Breloom

[idiotfrommars]

So my boy Breloom got a pretty major upgrade in the Dream World. Instead of having to rely on Sub Punching and Sub Seeding to compliment his Poison Heal ability, he can now use Technician to work as a more all out sweeper. Obviously he loses the recovery that all his previous sets relied on, but with the boost to Mach Punch and Bullet Seed the older sets are pretty much obsolete.

Breloom (F) @ Life Orb
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd or 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Swords Dance/Stone Edge
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch

This is the main set you are going to see this bad boy running. You got the power of Bullet Seed, the priority of Mach Punch, and the boosting move Swords Dance all mixed together in a cocktail of kickass power, with Spore on the side to mess up anything that tries to wall you. This set is basically the most reliable Excadrill checks you can get, always OHKOing with Mach Punch. If you want it is possible to forgo the boosting move to instead utilize some rock coverage with Stone Edge. This allows you to better damage some of the common checks and counters to Swords Dance Breloom, such as Dragonite, Xatu, and Zapdos. When using this set it is important to watch out for Chandelure switching in and trapping you, since they will outspeed and KO with Fire Blast. It is possible to hit them on the switch with Bullet Seed for a good chunk of damage, but its something to definitely keep your eye out for.

Breloom (F) @ Choice Band
Trait: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd or 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Stone Edge
- Bullet Seed
- Mach Punch

The other premier option that Breloom has is the Choice Band set. While this may look extremely similar to the Swords Dance set, it works extremely different in practice. When you don't have the Life Orb you will have to be even more carefully when your opponent has a Chandelure since, if you got locked into something like Mach Punch it is Good Game Breloom. This set relies a lot more on prediction so it is important to be able to judge your opponent. The main strategy used is to come out and spore something first, then next time you come in start firing off Bullet Seeds and Mach Punches with the occasional Stone Edge if you predict an incoming flier.

Counters:

Dragonite resists both STABs and can either setup or KO.
Xatu can reflect back Spore and resists both STABs.
Skarmory can tank a hit and either KO with brave bird or WW out.
Chandelure can trap and KO quite easily.

 

[HardCore]

I believe it should be brought to light that SD LO Breloom can OHKO Gliscor's that don't run max defense after rocks. This means that SD loom must be dealt with by checks and major counters only. Isn't Jolly Loom Just about as effective as Adamant and faster. I know other will use both off and on but just mentioning it so that you add that to the post.

 

[shrang]

I personally like running bulk on Breloom. Grass / Fighting is a really good typing. You're nearly OHKOed by Adamant Excadrill's LO EQ uninvested, IIRC, and with bulk, it becomes less risky. I'm currently running 232 HP / 252 Atk / 24 Spe Adamant just to outspeed Wobb. Let's face it, Breloom can't outspeed many of its counters anyway, so why bother?

 

[Celestavian]

Breloom is so awesome with Technician. That Mach Punch is the only priority besides Azumarill's Aqua Jet that can OHKO Excadrill at 100% health, and so it is an excellent boon for teams having trouble with it. If Chandelure gets banned, then I can see breloom easily reaching the top 5, since Bullet Seed's increased power finally allows it to muscle past Gliscor. Breloom is one of my DW favorites and I can't wait for it to get released in Wifi.

 

[Matthew]

I love Breloom and Chandelure can't really safely switch in because Bullet Seed from LO Adamant is doing at least 15-20% every hit. There is a decent enough chance to OHKO the chandelure switch in with SR down. I have taken Shrang's idea and started running 24 Speed on Breloom -- while always missing the speed tie mach punch sucks, the extra bulk has been pretty good to me. I was wondering about Scarf Breloom as a revenge killer to Keldeo and Manaphy, but it seems pretty risky.

 

[HardCore]

I love Breloom and Chandelure can't really safely switch in because Bullet Seed from LO Adamant is doing at least 15-20% every hit. There is a decent enough chance to OHKO the chandelure switch in with SR down. I have taken Shrang's idea and started running 24 Speed on Breloom -- while always missing the speed tie mach punch sucks, the extra bulk has been pretty good to me. I was wondering about Scarf Breloom as a revenge killer to Keldeo and Manaphy, but it seems pretty risky.

Thundurus is your best bet against rain Pokemon. Breloom is either classic, SD, or CB in my opinion. Keldeo isn't too hard to revenge in comparison to Manaphy just because it can rest off damage and can't keep a status in rain. Manaphy should get banned however, which means that once this occurs the success of Breloom's revenging will go down and make the set obsolete. The question is what effective moves could ScarfLoom also run to get better coverage? It'd be a cool idea if he got more punching typed moves.

 

[NatGeo]

First off I would like to say after a few battles with this thing

Sweet mother of Jesus this thing is better than tits

That out of the way, I often find myself just spamming Mach Punch at whatever time is appropriate, since its honestly a really good move on Techniloom. Spore lets you beat Skarmory 1v1 if you carry SD (at least afaik, I would imagine a +2 mach punch is leaving a dent). Maybe an attacking set without SD could work? Honestly, I could really see a Spore + 3 attacks set, just with Drain Punch or Rock Slide over Swords Dance (Rock Slide is better than Rock Tomb even after a Tech boost). You still revenge Excadrill 100% of the time, and with Rock Slide you have a more reliable attack vs. Chandelure and other Fire-types (mainly Ninetales really). Nailing both Blaziken and Thundurus on a switchin sounds great to me!

edit: yeah SD bullet seed is the only way breloom gets past gliscor but that's what you run manaphy for!

 

[DDRMaster]

Sweet mother of Jesus this thing is better than tits

Too bad we can't put quotes in our signatures anymore.

I do agree that Breloom is one of the most annoying Pokemon right now, second only to Chandelure. Nothing can really switch in as not much can take both Spore and Bullet Seed and most Sap Sipper Pokemon are weak to Mach Punch.

I do think a Spore + 3 attacks set could work, but it might make it hard to take out Gliscor. Bullet Seed will only 3HKO Gliscor on average if it uses Protect while Ice Fang and Facade will 2HKO after Breloom takes 2 hits of LO recoil.

 

[Jukain]

I agree with running Manaphy with Breloom, they really do make an effective physical / special pair. Spore + 3 attacks could work, but is mainly outclassed by Spore + SD.