Excadrill cements itself as a staple on sand teams thanks to its great offensive capabilities with Swords Dance and Sand Rush. After a Swords Dance boost, it can effectively outspeed and break through a large portion of the metagame with its strong STAB moves. Steelium Z allows Excadrill to eliminate chipped switch-ins such as Buzzwole and Tangrowth after a Swords Dance boost. Rapid Spin supports the team while also making sure that Excadrill can beat other Sand Rush Excadrill and Unburden Hawlucha. If a teammate can remove entry hazards, Rock Slide is an alternative that stops Celesteela and Skarmory from stonewalling Excadrill, as well as handling threats such as Thundurus. Leftovers is an alternative option that provides Excadrill with passive recovery, allowing it to keep hazards off more reliably. As a Sand Rush sweeper, Excadrill needs to partner with Tyranitar or Hippowdon to outpace the entire metagame. Strong wallbreakers like Choice Band Tyranitar and Dracozolt form a strong offensive core with Excadrill to help overwhelm its checks such as Slowbro or Skarmory. In return, Excadrill can pressure threats such as opposing Excadrill for them. Additionally, Choice Scarf users such as Mienshao and Hydreigon can help pressure some of Excadrill's checks, such as Buzzwole and Tangrowth, while also acting as secondary speed control options outside of sand. Slowbro and Slowking handle Fighting- and Fire-types for it such as Buzzwole and Victini, as well as providing Future Sight support and safely getting Excadrill on the field with Teleport.

With its plethora of utility options and excellent defensive typing that makes it difficult to wear down via residual damage, Excadrill can function as an effective support Pokemon on a wide variety of team compositions, from providing a sturdy entry hazard removal option to checking attackers such as SubToxic Aegislash, Magnezone, and Mega Latias. Iron Head provides Excadrill crucial coverage against Ground-immune Pokemon such as Mega Aerodactyl and Enamorus and 2HKOes Clefable, allowing Excadrill to better deal with it. Toxic allows Excadrill to cripple a multitude of bulky Pokemon that would otherwise check it, from Slowbro and Hydrapple to Swampert and Hippowdon, notably allowing Excadrill to keep Stealth Rock off the field against the last two more reliably. Additionally, Excadrill can also use Stealth Rock to further support its teammates, most notably being a hazard setter that can consistently threaten Rotom-Wash, one of the most common hazard removal options in the tier. It's worth noting on teams that necessitate the ability to set Stealth Rock, Toxic can be used over Iron Head to ensure Excadrill retains its ability to threaten several of the aforementioned defensive Pokemon. Lastly, Swords Dance is an option that helps Excadrill break past defensive Pokemon such as Amoonguss and Slowking, enabling it to sweep teams late-game in conjunction with Rapid Spin's Speed boost. The first EV spread allows Excadrill to survive a Close Combat from Jolly Zeraora, outspeed Aegislash and Magnezone that run a Speed-boosting nature, and OHKO Choice Scarf Rotom-Wash and 2HKO most variants of defensive Scizor after Stealth Rock with Earthquake, with the rest put into Special Defense to maximize its ability to take hits from special attackers such as Mega Venusaur. On sets using Swords Dance, Excadrill should instead run maximum Attack and Speed investment with a Jolly nature to be as offensively threatening as possible. Pokemon that benefit the most from Excadrill's utility options include offensive threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Gardevoir, and Iron Boulder, which appreciate not being worn down by entry hazards as well as Excadrill's ability to cripple or take advantage of certain defensive Pokemon such as Clefable, Slowking, and Scizor for them. In return, these teammates can assist Excadrill in overwhelming Celesteela and Skarmory that otherwise completely blank it and help manage faster attackers such as Alakazam and Iron Moth. Similarly, other defensive Pokemon such as Buzzwole, Hydrapple, and Mega Latias benefit from Excadrill's hazard removal and ability to assist against threats such as Aegislash; lessening the first two’s reliance on Heavy-Duty Boots to manage hazards is also a major boon. In return, these Pokemon can help deal with Fighting- and Ground-types such as Mienshao, and Gastrodon and absorb Knock Off from Mega Venusaur and Zeraora that would otherwise cut into Excadrill's survivability. Lastly, certain Pokemon such as Swampert, Clefable, and Celesteela deserve a special mention; their role compression can help free Excadrill from the need to run Stealth Rock or check Pokemon such as Clefable with Iron Head, allowing it to be much more flexible in its moveslots and role compression.

Excadrill can function as a great suicide lead on hyper offense teams, having the unique ability to set up entry hazards against stall teams thanks to Mold Breaker bypassing Mega Sableye's Magic Bounce. Rapid Spin prevents opposing entry hazards from being set. Steel Beam allows Excadrill to go out while generating momentum for its teammates, as well as preventing common Defoggers such as Tapu Fini from clearing its Stealth Rock. Toxic is another option to cripple opposing hazard setters and Mega Sableye long-term. Focus Sash is an important item to ensure that Excadrill can reliably set Stealth Rock. Excadrill can struggle against threats such as Skarmory and Celesteela due to their Ground immunities; strong setup sweepers such as Nasty Plot Thundurus, Meteor Beam Celesteela, and Swords Dance Iron Boulder can pressure them for it. Excadrill's Rapid Spin is especially beneficial for setup sweepers otherwise vulnerable to Stealth Rock, such as Booster Energy Iron Moth and Galarian Moltres.