I'll try to git gud and stop using durdle squads, but I have a feeling that won't solve all my problems. High-level play (especially SPL) has already demonstrated a significant shift away from passive Fini/Zap/AV squads over the past few months to more aggressive builds with Koko/Metagross cores, fullroom offense, etc. and yet we're still noticing a significant gravitational pull from Snorlax.
Sassy opening paragraph aside - if some people don't think Snorlax lacks counterplay options, that's a completely respectable stance and I can see things both ways, especially when you look at Snorlax's usage rates and win rates. Stats aren't always everything, despite being an essential piece to informed decision making, so let's flesh out the counterplay options on a bit of a deeper level.
Specifically, I'm going to talk about the Belly Drum set since (imo) that's the problematic one:
- Belly Drum Snorlax's strategy is to max out its attack using Belly Drum, then proceed to OHKO a target every turn through a combination of Frustration/Return and either High Horsepower or Fire Punch - either of which give Snorlax nearly "perfect" coverage
- Normal-type attacks hit all but three types (Rock, Steel, and Ghost) for neutral damage. Ground-type coverage is able to hit all three of these types for neutral or super-effective damage, while Fire-type coverage beats would-be switchins like Ferrothorn and Celesteela. This perfect coverage, in tandem with +6 attack, solos most of the metagame and is a big driver to why DrumLax is broken.
- There may be other offensive breakers / wincons out there that can be equally devastating in some matchups, but none of the other current ones have perfect coverage that allows them to plow through an opponent's team without regards for the type chart. STAB attacks from the likes of Stakataka and Camerupt (as two examples of other TR sweepers) can be switched into with little consequence with a good prediction and some common sense. Ferrothorn still gets 2HKO'd by a resisted attack from DrumLax.
- Because Snorlax's advantage comes from a stat boost, you can invalidate its win condition by hazing it with Clear Smog or Haze, or by forcing it to switch out through techs like Dragon Tail, Roar, or even Toxic. Burning it with Will-o-Wisp will also make its attacks manageable. However, Snorlax has enough bulk to set itself up more than once in a game (more on that below), and assuming Trick Room has been set, your only real chance to execute any of these techs is on the turn Snorlax tries to set its Belly Drum - after that, it can simply OHKO your hazer, phaser or statuser before it has a chance to move. This brings me to discussion point #2:
- Snorlax usually relies on a Trick Room setter to give it the speed advantage, although in some mid- to late-game scenarios, it can still apply enough pressure outside of Trick Room as well.
- Snorlax almost always moves first under Trick Room, which means it can either take out a target before the opponent gets a chance to move, or it can recover 50% of its HP using Recycle before it has to absorb a hit
- This would suggest that one viable counterplay strategy would be to KO or pressure the Trick Room setter(s) first, that way Snorlax never gets the speed advantage
- Preventing TR from being set is easier said than done - people wouldn't use it in this meta if the success rate of a Trick Room set wasn't high. If your plan for beating Snorlax is to beat Trick Room, you might want to analyze the success rate of a Trick Room setter setting it during a match.
- For a semiroom team, you generally don't bring in the TR setter or attempt to set TR until you have a favourable position to do so, and finding this position isn't hard to do when half of your team is perfectly capable of fighting outside of Trick Room. The fail rate for a TR setter is a bit higher than on fullroom teams, but a semiroom team doesn't really care if TR never goes up.
- For a full-room team, you're kidding yourself if you think Trick Room isn't going up at least once during the game, unless you brought really hardcore checks to Trick Room. High-level players that frequently use fullroom are hyper aware of the techs that can stop a TR set, and they'll build and play around them more often than not (the average balance-oriented team is usually better off just making sure their team doesn't completely crumble under TR).
- Even if you do manage to prevent Trick Room from being set, that doesn't stop Snorlax from setting up Belly Drum and attacking you. It does, however, give you a window of opportunity to double target it and take it down, or at least damage it faster than it can recover HP with its pinch berry. This brings me to point #3:
- Outside of Trick Room, Snorlax leverages its very high bulk to weather through a storm of attacks each turn and will Recycle its berry if firing off a +6 attack will leave it susceptable to a KO on the following turn. (Sometimes Lax runs Protect instead, bluffing Recycle).
- Snorlax naturally avoids a 2HKO from most special attackers, thanks to a base 160 HP stat and base 110 SpD stat. A base 65 stat makes Snorlax's physical bulk a little bit more penetrable, but most teams will mitigate this through the use of one or more Intimidate users like Mega Manectric and Landorus-T. Snarl is also sometimes used (usually by Mega Manectric) to further weaken opposing special attacks.
- Snorlax EV spreads can vary, but they are generally built to withstand OHKOs from would-be breakers like Landorus-T Tectonic Rage and Deoxys-A Psycho Boost / Superpower
- Mono Normal-typing leaves Snorlax with only one weakness (to Fighting-type attacks) which is hardly exploitable due to the influx of top-tier Fairies in this metagame
- Other comparable Trick Room breakers like Mega Camerupt, Stakataka, Abomasnow and (maybe) Mawile lack the sheer bulk, recovery option, and lack of exploitable defensive typing that Snorlax has access to. Fast breakers like Kingdra and Deoxys-A definitely lack all of the above.
- If you don't run "fini zap durdle squads" chances are you'll have at least one strong breaker on your team that can push Snorlax past its limit for an eventual double-targeting KO. This depends a lot on positioning, but it is doable. That said, Snorlax's partner also essentially gets a free turn for as long as Snorlax pressures you into double-targeting it.
- Because Snorlax relies on its pinch berry for Recovery, you might have a shot at destroying its berry via Knock Off or Magician before it has a chance to consume it. However, this logic really translates better to dealing with CurseLax sets; DrumLax's berry is consumed by default once Belly Drum sets up, and in most cases if it feels the need to click Recycle, it will already be below 50% HP by the time Recycle is executed
- Because of Snorlax's intrinsic bulk and recovery, there is generally an ample window of opportunity for its partners to get away with additional support techniques that, while not necessary to Snorlax achieving its win condition, definitely can go a long way in assisting:
- Trapping and taming: A popular support strategy with DrumLax is to utilize a Shadow Tag user (usually Gothetelle) to trap the opponent while Intimidate and Snarl supporters like Mega Manectric and Landorus-T are brought in to reduce the opponent's damage output. With the right plays and positioning, you're able to weaken the targets to a point where double-targeting isn't likely to do more than 50% damage to Snorlax, and you just keep the weakest target trapped while Snorlax solos the stronger one each turn.
- Heal Pulse: Instead of wasting a turn clicking Recycle, Snorlax can outsource its 50% recovery to either Gothitelle and Tapu Fini while Snorlax proceeds to OHKO a target each turn. The Heal Pulse users in themselves are hard to take down, even through double-targeting, unless you can score a super-effective hit.
- Fake Out: Outside of Trick Room, you can still cancel out a 1-vs-2 scenario for a turn by buying a turn with Fake Out users like Mew or Scrafty. It really only takes one turn for Snorlax to gain back any momentum it lost, either by Recycling or by KO'ing a troublesome attacker.
- [insert other stuff here]: This isn't an all-inclusive list. I'm just making a point. There are a lot of support techniques that definitely help Snorlax achieve its wincon, but that aren't nessesary for achieving it.
Conclusion:
So in conclusion, there are a number of factors at play that, when factored in as pieces of a bigger picture, lead myself (and most likely other players) to believe that Snorlax is overpowered in this metagame and lacks counterplay.
Snorlax has nearly unresisted offensive coverage, can set up its win condition in a single turn, and has enough bulk to push past unfavourable positioning. Trick Room is needed to unlock its full potential, but it still puts in work if Trick Room is thwarted, and Trick Room is pretty darn difficult to thwart in high level play. Additional support options like Shadow Tag and Shadow Pulse are exceptionally good techs for supporting Snorlax, but they aren't intrinsic to the success of Snorlax in a game.
If you've read / understood the points I made above and still believe Snorlax is healthy for the metagame, I fully respect that. Despite everything Snorlax has going for itself, its not like its winning a disproportionate amount of high-level games, and that's probably the strongest arguement I've seen for why Snorlax should stay.
However, tournament usage/success is dependent on a number of un-quantifiable factors as well (e.g. maybe SPL players just didn't feel like building around Snorlax every week and playing Snorlax mirrors) so it shouldn't be used as the sole metric for whether or not Snorlax is a good presence in our metagame.
