Sneasel

[Aaronboyer]

[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]]

 

[Wenderz]

I know this is just a WIP for now, but I think it's always nice to have some feedbacks, especially when you're covering a tier that doesn't have a QC team yet (at least I don't think ADV UU has one).

In my opinion, SD and CB should both have their own set. They don't necessarily have the same purpose : SD is more likely to sweep and CB is more suited to revenge kill and can make use of moves like Focus Punch or HP Flying (useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplume and Meganium) thanks to the added moveslot. Although I'm not entirely sure if CB itself deserves its own set despite what I said earlier, because it faces heavy competition from Persian as a RK since it benefits from a STAB on Double-Edge, which is pretty significant since it will always get the OHKO on a Hasty Druidcruel and hits Scyther significantly harder, two Pokemon that are in my opinion very important to hit hard enough for a RK. Nonetheless, Sneasel still has more power on non-stabbed moves, Focus Punch and a typing allowing it to offensively check Lunatone and non Fire Punch Grumpig, so that may be enough to warrant a set.

Besides, if there is any will to revamp ADV UU analyses, I would gladly help, since it's apparently pretty needed. If ADV NU Mon get this, then why not UU Mon too ?

 

[Aaronboyer]

I'm not particularly interested in doing ADV UU Pokemon. I am interested in doing ADV Pokemon. All of the non-OU tiers need revamping / new analyses and I am more than happy to help address this need.

As for this specific analysis, if no one else wants to input, I'm gonna move all mentions of Choice Band to the first Other Option. Also, when I get this finished and ready for QC, who will I tag?

 

[Aaronboyer]

This is ready for QC. Tagging Wenderz and Oglemi because idk who else to tag. Also ADV NU Volbeat still needs a check if you can do that also. Oh, and GSC Pikachu and Mr. Mime need moved to Locked / Outdated also. Also I have reservations that I would appreciate being approved. Thanks in advance!

 

[Wenderz]

I'm not an ADV UU top player to be honest so I'm sorry I'll probably won't be the one QCing your analysis, however I'll still give an amcheck. Maybe Jellicent knows someone who could give you an accurate control.

Hide

[Overview]
Sneasel is tied with Persian as the second fastest Pokemon in the entire metagame and, alongside its decent base 95 Attack and unique dual typing, would perform wonderfully as a Swords Dance sweeper or Choice Band wallbreaker. Unfortunately, both of it's STABs 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 type weaknesses. Even so, Sneasel has perfect neutral coverage in Shadow Ball + Brick Break, and in a metagame dominanted by Psychic-types such as Hypno, Solrock, Lunatone, and Grumpig, ( I think you should remove Solrock here since the standard variant takes a +2 Shado Ball and OHKOes in return) as well as Fighting weak Pokemon such as Kangaskhan, Cradily, and Walrein, (the same applies to them, although you could keep Walrein because some variants opt for Ice Beam as their only attacking tool and it cannot OHKO Sneasel back unlike the other two)perhaps not all is 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 together provide perfect neutral coverage against the entire tier, and, when boosted by Swords Dance, cleans up quite nicely.
-Because Shadow Ball and Brick Break do not receive STAB, Double Edge becomes Sneasel’s strongest attack against targets who 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 will take a massive hit to bring itself to activation or it will use Double-Edge enough to where the recoil will activate it.
- Both of Sneasel’s abilities are relatively useless. However, Oblivious prevents Sneasel from becoming infatuated which is considerably more useful than prevention of lowered accuracy.
- 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 its so incredibly frail and cannot be directly switched into basically anything (By virtue of its typing it can serve as an offensive check to most Lunatone and non Fire-Punch Grumpig). Sneasel should only be switched in via a slow Baton Pass or after a teammate has fainted so that it can revenge-kill.
- Sneasel prefers being paired with solid checks to the types that its weak to such as Hypno being a Fighting-type answer, Lunatone being a Fire-type answer (Fire-types in this metagame are rather frail and only pose a threat on 1v1, Magmar and Rapidash are OHKOed by +2 Double-Edge whereas Ninetales and Camerupt have a chance to die as well), and Kangaskhan being an Aggron answer (not sure about this, Aggron usually runs SubPunch or CB in my experience, Kanga isn't really suited to switch on these, Ground-types like Sandslash, Quagsire and maybe Nidoqueen are more appropriate. Besides, you would check Rock-Types as a whole due to their physical bulk).
- In my opinion one of Sneasel's biggest problem is its overall lack of power : it struggles to deafeat any physically bulky Mon even if it hits on their weakness at +2. That's why cheap damages offered by Spikes support and Pokemon like CB Kanga and Golem that weaken physical walls are appreciated.

[Other Options]
- A Choice Band set is more suited to revenge kill than Sneasel's Swords Dance set, making use of moves like Focus Punch or Hidden Power Flying, the latter of which is extremely useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplume, and Meganium Sneasel would otherwise have trouble with. However, Sneasel faces heavy competition from Persian as a revenge-killer since it benefits from STAB on Double-Edge, which is significant in that fact that it will always OHKO Hasty Tentacruel and hits Scyther significantly harder than Sneasel ever could.
- Substitute and Endure are both options to help Sneasel’s more safely bring its HP down to the activation 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 (mainly Reversal / Flail users). 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 Brick Break and Cross Chop, respectively. Hitmonlee and Hitmontop also have access to Mach Punch, which basically ignores Sneasel's absurd Speed stat. Additionally, Hitmontop's ability is Intimidate, softening the incoming attack before revenge-killing with Mach Punch. Primeape is OHKOed by +2 Double-Edge so it only works in 1v1, Hitmontop should probably be the first mentionned since its probably the best answer to Sneasel.
- Defensive walls such as Blastoise, Hypno (not Hypno, it takes a huge amount from +2 Shadow Ball and Thunder Wave afterwards, but the loss of health can mean it has to trade to disable Sneasel), Granbull, and the aforementioned Hitmontop are all easily to pivot into Sneasel and 2HKO (or OHKO in the case of the last one) it back, especially the latter two with their access to Intimidate. Most Physicall walls that don't fear its coverage like Meganium, Quagsire, Vileplume, bulky Gligar, bulky Sandslash, Nidoqueen... Although depending on their spread they don't necessarily avoid the 2HKo from +2 D-E.
- Due to its extreme frailty, Sneasel gets easily crushed by Rock-types such as Omastar, Solrock, and Lunatone (Lunatone never runs Rock-types coverage and is checked by Sneasel, mention Cradily and Golem instead); burned alive by Fire-types such as Ninetales, Camerupt, and Magmar(for the same reasons given previously I don't think these should be mentionned); swarmed by Bug-types such as Scyther and Pinsir (Scyther still fears the OHKO so I'm not sure if it should be listed); and iron clubbed by Steel-types such as Aggron (Aggron is arguably the only viable Steel-type available so just move it alongside the other Rock-types). All these Pokemon are soft check since thay all take a significant amount from boosted attacks, so they do not "easily" defeat Sneasel, they're good at taking a hit if they're healthy and OHKO it, bar Omastar and Cradily depending on the variant.
- Electrode outspeeds Sneasel and does a lot, Persian speed ties. Not sure if Salac Berry users like Sharpedo or Reversaler / Flailers should be mentionned but Sneasel is frail and often has to kill its opponent quickly so they can use it as an advantage.

Anyway, solid work overall.

 

[Oglemi]

I haven't played much uu lately but I used to a lot years ago, but i've kept up with uupl anyway. I would just be careful overall of selling sneasel too highly, it's almost completely outclassed by scyther. The only major thing it has is its speed. The analysis is decent otherwise, it's not inaccurate.

Hogg might have more to add but it's good imo

 

[Hogg]

"Sneasel prefers being paired with solid checks to the types that its weak to such as Hypno being a Fighting-type answer, Lunatone being a Fire-type answer, and Kangaskhan being an Aggron answer."

This line is pretty awkward. The wording seems off, and Kangaskhan is a really weird choice as an answer to Aggron. Also, it's not like you need a Fighting or Fire move to mess up Sneasel's day.

Mention Spikes support as something that Sneasel appreciates (and hey, Oma is actually a much more reasonable check to Aggron, so if you really want to include an Aggron answer, there you go). Druidcruel is also a nice partner, as it's pretty good at weakening physical walls for Sneasel to clean up.

Other than that, seems fine. I agree with Oglemi re: overselling Sneasel; it's definitely a niche option that requires a lot of support to function at all (despite the good neutral coverage of Fighting + Ghost, the lack of STAB means it really is pretty underwhelming without a Swords Dance).

 

[Cantius]

AmCheck

[Overview]
Sneasel is tied with Persian as the second fastest Pokemon in the entire metagame and, alongside its decent base 95 Attack and unique dual typing, would perform wonderfully as a Swords Dance sweeper or Choice Band wallbreaker. Unfortunately, both of it's its STABs are special (AC) 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 type weaknesses, necessitating an immense amount of team support in order to function. Even so, Sneasel has perfect neutral coverage in Shadow Ball + (changing "+" to "and") and 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 not all is 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 are used together to provide perfect neutral coverage against the entire tier, (RC) and, when boosted by Swords Dance, cleans clean up quite nicely. Because Shadow Ball and Brick Break do not receive STAB, Double Edge becomes Sneasel’s strongest attack against targets who 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 will take a massive hit to bring itself to activation (AC) or it will use Double-Edge enough to where the recoil will activate it. Both of Sneasel’s abilities are relatively useless. However, Oblivious prevents Sneasel from becoming infatuated (AC) which is considerably more useful than prevention of lowered accuracy, especially with Clefable 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 its it's so ("incredibly" is already a strong word choice) incredibly frail and cannot be directly switched into basically anything. Sneasel should only be switched in via a slow Baton Pass or after a teammate has fainted so that it can revenge-kill revenge kill. Sneasel is quite frail, so Sneasel being paired next to with bulky attackers such as Kangaskhan and Lunatone can ease to the pressure off of Sneasel in order for something to take a hit yet still keep 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 kill than Sneasel's Swords Dance set, making use of moves like Focus Punch or Hidden Power Flying, the latter of which is extremely useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplume, and Meganium Sneasel would otherwise have trouble with. (The structure breaks up points and clauses that are easier to understand in relation to the sentence if they were together.) A Choice Band set, making use of moves like Focus Punch or Hidden Power Flying, the ladder of which is extremely useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplune, and Meganium Sneasel would otherwise have trouble with, is more suited to revenge kill than Sneasel's Swords Dance set. However, Sneasel faces heavy competition from Persian as a revenge-killer revenge killer since it Persian (temporary ambiguity) benefits from STAB on Double-Edge, which is significant in that fact that it will always OHKO Hasty Tentacruel and hits Scyther significantly harder than Sneasel ever could. Substitute and Endure are both options to help Sneasel's Sneasel more safely bring its HP down to the activation 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 opposing Pokemon. 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 Brick Break and Cross Chop, respectively. (3:2 respectively. Clarification?) Hitmonlee and Hitmontop also have access to Mach Punch, which basically ignores Sneasel's absurd Speed stat. Additionally, Hitmontop's ability is Intimidate, softening the incoming attack before revenge-killing revenge killing with Mach Punch. Defensive walls such as Blastoise, Hypno, Granbull, and the aforementioned Hitmontop are all easy to pivot into Sneasel 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 iron clubbed by Steel-types such as Aggron.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Aaronboyer, 239454]
- Quality checked by: [[Oglemi, 40358], [Hogg, 228003]]
- Grammar checked by: [[NAME, NUMBER], [NAME, NUMBER]]

 

[Lumari]

remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/2

check

[Overview]
Sneasel is tied with Persian as the second fastest Pokemon in the entire metagame, (AC) and, which alongside its decent base 95 Attack and unique dual typing (RC) would allow it to perform wonderfully as a Swords Dance sweeper or Choice Band wallbreaker. Unfortunately, both of it's its STAB types are special, (AC) 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 type 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 (AH) Pokemon such as Kangaskhan, Cradily, and Walrein, perhaps not all is bad for everyone's favorite icy weasel.

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Brick Break
move 3: Double-Edge (AH)
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 together combine to provide perfect neutral coverage against the entire tier, and, when boosted by Swords Dance, cleans they clean up quite nicely. Because Shadow Ball and Brick Break do not receive STAB, Double-Edge (AH) becomes Sneasel’s strongest attack against targets who 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 will is likely to take a massive hit to bring itself to activation activate it or it will use Double-Edge enough to where the recoil will activate it through the recoil. Both of Sneasel’s abilities are relatively useless. However, Oblivious prevents Sneasel from becoming infatuated, (AC) which is considerably more useful than prevention of lowered accuracy, especially with Clefable around. (it doesn't get Oblivious, Inner Focus is its other ability) 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 its 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 (RH) the foe. Sneasel is quite frail, so Furthermore, being paired next to bulky attackers such as Kangaskhan and Lunatone can ease to pressure off of Sneasel in order for something to take with their ability to a hit yet still keep 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 or and Hidden Power Flying, the latter of which is extremely useful against walls like Hitmontop, Vileplume, and Meganium Sneasel would otherwise have trouble with. However, Sneasel faces heavy competition from Persian as a revenge killer, (RH, AC) since it which benefits from STAB on Double-Edge, which is significant in that fact that it will allowing it to always OHKO Hasty Tentacruel and hits hit Scyther significantly harder than Sneasel ever could. Substitute and Endure are both options to help Sneasel’s more safely bring its HP down to the activation 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 Brick Break and Cross Chop, respectively their STAB attacks. Hitmonlee and Hitmontop also have access to Mach Punch, which basically ignores Sneasel's absurd Speed stat. Additionally, Hitmontop's ability is Intimidate, softening softens the incoming attack before revenge-killing it revenge kills Sneasel with Mach Punch. Defensive walls such as Blastoise, Hypno, Granbull, and the aforementioned Hitmontop are all easy to pivot into Sneasel 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 iron clubbed by Steel-types such as Aggron.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Aaronboyer, 239454]
- Quality checked by: [[Oglemi, 40358], [Hogg, 228003]]
- Grammar checked by: [[NAME, NUMBER], [NAME, NUMBER]]

 

[Empress]

add remove comment

Here ya go

[Overview]
Sneasel is tied with Persian as the second fastest Pokemon in the entire metagame, which, (AC) alongside its decent base 95 Attack and unique dual typing, (AC) 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 not all is it's not all (subjective change) 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 (remove extra space)use Double-Edge enough to activate it through the recoil. Both of Sneasel’s abilities are relatively useless. However, Inner Focus prevents Sneasel from becoming flinched 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 keep maintain (subjective change) 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 from Persian as a revenge killer from Persian, which benefits from gets (subjective change; more concise) 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’s Sneasel more safely bring its HP down (remove extra space)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(Remove extra space) Intimidate softens the incoming attack before it Hitmontop revenge kills Sneasel with Mach Punch. Defensive walls Walls (redundant) such as Blastoise, Hypno, Granbull, and the aforementioned Hitmontop are all easy to 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 iron clubbed hammered (I appreciate the pun, but the phrasing was weird; does this one sound better?) 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], [NAME, NUMBER]]

GP 2/2

 

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