In an attempt to simplify my bag, a few months ago I went down to three mid molds: Buzzz SS, Buzzz, and a Vector. The Vector did its job for overstable short approaches and placements, but never got the glide and distance I was hoping for when it replaced my Z Drones. After someone found my ESP Meteor that had been missing for 1 1/2 years and I ended up throwing it a few times to see what kind of condition it was in, I (re)discovered there was too much overlap between the SS and the regular Buzzz.
Suddenly not pleased with the Vector's range because I was becoming very comfortable with the Meteor and Buzzz combo again, I had to make a decision between the Pain and the Hornet. I never really felt confident with the ESP Hornet despite knowing the Z and ESP are different discs. So I ended up going with the Pain because of the tremendous glide most other Lat discs have.
Initially I was very disappointed with the Pain. It was not as overstable as I had hoped. It still has a solid fade but it has so much glide that it gets more forward penetration than I expected and the fade only comes in very late.
So what I have done is gone back up to four molds: Meteor, Buzzz, Pain, and Z Drones. I do not like the idea of my bag swelling again, but this really is a good line-up. With the Pain not being forced into overstable placement but still offering better fading lines than a Buzzz, the Pain has shown some great potential as a driving mid with hyzer or thrown hard and flat so it can rocket into tight spaces and not turn over. Since the Pain has so much glide I will not use it to approach the basket. This also means that if I were to sacrifice a disc from my bag, it would be the Pain unfortunately.
I am glad I have found what the Pain is good at because my short game had been suffering the last month, which is normally the strongest part of my game. Over the last year I had a knack for taking the worst drives and still saving them for par attempts.