QC: Leftiez | AM | aim
GP: The Dutch Plumberjack | Malley
[OVERVIEW]
Breloom brings sleep and priority to the table, which is what sets it apart from other physical attackers. It possesses enormous utility in Spore, which is essentially a guaranteed cripple on any opponent that isn't Grass-type. Additionally, Technician, when coupled with an amazing Attack stat, lets Breloom utilize very strong Bullet Seeds and provides it with powerful priority in Mach Punch to deal with faster threats. Because of Mach Punch, Breloom stands out as one of the best offensive checks to Bisharp, Rotom-W, Excadrill, Mega Gyarados, and Tyranitar.
All is not well for Breloom, however, as an mediocre Speed stat leaves it vulnerable most of the time against offensive teams, and as a result it is overreliant on Mach Punch on Technician sets. Furthermore, a mediocre STAB combination leaves it unable to threaten many Pokemon, such as Flying- and Poison-types. Its typing is not only average offensively, but it is also quite lacking defensively, as it also leaves Breloom weak to numerous offensive types such as Flying, Fire, and Ice. However, it does resist the EdgeQuake combination. Breloom is also relatively frail and can fall to even neutral hits.
[SET]
name: Technician Attacker
move 1: Spore
move 2: Bullet Seed
move 3: Mach Punch
move 4: Swords Dance / Focus Punch / Rock Tomb
item: Life Orb
ability: Technician
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Spore provides excellent utility in putting foes to sleep, and boasts perfect accuracy. Mach Punch is priority that is boosted by Technician, allowing Breloom to deal with faster threats. Bullet Seed is a secondary STAB move, also taking advantage of Technician, and can break Focus Sash or Substitute.
Swords Dance allows Breloom to function as a wallbreaker, and it is especially good in tandem with Mach Punch as it improves Breloom's overall matchup against offense and balance. Focus Punch is an option to heavily damage Pokemon that switch into Breloom, such as Skarmory and Scizor. Rock Tomb hits Flying-types such as Talonflame, Tornadus-T, and Thundurus on the switch. It also hits various Fire-types such as Mega Charizard X, Victini, and Volcarona, and the Speed drop it induces cripples the likes of Celebi by stopping it from Baton Passing effectively.
Set Details
========
The EVs increase Breloom's offensive potential. A Jolly nature allows Breloom to Speed tie with opposing Bisharp and Breloom, and the likes of Custap Berry Skarmory as well as Metagross and Modest Gardevoir prior to Mega Evolving. Life Orb powers up Breloom's attacks and makes Mach Punch especially formidable, letting it OHKO the likes of Excadrill and Mega Lopunny. If running Focus Punch, one should opt for an Adamant nature to deal more damage to Pokemon switching in. The utility of Mach Punch is to enable Breloom to deal with faster threats such as Choice Scarf Tyranitar, Mega Lopunny, and Excadrill, which would otherwise outspeed and deal great damage to Breloom.
Usage Tips
========
Spore is Breloom's best move to use early on, as it cripples anything without a Grass typing or Overcoat. After putting a foe to sleep, Breloom should either use Swords Dance, which allows it to wallbreak effectively, or whittle down the foe with its STAB moves. Swords Dance can also be used after Breloom forces a switch thanks to the threat of Spore. After a Swords Dance, Mach Punch becomes incredibly powerful, allowing Breloom to KO faster foes such as Raikou, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Aerodactyl. Use Focus Punch to damage the likes of Jirachi, Scizor, and Skarmory upon switching in. Bring Breloom in on a resisted hit, such as Tyranitar's Crunch, a double switch, a U-turn or Volt Switch, or after a teammate has fainted, as Breloom has subpar bulk. Against slower setup sweepers such as Slowbro, Reuniclus, and Clefable Breloom should cripple them with a Spore so that it can proceed to either whittle them down with its STAB moves or switch into a teammate that can deal with them.
Team Options
========
Pivots are great partners to Breloom, as they give it free switches. Mega Manectric, Rotom-W, and Raikou procure momentum with Volt Switch and check dangerous Flying-types such as Talonflame, Tornadus-T, and Gyarados. Rotom-W in particular offers a check to numerous Fire-types such as Victini, Infernape, and Talonflame and appreciates Breloom's ability to deal with the likes of Ferrothorn and Quagsire. Tyranitar, Scizor, and Bisharp are good teammates, as they can Pursuit trap Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Latios and Gengar. In addition, checks to Fire-types such as Talonflame, Mega Charizard X, and Volcarona are good partners. Examples include Azumarill and Mega Altaria, which also appreciate Breloom's ability to cripple foes via Spore and beat bulky Water-types such as Rotom-W. Flying-types such as Talonflame and Tornadus-T offer a check to bulky Grass-types such as Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Celebi. Tornadus-T also procures momentum with U-turn and appreciates Breloom's ability to deal with Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Rotom-W. Mega Charizard X in particular deals with Steel-, Fire-, and Grass-types such as Scizor, Volcarona, and Celebi that trouble Breloom and appreciates Breloom's ability to break past the likes of Heatran and Rotom-W.
[SET]
name: Poison Heal Attacker
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Superpower / Drain Punch
move 3: Seed Bomb
move 4: Facade / Mach Punch
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Jolly
evs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance improves Breloom's matchup against defensive teams, allowing it to break through its usual checks, such as Mega Sableye, Celebi, and Jirachi. Superpower is Breloom's strongest STAB move, allowing Breloom to hit its usual checks such as Skarmory for great amounts of damage. Drain Punch is an option, offering offensive presence and longevity all in one package, but it is significantly weaker than Superpower. Seed Bomb is Breloom's secondary STAB move, hitting the likes of Mew, Landorus-T, and Mega Sableye for neutral damage. Facade hits a sky-high 140 Base Power when poisoned, allowing Breloom to break past Flying- and Poison-types such as Talonflame and Mega Venusaur on the switch, as well as other bulky Pokemon that resist Fighting / Grass coverage such as Celebi and Mega Altaria. Mach Punch patches up Breloom's low Speed stat and allows Breloom to deal with faster threats such as Excadrill, but it is quite weak without a Technician boost.
Set Details
========
12 HP EVs maximize Poison Heal recovery. A Jolly nature in tandem with 252 Speed EVs allows Breloom to Speed tie with opposing Bisharp and Breloom, and the likes of Custap Berry Skarmory as well as Metagross and Modest Gardevoir prior to Mega Evolving. The rest of the EVs are invested into Attack for more power. Toxic Orb activates Breloom's Poison Heal, giving it passive recovery and making it immune to other status. Specifically, the utility of having Poison Heal and Toxic Orb is to improve Breloom's matchup against defensive teams, making it capable of boosting in the face of status-reliant defensive Pokemon such as Mew and Mega Sableye.
Usage Tips
========
Focus on activating Breloom's Toxic Orb as early as possible, as it makes Breloom effectively immune to status ailments. As this set excels against defensive teams, don't be afraid to bring Breloom in against passive, defensive, status-reliant Pokemon such as Alomomola, Mega Sableye, and Mew. Use Swords Dance to boost Breloom's Attack against defensive Pokemon that cannot hurt it, and proceed to sweep. Predict Flying-type Pokemon switching in, such as Tornadus-T, and hit them with Facade, as Breloom cannot otherwise do anything to them.
Team Options
========
Pokemon that fare well against offensive teams, such as Mega Manectric, Weavile, and Talonflame, are great partners for Breloom, as they patch up its weakness to faster threats such as Gengar and Tornadus-T. In particular, Mega Manectric offers crucial momentum with Volt Switch and checks powerful Flying-types such as Talonflame and Tornadus-T as well as Steel-types such as Skarmory and Scizor. Weavile checks Tornadus-T and various Psychic- and Ghost-types such as Latios and Gengar, and Talonflame deals with bulky Grass-types such as Mega Venusaur, while in turn Breloom deals with bulky Water-types such as Rotom-W and Suicune, which trouble Talonflame. Checks to Flying-types, such as Tyranitar, are good candidates for teammates. Tyranitar also deals with Psychic-, Fire-, and Ghost-types such as Mega Metagross, Volcarona, and Gengar.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Focus Sash allows Breloom to take a hit and retaliate, patching up its weakness to fast, offensive Pokemon while allowing it to lure in the likes of Talonflame and OHKO them with Rock Tomb. Substitute and Focus Punch allows Breloom to both avoid status and deal a large hit to a switch-in. Natural Gift plus Lansat Berry gives Breloom a one-time 100 Base Power Flying-type attack, allowing it to deal incredible damage to the likes of Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Celebi, which otherwise wall Breloom.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Mega Venusaur and Celebi are immune to Breloom's Spore and resist Bullet Seed. Mega Venusaur is a particularly good counter, as it also resists Breloom's Fighting STAB move and can OHKO back with Sludge Bomb. Similarly, Celebi resists Breloom's Fighting STAB move and can use Breloom as setup fodder for Nasty Plot/Swords Dance and Baton Pass it to a teammate.
**Flying-types**: Flying-types such as Talonflame, Tornadus-T, and Togekiss are amongst the best checks to Breloom, as they resist both of its STAB types and can OHKO back due to Breloom's double weakness to Flying-type moves. However, they must watch out for Rock Tomb.
**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types such as Latios, Mega Metagross, and Mega Gardevoir resist Breloom's Fighting STAB move and, in Latios's and Mega Metagross's cases, its Grass one as well. In return, they can retaliate with a super effective Psychic-type STAB move, which OHKOes Breloom.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types such as Gengar, Mega Sableye, and Gourgeist-XL are immune to Breloom's Fighting-type STAB move, Facade, and in Mega Sableye's and Gourgeist-XL's cases, Spore as well. Gengar can OHKO back with Sludge Wave, and Mega Sableye and Gourgeist-XL are capable of crippling Breloom with Will-O-Wisp. However, both Mega Sableye and Gourgeist-XL lose to Breloom's Poison Heal set.
**Fire-types**: Certain Fire-types capable of shrugging off Mach Punch, such as Volcarona and Talonflame, are great checks to Breloom. In particular, Volcarona, especially if it carries a Lum Berry, is capable of either outright OHKOing Breloom with Fire Blast or using it as setup fodder with Quiver Dance. However, Rock Tomb OHKOes Volcarona on the switch.
**Poison-types**: Poison-types such as Gengar, Mega Venusaur, and Amoonguss resist both of Breloom's STAB moves and can KO back with their respective STAB moves.
**Faster Attackers**: Because of Breloom's lackluster Speed and defensive stats, faster Pokemon, especially ones that can shrug off Mach Punch easily, such as Alakazam, Latios, and Thundurus, are capable of outpacing and OHKOing Breloom.
Last edited:
