[Overview]
<p>Bronzong is a Pokemon with very good defensive stats and an excellent typing. Traditionally, UU has always been lacking in Steel-types, and Bronzong is one of a handful that can abuse its fantastic resistances in a defensive role without being crippled by weaknesses. Bronzong's lack of Ground- and Fighting-type weaknesses give it a distinct advantage over rivals such as Empoleon and Registeel, rendering several Pokemon unable to touch it at all. An immunity to Spikes and resistance to Stealth Rock further increase its longevity. A sizeable base 89 Attack stat combined with a STAB Gyro Ball backed by extremely low Speed gives it a lot more offensive presence than Registeel, making it much more difficult for opponents to set up against it.</p>
<p> Despite its obvious strengths, Bronzong's fortitude as a wall is not uncontested in BW's powerful UU Tier. UU is home to many of the game's most powerful non-Uber Fire-types, and Bronzong's sole weakness leaves it (and its team) exposed to the onslaught of offensive behemoths such as Darmanitan, Victini, Chandelure, and Arcanine. Bronzong's lack of recovery outside Rest and Leftovers is also problematic, making it all but inevitable that it will eventually be broken by even nuetral and resisted attacks. Nevertheless, it is unquestionable that Bronzong provides an impressive defensive asset, and qualities that are unique in the metagame; it will surely remain one of the tier's top walls.</p>
[SET]
name: Tank
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Gyro Ball
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[Set Comments]
<p>Bronzong's bulk allows it to function as an effective and reliable Pokemon to set up Stealth Rock, being able to do so against most of the metagame's threats with relative ease. Gyro Ball is Bronzong's primary offensive move and packs a punch considering Bronzong's decent Attack stat coupled with its drastically slow Speed. It is important to remember to reduce the Speed EVs to zero to maxmize Gyro Ball's power. Toxic allows Bronzong to cripple other bulky tanks such as Deoxys-D and Blastoise, its own immunity to Toxic giving it a distinct advantage in stall wars against these foes. Earthquake hurts the many Fire-types in the underused tier and prevents Bronzong from being set-up bait for the rare Magneton. Thanks to Bronzong's natural bulk and plethora of resistances, it can set up Stealth Rock against many common Pokemon such as Roserade, Flygon, and Weavile.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p> A Sassy Nature can be used with an EV spread of 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD to give Bronzong equal defensive stats, making it a durable mixed wall, however, it is advisable to boost one defensive stat more than the other because Bronzong’s defensive stats aren’t insurmountable and a lack of reliable recovery compounds Bronzong’s weakness to strong neutral STAB attacks. Bronzong can use Heatproof over Levitate; granting it an neutrality to Fire-type moves. This can be useful in some circumstances but generally the immunity to Spikes and Earthquake granted by Levitate is more useful.</p>
[SET]
name: Dual Screens
move 1: Reflect
move 2: Light Screen
move 3: Gyro Ball
move 4: Earthquake / Hypnosis
item: Light Clay
ability: Levitate
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[Set Comments]
<p>This set takes advantage of Bronzong's great bulk and defensive typing to reliably set up both Reflect and Light Screen and support a teammate's sweep. Reflect and Light Screen stop attacks from scratching Bronzong’s hard, metal surface, and Bronzong has the bulk to set up both of them. Gyro Ball is the strongest and most reliable move it has, and it severely hurts fast and frail threats that can't really touch Bronzong after the appropriate screen is up. Considering the three moves above, you would think that Fire- and Electric-types love to come in and attempt to KO Bronzong with repeated attacks, while at the same time stalling the screens' turns. To stop this from happening, Bronzong has Earthquake to hit them for super effective damage, most notably; Victini, Raikou, Darmanitan, and Arcanine.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p> Full EV investment in both HP and Defense with a Relaxed Nature gives Bronzong good bulk and the ability to weather all kinds of physical attacks, whilst it’s Special Defense (which is still high without investment) is respectable enough to take neutral and resisted hits well. Light Clay is the mandatory item because, with it, the screens last eight turns instead of five; the extra three turns can be the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful setup. Hypnosis is very unreliable due to its 60% accuracy but, if it hits, it can shut down an opponent's Pokemon, thus providing Bronzong with one more turn to set up.</p>
<p>As usual Bronzong’s Speed IV should always be lowered to 0 with a –Speed Nature to ensure that Gyro Ball hit as hard as possible. While Bronzong performs its task of setting up screens well, its lack of reliable recovery means Bronzong will often find itself taking too much damage to be able to repeat the process over and over again. To solve this, pairing Bronzong with a Wish passer can prove to be invaluable; bulky Togekiss makes for a good teammates as it can switch in on Fire-type attacks thanks to it’s good Special Defense, and attracts Rock- and Ice-type attacks for Bronzong to switch into. Any sweeper loves to take half damage from the opponent's attacks while setting up but the frailer ones benefit the most from the screens. Azelf and Raikou are some examples of sweepers that can be deadly after one turn of setup and, taking into account that the appropriate screen can get them that one extra turn, it usually means game over for your opponent.</p>
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psyshock / Psychic
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Hidden power Ground / Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
[Set Comments]
<p> Bronzong can run a Calm Mind set effectively despite it not being its primary and most common set. Thanks to its excellent bulk Bronzong can easily switch in on common threats and start boosting to increase its good Special Defense and patch up its below average Special Attack. Psyshock hits opposing Calm Minders such as Mismagius and Raikou who try and set up alongside Bronzong thanks to their good Special Defense and Speed stats. However, Psychic hits harder than Psyshock overall and does more damage to physical walls. At +1, Grass Knot OHKOs; Rhyperior, Swampert, Kabutops and Omastar, as well as hurting bulky waters and Claydol. Hidden Power Ground hits the plethora of Fire-types in UU as well as Nidoking and Empoleon for good damage. Finally, Protect lets Bronzong scout a Choiced move as well as recover a little HP thanks to Leftovers.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>Pokemon with Flash Fire can take advantage of Bronzong’s Fire-type weakness by coming in and grabbing a boost from any Pokemon trying to fry the iron bell. Kingdra too, can take Fire attacks well thanks to its 4x resistance, but physical and mixed sets must be wary of burns. 252 HP EVs increases Bronzong’s overall bulk and max Defense investment with a Defense boosting nature help Bronzong take hits from strong physical attackers such as Heracross and Kingdra. Unorthodox Hidden Powers can be used to deal with more specific threats. For example, Rock takes down Yanmega as well as hitting Rotom-H and Zapdos harder than Psyshock and Ice can be used to obliterate Flygon and Honchkrow.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Unlike it's fellow Steel-type Registeel, Bronzong has a movepool rich in both support and offensive options. Bronzong can set up Rain Dance, usually more than once due to its incredible bulk, thus paving the way for Swift Swim sweepers to sweep. Rain Dance also benefits Bronzong, as it temporarily weakens Bronzong's one weakness to Fire-type moves. A Choice Band set consisting of Gyro Ball, Zen Headbutt, Earthquake, Trick is definitely usable and has the potential to nab KOs on faster more fragile Pokemon such as Weavile and Roserade as well as crippling a wall or special attacker with Choice Band. There are quite a lot of nasty items to be Tricked onto your opponent's Pokemon, such as Lagging Tail or Toxic Orb, that will infuriate your opponents to no end. Although a gimmick, Skill Swap allows Bronzong to ruin Magnetic Rise Magneton's fun.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Bronzong's job the majority of the time is to set up Stealth Rock and support the team, so Pokemon that can prevent it from doing so are Bronzong's biggest counters. Fire-type Pokemon such as Victini, Arcanine and Houndoom are generally the biggest threats to Bronzong as, even with its good bulk, it isn’t going to enjoy taking a V-create or Fire Blast to the face. Xatu can reflect entry hazards or status thrown out by Bronzong although it cannot do much back apart from wearing down Bronzong with a combination of Night Shade and Roost. Mew and Deoxys-D can taunt Bronzong as well as tanking its attacks with relative ease. Mew can then proceed to set up Nasty plot, and either sweep or Baton Pass the boost. Deoxys-D loves setting up Stealth Rock and Spikes whilst Bronzong is forced to switch or stay in and do little damage. Although quite rare, Magnet Rise Magneton can easily shut down Bronzong and set up countless Charge Beams, provided it does not switch into Earthquake. Without Toxic, Bronzong has a hard time with bulky Water-types who can tank all its hits nicely and eventually burn Bronzing with Scald.</p>
