|
-
Effect Spore
- Induces paralysis, poison, or sleep on contact.
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Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
60
|
- |
261 |
324 |
- |
| Atk |
130
|
266 |
296 |
359 |
394 |
| Def |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| SpA |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpD |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Spe |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
Breloom is an awesome "Sleeper" since he never misses. The strategy is simple, predict a switch to get Breloom in or switch into an Earthquake or Surf. Spore, and Focus Punch. Hidden Power Ghost will hit everything that Focus Punch can't, but Hidden Power Rock works on Fliers like Salamence. Breloom can be a pest for any team, well designed or not. Works even better in tandem with Magneton, as you can get a lot more hits with Sky Uppercut in against Blissey and such. There's no point in running Jolly, since there isn't anything worthwhile between his Adamant maximum Speed and his Jolly maximum Speed, as he falters against most Pokémon trying to outrun Jolly Tyranitar anyways. Snatch is a great move to use against those people trying to block Spore with Substitute, and can grab Dragon Dance from a weakened Gyarados / Salamence if your prediction is spot-on.
Don't discount Breloom's ability to use Substitute and Leech Seed; It will tear through many standard teams if it's played properly. Generally, you want to bring him out against a Pokémon he will outspeed. At this point, you usually want to use Substitute since the vast majority of people will switch for fear of the imminent Spore. Now, they are facing a Substituted Breloom who can annoy the hell out them and restore its Hit Points at the same time with Leech Seed and Focus Punch them for extraordinary damage, or put them to sleep with Spore. I find it extremely helpful to save the Spore until such a time as they bring out their Breloom counter, but sometimes it is necessary to use it earlier. This set forces so many switches that you will be in heaven with Focus Punch if you can predict, and if you manage to get Spikes down on your opponent's side of the field they will be taking tons of damage. Enjoy taking teams out with this surprisingly puissant Pokémon.
Other Options
Swords Dance is great for getting a few boosts after a Spore. Another extremely underrated move he can learn is Charm. Salamence is the most common switch-in to Breloom, no? With Charm, you can now disable that Salamence from dealing the beastly amounts of damage he normally does. It supports your team.
EVs
For the first set, a lot of Attack and Speed, Adamant nature. For the second set, you can do same thing to maximize damage from Focus Punch.
Opinion
With one of the best moves in the game, and an attack that makes Heracross jealous, Breloom is a top-tier Pokémon. He doesn't get nearly the amount of love that he should. He is an A+ Fighting Pokémon, especially with his dual resistance to Earthquake and Rock Slide.
Counters
Skarmory is a general physical sponge so he should work decently, with STAB Drill Peck / Hidden Power Flying to kill Breloom. However, he doesn't take Focus Punch too lightly. Weezing, Salamence and Gyarados resist Fighting nicely and have super-effective moves for Breloom as well. Dugtrio obviously isn't going to switch in and eat a Fighting attack, but with prediction or by sacrificing something else, he can finish off Breloom with Aerial Ace, provided there is no Substitute up. Celebi and Venusaur can keep on taking Fighting moves and even Hidden Power Ghost and other alternative attacks. Zapdos can do the job in a pinch, with Hidden Power Ice for better results as Breloom resists Thunderbolt. Moltres can use its Fire moves to blast Breloom into oblivion, Heracross resists Fighting as well and hurts Breloom a lot with Megahorn. Mind you, all of these will be put to sleep by Spore, so either use Sleep Talk on them or get something else to absorb the Spore. Banette is immune to Spore and all Fighting moves, so as long as Breloom doesn't use Hidden Power Ghost on him he'll be fine. He can cripple Breloom with Will-O-Wisp. Ariados resists Fighting 4x and, like Banette, has Insomnia to avoid Spore. Avoid Hidden Power Rock and you should be fine with a STAB super-effective Sludge Bomb. Hypno is another great Insomniac to counter Breloom with, since he resists Breloom's STAB Fighting moves and has access to a STABed Psychic to hurt Breloom. Like with Banette, avoid Hidden Power Ghost and he'll be good. Crobat is 4x resistant to Focus Punch, and has 2 super effective, STAB options to kill Breloom.