items
========
**Air Balloon**: Removing Excadrill's weakness to Ground with an Air Balloon can give it a free opportunity to set up.
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: Items like Soft Sand, Expert Belt, and Choice Band can provide Excadrill an important boost in power without using a team's Z-Crystal or having recoil damage.
**Resistance Berries**: Its reasonably high HP combined and common weaknesses makes Excadrill a solid user of resistance Berries. Chople, Shuca, Pasho, and Occa Berry can allow it to survive super effective attacks that would normally KO it.
**Focus Sash**: With a Focus Sash, Excadrill is able to survive a hit, allowing it to set Stealth Rock or set up a Swords Dance.
**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest provides Excadrill with the ability to switch into special attackers while still being able to utilize Rapid Spin.
Draft Strategy
========
Excadrill should not be the premiere offensive threat or only fast Pokemon on a team, since it works best with fast and strong round one picks. It gains immensely from being paired together with partners that set sand to activate its abilities. Even though it can be effective without sand, passing on a sand setter prevents it from reaching its full potential.
**Sand Setter**: Sand greatly enhances the offensive pressure Excadrill exerts on opposing teams. Partners with Sand Steam like Tyranitar, Gigalith, and Hippowdon are all great complements to it.
**Faster Partners**: Although Excadrill can be extremely fast, it needs its team to set sand, and it has limited time to utilize its Speed advantage. Even though sand can be set multiple times a match, Excadrill would rather have consistently faster offensive partners like Zeraora, Mega Gallade, and Mega Lopunny so its team is not reliant on Sand Rush for Speed.
**Pivots**: When sand is activated, Excadrill has limited turns to get in and apply offensive pressure. Due to this time constraint, pivots like Tapu Koko, Zapdos, and Tornadus-T are effective partners, allowing it to switch in safely and quickly apply pressure.
**Alternative Entry Hazard Control**: Excadrill can be effective at setting and removing hazards, but it often wants to be in more offensive roles, especially since Rapid Spin causes it to lose lots of momentum. Sand setters are able to set Stealth Rock, but alternate removal options from the likes of Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, and Serperior allow it to be more flexible.
Checks and Counters
========
**Bulky Flying- and Grass-types**: Excadrill's strong Earthquakes are the center of its damage, so foes that are Ground-resistant or -immune are difficult to break. Bulky Flying-types like Landorus-T, Celesteela, and Skarmory are especially difficult to deal with, since Excadrill cannot hit them supper effectively its coverage.
**Bulky Water- and Ground-types**: Physically defensive Water-types resist Steel and can often take Excadrill's Earthquake relatively well. Foes like Mega Blastoise and Tapu Fini can take a hit and threaten it back with a super effective attack. Even if Excadrill is able to take a hit, being burned by Scald is devastating. Physically defensive Ground-types are similarly difficult to deal with. Krookodile and Swampert can take an unboosted hit and threaten it with a super effective attack in return.
**Removing Sand**: When sand fades, Excadrill's offensive sets lose a lot of their pressure. By taking out its sand setting partner, it cannot use sand in the long run. Opponents can also remove sand by utilizing weather-changing moves like Rain Dance and Sunny Day, disrupting its gameplan without needing to KO its partner and stall the remaining.
**Priority and Faster Foes**: Even with sand active, Excadrill is still susceptible to priority like Mach Punch, Aqua Jet, and Water Shuriken. Outside of sand, its middling Speed allows fast foes like Mega Lopunny, Mega Gallade, and Keldeo to easily outspeed it and take it out.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/e-man.617175/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/odinrm.613514/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
