‘Mon-splaining

phoopes

I did it again
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
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“So you see, it’s called the Terastalization phenomenon. Any Pokémon can change its type mid-battle to its “Tera type,” giving it STAB (same-type attack bonus) to its new type as well as retaining it on its original type(s). OR, and here’s the kicker babe, you could also Terastilize to one of your existing types to gain boosted STAB. You can only do it once per battle though babe, so you gotta choose wisely. Oh, and there’s also a new move called Tera Blast that-“

—-

Make your own
 
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“No, no, no, don’t say sorry. I get it babe, the difference between VGC and doubles is pretty complicated. Let’s look at it number wise, on one hand you have VGC where you bring 4 mons (pokemon) to a battle, BUT here’s where it gets a little complicated, in doubles you bring a full team of 6…. What do you mean their like the exact same thing? there’s clearly a large difference, god babe it’s like you don’t even know Pokémon formats”
 

BP

Beers and Steers
is a Contributor to Smogon
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Salamence is one of the defining threats in ADV OU due to its fantastic offensive stats, expansive movepool, and defensive utility from Intimidate alongside a useful resistance palette. The latter two let it run Salamence can run a variety of sets that can dismantle multiple team types while providing important defensive utility. Mixed Salamence has a great matchup against Toxic, Spikes, and Sandstorm (TSS) cores, more specifically ones that contain Skarmory, Blissey, Swampert, and Tyranitar; its good Speed and coverage also make it generally effective against moderately fast offense teams, which usually lack good options to switch into and eliminate it. With Choice Band, the powerful and fast Salamence becomes one of the strongest wallbreakers in ADV OU—it also becomes one of the most effective ways to prevent Baton Pass Celebi from passing Calm Mind or Swords Dance. Dragon Dance Salamence excels as a sweeper against offensive teams that rely on frail physical checks. Its defensive properties are not to be overlooked; it is one of the sturdiest checks to Fighting-types such as Heracross and Breloom. Moreover, Intimidate is useful against physical Tyranitar and Salamence, especially to stop a Dragon Dance sweep. Additionally, Salamence is one of the few viable Pokemon with Wish, allowing it to heal itself and teammates effectively.

There are no Pokemon that can comfortably deal with all Salamence sets, but each set is answerable once revealed. Mixed Salamence is walled completely by Milotic, Porygon2, and defensive Zapdos if it lacks Rock Slide and is easily revenge killed by most threats with an Ice-type move. Choice Band Salamence is frequently prediction reliant due to its individually weak attacks, can be countered by common physical walls like Skarmory, and can get Pursuit trapped by Tyranitar if it locks into Hidden Power Flying or Rock Slide. Dragon Dance Salamence has a harder time sweeping when its checks, especially bulky Water-types, Gengar, and even Blissey, are healthy. Offensively, Salamence can be threatened by a variety of prominent and fast Pokemon like Gengar, Starmie, and Aerodactyl, limiting the offensive potential of non-Dragon Dance sets. Additionally, Salamence frequently requires prediction just to get in effectively, as its 4x weakness to Ice and vulnerability to status mean that Pokemon it can check with its Speed and coverage, such as weakened Blissey, Swampert, and Tyranitar.

Mixed Salamence is able to heavily damage most of the tier, including common Pokemon like Tyranitar, Swampert, Metagross, and Skarmory, with its coverage moves. It is a wallbreaker that is particularly potent against Toxic + Spikes + Sandstorm (TSS) teams and moderate-Speed offensive teams with its good Speed tier and coverage. Dragon Claw hits most of the tier neutrally and is a safe choice to use if a switch is expected. Specifically, Dragon Claw hits foe Dragon-types like Flygon and Salamence hard and chips checks such as Gengar and Zapdos on the switch. Alternatively, Rock Slide can OHKO Moltres and better handle specially defensive Zapdos. Brick Break threatens Blissey, Snorlax, and Tyranitar. Hidden Power Grass is a key move in order to hit Swampert very hard and 3HKO Suicune, Starmie, and Milotic switch-ins in sand. Fire Blast completes the coverage by handling Steel-types such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Metagross and other Fire-weak threats like Celebi. Additionally, Fire Blast heavily damages Heracross and Breloom, making mixed Salamence a solid check to Fighting-types.

Sometimes, other moves can be used over Hidden Power Grass or Brick Break. The most prominent of these are Wish and Roar. Wish is used to support Pokemon that have a better matchup against the opponent's team. For example, when against strong defensive answers such as Milotic, Suicune, defensive Starmie, and Porygon2, Salamence can use the opportunity to pass Wish to a strong offensive threat like Snorlax or Heracross instead of using a weak coverage move. Roar can be used to mitigate weakness to defensive Suicune and Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi on teams that neither have strong offensive presence nor specially robust phazers, such as ones featuring Forretress.

Getting the best utility out of mixed Salamence frequently involves aggressively exploiting Salamence's tendency to force switches; this is especially important in the absence of Spikes. For example, one can anticipate Blissey's entry with Brick Break, as Blissey is one of the few Pokemon that can recover from Salamence's attacks. A well-timed coverage move that cripples a crucial wall like Blissey, Swampert, or Metagross can sometimes tilt the game heavily in favor of one's Zapdos or Tyranitar. Due to only having 8 PP, Fire Blast should be used conservatively against Pokemon that may have Protect or Pressure such as Skarmory, Suicune, specially defensive Zapdos, and pivot Moltres. Salamence can choose to run a Naive nature instead of Rash so that it can outspeed Moltres, Celebi, and some Gengar sets. However, Rash allows Salamence to OHKO other offensive Salamence in sand and offensive Swampert. Additional Attack investment can help Brick Break and Rock Slide hit some damage rolls, such as 2HKOing Blissey and Zapdos.

Mixed Salamence is a staple on momentum-based offensive teams. Metagross and mixed Salamence make for a great physically defensive backbone on offensive teams, providing short-term defensive coverage without losing momentum. Metagross can chip walls such as defensive Swampert and Skarmory so that Salamence can more easily OHKO them. Likewise, Salamence can weaken these walls to give Metagross an easier time breaking through them. Note that Metagross's set choice is highly flexible and depends on the team's needs; Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash, mixed Metagross's Psychic, and even defensive Metagross's Toxic can heavily cripple Swampert or even defeat it with some luck, and all sets can use Explosion on Water-types. In particular, Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash has a high probability of breaking through Water-types with an Attack boost or a critical hit. Mixed Metagross can potentially pack Pursuit, which takes out Gengar after some chip damage from Salamence, or at least limits its ability to check Salamence. Agility Metagross variants especially enjoy Rock Slide Salamence removing Zapdos, Gyarados, and Moltres.

Since mixed Salamence dismantles physically defensive cores that incorporate Skarmory and Swampert, physical sweepers such as Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Aerodactyl pair well with it. Salac Berry Heracross is also a synergistic sweeper for a different reason — mixed Salamence frequently lures in and chips Flying-types and Gengar, which prevent Heracross from sweeping. Generally, Fighting-types like Heracross, Hariyama, and Breloom benefit from Salamence luring in their checks and tend to do well against teams that wall Salamence with Milotic, defensive Suicune, or defensive Starmie.

Snorlax checks common special attackers that Salamence struggles against such as Starmie, Zapdos, and Jolteon. It also pressures mixed Salamence's walls—Milotic, defensive Starmie, Blissey, Porygon2—and can help put Skarmory and Metagross in KO range of Fire Blast with its coverage and Self-Destruct. Salamence can switch into Heracross and Breloom, which take advantage of Snorlax. Spikes support from Pokemon such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Cloyster can help put Pokemon such as Blissey, Tyranitar, and Swampert in KO range of Salamence's coverage moves. Spikes can also greatly reduce the need for prediction. In return, Salamence can give Spikes setters support against Fighting-types and be a strong, fast cleaner. Defensive Jirachi can provide mixed Salamence with Wish support while Salamence pressures its checks—Swampert, Tyranitar, Metagross, and Snorlax—with its coverage moves. In some matchups, Jirachi will need to predict moves and switch-ins like Earthquake and Celebi to pass Wish to Salamence. Tyranitar's summoned sand is important for retaining chip damage on bulkier Pokemon such as Porygon2 and Blissey so Brick Break 2HKOes them. Additionally, sand preserves damage on checks like Zapdos and Gengar.

Choice Band Salamence is a potent combination of offense and defense. It excels as a wallbreaker with the movepool to OHKO or 2HKO a majority of ADV OU. At the same time, its typing and Intimidate let it switch into Celebi, defensive Suicune, Fighting-types, and Earthquakes easily. These offensive and defensive properties make Choice Band Salamence a good fit on balanced teams, especially those without sand. First, balance teams usually consist of a defensive backbone with only one or two offensive Pokemon. The passive backbone tends to sit at the mercy of Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi, defensive Suicune, and Fighting-types, so the team's offensive Pokemon should be able to switch into and force them out. Second, as balanced teams have a limited number of offensive Pokemon, the primary offense is often required to hit hard across a variety of matchups. Third, the defensive backbone can absorb momentum losses of the offensive Pokemon. Choice Band Salamence can lose momentum because it lacks the flexibility of switching moves, unlike mixed and Dragon Dance Salamence, but in exchange, they are walled more easily and cannot pressure Celebi and Suicune as easily.

Hidden Power Flying is Salamence's strongest physical STAB, dealing heavy damage to most targets and threatening Celebi and Fighting-types. Earthquake nails Tyranitar and Steel-types such as Metagross, Jirachi, and Magneton. Rock Slide hits Flying-types hard; it OHKOes uninvested Zapdos, Aerodactyl, and Moltres, and 2HKOes defensive Zapdos, opposing Salamence, and Gyarados. Its flinch chance can be used to break down defensive answers such as Skarmory in desperate situations. Brick Break OHKOes Tyranitar and heavily damages Blissey and Snorlax; it also 2HKOes Porygon2, which can recover from Salamence's other attacks.

There are significant compromises to be made when choosing Salamence's nature. Adamant Choice Band Salamence is able to 3HKO defensive Suicune, OHKO Zapdos, and possibly OHKO defensive Gengar in sand. A Jolly nature is best for a fast check to dangerous offensive Pokemon. Notably, it prevents Baton Pass Celebi from passing stats, threatens Moltres, and Speed ties Timid Jirachi and Zapdos.

Choice Band Salamence excels on balance and occasionally bulky offense builds as the team's immediate offensive threat. Magneton is almost always partnered with it for removing Skarmory.

Choice-locked Salamence loses momentum easily, so it appreciates sturdy defensive Pokemon as partners. Common physically defensive partners include Skarmory, Protect Metagross, defensive Suicune, and defensive Swampert. Skarmory is the Spiker that has the strongest synergy with Salamence, as it is also a wall that can switch into Metagross, Swampert, and perhaps Tyranitar. Spikes generally helps with wallbreaking and makes Hidden Power Flying a safe move choice that chips switch-ins. In particular, Spikes provides the chip damage needed to OHKO Metagross, Jirachi, and Blissey and 2HKO Milotic. Protect Metagross complements Salamence with its Rock resistance and can use Toxic to cripple Swampert and Suicune. Defensive Suicune switches into Metagross and Swampert well but is less robust against Tyranitar; Claydol and defensive Metagross thus help bolster the physically defensive core. Defensive Swampert switches into most physical threats, but it should ideally be paired with Skarmory for other Swampert and to allow some flexibility in pivoting around lures and Metagross's Explosion.

Choice Band Salamence also needs sturdy specially defensive partners, the most common of which are Blissey, Celebi, and Snorlax. Blissey is the most reliable special wall; it checks Gengar, Zapdos, and Starmie, which outspeed Salamence and threaten to OHKO it. Wish support from Blissey can help negate the chip damage Salamence receives, in sand. Celebi is also a decent special wall; it may struggle with Starmie and is prone to getting trapped by Dugtrio or Pursuit Tyranitar, so it is sometimes found alongside Curse Snorlax, a secondary special check. Celebi has more opportunities for synergy; its Leech Seed chips the foe and heals Salamence—important given the lack of Leftovers—and it can use Baton Pass to let Magneton to trap Skarmory more reliably. It also pressures Swampert harder. Snorlax is the shakiest of the special walls, but with Curse it has the greatest ability to pressure Salamence's checks in Milotic and Suicune. While most Snorlax are found alongside Celebi in this context, a small fraction of bulky offense teams use Snorlax as the sole special check, perhaps in conjunction with Claydol or Suicune for additional defensive coverage against Electric- or Water-types. In return for protecting Salamence from special threats, special walls benefit from Salamence protecting them from Fighting-types.

Choice Band Salamence has several fringe partners. It is possible to use Salamence without Magneton, provided that one has a spinner to stop Skarmory's Spikes and other Pokemon that force Skarmory in to take strong hits. Usually, this leads to a core of Choice Band Salamence; Starmie, Claydol, or Forretress; and a Fighting-type like Heracross, Hariyama, or Medicham. Occasionally, one can use Dugtrio to remove Pursuit Tyranitar, which otherwise gets the opportunity to chip Salamence heavily upon entry. Finally, there is a small fraction of bulky offense teams that use Choice Band Salamence with Gyarados as a sweeper in the Magneton offense archetype. Gyarados acts as a switch-in to Water-types and a secondary line of defense against physical threats with Intimidate, stopping Dragon Dance Tyranitar, Dragon Dance Salamence, and Aerodactyl.

Dragon Dance Salamence is adept at sweeping offensive teams that rely on frail Pokemon such as offensive Swampert and Metagross or revenge killers like Dugtrio, Aerodactyl, and Starmie to check physical sweepers. This proficiency comes from Salamence's Speed; unlike Tyranitar, +1 Salamence outspeeds the entire metagame. Dragon Dance Salamence also offers some unique defensive properties; it is the best Heracross counter, with the ability to OHKO, boost its Speed past Salac Berry variants, and heal with Leftovers. Unfortunately, Dragon Dance Salamence suffers in terms of power, bulk, and susceptibility to Intimidate. Many common Pokemon seen as physically frail like defensive Zapdos, Gengar, and even Blissey can survive a boosted attack and stop Salamence from sweeping. Opposing Salamence can also deny a sweep with Intimidate; although Dragon Dance Tyranitar can similarly be stopped, it more heavily pressures opposing Salamence with its STAB Rock Slide.

Hidden Power Flying is Salamence's strongest attack. While it is comparable to Earthquake in power, it hits Celebi and Fighting-types super effectively and Claydol and Flygon neutrally. It also dissuades the opponent from weakening Salamence by switching to Intimidate Salamence or Gyarados on Earthquake. Rock Slide threatens Zapdos, Moltres, Aerodactyl, Gyarados, and other Salamence. Due to the flinch chance, it also allows Salamence to take down Skarmory despite being a 3HKO. Earthquake completes the coverage by threatening Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Metagross. Occasionally, Brick Break is used over Earthquake to help Salamence beat Blissey and Tyranitar at the expense of coverage against Metagross and Jirachi.

Salamence can use a variety of EV spreads that differ mostly in trading off Attack for Speed and bulk. The only mandatory benchmark is 116 Speed EVs for Aerodactyl and Jolteon after a boost. The listed EVs allow Salamence to outspeed Adamant Heracross. It is possible to increase the Speed investment to 180 EVs for Moltres, or simply maximize speed at the expense of bulk. This allows Salamence to outspeed Jolly Heracross and increases its chances of outspeeding other Dragon Dance Salamence, Gyarados, and Agility Metagross that try to get into a boosting war. It also Speed ties with neutral Zapdos and mixed Salamence, which can be important because Salamence usually cannot afford to boost against them.

Salamence can also run a specially defensive EV spread of 180 Atk / 212 SpD / 116 Spe, which takes defensive Gengar's Ice Punch and defensive Swampert's Ice Beam, turning two of the most prominent Salamence checks into non-answers or setup opportunities. Less commonly, these EVs also guarantee that Salamence survives Timid Jirachi's Ice Punch. Note that the divestment from Attack can be significant, for near-guaranteed OHKOs on uninvested Tyranitar and Zapdos after a boost become roughly two-thirds chances.

Dragon Dance Salamence's use and role depend on the team and matchup. One needs to discern whether its HP should be used liberally for defensive pivoting and inducing chip damage, sacrificed to wallbreak for other sweepers, or preserved for a Dragon Dance sweep in the endgame. Salamence can be used mid-game to switch into Fighting-types, defensive Suicune, Celebi, and other physical Salamence, and it can also pivot in on Earthquake to weaken Tyranitar, Swampert, Flygon, Claydol, and Snorlax with Intimidate. Most of these Pokemon are also potential setup targets; even some threatening Pokemon like Tyranitar, defensive Swampert, and Jirachi can be set up on in specific circumstances, as Intimidate softens Rock Slide's damage and Salamence can have EVs to survive Swampert's and Jirachi's Ice-type coverage. Additionally, Salamence can set up on Choice-locked Pokemon like Dugtrio and Aerodactyl; these are revenge killers that offensive teams sometimes use to relieve their physical weaknesses, yet +1 Salamence bypasses them.

Dragon Dance Salamence fits well on momentum-based teams that benefit from its potential to sweep over the general utility of the mixed set. Occasionally, it can also fit on Magneton-based balance teams in lieu of Choice Band Salamence, where it pivots into Fighting-types, Celebi, and defensive Suicune. Most of Salamence's partners are geared towards breaking through its most prominent walls in Skarmory and bulky Water-types, most notably Swampert. Magneton is one of Salamence's most effective partners, as it can trap and remove Skarmory. Metagross is another effective partner that can plow through those walls. Choice Band Metagross is great for removing Skarmory and bulky Water-types with Explosion. While it targets Skarmory less specifically than Magneton, Choice Band Metagross prevents Skarmory from setting Spikes, which can exacerbate typical physically offensive teams' weakness to special sweepers like Starmie and Gengar. Mixed Metagross is great for wearing Skarmory and Swampert down over the course of a game. Pursuit on Mixed Metagross also chips Gengar and puts it into boosted Salamence's KO range. Defensive Metagross is a good choice in conjunction with Magneton, where Metagross has the flexibility of defensive and offensive use with Explosion or Toxic to wallbreak against bulky Water-types. This set also makes the best use of the physically defensive synergy of Salamence and Metagross.

A variety of Tyranitar sets can also lure Water-types in to chip them. The most prominent example is Dragon Dance + Hidden Power Grass Tyranitar, which frequently leaves the opponent no choice but to expend a huge amount of HP on their bulky Water-type. Hidden Power Grass is not strictly necessary if one has other means of luring and damaging Swampert or if the rest of the team has a good matchup against Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes (TSS) teams, which Swampert is usually found on and Dragon Dance Salamence struggles against. Mixed Tyranitar does not target Water-types as specifically and cannot get past Milotic, but it is great against TSS teams; it can chip Skarmory and other one-time checks like Blissey, defensive Zapdos, Starmie, and physically defensive Celebi. Note that Tyranitar's Sand Stream is really helpful for maintaining chip damage on most Pokemon, especially Milotic, Suicune, Gengar, Blissey, and Snorlax.

Offensive Water-types also tend to have good matchups against TSS teams and can switch into defensive Swampert relatively easily. Offensive Swampert is a good choice for heavily damaging Skarmory as it tries to set Spikes, and opposing Swampert is frequently compelled to trade blows for the lack of a better switch-in, unwittingly facilitating the Salamence sweep. Offensive Swampert is also generally great at luring in and chipping the other aforementioned one-time checks. Offensive Suicune works in a similar vein; it heavily threatens the special walls Celebi and Jirachi, and it can use Toxic to chip Blissey and dissuade it from staying in, thereby also forcing chip damage on Swampert, Skarmory, Gengar, or Starmie. It also trades with Snorlax, which could otherwise use Self-Destruct on Salamence.

Enabling a Dragon Dance Salamence sweep also requires chipping bulky Tyranitar and Metagross, which can survive boosted Earthquake and OHKO back. Offensive Snorlax lures in Tyranitar, Metagross, and Skarmory and can chip them with Earthquake, Focus Punch, or Self-Destruct; Curse + Self-Destruct can even take out these checks. Snorlax also acts as a special tank. Gyarados is another great partner for Salamence. They share similar checks in Tyranitar, Metagross, Salamence, Snorlax, Gengar, and Starmie; together, they can overload these checks. For example, a common sequence involves using Dragon Dance Gyarados to force bulky physical Tyranitar in, sacrificing Gyarados to chip Tyranitar with Earthquake, and exploiting Salamence's Intimidate to set up. Also, having two fast Dragon Dance users vastly expands one's coverage—Salamence's Rock Slide can make up for Gyarados's potential lack of coverage for Aerodactyl, while Gyarados can set up on Water-types and potentially carry Hidden Power Ghost for Gengar. Water-types are the bane of Salamence's existence, so Gyarados's ability to set up on Water-types is particularly complementary. Celebi is also able to gain momentum on Water-types. Offensive Calm Mind Celebi can lure in and trade with Tyranitar and Metagross or pass its boosts to Swampert; alternatively, Leech Seed variants can slowly provide the little chip damage needed to bring Tyranitar, Metagross, and Blissey into KO range. Salamence is also able to protect Celebi from Heracross and other physical Salamence sets to an extent. Offensive Jirachi performs a similar role of luring in and chipping Tyranitar, providing Salamence a setup opportunity upon its sacrifice; it can also wrestle with Snorlax to bring it into Salamence's KO range.

Chipping Gengar and opposing Salamence also makes it easier for Dragon Dance Salamence to sweep. Heracross lures in and chips these targets, and on top of that, it has a good matchup against Milotic-based stall teams Heracross is a decent switch-in to Water-types as well.

While Dragon Dance Salamence is harder to fit on Spikes teams than mixed Salamence, Spikes helps Salamence break through all grounded checks. On offensive teams, Cloyster can provide Spikes support, and its Explosion and Surf provide the little dent needed to beat Tyranitar, Metagross, or Gengar. On balanced teams, Skarmory is the default Spiker.

Salamence can run a more dedicated defensive and supportive set with 252 HP and 252 Defense EVs that utilizes Wish and Protect. The remaining moves are chosen to suit the team and can range from two attacks, like Hidden Power Flying + Earthquake or Dragon Claw + Flamethrower, to a single attack and a utility move like Roar or Toxic. Flamethrower is a good attacking move to accompany Toxic, as it hits poison-immune Steel-types. This can be useful in teams with bulky setup Pokemon such as Rest Snorlax and defensive Suicune or dedicated stall teams such as those running defensive Hariyama, though the lack of power increases the team's weakness to Rest Suicune and Calm Mind Celebi.

Dragon Dance Salamence can run a mixed set utilizing Fire Blast over Hidden Power Flying, especially to exploit a Calm Mind boost passed from Celebi. Dropping Hidden Power Flying, however, makes it much harder for Salamence to get past Claydol and Flygon. In its defense, Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi tends to have a good matchup against Claydol teams. Unfortunately, the lack of STAB also makes it easier for the opponent to pivot around and weaken Salamence with their own use of Intimidate. Dragon Dance Salamence can also use Hidden Power Grass in lieu of Hidden Power Flying to break through Swampert, though not only do the same drawbacks apply, but Celebi also walls it. Refresh is a nifty matchup pick that turns bulky Water-type stops that lack Ice Beam or Roar into setup fodder, namely Milotic, some Swampert, and defensive Starmie. This comes at the expense of an attacking move, which is usually Rock Slide to preserve Salamence's ability to hit Claydol, a common Milotic partner. Salamence thus becomes walled by Zapdos and Aerodactyl.

Hydro Pump is an option on mixed Salamence in order to OHKO Aerodactyl and Moltres, which can be really useful if Salamence has been passed a Speed boost, but this requires giving up another attack. Sleep Talk can be used on Choice Band or mixed Salamence for a safe switch-in to Breloom and Venusaur. Toxic is also another option on the mixed set to cripple Water-types without Refresh and Porygon2.


There are very few Pokemon that can check all of Salamence's sets because it can hit hard both physically and specially. You will need a combination of the Pokemon below if you want to successfully check each Salamence set.

Bulky Water-types such as Swampert, Milotic, and Suicune wall specific Salamence sets and threaten Salamence back with Ice-type coverage, Toxic, or phazing. Swampert is the most robust check to physical Salamence under sand, but it should be wary of mixed Salamence running Hidden Power Grass. Milotic is the best check to all variants of Salamence in a vacuum, but it can frequently be put into 2HKO range of Choice Band Salamence and possibly mixed Salamence when chipped. It is prone to critical hits in the process of healing with Recover. Milotic still requires secondary checks. Defensive Suicune without Ice Beam can phaze physical Salamence with Roar and set up on mixed Salamence. However, it is an unreliable check, as Salamence can muscle through it with critical hits.

Skarmory is one of the biggest problems for physical Salamence due to it walling both Choice Band and Dragon Dance sets to cripple it with Toxic or set up Spikes. However, Skarmory should not be a team's sole Salamence check because Salamence is frequently paired with Magneton and other wallbreakers.

Revenge killers such as Aerodactyl, Gengar, Starmie, Zapdos, and Jolteon can switch in, possibly after a KO, to force Choice Band and mixed Salamence out with super effective coverage or status moves. Starmie and physically defensive Gengar have the added luxury of surviving any physical or special attack and threatening to OHKO with their Ice-type coverage or, in the case of defensive Starmie, disable Salamence with Thunder Wave. Aerodactyl and Zapdos can get KOed by Choice Band Salamence's Rock Slide but are safe switch-ins against mixed Salamence too. As Starmie and defensive Gengar can survive boosted Salamence's attacks, they are also single-use checks to Dragon Dance Salamence. Many common Pokemon can also tank a hit from Dragon Dance Salamence and retaliate with Explosion, including Metagross, Snorlax, Claydol, Cloyster, and Forretress. Mixed Salamence OHKOes Salamence without bulk investment under sand with Dragon Claw, and with Intimidate to soften physical blows, it can be an emergency check to physical Salamence as well.

Blissey is a decent mixed Salamence check, as it can OHKO Salamence with Ice Beam or Counter and heal off damage from Brick Break. It can also check Dragon Dance Salamence in a pinch, but a Rock Slide flinch can put it out of commission. Blissey is vulnerable to Spikes and sand damage and cannot check Salamence well if it becomes too weakened.

Porygon2 is able to check mixed and Dragon Dance Salamence thanks to its Ice Beam and Recover. It even checks Choice Band Salamence pretty reliably, as only Brick Break can 2HKO it.

Pursuit Tyranitar can trap and deal a heavy blow to Choice Band Salamence if it's locked into Hidden Power Flying or Rock Slide. Sacrificing a Pokemon weak to these moves can thus form a reliable strategy for removing Salamence that does not require the risky predictions typically associated with Choice Band users.

Pokemon with Intimidate such as Gyarados and other Salamence can stop Dragon Dance Salamence from sweeping or soften its attacks mid-game, allowing Pokemon such as Metagross, Tyranitar, and bulky Water-types an easier time switching in. Mixed Salamence itself can also survive Rock Slide after Intimidate and attempt to KO opposing physical Salamence.
 

phoopes

I did it again
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
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Salamence is one of the defining threats in ADV OU due to its fantastic offensive stats, expansive movepool, and defensive utility from Intimidate alongside a useful resistance palette. The latter two let it run Salamence can run a variety of sets that can dismantle multiple team types while providing important defensive utility. Mixed Salamence has a great matchup against Toxic, Spikes, and Sandstorm (TSS) cores, more specifically ones that contain Skarmory, Blissey, Swampert, and Tyranitar; its good Speed and coverage also make it generally effective against moderately fast offense teams, which usually lack good options to switch into and eliminate it. With Choice Band, the powerful and fast Salamence becomes one of the strongest wallbreakers in ADV OU—it also becomes one of the most effective ways to prevent Baton Pass Celebi from passing Calm Mind or Swords Dance. Dragon Dance Salamence excels as a sweeper against offensive teams that rely on frail physical checks. Its defensive properties are not to be overlooked; it is one of the sturdiest checks to Fighting-types such as Heracross and Breloom. Moreover, Intimidate is useful against physical Tyranitar and Salamence, especially to stop a Dragon Dance sweep. Additionally, Salamence is one of the few viable Pokemon with Wish, allowing it to heal itself and teammates effectively.

There are no Pokemon that can comfortably deal with all Salamence sets, but each set is answerable once revealed. Mixed Salamence is walled completely by Milotic, Porygon2, and defensive Zapdos if it lacks Rock Slide and is easily revenge killed by most threats with an Ice-type move. Choice Band Salamence is frequently prediction reliant due to its individually weak attacks, can be countered by common physical walls like Skarmory, and can get Pursuit trapped by Tyranitar if it locks into Hidden Power Flying or Rock Slide. Dragon Dance Salamence has a harder time sweeping when its checks, especially bulky Water-types, Gengar, and even Blissey, are healthy. Offensively, Salamence can be threatened by a variety of prominent and fast Pokemon like Gengar, Starmie, and Aerodactyl, limiting the offensive potential of non-Dragon Dance sets. Additionally, Salamence frequently requires prediction just to get in effectively, as its 4x weakness to Ice and vulnerability to status mean that Pokemon it can check with its Speed and coverage, such as weakened Blissey, Swampert, and Tyranitar.

Mixed Salamence is able to heavily damage most of the tier, including common Pokemon like Tyranitar, Swampert, Metagross, and Skarmory, with its coverage moves. It is a wallbreaker that is particularly potent against Toxic + Spikes + Sandstorm (TSS) teams and moderate-Speed offensive teams with its good Speed tier and coverage. Dragon Claw hits most of the tier neutrally and is a safe choice to use if a switch is expected. Specifically, Dragon Claw hits foe Dragon-types like Flygon and Salamence hard and chips checks such as Gengar and Zapdos on the switch. Alternatively, Rock Slide can OHKO Moltres and better handle specially defensive Zapdos. Brick Break threatens Blissey, Snorlax, and Tyranitar. Hidden Power Grass is a key move in order to hit Swampert very hard and 3HKO Suicune, Starmie, and Milotic switch-ins in sand. Fire Blast completes the coverage by handling Steel-types such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Metagross and other Fire-weak threats like Celebi. Additionally, Fire Blast heavily damages Heracross and Breloom, making mixed Salamence a solid check to Fighting-types.

Sometimes, other moves can be used over Hidden Power Grass or Brick Break. The most prominent of these are Wish and Roar. Wish is used to support Pokemon that have a better matchup against the opponent's team. For example, when against strong defensive answers such as Milotic, Suicune, defensive Starmie, and Porygon2, Salamence can use the opportunity to pass Wish to a strong offensive threat like Snorlax or Heracross instead of using a weak coverage move. Roar can be used to mitigate weakness to defensive Suicune and Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi on teams that neither have strong offensive presence nor specially robust phazers, such as ones featuring Forretress.

Getting the best utility out of mixed Salamence frequently involves aggressively exploiting Salamence's tendency to force switches; this is especially important in the absence of Spikes. For example, one can anticipate Blissey's entry with Brick Break, as Blissey is one of the few Pokemon that can recover from Salamence's attacks. A well-timed coverage move that cripples a crucial wall like Blissey, Swampert, or Metagross can sometimes tilt the game heavily in favor of one's Zapdos or Tyranitar. Due to only having 8 PP, Fire Blast should be used conservatively against Pokemon that may have Protect or Pressure such as Skarmory, Suicune, specially defensive Zapdos, and pivot Moltres. Salamence can choose to run a Naive nature instead of Rash so that it can outspeed Moltres, Celebi, and some Gengar sets. However, Rash allows Salamence to OHKO other offensive Salamence in sand and offensive Swampert. Additional Attack investment can help Brick Break and Rock Slide hit some damage rolls, such as 2HKOing Blissey and Zapdos.

Mixed Salamence is a staple on momentum-based offensive teams. Metagross and mixed Salamence make for a great physically defensive backbone on offensive teams, providing short-term defensive coverage without losing momentum. Metagross can chip walls such as defensive Swampert and Skarmory so that Salamence can more easily OHKO them. Likewise, Salamence can weaken these walls to give Metagross an easier time breaking through them. Note that Metagross's set choice is highly flexible and depends on the team's needs; Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash, mixed Metagross's Psychic, and even defensive Metagross's Toxic can heavily cripple Swampert or even defeat it with some luck, and all sets can use Explosion on Water-types. In particular, Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash has a high probability of breaking through Water-types with an Attack boost or a critical hit. Mixed Metagross can potentially pack Pursuit, which takes out Gengar after some chip damage from Salamence, or at least limits its ability to check Salamence. Agility Metagross variants especially enjoy Rock Slide Salamence removing Zapdos, Gyarados, and Moltres.

Since mixed Salamence dismantles physically defensive cores that incorporate Skarmory and Swampert, physical sweepers such as Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Aerodactyl pair well with it. Salac Berry Heracross is also a synergistic sweeper for a different reason — mixed Salamence frequently lures in and chips Flying-types and Gengar, which prevent Heracross from sweeping. Generally, Fighting-types like Heracross, Hariyama, and Breloom benefit from Salamence luring in their checks and tend to do well against teams that wall Salamence with Milotic, defensive Suicune, or defensive Starmie.

Snorlax checks common special attackers that Salamence struggles against such as Starmie, Zapdos, and Jolteon. It also pressures mixed Salamence's walls—Milotic, defensive Starmie, Blissey, Porygon2—and can help put Skarmory and Metagross in KO range of Fire Blast with its coverage and Self-Destruct. Salamence can switch into Heracross and Breloom, which take advantage of Snorlax. Spikes support from Pokemon such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Cloyster can help put Pokemon such as Blissey, Tyranitar, and Swampert in KO range of Salamence's coverage moves. Spikes can also greatly reduce the need for prediction. In return, Salamence can give Spikes setters support against Fighting-types and be a strong, fast cleaner. Defensive Jirachi can provide mixed Salamence with Wish support while Salamence pressures its checks—Swampert, Tyranitar, Metagross, and Snorlax—with its coverage moves. In some matchups, Jirachi will need to predict moves and switch-ins like Earthquake and Celebi to pass Wish to Salamence. Tyranitar's summoned sand is important for retaining chip damage on bulkier Pokemon such as Porygon2 and Blissey so Brick Break 2HKOes them. Additionally, sand preserves damage on checks like Zapdos and Gengar.

Choice Band Salamence is a potent combination of offense and defense. It excels as a wallbreaker with the movepool to OHKO or 2HKO a majority of ADV OU. At the same time, its typing and Intimidate let it switch into Celebi, defensive Suicune, Fighting-types, and Earthquakes easily. These offensive and defensive properties make Choice Band Salamence a good fit on balanced teams, especially those without sand. First, balance teams usually consist of a defensive backbone with only one or two offensive Pokemon. The passive backbone tends to sit at the mercy of Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi, defensive Suicune, and Fighting-types, so the team's offensive Pokemon should be able to switch into and force them out. Second, as balanced teams have a limited number of offensive Pokemon, the primary offense is often required to hit hard across a variety of matchups. Third, the defensive backbone can absorb momentum losses of the offensive Pokemon. Choice Band Salamence can lose momentum because it lacks the flexibility of switching moves, unlike mixed and Dragon Dance Salamence, but in exchange, they are walled more easily and cannot pressure Celebi and Suicune as easily.

Hidden Power Flying is Salamence's strongest physical STAB, dealing heavy damage to most targets and threatening Celebi and Fighting-types. Earthquake nails Tyranitar and Steel-types such as Metagross, Jirachi, and Magneton. Rock Slide hits Flying-types hard; it OHKOes uninvested Zapdos, Aerodactyl, and Moltres, and 2HKOes defensive Zapdos, opposing Salamence, and Gyarados. Its flinch chance can be used to break down defensive answers such as Skarmory in desperate situations. Brick Break OHKOes Tyranitar and heavily damages Blissey and Snorlax; it also 2HKOes Porygon2, which can recover from Salamence's other attacks.

There are significant compromises to be made when choosing Salamence's nature. Adamant Choice Band Salamence is able to 3HKO defensive Suicune, OHKO Zapdos, and possibly OHKO defensive Gengar in sand. A Jolly nature is best for a fast check to dangerous offensive Pokemon. Notably, it prevents Baton Pass Celebi from passing stats, threatens Moltres, and Speed ties Timid Jirachi and Zapdos.

Choice Band Salamence excels on balance and occasionally bulky offense builds as the team's immediate offensive threat. Magneton is almost always partnered with it for removing Skarmory.

Choice-locked Salamence loses momentum easily, so it appreciates sturdy defensive Pokemon as partners. Common physically defensive partners include Skarmory, Protect Metagross, defensive Suicune, and defensive Swampert. Skarmory is the Spiker that has the strongest synergy with Salamence, as it is also a wall that can switch into Metagross, Swampert, and perhaps Tyranitar. Spikes generally helps with wallbreaking and makes Hidden Power Flying a safe move choice that chips switch-ins. In particular, Spikes provides the chip damage needed to OHKO Metagross, Jirachi, and Blissey and 2HKO Milotic. Protect Metagross complements Salamence with its Rock resistance and can use Toxic to cripple Swampert and Suicune. Defensive Suicune switches into Metagross and Swampert well but is less robust against Tyranitar; Claydol and defensive Metagross thus help bolster the physically defensive core. Defensive Swampert switches into most physical threats, but it should ideally be paired with Skarmory for other Swampert and to allow some flexibility in pivoting around lures and Metagross's Explosion.

Choice Band Salamence also needs sturdy specially defensive partners, the most common of which are Blissey, Celebi, and Snorlax. Blissey is the most reliable special wall; it checks Gengar, Zapdos, and Starmie, which outspeed Salamence and threaten to OHKO it. Wish support from Blissey can help negate the chip damage Salamence receives, in sand. Celebi is also a decent special wall; it may struggle with Starmie and is prone to getting trapped by Dugtrio or Pursuit Tyranitar, so it is sometimes found alongside Curse Snorlax, a secondary special check. Celebi has more opportunities for synergy; its Leech Seed chips the foe and heals Salamence—important given the lack of Leftovers—and it can use Baton Pass to let Magneton to trap Skarmory more reliably. It also pressures Swampert harder. Snorlax is the shakiest of the special walls, but with Curse it has the greatest ability to pressure Salamence's checks in Milotic and Suicune. While most Snorlax are found alongside Celebi in this context, a small fraction of bulky offense teams use Snorlax as the sole special check, perhaps in conjunction with Claydol or Suicune for additional defensive coverage against Electric- or Water-types. In return for protecting Salamence from special threats, special walls benefit from Salamence protecting them from Fighting-types.

Choice Band Salamence has several fringe partners. It is possible to use Salamence without Magneton, provided that one has a spinner to stop Skarmory's Spikes and other Pokemon that force Skarmory in to take strong hits. Usually, this leads to a core of Choice Band Salamence; Starmie, Claydol, or Forretress; and a Fighting-type like Heracross, Hariyama, or Medicham. Occasionally, one can use Dugtrio to remove Pursuit Tyranitar, which otherwise gets the opportunity to chip Salamence heavily upon entry. Finally, there is a small fraction of bulky offense teams that use Choice Band Salamence with Gyarados as a sweeper in the Magneton offense archetype. Gyarados acts as a switch-in to Water-types and a secondary line of defense against physical threats with Intimidate, stopping Dragon Dance Tyranitar, Dragon Dance Salamence, and Aerodactyl.

Dragon Dance Salamence is adept at sweeping offensive teams that rely on frail Pokemon such as offensive Swampert and Metagross or revenge killers like Dugtrio, Aerodactyl, and Starmie to check physical sweepers. This proficiency comes from Salamence's Speed; unlike Tyranitar, +1 Salamence outspeeds the entire metagame. Dragon Dance Salamence also offers some unique defensive properties; it is the best Heracross counter, with the ability to OHKO, boost its Speed past Salac Berry variants, and heal with Leftovers. Unfortunately, Dragon Dance Salamence suffers in terms of power, bulk, and susceptibility to Intimidate. Many common Pokemon seen as physically frail like defensive Zapdos, Gengar, and even Blissey can survive a boosted attack and stop Salamence from sweeping. Opposing Salamence can also deny a sweep with Intimidate; although Dragon Dance Tyranitar can similarly be stopped, it more heavily pressures opposing Salamence with its STAB Rock Slide.

Hidden Power Flying is Salamence's strongest attack. While it is comparable to Earthquake in power, it hits Celebi and Fighting-types super effectively and Claydol and Flygon neutrally. It also dissuades the opponent from weakening Salamence by switching to Intimidate Salamence or Gyarados on Earthquake. Rock Slide threatens Zapdos, Moltres, Aerodactyl, Gyarados, and other Salamence. Due to the flinch chance, it also allows Salamence to take down Skarmory despite being a 3HKO. Earthquake completes the coverage by threatening Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Metagross. Occasionally, Brick Break is used over Earthquake to help Salamence beat Blissey and Tyranitar at the expense of coverage against Metagross and Jirachi.

Salamence can use a variety of EV spreads that differ mostly in trading off Attack for Speed and bulk. The only mandatory benchmark is 116 Speed EVs for Aerodactyl and Jolteon after a boost. The listed EVs allow Salamence to outspeed Adamant Heracross. It is possible to increase the Speed investment to 180 EVs for Moltres, or simply maximize speed at the expense of bulk. This allows Salamence to outspeed Jolly Heracross and increases its chances of outspeeding other Dragon Dance Salamence, Gyarados, and Agility Metagross that try to get into a boosting war. It also Speed ties with neutral Zapdos and mixed Salamence, which can be important because Salamence usually cannot afford to boost against them.

Salamence can also run a specially defensive EV spread of 180 Atk / 212 SpD / 116 Spe, which takes defensive Gengar's Ice Punch and defensive Swampert's Ice Beam, turning two of the most prominent Salamence checks into non-answers or setup opportunities. Less commonly, these EVs also guarantee that Salamence survives Timid Jirachi's Ice Punch. Note that the divestment from Attack can be significant, for near-guaranteed OHKOs on uninvested Tyranitar and Zapdos after a boost become roughly two-thirds chances.

Dragon Dance Salamence's use and role depend on the team and matchup. One needs to discern whether its HP should be used liberally for defensive pivoting and inducing chip damage, sacrificed to wallbreak for other sweepers, or preserved for a Dragon Dance sweep in the endgame. Salamence can be used mid-game to switch into Fighting-types, defensive Suicune, Celebi, and other physical Salamence, and it can also pivot in on Earthquake to weaken Tyranitar, Swampert, Flygon, Claydol, and Snorlax with Intimidate. Most of these Pokemon are also potential setup targets; even some threatening Pokemon like Tyranitar, defensive Swampert, and Jirachi can be set up on in specific circumstances, as Intimidate softens Rock Slide's damage and Salamence can have EVs to survive Swampert's and Jirachi's Ice-type coverage. Additionally, Salamence can set up on Choice-locked Pokemon like Dugtrio and Aerodactyl; these are revenge killers that offensive teams sometimes use to relieve their physical weaknesses, yet +1 Salamence bypasses them.

Dragon Dance Salamence fits well on momentum-based teams that benefit from its potential to sweep over the general utility of the mixed set. Occasionally, it can also fit on Magneton-based balance teams in lieu of Choice Band Salamence, where it pivots into Fighting-types, Celebi, and defensive Suicune. Most of Salamence's partners are geared towards breaking through its most prominent walls in Skarmory and bulky Water-types, most notably Swampert. Magneton is one of Salamence's most effective partners, as it can trap and remove Skarmory. Metagross is another effective partner that can plow through those walls. Choice Band Metagross is great for removing Skarmory and bulky Water-types with Explosion. While it targets Skarmory less specifically than Magneton, Choice Band Metagross prevents Skarmory from setting Spikes, which can exacerbate typical physically offensive teams' weakness to special sweepers like Starmie and Gengar. Mixed Metagross is great for wearing Skarmory and Swampert down over the course of a game. Pursuit on Mixed Metagross also chips Gengar and puts it into boosted Salamence's KO range. Defensive Metagross is a good choice in conjunction with Magneton, where Metagross has the flexibility of defensive and offensive use with Explosion or Toxic to wallbreak against bulky Water-types. This set also makes the best use of the physically defensive synergy of Salamence and Metagross.

A variety of Tyranitar sets can also lure Water-types in to chip them. The most prominent example is Dragon Dance + Hidden Power Grass Tyranitar, which frequently leaves the opponent no choice but to expend a huge amount of HP on their bulky Water-type. Hidden Power Grass is not strictly necessary if one has other means of luring and damaging Swampert or if the rest of the team has a good matchup against Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes (TSS) teams, which Swampert is usually found on and Dragon Dance Salamence struggles against. Mixed Tyranitar does not target Water-types as specifically and cannot get past Milotic, but it is great against TSS teams; it can chip Skarmory and other one-time checks like Blissey, defensive Zapdos, Starmie, and physically defensive Celebi. Note that Tyranitar's Sand Stream is really helpful for maintaining chip damage on most Pokemon, especially Milotic, Suicune, Gengar, Blissey, and Snorlax.

Offensive Water-types also tend to have good matchups against TSS teams and can switch into defensive Swampert relatively easily. Offensive Swampert is a good choice for heavily damaging Skarmory as it tries to set Spikes, and opposing Swampert is frequently compelled to trade blows for the lack of a better switch-in, unwittingly facilitating the Salamence sweep. Offensive Swampert is also generally great at luring in and chipping the other aforementioned one-time checks. Offensive Suicune works in a similar vein; it heavily threatens the special walls Celebi and Jirachi, and it can use Toxic to chip Blissey and dissuade it from staying in, thereby also forcing chip damage on Swampert, Skarmory, Gengar, or Starmie. It also trades with Snorlax, which could otherwise use Self-Destruct on Salamence.

Enabling a Dragon Dance Salamence sweep also requires chipping bulky Tyranitar and Metagross, which can survive boosted Earthquake and OHKO back. Offensive Snorlax lures in Tyranitar, Metagross, and Skarmory and can chip them with Earthquake, Focus Punch, or Self-Destruct; Curse + Self-Destruct can even take out these checks. Snorlax also acts as a special tank. Gyarados is another great partner for Salamence. They share similar checks in Tyranitar, Metagross, Salamence, Snorlax, Gengar, and Starmie; together, they can overload these checks. For example, a common sequence involves using Dragon Dance Gyarados to force bulky physical Tyranitar in, sacrificing Gyarados to chip Tyranitar with Earthquake, and exploiting Salamence's Intimidate to set up. Also, having two fast Dragon Dance users vastly expands one's coverage—Salamence's Rock Slide can make up for Gyarados's potential lack of coverage for Aerodactyl, while Gyarados can set up on Water-types and potentially carry Hidden Power Ghost for Gengar. Water-types are the bane of Salamence's existence, so Gyarados's ability to set up on Water-types is particularly complementary. Celebi is also able to gain momentum on Water-types. Offensive Calm Mind Celebi can lure in and trade with Tyranitar and Metagross or pass its boosts to Swampert; alternatively, Leech Seed variants can slowly provide the little chip damage needed to bring Tyranitar, Metagross, and Blissey into KO range. Salamence is also able to protect Celebi from Heracross and other physical Salamence sets to an extent. Offensive Jirachi performs a similar role of luring in and chipping Tyranitar, providing Salamence a setup opportunity upon its sacrifice; it can also wrestle with Snorlax to bring it into Salamence's KO range.

Chipping Gengar and opposing Salamence also makes it easier for Dragon Dance Salamence to sweep. Heracross lures in and chips these targets, and on top of that, it has a good matchup against Milotic-based stall teams Heracross is a decent switch-in to Water-types as well.

While Dragon Dance Salamence is harder to fit on Spikes teams than mixed Salamence, Spikes helps Salamence break through all grounded checks. On offensive teams, Cloyster can provide Spikes support, and its Explosion and Surf provide the little dent needed to beat Tyranitar, Metagross, or Gengar. On balanced teams, Skarmory is the default Spiker.

Salamence can run a more dedicated defensive and supportive set with 252 HP and 252 Defense EVs that utilizes Wish and Protect. The remaining moves are chosen to suit the team and can range from two attacks, like Hidden Power Flying + Earthquake or Dragon Claw + Flamethrower, to a single attack and a utility move like Roar or Toxic. Flamethrower is a good attacking move to accompany Toxic, as it hits poison-immune Steel-types. This can be useful in teams with bulky setup Pokemon such as Rest Snorlax and defensive Suicune or dedicated stall teams such as those running defensive Hariyama, though the lack of power increases the team's weakness to Rest Suicune and Calm Mind Celebi.

Dragon Dance Salamence can run a mixed set utilizing Fire Blast over Hidden Power Flying, especially to exploit a Calm Mind boost passed from Celebi. Dropping Hidden Power Flying, however, makes it much harder for Salamence to get past Claydol and Flygon. In its defense, Calm Mind + Baton Pass Celebi tends to have a good matchup against Claydol teams. Unfortunately, the lack of STAB also makes it easier for the opponent to pivot around and weaken Salamence with their own use of Intimidate. Dragon Dance Salamence can also use Hidden Power Grass in lieu of Hidden Power Flying to break through Swampert, though not only do the same drawbacks apply, but Celebi also walls it. Refresh is a nifty matchup pick that turns bulky Water-type stops that lack Ice Beam or Roar into setup fodder, namely Milotic, some Swampert, and defensive Starmie. This comes at the expense of an attacking move, which is usually Rock Slide to preserve Salamence's ability to hit Claydol, a common Milotic partner. Salamence thus becomes walled by Zapdos and Aerodactyl.

Hydro Pump is an option on mixed Salamence in order to OHKO Aerodactyl and Moltres, which can be really useful if Salamence has been passed a Speed boost, but this requires giving up another attack. Sleep Talk can be used on Choice Band or mixed Salamence for a safe switch-in to Breloom and Venusaur. Toxic is also another option on the mixed set to cripple Water-types without Refresh and Porygon2.


There are very few Pokemon that can check all of Salamence's sets because it can hit hard both physically and specially. You will need a combination of the Pokemon below if you want to successfully check each Salamence set.

Bulky Water-types such as Swampert, Milotic, and Suicune wall specific Salamence sets and threaten Salamence back with Ice-type coverage, Toxic, or phazing. Swampert is the most robust check to physical Salamence under sand, but it should be wary of mixed Salamence running Hidden Power Grass. Milotic is the best check to all variants of Salamence in a vacuum, but it can frequently be put into 2HKO range of Choice Band Salamence and possibly mixed Salamence when chipped. It is prone to critical hits in the process of healing with Recover. Milotic still requires secondary checks. Defensive Suicune without Ice Beam can phaze physical Salamence with Roar and set up on mixed Salamence. However, it is an unreliable check, as Salamence can muscle through it with critical hits.

Skarmory is one of the biggest problems for physical Salamence due to it walling both Choice Band and Dragon Dance sets to cripple it with Toxic or set up Spikes. However, Skarmory should not be a team's sole Salamence check because Salamence is frequently paired with Magneton and other wallbreakers.

Revenge killers such as Aerodactyl, Gengar, Starmie, Zapdos, and Jolteon can switch in, possibly after a KO, to force Choice Band and mixed Salamence out with super effective coverage or status moves. Starmie and physically defensive Gengar have the added luxury of surviving any physical or special attack and threatening to OHKO with their Ice-type coverage or, in the case of defensive Starmie, disable Salamence with Thunder Wave. Aerodactyl and Zapdos can get KOed by Choice Band Salamence's Rock Slide but are safe switch-ins against mixed Salamence too. As Starmie and defensive Gengar can survive boosted Salamence's attacks, they are also single-use checks to Dragon Dance Salamence. Many common Pokemon can also tank a hit from Dragon Dance Salamence and retaliate with Explosion, including Metagross, Snorlax, Claydol, Cloyster, and Forretress. Mixed Salamence OHKOes Salamence without bulk investment under sand with Dragon Claw, and with Intimidate to soften physical blows, it can be an emergency check to physical Salamence as well.

Blissey is a decent mixed Salamence check, as it can OHKO Salamence with Ice Beam or Counter and heal off damage from Brick Break. It can also check Dragon Dance Salamence in a pinch, but a Rock Slide flinch can put it out of commission. Blissey is vulnerable to Spikes and sand damage and cannot check Salamence well if it becomes too weakened.

Porygon2 is able to check mixed and Dragon Dance Salamence thanks to its Ice Beam and Recover. It even checks Choice Band Salamence pretty reliably, as only Brick Break can 2HKO it.

Pursuit Tyranitar can trap and deal a heavy blow to Choice Band Salamence if it's locked into Hidden Power Flying or Rock Slide. Sacrificing a Pokemon weak to these moves can thus form a reliable strategy for removing Salamence that does not require the risky predictions typically associated with Choice Band users.

Pokemon with Intimidate such as Gyarados and other Salamence can stop Dragon Dance Salamence from sweeping or soften its attacks mid-game, allowing Pokemon such as Metagross, Tyranitar, and bulky Water-types an easier time switching in. Mixed Salamence itself can also survive Rock Slide after Intimidate and attempt to KO opposing physical Salamence.
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SO ACTUALLY YOU COULD SAY DRAGON DANCE IS THE CRUX OF THE SET BECAUSE-
 
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Salamence is one of the defining threats in ADV OU
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Tauros is the most iconic Pokemon in RBY OU, and its presence has been shaping the tier for as long as it has existed. Tauros is undoubtedly the strongest offensive threat in the tier, thanks to its powerful Body Slams and Hyper Beams paired with the coverage moves to hit any Pokemon that resists its STABs. This is further enhanced by its high Speed, and therefore high critical hit rate, as well as serviceable bulk. This makes switching into Tauros a very arduous prospect for most teams, as potential checks like Starmie have to fear a sizable chance of paralysis or critical hit from Body Slam. Other Pokemon with the theoretical physical bulk, such as Snorlax, Cloyster, or Slowbro, can only shrug off Tauros's hits via Rest, leaving them in an exploitable state. Overall, although some special attackers can trade blows advantageously with Tauros, and it has to be very wary of paralysis, its sheer offensive prowess makes it an automatic inclusion on a vast majority of RBY teams.

Tauros's combination of Body Slam and Hyper Beam makes it an incredibly difficult threat to switch into, as a majority of Pokemon only need to receive minimal chip damage before being unable to tank a Body Slam followed by a Hyper Beam, and some are KOed by this sequence even from full health. Body Slam's paralysis chance on some of the most common Tauros switch-ins such as Starmie and Exeggutor is yet another addition to Tauros's already threatening arsenal. Blizzard is Tauros's best attack to threaten Rhydon and Golem, the two OU-viable Rock-types that would otherwise be able to switch in on its Body Slam, and force them to face the threat of being 2HKOed (or being OHKOed on a critical hit). Earthquake is the preferred move in the last slot, as it gives Tauros a tool to hit Gengar, which otherwise walls it, as well as a way to play around Counter Chansey, although Tauros still risks taking a Thunder Wave in a direct one-on-one situation. Additionally, it can finish off a weakened Rhydon or Golem with greater accuracy than Blizzard. Earthquake also gives Tauros a safe move to hit both Chansey and Rock-types, which eliminates the need to predict a switch with Body Slam or Blizzard in certain situations.

Tauros is such a potent tool to break the opposition down that it is generally preferred to keep it as healthy as possible throughout the game while also trying to get it on the field as often as possible; this is a tricky balance to achieve that often sets apart new players from experienced ones. Great opportunities to switch it in can be found against Pokemon that are asleep, on a predicted switch, or on a recovery move that will leave the opponent's active Pokemon in KO range for Tauros. Quite frequently, Tauros will be able to clean up teams that have appropriately been crippled with status or weakened beforehand thanks to its extremely strong Hyper Beam; this is one of the most common win conditions in RBY, and as such, your game plan should generally account for the possibility of an end-game Tauros sweep. This means you should capitalize on opportunities to set up a Tauros sweep while trying to reduce your opponent's chances to do the same thing. The biggest obstacle in these plans is often the fact that both Tauros are kept as healthy as possible and always able to try a last-resort mirror, even when the rest of the team has fallen apart; this is one of the many reasons for keeping your own Tauros safe.
 
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Through a unique combination of formatting, weird grammar and dramatic, almost redundant, word choice, typing in the style of a common Smogon analysis has a small- yet viable- niche in my humor lexicon, making it instantly recognizable to me and my friends. However, this joke is not without its flaws- due to the relatively limited Smogon player base and the ever-dwindling pool of analysis writers, the joke seems fated to wallow in relative obscurity.
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming
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Overview
The Sapphire Pokedex entry states that any couple that comes across a Luvdisc is promised a loving relationship that never ends. The Emerald Pokedex entry states that giving a Luvdisc is a way to express one's feelings of love. Just imagine meeting your soulmate in battle and, after an intense skirmish, sending out your final Pokemon, Luvdisc, and declaring your undying love for your opponent. What a romantic love story!

#LuvdiscWins
Luvdisc @ Destiny Knot
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Bold Nature
- Attract
- Charm
- Rain Dance
- Sweet Kiss


Moves
Attract a potential mate and entrance him, her, or it in your Charm. Then, set up a Rain Dance for a romantic Sweet Kiss in the rain.
If you get rejected, this is also a very annoying moveset to face. If you can't win them over, you'd better make sure they suffer for it.

Set Details
As a classic saying goes, only true love can thaw a frozen heart. Hydration on Luvdisc ensures that it will thaw every time, the epitome of true love. Luvdisc is also very versatile in its nature. Are you bold in love and do you take your chances as you see them? Or are you the bashful kind that waits patiently for the perfect Prince Charming or Damsel In Distress? Luvdisc has boundless options for you!

Usage Tips
Wage an intense battle with your opponent to build up feelings of excitement between both parties. After Luvdisc's five other teammates have fainted, send it in with a proclamation of your love in the chat. Your proclamation of love should ideally be your original creation, but if you aren't the creative type, you could simply reference romantic works of literature that appeal to your opponent. Romeo and Juliet is a classic to quote from, but considering the average age group of Pokemon players, you're probably better off quoting from Despicable Me 2. After you have successfully seduced your opponent, coax him, her, or it to forfeit as a display of his, her, or its loyalty to you. Not only will you win battles, you will also win hearts. Love wins.

Team Options
Apart from Luvdisc itself, flowers are also supposedly very romantic gifts to present to your partner. Thus, Roselia, Floette, and Sunflora make for good teammates; these Pokemon can also tank hits for Luvdisc in battle, as they are much bulkier. Your other teammates could depend on the kind of partners whose affection you're trying to win. Diamonds are a girl's best friend, and Carbink is therefore a good teammate to show your affection for a lady. It also hits harder than Luvdisc in battle, helping it to break down bulky foes such as Persian. As for their male counterparts, I've heard that dogs are a man's best friend, so you might want to pack a Stoutland or Growlithe on your team as well.

Other Options
If none of the above works, you could try poetry.

Checks and Counters
Love knows no boundaries.
 
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In a meta where shit's absolutely wild right now, having the Paradox Donphans is still a breath of fresh air. These don't come across as too egregious at the moment (this is the one that has the most potential to get a bit excessive though) and they offer so much necessary role compression that I firmly believe that the tier will be better off with them existing currently. In other words, this thing's pretty quickly establishing itself as one of the most important mons of the tier. This thing offers a metric fuckton of role compression with Spin, Knock, and its godlike typing and physical stats and legitimately good Speed tier. I agree with escarlata's post above mine: I don't think it's necessarily SUPER mandatory on all teams, but having one of Iron Treads or Great Tusk on a team offers you Lando-T levels of flexibility with a single teamslot. Whenever I'm struggling to build a team, one of these guys is usually the definitive answer to the age-old "what mon should my 6th teamslot be?" question.
 

Voltage

OTTN5
is a Pre-Contributor


Claydol is best described as quite a mixed bag. It has impressive defensive stats but mediocre offensive stats, six excellent resistances but six crippling weaknesses, and a vast movepool but little to take advantage of it with. It is one of the best support Pokemon in the game, with access to Stealth Rock, Rapid Spin, and dual screens, as well as less commonly seen methods of support such as Trick Room and Rain Dance. In addition to this, it can wall a great number of Pokemon, and its defensive stats allow it to take hits from both sides and come in on a wide variety of opponents. Also, it has access to moves such as Calm Mind as well as reliable offensive moves, which includes desirable STAB Ground-type moves. It is as unpredictable as the British weather and can be quite as depressing for the opponent’s team.

On the downside however, Claydol’s many weaknesses are often its undoing. All six weaknesses are to very common types, and the Pokemon who use them are often very common as well; for example, Venusaur, Milotic, Moltres, and Mismagius are all top-flight Pokemon who Claydol is almost always beaten by. This is also the area where Claydol’s lack of offense comes back to haunt it, meaning that many Pokemon are not as threatened by it as they otherwise could be.

[SET]
name: Utility
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Earth Power
move 4: Psychic / Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 114 SpA

Rapid Spin is the core move of this set, and can be used with any team style, while Claydol's natural bulk combined with the lack of damage taken from all entry hazards allow it to get its job done with ease. Claydol can also set up Stealth Rock itself, thereby doing two support jobs in one team slot. Claydol's relative indifference to Fighting- and Ground-type moves means that it can usually afford to switch into Hitmontop or Donphan as they spin, and then either set up Rocks again as they run, or kill them with STAB Psychic or Ice Beam.

Of its two STAB choices, a Ground-type move gives the best coverage. Claydol can use both physical and special moves equally well - however, while Earthquake has more power on paper, Earth Power is preferable for several reasons. Firstly, many Pokemon who Claydol will be aiming at are hit harder on the special side. Secondly, most of the important moves that Claydol should be using in the last slot are special moves, and having both moves working off the same attacking stat means that you do not have to split EVs. For the last slot, there are a number of choices depending on what you feel threatens Claydol the most. Psychic is a reasonably good secondary STAB, Ice Beam has the best coverage alongside Earth Power, while Shadow Ball is useful to hit Ghosts who try to block Rapid Spin.

Psychic is the first option as a secondary STAB move, allowing Claydol to take on Fighting-types much more easily, but does not have any notable cohesion with Earth Power. Ice Beam offers far more in coverage, creating an unresisted Ice + Ground move combination. In particular, Ice Beam allows Claydol to hit Swellow and other Flying-types, as well as Grass-types who resist Earth Power, for super effective damage. Shadow Ball hits Ghost-types coming in to block Rapid Spin; however, it cannot touch Swellow. Lastly, Toxic is an option to cripple Spiritomb or Milotic on the switch.

For the EVs, you should first max out HP, as Claydol is noted for being able to wall attacks from both ends with reasonable success. As for the rest, allocating a reasonable amount to Defense, as well as a Bold nature, is the advisable course of action to take since Claydol is primarily a physical wall; 144 Defense EVs give Claydol about equal defensive stats on both ends, while the remainder is pushed into Special Attack to bolster Claydol’s otherwise quite average offense.

Claydol itself is a good check to many physical attackers because it resists Close Combat, Stone Edge, and Earthquake. Thus, it makes an excellent partner to boosting sweepers such as Absol and Kabutops, who are more than happy to let Claydol dispose of Fighting-type foes while also setting up Stealth Rock to support the sweepers. Claydol's access to Rapid Spin benefits Pokemon who are weak to Stealth Rock; for example, Moltres and Scyther both greatly value the removal of the rocks, as they would be the death of them without a spinner. Other Rock-weak Pokemon such as Swellow and Arcanine also value Stealth Rock's absence, saving them a great deal of health. Choice Band Spiritomb makes an excellent partner, as not only can it trap and OHKO Ghost-types such as Mismagius and Rotom with STAB Pursuit, but it can also use its own Ghost typing to block any Rapid Spin attempts made by the opponent, keeping Claydol's Stealth Rock on the field. For these reasons, Spiritomb is Claydol's best friend and worst enemy from a strategic point of view.

The most effective way to deal with an opposing Spiritomb is generally to employ a Fire-type wallbreaker, such as Blaziken or Arcanine, who can dispose of it with Fire Blast or Flare Blitz respectively, and have the benefits of being immune to Will-O-Wisp and possessed of a Dark-type resistance or Intimidate respectively. Due to Claydol's numerous weaknesses, there are a wide variety of offensive Pokemon who give Claydol trouble, the most common being Mismagius, Venusaur, and Milotic. Specially defensive Registeel can deal with the former two, as well as being a good check to Swellow and Scyther. It also has good defensive synergy with Claydol, as it resists five of Claydol’s six weaknesses while Claydol resists two of Registeel’s three weaknesses, without them sharing a single weakness. Together, they resist 15 of the 17 types in the game. The two unresisted types are Fire and Water, and as such a bulky Water-type can be useful. Milotic is one of the best choices since it has good all-round defensive stats, access to Recover and can take Water and Ice attacks aimed at Claydol with ease, as well as taking Fire attacks aimed at Registeel. Opposing Water-types can be dealt with through Grass-types, so including Venusaur or Sceptile on your team would be a good investment, though you must be careful as it will make you susceptible to Moltres. Stealth Rock whittles Moltres and other Flying-types down quite quickly, allowing you to usually bring it down with repeated assaults, if you lack a bulky Water-type such as Milotic.

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Psychic / Ice Beam
move 4: Rest
item: Chesto Berry
nature: Modest
evs: 160 HP / 252 SpA / 96 Spe

Claydol has access to Calm Mind as well as STAB Earth Power, allowing it to perform the role of a bulky set-up sweeper. Thanks to its goodbulk and resistances, Claydol can come in on something it frightens and begin setting up. Claydol is usually weaker to special attackers, but by boosting its Special Defense stat it can survive most major assaults and return fire with its own moves. Claydol can then recover health and remove status using Rest, the major drawback of which can be negated once by using Chesto Berry for the item.

Calm Mind boosts Claydol's decent Special Defense stat while also raising its rather average Special Attack stat to make it an offensive threat. Earth Power is Claydol’s most useful special STAB option. For its second offensive move, STAB Psychic is a strong choice, as greater overall power is more important to Calm Mind Claydol than super effective coverage. Earth Power hits the Steel-types who resist Psychic, as well as Houndoom and Drapion, for super effective damage while Psychic hits common Grass-types such as Venusaur, as well as Weezing, for super effective damage. For the last slot, Rest is the primary option, giving Claydol a bit more durability, recovering lost HP, and also preventing the opponent from attempting to stall you out with Toxic.

For other options, Ice Beam has the best coverage with Earth Power, hitting Grass-types and Flying-types for super effective damage. In the item slot a Chesto Berry is used in order to wake Claydol up immediately after the use of Rest. The reason why a Lum Berry is not used is because the Chesto Berry cannot be accidentally removed by a different status condition. Claydol is given maximum Special Attack EVs, as otherwise it is unlikely to be doing any serious damage even when boosted. After that enough EVs are allocated to Speed to beat 52 Spe Blaziken and everything slower, although you do also have the alternative of running 108 EVs in order to beat 56 Spe Milotic and Adamant Torterra. 160 EVs are given to HP, which is important as Claydol gains a HP stat of 301. This means that it can take three Seismic Tosses, allowing it to set up on Chansey by alternating between Calm Mind and Rest. Although Claydol cannot ever 2HKO Chansey even when at +6, both Earth Power and Psychic have a chance to lower Chansey's Special Defense, so it is likely that Claydol will win the stall-war.

Without Shadow Ball, Mismagius can Calm Mind up alongside Claydol and destroy it with its own Shadow Ball. Registeel makes a good check to most Mismagius but it cannot beat Substitute + Charge Beam Rotom, who can be revenge killed by Pokemon such as Pursuit Dugtrio and specially defensive Drapion. You will also want a way to beat the bulky Water-types who love to switch into Claydol, whom Registeel and Milotic both cannot beat either. Specially defensive Venusaur makes a great check to almost all bulky Water-types such as Milotic and Slowbro, taking even the most powerful Ice Beams with ease, recovering health with Synthesis, and killing with STAB Energy Ball or Power Whip.

[SET]
name: TrickScarf Lead
move 1: Trick
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Rapid Spin
move 4: Earth Power / Explosion
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

Claydol's versatility as a lead allows it to pull off a Trick-oriented set quite effectively. Tricking is only half the fun; deciding how to capitalize on your opponent's misfortune is the second part of this set's strategy.

Stealth Rock is always welcome on any team, but the two remaining moves are more dependent on the rest of your team. The moves listed are obviously the most general, since all teams enjoy Rapid Spin support and Earth Power / Explosion allows Claydol to attack after Tricking away its Choice Scarf. However, many other utility moves can be used in lieu of these moves. Claydol has access to dual screens which can come in handy on offensive teams that employ fragile sweepers, and can use Toxic to shorten the life expectancy of enemy walls. No matter how you decide to use Claydol, its reliability as a team supporter cannot be ignored.

The given EV spread helps Claydol switch in against strong physical threats, like Aggron, Donphan, and Hitmonchan. However, if Claydol is using Explosion (or any other physical attack) in its moveset, use an Impish nature instead of Bold.

Claydol has troubles with a few other popular leads, including Alakazam, Ambipom, Mesprit (especially Trick variants), and Uxie. Luckily, all of these Pokémon can be countered by one teammate: Choice Band Spiritomb. Spiritomb has no troubles switching in against these threats and Pursuiting them as they try to switch out. Other than these leads, however, Claydol should be able to pull off its strategy without a hitch.

Pokémon locked into one attack make prime setup fodder. Teammates such as Venusaur, Rhyperior, or other boosting Pokémon or Substitute users have no problem switching in and setting up. Be wary of switching in blindly, however; many players will switch out their Tricked Pokémon if they feel threatened (Poster's Note: Bug Maniac bob's use of a semicolon here proves how effective he truly is at writing analyses). Luckily, common leads such as Cloyster and Omastar will stay in and continue to lay down entry hazards, lessening the chance of a blind switch.

Choice-locked Pokémon are also prime candidates for Dugtrio, whose Arena Trap makes picking them off simple. The shared Water weakness between Claydol and Dugtrio should not be overlooked, however, and should be covered by the rest of your team.

It should be mentioned that Tricking your opponent's lead may not always be the best way to go about using Claydol; locking walls or boosting sweepers such as Chansey and Swords Dance Venusaur into non-attacking moves may be just as important as setting up Stealth Rock or dual screens at the beginning of the match.

[SET]
name: Pure Support Lead
move 1: Reflect
move 2: Light Screen
move 3: Stealth Rock
move 4: Explosion
item: Light Clay / Lum Berry
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD

Claydol’s pure support set is about as far as you can go in terms of team support. This set’s only concern is bringing the full force of Claydol’s movepool onto the opponent very early in the game and by using Claydol’s impressive defensive capabilities in tandem with its excellent support movepool to make an early sweep possible by a fast, powerful boosting sweeper such as Nasty Plot Mismagius or Swords Dance Scyther.

Stealth Rock is used to support the team, allowing your sweepers to get the necessary OHKOs and 2HKOs that they may not achieve otherwise. It also breaks any Focus Sashes that your opponent may be trying to hide. Reflect and Light Screen make up the popular 'dual screen' combination, shielding your team from attacks. Explosion is your final move, and grants your sweeper a free switch after Claydol's death. Light Clay increases the duration of Light Screen and Reflect by three turns, and is the item of choice on this set, while Lum Berry is the other recommended item, allowing you to live through Venusaur’s Sleep Powder, though admittedly it could also simply attack with Energy Ball or Power Whip.

The set is most effectively used as a lead, where the idea is to set up both screens and Stealth Rock, and then Explode on your opponent’s face, taking down or weakening one of your opponent’s Pokemon and allowing your sweeper to come in for free. From there, your sweeper can boost up and take down the rest of your opponent’s team. With Light Clay, assuming you have used Light Screen, Reflect, and Stealth Rock, with a turn to explode and a turn to set up once with your sweeper, you still have three turns of Reflect and two turns of Light Screen left, hopefully granting you enough time to wreak irreparable damage and allowing your team to clean up where your sweeper left off. A Calm nature and high Special Defense EVs allows you to take beatings from specially-inclined leads before falling thanks to Claydol’s impressive Special Defense stat, assuming Claydol used Reflect first. 80 Defense EVs are invested to give Claydol reasonable defensive stats on both sides.

The order you use dual screens should be determined by the sweeper you intend to send in; for example, Dragon Dance Altaria is quite weak on the physical side, so Reflect should be used first, just in case you are knocked out next turn. As previously mentioned, set-up sweepers work best alongside this Claydol variant, coming in immediately after Claydol has Exploded and setting up stat boosts under the protection of Claydol’s lingering screens. Nasty Plot Mismagius works well within this capacity, being able to set up more bulky Substitutes and boost its Special Attack. Another tactic is to use Claydol in tandem with a Baton Passer such as Scyther to set up a Swords Dance or Agility before passing it off to another powerful Pokemon, though this tactic requires much skill and half your team to pull off. The most likely ways that this strategy will fail are if your opponent has a Taunt lead such as Ambipom or Electrode, completely shutting Claydol down, or a Pokemon with Brick Break, who can make your efforts all for naught in one turn.

[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Explosion
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
ivs: 0 Spe

Thanks to Claydol’s good overall defensive stats it makes for a top choice Trick Room activator in Underused, giving it another way to support its teammates. With a Brave nature and 0 Speed IVs Claydol reaches 139 Speed, enough to outspeed all Pokemon of base 55 Speed or higher under Trick Room, with its offensive moves able to cause some trouble to the opponent’s team.

Explosion acts as a single safe switch for your Trick Room sweeper, though generally Claydol will not want to sacrifice itself so quickly until late-game, as its bulk means it can usually set up Trick Room more than once per game. This leaves you with two moveslots, giving you a choice of combination between Ice Beam and Earth Power or Stone Edge and Earthquake. To avoid splitting EVs, as Earthquake and Explosion are both physical attacks, the 'EdgeQuake' combination is the preferred set of moves here. (Poster's Note: Fucking hell Robert, you're actually explaining what EdgeQuake is? I thought I'd post this as a long just, but you really are 'mon-splaining here)

A Brave nature lowers Claydol's Speed, a useful tactic on a Trick Room team, while increasing Claydol's Attack. To maximize Attack, 252 EVs are invested, as well as 252 EVs in HP to promote overall bulk, while the leftover EVs are slotted into Defense. A Speed IV of 0 is used to minimize your Speed stat for optimal efficiency under Trick Room conditions.

One of the great benefits of using Trick Room is that its effects are carried on to the next Pokemon, allowing it a maximum of four turns of wrecking time. On the physical side, Rampardos has a massive Attack stat and can destroy almost any Pokemon it walks into, with its low Speed and horrible defensive stats made up for by Trick Room, allowing it to outspeed most competition. Marowak is also extremely powerful, with its signature item Thick Club boosting its Attack, allowing it to fire off very powerful STAB Earthquakes. Rhyperior has strong STAB moves and a good offensive typing as well as decent defensive stats and access to Swords Dance, with its poor Speed now an extra bonus. Ursaring, too, has Swords Dance and can use a Flame Orb to activate Guts, also granting it a 140 Base Power STAB move in the form of Façade to use off its 130 base Attack stat. On the special side, Clamperl works a lot like Marowak, with its signature item DeepSeaTooth boosting its Special Attack to a maximum of 540, added to the fact that it is faster than almost anything else under Trick Room. Glaceon is another good special choice, being able to fire off powerful Ice Beams from its base 130 Special Attack stat, and its low Speed now considered a great asset.

[Team Options]

As Claydol is generally a support Pokemon, it rarely sees the need for support for itself. Wish support from a Pokemon such as Chansey or Leafeon can be useful as Claydol has no reliable recovery of its own. Claydol also appreciates spinblocking support to keep its Stealth Rock on the field, as well as Pursuit support to remove opposing spinblockers - Spiritomb is an extremely notable partner due to its ability to fill both roles extremely well. Choice Scarf Absol is also very effective at removing spinblockers since it can outrun all of the faster spinblockers, effectively placing them into a checkmate position. Sweeping versions of Claydol benefit from entry hazards (Poster's Note: As do all other, more effective, sweepers, Roibert. The expression "Sweeping versions of Claydol" is excellent unintentional comedy). In terms of support that Claydol brings to other Pokemon, Rapid Spin is of infinite help to those fatally weak to it, such as Moltres and Scyther, and other Pokemon such as Arcanine, Swellow, and Houndoom find it much easier to play in an environment without Stealth Rock as well. As for Stealth Rock support, set-up sweepers in particular value Stealth Rock for the residual damage it causes to walls who may try to thwart them, and Stall teams value it for the damage it causes over time to the opposing team, as they will be forcing plenty of switches.

Claydol is one of the best Pokemon in the game at taking down Fighting-types, and as such is valued as a partner by Pokemon such as Absol and Kabutops, who dislike having to deal with Hitmontop and Hariyama. Without Shadow Ball, Claydol is quite easily set up on by Ghost-types such as Mismagius and Rotom, both of whom can usually be dealt with by specially defensive Drapion, who has access to Pursuit. Without Ice Beam, Claydol is generally an open invitation for Swellow, as well as other Flying-types, to come in and start causing havoc though they can be dealt with to a certain extent by a bulky Water-type such as Milotic. Lastly, the opponent’s bulky Water-types have little to fear from Claydol, but they can be stopped by a specially defensive Venusaur, who takes little from their strongest Ice Beams, can recover health with Synthesis and hit back with STAB Energy Ball or Power Whip.

On the defensive side, Claydol has impressive defensive synergy with Registeel, resisting two of Registeel’s three weaknesses while Registeel resists five of Claydol’s six weaknesses. Milotic is the next Pokemon to consider for use alongside Claydol, as it resists Claydol’s nasty Water- and Ice-type weaknesses, and between Milotic, Registeel, and Claydol, every single attack type in the game is resisted. A notable chink in the armor is that bulky Water-types cannot really be hurt much by any of them, and as mentioned above a bulkier Grass-type such as Venusaur can take them down with relative ease. Lanturn is another Pokemon to consider, as it is quite defensive overall and can deal with bulky Water-types with its STAB Thunderbolts while sharing similar defensive synergy with Claydol as with Milotic, though Lanturn lacks Milotic’s recovery move. Spiritomb can be a problem since it is the only spinblocker that cannot be Pursuit-trapped; therefore, you will want a wallbreaker strong enough to break Spiritomb's defenses without too much risk. Blaziken is immune to Will-O-Wisp, resists Dark-type moves, and can OHKO offensive Spiritomb with STAB Fire Blast. Arcanine is much the same but is slightly bulkier and can weather Spiritomb's assaults with Intimidate. Lastly, Chansey can be a helpful partner, as Claydol resists Chansey's Fighting-type weakness and Chansey can take almost any special attack, covering Claydol's weaker side, as well as healing Claydol with Wish.

Donphan and Hitmontop are very common partners to Pokemon such as Swellow and Scyther, notably for the Rapid Spin support it provides to lessen the damage done to them. Claydol is immune to Donphan’s Earthquake and resists Hitmontop's STAB moves, so it can usually defeat both. It has Ice Beam for Donphan and STAB Psychic for Hitmontop, and can play prediction mindgames through alternating Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin. Another popular teammate to many of Claydol’s threats is Registeel, who is often seen on teams that carry Venusaur, Milotic, and Mismagius. Claydol is immune to Thunder Wave and Earthquake and takes little damage from Iron Head, while being able to Rapid Spin away its Stealth Rock. Blaziken is also a relatively popular partner to many common threats, and while Claydol will often take a lot from Fire Blast or Hidden Power Grass, it can come in on Superpower or Vacuum Wave and OHKO with STAB Earth Power or Psychic. Other less desirable yet common partners to Claydol’s checks include Venusaur and Milotic, both of whom are very common partners to threats such as Scyther, Mismagius, and Swellow. As already described, Milotic can be dealt with by a Venusaur of your own, and opposing Venusaur are for the most part shut down by Registeel.


Optional Changes

Claydol seemingly has an endless array of support moves. It learns both Rain Dance and Sunny Day, but its utility on these teams is limited, as it receives no boost itself from weather. Ways for Claydol to boost its stats include Rock Polish, which is generally outclassed by Trick Room, and Cosmic Power, allowing it to slowly become an impenetrable fortress over time, especially in tandem with Rest and Sleep Talk, but you are left exposed to boosting sweepers such as Swords Dance Absol and critical hits. Sleep Talk can be used with Rest, but this means that Claydol runs short on moveslots.

Zen Headbutt is Claydol’s only physical Psychic STAB, and having no great coverage is not usually worth the moveslot. Rock Slide is an alternative to Stone Edge on physical sets if you dislike Stone Edge’s accuracy. On the special side, Shadow Ball hits Ghosts who may try to block Rapid Spin, in particular Mismagius and Rotom, and Toxic is a nice weapon to use against the bulky Water-types who may attempt to switch in. In the same vein, Grass Knot can also be used against heavier Water-types in general.

Claydol is primarily a defensive Pokemon, and as such maximum HP is a must on all of its sets, as it will frequently be required to check opponents on both sides. After this, most of the remaining EVs should be placed in Defense, as Claydol is going to need it to take on powerful Fighting- and Ground-types. Some EVs should also be placed into Special Attack or Special Defense, and Claydol has the potential to run Speed EVs as well to outspeed slower threats since it is one of the faster walls at 75 base Speed. In particular, 60 EVs allow you to outrun 16 Speed Rash Blaziken, whom you can usually OHKO with STAB Earth Power or Psychic, as well as 0 Speed Milotic. If you wish to invest more heavily, 108 Speed outspeeds most bulky Milotic, Torterra, and 64 Speed Blaziken.

The Calm Mind set requires a great deal of Special Attack in order to maximize damage output, and Speed EVs are generally also advised here since Claydol can benefit greatly from outspeeding certain key threats and dealing damage before it can be harmed. For Trick Room, Claydol is inclined to be more offensive, so maximum Attack is usually the best choice along with a Brave nature to make it more effective under Trick Room, although a Relaxed nature is also plausible if you want a more defensive Claydol. You should also use a Speed IV of 0 in order to outspeed as many Pokemon as possible under Trick Room conditions.

The best counters for Claydol are generally bulky Water-types who can take its moves with ease; for example, Milotic works very well, taking little damage from Earth Power and resisting Ice Beam while able to hit back with STAB Surf. Spiritomb does not have any notable resistances but can block Claydol's attempts to Rapid Spin and eliminate it with Pursuit if it tries to flee. Grass-types such as Venusaur also work very well, and although Venusaur itself does not resist Earth Power, it takes little damage from unboosted Ice Beams and can outspeed and hit back with STAB Leaf Storm. Scyther is immune to Earth Power and both it and Absol can OHKO with their STAB moves, but Scyther fears Ice Beam and Stone Edge, while Absol will not enjoy taking repeated Earth Powers.

In general, most Pokemon who can hit Claydol hard can check it, as its offensive stats are not great. Mismagius is immune to Earth Power and can deal serious damage to Claydol with Shadow Ball, though it must be wary of Claydol’s own Shadow Ball. Azumarill and Feraligatr can take an Ice Beam and attack back with STAB Waterfall. Lastly, if Claydol lacks Ice Beam or Shadow Ball, other Claydol may pose a problem. (Poster's Note: The implication that Claydol is so good it's a threat to itself is my favorite part of this whole write-up)

 
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Overview
Behold, the single most dominant Pokemon in any OU tier in history. Snorlax combines power and resilience with deadly unpredictability, a set of traits that lands it a spot on virtually all serious teams. Its presence defines the GSC metagame, all but forcing teams to play one or more sturdy Normal-resistant Pokemon while simultaneously killing off the viability of manifold special attackers with its enormous HP and sky-high Special Defense. Snorlax is a constant threat to offensive teams as a Curse sweeper, a team sweeping machine as a Belly Drum user, a relentless battering ram as a mixed attacker, and a reliable wall as a RestTalk user. However, it isn't completely unstoppable. Snorlax's Defense stat is on the low side, meaning that despite its massive HP stat, Explosion from common OU Pokemon like Cloyster and Exeggutor is enough to take it out with minimal prior damage. It will usually be forced to use Rest if it gets poisoned, giving the opposing team a reprieve that they can use to gain an advantage. Defensive teams will nearly always have Skarmory for Snorlax and usually pair it with a semi-reliable counter to mixed Snorlax as well, which can sometimes leave Snorlax unable to do any meaningful damage by itself. However, make no mistake: these constitute but minor flaws among Snorlax's array of overwhelmingly powerful attributes.

Curselax
Move 1
  • Curse
Move 2
  • Double-Edge
  • Body Slam
  • Return
Move 3
  • Earthquake
  • Fire Blast
  • Flamethrower
  • Lovely Kiss
  • Thunder
Move 4
  • Rest
Item
  • Leftovers
Set Description
Curselax is the standard Snorlax set, and for good reason. Before using Curse, Snorlax is already hitting hard and can trade hits quite well with the majority of Pokemon. After a Curse boost, Snorlax can dish out 2HKOs against nearly any foe that doesn't resist its STAB Double-Edge or Return or threaten to paralyze the opposing Pokemon with Body Slam and outspeed it. Not only does it become a menace offensively, but it also becomes nigh impenetrable defensively, raising its previously low Defense stat higher than its formidable Special Defense. For Pokemon that resist or are immune to Snorlax's STAB attacks, its diverse pool of coverage attacks has something for every Pokemon—just not all at once. A solid choice for its coverage move is Earthquake, which can be used to get past Rock- and Steel-type phazers like Tyranitar, Steelix, and Rhydon. After a Curse boost, it OHKOes Gengar and sometimes 2HKOes Misdreavus. However, should Curselax hope to get past Skarmory, Earthquake will not be enough. Fire Blast usually 2HKOes Skarmory and OHKOes Forretress while still hitting Steelix hard, although its low PP and imperfect accuracy leave Snorlax susceptible to being PP stalled by a clever opponent. Flamethrower is an alternative that misses the aforementioned benchmarks and is therefore harder to get surprise KOs with, but given its greater accuracy and PP, it is more certain to get the job done in the long run. Unfortunately, these Fire-type moves leave Curselax without a good option against Rock-types such as Rhydon and Tyranitar and can cause it to struggle against Gengar and Misdreavus. Yet another option for Skarmory is Thunder, which also has the major benefit of potentially landing a KO on Cloyster if it switches into Double-Edge and can inflict crippling paralysis on Ghost-types. However, it comes with the major drawback of leaving Snorlax without a useful attack against Steelix, Rhydon, Golem, and Forretress. Lovely Kiss is another option that provides both offensive and defensive utility. Although it comes at the significant cost of coverage, Curselax's ability to muscle its way past common Sleep Talk users like Zapdos and Suicune makes it possible to land crippling sleep on a desirable target, something other sleep move users sometimes struggle to do. Furthermore, despite its lack of coverage, Lovely Kiss Curselax can potentially break through even Normal-resistant Pokemon by chipping away at their health while they sleep. Moreover, to a greater extent than other Curselax variants can, Lovely Kiss Curselax can check opposing Snorlax by putting it to sleep. Finally, Rest is needed to keep Snorlax healthy. Unlike most Pokemon in GSC OU, Snorlax has the defensive stats needed to pull off the turns of passivity required for Rest without Sleep Talk, especially with a Curse boost under its belt.
Snorlax's choice of a STAB attack comes down to the rest of your team and how you intend to use your Snorlax. Double-Edge is considered the default choice due to its high power, reliably 3HKOing Zapdos when unboosted and coming close to a 2HKO on Cloyster at +1 Attack. It is also the optimal choice for facing opposing Curselax in the common mirror match, substantially decreasing the odds that the opposing Snorlax can switch in on Curse and come out the winner and guaranteeing that an opposing Curselax with an equal number of Curse boosts will be KOed in three hits if one of them is a critical hit. However, Return has its merits when trading hits with mixed attackers and strong special attackers, as the recoil from Double-Edge can sometimes turn attacking into a risk. This is especially relevant when Snorlax is using a special coverage attack and therefore only has one powerful physical option against threats like Nidoking and Raikou. Lastly, Body Slam can be incredibly useful with its ability to inflict paralysis, especially when paired with sweepers that benefit from it such as Machamp and Marowak, but it should be kept in mind that it is a substantially weaker option. For example, unboosted Body Slam cannot 3HKO Zapdos. Moreover, Snorlax with Body Slam relies on paralysis to defeat opposing Curselax—unlike Return and Double-Edge, when both Curselax have maxed out their boosts, Body Slam has no chance to 3HKO the opposing Snorlax with just a single critical hit.
One final notable attribute of Curselax is its effectiveness when it is the last remaining Pokemon on one's team. If Curselax is healthy and the opponent is lacking the means to remove it quickly, Pokemon that rely on phazing it to beat it will falter, potentially allowing Curselax to overcome many of its usual counters, such as Skarmory and Tyranitar that don't have Curse, despite lacking a coverage move to hit them with.
Team Options
Being the most popular set on the most popular Pokemon in its tier, Curselax is naturally a very flexible Pokemon and can be used on all kinds of teams. Once its fourth move is revealed, however, it tends to become a lot less threatening against more defensive teams, which tend to ensure Curselax variants are covered thoroughly. Defensive teams also often depend on Snorlax as a major source of offensive pressure, which can lead them to choose to use Snorlax variants that are harder to handle than Curselax. An exception to this is Fire Blast or Flamethrower Curselax, which can theoretically muscle through the majority of its counters, especially with Pursuit support from Tyranitar, Umbreon, or Houndoom and Spikes support from Cloyster or Forretress. Lovely Kiss Curselax similarly appreciates Pursuit support and can potentially help ensure an opposing Ghost-type goes down by putting it to sleep.
When used on more offensive teams, Curselax appreciates being paired with Pokemon that can be used to take Explosions aimed at it, such as Steelix, Tyranitar, and Gengar. It similarly appreciates Pokemon that can take a Cross Chop from Machamp and threaten it in return, such as Zapdos and Exeggutor. Additionally, as Curselax can rarely break a defensive core on its own, it helps to pair it with a Spiker and mixed attackers such as Nidoking, Tentacruel, and Tyranitar, or boosting sweepers such as Machamp, Marowak, and Vaporeon, which can then either help Snorlax become relevant offensively by pressuring Snorlax's checks or fall back on Snorlax's defensive capabilities when they find themselves in an unfavorable matchup. Hidden Power Fire Exeggutor and Fire Blast Machamp also make for good choices when trying to help an Earthquake or Lovely Kiss Snorlax become offensively potent against an opposing team with Skarmory.
RestTalk
Move 1
  • Rest
Move 2
  • Sleep Talk
Move 3
  • Double-Edge
Move 4
  • Curse
  • Thunder
  • Flamethrower
  • Surf
  • Earthquake
Item
  • Leftovers
Set Description
This set functions by augmenting Snorlax's already-incredible defensive capabilities with Sleep Talk. The combination of Rest and Sleep Talk provides Snorlax with greater ability to sponge the myriad special attacks in GSC OU, including those from Zapdos, one of the tier's premier threats. Without Sleep Talk, Snorlax cannot switch repeatedly into Zapdos's Thunder—especially with Spikes up—without having to use Rest, putting it out of commission for two turns and leaving its user in a precarious position against various threats. This set reduces the burden of having to take Zapdos's Thunder for one's team by reducing Snorlax's downtime while asleep. In addition, Sleep Talk turns Snorlax into an excellent status absorber, allowing it to check major threats like Nidoking and Jynx. It can also take Sleep Powder from Exeggutor, though it must be wary of Explosion. With Curse as its fourth move, it also performs better than most standard Curselax variants in a mirror match, as its ability to use moves while asleep denies the opposing Curselax as many opportunities to gain unanswered boosts or land unanswered critical hits. It should be noted, however, that even if a RestTalk Snorlax has Curse and Double-Edge, it typically matches up poorly against a Curse + Lovely Kiss Snorlax, which has a degree of control over when RestTalk Snorlax goes to sleep and can also take advantage of the uncertainties of random sleep duration and Sleep Talk rolls.
Double-Edge is the preferred STAB option on this set due to the increased pressure it puts on Zapdos and other bulky Pokemon. Body Slam could also be used for its ability to inflict paralysis, but it comes at the major cost of a disadvantage against opposing Double-Edge Curselax, as well as being unable to 3HKO Zapdos without a Curse boost. The standard option for the fourth move on RestTalk Snorlax is Curse, which provides it with a solid matchup against most variants of enemy Snorlax and lets it serve as an excellent late-game wincon—a last Pokemon Snorlax cannot be phazed, which reduces the number of Pokemon that can take it on significantly. However, with only a Normal-type STAB move, Snorlax can't hope to make much progress in the early-game, as it is all but certain to run into a Normal-resistant Pokemon with high Defense or a Ghost-type. There is no single coverage move that will allow Snorlax to get past all Pokemon that resist Normal, so a dual attack RestTalk Snorlax must choose a coverage move that best suits its team. Thunder can allow Snorlax to surprise a major threat in Cloyster, KOing it after Double-Edge more often than not. It also hits Skarmory hard and is the special attack that poses the biggest immediate threat to Gengar with its chance to inflict paralysis. However, using Thunder comes with the major downside of being unable to touch Steelix, Rhydon, and Golem while also offering little for Forretress. Flamethrower can be used to hit Steelix and Forretress hard and is preferred over Fire Blast on this set due to its higher PP, but it fails to offer coverage against Rock-types and poses only a moderate threat to Gengar and Misdreavus. Surf is another alternative that hits all of Steelix, Tyranitar, Rhydon, and Golem super effectively, making it an attractive option against offensive teams, which typically rely on one of these Pokemon to handle Snorlax. The main downside to Surf is that although it can potentially force Skarmory to use Rest, it can't hope to ever KO it. Earthquake is a similar option that does less damage to Golem, Rhydon, and Steelix but is a much larger immediate threat to Gengar and Misdreavus.
Team Options
RestTalk Snorlax is typically chosen for its defensive attributes, but it fits well on many team archetypes. Offensive teams enjoy having RestTalk Snorlax to fall back on against the many special threats in the tier, particularly Jynx and Zapdos. Having RestTalk Snorlax as a status absorber can free up Zapdos to use a Thunder Wave or phazer set, making it even more of a threat. Machamp works well with RestTalk Snorlax thanks to its ability to threaten Normal-resistant Pokemon. This combination can be made even more effective through the addition of Pursuit support for taking out Gengar and Misdreavus. Another very useful partner for RestTalk Snorlax is Gengar, which can prevent Forretress and Rapid Spin Cloyster from taking too much advantage of Snorlax's limited coverage while also nullifying Explosions aimed at Snorlax.
If used on a more defensive team, RestTalk Snorlax serves as both a powerful attacker and reliable wall but runs the risk of encountering a Pokemon that walls its limited coverage. It can therefore be prudent to try to pair it with Pursuit support for the Ghost-types that can slow down mixed and mono-attacking variants, particularly due to the heightened threat posed by Perish trap Misdreavus. Sets that cannot beat Skarmory are best paired with an Electric-type for the immediate threat to Curse Skarmory and Spikes support to ensure that the enemy team can eventually be worn down in the long run.
Drumlax
Move 1
  • Belly Drum
Move 2
  • Body Slam
  • Return
Move 3
  • Earthquake
  • Lovely Kiss
Move 4
  • Rest
Item
  • Leftovers
Set Description
Just when you thought you had Snorlax covered with your Skarmory and Tyranitar, enter the Drumlax. A single misstep against Belly Drum Snorlax often means at least one Pokemon goes down, or possibly even an entire team. Body Slam is used to scout for counters and soften the opposing team, putting them into KO range of Snorlax's Body Slam off 999 Attack and hopefully inflicting some paralysis along the way. Then, given an opportunity, Snorlax will immediately boost itself to the maximum possible Attack stat with Belly Drum and commence the annihilation of the enemy team. Body Slam misses many relevant OHKOs at +6, including against Miltank, opposing Snorlax, and Zapdos, so Return can be used as a more powerful alternative, but not being able to inflict paralysis is a major drawback. Still, Return does have the benefit of potentially 3HKOing Zapdos without any Attack boosts. Zapdos is one of the few special attackers that can remove more than 56% of Snorlax's health in two hits, making this potential 3HKO quite appealing. Double-Edge is another option that can be used to break through Skarmory more easily, being very likely to 2HKO an unboosted Skarmory and 3HKOing +1 Defense Skarmory about half of the time at +6. However, due to recoil, it usually can't sweep a team without first recovering off damage with Rest, so the other options tend to be preferred unless your team is lacking in ways to break through defensive teams. The most reliable choice of a fourth move is Earthquake, which gives Snorlax a tool to get past Rock-, Steel-, and Ghost-types. With a STAB attack and Earthquake, the only Pokemon Snorlax cannot at least 2HKO after using Belly Drum is Skarmory, which, without Defense boosts, is reliably 3HKOed by Body Slam or Return. The main alternative to Earthquake is Lovely Kiss, a highly versatile move that Snorlax can use to break through Pokemon it would otherwise have difficulties with, such as Skarmory. The move also provides a fallback option for when opposing Pokemon get out of hand, and it can even be used to prevent the opposing team's Spiker from setting up. The main downside to using Lovely Kiss is that Snorlax will have no way of touching Gengar or Misdreavus and must rely on Pursuit support to get past them. Rock- and Steel-types also become much better Drumlax answers when Earthquake is dropped. Fire Blast can also be used over Earthquake to help Drumlax beat Skarmory and Forretress more easily, but the lack of coverage against Ghost- and Rock-types is a major downside—being completely walled after sacrificing half of Snorlax's health is far from desirable. Rest is the typical last move and is used to restore Snorlax's health once it gets worn down or inflicted with status so that it can prepare to set up another Belly Drum later in the battle.
When using Drumlax, one must remember that it doesn't have any method of boosting its Defense, so heavy-hitting physical attackers as well as Pokemon with Explosion remain a constant threat and can easily force Snorlax to use Rest or dissuade it from using Belly Drum. Drumlax will ideally set up against a paralyzed foe, as this will usually force the opponent to sacrifice it or another member of their team in order to send out a Pokemon that can finish off Snorlax in one hit. It is also important to remember that Snorlax can boost to +2 Attack with Belly Drum when it is at 50% health or lower at no HP cost; with this, it can suddenly become a huge threat when at around 40% HP.
Team Options
Drumlax is typically used on more defensive teams because they tend to have more Pokemon capable of taking hits that Drumlax would prefer not to and can also more readily remove Spikes and provide Heal Bell support, all of which helps Drumlax considerably in its efforts in finding an opportunity to set up. In return, Drumlax provides outstanding offensive capabilities that can break a stall deadlock like few other Pokemon can. Pokemon such as Raikou and Blissey can provide relief against Zapdos. Skarmory pairs fantastically with both of those Pokemon and can stomach hits from Heracross, Machamp, Marowak, and opposing Snorlax while also providing an option for sponging Explosions aimed at Snorlax. Ghost-types are similarly helpful at nullifying predicted Explosions. Spinners such as Starmie and Forretress are also much appreciated, as they enable Snorlax to regain its health via its Leftovers through clever switches, which can create opportunities to use Belly Drum twice without having to use Rest. When it does have to use Rest or is inflicted with status, Miltank or Blissey can provide Heal Bell support. This will decrease the amount of recovery time the opposing team gets after neutralizing Drumlax. Paralysis support is excellent for Drumlax; Pokemon such as Thunder Wave Starmie, Body Slam Miltank, and Thunder Raikou fit the role of a paralysis spreader. Lastly, Lovely Kiss Drumlax very much enjoys Pursuit support from Dark-types such as Tyranitar, Houndoom, and Umbreon.
All-out Attacker
Move 1
  • Double-Edge
  • Body Slam
Move 2
  • Earthquake
  • Lovely Kiss
Move 3
  • Thunder
  • Fire Blast
  • Curse
Move 4
  • Self-Destruct
Item
  • Leftovers
Set Description
Snorlax's multitude of options and overall strength lend greatly to its unpredictability, and none of Snorlax's other sets take advantage of that unpredictability more so than this one. Snorlax's STAB Self-Destruct is the most powerful attack in the game, OHKOing any and all Pokemon that don't resist it and heavily denting those that do. The fact that Snorlax can reasonably run Rest or another attack alongside any of the coverage moves listed here means that, at least until Snorlax has revealed a special attack, the opponent may not anticipate Self-Destruct. This can be used to take out a key piece on the opponent's side, such as the enemy Snorlax or Zapdos, or, if Snorlax is using the Body Slam / Earthquake / Curse / Self-Destruct set, even an opposing Skarmory. For STAB, Snorlax usually wants Double-Edge for maximum power unless using the aforementioned Skarmory lure set. Without Double-Edge's power, non-Curse Snorlax will find it a lot more difficult to pressure bulky Pokemon with recovery like RestTalk Zapdos and opposing Snorlax. Aside from Self-Destruct and its other STAB attack, all-out attacker Snorlax is typically focused on causing as much damage as possible by maximizing its coverage against Normal-resistant Pokemon. Earthquake is used to hit Rock- and Ghost-types such as Tyranitar, Rhydon, and Gengar, which Snorlax would otherwise struggle against. It can be dropped for Lovely Kiss, although without Earthquake, Snorlax will struggle to take out the aforementioned Rock-types even while they are asleep, which means that if Snorlax gets worn down, it may be unable to pull off an effective Self-Destruct. Snorlax could theoretically use both Lovely Kiss and Earthquake together, although this leaves Snorlax helpless against Skarmory and in a bad position against Toxic Forretress, so it is preferable to have a special attack alongside either option. Thunder is mainly used to potentially land a surprise KO on Cloyster that switch into Double-Edge while also covering Skarmory and offering a decent chance of inflicting paralysis. However, using Thunder means that Snorlax will be lacking coverage for Forretress and relying on unboosted Earthquake for Steelix, which takes only moderate damage from the move. Fire Blast OHKOes Forretress and 2HKOes Steelix while also hitting Skarmory, making it the option with better coverage overall. However, due to how common Cloyster is and how valuable it can be to remove it, Thunder is typically the preferred choice.
All-out Attacker Snorlax's gameplay typically involves coming out early in the game or leading and weakening the opposing team with heavy hits until it finds itself in an unfavorable matchup. If things go right, Snorlax can gain a huge advantage for its team by weakening or KOing key Pokemon and then taking out a valuable Pokemon with Self-Destruct. One of the key targets for Self-Destruct is an opposing Curselax—if the foe uses Curse on the turn your Snorlax uses Double-Edge, it is typically committed to staying in the next turn, unless you have given the opponent reason to believe Snorlax might have Self-Destruct. This provides an easy opportunity to trade your Snorlax for theirs with Self-Destruct, which makes it much easier for fast special attackers such as Gengar and Jynx to wreak havoc.
Team Options
All-out attacker Snorlax requires very little support to function and can theoretically fit on a variety of teams as a tool to take out or weaken key opposing threats. However, as it does not run Rest, it is less often seen on defensive teams, which generally prefer to have the option to use Snorlax as a general wall if needed. Its knack for trading two-for-one makes it a common choice on Explosion-heavy teams, since they can then "trade down" and simplify the game by reducing numbers on both sides. As Snorlax will often attempt to trade itself for the opposing Snorlax, Pokemon that can wreak havoc when Snorlax is out of the way make for good partners, such as Jynx. Lacking Rest means Snorlax must be more wary of taking Toxic or being put to sleep. Having a status absorber such as RestTalk Zapdos is helpful in mitigating this threat. If Snorlax is being used to bait and KO Skarmory with a Curse + Self-Destruct set, Pokemon that can set up to sweep opposing teams once Skarmory is gone such as Curse Heracross are excellent choices for partners.
Toxic
Move 1
  • Double-Edge
Move 2
  • Flamethrower
Move 3
  • Toxic
Move 4
  • Rest
Item
  • Leftovers
Set Description
When used on a defensive team, Snorlax typically plays the role of a wallbreaker while doubling as a backup check for special and mixed attackers. This Snorlax set excels at this role and differs from other Snorlax sets through its use of Toxic to whittle foes down, putting them on a timer before they are either knocked out or forced to use Rest. The raw power of Double-Edge is enough to KO most Pokemon that don't resist it within the three to four free hits granted by the foe using Rest, while Flamethrower handles Steel-types such as Skarmory, Steelix, and Forretress. Rock- and Ghost-types that typically pose a problem for Snorlax with Fire-type coverage are worn down by Toxic or, in Gengar's case, repeated hits from Flamethrower.
With the notable exceptions of teams that use a Rock- or Ghost-type with Rest, this Snorlax set has good odds of breaking through an entire enemy lineup should the opponent have insufficient means to threaten or remove it. Even some of the bulkiest Pokemon in the tier, such as Suicune, Umbreon, and Miltank, will typically eventually fall to a critical hit from Double-Edge or three Double-Edge hits and Spikes damage, or run out of PP to cure themselves of Toxic. Toxic Snorlax also brings benefits in terms of Spikes pressure—a grounded Pokemon that is inflicted with poison will take as much as 25% when switching in, except after a KO or when dragged in by a phazing move. With some clever maneuvering and double switching, this can quickly turn into a death sentence. This can be particularly effective against Cloyster and Golem, which are critical pieces in terms of keeping Spikes on and off the field.
Team Options
Toxic Snorlax gives up Snorlax's Attack-boosting potential to play a war of attrition, and its teammates should support it in doing this. Ample defensive measures are highly recommended, such as Skarmory for opposing Snorlax and other physical attackers and Raikou as a primary answer to Electric-types and Growth sweepers such as Vaporeon. Roar Raikou with Spikes provided by Cloyster or Forretress will provide not only extra damage for Snorlax to keep the pressure on, but also a secondary form of offense through residual damage. To keep Spikes on the field and provide a switch-in for Explosions and Cross Chops aimed at Snorlax, Ghost-types such as Misdreavus and Gengar also make for good teammates. They can also potentially contribute to breaking an opposing team open with their numerous support options, such as Thief and Mean Look + Perish Song. Mean Look + Perish Song Misdreavus in particular is excellent at taking advantage of phazers that have been forced to use Rest due to Toxic from Snorlax or its teammates, which leaves them helpless against the strategy.
Other Options
While the sets above represent most of what Snorlax can do effectively, there are times when using other sets makes sense. A Snorlax with a STAB attack and two coverage attacks alongside Rest is a viable option, particularly on more defensive teams where a different mixed attacker such as Nidoking cannot easily be used to capitalize off of Spikes support, or where Toxic would be wasted on Snorlax due to its teammates' ability to spread paralysis. Some attack combinations that can be used include Double-Edge / Thunder / Fire Blast, which punishes both Cloyster and Forretress and only falters against Rock- and Ghost-types; Double-Edge / Earthquake / Flamethrower or Fire Blast, which can get past all but the sturdiest physical walls given enough free turns; and Double-Edge / Earthquake / Thunder, which is also very difficult to stop in the long run and is better at getting past sturdy Pokemon with Thunder's paralysis chance, but such a combination takes much longer to KO Forretress, a trait that can cause problems in longer games. Lovely Kiss can also be utilized over one of the coverage moves for the surprise factor, which can be extremely effective due to the long potential sleep duration. However, these sets can be less reliable than those with just two coverage moves, as their effectiveness relies in part on surprising an opponent with more coverage than anticipated—once the set has been revealed and the opponent is able to work out a plan regarding how to check these mixed sets, Snorlax's inability to boost its stats or trade with Self-Destruct can limit its effectiveness during the later phases of a game, particularly when it comes to fighting opposing Snorlax. Moreover, relying on coverage rather than Toxic forces one to land multiple Earthquakes rather than a single Toxic to wear down Misdreavus and Rock-types.
A variation of all-out attacker Snorlax that can be used to surprise particular kinds of teams is Curse / Double-Edge / Fire Blast / Self-Destruct or Lovely Kiss. This variant is particularly effective at taking apart teams that depend on Miltank or Umbreon + Skarmory to handle Snorlax, since they depend on Lovely Kiss Snorlax not having coverage for Skarmory. However, this set has major issues against Ghost- and Rock-types and is therefore not a common choice.
Dropping Rest for a move other than Self-Destruct is also an option for numerous other sets, though this removes much of Snorlax's defensive capabilities and is very risky due to the possibility of being inflicted with poison. Nonetheless, it can prove to be a very effective option if utilized well. One moveset that does this is Curse / Lovely Kiss / Double-Edge / Earthquake. To get the most out of this set, it is best to find an opportunity for Snorlax to come in unscathed and to have hopefully weakened or at least identified the opponent's initial answers to Curselax, which are often Spikers with Toxic. If the opponent has Skarmory, this set is much less likely to work, but landing Lovely Kiss on it may induce your opponent to switch to a secondary Normal-resistant Pokemon, at which point Snorlax should have enough Curse boosts to inflict heavy damage with Earthquake. Many more offensive teams will only have a single Normal-resistant Pokemon, in which case this set is particularly effective—they will likely be forced to use multiple Explosions to avoid being swept by your boosted Snorlax. To avoid potential coverage woes against Skarmory, this set can also use Fire Blast over Lovely Kiss, but the risk of being poisoned is extremely high, so it is worth considering using it alongside a Heal Bell user.
Another variant of the set uses Lovely Kiss / Belly Drum / Return / Earthquake. This set works best on teams that can pass Speed boosts to Snorlax with Baton Pass, but it can also be used on teams with very sturdy defensive Pokemon such as Blissey and a spinner. Once Snorlax receives a +2 Speed boost from a teammate, the only OU Pokemon it is outsped by are Gengar, Raikou, and Starmie, and there are few Pokemon it can't OHKO. On defensive teams, it is used to sweep the opposing team once the opponent's offense has been neutralized or an opportunity arises otherwise. The advantage this set has is that it is almost completely unstoppable defensively as long as Lovely Kiss hits Skarmory, but the disadvantage is that Snorlax is entirely reliant on Leftovers to recover its health. This can be made easier by using Protect instead of Lovely Kiss, an option that functions best with Body Slam as the complementing STAB attack. This set works well on more aggressive teams as a general offensive threat, but it faces major issues against Skarmory. With Protect, Snorlax can nullify Explosions aimed at it after it has used Belly Drum. This set is also quite good at using Belly Drum to gain +2 Attack when under 50% health thanks to its ability to get extra Leftovers recovery.
Snorlax can also use Curse together with Belly Drum, which theoretically allows it to boost its Defense against a Growl or Charm user before boosting to 999 Attack. Additionally, once you have shown Curse, no one will expect that Snorlax's last move is Belly Drum under any normal circumstances, so there is surprise value to be gained from using both boosting moves. However, the downside is that this restricts Snorlax to using a STAB move as its only attack, meaning Normal-resistant phazers will easily dispatch of Snorlax.
Belly Drum Snorlax can also make use of Mega Kick over Return when receiving a Speed boost to secure a few extra notable OHKOs, such as against Suicune and Umbreon, as well as gaining a chance to OHKO Cloyster. Double-Edge has the same power as Mega Kick, but the recoil makes it a poor choice on a Belly Drum Snorlax that lacks Rest and is going all-in on a sweep. The obvious downside to Mega Kick is having to rely on an attack with imperfect accuracy. Counter can also be used on Snorlax as a surprise option that can potentially take out opposing Snorlax and do more damage than expected to many physical attackers thanks to its high HP. Counter also comes with the added benefit of preventing any faster Pokemon from phazing Snorlax, which can be used to regain Snorlax's health against non-Toxic Skarmory and force it to use a lot of PP to get rid of Snorlax. However, this comes at the very significant cost of a moveslot, and the benefits of the move are mostly reliant on surprise value, so it is far from a standard option.
Finally, Snorlax can use Defense Curl with Rollout, a combination that many defensive teams will fail to prepare for due to its obscurity. This is one of the only Snorlax sets that can best combinations such as Curse Skarmory + non-Perish Song Misdreavus as the last remaining Pokemon, although Snorlax will struggle to contribute anything other than being a glorified punching bag prior to when it can no longer be phazed. For a fourth move alongside Rest, Snorlax can use Amnesia to ensure that Growth users, Pokemon like Zapdos, and Pokemon that can lower its Special Defense with Psychic can't get past it. Alternatively, Counter gives it a fighting chance against Pokemon that can boost with Curse alongside it like Machamp, Heracross, and opposing Snorlax. No matter which option is chosen, there will be some strategy that beats it, so going with this set is a risky decision and thus not recommended in most cases.
Checks and Counters
Skarmory: Due to its high Defense, resistance to Normal, and immunity to Earthquake, Skarmory is considered the best answer to Snorlax. This unique combination of traits virtually necessitates its inclusion on defensive teams. Almost any purely physical Curselax variation is soundly beaten by standard Curse Skarmory. However, it is unable to contain Snorlax that target its weaker Special Defense with Fire Blast, Thunder, or Flamethrower—the former two are likely to 2HKO Skarmory, whereas Flamethrower guarantees a 3HKO. Even without Curse, Skarmory still fares well against Curselax, since it can simply phaze Snorlax to nullify any Curse boosts. However, if Curselax is the last remaining Pokemon, Skarmory will have no way of stopping it from boosting to maximum power, so it's wise to have a contingency plan, such as running Growl Miltank, Charm Umbreon, or Perish Song Misdreavus. Skarmory is also the best defensive check to Drumlax, although it is not a safe counter by any means. +6 Body Slam from Snorlax is a 3HKO on Skarmory and threatens to paralyze it, whereas +6 Double-Edge can 2HKO an unboosted Skarmory and potentially 3HKO it at +1 Defense. Consequently, it is crucial to time Skarmory's Rest such that it will wake up before Drumlax can KO it. Snorlax can also utilize Lovely Kiss alongside either Curse or Belly Drum to help it overcome Skarmory. One adaptation Skarmory can make against Lovely Kiss Snorlax is to run Sleep Talk and Curse, although this typically entails forgoing Whirlwind. Lastly, Snorlax is capable of luring Skarmory and using Curse with Self-Destruct to land a surprise KO, which can pave the way for Pokemon like Curse Heracross to sweep.
Other Normal-resistant Phazers: Pokemon that resist Normal such as Steelix, Tyranitar, Rhydon, and Golem make for solid checks to Snorlax with their high Defense and powerful STAB attacks. However, they struggle to beat Earthquake Curselax when switching in, meaning it is often most practical to take a hit and phaze away its boosts with Roar. Steelix takes less damage from Earthquake than its Rock-type counterparts but has a weakness to Fire, making it particularly susceptible to Curselax that have a Fire-type move. Both Steelix and Golem have access to Explosion, which they can use to deal heavy damage to Snorlax, but if Snorlax has one or more Curse boosts, Explosion may be insufficient to put it into the KO range of a teammate's follow-up attack. Tyranitar can use Dynamic Punch to deal an unexpectedly large amount of damage to Snorlax, but its low accuracy makes it very unreliable. When used on defensive teams, Rock-type Pokemon are often paired with Skarmory due to their ability to cover Snorlax with Fire-type moves, while Skarmory can cover Earthquake Snorlax. However, sets such as Toxic Snorlax can be used to overcome this combination in the long run if the Rock-type is not running Rest.
Cloyster and Forretress: Cloyster and Forretress are often among the first Pokemon to switch into Snorlax early in the game due to the possible opportunity to lay down Spikes. Although neither of them actually beat Snorlax one-on-one with their standard sets, their extremely high Defense stats can make it difficult for Snorlax to take them out quickly, and they pose a threat to Snorlax with Toxic and Explosion. Even if Snorlax sets up numerous Curse boosts in the face of Cloyster or Forretress, if it is poisoned and Spikes are up, Snorlax will be forced to use Rest or risk being unable to switch in safely for the remainder of the game. However, Cloyster must beware of the threat of Double-Edge + Thunder from Snorlax, the combination of which has a high chance to KO it. Forretress must likewise beware of an outright OHKO from Fire Blast, whereas Flamethrower also does very heavy damage. Snorlax can also use Lovely Kiss to potentially deny Spikes entirely. While both Spikers are very physically bulky, Cloyster still takes hefty damage from a boosted Snorlax's STAB attacks, whereas Forretress takes little damage from everything other than its Fire-type attacks.
Ghost-types: Gengar and Misdreavus are very useful to have against Snorlax thanks to their Normal immunity. Gengar can threaten Snorlax with Dynamic Punch, Explosion, Hypnosis, Thief, and Destiny Bond, and if Snorlax lacks Earthquake, it can attempt to inflict a devastating freeze by using Ice Punch repeatedly. Misdreavus poses a big threat to Snorlax with Mean Look + Perish Song, especially considering even +1 Earthquake from Snorlax doesn't reliably 2HKO it. Apart from Perish trapping, Misdreavus also threatens Snorlax with Toxic and Thief, which diminish Snorlax's longevity through negating its Leftovers recovery. Neither Gengar nor Misdreavus take much damage from any of Snorlax's attacks other than Earthquake, but Misdreavus tends to be better equipped to take Snorlax on in the long run, having the option to choose between Pain Split and Rest for recovery, whereas Gengar can get worn down by mixed Snorlax's special attacks and typically runs Explosion rather than a recovery move. If Misdreavus has Rest, not even Toxic Snorlax will be able to wear it down, and in general, Snorlax without Earthquake will have to rely on Pursuit support, which is far from a reliable method to take down either of the Ghost-types. Gengar is also notably the only common Explosion user that outspeeds a Snorlax that has been Baton Passed +2 Speed, which can allow it to shut down a Snorlax that might otherwise be able to sweep.
Miltank and Umbreon: Miltank and Umbreon both have the bulk to take any of Snorlax's attacks on the switch, can negate any Curse boosts with Growl or Charm, and can recover off any damage with Milk Drink or Rest. While they sometimes fear paralysis from Body Slam or Thunder, they can cure themselves with Heal Bell and Rest if they avoid full paralysis, and Miltank can even cure its teammates of status inflictions. Miltank must beware of Lovely Kiss, but Umbreon makes for a solid check to Lovely Kiss Curselax if it has Sleep Talk. However, Snorlax is capable of getting past them in the long run with timely critical hits, especially if it has Double-Edge. Additionally, Drumlax can bypass Growl and Charm entirely and instantly become an existential threat to one's team, so it is best to have Skarmory as a contingency plan and stay wary of the possibility that Snorlax may have Belly Drum.
Machamp: While it doesn't want to switch into Snorlax's powerful STAB attacks, Machamp poses a unique threat to Snorlax due to its access to Cross Chop, which has a 25% chance to critical hit and OHKO Snorlax regardless of how many Curse boosts it has set up. Even if it fails to score a critical hit, Machamp's unboosted Cross Chop scores a 2HKO on +0 and a 3HKO on +1 Defense Snorlax, a feat that few other Pokemon can achieve. Aggressively switching Machamp into a boosted Curselax about to use Rest can therefore prevent it from safely burning any sleep turns, which is key to preventing Curselax from regaining momentum after it has been weakened.
Explosion Users: Explosion is an extremely powerful tool that is often crucial to beating Snorlax without having to resort to using a momentum killer like Skarmory. Cloyster, Exeggutor, and Gengar all struggle to deal much damage to Snorlax with their special attacks, but Gengar's Explosion does at least 68% to an unboosted Snorlax, while Cloyster and Exeggutor can possibly OHKO it outright. Golem, Steelix, and Forretress don't have special attacks for Snorlax to try to wall, but they are useful for reacting to Snorlax's attempts to set up and forcing the Snorlax user to guess whether they will use Explosion or simply phaze, poison, or attack it. Another Explosion user that fits into neither category is Muk. Its Explosion is likely to be more telegraphed against Snorlax, but it can be used as a deterrent nonetheless. The fact that Explosion used by a faster Pokemon prevents the opposing Pokemon from moving that turn also contributes to its effectiveness against Snorlax, preventing the possibility that Snorlax could predict it and Rest the damage off. Explosion is particularly effective against Drumlax, since it must sacrifice half its health to set up and Explosion can easily finish it off, which can lead to some high-stakes mind games. It is less effective against a Snorlax that has already set up a Curse boost, but it will often do enough damage that a teammate will be able to finish it off.
Bulky Pokemon: Pokemon such as Suicune, Porygon2, and Dragonite can be used to neutralize or stall out some Snorlax variants. Toxic Suicune makes for a decent initial answer to an unknown Snorlax because it can inflict it—or another Pokemon that switches in—with poison and is not significantly impeded by any possible surprise move that Snorlax may be running, such as Fire Blast or Lovely Kiss. Porygon2 can use Curse and Recover to stall out an opposing Snorlax's attacking PP thanks to Recover's 32 PP. Even a critical hit will not be enough to take out a full-health Porygon2, meaning that unless Snorlax has a method of inflicting status on Porygon2, it will usually be unable to break through Porygon2's defenses. Dragonite can use a RestTalk set with Reflect and Haze to neutralize any of Snorlax's boosting attempts and set up opportunities for its teammates. However, Dragonite is susceptible to being taken out by a critical hit from Double-Edge due to its partial reliance on Sleep Talk choosing the correct moves, its complete lack of offensive presence, and Reflect not reducing critical hit damage. Lastly, Vaporeon is not particularly bulky and should definitely not be switching into Snorlax, but with the combination of Growth and Acid Armor, it can become one of the few special attackers that can beat Snorlax one-on-one.
Opposing Snorlax: Some Snorlax variants have distinct advantages over others. For example, a Curselax with Body Slam is highly unlikely to be able to beat a Curselax with Double-Edge because Body Slam fails to 4HKO once both Snorlax have maxed out their stats. Lovely Kiss Snorlax can be very effective against opposing Curselax by outspeeding it and putting it to sleep for up to six turns. Lastly, Snorlax's incredibly powerful Self-Destruct is easily enough to take out an opposing Snorlax in a single hit, although this comes with the downside of losing one's own Snorlax.
Marowak and Heracross: Marowak and Heracross are two of the most powerful physical attackers in the tier and can hit Snorlax hard with their powerful STAB attacks. Neither of them are very good at switching into Snorlax, but Heracross's Megahorn 3HKOes it and Marowak's Earthquake has a small chance of 2HKOing it at +0 and about a 50% chance of OHKOing it at +2. This makes them excellent choices for switching in at the same time Snorlax does or when Snorlax is about to use Rest.
Zapdos: Zapdos does not check Snorlax effectively, but its presence can be key for offensive teams in keeping Snorlax from becoming overbearing. Its powerful Thunder does up to 32% damage to Snorlax and can also inflict paralysis. The fact that Zapdos can do so much damage to Snorlax regardless of how many Curse boosts it may have accrued is often depended on to finish off a Snorlax that has been weakened by Explosion. It also has a strong influence on when Snorlax decides to use Rest, since if it has Double-Edge and is at around 70% health, it will have to be careful to avoid getting KOed by two Thunders from Zapdos in combination with Double-Edge's recoil. Moreover, if Snorlax chooses to use Rest and then switches out without burning any sleep turns, it can no longer switch into Zapdos's Thunder safely due to potentially being 4HKOed before it can wake up. While unlikely, it's notable that Zapdos is also capable of 3HKOing Snorlax with Thunder if one lands a critical hit.
Thief: Pokemon such as Jynx, Gengar, Nidoking, Exeggutor, and Skarmory can enter battle with no item and then proceed to steal Snorlax's Leftovers, which sharply decreases its longevity, makes it a much shakier check to numerous special attackers, and makes it more susceptible to being worn down with residual damage from Spikes and Toxic.
 

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