[OVERVIEW]
Steel
========
Excadrill is an effective revenge killer and late-game cleaner for Steel teams, making it extremely valuable in the Electric, Poison, Psychic, and Fire matchups. Its ability, Mold Breaker, is extremely useful, as it allows Excadrill to spam Earthquake without being bothered by Levitate users like Rotom-W and Galarian Weezing. However, Excadrill is slower than most Choice Scarf users and gets forced out by those that carry super effective coverage such as Blacephalon, Tapu Lele, and Galarian Darmanitan. Furthermore, Excadrill struggles to deal with physical walls such as Slowbro and Galarian Corsola, which means that it needs support from teammates like Aegislash and Bisharp to break down certain defensive cores.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf (Steel)
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Rapid Spin
move 4: Iron Head
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Earthquake deals with Fire- and Steel-types, allowing Excadrill to remove threats such as Victini and Heatran. Rock Slide allows Excadrill to threaten Flying-types such as Zapdos and Crobat that switch into Earthquake. Rapid Spin allows Excadrill to remove only the opponent's entry hazards, which synergizes with Steel's tendency to stack entry hazards. Iron Head deals with Fairy- and Ice-types such as Tapu Bulu and Kyurem. A Choice Scarf allows Excadrill to outspeed a majority of the metagame and remove threats like Zeraora, Dragapult, and Victini.
Ferrothorn is a good teammate, as it covers Excadrill's weaknesses to Ground and Water by checking Hippowdon and Kingdra and it sets up entry hazards to chip foes. Aegislash provides a Fighting immunity and can punish physically defensive walls such as Slowbro and Mantine with Toxic. Heatran offers a Fire immunity and can trap and remove bulky walls such as Mew and Porygon2 that Excadrill struggles with. Celesteela provides a Ground immunity and threatens Grass- and Steel-types such as Amoonguss and Ferrothorn. Alternatively, Corviknight or Skarmory could be considered as the Ground-immune partner, as they both threaten Fighting-types such as Galarian Zapdos and Kommo-o. Melmetal heavily damages bulky walls such as Amoonguss and Toxapex, which allows Excadrill to clean Psychic and Poison teams late-game. Jirachi threatens physical walls such as Slowbro, Amoonguss, and Celesteela for Excadrill and can wear down Poison and Water teams with its Choice Specs set. Bisharp deals with faster, frailer Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Victini and Blacephalon with Sucker Punch and can break down walls such as Slowbro and Porygon2 with its Swords Dance set.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance (Steel)
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Slide / Iron Head / Rock Blast
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Leftovers
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
With Swords Dance, Excadrill becomes an effective late-game sweeper for Steel teams, allowing it to break through walls such as Toxapex, Slowbro, and Zapdos, which improves the matchup of Steel teams against Poison, Psychic, and Electric teams. Earthquake deals with Poison- and Steel-types, allowing Excadrill to OHKO bulky Pokemon such as Toxapex and Melmetal after a Swords Dance. Rock Slide allows Excadrill to OHKO threats such as Thundurus-T, Zapdos, and Crobat after a Swords Dance. Iron Head may be considered instead, as it allows Excadrill to clean late-game in the Fairy and Dragon matchup and hit common switch-ins such as Landorus-T harder. Rock Blast can be considered to break the Substitutes of Kyurem and Galarian Moltres, but it is less consistent than Rock Slide. Rapid Spin allows Excadrill to boost its Speed, pick off weakened Pokemon, and take advantage of forced switches, allowing it to outspeed would-be answers such as Victini, Zeraora, and Gengar. Leftovers prolongs Excadrill's longevity, allowing it to set up and threaten opposing teams multiple times in a match.
Ferrothorn checks threats such as Tapu Fini and Hippowdon for Excadrill and sets up entry hazards to chip the opposing team. Specially defensive Aegislash can tank weak special attacks from physically defensive walls such as Slowbro and Porygon2 and punish them with Toxic while also providing a Fighting immunity. Heatran provides a switch-in to Fire-type attacks and can utilize a Choice Scarf set to make up for Excadrill's reduced Speed, allowing it to outspeed and KO threats such as Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu and Victini. Celesteela, Corviknight, and Skarmory provide a Ground immunity and utility in the form of Leech Seed, pivoting, and entry hazards, respectively. Choice Scarf Magnezone can trap and KO opposing Steel-types such as Celesteela, Corviknight, and Skarmory and Water-types such as Urshifu-R and Keldeo, all of which Excadrill struggles with.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Steel
--------
Toxic may be used over Iron Head on the Choice Scarf set to punish physical walls such as Slowbro and put setup sweepers such as Hatterene and Mew in a timer. An Occa Berry or Chople Berry may be used over Leftovers on the Swords Dance set to survive a Fire- or Fighting-type move, allowing Excadrill to lure in and KO Pokemon like Zapdos, Blacephalon, Zeraora, and Thundurus-T, but the lack of Leftovers recovery hurts Excadrill's longevity in other matchups. Shed Shell may also be used over Leftovers to prevent Excadrill from getting trapped by Magnet Rise Air Balloon Magnezone, but it is useless in other matchups. Using these items over Leftovers also allows Excadrill to bluff a Choice Scarf set, which can be favorable in Psychic and Electric matchups, as its Choice Scarf set threatens to outspeed and KO Victini and Zeraora.
Checks and Counters
===================
Steel
--------
**Physically Defensive Walls**: Physically defensive Pokemon such as Slowbro, Celesteela, and Hippowdon take minimal damage from Excadrill's attacks and threaten it with their own super effective attacks.
**Choice Scarf Users**: Faster Choice Scarf users such as Victini, Zarude, and Landorus-T outspeed Excadrill and can OHKO it.
**Magnezone**: Excadrill has to be wary of getting trapped and KOed by Magnezone in Electric matchups as Excadrill may be forced to lock into Rock Slide to KO Zapdos. Magnezone can even hold an Air Balloon to render Excadrill's Earthquake ineffective. However, Magnezone is less threatening if Excadrill is using a Swords Dance set.
**Status**: Burn from Galarian Corsola and Scald users like Slowbro severely reduces Excadrill's offensive potential.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Neko, 542526]]
- Steel analysis by: [[Neko, 542526]]
- Quality checked by: [[Felines, 290520], [[maroon, 305839]]
- Grammar checked by: [[dex, 277988], [deetah, 297659]]
Last edited:
