STOP! It's Logic Time.

[ggled]

I was debating with a friend (yes, I do have them) today about the usefulness of Bronzong and Snorlax used as a tank in a party these days.

His arguments were that:

Snorlax has a high Attack stat.
Bronzong has low Special Attack and Attack Stats.
Balanced Pokémon are bad.
In the First Generation, Snorlax was hard to find/catch.
Snorlax learns Rest and Sleep Talk.
Curse.

My arguments (assuming that the Bronzong has levitate, which all good ones do anyway) were that:

It covers for the Ground weakness (which I think it easily it's biggest weakness), and it can learn Earthquake from a TM, meaning that if it's up against a Fire Pokémon, it can deal with it.

It has 7 Resistances (one of which it is doubly resistant) and 2 Immunities, meaning that it fulfils it's purpose of a tank much better than Snorlax.

It has a high Special Defense AND Defense stat, meaning it's not weak to physical attacks like Snorlax is.

Snorlax's weakness to Fighting type moves also stacks up with its Low Defense, meaning that a decent Fighting Move takes it down.

A base stat of 79 and 89 in the Special Attack and Attack stats respectively isn't actually that bad, considering it's a tank. Seeing as this same friend teaches his Gyarados all Special Moves (Gyarados has a Base Special Attack Stat of 60), I think he's being hypocritical.

It can dish out both Physical AND Special Attacks, meaning that it's more versatile than Snorlax.

I think there were more, but I can't remember. Opinions?

 

[freddie515]

I prefer snorlax cause its cooler =]

 

[DCM]

"Music hits me, so hard, makes me so, Oh my Lord"
Curselax Curselax Curselax. Theres a reason he is the most common set.
Oh and BTW Gyrados does have a beautiful special movepool

 

[ggled]

Theres a reason he is the most common set.

Could you tell me what it is?

 

[The Big Al]

You use Curse on Snorlax. It raises his attack and defense while cutting its speed (which he doesn't need anyway). Then pack on rest, a couple decent physical attacks, or an attack and some other defensive type move if you wish.

 

[dukeburger]

He's referring to the Snorlax set that uses Curse, which boosts his not so awesome Defense stat (which you pointed out) and makes his high attack even better. In my opinion, the rest of the set is up to you, but you can look him up on Smogon for an explanation of the rest of the suggested set.

 

[ggled]

Ah, thank you for that. I'll update the OP. I'm testing out a Battle with the aforementioned friend tomorrow anyway, so I'll post the results.