SET]
name: Sand Sweeper (Defense)
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Rapid Spin / Iron Head
move 4: Swords Dance
item: Life Orb / Soft Sand
ability: Sand Rush
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk, 4 SpD, 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Excadrill is an offensive threat that, when in sand, outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame and threatens many common Pokemon in the tier. With Earthquake and Rock Slide, many things are threatened out by its presence. Rock Slide is for hitting Flying types such as Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Tornadus-Therian. Rapid Spin can be used for hazard removal, and provides a speed boost that can help Excadrill outspeed Pokemon that would normally outspeed it outside of sand. Swords Dance boosts Excadrill's attack even further, allowing Excadrill to clean up weakened teams with ease. Life Orb is the ideal choice, though Soft Sand is an alternative that keeps Excadrill out of priority range while still boosting Earthquake. An Adamant nature is used to deal the most damage to break holes more easily. Excadrill is often used in the defense slot to help take hits more easily and not be punished as hard for not being able to KO a target. It also helps it take priority attacks such as Urshifu-Rapid Strike's Aqua Jet.
Excadrill fits on Sand Teams as a breaker or cleaner. Tyranitar or Hippowdon is absolutely mandatory, as Excadrill can't make use of its greatest strength without them. Ho-Oh is a great god to pair Excadrill with, as it can take Rillaboom's Grassy Glide easily thanks to Regenerator. Yveltal is another god that enjoys Excadrill's positive traits, such as getting rid of Flying resists with Earthquake, and Yveltal softening up Grass-types for Excadrill. Yveltal's Knock Off also helps in weakening the enemy team for Excadrill to clean up. Rotom-Wash is able to threaten out Landorus-Therian and Corviknight, two of Excadrill's biggest checks.
Other Options
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Excadrill can alternatively adopt a more defensive spread with Mold Breaker to provide hazard control with Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock. A Suicide Lead with Mold Breaker can be used on Offensive teams to provide early hazard control. Leftovers can be ran on the Sand Rush set, but the power drop is noticeable.
Checks and Counters
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Bulky Flying-types: Corviknight and Landorus-Therian threaten out Excadrill with Supereffective coverage, and can gain momentum against Excadrill's teammates with U-turn, whilst Landorus-Therian can set up Stealth Rock. However, both can be chipped with Rock Slide.
Grass-types: Tangrowth shuts down Excadrill by resisting Earthquake and not being weak to Rock Slide, whilst keeping itself healthy. Rillaboom can heavily damage Excadrill with Grassy Glide, and Grassy Surge weakens Excadrill's Earthquake.
Priority: Urshifu's Aqua Jet can deal heavy damage to a weakened Excadrill, and other priority such as Weavile's Ice Shard and Rillaboom's Grassy Glide can revenge kill a weakened Excadrill.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Shandeur, 580548]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]
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