Shadow Alolan Exeggutor
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
The Shadow boost has pushed Alolan Exeggutor into the realm of actual viability. The added damage output combined with its great typing for relevant raids makes it an outstanding choice for many raids weak to Grass, as it sports an outstanding mix of DPS and TDO against select movesets. As a Dragon it's... okay, but still very far behind the competition.
Offense
- Dragon Tail is the stronger Fast Move, and should pair with Draco Meteor* for the maximum amount of Dragon Type damage output that a tree can muster.
- Bullet Seed should pair with Solar Beam. This is especially useful against Water Types, as Alolan Exeggutor's double Water resistance can frequently afford it the time that it needs to launch multiple Solar Beams... unless the Water Type in question is packing an Ice Type coverage move.
- Seed Bomb can also work for more consistent damage, but it will tend to fall behind by all metrics given the reasoning outlined above.
- Dragon Pulse is inferior, but can be used if you don't have access to Draco Meteor.
Defense
- Dragon Tail is rather strong and hits widely for neutral damage.
- Seed Bomb is the most threatening defensive charge move, firing early and often on top of being hard to dodge.
- Dragon Pulse's 2 bars is workable, but using Solar Beam is out of the question.
- Likewise, the slow animation of Draco Meteor and slow access as a 1-bar move makes it a poor choice for defense.
Dragon Tail typically performs better than Bullet Seed due to the significant difference in damage output.
Seed Bomb is the main charge move used by Alolan Exeggutor, requiring only 40 energy which allows it to be used frequently and even bait shields.
Dragon Pulse allows our tall dragon tree to deal relatively neutral damage and threaten other Dragon-type Pokemon. Its steep energy cost and average Damage Per Energy aren't very exciting, but at least it might have a chance to be used compared to the painfully slow Solar Beam.
The addition of Draco Meteor following the Exeggcute Research Day event in April 2022 is a surprising but unimpressive move for Alolan Exeggutor. While it can be considered an improvement over Dragon Pulse due to much higher damage output for only 5 more energy cost, it does not solve Alolan Exeggutor's struggle against its numerous weaknesses.
Alolan Exeggutor is somewhat of a specialist, getting wins against Pokemon that are at an obvious disadvantage, and vice-versa. Being double resistant to three typings (Grass, Electric, Water) allows our long-necked friend to essentially tank those types of attacks without using shields. Poor bulk doesn't help it deal with six vulnerabilities though, including a double weakness to Ice-type attacks which are common on popular picks like Medicham and Azumarill.
