With LO, Sneasel is frail enough that you don't want to switch into any attacks, which is what I was talking about. There are obviously plenty of other ways to get it in, but if you get Stealth Rock up you can limit those as well.
"The fact of the matter is, you have a lot to risk going for anything that isn't Drain Punch on your first switch in."
My point was really that this line of thinking is going to lose you a lot of games. In a sense, it's just as "risky" to Drain Punch as it is to use Knock Off, because (as you've pointed out), your opponent is probably going to switch to Gligar, you're going to regain 1 HP, and definitely come out as the loser of this two-turn encounter. However, if you don't lock yourself into thinking "well I have no choice but to Drain Punch here," you can do some damage to Gligar (I realize that Ice Punch doesn't do much to defensive Gligar, but that's why I was primarily talking about Knock Off).
I agree with you for the most part: even Timburr has significant flaws as a counter, especially because of Gligar's presence. But it seems like you're saying that the player with Sneasel can always easily escape unscathed, and it's not quite that bleak.
"The fact of the matter is, you have a lot to risk going for anything that isn't Drain Punch on your first switch in."
My point was really that this line of thinking is going to lose you a lot of games. In a sense, it's just as "risky" to Drain Punch as it is to use Knock Off, because (as you've pointed out), your opponent is probably going to switch to Gligar, you're going to regain 1 HP, and definitely come out as the loser of this two-turn encounter. However, if you don't lock yourself into thinking "well I have no choice but to Drain Punch here," you can do some damage to Gligar (I realize that Ice Punch doesn't do much to defensive Gligar, but that's why I was primarily talking about Knock Off).
I agree with you for the most part: even Timburr has significant flaws as a counter, especially because of Gligar's presence. But it seems like you're saying that the player with Sneasel can always easily escape unscathed, and it's not quite that bleak.