Excadrill, The Subterrene Pokémon. It can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel strong enough to bore through iron plates.More than 300 feet below the surface, they build mazelike nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels.

Overview

I hate this thing. I hate it so much. It is stupidly good. Excadrill has insanely high Attack and the ability Sand Rush, which doubles its Speed in sandstorm. It also has Swords Dance and a good physical movepool, and to top it off it is pretty bulky for a sweeper. Excadrill is pretty much the most dangerous Pokémon in the OU metagame, thanks to its huge offensive capabilities. If you are making an OU team, have this Pokémon covered. In fact, have sandstorm covered in general, as Excadrill is seen on practically every sandstorm team.

Abilities

Sand Rush: easily the best ability Excadrill has, and one of the best abilities in the game. Your Speed is doubled in sandstorm. Basically, it's a free Agility. With Jolly and max EVs, Excadrill has 302 Speed, which leaves it with a brutal 604 Speed after Sand Rush. On top of its 135 base Attack and Swords Dance, it will be wiping your team out unless you are prepared.
Sand Force: not a bad ability as it gives Earthquake about 200 base power and Rock Slide about 97. However, you're then left with a lackluster Speed stat. Sand Rush is easily better.
Mold Breaker: means it beats Weezing and Bronzong, but otherwise it is dire.

Pretty much the only set you will see

- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Return / X-Scissor / Brick Break / Rapid Spin
Item Attached: Life Orb / Air Balloon
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

Swords Dance makes Excadrill ridiculously threatening. Doubled base 135 Attack is silly, and should not be underestimated. Earthquake I've praised to death as being one of the best physical attacks in the game, so I'm sure you know it is no exception on Excadrill. Rock Slide provides awesome coverage with Earthquake, and the flinch can be crazy helpful with Sand Rush. It's a shame you don't get Stone Edge, but oh well. The fourth move depends on what you want to take down. Regardless of what you pick, there will be something (other than priority moves) that will counter you. Return allows you to smack the Rotom formes, Gliscor, Weezing, that sort of lot. Stuff that isn't hit by Earthquake, and isn't hurt much by Rock Slide. X-Scissor ruins bulky Grass types like Celebi and also hits Slowbro and Starmie harder than Earthquake. Brick Break is pretty much solely for Air Balloon Heatran, as otherwise it checks you. Rapid Spin is an odd choice, but it makes Excadrill the most offensive spinner in the game, not to mention its Speed and the switches it forces make it a fairly effective user of Rapid Spin.
Life Orb gives you way more power, but Air Balloon gives you more opportunities to switch in, and stops stuff from smashing you with Earthquake.

An alternative you will rarely see

- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- X-Scissor
- Return
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs and Nature:
Evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atlk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)

If you want initial power rather than relying on Swords Dance, try this out. Earthquake is amazing, the greatest, etc. Rock Slide gets great coverage, although a little weak. X-Scissor ruins Celebi, Slowbro, Reuniclus, Psychics and Grasses basically. Return hits plenty of Pokémon hard thanks to its 102 base power.

EVs & Natures

Mole
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 in some other stat. That's it. There's no reason to use anything else.

Other Options

Choice Scarf, Aerial Ace, Drill Run, Shadow Claw, Substitute
Choice Scarf can be used with Sand Rush for a powerful attacker, but I'd rather just use Sand Rush and Choice Band to be honest.
Aerial Ace used to be awful, but because of Virizion and Breloom being so popular, it isn't as dire an option as it once was.
Drill Run can be used over Earthquake if you fancy the high critical hit rate.
Shadow Claw is mostly useful with Rapid Spin, as you can take out the opponent's Ghosts and spin at the same time.
Substitute works well with your high Speed, and also allows you to boost safely.

Double & Triple Battle Options

Excadrill can be great in doubles, especially in sandstorm. It has STAB Earthquake, that awesome base Attack, and Sand Rush. Rock Slide is also handy as it this both Pokémon the opponent has. It may be weak to Surf, Heat Wave, and Earthquake, but it's such an amazing offensive Pokémon that outspeeds pretty much everything, these weaknesses can be overlooked. If you run Air Balloon, you remove the Ground weakness entirely!

Partners

SANDSTORM. Tyranitar or Hippowdon, it doesn't matter. Just run sandstorm. Excadrill's main issue is priority, specifically Mach Punch. Running Gliscor or Reuniclus works really to counter these Mach Punch users. They also benefit from sandstorm. A bulky Water to take on Aqua Jet users could be important, although Aqua Jet is way less common than Mach Punch. Suicune, Jellicent, something like that. Bulky Waters also stop Heatran. Because of the switches Excadrill forces, entry hazards like Spikes and Stealth Rock are important in dealing damage. As it is immune to Electric attacks, you could go down the baiting route. Skarmory, Gyarados, stuff weak to Electric so you get a free switch in. A good idea is to run Excadrill with Pokémon like Landorus, Terrakion, fast physical sweepers with similar counters, as the opponent likely won't be prepared for that many powerhouses, and their counters will just buckle.

Countering Excadrill

Right, this all depends on the moves and item Excadrill has. We'll start with counters that work pretty much all of the time; Bronzong, Gliscor, Skarmory, Pokémon immune to Ground that take little damage from every other attack. Bronzong can Earthquake or Gyro Ball Excadrill (or use Trick Room), Gliscor can take anything, Earthquake it or Fire Fang it, and Skarmory can... uh... use it for set up bait or Whirlwind it away. There are other Pokémon that work, just find them. Now, attack specific counters include Air Balloon Heatran, Weezing, priority attacks, bulky Grass Pokémon, Excadrill. Right, Air Balloon Heatran checks Excadrill really well, but is hurt by Rock Slide but especially Brick Break. Make sure to switch into Earthquake or Swords Dance, as otherwise you lose you Air Balloon. Weezing can take any attack except for Return and +2 Rock Slide well, and Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split, Flamethrower, whatever its way to beating the mole. Mach Punch coming from Iron Fist Infernape, Choice Band Conkeldurr, Technician Breloom, Technician Hitmontop, Aqua Jet from Azumarill, Vacuum Wave from Lucario or Infernape, Bullet Punch from Choice Band Scizor, priority really hurts Excadrill. Bulky Grass Pokémon can take anything but X-Scissor and Return well, and hit you back hard. Excadrill itself can Speed draw with itself and try and beat it like that. As I've said, Excadrill is one of the best Pokémon in the game. Probably the most dangerous Pokémon right now, and I can't see that changing, unless it gets bumped to ubers, which I also can't see happening. Oh, speaking of ubers, Excadrill works well there. Yeah, it can do anything.

Pre-Evolution Corner

Drilbur does exactly what Excadrill does, but in the lower tiers and in Little Cup. It isn't as devastating as it has way less Attack, but it can still work. .

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game.

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game.

Black/White:
Challenger's Cave, Victory Road, Giant Chasm

Animé Appearences

Excadrill has made a few appearances. In all of which, it was under the control of Iris. First, it disobeyed, but it eventually learned to re-respect Iris and was used in various battles # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 668 The Bloom Is on Axew! Out of Control Scolipede! Rescue Axew!! Pics 679 Dancing With the Ducklett Trio! Pikachu VS Sandile VS Ducklett! Pics 686 Emolga the Irresistible! Beware of Cute Faces! Emolga Paralyses! Pics 687 Emolga and the New Volt Switch! Emolga VS Snivy! Volt Switch Chaos! Pics 693 Ash and Trip's Third Battle Rival Battle! Vanillite & Timburr Participate in Battle! Pics 695 Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster! The Dragon Buster Appears! Iris & Excadrill!! Pics 696 Gotta Catch A Roggenrola! Roggenrola!! Let's Fire the Flash Cannon!! Pics M14 White: Victini & Zekrom Victini & The Black Hero: Zekrom Pics M14 Black: Victini & Reshiram Victini & The White Hero: Reshiram Pics 703 The Club Battle Finale: A Heroes Outcome! Decisive Don Battle! Ash VS Iris!! Pics 705 Purrloin: Sweet or Sneaky? Be Cautious of Purrloin! Meowth & Oshawott!! Pics 709 Battle For The Underground High-Speed! Battle Subway! Part Two Pics 720 Stopping the Rage of Legends! (Part 1) Tornadus VS Thundurus VS Landorus!! (Part One) Pics 722 Battling the King of the Mines! Underground Gym Battle! VS Clay!! Pics 723 Crisis at Chargestone Cave! Joltik, Galvantula! Chargestone Cave!! Pics 725 Explorers of the Hero's Ruin! The Black Hero's Ruins! Sigiliyph and Cofagrigus!! Pics 726 Battling the Bully! Double Battle! Pikachu & Krokorok VS Scolipede & Seismitoad!! Pics 727 Baffling the Bouffalant! Afro, GO! Bouffalant, NO!! Pics 731 The Clubsplosion Begins! The Unveiling Donamite! Scraggy VS Simisage!! Pics 732 Search for the Clubultimate! Quick Succession Donamite! Druddigon VS Bisharp!! Pics 733 A Clubsplosion of Excitement! Fierce Fighting Donamite! Bisharp VS Emboar!! Pics 742 Crisis at Ferroseed Research Ferroseed Research Institute! Iris and Vanilluxe!! Pics 743 An Epic Defense Force! Movie Showdown! Sortie, Unova Defense Group!! Pics 747 Piplup, Pansage, and a Meeting of the Times! Piplup VS Pansage, the Magnificent Battle!! Pics S30 Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Magnagate & The Infinite Labyrinth Pics M15 Kyurem VS The Sword of Justice Kyurem VS The Sacred Swordsman Keldeo Pics 748 Expedition to Onix Island Survival on the Island of Onix! Pics 752 Battling Authority Once Again! Power Battle! Iris VS Dawn! Pics 761 A Village Homecoming! Iris, Return to Dragon Village! Pics 762 Drayden Versus Iris: Past, Present, and Future! Opelucid Gym! Iris VS Drayden!! Pics 764 Curtain Up, Unova League The Unova League Higaki Tournament Begins! Pics 771 The Name's N! Friend...His name is N! Pics 775 Saving Braviary! N Returns! Operation: Rescue Braviary!! Pics 776 The Pokémon Harbor Patrol! Hurry Up! The Pokémon Gulf Coast Relief Corps!! Pics 777 Flames of a Red-Hot Reunion! Burn, Charizard! VS Dragonite! Pics 779 Secrets From Out of the Fog! N's Secret...Beyond the Fog! Pics 780 Meowth, Colress and Team Rivalry! Team Rocket VS Team Plasma! Meowth and Colress!! Pics 784 Farewell, Unova! Setting Sail for New Adventures! Farewell Unova! Setting Sail Once Again!! Pics 789 To Catch a Rotom! Rotom VS Professor Oak! Pics M16 Genesect & The Legend Awakened Extremespeed Genesect: Mewtwo Awakens Pics 800 Team Rocket's Shocking Recruit! Emolga Joins Team Rocket!? Pics 801 Survival of the Striaton Gym! Cilan VS The Ice Challenger! The Crisis at Striation Gym!! Pics 1133 Sword and Shield: From Here to Eternatus! Sword & Shield III: Eternatus Pics 1134 Sword and Shield: The Legends Awaken! Sword & Shield IV: Ultimate Sword & Shield Pics 1154 Thrash of the Titans! Dragon Battle! Ash VS Iris!! Pics 1205 Pride of a Champion! Champions' Pride! Lance VS Diantha!! Pics 1206 The Fiery Road to Mastership! VS Cynthia! Iris' Road to Dragon Master Pics 1207 Battling as Hard as Stone! Ash Heads Into Battle! VS Steven!! Pics 1210 TBC The Climax Begins: Ash's Masters Tournament Experience Pics