Sneasel: Best Moveset, Weaknesses & Counters, Stats, and Evolution

The world of Pokémon has been a growing phenomenon since 1996, when the first pair of video games came out in stores. Pokémon started off as a video game series and although new creatures are primarily introduced in the video games, the anime series has become as popular as the video games. As of December 2021, there are almost 900 individual Pokémon identified by the PokéDex and in this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about one of them – Sneasel.

Sneasel is a dual Dark- and Ice-type Pokémon introduced in Generation II. Sneasel is the first stage of evolution of the Generation IV Pokémon Weavile, into which it evolves by leveling up at night, while Sneasel is holding the Razor Claw item. It is weak to Fighting-, Rock-, Bug-, Steel-, Fire-, and Fairy-type moves, and is super effective against Dragon-, Ghost-, Psychic-, Grass-, and Flying-type Pokémon.

In this article, we are going to tell you all the information you’ll need if you want to breed a Sneasel in any of the games. You’ll find out about its type, its powers, its strengths and weaknesses, its evolutions, and its moves. We’re going to focus on both the core games, as well as other popular video games based on the Pokémon franchise.

Best moveset

In the Pokémon GO videogame, the best moves for your Sneasel are Feint Attack and Avalanche if you’re battling Pokémon in Gyms. Namely, this moveset gives you the highest total DPS and is, likewise, the best moveset for PVP battles. The official description for Feint Attack reveals the following: “This move can’t be used. It’s recommended that this move is forgotten. Once forgotten, this move can’t be remembered”; as for Avalanche, the attack is described as follows: “The power of this attack move is doubled if the user has been hurt by the target in the same turn.”

Weaknesses and Counters

As a dual Dark- and Ice-type Pokémon, Sneasel is super effective against Dragon-, Ghost-, Psychic-, Grass-, and Flying-type Pokémon. It is weak against Fighting-, Rock-, Bug-, Steel-, Fire-, and Faity-type moves.

Sneasel is the first stage of evolution of the Generation IV Pokémon Weavile, into which it evolves by leveling up at night, while Sneasel is holding the Razor Claw item. It is immune o Psychic-type moves. It receives normal damage from Normal, Flying, Poison, Ground, Water, Grass, Electric, Dragon-type Pokémon.

Powers and Abilities

Sneasel’s Stats, based on the most recent available data, are:

Stats	Base Stats	Min-	Min	Max	Max+	Min-	Min	Max	Max+
HP	130		162		251		314
Attack	103	115	147	161	203	226	289	317
Defense	67	75	107	117	131	146	209	229
Special Attack	49	55	87	95	95	106	169	185
Special Defense	85	95	127	139	167	186	249	273
Speed	121	135	167	183	239	266	329	361

In Pokémon GO, Sneasel has a Base Stamina of 146, a Base Attack of 189, and a Base Defense of 146.

As for its abilities, they are:

• Inner Focus: The Pokémon’s intensely focused, and that protects the Pokémon from flinching. (or)
• Keen Eye: Keen eyes prevent other Pokémon from lowering this Pokémon’s accuracy.
• Pickpocket: Steals an item from an attacker that made direct contact. (Hidden Ability)

Evolutions

Sneasel is the first evolution stage of Weavile; Sneasel was introduced in Generation II, while Weavile was introduced in Generation IV of the video games. To evolve your Sneasile into Weavile, you need to level it up at night while it’s holding the Razor Claw item. Sneasel cannot Mega Evolve. This Pokémon doesn’t have any known Regional Variants.

In Pokémon GO, Sneasel also evolves into Weavile. To evolve your Sneasel into Weavile, you need a total of 100 Sneasel Candy and a Sinnoh Stone. You cannot further evolve Weavile in the game.

Moves

As of Generation VIII, the movies that Sneasel can learn are:

• Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Sneasel
• Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Sneasel
• × indicates a move that cannot be used in Generation VIII

By leveling up

Level	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
1	Scratch	Normal	Physical	40	100%	35
1	Leer	Normal	Status	—	100%	30
6	Taunt	Dark	Status	—	100%	20
12	Quick Attack	Normal	Physical	40	100%	30
18	Metal Claw	Steel	Physical	50	95%	35
24	Icy Wind	Ice	Special	55	95%	15
30	Fury Swipes	Normal	Physical	18	80%	15
36	Hone Claws	Dark	Status	—	—%	15
42	Beat Up	Dark	Physical	—	100%	10
48	Agility	Psychic	Status	—	—%	30
54	Screech	Normal	Status	—	85%	40
60	Slash	Normal	Physical	70	100%	20

By TM

TM	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
TM00	Mega Punch	Normal	Physical	80	85%	20
TM01	Mega Kick	Normal	Physical	120	75%	5
TM04	Ice Punch	Ice	Physical	75	100%	15
TM15	Dig	Ground	Physical	80	100%	10
TM16	Screech	Normal	Status	—	85%	40
TM18	Reflect	Psychic	Status	—	—%	20
TM21	Rest	Psychic	Status	—	—%	10
TM23	Thief	Dark	Physical	60	100%	25
TM24	Snore	Normal	Special	50	100%	15
TM25	Protect	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TM27	Icy Wind	Ice	Special	55	95%	15
TM31	Attract	Normal	Status	—	100%	15
TM33	Rain Dance	Water	Status	—	—%	5
TM34	Sunny Day	Fire	Status	—	—%	5
TM35	Hail	Ice	Status	—	—%	10
TM36	Whirlpool	Water	Special	35	85%	15
TM37	Beat Up	Dark	Physical	—	100%	10
TM39	Facade	Normal	Physical	70	100%	20
TM40	Swift	Normal	Special	60	—%	20
TM43	Brick Break	Fighting	Physical	75	100%	15
TM47	Fake Tears	Dark	Status	—	100%	20
TM57	Payback	Dark	Physical	50	100%	10
TM59	Fling	Dark	Physical	—	100%	10
TM64	Avalanche	Ice	Physical	60	100%	10
TM65	Shadow Claw	Ghost	Physical	70	100%	15
TM69	Psycho Cut	Psychic	Physical	70	100%	20
TM75	Low Sweep	Fighting	Physical	65	100%	20
TM76	Round	Normal	Special	60	100%	15
TM79	Retaliate	Normal	Physical	70	100%	5
TM85	Snarl	Dark	Special	55	95%	15
TM94	False Swipe	Normal	Physical	40	100%	40
TR00	Swords Dance	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
TR04	Surf	Water	Special	90	100%	15
TR05	Ice Beam	Ice	Special	90	100%	10
TR06	Blizzard	Ice	Special	110	70%	5
TR07	Low Kick	Fighting	Physical	—	100%	20
TR12	Agility	Psychic	Status	—	—%	30
TR20	Substitute	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TR26	Endure	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TR27	Sleep Talk	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
TR31	Iron Tail	Steel	Physical	100	75%	15
TR33	Shadow Ball	Ghost	Special	80	100%	15
TR37	Taunt	Dark	Status	—	100%	20
TR49	Calm Mind	Psychic	Status	—	—%	20
TR57	Poison Jab	Poison	Physical	80	100%	20
TR58	Dark Pulse	Dark	Special	80	100%	15
TR60	X-Scissor	Bug	Physical	80	100%	15
TR81	Foul Play	Dark	Physical	95	100%	15
TR95	Throat Chop	Dark	Physical	80	100%	15

By transfer from another generation

Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr.	Acc.	PP
Aerial Ace	Flying	Physical	60	—%	20
Assist ×	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
Captivate ×	Normal	Status	—	100%	20
Confide	Normal	Status	—	—%	20
Crush Claw	Normal	Physical	75	95%	10
Curse	Ghost	Status	—	—%	10
Cut	Normal	Physical	50	95%	30
Defense Curl	Normal	Status	—	—%	40
Detect	Fighting	Status	—	—%	5
Double Team	Normal	Status	—	—%	15
Double-Edge	Normal	Physical	120	100%	15
Dream Eater	Psychic	Special	100	100%	15
Dynamic Punch	Fighting	Physical	100	50%	5
Embargo ×	Dark	Status	—	100%	15
Feint Attack ×	Dark	Physical	60	—%	20
Focus Punch	Fighting	Physical	150	100%	20
Foresight ×	Normal	Status	—	—%	40
Frustration ×	Normal	Physical	—	100%	20
Fury Cutter	Bug	Physical	40	95%	20
Headbutt	Normal	Physical	70	100%	15
Hidden Power ×	Normal	Special	60	100%	15
Knock Off	Dark	Physical	65	100%	20
Laser Focus	Normal	Status	—	—%	30
Mimic	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
Mud-Slap	Ground	Special	20	100%	10
Natural Gift ×	Normal	Physical	—	100%	15
Nightmare ×	Ghost	Status	—	100%	15
Power-Up Punch	Fighting	Physical	40	100%	20
Psych Up	Normal	Status	—	—%	10
Punishment ×	Dark	Physical	—	100%	5
Pursuit ×	Dark	Physical	40	100%	20
Return ×	Normal	Physical	—	100%	20
Rock Smash	Fighting	Physical	40	100%	15
Secret Power ×	Normal	Physical	70	100%	20
Snatch ×	Dark	Status	—	—%	10
Strength	Normal	Physical	80	100%	15
Swagger	Normal	Status	—	85%	15
Torment	Dark	Status	—	100%	15
Toxic	Poison	Status	—	90%	10

In Pokémon GO, Sneasel can learn Ice Shard and Feint Attack as Fast Attacks, and Avalanche, Ice Punch, Foul Play, Frustration, and Return as Charged Attacks. Some of these attacks depend on when you caught and evolved your Sneasel, as they are event-only attacks.