Breloom (Full analysis revamp) (QC 1/3)

[Qazoo306]

[OVERVIEW]

• +Fastest user of spore, so it can put foes to sleep before they can act with less speed control than other spore users.
  
• +No Sleep Clause lets you use Spore as often as you want.
• +One of the the best offensive Grass-Types.
  
• +Strong priority move
• +Physical attacker that doesn't mind Landorous-T because it takes negligible damage from most of Landorous-T's common moves, like Earthquake and Rock Slide, and can Spore it.
  
• +Strong multi hit move in Bullet Seed that can break sashes and deal significant damage to many bulky waters.
• +It's coverage allows it to hit a unique set of threats super effectively, notably Water and Steel-Types, allowing it to check many bulky pokemon throughout the tier.
  
• -One-dimensional. Your opponent will almost always know what Breloom's moves are and can play around it.
  
• -Talonflame
• -Poor bulk makes it hard to switch Breloom in.
  
• -Average speed stat that is often used as a benchmark for faster pokemon to hit.

[SET]
name: Offensive Spore
move 1: Spore
move 2: Mach Punch
move 3: Bullet Seed
move 4: Protect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Technician
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Spore is a great move on this set. It has a 100% chance to incapacitate one opposing pokemon for several turns, unless they are a grass type, have the ability Insomnia, Vital Spirit, or Overcoat, or are using the item Safety Goggles. It is also useful against Trick Room because most setters are slower than Breloom, and don't any item or ability that checks sleep. There are exceptions of course to this, such as Safety Goggles Cresselia and Reuniclus.
  
• Bullet Seed packs quite a punch with 56.25 Base Power per hit after STAB and the Technician boosts, for a total of at least a 112.5 Base Power move every time you use it. Because it is a multi-hit move, it breaks Focus Sashes which allows you to OHKO something that holds a sash with this move. The multi hit nature of this move is a double edged sword, as it activates Sitrus Berry between hits, turning many potential two and three hit KOs into three and four hit ones respectively.
  
• Mach Punch hits Steels and deals heavy damage to many prominent Pokemon, notably Mega-Kangaskhan.
• It also has priority to bypass Breloom's middling speed stat.
  
• Protect scouts for attacks and stalls out field conditions. It also blocks Fake Out which breaks your Focus Sash.

Set Details
========

• 252 speed EVs and a Jolly Nature allows Breloom to outspeed as much as possible without any speed control for the fastest spores possible.
• 252 attack EVs allow it to hit as hard as possible with the remaining EVs
• Focus Sash is the item of choice. Breloom is both slow and frail. It allows it to stay in on powerful attackers early game so it can disable them with Spore for later in the game.
• An Adamant nature is an option for more damage, but then Breloom sits at an extremely common benchmark to beat.

Usage Tips
========

• Breloom forces 2v1s with Spore. Use these to your advantage and don's immediately eliminate the sleeping pokemon because it takes up field space while doing nothing.
  
• Don't be afraid to let Breloom drop to sash to hit something with spore if that something is a major threat to your team.
• Breloom is a good lead because of Spore and the fact that intimidate doesn't bother it too much. It can decimate slower leads and even beat faster ones with the right partners.
• Be weary of just spamming Spore because all Grass-Types, Overcoat Pokemon, and Pokemon holding Safety Goggles.
  
• Breloom is too frail to be switched in, even on resisted attacks, Focus Sash helps mitigate this somewhat, but a low health.
  
• While Breloom has has priority, it is still one of the slowest priority users, so opposing priority will usually go first to deal heavy damage.
• Breloom is best when it outspeeds the threatening opponent, so use Protect or switch out if Breloom suddenly becomes too slow to do it's job.

Team Options
========

• Speed Control like Tailwind from Suicune, Togekiss, and Talonflame, and Icy Wind from Cresselia help Breloom by letting it move first to spore opposing pokemon before they can move. Talonflame gets a special mention because it's Flying-Type coverage can beat Grass-Types that generally wall Breloom.
• Redirection support. Togekiss is good here because it gets Tailwind. Amoonguss isn't a good option here though because they both share common checks and are bad for team synergy.
  
• Set up pokemon, like Mega Kangaskhan, Azumarill and CM Cresselia like aspeep pokemon to use as setup bait.
• Breloom appreciates pokemon that can switch in and take hits for it, such as Heatran who can force Talonflame out, and Rotom-W who can beat Talonflame and Landorous-T
  
• Mega-Kangaskahn in particular is a great teammate because of it's Fake Out, which helps Breloom hit opponents with Spore, and because it appreciates the free turns to set up with Power-Up Punch.
  
• Suicune also gets a special mention because it has Tailwind for speed control, and it beats fire types and Landorous-T.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Life Orb can be used as the item to deal more damage, but Breloom's poor bulk makes this generally a worse option than Focus Sash.
• Rock Tomb can be used over one of it's two attacks to catch and OHKO Charizard Y and Talonflame on the switch.
• Superpower can be used if your team has priority covered on several spots for extra damage.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Speed**: Any faster pokemon that cripple Breloom before it can move is a very good answer to Breloom. They need to get a free switch though to avoid being hit with Spore, though. If both opponents are faster, they can double target Breloom before it can move at all.
**Type Advantage**: Any pokemon that resists it's STAB moves, especially Bullet Seed, are threats because Breloom can do nothing offensive to them. Notable examples are Heatran, whose substitutes can block Spore, and Talonflame, whose priority can let it KO Breloom before it can use Spore once. Fellow Grass-Types are immune to Spore, but most Grass-Types fail to do meaningful damage to Breloom in return.
*Miscellaneous**: Pokemon holding Safety Goggles and those with the ability Overcoat don't mind Breloom because they cannot be put to sleep. Pokemon such as Reuniclus and Escavaleer are good overcoat users, while Cresselia, Aegislash and most redirectors are good Safety Goggles wearers. A redirector with goggles is especially annoying because it can repeatedly use Follow Me without being stopped. Taunt users such as Thundurus are also good for stopping Spores. Damaging weather breaks Brelooms sash. Substitute users can block Spore with sub, and then can attack while Breloom or it's partner need to break the Sub.
**Intimidate and Burns**: Any reduction in offense is detrimental to Breloom's usefulness because it weakens Breloom's

 

[Checkmater]

I would mention threats like jirachi/togekiss/clefable that switchin on breloom and just redirect all its spores and take little damage from its attacks (assuming goggles)

also mention that it's capable of putting enormous pressure on tr (at least imo, idk about other people's builds)

and idk if "predictable" is really a negative

and idk if I should even be commenting on this but I thought I might as well put my input

 

[Qazoo306]

You do generally know what your talking about, so your input is fine I think, and thanks for the help. I'll definitely add redirectors and TR into their respective places tomorrow or when I get a chance.

 

[shaian]

Bullet Seed is only 37 BP after Technician, not 56 BP (unless it got buffed and I'm out of the loop). So mention that Bullet Seed is at least a 74 BP move, but is just as likely to be 111 BP

Also it has a mediocre Speed stat that many Pokemon speed creep

I'll do a more thorough check later, once I'm not stuck on mobile x_x

 

[Qazoo306]

25*1.5*1.5*2=112.5 25bp move, 1.5 technician, 1.5 STAB, 2 hits, it's a 112.5bp move.
I'll mention how common speed creeping Breloom is though. Where should that be mentioned? Overview?

 

[Electrolyte]

[OVERVIEW]

+ No Sleep clause so you can use Spore as often as it will be useful
+ Strong Grass-type attacker that actually outspeeds many Ground- and Water-types
+ Physical Attacker that doesnt fear Landorus-T
+ Unique type coverage allows it to hit Water-types and Steels super effectively, allowing it to check a wide range of bulky Pokemon
- Slow Speed stat that just misses a lot of common tank Pokemon such as Heatran and Rotom-Wash


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Breloom doesn't really have a "go-to" offensive move; in reality it should be using Spore most of the time and BSeed / MPunch when KOs are guaranteed. Even still, it wouldnt be MPunch, it would be BSeed because it's so much stronger.
  
• Mach Punch hits Steels and dents a lot of key threats, such as Mega Kangaskhan or Kyu-B, and allows Breloom to revenge kill weakened opponents.
• For Bullet Seed, mention that multi hit lets you KO some Sash users - most actually resist Bullet Seed, such as Bisharp or other Brelooms. Terrakion is really the only notable Pokemon.
• Also mention that multi hit means that it will also activate Sitrus Berries - allowing some Pokemon to survive a hit that they otherwise would not be able to if it wasnt mult hit. For instance, Jolly Breloom needs at least 4 hits to KO Rotom-Wash, and 5 hits to KO 252 / 252+ Politoed
  
• Protect also blocks Fake Out, which would break the Sash, and gives time for Breloom's partner to remove threats that outspeed

Set Details
========

• Adamant is another option as an ability because it makes Breloom stronger, but be wary that base 70 Adamant 252 is the Speed tier that most common tank Pokemon (Heatran, Rotom-Wash, and other bulky things between 71-99 Base Speed) Speed creep. Jolly is safer if you're more focused on being able to safely Spore a wider range of opponents.
• Focus Sash is also because Breloom is both slow and very frail, so Focus Sash is necessary because otherwise a large portion of the metagame can outspeed and OHKO it

Usage Tips
========

• Breloom is very commonly used as a lead Pokemon; this is because it doesnt really fear Intimidate, has a fast Spore to quickly disable slower opposing leads, and (with the right partners) can check a lot of very common other lead Pokemon, including Mega Kang, Trick Room leads, and Landorus-T.
• Breloom is too frail to be easily switched in to even resisted attacks. Also, many of the Pokemon it checks can heavily damage it or cripple it on the switch in (For instance, Water-types can burn it or hit it with Ice coverage). Bring it in after a kill, with a slow pivoter, or as a lead.
• Avoid overusing Spore if the opponent has Grass-types, Spore-immune Pokemon, or common Safety Goggles users like Cresselia or Jirachi.
  
• If using Spore is safe, use it. Generally Mach Punch and Bullet Seed are only used in situations where a KO is guaranteed, especially in the case of Bullet Seed where damage levels can vary greatly.
• Use Protect to avoid being double targetted while your partner neutralizes one of the opponents.
  
• Generally it is too risky to use Breloom when both opponents are faster than it; Protect maneuver to damage a foe or switch out to avoid losing Breloom.

Team Options
========

• This section needs to be expanded a lot more.
  
• SPEED CONTROL - Tailwind is a major one, and there are many Tailwind users that synergize well with Breloom. Suicune, Togekiss, Talonflame, Zapdos, even Mega Charizard Y are cool Tailwind partners. The latter three can also provide Breloom with valuable type coverage (Fire against Steels and Grasses, Electric against Birds)
• - Other forms such as TWave from Thundurus or Rotom-Wash, Icy Wind from Cress, Gengar, or Jirachi, can help as well.
• List specific Pokemon for redirection support, such as Jirachi and Togekiss. Not Amoonguss
• List specific Pokemon that set up. Mega Kangaskhan, Azumarill, CM Cress, etc. Sub users like Heatran and Kyu-B also love Breloom
• Fast "frail" threats appreciate Breloom's ability to immobilize slower tanks and walls. A few that synergize well with its offensive coverage include Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Diancie, Mega Metagross, ponies, and weather sweepers.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Choice Scarf is an option for fast Spores, though an extremely niche option.
  
• Rock-type coverage for the birds. Rock Tomb is really fun, Technician boost and Speed drop are both nice.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Type Advantage**: Add Grass-types, most (besides Ferrothorn) of which can switch into Breloom pretty easily, and are immune to Spore. Fire-types, Flying-types, and Dragon-types check Breloom as well; they dont like Spore but dont mind Bullet Seed, and Mach Punch is pretty weak.
*Miscellaneous**: Add Spore immune Pokemon. Overcoat Escavalier is a great counter, Reuniclus is a good check. Add Taunt users; Breloom is a lot easier to beat when it cant use Spore. Thundurus is a great Taunter, and can easily switch in on Mach Punch and BSeed. Add Hail and Sand, which break Breloom's Focus Sash.


will stamp once changes are implemented

 

[Qazoo306]

Electrolyte
Added those checks you gave me. Thanks for the help.

 

[Electrolyte]

A few more things that I missed the first time around:

[OVERVIEW]

- Specifically, poor bulk means it is difficult to reliably switch in and use, and carries very little worth defensively.


[SET]
Adamant before Jolly. Extra Speed doesnt really help that much, and Breloom is usually used with Speed control (Tailwind) anyway.


[SET COMMENTS]

Usage Tips
========
Some of your phrasing here is too extreme, and implies incorrect information.

"If it's safe, USE SPORE!" - true, but you'll have to explain when it's not safe - for instance, there is a faster threat on the field, there is a likelihood for Safety Goggles, or there are Pokemon waiting to switch into Spore to steal momentum. It's hard to tell now but Im assuming that from your use of allcaps you're planning on making this a big point; dont, this is just general advice

"Breloom is too frail to be switched in, even on resisted attacks." - this is true especially because of Focus Sash.

"Grass-Types and Pokemon holding Safety Goggles are immune to Spore, so be weary of overusing it." - Dont forget Overcoat Pokemon! (Escavalier, Reuniclus) Mention that they should be wary of overusing it because Spore could give these Pokemon an easy opportunity to switch in and proceed to threaten Breloom / its partner.

"Breloom is best when it outspeeds both opponents, so use Protect or switch out if Breloom suddenly becomes the slowest pokemon on the field." - true, but it doesnt have to outspeed both opponents - it just has to outspeed the opponents that are threatening it or its partner.



You missed a lot of my suggestions from Team Options, Other Options, and Checks and Counters so please make sure you go back and add them.

Also, under Miscellaneous for Checks and Counters add faster bulky Substitute users, such as Mega Metagross or Kyurem-B. You cant Spore in risk of sub, and BSeed doesnt deal enough damage. You can mach punch but then you risk getting KOd. Also, when mentioning Safety Goggles mention specifically that Togekiss and Jirachi are both common users of the item and can use redirection to effectively nullify Breloom's offensive presence.

 

[Bughouse]

Absolutely not lol. Jolly before Adamant. You want to outrun Bisharp, not tie. Mach Punch LO sets before Sucker (breaking Loom's Sash) or Spore before Sash sets Iron Head.

 

[Checkmater]

Along with kyube, heatran, washtom, and other sets that could be creeping/are creeping bisharp

Adamant is definitely an option but probably not recommended/standard

 

[Electrolyte]

Why would Bisharp stay in vs Breloom. Even if you say you can try to outmaneuver past Breloom's Sash by double targetting, Bisharp player too runs the risk of the Speed tie at best, and at worst literally loses their Bisharp just for trying. That's not a risk we should be encouraging people to take. And it's not like Jolly isnt there - you'd only ever use Jolly if you really need to beat Bisharp or you're scared of Speed creeping but otherwise Adamant is better. Speed creepers face the same problem somewhat, and arent so common anyway. Some of them even creep 252+ so there isnt really a point in playing the creep race

Also Adamant reaches some relevant damage outputs, for instance you need Adamant to be able to OHKO standard Rotom-W through Sitrus Berry with three Bullet Seed hits, you need it to 2HKO Sub Kyu-B with Mach Punch, you need it to 2HKO Scarf Landorus-T with 3 hit Bullet Seeds at -1 Atk. Adamant is also required to guarantee the OHKO vs Keldeo and Terrakion in 2 BSeed hits. This is probably rarer but I experienced this myself: Adamant also lets you beat bulky Hydreigon 1 on 1 even at -1 Atk as you can 2HKO with Mach Punch after LO recoil (Jolly cannot.)

Anyway the point is, Adamant comes first because Jolly is used for some specific purposes that may not always be relevant. Bisharp isnt really a threat to Breloom either way, and Breloom needs a lot of Speed control support regardless so you might as well invest in more power

 

[shaian]

Jolly > Adamant because more stuff aims to creep Adamant than they do with Jolly. Having Breloom eat a HeaywAve before Sporing a Tran is lame as hell.

 

[Qazoo306]

Ok I fixed stuff for you, Electrolyte. I'm keeping Jolly before Adamant because it works better in my experience, and Breloom appreciates the extra speed.

 

[Bughouse]

"Physical attacker that doesn't mind Landorous-T."
I wouldn't put it so simply. If Lando-T is already locked into a move, sure. If it's got free choice still, it just U-turns out to a counter (Amoong, Rotom-H, Venusaur, wide range of Goggles mons, etc).

"It is also useful against Trick Room because most setters are slower than Breloom, and don't any item or ability that checks sleep."
I mean, only sometimes. Good against something like Sash Chandelure or Jellicent or even Reuniclus (Bullet Seed does a ton). But it is useless against Goggles Cresselia which is most common. So carve out that exception. Also it's obviously nice to have a mon with Priority against TR. It hits Camerupt for a good chunk to KO from chip, for example. Also it's not just Spore; Sash is great against TR. So yes good against TR. Just not the Cress part.

Probably worth mentioning in usage tips that it is usually best to play 2 v 1 once mon is put to sleep and not hurry tooooo fast to kill the sleeping poke.

For Speed tag, I mean Breloom has Sash. Nothing really KOs it before it moves at all. You could make a point about double targetting I guess? The crippling sure. Taunt Thundurus comes to mind.

Typing Advantage should focus more on resistances (specifically to Bullet Seed) than hitting Breloom SE. You don't need to hit Breloom SE, especially since you're always 2hkoing it anyways (unless sand or hail). So Venusaur (especially good cuz 30% to "ohko" and Char-Y need to be in. You could also point out Gourgeist here kek.

 

[Qazoo306]

Added those in. I wasnt sure how to word a few of the specific examples to give so I left them out for now. I'll add them in later when I get the wording down.

 

[shaian]

if all of the above was done, here's 1/3 since elyte was gonna stamp this

 

[Qazoo306]

I just double checked and I'm pretty sure I have everything. Thanks Shaian.

 

[Idyll]

Overview

• Say why being the fastest user of Spore makes it notable. Something like "Can neuter a wide range of threats with ease" or w/e
• Don't reference Skymin's banning. Write up the estimation of its worth without bringing up the past because what only matters is the PRESENT meta.
• reword the unique coverage part to "its coverage lets it take on a unique set of threats, checking Water- and Steel-type threats in the meta" or something along those lines.
• Instead of predictable, say one-dimensional. It's not that you know what it's gonna do (and predictability is not a bad thing hint: megakang), it's that you know it literally has only one good set lol.
• Aside from Talon, mention being beat by opposing Grasses like Amoong, Venu, and others + things with Safety Gogs can just not give a damn too!
• It's not exactly "slow," it's middling / average.

Moves

• I heard the GP doesn't like terms like "main move of the set" so yeah remove that from Spore.
• I don't think you have to mention no sleep clause again here. It's safe to assume that the reader at least knows the ruleset lol + you already mentioned that on the OView.
• Say that the BSeed Base Powers have STAB factored in. Also don't say that it hits harder than Mach or compare it; just say that it hits hard / packs a punch
• Mention that Mach has PRIORITY which lets it bypass its middling Speed.

Usage Tips

• Be weary of just spamming Spore when the opponent has Grass-Types, Overcoat Pokemon, and Pokemon holding Safety Goggles, but if it's safe, USE SPORE!

• Remove the bolded part because that's honestly just wrong lol. Spore isn't always the right play, even when the opponent has no switchins; you imply that Spore is the only move Breloom should ever do.
• Remove the Protect if about to be double targeted part because that applies to everything and is just general doubles play rather than to Breloom in particular.
• Mention that Breloom works best with Speed Control, especially Tailwind, because it can Spore faster threats safely and w/e.

Team Options

• Thunder Wave can't help Breloom Spore things lol.
• Mention that Suicune can beat Fire-types and Lando-T!
• Everything likes having one less pokemon attacking per turn; remove the last bullet.
• Teammates that can take out threats and switch in on hits for Breloom. Like Heatran can beat Talon and scare out Amoong, Rotom-W can beat Talon and Landog, etc.
• Mention Mega Kanga in particular because it likes free turns and Fake Out + Spore = :D

Other Options

• Mention Superpower and Choice Scarf.

C&C

• Misc: "Damaging weather breaks Brelooms sash, which is bad for many reasons" explain why.
  
• TA: Opposing Grasses don't make Breloom useless, they just can't be touched by Breloom and they can touch Breloom back.
• Misc: Safety Gogs pokemon don't "beat" Breloom, they're just immune to Spore and are indifferent to its presence. Also don't mention Gogs Talon lol if you have to mention Gogs Pokemon mention Cresselia and Aegi
• Intim + Burns: "Breloom has good offensive stats." remove as this is fluff. Also instead of "because it is used for it's offenses" say "because it weakens Breloom's attacks." or something alone those lines.

Also btw check your grammar. Some checking here and there before GP doesn't hurt :)

 

[shaian]

no choice scarf breloooom ever

 

[Idyll]

I also hate Scarf Breloom tbh so that works too :D

If you do the things I said, I guess that's 2/3

 

[shaian]

Qazoo306 update this please

 

[Qazoo306]

I'm busy today but I'll have it done tomorrow. Thanks for the reminder though.

 

[Idyll]

Qazoo306 fren, update this :)!

 

[shaian]

Qazoo306, it's been a week... get this done tonight or I'm re-assigning it

edit: technically like 2 weeks

 

[Qazoo306]

OK, I think I'm done. I didn't mention speed control in usage tips because I dedicate the first point of usage tips to it. I can still add it in there if you want. Should I mention force palm as an option as well in OO because it can be used repeatedly which is something Superpower cant. Also sorry for being slow to update this. I've been busy with school and cross country and haven't had as much time. I'm willing to finish this but I'll probably only be able to make progress on weekends.