Pokemon Champions’ Most Used Pokemon May Be One of the Most Broken Ever (Without Legendaries)

It may be surprising that Pokemon Champions‘ most used Pokemon overall is not Incineroar, although it’s very close. As a Fake Out user with Intimidate, good type combination, good attacks like Flare Blitz and Darkest Lariat, Parting Shot to further decrease opposing Pokemon’s stats, and synergy with many teams, Incineroar seems the prime candidate. Don’t get me wrong, Pokemon like Incineroar, Garchomp, Charizard (with the Mega Stone to turn into Mega Charizard Y), Venusaur, Basculegion, Aerodactyl, and Kingambit are basically everywhere in Pokemon Champions. And yet, one of them stands taller when it comes to utility, speed, and raw damage, and that’s Sneasler.

First introduced in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Sneasler didn’t become available to use in VGC until later on in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet‘s lifespan, but even then, it didn’t have such a dominating presence. This is because, while powerful, it was introduced at a time when the meta had developed differently, and other options were overall better. For example, Ursaluna is arguably one of the best Pokemon ever made, and it became viable alongside Sneasler, becoming the prime abuser of Trick Room strategies. The best Pokemon in Pokemon Champions are very different from those in Gen 9 due to Pokedex and held item limitations, and without Legendary Pokemon, Sneasler feels like one.

Why Sneasler is OP in Pokemon Champions

There are various reasons why Sneasler is such a good Pokemon in Pokemon Champions‘ double battles. These are:

• Sneasler has access to Fake Out to pressure opponents with “free” damage by flinching a Pokemon.
• Since Mega Floette is the best Mega Evolution in Pokemon Champions or one of the best, having Sneasler on the team means pressuring a potential OHKO with Dire Claw, a Poison move that’s supereffective vs. Fairy.
• Sneasler has access to Close Combat as a STAB move, which can potentially OHKO Kingambit and deal massive damage even when it’s not supereffective.
• Speaking of Close Combat, its side effect is that it lowers the user’s Defense and Special Defense by one stage, but the most used item on Sneasler is White Herb, which nullifies this once by being consumed. There is another reason why this is so popular, and that’s Sneasler’s ability, Unburden, which doubles the user’s Speed stat when its item is consumed or lost.
• All this makes Sneasler one of the fastest Pokemon of all time with Unburden active, as it has a base Speed of 140, which becomes 189 with max investment and Jolly nature, meaning that it becomes 378 with Unburden active. This is enough to outspeed any Pokemon without Choice Scarf, and even then, it can be faster still.

Among the best partners for Sneasler are:

• Aerodactyl — Pokemon Champions‘ Aerodactyl is great because it can set up Tailwind to make Sneasler and itself the fastest Pokemon on the field, deal massive spread damage with Rock Slide, or OHKO opposing Sneasler with Dual Wingbeat.
• Floette — Mega Floette can benefit from having Sneasler on the side to help with opposing Mega Floette, pressure with Fake Out, and let Mega Floette have time to set up with Calm Mind.
• Delphox — Mega Delphox outspeeds Sneasler and Aerodactyl if the former doesn’t have Unburden active, so having one as Sneasler’s partner is great for extra damage and safety.
• Whimsicott — Whimsicott with Prankster is one of the best Grass-type Pokemon, and it can immediately set up Tailwind for Sneasler while it uses Fake Out on turn one, or even allow Sneasler to skip Fake Out and go for a powerful attack aiming for a KO.

How to Counter Sneasler and Why it Influences Teambuilding

What follows is that Sneasler is not even just one of the best Pokemon, it’s meta-defining because every team has to account for it in some way. One of the few archetypes that typically keeps Sneasler in check, for the most part, is rain. Most rain teams in Pokemon Champions have Pelipper to deal supereffective STAB damage to Sneasler with Hurricane, and Basculegion is immune to both Fake Out and Close Combat.

Still, even then, Sneasler threatens Archaludon due to its Dragon/Steel type combination, and it may threaten other Pokemon on the team. Likewise, there are scenarios where bringing the rain team core in Pokemon Champions matches is not a good option. This goes to show that the impact Sneasler is having is much deeper than what may transpire, and it’s a testament to how good this Pokemon truly is.