VGC 2017 Pokémon Spotlight #8 Snorlax

Welcome back to the VGC 2017 Pokémon Spotlight, where the goal is to look at a Pokémon that's doing well in the metagame and take a look at it to give you an idea on how to use if the help is needed. Today, we're gonna look at Snorlax, the one that needed a PokeFlute through many main series Pokémon games to wake it up in order to watch it. Snorlax has had a lot of success in VGC recently due to great reason that we'll look at later so I hope you enjoy this and let's begin.

Base Stats

Looking at its stats, Snorlax's looks like it'll mostly rely on its impressive bulk. 160/65/110 is impressive as it makes it virtually impossible to KO Snorlax using special based hits and even gives it decent physical bulk, and thanks to its Normal typing which means it's only weak to Fighting moves, it's easy to support as you'll see later on. A 110 Attack stat is great as it means Snorlax will be hitting very hard and becomes a bulky behemoth that instantly becomes a threat on the field, but that 65 Sp. Attack means that it won' the using special hits for damage, unless it can get a guaranteed KO with no EV investment. It's 30 Speed stat makes it a threat under Trick Room and a Pokémon that can deter the opponent from setting Trick Room or they'll have to deal with Snorlax, which makes it a great Trick Room counter due to just its presence in team preview.

Notable Moves

• Amnesia - Gives Snorlax 2 stages of increased Sp. Defense
• Giga Impact - Works with it Snorlaium Z item to use its signature Z-move
• Belly Drum - Gives Snorlax +6 attack at the cost of 50% of its total HP
• Crunch - Useful for mainly Drifblim, which gives Snorlax troubles
• Heavy Slam - Steel coverage to hit Fairy types like the Tapus
• High Horsepower - Ground coverage to hit Pokémon like Tapu Koko & Marowak
• Protect - Allows Snorlax to protect against moves & weaken the power of Z-moves
• Return - Strong Normal type STAB that gets more powerful the higher its happiness is
• Frustration - Strong Normal type STAB that gets more powerful the lower its happiness is
• Double-Edge - Strong Normal type STAB that can do more damage than Return/Frustration, but does 33% recoil based on damage dealt
• Wild Charge - Useful so Snorlax can compete with Celesteela in a potential 1v1 mirror
• Recycle - If Snorlax has a berry, it can use Recycle to get the berry back to activate it again
• Stockpile - Gives Snorlax 1 stage of increased Defense and Sp. Defense

Now its time to go into sample sets. (Ripped from TrainerTower for convenience since the sets are really strong.)



Snorlax @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 68 HP / 116 Atk / 212 Def / 108 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Return
- High Horsepower
- Curse
- Recycle

This is a pretty standard way of using Snorlax this season. The reason is that because of Snorlax's Gluttony ability, it can activate its Figy Berry when at 50% HP rather than being at 25% HP like it normally would. This means that it can function essentially with 150% HP. That makes Snorlax much more difficult to take out. It can also combine this with Recycle which allows it to reuse its berry and as long as Snorlax is able to do this continuously, the opponent will have a hard time to take it out. Curse works with as it allows Snorlax to up its attack and defense stat so it can get bulkier and stronger to give the opponent a much harder time to take it out. Return and High Horsepower are your 2 damage dealing moves as it gives Snorlax a strong stab move and High Horsepower is a strong Ground move to hit Pokemon like Tapu Koko and Marowak. The EV Spread is designed to allow Snorlax to survive Shatter Psyche from Tapu Lele in the Psychic Terrain, but can also give it a high chance to make Psychic in Psychic Terrain a 4HKO. At +1 Attack, Snorlax can 2HKO 228 HP / 52 Def Gigalith with High Horsepower and after Leftovers, a +1 Return can 2HKO 252 HP / 100 Def Tapu Fini.


Snorlax @ Figy Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 100 HP / 28 Atk / 244 Def / 132 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Belly Drum
- Return
- High Horsepower / Crunch
- Protect / Recycle

This is a more offensive Snorlax. We seen this idea perform well on Gavin Michaels' (@komvgc) winning Anaheim Regionals team. The idea is to pair it with a Pokemon that has a redirection move like Follow Me or Rage Powder, or in Gavin's case, Z-Destiny Bond Mimikyu. The reason is that Snorlax can use Belly Drum to cut its HP in half down to 50% to get to +6 Attack, and since it goes to 50% HP, its berry activates and goes back up to full HP. The moveset is pretty standard. Return is your standard STAB move. The second damaging move is between High Horsepower and Crunch. High Horsepower is a great move but it leaves you open to not being able to touch Drifblim, so Crunch is a great option to hit it for super effective damage. The final slot is up to personal preference. Many Belly Drum Snorlax choose Protect due to how safe it, but Recycle is always safe as you gain your berry back and increase your longevity. The defense EVs allows Snorlax to survive 252+ Meadow Plate Tapu Bulu Wood Hammer in the Grassy Terrain, 252+ Tapu Lele Shater Psyche in Psychic Terrain, and 252+ Atk Water Bubble Araquanid Hydro Vortex. At +6 Attack, Snorlax can KO 228 HP / 52 Def Gigalith with High Horsepower, 252 HP / 100 Def Tapu Fini with Return, and can 2HKO 252 HP / 0 Def with Return after Leftovers recovery.


Snorlax @ Snorlium Z
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Def / 12 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Giga Impact
- Crunch
- Return / High Horsepower
- Protect

Naturally, can't talk about Snorlax without talking about a good set that uses its signature Z-Crystal. The idea is in combination with its Snorlium Z, Snorlax can use Pulverizing Pancake, which can only be used when Snorlax knows Giga Impact. to cause alot of damage to anything that makes contact and isn't a Ghost or Steel type. At 252+ Attack it can OHKO 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Lele, which is a major plus. Crunch is useful for mainly Marowak and Drifblim. The defense EVs allows Snorlax to be 3HKO'd by 252+ Marowak's Bonemerang and 3HKO'd by 252+ Marowak's Flare Blitz. Thick Fat was the chosen ability because since Snorlax has Snorlium Z, it can't use Gluttony, so Thick Fat is the second best choice and with a 0 Speed IV, it can speed tie with 0 Speed IV Slowbro and Slowking, as well Wishiwashi and Parasect.

Common Items

• FIWAM Berries - This article, linked here, will explain why its a good idea.
• Snorlium Z - Snorlax's signature Z-Crystal with a cool animation to boot.

Common Partners

 - Mainly because of Z-Destiny Bond, which turns it into a redirection move, Mimikyu can allow Snorlax to easily set up, as well as being able to set Trick Room for Snorlax.
 - In the Misty Terrain, Tapu Fini can use Swagger to give Snorlax and attack increase without the addition of Confusion.
 - Ninetales can use Aurora Veil to increase Snorlax's overall bulk for the next 5 turns while Hail is up.
- Tapu Lele's Psychic and Fairy type moves can help Snorlax face the Fighting types that plague its life.
Trick Room - Because Snorlax is a very slow Pokemon, under Trick Room, it instantly becomes one of the fast Pokemon and can use Curse to get even faster under Trick Room and physically bulkier.

How to beat Snorlax?

 - As fighting types, they can use Superpower, Close Combat, and High Jump Kick respectively to do a massive amount of damage to it.
- Drifblim can wall Snorlax so it can do absolutely no damage to it, unless Snorlax knows Crunch, which isn't common at the moment.
- Both Salamence and Arcanine can have the Intimidate ability weaken its damage output,
- Both Muk and Hariyama can use Knock Off to get rid of Snorlax's berry so it can't use Recycle and get it back.
 - As a steel type, it can resist Snorlax's attacks and is able to easily use Leech Seed to sap its HP stat and stall it out in a long, drawn out stall war if need be.
- Garchomp, Kartana, and really strong physical attackers are really strong against Snorlax due to its weaker physical attack stat.
Burn Status - As a physical attacker, Snorlax will hate to be burned as it's damage output will be weakened and make it less of a threat.

Overall, Snorlax is a very strong Pokemon due to how its able to really threaten the use of Trick Room teams due to its bulk and attack power, which allows it to potentially sweep through an entire team once you take out its threats. I hope you enjoy this article. Check out my older content and I'll see you guys next time. Bye!