The National Dex OU Council has decided to suspect Sneasler for the eighth test of Generation 9.
The next stage of the suspect testing process turns its eyes to Sneasler. Sneasler offers unparalleled speed control and sweeping potential through its Unburden set that synergizes well with powerful Terrain setters. In the latest iteration of the On the Radar, Sneasler was highlighted as a controversial and potentially unbalanced element in the tier with one of its best natural checks, Gholdengo, banned some weeks prior. The quickbans of Baxcalibur and Ursaluna-Bloodmoon have little impacted Sneasler's viability, and given a weeks' interim for the metagame to restabilize, it's now appropriate to assess Sneasler's place within it.
One might almost think National Dex SVOU has conspired to maximize Sneasler's potency through multiple factors. Sneasler sports a base 120 Speed stat that places it in a faster speed tier than all relevant Choice Scarf users, Iron Valiant with Booster Energy, and weather users of Sand Rush and Swift Swim save for Barraskewda in Rain. Thus, Sneasler most commonly runs an Adamant nature with a powerful base 130 Attack stat that 2HKOs the majority of the tier. Swords Dance, Close Combat, Dire Claw/Gunk Shot, and a Terastallization-dependent coverage move - most commonly Acrobatics with Tera Flying for a strong neutral option - are all Sneasler needs to immediately threaten an endgame sweep of a weakened team or wallbreak irreparable damage to an opponent's checks. Moreover, two options unique to National Dex, Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, synergize incredibly well with Sneasler as Terrain setters. In particular, Psychic Terrain denies priority, neutering Fake Out and Bullet Punch as common methods for revenging Sneasler. Tapu Koko's Electric Terrain prevents one of Sneasler's notable checks in Dondozo from recovering via Rest. As well, Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain provides passive recovery to Sneasler as it sets up. With defensive stat boosts from Psychic/Electric/Grass Seed, a double Speed stat from Unburden, and the passive support of the aforementioned terrains, Sneasler can consistently use Swords Dance - that's five stat boosts in total - to exert enormous offensive pressure in a match.
Despite the perfect storm of support for its sweeping capabilities, Sneasler's Poison/Fighting dual typing and bulk thankfully leave room to be desired. Slowking-Galar and Slowbro take a hit from Sneasler and can fire off Future Sight that OHKOs Sneasler, or severely damages it should it Terastallize out of Poison type. The defensive stat drops from using Close Combat often place Sneasler into range of Fake Out from Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny. Toxapex resists Sneasler's original stabs, can nullify Attack boosts through Haze, fish for Scald or weather hits via Rocky Helmet but is altogether an inconsistent check. Defensive Flying-types in Zapdos and Moltres can also heavily chip Sneasler and possibly cripple it through Static or Flame Body, but are OHKOd by a +2 Gunk Shot. As the premier physical Unaware wall this generation, Dondozo is a hard check to Sneasler - as long as it can use Rest outside of Electric Terrain. Instead, Ghost types like Skeledirge or Aegislash and Tera Ghost users like Ferrothorn and Landorus-Therian have risen as more consistent checks to a boosted Sneasler that deal passive damage while stomaching multiple hits.
However, Dire Claw's secondary effect of dealing Poison, Paralysis, or Sleep status with a 50% chance places a major asterisk to the above counterplay. In reality, checking Sneasler requires multiple rounds of chip, careful resource management, and a bit of luck.
Given Sneasler's unparalled offensive capabilities, the National Dex OU Council believes it must now face the scrutiny of a suspect test.
- Reading this is mandatory for participating in the suspect test. The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. Also, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE will suffice.
- The table for this can be found below:
| GXE | minimum games |
| 80 | 50 |
| 80.2 | 49 |
| 80.4 | 48 |
| 80.6 | 47 |
| 80.8 | 46 |
| 81 | 45 |
| 81.2 | 44 |
| 81.4 | 43 |
| 81.6 | 42 |
| 81.8 | 41 |
| 82 | 40 |
| 82.2 | 39 |
| 82.4 | 38 |
| 82.6 | 37 |
| 82.8 | 36 |
| 83 | 35 |
| 83.2 | 34 |
| 83.4 | 33 |
| 83.6 | 32 |
| 83.8 | 31 |
| 84 | 30 |
- You must signup with a newly registered account on Pokemon Showdown! that begins with the appropriate prefix for the suspect test. For this suspect test, the prefix will be NDSNEZ. For example, I could sign up as NDSNEZ peapod.
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted. Moderator discretion will be applied here. If there is any doubt or hesitance when making the alt, just pick another name. There are infinite possibilities and we have had trouble for this repeatedly. If you wish to participate in the suspect, you should be able to exhibit decent enough judgement here. We will not be lenient.
- We will be using the regular National Dex ladder for this suspect test, and Sneasler will be legal throughout the entire suspect test.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- The suspect test will run for approximately two weeks, lasting until December 3rd at 11:59 pm (GMT-4), and then we will put up the voting thread in the Blind Voting subforum.
- No unhelpful one liners nor uninformed posts;
- No discussion on other potential suspects;
- You are required to make respectful posts;
- Failure to follow these simple guidelines will result in your post being deleted and infracted without any prior warning.
- Please also take a moment to read over some suggestions from the National Dex Council and the National Dex Moderation team for posting in this thread; adhering these will help out our time moderating the thread and present your arguments better and more educated.
- Do not argue because it's your favorite Pokémon. This should be common sense, but please don't do this, because we will delete posts like this.
- You do not need a boatload of experience to have an informed opinion, but please try to minimize the theorymon aspect and use your experiences watching and playing. Playing some on the ladder before posting is plenty if you're concerned about this.
- Do not flame, belittle, or be disrespectful to users in this thread. While not everyone will read this post in its entirety nor will everyone have informed opinion, please be sure not to be disrespectful. If there's an issue, bring it up to a moderator.
- Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokémon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokémon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result of this suspect, then so be it.
- This is not the place to complain about the suspect process. Please PM Kyo, Jho, or Kaede if you have any questions regarding this, and any broader questions about this test.
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ban this mon cuz broken its constraining on the builder and now it often comes down to run strong priority, run ur own sneasler and speed tie or run bozo stall and hopefully its not koko terrain so ur bozo cant rest.
