NU Alolan Exeggutor

poh

<?>
is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Forum Moderator Alumnus



[OVERVIEW]

Due to its impressive base 125 Special Attack, good coverage, and high-powered STAB moves, Alolan Exeggutor poses a huge threat to defensive teams. Passable bulk and resistances to common types facilitate its setup opportunities. However, Alolan Exeggutor suffers from horrendous speed, which limits its effectiveness to Trick Room, making it difficult to use against offensive teams. Alolan Exeggutor also faces competition from Guzzlord and Drampa, but it carves out a niche as an offensive self-setting Trick Room sweeper. Compared to other Trick Room users like Aromatisse and Slowking, Alolan Exeggutor distinguishes itself with its good type coverage. Unfortunately, it is very vulnerable to metagame-defining threats, such as Fairy-types like Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Mega Audino as well as prominent Fire-types like Emboar and Delphox. The presence of these threats hinders Alolan Exeggutor's ability to set up and sweep, affecting its viability.

[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Flamethrower
move 4: Trick Room
item: Dragonium Z
ability: Frisk
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
ivs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Draco Meteor is Alolan Exeggutor's main STAB move and can be boosted with Dragonium Z. Giga Drain gives it some form of recovery and increases its longevity during the game. Flamethrower gives Alolan Exeggutor perfect coverage and lets it beat Pokemon that resists its STAB moves, mainly Steel-types and Whimsicott. Lastly, Trick Room allows Alolan Exeggutor to outspeed the majority of the metagame in order for it to sweep.

Set Details
========

Maximum HP and Special Attack investment maximizes Alolan Exeggutor's bulk and power. The remaining EVs can go into either Defense or Special Defense. A Quiet nature is preferred to boost Alolan Exeggutor's Special Attack even further and to make it as slow as possible to outspeed as many foes as possible under Trick Room. Dragonium Z transforms Draco Meteor into a very powerful Devastating Drake, essentially making it a 195-Base Power Dragon move and giving Alolan Exeggutor a one-time nuke without the Special Attack drop it would usually face from using Draco Meteor.

Usage Tips
========

Alolan Exeggutor can be used to punch holes in your opponent’s team earlier on in the game. It has more success setting up Trick Room towards the end-game and consequently cleaning using its Z-Move. Alolan Exeggutor is a good switch-in to Water-, Grass-, and Electric-type attacks. However, play carefully, as the opponent can predict the switch and hit it with a more effective move. It can switch with relative ease in on offensive Grass-types like Sceptile Choice-locked into a Grass-type move. However, it cannot safely switch in against Whimsicott, the tier's premier Grass-type Pokemon, because of its threatening Moonblast. Other Pokemon it can switch into with no worries are Water-types like Slowbro, Vaporeon, Gastrodon, and Jellicent and passive Pokemon or Pokemon that need a few boosts before doing good damage like Steelix, Xatu, and Uxie. Since Alolan Exeggutor lacks recovery moves, it shouldn't be brought in too recklessly; because of how slow it is, it will have to take hits before it can dish anything out, which significantly hurts it longevity. Time the usage of your Z-Move correctly so you don't waste it. This can be done on Pokemon with good Special Defense like Virizion, Delphox, and Assault Vest Hariyama.

Team Options
========

A Pokemon that can set up Trick Room and pivot out to Alolan Exeggutor like Uxie is a great partner. Steelix can set up Stealth Rock to soften up Alolan Exeggutor's checks and resists some of the types Alolan Exeggutor is weak to. In return, Alolan Exeggutor can switch into common Steelix answers, mainly Water-types, and use those as setup fodder. Poison types like Garbodor and Weezing patch up Alolan Exeggutor's Fairy, Poison, and Bug weaknesses. The former has access to Spikes, aiding Alolan Exeggutor's cleaning potential even more. Physical wallbreakers that can tear down specially defensive walls like Medicham and Emboar are good partners. These Pokemon can also hurt Ice-types, one of Alolan Exeggutor's biggest hurdles. Pokemon with Thick Fat such as Hariyama and Miltank are especially good partners for Alolan Exeggutor. The latter can further support it with Stealth Rock. Since Alolan Exeggutor fits best on Trick Room-oriented teams, Pokemon that advantage of Trick Room like Guts Hariyama and Aggron are good teammates. Pivots like Xatu and Uxie can help bring in Alolan Exeggutor safely with U-turn and give it ample opportunities to set up Trick Room. If used on a team that doesn't rely on Trick Room, Alolan Exeggutor appreciates fast teammates such as Sneasel, Scyther, and Choice Scarf Hitmonlee to aid it against offensive teams.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A Choice Specs set hits extremely hard and can be used with Leaf Storm and / or Dragon Pulse, giving Alolan Exeggutor immediate power and letting it act more as a wallbreaker than a cleaner or sweeper. Grassium Z in conjunction with Leaf Storm hits Fairy-types such as Aromatisse and Mega Audino the hardest, but Devastating Drake hits the majority of the metagame for good neutral damage. Sludge Bomb can be used to hit Fairy-type Pokemon but is hard to fit on the Trick Room set. Knock Off is an option as a fourth attacking move, crippling specially defensive walls like Type: Null and Golbat.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster threats**: One of Alolan Exeggutor's biggest flaws is its speed. Faster Pokemon with super effective moves or coverage are troublesome to deal with. Examples of these are Fairy-, Dragon-, Bug-, and Poison types such as Whimsicott, Accelgor, and Toxicroak.

**Ice-types**: Alolan Exeggutor's has a 4x weakness to Ice, making Ice-types such as Vanilluxe, Cryogonal, and Sneasel a big obstacle. Sneasel and Piloswine can revenge kill Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room with Ice Shard. Cryogonal has the bulk to spam Recover against Alolan Exeggutor, stalling out its Trick Room turns or just KOing it with a super effective move.

**Flying-types**: Offensive Flying-types such as Archeops, Dodrio, and Braviary can chew a Giga Drain and retaliate with a super effective move. Bulkier Flying-types like Golbat and Braviary can switch into Alolan Exeggutor's attacks with relative ease and proceed to Roost off the damage. However, they must be wary of Devastating Drake.

**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types such as Whimsicott and Mega Audino hurt Alolan Exeggutor's viability and effectiveness in the metagame. However, Whimsicott must be wary of Flamethrower when switching in. Aromatisse can underspeed Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room and OHKO it with Moonblast while taking heavy advantage of the Trick Room Alolan Exeggutor set up.

**Bulky Special Walls**: Alolan Exeggutor has a tough time breaking through Pokemon like Type: Null, specially defensive Venusaur, and specially defensive Golbat. Knock Off can be used to cripple these walls.
 
Last edited:

etern

is a Community Leaderis a Top Tiering Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a defending SCL Championis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
NU Leader
Overview:
  • You've kind of repeated the same information in different ways in the first four lines. Just condense it down to two, "Due to its impressive Special Attack, amazing coverage, and high powered STAB moves Alolan Exeggutor poses a huge threat to defensive teams." "However, Exeggutor-A suffers from horrendous speed which limits its effectiveness to Trick Room, making it difficult to use against offensive teams."
Usage Tips:
  • The most common Sceptile set atm is running either HP Ice or HP Flying so I'd get rid of that mention, or at least specify that it can come in on Grass-type 'moves' from these Pokemon.
  • Add that Exeggutor-A shouldn't be brought in too recklessly as it lacks reliable recovery, and because of how slow it is, it will have to take a lot of hits before it can dish anything out, which really eats away at its longevity.
Team Options:
  • Give examples of these Poison-types, mainly I'd just include Garbodor and possibly Weezing.
  • Add Pokemon that can deal with Ice-types, e.g Emboar, Hariyama, Magmortar, Piloswine.
  • For physical wallbreakers mention Crabominable as it also takes advantage of Trick Room
  • In general you could mention some good Trick Room Pokemon here since that's generally the playstyle you'll see Exeggutor-A in the most
  • Also explain that on non trick room teams, Exeggutor appreciates fast teammates such as Sneasel, Tauros, Scyther, and Scarf Hitmonlee which can aid it against offensive teams.
  • Volturn can also help bring in Exeggutor-A safely and give it ample opportunities to set up Trick Room.
OO:
  • Get rid of Curse, add Sludge Bomb
C&C:
  • Give examples of these Faster Pokemon, e.g Sneasel, Emboar, Braviary, Delphox
  • Give examples of Ice-types, mention that Sneasel, Piloswine, and Vanilluxe to a lesser extent can revenge Exeggutor-A under trick room with Ice Shard.
  • Add a section for Flying-types, mons like Braviary, Archeops, and Dodrio

Once you've done all of that, QC 1/3
 
I've used mon a lot now and I can say that the grand majority of the time Sleep Powder is better than Flamethrower and should be slashed before it. It gives you the ability to "beat" rly specially defensive mons that would normally come in a stop you, and more importantly, it gives you an extra set of TR turns most of the time. Flamethrower is rarely ever useful as you beat lix without it (which is the only important steel), and Whimsicott wins with Encore anyways unless you predict its switch in.
 

poh

<?>
is a Community Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a Forum Moderator Alumnus
The reason why i put flamethrower in the first place is because 1. It gives it perfect coverage 2. Giga Drain doesn't 2hko lix and 3. Flamethrower helps a lot vs all the grasses running around so i don't have to waste the z-move on them or the -2 spatk drop from draco. I feel like Sleep Powder might be better on a specs variant.
 
The perfect coverage is only significant who Exeg usually doesn't be anyways. Steelix gets 3HKO'd by Giga Drain and can't do any damage in return (and if this was really that significant Energy Ball 2HKO's anyways). Hitting other grasses harder is fair (though this only really matters vs Sceptile; Rotom-C can't do anything and you need a lot of damage on Plume to beat it with Flamethrower, so it's usually getting ZMeteor'd), but they all lose to Draco Meteor, and there is definitely value in doubling the amount of turns of TR and crippling a switchin than beating something that already gets beat easier.
 
In the overview, I really dislike how you gave a bullet point to Flamethrower only. It surely is a good coverage option, but is it really worth noting in the overview? Unless you're able to find a reason to mention it alone, such as a niche it has over another Dragon-type pokemon, remove it. You mention Drampa as a competition, but you should give reasons as to why you would use Alolan Exeggutor over it. The overview should help a new player understanding how the Pokemon works and what qualities it has over other Pokemon, so please mention what it has over Drampa, and possibly other Dragon pokemon. You must also list other negative points, it suffers a lot from Whimsicott's and Fire-type pokemon's / Vanilluxe's overwhelming presence, and Mega-Audino's presence which makes it harder for it to set-up or sweep correctly; the metagame isn't exactly kind to Exeggutor-A. You haven't updated this in a fairly long time so the overview definitely needs some refreshing.

Leaf Storm is slashed in Moves, yet you don't mention it anywhere. Explain why you would use Leaf Storm over Giga Drain, and what are the cons of Draco Meteor + Leaf Storm, which should be pretty obvious. You could also mention Sleep Powder here, like Tangelo suggested.

In Set Details, you should mention that having Grassium-Z Leaf Storm / Dragonium Z Draco Meteor makes you able to abuse of a 195 base power nuke + the raw power of any of these moves without suffering from the SpA loss you'd usually have the first time.

In Usage Tips, remove Lilligant and explain that it can not switch-in carefully against Whimsicott, the tier's premier Grass-type pokemon, because of its threatening Moonblast. Remove Meloetta from there.

Remove Machamp and Tauros from Team Options. You should mention (over Thick Fat Hariyama which is honestly not that great of a set) that Miltank is a decent partner as it patches its Ice- and Fire-type weaknesses thanks to Thick Fat while giving SR support. Crabominable and Aggron are bad mons and shouldn't be mentioned here, try finding more common and useful TR mons to include.

In OO, remove Defensive and CB. They're poor options that should never be used; Defensive is outclassed by pokemon like Gourgeist while CB just doesn't take advantage of Exeggutor-A's niche.

C&C needs some touch-up. Vanilluxe became really good as of late (and much more relevant than at the time you wrote this analysis), so I would emphasize on how it really annoys it in the Ice-type section. Fairy-type mons need their own section: Whimsicott and Mega-Audino hurt Exeggutor-A's viability and effectiveness in this metagame. The spD pokemon section is too vague for my liking, I would like to see it removed, since it doesn't hit a specific type of Pokemon very clearly.

Fix everything and update it so that it can be more relevant to the actual metagame and I'll take a look at it again for 2/3, PursuitOfHappiny
 
  • Like
Reactions: poh

quziel

I am the Scientist now
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
Intro:
"Unfortunately it suffers a lot from metagame defining threats . Mainly Fairy-types like Whimsicott and Mega Audino but also Fire-types like Emboar and Delphox, with the presence of these threats hindering Alolan Exeggutor's ability to setup and sweep, affecting its viability."

Awkward sentence, rephrase.

TR set:
"Giga Drain, its second STAB move, helps it deal with Dragon resists and gives it some form of recovery."

Does it? its more a consistent attack, and it really isn't denting any dragon resist in the tier more than flamethrower.

Usage tips:
"Other pokemon it can switch in to with no worries are Water types like Slowbro, Vaporeon, Seismitoad, Gastrodon and Jellicent."

Remove Seis.

"This can be done on Pokemon with good Special Defense like Virizion, Delphox and Type: Null."

Remove a mention of Null, you aren't breaking it.

Team options:
"A pokemon that can set up Trick Room and pivot into Alolan Exeggutor like Uxie is a great partner. Make sure to patch that Bug weakness. "

Combine into one sentence.

"Steelix can set up Stealth Rock to soften up Alolan Exeggutors checks and resists some of the types Alolan Exeggutor is weak to. "

Mention that many of its answers, aka water types, are easy setup fodder for eggy.

"Poison types like Garbodor and Weezing, patch up its Fairy, Poison and Bug weakness."

Emphasize that Garb also sets up spikes, which really aids it in cleaning.

Other Options
"Choice Specs / Life Orb are viable options over Dragonium Z. Sludge Bomb can be used to hit Fairy-type Pokemon"

Flesh this out a tad, explain why they are good, and why bad.

Checks and Counters:
"**Ice-types**: Alolan Exeggutor's has a 4 times weakness to Ice making Ice types such as Vanilluxe, Cryogonal, and Sneasel a big obstacle. Sneasel and Piloswine can revenge Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room with Ice Shard."

Mention that Cryo has the bulk (5% of the time after rocks) to just spam Recovery vs you, stalling out your TR turns, or just KOing you.

"**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types such as Whimsicott and Mega Audino hurt Alolan Exeggutor's viability and effectiveness in the metagame. However, Whimsicott must be weary of Flamethrower when switching in."

Note that Aromatisse can out-slow you, and OHKO with moonblast, while heavily abusing the Trick Room you set up.

Add a section for bulky special walls such as Type:Null, Spdef Venusaur, AV Magmortar, and AV Hariyama, the former of which legitimately cannot be broken barring a crit, and the latter which tank a hit and beat you.

QC 3/3 once this is implemented
 

quziel

I am the Scientist now
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
Looks good, only a few nitpicks:
-When talking about competition add in other trick room sweepers, and emphasize its differences (it has by far the best coverage).
-In the Garbodor thingey add that it sets up spikes, this is important.
 

Lumari

empty spaces
is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris an Administrator Alumnus
TFP Leader


remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/2
[OVERVIEW]

Due to its impressive base 125 Special Attack, good coverage, and high-powered (AH) STAB moves, (AC) Alolan Exeggutor poses a huge threat to defensive teams. Boasting Passable bulk and resisting resistances to common types facilitates facilitate its set-up setup opportunities. However, Alolan Exeggutor suffers from horrendous speed, (AC) which limits its effectiveness to Trick Room, making it difficult to use against offensive teams. Alolan Exeggutor also faces competition from Guzzlord and Drampa, however, Alolan Exeggutor but it carves out a niche as an offensive self-setting Trick Room sweeper. Compared to other Trick Room users like Aromatisse and Slowking, Alolan Exeggutor distinguishes itself with its good type coverage. Unfortunately, (AC) it suffers a lot from is very vulnerable to metagame-defining (AH) threats, (comma) It struggles with such as Fairy-types like Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Mega Audino but also as well as prominent Fire-types like Emboar and Delphox. The presence of these threats hinder hinders Alolan Exeggutor's ability to setup set up and sweep, affecting its viability.

[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Flamethrower
move 4: Trick Room
item: Dragonium Z
ability: Frisk
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
ivs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Draco Meteor is Alolan Exeggutor's main STAB move and can be reinforced boosted with Dragonium Z. Giga Drain, its second STAB move, gives it some form of recovery and increases its longevity during the game. Flamethrower gives Alolan Exeggutor perfect coverage and lets it beat Pokemon that resists its STAB moves, mainly Steel-types (AH) and Whimsicott. Alolan Exeggutor can set up Lastly, Trick Room (RC) allows Alolan Exeggutor to outspeeding the majority of the meta under Trick Room, in order for it to sweep.

Set Details
========

Maximum HP and Special Attack investment maximizes its Alolan Exeggutor's bulk and power. The remaining EVs can go into either Defense or Special Defense. A Quiet nature is preferred to boost its Special Attack even further and to make it as slow as possible to make sure you outspeed as many foes as possible under Trick Room. Dragonium Z transforms Draco Meteor into a very powerful Devastating Drake, essentially becoming making it a 195-Base (AH) Power Dragon move, giving you Alolan Exeggutor a one-time nuke without the Special Attack drop you'd it'd usually have face from using Draco Meteor.

Usage Tips
========

Alolan Exeggutor can be used to punch holes in your opponent’s team earlier on in the game. It has more success setting up Trick Room towards the endgame and consequently cleaning using its Z-Move. Alolan Exeggutor is a good switch-in to Water-, Grass-, and Electric-type attacks. However, switch play carefully, as the opponent can predict the switch and hit it with a more effective move. It can switch with relative ease in on offensive Grass-types like Sceptile Choice-locked (AH) into a Grass-type move. However, it can not switch-in carefully cannot safely switch in against Whimsicott, the tier's premier Grass-type Pokemon, because of its threatening Moonblast. Other Pokemon it can switch in to into with no worries are Water-types like Slowbro, Vaporeon, Gastrodon, and Jellicent (RP) and passive Pokemon or Pokemon that need a few boosts before doing good damage are perfect opportunities for Alolan Exeggutor to enter the field safely. Examples of said pokemons are like Steelix, Xatu, and Uxie. Since Alolan Exeggutor lacks recovery moves (on this set), it shouldn't be brought in too recklessly; (SC) because of how slow it is, it will have to take hits before it can dish anything out, which significantly hurts it longevity. Time the usage of your Z-Move correctly so you don't waste it. This can be done on Pokemon with good Special Defense like Virizion, Delphox and Assault Vest Hariyama.

Team Options
========

A Pokemon that can set up Trick Room and pivot into out to Alolan Exeggutor like Uxie is a great partner. Steelix can set up Stealth Rock to soften up Alolan Exeggutors Exeggutor's checks and resists some of the types Alolan Exeggutor is weak to. In return, Alolan Exeggutor can switch into common Steelix answers, mainly Water-types, and use those as setup fodder. Poison types like Garbodor and Weezing (RC) patch up its Alolan Exeggutor's Fairy, Poison, (AC) and Bug weaknesses. The former has access to Spikes, aiding its cleaning potential even more. Physical wallbreakers that can tear down specially defensive walls like Medicham and Emboar are good partners. These Pokemon can also hurt Ice-types, one of Alolan Exeggutors biggest hurdles. Pokemon with Thick Fat such as Hariyama and Miltank stand out to be are especially good partners for Alolan Exeggutor. The latter can further support it with Stealth Rock. Since Alolan Exeggutor fits the best on Trick Room-oriented (AH) teams, Pokemon that advantage of Trick Room like Guts Hariyama and Aggron are good teammates. Pivots like Xatu and Uxie can help bring in Alolan Exeggutor safely with U-turn and give it ample opportunities to set up Trick Room. If used on a team that doesn't rely on Trick Room, Alolan Exeggutor appreciates fast teammates such as Sneasel, Scyther, (AC) and Choice Scarf Hitmonlee which can to aid it against offensive teams.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A Choice Specs set hits extremely hard and can be used with Leaf Storm and/or Dragon Pulse, (comma) Choice Specs gives you giving Alolan Exeggutor immediate power and acts letting it act more as a breaker than a cleaner or sweeper. Grassium Z in conjunction with Leaf Storm hits Fairy-types such as Aromatisse and Mega Audino the hardest, (AC) but Devastating Drake hits the majority of the meta for good neutral damage. Sludge Bomb can be used to hit Fairy-type Pokemon but is hard to fit on the Trick Room set. Knock Off is an option as a 4th fourth attacking move, crippling specially defensive walls like Type: (add colon) Null and Golbat.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster threats**: One of its Alolan Exeggutor's biggest flaws is its speed. Faster Pokemon with super effective moves or coverage are troublesome to deal with. Examples of these are Faster Fairy-, Dragon-, Bug-, (AH, AC) and Poison-types (AH, RP) Examples of these faster threats are such as Whimsicott, Accelgor, (AC) and Toxicroak.

**Ice-types**: Alolan Exeggutor's has a 4 times 4x weakness to Ice, (AC) making Ice-types (AH) such as Vanilluxe, Cryogonal, and Sneasel a big obstacle. Sneasel and Piloswine can revenge kill Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room with Ice Shard. Cryogonal has the bulk to spam Recover vs youagainst Alolan Exeggutor, stalling out your its Trick Room turns (RC) or just KOing Alolan Exeggutor it with a super effective (RH) move.

**Flying-types**: Offensive Flying-types such as Archeops, Dodrio, and Braviary can chew a Giga Drain and retaliate back with a super effective move. Bulkier Flying-types like Golbat and Braviary can switch on its Alolan Exeggutor's attacks with relative ease and proceed to Roost off the damage. However, (AC) they must be wary of a Devastating Drake.

**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types such as Whimsicott and Mega Audino hurt Alolan Exeggutor's viability and effectiveness in the metagame. However, Whimsicott must be weary wary of Flamethrower when switching in. Aromatisse can out-slow you underspeed Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room (RC) and OHKO it with Moonblast (RC) while heavily abusing taking heavy advantage of the Trick Room you set up.

**Bulky Special walls**: Alolan Exeggutor has a tough time breaking through Pokemon like Type: (add colon) Null, specially defensive Venusaur, (AC) and specially defensive Golbat. Knock off can be used to cripple these walls.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: poh

Fireflame

Silksong when
is a Top Contributoris a Smogon Media Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnus
Remove Add Comments (AC)= add comma (RC)= remove comma (AH)= add hyphen (RH)= remove hyphen
[OVERVIEW]

Due to its impressive base 125 Special Attack, good coverage, and high-powered STAB moves, Alolan Exeggutor poses a huge threat to defensive teams. Passable bulk and resistances to common types facilitate its setup opportunities. However, Alolan Exeggutor suffers from horrendous speed, which limits its effectiveness to Trick Room, making it difficult to use against offensive teams. Alolan Exeggutor also faces competition from Guzzlord and Drampa, but it carves out a niche as an offensive self-setting Trick Room sweeper. Compared to other Trick Room users like Aromatisse and Slowking, Alolan Exeggutor distinguishes itself with its good type coverage. Unfortunately, it is very vulnerable to metagame-defining threats, such as Fairy-types like Whimsicott, Aromatisse, and Mega Audino as well as prominent Fire-types like Emboar and Delphox. The presence of these threats hinders Alolan Exeggutor's ability to set up and sweep, affecting its viability.

[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Flamethrower
move 4: Trick Room
item: Dragonium Z
ability: Frisk
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
ivs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Draco Meteor is Alolan Exeggutor's main STAB move and can be boosted with Dragonium Z. Giga Drain gives it some form of recovery and increases its longevity during the game. Flamethrower gives Alolan Exeggutor perfect coverage and lets it beat Pokemon that resists its STAB moves, mainly Steel-types and Whimsicott. Lastly,(AC) Trick Room allows Alolan Exeggutor to outspeed the majority of the metagame in order for it to sweep.

Set Details
========

Maximum HP and Special Attack investment maximizes Alolan Exeggutor's bulk and power. The remaining EVs can go into either Defense or Special Defense. A Quiet nature is preferred to boost its Alolan Exeggutor's Special Attack even further and to make it as slow as possible to make sure you outspeed as many foes as possible under Trick Room. Dragonium Z transforms Draco Meteor into a very powerful Devastating Drake, essentially making it a 195-Base Power Dragon move,(RC) and giving Alolan Exeggutor a one-time nuke without the Special Attack drop it'd it would usually face from using Draco Meteor.

Usage Tips
========

Alolan Exeggutor can be used to punch holes in your opponent’s opponent's team earlier on in the game. It has more success setting up Trick Room towards the end-(AH)game and consequently cleaning using its Z-Move. Alolan Exeggutor is a good switch-in to Water-, Grass-, and Electric-type attacks. However, play carefully, as the opponent can predict the switch and hit it with a more effective move. It can switch with relative ease in on offensive Grass-types like Sceptile Choice-locked into a Grass-type move. However, it cannot safely switch in against Whimsicott, the tier's premier Grass-type Pokemon, because of its threatening Moonblast. Other Pokemon it can switch into with no worries are Water-types like Slowbro, Vaporeon, Gastrodon, and Jellicent and passive Pokemon or Pokemon that need a few boosts before doing good damage like Steelix, Xatu, and Uxie. Since Alolan Exeggutor lacks recovery moves, it shouldn't be brought in too recklessly; because of how slow it is, it will have to take hits before it can dish anything out, which significantly hurts it longevity. Time the usage of your Z-Move correctly so you don't waste it. This can be done on Pokemon with good Special Defense like Virizion, Delphox,(AC) and Assault Vest Hariyama.

Team Options
========

A Pokemon that can set up Trick Room and pivot out to Alolan Exeggutor like Uxie is a great partner. Steelix can set up Stealth Rock to soften up Alolan Exeggutor's checks and resists some of the types Alolan Exeggutor is weak to. In return, Alolan Exeggutor can switch into common Steelix answers, mainly Water-types, and use those as setup fodder. Poison types like Garbodor and Weezing patch up Alolan Exeggutor's Fairy, Poison, and Bug weaknesses. The former has access to Spikes, aiding its Alolan Exeggutor's cleaning potential even more. Physical wallbreakers that can tear down specially defensive walls like Medicham and Emboar are good partners. These Pokemon can also hurt Ice-types, one of Alolan Exeggutors Exeggutor's biggest hurdles. Pokemon with Thick Fat such as Hariyama and Miltank are especially good partners for Alolan Exeggutor. The latter can further support it with Stealth Rock. Since Alolan Exeggutor fits best on Trick Room-oriented teams, Pokemon that advantage of Trick Room like Guts Hariyama and Aggron are good teammates. Pivots like Xatu and Uxie can help bring in Alolan Exeggutor safely with U-turn and give it ample opportunities to set up Trick Room. If used on a team that doesn't rely on Trick Room, Alolan Exeggutor appreciates fast teammates such as Sneasel, Scyther, and Choice Scarf Hitmonlee to aid it against offensive teams.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A Choice Specs set hits extremely hard and can be used with Leaf Storm and / or Dragon Pulse, giving Alolan Exeggutor immediate power and letting it act more as a wallbreaker than a cleaner or sweeper. Grassium Z in conjunction with Leaf Storm hits Fairy-types such as Aromatisse and Mega Audino the hardest, but Devastating Drake hits the majority of the metagame for good neutral damage. Sludge Bomb can be used to hit Fairy-type Pokemon but is hard to fit on the Trick Room set. Knock Off is an option as a fourth attacking move, crippling specially defensive walls like Type: Null and Golbat.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Faster Threats**: One of Alolan Exeggutor's biggest flaws is its speed. Faster Pokemon with super effective moves or coverage are troublesome to deal with. Examples of these are Fairy-, Dragon-, Bug-, and Poison types such as Whimsicott, Accelgor, and Toxicroak.

**Ice-types**: Alolan Exeggutor's has a 4x weakness to Ice, making Ice-types such as Vanilluxe, Cryogonal, and Sneasel a big obstacle. Sneasel and Piloswine can revenge kill Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room with Ice Shard. Cryogonal has the bulk to spam Recover against Alolan Exeggutor, stalling out its Trick Room turns or just KOing it with a super effective move.

**Flying-types**: Offensive Flying-types such as Archeops, Dodrio, and Braviary can chew a Giga Drain and retaliate with a super effective move. Bulkier Flying-types like Golbat and Braviary can switch on into Alolan Exeggutor's attacks with relative ease and proceed to Roost off the damage. However, they must be wary of a Devastating Drake.

**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types such as Whimsicott and Mega Audino hurt Alolan Exeggutor's viability and effectiveness in the metagame. However, Whimsicott must be wary of Flamethrower when switching in. Aromatisse can underspeed Alolan Exeggutor under Trick Room and OHKO it with Moonblast while taking heavy advantage of the Trick Room you Alolan Exeggutor set up.

**Bulky Special Walls**: Alolan Exeggutor has a tough time breaking through Pokemon like Type: Null, specially defensive Venusaur, and specially defensive Golbat. Knock Off can be used to cripple these walls.
GP 2/2
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top