Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. This gluttonous Pokémon eats constantly, apart from when it's asleep. It devours nearly 900 pounds of food per day. Its stomach's digestive juices can dissolve any kind of poison. Eating things off the ground doesn't bother it at all.
Overview
The original Special attacker counter, Snorlax was once considered an offensive counterpart to Blissey, possessing lesser, but still phenomenal Special bulk, but complimented it with a brutal base 110 Attack, often squashing such attackers on their near invariably weaker physical Defense. Curse synergizes amazingly with Snorlax, pushing its Attack to amazing heights while shielding its poor Defense. Add in Rest to shake off any damage incurred and Snorlax could easily make the jump from Anti Special Attacker to win condition. Snorlax isn’t just beholden to Curse sets either; it is rather flexible offensively, able to run Curse, Belly Drum or general attacker sets backed with wide coverage, while defensively Snorlax has its choice of abilities of Thick Fat for extra resistances, Immunity to out right no Sell Toxic and Toxic Spikes or Gluttony to get incredible mileage out of pinch berries.
Snorlax is rather emblematic of the struggles normal types face both offensively and defensively. Offensively Normal types having lost Return for a reliable STAB has forced them to fall back on either the recoil heavy Double Edge or the much weaker Body Slam, neither of which are attractive options for Snorlax. Defensively, the situation is even more dire; Normal’s lack of resistances makes it harder and harder for Snorlax to keep up with the escalating power creep, preventing it from checking special attackers as it once used to. Further exasperating this is Snorlax’s lack of reliable recovery outside of Rest. Thanks to that, Snorlax’s lack of resistances, exposure to all entry hazards, and horrid speed forcing it to tank attacks before acting all cut into Snorlax’s bulk, making Snorlax far frailer than what its HP and Special Defense would suggest. Add onto this a blatant achilles heel with Snorlax’s poor Defense, and we can see how Snorlax has slept the years away, its minor nerfs paling in comparison to the changes around it that have left it forgotten.
Positives
Base 160 HP is absurd, and 110 Special Defense ensures Snorlax can stomach Special Attacks with ease.
Impressive 110 Attack with boosting options in Curse and Belly Drum turn Snorlax into a powerful cleaner if not win condition.
Wide physical coverage gives Snorlax an answer for every situation.
Negatives
Abysmal Base 30 speed ensures Snorlax is always going to get hit before acting outside of Trick Room.
Base 65 Defense is quite poor and a readily exploitable weakpoint for Snorlax.
Normal is poor both offensively with lack of a reliable drawbackless STAB, and defensively with lack of resistances and exposure to hazards.
Lack of reliable recovery barring Rest makes Snorlax easy to wear down.
Movesets
Pudgy Powerhouse
-Curse
-Body Slam
-Earthquake
-Recycle
Ability: Gluttony
Item: Figy Berry
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 200 Def /56 SDef
Impish Nature
A slightly different take on a classic set, Curse turns Snorlax into an unstoppable juggernaut, given enough time to set up. With Snorlax’s fantastic Special bulk, it can easily grab those Curses on Special attackers like Duraldon, Gastrodon, Florges, and Raikou, boosting up while such Pokémon are forced out or ineffectually attack Snorlax. Body Slam is Snorlax’s primary STAB, and while its power can be underwhelming for a STAB, the hearty 30% Paralysis chance provides excellent Speed control for Snorlax’s teammates and the chance not to act favors drags the opponent into a grind game that greatly favors Snorlax. Earthquake is recommended as coverage for Rock and Steel types like Duraldon, Alolan Sandslash, and Lycanroc on top of hitting Ghost types like Froslass, Golurk, and Houndstone. Recycle is pseudo reliable recovery on this set, allowing Snorlax to eat its Figy Berry over and over, keeping itself healthy while it sets up.
Tera Types:
Given how poor Snorlax’s base typing is, any Tera that improves its base typing is greatly appreciated. Of all typings, Fairy is the most popular given its resistance to Fighting (Snorlax’s sole weakness) and just an incredible defensive typing in general. Ghost is also popular for its Anti Fighting capabilities, and the turnabout can be instrumental in getting setup or an attack off for Snorlax. Steel shares Normal’s Fighting weakness, but otherwise makes up for it with the sheer number of resistances otherwise. Tera Fire is also niche but helps guard against Burn attempts from Will-O-Wisp.
EVs and Items:
EV spread increases Snorlax’s physical bulk considerably, enabling it to better survive physical attacks and enable setup opportunities pre and post Curse. The EVs given cause even attacks like Bombirder’s Brave Bird, Decuideye’s Leaf Blade and in more inclusive format’s Dragonite’s Extreme Speed and Earthquake to just bounce off, allowing Snorlax to escalate faster than such threats can damage Snorlax. This set can be rather flexible in EV spreads, depending on one’s needs. Max HP and Max Special Defense is another option, greatly improving Snorlax’s matchup against Special Attackers, while relying entirely on Curse to improve Snorlax’s damage output and ability to withstand physical attacks. Attack investment is also worth consideration, enabling Snorlax to reach vital KOs and 2HKOs without cursing, such as 44 Atk 2HKOing Golurk with Crunch, 60 Attack with Adamant can 2HKO Milotic after a Curse, while Max Attack with Adamant can start reaching OHKOs after a Curse like on Flamigo, Heracross, Staraptor, etc. Figy Berry is recommended with this set for combination with Gluttony causes Recycle to act as a pseudo Recover. If not running Gluttony, Leftovers is recommended for the persistent recovery it provides or Chesto Berry for the one time free Rest.
Partners:
Bulky Physically defensive partners naturally work well with Snorlax, whose Special Defense naturally compliments such Pokémon, being the start of a defensive core to any team. Both Slowbro forms are excellent examples of this, their sheer physical bulk and resistance to Fighting being invaluable to Snorlax while its Ghost immunity is greatly appreciated. Palossand also works well for similar reasons.
Other Options:
Crunch provides Dark coverage, invaluable for hitting Ground and Normal resistant/immune targets, such as Bronzong, Decuideye, Drifblim, and Oricorio-Sensu, as well as being a stronger hit on Golurk.
Heavy Slam is great if in Battle Stadium Singles, given the prevalence of Flutter Mane, and popularity of Tera Fairy in general. Synergizes well with Tera Steel.
Heat Crash cuts the difference between Crunch and Earthquake, hitting both Steel types and the normally lightweight Ghost types hard (as well as Bronzong), but leaves Snorlax exposed to Rock types.
Rest is fantastic if not running Gluttony sets, giving Snorlax badly needed longevity while countering attempts to Burn and Toxic Snorlax.
Double Edge is an alternative to Body Slam, providing a huge boost in damage at a cost to durability.
Doubles and VGC Options
Snorlax’s history in doubles is just as storied and famed as it is in singles, being able to weaponize its slow speed alongside its great bulk and good attack as an effective Trick Room attacker. With these traits, Snorlax is one of the few Pokémon with three world champ titles. Sadly, this was generations ago, and aside from a surge in usage in generation 7 due to how powerful the pinch healing berries were in conjunction with Gluttony, Snorlax has been largely placed by the wayside. Snorlax suffers from being vulnerable to the most common forms of disruption, especially Fake Out, and Intimidate, while its incredibly low Speed leaves Snorlax all but regulated to hard Trick Room teams. The introduction of Ursaluna in the current generation only increases Snorlax’s woes, as it all but subsumes Snorlax’s role as Normal typed Trick Room attacker, being stronger, physically bulkier and just fast enough to flourish in both Trick Room and Tailwind, with Snorlax struggling to stand out with Belly Drum and its higher Special Bulk.
Belly Drums of War
-Belly Drum
-Body Slam
-Heavy Slam
-High Horsepower
Ability: Gluttony
Item: Figy Berry
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
Belly Drum Snorlax is deadly cleaner in Trick Room, once set up able to roll over even the bulkiest targets in the game. Belly Drum is fantastic given it maxes out the Attack stat, so even preemptive Intimidates from Incineroar mean nothing until after the Belly Drum. Body Slam is the primary STAB dealing good damage, though the paralysis rider can screw over Snorlax’s teammates in Trick Room. Heavy Slam is fantastic for Flutter Mane and Tera Fairy Calyrex Shadow rider, guaranteed to OHKO the former and weighed to 2HKO the latter when not Terastalized. High Horsepower directly threatens Steel and Tera Steel types, namely Zamazenta Crowned, as well as an incredible option for threatening Raging Bolt and Miraidon before Belly Drum.
EVs are to maximize Snorlax's Attack (for the most bang out of Belly Drum) and Defense (since Snorlax's Defense needs all the help it can get). Tera Ghost is strongly recommended -since Belly Drum Snorlax is a one and done sweeper, prevent opponents from stalling out Trick Room with Fake Out is necessary. Tera Fairy is a good fallback option for the Fighting resistance it provides, while Tera Ground is an offensive/defensive option, enabling Snorlax to reach a OHKO on Zamazenta-Crowned with High Horsepower, while blocking Miraidon's Electric STAB.
Other Options & Partners:
Indeedee-F does a lot in enabling this Snorlax set, being both a Trick Room setter, priority blocker and redirection to enable Belly Drum setup. Even Helping Hand is invaluable, such as OHKOing Zamazenta Crowned without Tera Ground (or OHKOing with Tera Ground through Iron Defense). Farigarif performs similarly thanks to Armor Tail, but lacks the redirection of Indeedee-F.
Protect is a doubles staple, and its utility in keeping Snorlax safe while Trick Room is being setup can’t be understated.
Yawn pairs wonderfully with Protect, being a reliable Sleep attack or forced switch.
Countering Snorlax
Snorlax’s movepool is wide and varied, but between the need for boosting and healing, it often struggles to hold all the coverage it wants.
Snorlax sets with only Normal and Ground attacks find themselves incredibly exposed to ungrounded Steel and Ghost types like Bronzong, Drifblim, and Oricorio-Sensu as well as Decuideye, being one of the few Ghost types that resists Ground.
Snorlax sets with only Normal attacks and Crunch struggle against bulky Steel and Rock types not weak to Dark like Copperajah, Lucario, Iron Thorns, and Diancie, the latter two also excelling against sets running Heat Crash.
Snorlax’s forms of recovery also exposes vulnerabilities. Rest is incredibly exploitable, giving opponents two free turns of setup, which, unlike Dondozo, Snorlax cannot ignore. Gluttony sets are also incredibly weak against item disruption, whether it be Trick from Choice Florges and Rotom-Heat or Knock Off from the many, many Pokémon that receive the move.
Offensively checking Snorlax should be easy given its horrid Speed, but its many tools can obfuscate supposedly easy matchups. Fighting types tend to be the most reliable checks to Snorlax, physical ones reliably OHKOing Snorlax, especially Banded or boosted Fighting types like Flamigo, Guts Heracross, Paldean Tauros Breeds (who are good defensively given their access to Intimidate) all of whom can easily OHKO Snorlax even after a Curse boost, though many more Fighting attackers can easily pick off a Snorlax at 75% or less even after Curse. However, Snorlax commonly runs defensive Teras for such matchups.
Despite Snorlax’s prodigious special bulk, powerful Special Wallbreakers can overwhelm Snorlax, especially given it rarely runs any way to boost that up. Tera Normal Specs Toxtricity can 2HKO even fully invested Special Defense Snorlax, while Snorlax sets not running the Special Defense investment can even be 2HKO’d without Normal Tera. Nasty Plot Delphox can turn Snorlax into setup fodder with Encore and just boost and blow past it with Psyshock.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Route 12, Route 16
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Route 11
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen/XD
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Routes 12 & 16
Colosseum/XD:
Snagged from Cipher Admin Ardos in Citadark Isle
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Munchlax
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Route 11
Black/White:
Evolve Munchlax
Black 2/White 2:
Trade with Yancy/Curtis in Nimbasa City
X/Y:
Route 7
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Trade from X/Y
Sun/Moon:
Route 1
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Route 1
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Route 12, Route 16, Cerulean Cave
Sword/Shield:
Motostoke Riverbank, Slippery Slope, Frostpoint Field, Giant's Bed
Max Raid Battles: Bridge Field, East Lake Axewell, Motostoke Riverbank, Rolling Fields, Stony Wilderness, Slippery Slope, Giant's Bed, Giant's Foot, Ballimere Lake
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Evolve Munchlax
Legends: Arceus:
Obsidian Fieldlands: Sandgem Flats, Massive Mass Outbreak
Alabaster Icelands: Snowfall Hot Spring
Scarlet/Violet:
Evolve Munchlax
Fixed: Timeless Woods
Tera Raid Battles: 5 Star Raid Battles, 6 Star Raid Battles
Anime Appearences
