Snover

Leech Seed is Snover’s best bet to stay alive in the match and actually stall something out. Protect allows Snover to stall the opponent with Leech Seed and heal off some HP in the process. In addition to this, Protect also shields him from Ambipom’s Fake Out. Blizzard is Snover’s main attacking move since it gains 100% accuracy under hail. However, Toxic is also a noteworthy option to consider over Blizzard, if you’re planning on stalling. There are a number of things to choose from in the final slot, and they each have their own purposes. Substitute is an excellent way of stalling the opponent out with the combination of Leech Seed and Protect. Wood Hammer hits hard on Pokemon who are a little frail on the physical side like Alakazam, Mismagius, and Lanturn. Ice Shard scares away Swellow, although Snover would need to run an Adamant nature to inflict any sort of respectable damage. GrassWhistle was not listed in the main set, but it could be used to provide sleep support even with the terrible accuracy.

There are many ways to distribute EVs on Snover. The standard EV spread provided allows Snover to combat several specially inclined threats, mostly bulky Waters. The provided HP EVs ensure Snover takes one less damage from Stealth Rock, while still maintaining maximum recovery from Leftovers. The given Speed EVs ensure Snover outpaces base 50 Speed Pokemon. You can tweak the EV spread a little bit to make Snover a little more threatening offensively. For a physical-based EV spread, an Adamant nature with the EVs 248 HP / 172 Atk / 88 Spe could work in order to dish out decent damage with Wood Hammer and Ice Shard. For a specially-based EV spread, 248 HP / 172 SpA / 88 Spe could work to increase the damage of Blizzard.

There are a number of Pokemon who benefit from Snover’s hail. Examples include Walrein, Jynx, and Glaceon. If you’re looking to run a stall team with Snover, Walrein makes an ideal partner. Thanks to his ability, Ice Body, Walrein is quite adept at stalling with Substitute and Protect when used under hail. If your stall team needs a Spikes user, Substitute Froslass does the job extremely well thanks to its ability, Snow Cloak. For more offensive hail teams, Glaceon can spam 100% Blizzards, and Froslass can also run an offensive Substitute set.

If you want to improve the stall team as a whole, bringing a defensive Altaria can be quite beneficial for Snover and hail teams in general. Altaria brings convenient resistances to Fighting- and Fire-type moves, and he can provide the entire team with Heal Bell support. Nidoqueen also fits the bill since she can check a number of Fighting-type threats who threaten Snover and can provide Stealth Rock support as well. Offensively, Hariyama works well with Snover, providing a convenient resistance to Fire-type moves thanks to Thick Fat. Arcanine and Houndoom’s ability Flash Fire allows them to absorb Fire-type hits directed at Snover.

244 Speed EVs with a Hasty Nature allows Snover to outspeed max Speed base 80 Pokemon such as Venusaur or Kabutops, as well as Life Orb Milotic and max Speed, neutral natured base 95 Speed Pokemon such as Arcanine. Venusaur, who will usually stay in and try to KO Snover with Life Orb Sludge Bomb, can be taken out by Blizzard before it even gets a chance to land a hit on Snover. The key to stopping rain is the element of surprise that this set gives. All Snover has to do is switch into Kabutops, either during Swords Dance or after Kabutops has killed one of your Pokemon. With the rain stopped due to Snow Warning, Snover will now outspeed Kabutops. Kabutops, under the assumption that it will be faster, will try to OHKO Snover with Stone Edge, but it will promptly be OHKOed by Snover's Grass-type attack of choice. This same method can take out Omastar (although Omastar will likely switch out unless it can KO Snover) and also stop rain, allowing Snover to slowly wear down all of the opponent's rain sweepers.

Choosing between Energy Ball and Wood Hammer can be difficult. Both can OHKO Kabutops and Omastar; however, the former will have more power versus Rhyperior and Regirock, while the latter will deal more damage to Lanturn and Mismagius. This can be especially useful when these Pokemon switch in, expecting a light Grass Knot and instead getting smashed by a STAB Wood Hammer.

Choice Scarf Snover adds yet another sweeper onto "Blizzspam" teams, and also adds a safety net for hail stall teams that often find themselves weak to Rain Dance. Obviously, other Pokemon that can abuse hail are excellent partners. Glaceon, Walrein, and Jynx can fire off STAB Blizzards from their high Special Attack stats. Dugtrio is another useful Pokemon on these hail teams, trapping and KOing Registeel and Chansey, two of Snover's biggest threats. To keep Snover healthy, a Rapid Spin user is also advised, as Snover has enough trouble switching into attacks with its low defenses anyway. Snover should be used on teams that are in need of hail, such as offensive Blizzard or hail stall teams. Snover's Snow Warning will cut Synthesis and Morning Sun's healing power, as well as take off 6% HP from your Pokemon each turn, unless they are Ice-types.

Registeel is the best counter to this set, shrugging off anything Snover throws at it and firing off Thunder Waves, Iron Heads, or setting up Rain Dance for free. Arcanine can also shrug off all of Snover's attacks and OHKO with Flare Blitz, and can outspeed Snover without the use of boosting items (assuming it has a positive nature). Moltres also outspeeds with a positive nature and can switch in on every attack except Blizzard, threatening Snover with STAB Fire Blast. Snover's utility dramatically goes down after the set is revealed, as it only takes smart switching to ultimately take it down.