Snover (Analysis)

[Overview]

<p>Although not the case for many old Pokemon in Little Cup, Snover has changed; Black and White brought a few toys for Snover to play with. Giga Drain's power and PP boosts allow Snover to use it effectively. Bullet Seed's power boost allows Snover's Physical sets to be more effective, while allowing it to KO through Sturdy and Focus Sash, making it a stellar attacking lead. Black & White has made the Little Cup metagame much more offensively oriented than it was when Snover first joined Little Cup, making "Blizzard spam" a viable tactic. Snover finds a lot of usage now with Gligar flying around Little Cup holding the new Evolution Stone in its claw, as snover is one of the best checks to Gligar. The only thing stopping Snover from skipping across Little Cup is the advent of new Fighting-types. Meditite has broken out of its old prison and is now extremely common in Little Cup, giving Snover huge problems. Dokkora and Zuruggu are also common and can set up on Snover with no sweat. As always, Snover has its ups and downs, and it should always be considered for any team that needs its support.</p>

[Set]
name: Mixed Priority Sweeper
move 1: Blizzard
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Wood Hammer / Hidden Power Ground
item: Life Orb / Oran Berry
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Rash / Naive
EVs: 100 Atk / 184 SpA / 196 Spe

[Set Comments]
<p>This set aims to make use of Snover's decent offenses to sweep. With its ability summoning an infinite hailstorm, Snover can tear holes in the opposing team with a perfectly accurate Blizzard. Giga Drain, Snover's best Grass-type attacking move, now has 75 base power and allows Snover to heal off residual damage it takes from Stealth Rock and Life Orb. Giga Drain complements Blizzard fairly well, hitting Water-types hard. Ice Shard is very useful on this set, making Snover into a rather effective revenge killer. Pokemon like Gligar and Murkrow are too fast for many revenge killers, yet Snover does this very effectively with Ice Shard in combination with Hail's residual damage. Wood Hammer is the recommended attack in the last slot to hit special walls, namely Munchlax, who has Thick Fat. Hidden Power Ground is another option for coverage, but most Fire-types will be faster than Snover and most Steel-types, such as Bronzor and Tesshiido, won't mind it. Life Orb powers up Snover greatly, allowing it to score useful KOs such as a good chance to OHKO Pururiru with Giga Drain. Giga Drain also works well in conjunction with Life Orb in the sense that Giga Drain will somewhat offset the damage received by Life Orb recoil.Snover works best with Pokemon that make use of the unique support it provides. Spheal loves healing from the Hail, as well as the removal of bulky Water-types such as Pururiru. Chinchou has decent synergy with Snover and loves a perfectly accurate Blizzard. Physical sweepers like Aaken hate both Gligar and bulky Waters and love Pokemon that can revenge kill. If using Hidden Power Ground, you can use 180 Special Attack EVs to hit the same point, although it doesn't matter. [If it doesn't matter, why mention it?]</p>

[Additional Comments]
<p>Life Orb is the recommended item as it nets Snover many KOs that it can't achieve with Oran Berry. However, Oran Berry can be used to recover your health in a pinch. Rash is the best nature to use as it allows Snover to hit significantly harder, but Naive can be used if you want the extra speed. Mild is also an option if you want to take Vacuum Wave better, but it's generally a better idea to keep your Defense neutral as most priority attacks are physical.</p>

[Set]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Blizzard
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Water Pulse / Ice Shard
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
EVs: 36 HP / 36 Def / 184 SpA / 36 SpD / 200 Spe

[Set Comments]
<p>With a Choice Scarf, Snover is able to check many common threats in today's metagame. This set is especially useful to set up hail, something other revenge killers can't do. In the hail, Blizzard becomes 100% accurate, easily taking apart common threats such as Gligar and Murkrow with easy. Snover's decent speed stat of 14 becomes 21 with a Choice Scarf, able to outspeed any unboosted threat, most notably Diglett, Gligar, and Murkrow. Just like almost any other set, Blizzard is the main attacking move here. With scarfed Snover's good Speed, spamming Blizzard is actually an effective strategy and even allows Snover to clean up after the opposing team is weakened. Snover's STAB Giga Drain is a fun new way for it to deal damage and heal at the same time, and luckily Snover gets a STAB boosted Giga Drain. Hidden Power Fire is the best move to use in the last slot to hit Bronzor and Tesshiido. Hidden Power Ground allows Snover to hit Fire-types, but leaves it walled by the aforementioned Pokemon.</p>

[Additional Comments]
<p>Snover has access to Shadow Ball, but it doesn't hit anything especially hard. Ice Beam and Ice Breath are options to use over Blizzard if higher PP is desired, although Blizzard will generally be more effective due to its immense power. Ice Punch is an option to use over Ice Shard if you'd rather have power than priority, but note that this leaves you unable to beat positive nature Dratini after a Dragon Dance. Hidden Power Ground is a useful way to hit Steel-types and Fire-types at the same time, but note that Tesshiido and Bronzor are hit harder by Hidden Power Fire. If you're using Ice Shard or Ice Punch, you can run a Naive or Hasty nature to keep physical attacks at neutral power, although it takes away from Snover's ability to take priority attacks, especially since it's weak to Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, and Vacuum Wave, which are arguably the most common priority attacks in Little Cup.</p>

[Set]
name: Substitute + Leech Seed
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Leech Seed
move 3: Protect
move 4: Blizzard / Ice Beam / Ice Breath
item: Evolution Stone
nature: Bold
ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 196 HP / 196 Def / 116 SpD

[Set Comments]
<p>Snover stands out as one of the very few SubSeeders that has [This is technically "have" since it's referring to the group of such SubSeeders rather than simply Snover but I suppose it's generally colloquially used the way you used it. I'll leave it up to you.] a way to dispose of Grass-types. This is the best set to use if you're using Snover on a stall team, as Leech Seed damage and hail damage combine to slowly rip apart your opponent. The objective is to switch into something that Snover scares away, like Gligar, set up Substitute, then Leech Seed whatever comes in. Constant hail and Leech Seed damage will eventually destroy your opponent. If your opponent is Grass-type, smack them with Blizzard, Ice Beam, or Ice Breath. Blizzard is the recommended option as it does tremendous amounts of damage, but using Ice Beam or Ice Breath to conserve PP on your only attack is certainly an option. In Little Cup, such low HP means Leftovers will not work to its fullest, unfortunately, so using Evolution Stone to assist Snover's ability to take hits is the best idea. If you'd like to heal more, Leftovers can be used though.

<p>Although Snover works well on its own, it works significantly better with team support. Because Snover will cause a huge amount of switches, utilizing entry hazard support makes Snover deadly. Toxic Spikes support makes Snover much better too, as the increasing damage places a limit on your opponent's survivability, most notably for Pokemon with recovery moves who would out-stall you otherwise. Tentacool is a great teammate for Snover, being able to remove Stealth Rock with Rapid Spin and set up Toxic Spikes. Tentacool and Snover resist quite a few of each other's weaknesses too, meaning switching in won't be a chore. Chimchar has passable synergy with Snover and can set up Stealth Rock, and Snover can remove Gligar in return.</p>

[Additional Comments]
<p>Since this set is more stall oriented, trading Blizzard's power for Ice Beam or Ice Breath's PP is doable. Giga Drain is another option to heal as much as possible, but it leaves you completely walled by Grass-types.</p>

[Set]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Seed Bomb / Bullet Seed
item: Oran Berry / Life Orb
nature: Adamant
ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 36 HP / 180 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe

[Set Comments]
<p>When most people see Snover, they expect to see a special attacker with Blizzard. What most people don't take advantage of is Snover's identical Attack and access to Swords Dance. Snover is among the select group of Pokemon in Little Cup who have access to both Swords Dance and a STAB priority move. Like any user of Substitute, the objective is to switch in on something that isn't a fan of Snover and set up a Substitute on the switch. From there, Snover can either set up Swords Dance or attack. Substitute is especially useful to set up on the likes of Pururiru or Slowpoke hoping to switch in on Blizzard, who would otherwise cripple you with Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave, respectively. With Gligar being the most-used Pokemon in Little Cup, Ice Shard is especially useful to beat Gligar before it can hit you with Stone Edge. To prove the power of Snover after a Swords Dance, take a look at the following damage calculations without Life Orb:

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>Ice Shard vs. 236/0 +1 Gligar 107.6% - 138.4%</li>
<li>Ice Shard vs. 0/0 Misdreavus 54.5% - 68.1%</li>
<li>Ice Shard vs. 0/0 Gastly 84.2% - 100%</li>
<li>Ice Shard vs. 36/0 Diglett 177.7% - 211.1%</li>
<li>Seed Bomb vs. 236/196 +1 Pururiru 104% - 128%</li>
<li>Seed Bomb vs. 116/116+ +1 Phanpy 96.2% - 118.5%</li>
<li>Seed Bomb vs. 36/236+ +1 Slowpoke 92.3% - 115.3%</li>
</ul>

<p>The choice between Seed Bomb and Bullet Seed is tough. Bullet Seed hits through Substitutes, Sturdy, and Focus Sash, and will generally do roughly the same amount of damage as Seed Bomb. Seed Bomb is usually more reliable, though, and can be used in Bullet Seed's place.

[Additional Comments]
<p>Bullet Seed and Seed Bomb are both good Grass-type attacks for Snover to use. The choice is mostly on preference; Seed Bomb will usually do slightly more damage, but Bullet Seed has the ability to do much more damage than Seed Bomb and can break though Substitutes, as well as KO through Sturdy and Focus Sash. Using this Snover as a lead is a great idea as the amount residual damage from hail is useful to defeat Pokemon with low health at the end of the turn. Bullet Seed also OHKOs Geodude and Onix, despite having Sturdy.</p>

[Team Options]
<p>Snover is the obvious choice on any hail team. Tentacool resists many of Snover's weaknesses and can set up Toxic Spikes to aid stall, or spin away Stealth Rock and Spikes with Rapid Spin, allowing Snover to switch in freely. Chinchou has good synergy with Snover and appreciates a perfectly accurate Blizzard. Chinchou also loves having Gligar out of way if it has a Choice Scarf. Physical sweepers, such as Aaken and Dratini, love having Gligar out of their way and can sweep effectively alongside Snover. Magnemite can trap and kill Bronzor and Tesshiido, who cause problems. Wynaut can also trap Bronzor and Tesshiido and earn Snover a free turn to set up a Substitute or attack. Having a Taunt lead or Natu to immediately keep entry hazards, most importantly Stealth Rock, off the field is appreciated.</p>

[Optional Changes]
<p>Snover can use most Hidden Powers to its advantage, just make sure you fine tune the EVs to match your IVs. Snover has access to Shadow Ball, but it doesn't hit anything other than Hitomoshi especially hard, and resisted Blizzard is still stronger. Energy Ball is a tad stronger than Giga Drain and can lower special defense, but Giga Drain will almost always be more useful as it heals half of the damage Snover deals. On the SubSeed set, Avalanche can be used with an Impish nature to retain 120 power while still having good PP, and it becomes especially effective as being behind a substitute encourages your opponent to attack, doubling its power. Ice Beam and Ice Breath are welcome to replace Blizzard on any of the sets.</p>

[Counters]
<p>Tentacool with Liquid Ooze can takes hits from every set bar the Swords Dance one and set up Toxic Spikes. Tesshiido and Bronzor are always problems if you lack Hidden Power Fire and can set up on you or injure you with Gyro Ball (and the latter doesn't mind Hidden Power Fire too much). Hitomoshi, although rarely seen, walls all variants of Snover lacking Hidden Power Ground or Water Pulse and traps Snover with Shadow Tag. Hitomoshi can easily switch in on most moves from the Choice Scarf set and set up Substitute or Calm Mind on Snover as well as defeat it with a Fire-type move. Most Hippopotas will be slower than Snover and can prevent hail from getting up, although Hippopotas can't take a Blizzard or Giga Drain to its face. On the Choice Scarf set, Dratini can come in any non-Ice-type move and set up Dragon Dance or OHKO Snover with Fire Blast. Fast holders of Choice Scarf that can hit Snover super effectively, such as Komatana and Murkrow, can come in on weak or resisted attacks and OHKO with their respective STAB moves.</p>

[Dream World]
Snover's Dream World ability is Soundproof. Snover will almost never need Soundproof, and Snow Warning is one of the prime reasons to use Snover. If you're not using Snover for hail, protection from Bug Buzz might seem favorable at first, but hail will almost always help more, especially since Yanma, the most common user of Bug Buzz, is banned from Little Cup.</p>

[Overview]

<p>Although not the case for many old Pokemon in Little Cup, Snover has changed; Black and White brought a few toys for Snover to play with. Giga Drain's power and PP boosts allow Snover to use it effectively. Bullet Seed's power boost and ability to KO through Sturdy and Focusallows Snover's Physical sets to be more effective, while allowing it to KO through Sturdy and Focus Sash, making it a stellar attacking lead. Black & White has made the Little Cup metagame much more offensively oriented than it was when Snover first joined Little Cup, making "Blizzard spam" "Blizzspam" (Blizzspam should be acceptable because we used in the Scarf Snover analysis) a viable tactic. Snover also finds a lot of usage now with Gligar flying around Little Cup holding clutching the new Evolution Stone in its claw, as snover is one of the best checks to Gligar. The only thing stopping Snover from skipping throughacross Little Cup like it's a field of daisies is the advent of new Fighting-types. Meditite has broken out of its old prison and is now extremely common in Little Cup, giving Snover huge problems. Dokkora and Zuruggu are also common and can set up on Snover with no without breaking a sweat. As always, Snover has its ups and downs, and it should always be considered for any team that needs its support.</p>

[Set]
name: Mixed Priority Sweeper
move 1: Blizzard
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Wood Hammer / Hidden Power Ground
item: Life Orb / Oran Berry
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Rash / Naive
EVevs: 100 Atk / 184 SpA / 196 Spe

[Set Comments]

<p>This set aims to make use of Snover's decent offenses to sweep. With its ability summoning an infinite hailstorm, Snover can tear holes in the opposing team with a perfectly accurate Blizzard. Giga Drain, Snover's best Grass-type attacking move, now has 75 base power and allows Snover to heal off residual damage it takes from Stealth Rock and Life Orb. Giga Drain complements Blizzard fairly well, hitting Water-types hard. Ice Shard is very useful on this set, making turning Snover into a rather effective revenge killer. Pokemon like Gligar and Murkrow are too fast for many revenge killers, yet Snover does this very effectively with Ice Shard in combination with Hail's residual damage. With Ice Shard, Snover can also revenge kill Gligar and Murkrow, something they are usually too fast for. Wood Hammer is the recommended attack in the last slot to hit special walls, namely Munchlax, who has Thick Fat to lessen the damage of Blizzard and Ice Shard. Hidden Power Ground is another option for coverage, but most Fire-types will be faster than Snover and most Steel-types, such as Bronzor and Tesshiido, won't mind it. Life Orb powers up Snover greatly, allowing it to score useful KOs, such as a good chance to OHKO Pururiru with Giga Drain. Giga Drain also works well in conjunction with Life Orb in the sense that Giga Drain will somewhat offset the damage received by Life Orb recoil.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Snover works best with Pokemon that make use of the unique support it provides. Spheal loves healing from the Hail, as well as the removal of bulky Water-types such as Pururiru. Chinchou has decent synergy with Snover and loves a perfectly accurate Blizzard. Physical sweepers like Aaken hate both Gligar and bulky Waters and love Pokemon that can revenge kill.</p>

[Additional Comments]

<p>Life Orb is the recommended item as it nets Snover many KOs that it can't achieve with Oran Berry. However, Oran Berry can be used to recover health in a pinch. Rash is the best nature to use as it allows Snover to hit significantly harder, but Naive can be used if you want the extra speed. Mild is also an option if you want to take Vacuum Wave better, but it's generally a better idea to keep your Defense neutral as most priority attacks are physical.</p>

[Set]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Blizzard
move 2: Giga Drain
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Water Pulse / Ice Shard
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Snow Warning
nature: Timid
EVevs: 36 HP / 36 Def / 184 SpA / 36 SpD / 200 Spe

[Set Comments]

<p>With a Choice Scarf, Snover is able to check many common threats in today's metagame. This set is especially useful to set up hail, something other revenge killers can't do. In the hail, Blizzard becomes 100% accurate, easily taking apart common threats such as Gligar and Murkrow. Snover's decent speed stat of 14 becomes 21 with a Choice Scarf, able enough to outspeed any unboosted threat, most notably Diglett, Gligar, and Murkrow. Just like almost any other set, Blizzard is the main attacking move here. With sScarfed Snover's good Speed, spamming Blizzard is an effective strategy and even allows Snover to clean up after the opposing team is weakened. Snover's STAB Giga Drain is a fun new way for it to deal damage and heal at the same time. Hidden Power Fire is the best move to use in the last slot to hit Bronzor and Tesshiido. Hidden Power Ground allows Snover to hit Fire-types, but leaves it walled by the aforementioned Pokemon.</p>

[Additional Comments]

<p>Snover has access to Shadow Ball, but it doesn't hit anything especially hard. Ice Beam and Ice Breath are options to use over Blizzard if higher PP is desired, although Blizzard will generally be more effective due to its immense power. Ice Punch is an option to use over Ice Shard if you'd rather have power than priority, but note that this leaves you unable to beat positive nature Dratini after a it has used Dragon Dance. Hidden Power Ground is a useful way to hit Steel-types and Fire-types at the same time, but note that Tesshiido and Bronzor are hit harder by Hidden Power Fire. If you're using Ice Shard or Ice Punch, you can run a Naive or Hasty nature to keep physical attacks at neutral power, although it takes away from Snover's ability to take priority attacks, especially since it's weak to Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, and Vacuum Wave, which are arguably the most common priority attacks in Little Cup.</p>

[Set]
name: Substitute + Leech Seed SubSeed
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Leech Seed
move 3: Protect
move 4: Blizzard / Ice Beam / Ice Breath
item: Evolution Stone
nature: Bold
ability: Snow Warning
EVevs: 196 HP / 196 Def / 116 SpD

[Set Comments]

<p>Snover stands out as one of the very few SubSeeders that have a way to dispose of opposing Grass-types. This is the best set to use if you're using Snover on a stall team, as Leech Seed damage and hail damage combine to slowly rip apart your opponent. The objective is to switch into something that Snover scares away, like Gligar, set up Substitute, then Leech Seed whatever comes in. Constant hail and Leech Seed damage will eventually destroy your opponent. If your opponent is a Grass-type, smack them with Blizzard, Ice Beam, or Ice Breath. Blizzard is the recommended option as it does tremendous amounts of damage, but using Ice Beam or Ice Breath to conserve PP on your only attack is certainly an option. Giga Drain is another option to heal as much as possible, but it leaves Snover completely walled by Grass-types. In Little Cup, such low HP means Leftovers will not work to its fullest, unfortunately, so using Evolution Stone to assist Snover's ability to take hits is the best idea. If you'd like to heal more, Leftovers can be used.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Although Snover works well on its own, it works significantly better with team support. Because Snover will cause a huge amount of switches, utilizing entry hazard support makes Snover deadly. Toxic Spikes support makes Snover much better, as the increasing damage places a limit on your opponent's survivability, most notably for Pokemon with recovery moves who would out-stall you Snover otherwise. Tentacool is a great teammate for Snover, being able to remove Stealth Rock with Rapid Spin and set up Toxic Spikes. Tentacool and Snover resist quite a few of each other's weaknesses too, meaning switching in won't be a chore. Chimchar has passable synergy with Snover and can set up Stealth Rock, and Snover can remove Gligar in return.</p>

[Additional Comments]
<p>Since this set is more stall oriented, trading Blizzard's power for Ice Beam or Ice Breath's PP is doable. Giga Drain is another option to heal as much as possible, but it leaves you completely walled by Grass-types.</p>

[Set]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Seed Bomb / Bullet Seed
item: Oran Berry / Life Orb
nature: Adamant
ability: Snow Warning
EVevs: 36 HP / 180 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 196 Spe

[Set Comments]

<p>When most people see Snover, they expect to see a special attacker with Blizzard. What most people don't take advantage of is Snover's identical Attack and access to Swords Dance. Snover is among the select group of Pokemon in Little Cup who have access to both Swords Dance and a STAB priority move. Like any user of Substitute, the objective is to switch in on something that isn't a fan of Snover and set up a Substitute on the switch as they switch out. From there, Snover can either set up Swords Dance or just out-right attack. Substitute is especially useful to set up on the likes of Pururiru or Slowpoke hoping to switch in on Blizzard, who would otherwise cripple you with Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave, respectively. With Gligar being one the most-used Pokemon in Little Cup (we don't have usage stats yet, but I wouldn't doubt it), Ice Shard is especially useful to beat Gligar before it can hit you with Stone Edge. To prove the power of Snover after a Swords Dance, take a look at the following damage calculations without Life Orb:</p>

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>Ice Shard vs. 236/0 +1 Gligar 107.6% - 138.4%</li>
<li>Ice Shard vs. 0/0 Misdreavus 54.5% - 68.1%</li>
<li>Ice Shard vs. 0/0 Gastly 84.2% - 100%</li>
<li>Ice Shard vs. 36/0 Diglett 177.7% - 211.1%</li>
<li>Seed Bomb vs. 236/196 +1 Pururiru 104% - 128%</li>
<li>Seed Bomb vs. 116/116+ +1 Phanpy 96.2% - 118.5%</li>
<li>Seed Bomb vs. 36/236+ +1 Slowpoke 92.3% - 115.3%</li>
</ul>

Click to expand...

(For damage calcs you need to have a space in-between the numbers and / just like everything else, and you need to specify the nature. Use shrang's Specs Altaria for an example here.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The choice between Seed Bomb and Bullet Seed is tough. Bullet Seed hits through Substitutes, Sturdy, and Focus Sash, and will do roughly the same amount of damage as Seed Bomb. Seed Bomb is usually more reliable, though, and can be used in Bullet Seed's place.</p>

[Additional Comments]
<p>Bullet Seed and Seed Bomb are both good Grass-type attacks for Snover to use. The choice is mostly on preference; Seed Bomb will usually do slightly more damage, but Bullet Seed has the ability to do much more damage than Seed Bomb and can break though Substitutes, as well as KO through Sturdy and Focus Sash. Using this Snover as a lead is a great idea as the amount residual damage from hail is useful to defeat Pokemon with low health at the end of the turn. Bullet Seed also OHKOs Geodude and Onix, despite them having Sturdy.</p>

Click to expand...

(Combine these two then)

[Team Options]

<p>Snover is the obvious choice on for any hail team. Tentacool works alongside Snover very well by resisting resists many of Snover's weaknesses and can set up setting up Toxic Spikes to aid stall, or spin Tentacool can even clear away Stealth Rock and Spikes with Rapid Spin, allowing Snover to switch in freely. Chinchou has good synergy with Snover and appreciates a perfectly accurate Blizzard. Chinchou also loves having Gligar out of way if it has a Choice Scarf. Physical sweepers, such as Aaken and Dratini, love having Gligar out of their way and can sweep effectively alongside Snover. Magnemite can trap and kill Bronzor and Tesshiido, who otherwise cause problems for Snover. Wynaut can also trap Bronzor and Tesshiido and earn Snover a free turn to set up a Substitute or attack. Having a Taunt lead or Natu to immediately keep entry hazards, most importantly Stealth Rock, off the field is highly appreciated.</p>

[Optional Changes]

<p>Snover can use most Hidden Powers to its advantage, just make sure you fine tune the EVs to match your IVs. Snover has access to Shadow Ball, but it doesn't hit anything other than Hitomoshi especially hard, and even then a resisted Blizzard is still stronger. Energy Ball is a tad stronger than Giga Drain and can lower special defense, but Giga Drain will almost always be more useful as it heals half of the damage Snover deals. On the SubSeed set, Avalanche can be used with an Impish nature to retain 120 base power while still having good PP., and it It becomes especially effective as being behind a substitute encourages your opponent to attack, doubling its power when Snover's behind a Substitute, as the opponent will be forced to attack, raising Avalanche's base power. Ice Beam and Ice Breath are welcome to replace Blizzard on any of the sets if you desire more PP.</p>

[Counters]

<p>Tentacool with Liquid Ooze can takes hits from every set bar the Swords Dance one and set up Toxic Spikes. Tesshiido and Bronzor are always problems if you lack Hidden Power Fire and can set up on you or injure you Snover with Gyro Ball (and the latter doesn't mind Hidden Power Fire too much). Hitomoshi, although rarely seen, walls all variants of Snover lacking Hidden Power Ground or Water Pulse and traps Snover with Shadow Tag. Hitomoshi can easily switch in on most moves from the Choice Scarf set and set up Substitute or Calm Mind on Snover as well as defeat it with a Fire-type move. Most Hippopotas will be slower than Snover and can prevent hail from getting up, although Hippopotas can't take a Blizzard or Giga Drain to its face. On the Choice Scarf set, Dratini can come in any non-Ice-type move and set up Dragon Dance or OHKO Snover with Fire Blast. Fast holders of Choice Scarf that can hit Snover super effectively, such as Komatana and Murkrow, can come in on weak or resisted attacks and OHKO Snover with their respective STAB moves.</p>

[Dream World]
Snover's Dream World ability is Soundproof. Snover will almost never need Soundproof, and Snow Warning is one of the prime reasons to use Snover. If you're not using Snover for hail, protection from Bug Buzz might seem favorable at first, but hail will almost always help more, especially since Yanma, the most common user of Bug Buzz, is banned from Little Cup.</p> (You might want to mention here that with Soundproof Snover can't be phazed by Roar, making the SubSeed set even more potent.)