ultimatedra
New Member
[GAL=53351] "It can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel
strong enough to bore through iron plates."[/GAL]
strong enough to bore through iron plates."[/GAL]
By: Regis_Neo
Excadrill is perhaps one of the most feared Pokemon out there, and with good reason. Possessing the powerful Sand Rush Ability, which doubles his speed stat during Sandstorm weather, Excadrill can sweep through teams with ease. Few Pokemon can live through Excadrill's strong attacks, and fewer still can ever hope to outspeed Excadrill in Sandstorm.
Base Stats:
HP: 110
Att: 135
Def: 60
Sp Att: 50
Sp Def: 65
Spe: 88
Excadrill was one of the most hyped Pokemon up to the release of Black/White, and with good reason. Possessing great HP and Attack, as well as ok Speed, most eyes went straight to Sand Rush, which again doubles his speed in Sandstorm. Given the popularity of weather Pokemon like Tyranitar, Excadrill became his best friend before he was even released. If he has any weakness, his low Defense and Special Defense leaves him open to being damaged by many attacks regardless of his great HP. But even then, considering how fast Excadrill can be and how much damage he can deal, how many Pokemon ever get the chance to use an attack on him in the first place?
Excadrill @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Sand Rush
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-X-Scissor
-Protect / Swords Dance
Earthquake and Rock Slide offer great coverage on many Pokemon types out there, very few Pokemon resist both. X-Scissor is your main tertiary attack, offering a nice super effective option against Psychic and Dark Pokemon. Finally, Protect gives Excadrill a means of survival, as despite the great HP stat both defensive stats are low, leaving him prone to any super effective attack. If you're using Excadrill for Singles, Swords Dance offers a nice alternative over Protect since Protect isn't nearly as useful here; you can use Swords Dance in Doubles as well, but it's much harder to setup unless you have supporting Pokemon.
For your item choice, it all depends really on what you want to accomplish: Life Orb offers much more destructive power and a better chance to OHKO opposing targets, but Focus Sash is incredibly useful because again despite Excadrill's excellent HP, both defensive stats are weak in comparison and could leave him vulnerable to being one-shotted by a particularly powerful attack otherwise. I would lean more toward Focus Sash to be on the safe side, but if another of your Pokemon is already using it, Life Orb is still a fine option. And should Life Orb be used by someone else, you can always go with a damage-reducing Berry or Earth Gem to give Earthquake a big one-time punch.
Obviously you'll want a Pokemon with either the Sand Stream Ability or the move Sandstorm to activate Excadrill's Ability; ideally Tyranitar or Hippowdon would be the best teammates so you don't have to waste an attack using Sandstorm. If you dislike Earthquake for some reason, Bulldoze offers STAB and lowers your opponent's Pokemon's Speed, akin to Icy Wind, which arguably can be more team supportive. It is weaker and more limiting though, not to mention the Pokemon normally immune to Earthquake are immune to Bulldoze as well. Excadrill's other Ability, Sand Force, is good as well, but without Sand Rush Excadrill is too slow to compete with the many faster Pokemon out there, which negates any boosted power offered by Sand Rush. Mold Breaker (its Dream World Ability) is great like Sand Force, but again losing the speed advantage Sand Rush offers makes anything else subpar really.
Overall, Excadrill is a great Pokemon to have on Sandstorm teams. Much like how Rain teams have Swift Swim Pokemon, Sandstorm has Excadrill to simply outrun and beat down the competition largely unopposed due to its great attacks and speed.
