[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 6-7 points
**Overview**: Brambleghast is a solid, cheap role compression Pokemon, being able to provide a team with entry hazard control, solid wallbreaking power with strong STAB attacks, and good utility options such as Strength Sap. Its main drawbacks are its incredibly poor defensive statline and common weaknesses, which can make it hard to use effectively in any of its roles. Despite this, it is able to have some defensive utility thanks to its ability Wind Rider, which can help give it some crucial immunities.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Utility Support**: Thanks to its vast supportive movepool, Brambleghast is able to act as a solid option for teams that require cheap Spikes and Rapid Spin. It also has access to one of the best support moves in the game, Strength Sap, allowing it to somewhat take on physical attackers that would otherwise be able to beat it one-on-one. It's also thankful to have Shadow Sneak, enabling it to pick off faster threats in the endgame.
**Wallbreaker**: Sporting Poltergeist and Power Whip, as well as Rapid Spin for a Speed boost, offensive Brambleghast is deceptively good at punching holes in the opponent's team, especially when aided by damage-boosting items such as Spell Tag.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Poltergeist, Power Whip, Shadow Sneak
**Setup Moves**: So about that...
**Utility Moves**: Rapid Spin, Spikes, Strength Sap, Leech Seed, Disable, Night Shade, Infestation
**Coverage**: Skitter Smack
Niche Moves
========
**Special Attacks**: In a handful of matchups, notably against physically bulkier Ground-types, Brambleghast is able to get away with using special STAB moves such as Leaf Storm and Shadow Ball.
**Trailblaze**: While usually outclassed by Rapid Spin, Trailblaze does allow Brambleghast to set up against Ghost-types.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Since Brambleghast is primarily an entry hazard remover on a lot of teams, an immunity to hazards allows it to do this more consistently throughout the game.
**Damage-boosting Items**: While Brambleghast is primarily going to use Spell Tag or Choice Band, all damage-boosting items are useful when trying to hit specific damage benchmarks.
**Rocky Helmet**: Even though its defensive statline is rather mediocre, when fully invested, Brambleghast is able to take on a number of Fighting-types in the tier, and Rocky Helmet can help punish them for using coverage moves or U-turn. Rocky Helmet is best used alongside Strength Sap to help check physical attackers further.
Niche Items
========
**Leftovers**: A sidegrade to Heavy-Duty Boots, it should only really be considered if the opponent has very poor entry hazard setters.
**Resistance Berries**: These can allow Brambleghast to act as a lure and attempt to OHKO the foe with its strong STAB moves.
Tera
========
Brambleghast should never be a Tera Captain. While it can benefit from the Tera Blast coverage offensively, it lacks setup options and has very frail defenses, making other cheap Pokemon benefit from access to Tera far greater than it does. If you do make it your Tera Captain in spite of this, Tera Fighting, Fairy, and Ice all provide solid coverage options, and Tera Water, Ground, and Dark can help with some of its weaknesses defensively.
Draft Strategy
========
Brambleghast should never be the core of a draft, but it does fit well into a lot of teams as an excellent low-tier support option, especially ones that fit the following criteria:
**Entry Hazard-Weak Wallbreakers**: Brambleghast can be a somewhat reliable hazard remover and can pair well with the likes of Chi-Yu, Gouging Fire, and Baxcalibur, as they appreciate a hazard remover that can also force out hazard setters.
**Strong Fighting-types**: Given that Brambleghast has very strong Ghost-type attacks, it can pair well with Fighting-types such as Urshifu-R, Keldeo, and Sneasler, primarily acting as a cleaner once they've helped chip down Dark-and Normal-types.
**Secondary Ground-type Checks**: Since Brambleghast cannot switch into most Ground-type attacks despite its resistance to them, it's imperative that teams have good Pokemon resistant or immune to Ground to offset this. Examples include Landorus-T, Uxie, and Dragonite.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark- and Ice-types**: These types tend to carry strong, super effective STAB moves that can very comfortably OHKO even defensively invested Brambleghast sets. They can also be troublesome due to a lot of them having priority options to deal with Brambleghast after a Speed boost.
**Faster Pokemon**: Sadly, Brambleghast only has mediocre Speed. This leaves it very vulnerable to the plethora of faster wallbreakers in the tier, most of which comfortably OHKO it.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno6377.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 6-7 points
**Overview**: Brambleghast is a solid, cheap role compression Pokemon, being able to provide a team with entry hazard control, solid wallbreaking power with strong STAB attacks, and good utility options such as Strength Sap. Its main drawbacks are its incredibly poor defensive statline and common weaknesses, which can make it hard to use effectively in any of its roles. Despite this, it is able to have some defensive utility thanks to its ability Wind Rider, which can help give it some crucial immunities.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Utility Support**: Thanks to its vast supportive movepool, Brambleghast is able to act as a solid option for teams that require cheap Spikes and Rapid Spin. It also has access to one of the best support moves in the game, Strength Sap, allowing it to somewhat take on physical attackers that would otherwise be able to beat it one-on-one. It's also thankful to have Shadow Sneak, enabling it to pick off faster threats in the endgame.
**Wallbreaker**: Sporting Poltergeist and Power Whip, as well as Rapid Spin for a Speed boost, offensive Brambleghast is deceptively good at punching holes in the opponent's team, especially when aided by damage-boosting items such as Spell Tag.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Poltergeist, Power Whip, Shadow Sneak
**Setup Moves**: So about that...
**Utility Moves**: Rapid Spin, Spikes, Strength Sap, Leech Seed, Disable, Night Shade, Infestation
**Coverage**: Skitter Smack
Niche Moves
========
**Special Attacks**: In a handful of matchups, notably against physically bulkier Ground-types, Brambleghast is able to get away with using special STAB moves such as Leaf Storm and Shadow Ball.
**Trailblaze**: While usually outclassed by Rapid Spin, Trailblaze does allow Brambleghast to set up against Ghost-types.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Since Brambleghast is primarily an entry hazard remover on a lot of teams, an immunity to hazards allows it to do this more consistently throughout the game.
**Damage-boosting Items**: While Brambleghast is primarily going to use Spell Tag or Choice Band, all damage-boosting items are useful when trying to hit specific damage benchmarks.
**Rocky Helmet**: Even though its defensive statline is rather mediocre, when fully invested, Brambleghast is able to take on a number of Fighting-types in the tier, and Rocky Helmet can help punish them for using coverage moves or U-turn. Rocky Helmet is best used alongside Strength Sap to help check physical attackers further.
Niche Items
========
**Leftovers**: A sidegrade to Heavy-Duty Boots, it should only really be considered if the opponent has very poor entry hazard setters.
**Resistance Berries**: These can allow Brambleghast to act as a lure and attempt to OHKO the foe with its strong STAB moves.
Tera
========
Brambleghast should never be a Tera Captain. While it can benefit from the Tera Blast coverage offensively, it lacks setup options and has very frail defenses, making other cheap Pokemon benefit from access to Tera far greater than it does. If you do make it your Tera Captain in spite of this, Tera Fighting, Fairy, and Ice all provide solid coverage options, and Tera Water, Ground, and Dark can help with some of its weaknesses defensively.
Draft Strategy
========
Brambleghast should never be the core of a draft, but it does fit well into a lot of teams as an excellent low-tier support option, especially ones that fit the following criteria:
**Entry Hazard-Weak Wallbreakers**: Brambleghast can be a somewhat reliable hazard remover and can pair well with the likes of Chi-Yu, Gouging Fire, and Baxcalibur, as they appreciate a hazard remover that can also force out hazard setters.
**Strong Fighting-types**: Given that Brambleghast has very strong Ghost-type attacks, it can pair well with Fighting-types such as Urshifu-R, Keldeo, and Sneasler, primarily acting as a cleaner once they've helped chip down Dark-and Normal-types.
**Secondary Ground-type Checks**: Since Brambleghast cannot switch into most Ground-type attacks despite its resistance to them, it's imperative that teams have good Pokemon resistant or immune to Ground to offset this. Examples include Landorus-T, Uxie, and Dragonite.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark- and Ice-types**: These types tend to carry strong, super effective STAB moves that can very comfortably OHKO even defensively invested Brambleghast sets. They can also be troublesome due to a lot of them having priority options to deal with Brambleghast after a Speed boost.
**Faster Pokemon**: Sadly, Brambleghast only has mediocre Speed. This leaves it very vulnerable to the plethora of faster wallbreakers in the tier, most of which comfortably OHKO it.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno6377.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
