Aaronboyer
Something Worth Fighting For
[Overview]
Sneasel is tied with Persian as the second fastest Pokemon in the entire metagame, which, alongside its decent base 95 Attack and unique dual typing, would allow it to perform wonderfully as a Swords Dance sweeper or Choice Band wallbreaker. Unfortunately, both of its STAB types are special, and it only has base 35 Special Attack, meaning Sneasel must use non-STAB moves if it wants to make use of its much higher Attack stat. Sneasel is also exceedingly frail and has five glaring weaknesses, necessitating an immense amount of team support in order for it to function. Even so, Sneasel has perfect neutral coverage in Shadow Ball + Brick Break, and in a metagame dominated by Psychic-types such as Hypno, Solrock, Lunatone, and Grumpig, as well as Fighting-weak Pokemon such as Kangaskhan, Cradily, and Walrein, perhaps it's not all bad for everyone's favorite icy weasel.
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Brick Break
move 3: Double-Edge
move 4: Swords Dance
item: Liechi Berry
ability: Oblivious
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Shadow Ball and Brick Break combine to provide perfect neutral coverage against the entire tier, and, when boosted by Swords Dance, they clean up opposing teams quite nicely. Because Shadow Ball and Brick Break do not receive STAB, Double-Edge becomes Sneasel’s strongest attack against targets that are hit neutrally by the first two attacks. Swords Dance boosts Sneasel’s Attack stat by two stages with each use and allows it to perform the role of a setup sweeper.
[ADDITIONAL SET COMMENTS]
Liechi Berry is Sneasel's best option for a held item, as it is likely to take a massive hit to activate it or use Double-Edge enough to activate it through the recoil. Both of Sneasel’s abilities are relatively useless. However, Inner Focus prevents Sneasel from flinching, which is considerably more useful than prevention of lowered accuracy, especially with Fake Out users such as Persian and Shiftry around. Maximum Speed and Attack EVs allow Sneasel to outspeed the entire tier and hit as hard as possible. A Jolly nature is utilized so that Sneasel can outspeed base 105 Speed Pokemon such as Scyther, Manectric, Rapidash, and Electabuzz. Sneasel is hard to use because it's so incredibly frail and cannot be directly switched into basically anything. As such, Sneasel should only be switched in via a slow Baton Pass or after a teammate has fainted so that it can revenge kill the foe. Furthermore, bulky attackers such as Kangaskhan and Lunatone can ease pressure off Sneasel with their ability to take a hit yet still maintain offensive momentum. Spikes setters such as Omastar are incredibly useful for chipping away at the opposing team for Sneasel to clean up later.
[Other Options]
A Choice Band set is more suited to revenge killing than Sneasel's Swords Dance set, making use of moves like Focus Punch and Hidden Power Flying, the latter of which is extremely useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplume, and Meganium that Sneasel would otherwise have trouble with. However, Sneasel faces heavy competition as a revenge killer from Persian, which gets STAB on Double-Edge, allowing it to always OHKO Hasty Tentacruel and hit Scyther significantly harder than Sneasel ever could. Substitute and Endure are both options to help Sneasel more safely bring its HP down to the activation range of its Liechi Berry. Focus Punch can be used alongside Substitute as a stronger alternative to Brick Break. Sneasel can also use Substitute in tandem with Toxic to wear down the foe. Quick Attack can be utilized as a priority move that picks off weakened Pokemon. However, Sneasel already has the necessary Speed tier to adequately perform this role, and giving up an important move for Quick Attack is not justifiable.
[Checks and Counters]
Fighting-types such as Poliwrath, Primeape, and Hitmontop can easily OHKO Sneasel with their STAB attacks. Hitmonlee and Hitmontop also have access to Mach Punch, which ignores Sneasel's absurd Speed stat. Additionally, Hitmontop's Intimidate softens the incoming attack before Hitmontop revenge kills Sneasel with Mach Punch. Walls such as Blastoise, Hypno, Granbull, and the aforementioned Hitmontop can all pivot into Sneasel easily and 2HKO it back, especially the latter two with their access to Intimidate. Due to its extreme frailty, Sneasel gets easily crushed by Rock-types such as Omastar, Solrock, and Lunatone; burned alive by Fire-types such as Ninetales, Camerupt, and Magmar; swarmed by Bug-types such as Scyther and Pinsir; and hammered by Steel-types such as Aggron.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Aaronboyer, 239454]
- Quality checked by: [[Oglemi, 40358], [Hogg, 228003]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Empress, 175616]]
Sneasel is tied with Persian as the second fastest Pokemon in the entire metagame, which, alongside its decent base 95 Attack and unique dual typing, would allow it to perform wonderfully as a Swords Dance sweeper or Choice Band wallbreaker. Unfortunately, both of its STAB types are special, and it only has base 35 Special Attack, meaning Sneasel must use non-STAB moves if it wants to make use of its much higher Attack stat. Sneasel is also exceedingly frail and has five glaring weaknesses, necessitating an immense amount of team support in order for it to function. Even so, Sneasel has perfect neutral coverage in Shadow Ball + Brick Break, and in a metagame dominated by Psychic-types such as Hypno, Solrock, Lunatone, and Grumpig, as well as Fighting-weak Pokemon such as Kangaskhan, Cradily, and Walrein, perhaps it's not all bad for everyone's favorite icy weasel.
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Brick Break
move 3: Double-Edge
move 4: Swords Dance
item: Liechi Berry
ability: Oblivious
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Shadow Ball and Brick Break combine to provide perfect neutral coverage against the entire tier, and, when boosted by Swords Dance, they clean up opposing teams quite nicely. Because Shadow Ball and Brick Break do not receive STAB, Double-Edge becomes Sneasel’s strongest attack against targets that are hit neutrally by the first two attacks. Swords Dance boosts Sneasel’s Attack stat by two stages with each use and allows it to perform the role of a setup sweeper.
[ADDITIONAL SET COMMENTS]
Liechi Berry is Sneasel's best option for a held item, as it is likely to take a massive hit to activate it or use Double-Edge enough to activate it through the recoil. Both of Sneasel’s abilities are relatively useless. However, Inner Focus prevents Sneasel from flinching, which is considerably more useful than prevention of lowered accuracy, especially with Fake Out users such as Persian and Shiftry around. Maximum Speed and Attack EVs allow Sneasel to outspeed the entire tier and hit as hard as possible. A Jolly nature is utilized so that Sneasel can outspeed base 105 Speed Pokemon such as Scyther, Manectric, Rapidash, and Electabuzz. Sneasel is hard to use because it's so incredibly frail and cannot be directly switched into basically anything. As such, Sneasel should only be switched in via a slow Baton Pass or after a teammate has fainted so that it can revenge kill the foe. Furthermore, bulky attackers such as Kangaskhan and Lunatone can ease pressure off Sneasel with their ability to take a hit yet still maintain offensive momentum. Spikes setters such as Omastar are incredibly useful for chipping away at the opposing team for Sneasel to clean up later.
[Other Options]
A Choice Band set is more suited to revenge killing than Sneasel's Swords Dance set, making use of moves like Focus Punch and Hidden Power Flying, the latter of which is extremely useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplume, and Meganium that Sneasel would otherwise have trouble with. However, Sneasel faces heavy competition as a revenge killer from Persian, which gets STAB on Double-Edge, allowing it to always OHKO Hasty Tentacruel and hit Scyther significantly harder than Sneasel ever could. Substitute and Endure are both options to help Sneasel more safely bring its HP down to the activation range of its Liechi Berry. Focus Punch can be used alongside Substitute as a stronger alternative to Brick Break. Sneasel can also use Substitute in tandem with Toxic to wear down the foe. Quick Attack can be utilized as a priority move that picks off weakened Pokemon. However, Sneasel already has the necessary Speed tier to adequately perform this role, and giving up an important move for Quick Attack is not justifiable.
[Checks and Counters]
Fighting-types such as Poliwrath, Primeape, and Hitmontop can easily OHKO Sneasel with their STAB attacks. Hitmonlee and Hitmontop also have access to Mach Punch, which ignores Sneasel's absurd Speed stat. Additionally, Hitmontop's Intimidate softens the incoming attack before Hitmontop revenge kills Sneasel with Mach Punch. Walls such as Blastoise, Hypno, Granbull, and the aforementioned Hitmontop can all pivot into Sneasel easily and 2HKO it back, especially the latter two with their access to Intimidate. Due to its extreme frailty, Sneasel gets easily crushed by Rock-types such as Omastar, Solrock, and Lunatone; burned alive by Fire-types such as Ninetales, Camerupt, and Magmar; swarmed by Bug-types such as Scyther and Pinsir; and hammered by Steel-types such as Aggron.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Aaronboyer, 239454]
- Quality checked by: [[Oglemi, 40358], [Hogg, 228003]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Empress, 175616]]
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