Breloom: (Low) Sweeping the enemy team

[Galance]

Hey guys, new to Smogon forums and first post here, but I've been a pokefan for years, and I've been competing on and off since Shoddy. I have a team I've been working on, which is mainly centered on setting up Breloom's sweep, and I've liked using it so far in OU. I really didn't want to use another weather team, but I also wanted this to be competitive, fun to use, and most of all: all about Breloom! This team, both in theory and from what I've found in practice, is all about removing his checks early game, setting up stealth rock/toxic spikes while forcing lots of swiches early game, then letting him dominate at the end of the game with spore/low sweep.

Specifically, I'd like feedback on any pokemon you think I should replace. I didn't put a spin blocker or a spiker on this team since I felt other pokemon were more useful to me, but I'm interested to see what other people have to say. Also let me know if you think my team is safe from ground types, or if breloom/rotom-w don't do the job well enough.

(note, i'm still figuring out how to post images. If anyone could also give me a tip on how to upload images from my computer, I'd be happy to embellish this post, and i apologize for not knowing how to do so).



Breloom @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Mach Punch
- Spore

I just love Breloom for a large mix of reasons. If i manage to switch him in the right place, such as when Gengar is already dead and into something safe like gastrodon, he can get at least one kill. He's a hard champ to get rid of without sacrificing a pokemon or two, and I especially love using him to close games. Rather than as a boosting sweeper, i prefer this setup since it hits very hard, has a 100% slow chance with low sweep (allowing him to then hit with spore if needed, excluding priority where i'll use spore when i predict the switch), and is just unbeatable in the right scenario.

Gothitelle @ Choice Specs
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Signal Beam
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Thunderbolt

Since Breloom is only amazing in the right scenario, I rely on the rest of my team to get him there. Goth is amazing at that. There aren't a lot of pokemon he can't hit for super effective, and even it hurts even if it's just neutral. I use him to get rid of champs that can trouble Breloom, such as Dragonite, Celebi, Gyarados, etc. I've thought about running scarf so that he takes minimal damage, but i think it sacrifices too much damage. Better to use Goth on the right switch in and do the damage fast IMO.

Heatran @ Life Orb
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Heatran has a unique niche on this team. I originally ran him with a defensive setup, but i tried special attacker and instantly fell in love. His fireblast hits HARD, especially in the sun or after a flame boost (which is easy to get, considering i have scizor and breloom on this team). It's usually easy to predict the switch on him, especially now that most heatrans run tanky and not offensive, so earth power and HP ice often net me kills on the switch-ins. He sets up stealth rock for Breloom to sweep later, can take psychic/flying/fire moves aimed at Breloom, and just wreaks havoc on unsuspecting foes. I've considered running balloon on him since my two defensive cores both have ground weaknesses, but i've decided against it- he outspeeds the vast majority of ground types, and so i can get two HP ices off in time. That's usually enough.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spd
Bold Nature
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 SAtk / 30 Spd
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic Spikes
- Protect

Tentacruel is one of the pokemon I'm still unsure about. I love his tankiness, and especially the excellent synergy with Heatran, barring their shared ground weakness (i'll talk more about that later). I do need a rapid spinner on this team, and he fills the job nicely. Plus toxic spikes are a great asset against a surprising amount of teams. I force a lot of switches on this team, and the spikes+tankiness Tentacruel provides is a valuable asset. When all else fails, i can count on him to stall out some extra damage.

Scizor@ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 248 HP / 8 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Bullet Punch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- U-turn

This is the spot I'm most undecided about. I like using Scizor here for a couple reasons. First, he has great synergy with Heatran and Rotom, as well as being able to scout for Breloom. Second, Bullet Punch gives me a lot more flexibility in revenge killing, since I can use either Goth, Breloom, or Scizor for the job. Third, his typing works well overall- even though it opens up a 2nd fire weakness, i also have 3 pokemon that can take fire attacks all day. Plus steel is great against the ever prevalent dragon types, while bug is useful against grass/psychic types who might wall breloom, and pursuit can get rid of those pesky ghost types (also good for breloom).

Last, he's a great check on both Mamoswine and Gengar, and since I used to run Gliscor in this spot, I realized that two relatively prevalent pokemon could destroy all 3 of my walls easily. Plus, Mamoswine can outspeed Breloom's mach punch with ice shard if invested in speed, and Gengar is immune to it. Scizor is great since he can reliably take care of Gengar with bullet punch (or pursuit, since so many gengars run sub+pain split instead of a fire move), and can get rid of Mamoswine with bullet punch or super power. Still, let me know what you think about scizor's use- the main reason i'm hesitant on using him is that my two walls are still weak to ground attacks. Gliscor used to mitigate that, now all i have is Rotom-W (who i use very heavily as a scout and isn't always available later in the game) and breloom (who dies easily and i like to save for the right moment). Thoughts...?

Rotom-Wash @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 232 HP / 56 SAtk / 220 Spd
Modest Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hydro Pump
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp

I love Rotom-W. Does exactly what i need him to do: He scouts with a decently hard hitting electrical attack that can easily set up breloom. He cripples attacking pokemon with burns, basically removing their usefulness from the game. He hits hard with hydro pump, taking out those fire types that might hurt my precious breloom. And he can use pain split to stay alive at annoyingly low health, while still being a major threat due to his double STAB hydro pump/volt switch.

 

[Jirachee]

Hi

You said you were unsure about Tentacruel on your team, and I agree that you could use something better. While Tentacruel is excellent in Rain, it's much less durable without Rain Dish's extra recovery, and the power loss to Scald also hurts it a lot, since Tentacruel is a fairly weak Pokemon. If you're facing a Sand team, Tentacruel will have no recovery at all and will be absolutely horrible and will do nothing good for your team, and will be a burden. I think that you should try out a Starmie instead. Starmie fits the offensive mindset of your team better, since it's fast and has great coverage, and can work in most weathers, except Sun. Starmie is generally much more versatile than Tentacruel and should do the job better more often, since you're not using Tentacruel's preferred weather.

Also, I don't think Gothitelle is a very good choice for your team. You say you're using it to trap Gyarados and Dragonite, however, both will outspeed and OHKO Gothitelle after a Dragon Dance. It's fairly easy for them to get a Dragon Dance, so the opportunities you'll get to trap them will often be when they're boosted, but they can already OHKO them so you can't get rid of them. I don't think Gothitelle is removing anything else very useful for your team, and it's a fairly useless Pokemon outside of trapping, so you should try using something else instead. I think that your team will have a hard time handling Landorus-I, as your best bet against it is Rotom-W, who takes an average of 70% from Focus Blast, so you can have issues with it late game. If it gets a Rock Polish, you have a good chance to lose. I think that you could try a Latios instead of Gothitelle. Latios allows you to smash things with Draco Meteor, which is cool, as well as giving you a second check to Landorus-I, so you can be careful with one and play the other as you wish, depending on the opponent's team. Since Rotom-W is your best Water resist, having it to check so many things will make it difficult to keep it healthy to check late game Lando, but that issue is solved with Latios.

Anyway, cool team, here are the sets you should use:

Starmie and Latios

Latios @ Choice Specs
Levitate
Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
~Draco Meteor
~Surf
~Psyshock
~Trick

Starmie @ Leftovers
Natural Cure
Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
~Surf
~Thunderbolt
~Ice Beam
~Rapid Spin

Good luck!

 

[Galance]

I took your advice and switched those two. Latios has grown on me due to his sheer power and typing, but i'm having a hard time getting used to starmie.

Maybe it's because other than rapid spin, starmie basically does what Rotom does, but without the scouting and burning power. I just rarely feel a need to use starmie other than rapid spin, which makes me think i should pick another rapid spinner...?