Revised EV's for Spore Puncher Breloom
Pokemon Name:Breloom
Moveset Name: Spore Puncher
Move 1: Spore
Move 2: Focus Punch
Move 3: Seed Bomb
Move 4: Substitute/Stone Edge
Item: Toxic Orb
Ability: Posion Heal
Nature(s): Adamant
EVs: Ordered 12 HP / 252 Atk / 116 Def / 128 Spe
Obviously this is just the Spore Puncher. But there was a peculiarity with the Spore Puncher EV's that I have a problem with. Originally, the idea with Spore Puncher is to invest 12 EV's into health to get 33 HP recovery from Posion Heal, which is the minimum HP needed to have a round number.
But after that, all the EV's are invested into speed. Now, speed is never a bad thing to have in the OU metagame, and granted, I'm not actually proposing this EV spread should take priority, I'm merely proposing it as an alternate EV spread, meant to maximize Breloom's effectiveness against other common OU pokemon.
The biggest thing to note, is Breloom's lacklust speed only being 70. It's not fast enough to outrun anything in a speed bracket above it, because most often pokemon in the OU metagame with speed higher than 70 invest heavily in speed EV's anyways. The only pokemon faster than Breloom that it is capable of outrunning is a defensive Suicune, which is where the 128 Spe EV's comes from. Assuming Suicune has invested it's last 4 EV's into speed, 128 EV's in speed allow Breloom to hit 208 speed. Which is 1 point higher than Suicune's 207 (given 4 Speed EV's).
The other thing to notice is pokemon slower than (or tied with) Breloom don't invest in speed EV's either. The only pokemon which is particularly worriesome is a Tyranitar which has invested in speed. If you are planning on using Breloom to force switches on a Tyranitar of a speedy moveset, then the extra speed is healpful, though I think you could find some better options.
As Breloom's greatest strength is it's wonderful sleep move, it makes it that much better if Breloom can outrun it's opponents and put them to sleep before they can attack. For this reason, the standard 244 EV's in speed seems justified. But to analyze the metagame, it's a waste of EV's that end up serving no purpose (assuming standard EV's).
So what great trade off can 116 Def EV's give you in exchange for lowering your speed? Well, Breloom's SpD is absolute crudettes, but it's physical defence isn't entirely terrible. The reason it's got such a poor reputation for itself is the fact that no one ever bothers to invest in it. But with 29 Def EV's Breloom's defence reaches 225. Which isn't stellar, but it's better than 196.
The real question is will these extra 29 Defence EV's make the difference? It really depends on what you use Breloom for. I think though interesting, Damage calculations on this are somewhat irrelevant, as there are far too many factors influencing where I think the extra 29 Defence will really count. And that's in the ability to set up a substitute. If in the late game, you have Breloom still alive, but heavily damaged, your ability to potentially set up a substitute could be vital to getting in that all-important spore or attack that could determine the match. And to set up a substitute, Breloom needs a minimum of 67 health. As far as I see it, anything that can help Breloom potentially have 67 health instead of 66, is absolutely worth it, because it means you get an extra turn in, and an extra Spore thrown down.
Now the one thing to keep in mind after all this, is simply that the proposed alternate EV spread only functions under standard EV spreads of other pokemon. But considering the pokemon who are faster than Breloom invest in speed EV's anyways, and the pokemon who are slower don't, to invest all the extra EV's into speed seems a waste.
