Status: Complete, waiting for moderator permission to upload
I've been using this set for a couple of months now, and I have to say that I'm very surprised it isn't in the analysis already since it's easily one of the best Bronzong sets I've used, earning me at least 2 kills per match most of the time. Bronzong is often dead weight on my teams after he's done setting up Stealth Rock since he just sits there soaking up hits until he dies as a result of no recovery, as well as firing off weak Gyro Balls. However, this allows him to be a lategame sweeper, offensive team check, and a Trick Room supporter all in one.
With that in mind, if there are no objections, I'm going to remove the mention of Life Orb on the regular supporting Trick Room set. Not only does it not get any mention in the set comments for that set (for some reason), but it's also just a bad idea since that set is meant to set up Trick Room multiple times and explode when Bronzong is low on health. On this set it is quite useful though due to the more offensive nature, and other reasons which I will explain in the set.
If I have done the additional comments thing wrong, please help me out since this is my first time doing that, and also I'm not very good at writing team options, so if you find a good teammate for this set that isn't mentioned, I'd appreciate the help.
(Just as a final note: this is probably going to be my last contribution to C&C for a long while because I'm getting bored of playing shoddy, so please don't expect me to provide tons of logs or anything. I'm going to try and explain everything very thoroughly so I won't have to.)
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/bronzong
[SET]
name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Gyro Ball
move 3: Explosion
move 4: Earthquake
item: Macho Brace / Life Orb
ability: Levitate
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set focuses on Bronzong's acceptable base 89 Attack and incredible capabilities under Trick Room to perform the following jobs: late-game sweeping, checking offensive teams, and late-game Trick Room support.</p>
<p>Trick Room is the main move on this set. With Trick Room, Bronzong will be going before every OU pokemon; at late-game, this can easily spell victory when the opponent's Pokemon aren't in their best condition. It is very important to count each move you make and to make a note that Trick Room's activation turn counts as a turn of Trick Room. Gyro Ball is amazing in conjunction with Trick Room, and Bronzong is the only Pokemon who can carry this combination with STAB. While Trick Room will make Bronzong "faster" than everything, Gyro Ball's Base Power will stay the same. Against an offensive team, Gyro Ball will often be packing 150 Base Power, and offensive teams will definitely have trouble facing a 150 Base Power STAB move with 100% accuracy, especially later in the game. Earthquake allows for some nice coverage and scores some handy OHKOs as well, particularly against Heatran who may try to come in and hit you with a STAB Fire move, or Magnezone who will come in to trap you. Explosion is very strong and allows Bronzong to take something out either just as Trick Room is ending, or if you want something else to use the rest of the Trick Room turns. If you're going to do this, make sure you won't need Bronzong again later in the match. The best time to use Explosion is on the opponent's last Pokemon. If Trick Room has not run out and the opponent only has one Pokemon left, you have most likely won the game since Bronzong has the "fastest" Explosion in OU under Trick Room.</p>
<p>The EVs for this set are very simple. 252 HP EVs max out Bronzong's lower base 67 HP; with its large amount of resistances and one weakness, this makes it a very bulky sweeper. 252 Atk EVs make sweeping possible in the first place. The final 4 EVs are placed in Special Defense since Fire moves, its only weakness, are mostly special as opposed to physical. Minimum Speed IVs along with a Brave nature give Gyro Ball its fullest potential and allow Bronzong to move before as many Pokemon as possible during Trick Room.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The item choice is extremely important on this set, because the power of Bronzong's Gyro Ball is very heavily influenced by which item it's holding. Macho Brace lets Bronzong hit 31 Speed, which means that any Pokemon with 185 Speed or higher is hit with a 150 Base Power Gyro Ball. Furthermore, Macho Brace is more powerful than Life Orb until about 288 Speed, where Life Orb begins to hit harder than Macho Brace, reaching full power at 377 Speed, at the cost of 10% HP per hit. Life Orb also powers up Bronzong's Earthquake and Explosion, giving them a lot more power to OHKO and 2HKO opponents. Macho Brace is the recommended choice because there are a lot of slow Pokemon in OU who can easily take a Life Orb Gyro Ball, but take a ton of damage from a Macho Brace Gyro Ball. For example, against a standard WishBliss, Life Orb Gyro Ball only does 31.5% - 37.1% due to having only 58 Base Power. With Macho Brace, Gyro Ball does 49.3% - 58.1%, packing 118 Base Power, which is just over double the Base Power of Life Orb's. Another example would be Tyranitar, who is one of the main Pokemon that Bronzong counters. With Life Orb, many variants aren't OHKOed; some variants such as CurseTar take just over 50% from Gyro Ball. However, with Macho Brace, every variant can be OHKOed with Stealth Rock support, except those who rely on surviving with a Babiri Berry. In addition, it's much easier for Bronzong to come in and try its sweep again if it makes a mistake when using Macho Brace, as Life Orb damage will quickly take its toll.</p>
<p>This Bronzong works best as a switch-in to Dragons, especially Choiced ones. Taking advantage of Draco Meteor, which is very common on Choiced Dragons, Bronzong can come in with its resistance and huge bulk, set up Trick Room, and OHKO them after Stealth Rock damage with one of the moves on the set. Of course, switching into any of Bronzong's resistances or immunities is fine, but as a Dragon check, Bronzong does a very good job as none of them can OHKO with Fire Blast or their STAB moves, while Gyro Ball and Explosion take any of them out.</p>
<p>Just as a note, it is important that you do not carry a lot of paralysis support on a team with this Bronzong. If the opponent is paralyzed, Bronzong's Gyro Ball becomes useless and essentially makes it so that Bronzong can only set up Trick Room and blow itself up, although it's capable of so much more. Another thing to keep in mind is that teammates do not need to run 0 Speed EVs and IVs with a hindering nature unless Bronzong is on a dedicated Trick Room team, in which case the supporting Trick Room set would be a better choice. The other Pokemon should be able to take decent advantage of Trick Room (though it is OK to run a Scarfer if needed), but they should not be dedicated Trick Room sweepers because this Bronzong is not going to be setting it up repeatedly, as it is mostly used late-game, and not early-game like the supporting Trick Room set.</p>
<p>As for support that Bronzong does want, Stealth Rock is almost required when using this set. Without it, Gyro Ball misses out on many of its OHKOs and 2HKOs that it could have gotten with that residual damage. Tyranitar and Heatran are good partners for setting up Stealth Rock because not only do they resist Bronzong's only weakness, but they also work very well under Trick Room as backup if the situation allows it. Both of them also take out Rotom-A, who is a big pain for Bronzong since Rotom-A can burn or Trick a Scarf onto it, which will take away any momentum. Heatran can also take out Scizor and Forretress, who can also pose large problems for Bronzong due to their Steel resistance and lack of weakness to Earthquake, unlike their fellow Steel-types. Tyranitar is very helpful against defensive variants of Zapdos, as they will cause Bronzong some PP problems with Pressure and Roost. Swampert is a big pain as well, as unlike Rotom-A, Swampert takes Gyro Ball very lightly, forcing Bronzong to use Explosion or to switch. Skarmory is similar to this, but is an even bigger threat due to its ability to stack Spikes. Choice Specs Kingdra is recommended as a teammate for this reason. Due to its 4x Fire resistance and considerable bulk due to not needing large amounts of Speed, it can easily kill Swampert with Draco Meteor and perform a late-game sweep under Trick Room if needed. Kingdra also does a great job of luring out Skarmory and hitting it extremely hard with Surf or KOing it with Hydro Pump, as most people would switch Skarmory in thinking it's a Dragon Dancer. While it may be odd to suggest Specs Kingdra over Specs Latias, the reason is simple: too many Pokemon will be "faster" than Latias during Trick Room, meaning that she can't perform a late-game sweep nearly as well. Tyranitar and Scizor will also run through her as their Pursuits will go before her attacks. Gliscor, while 2HKOed by Gyro Ball most of the time, is also a large pain for Bronzong if Trick Room is not yet up. It can just Taunt the Trick Room and Roost off any damage it takes. Kingdra once again works very well, but Vaporeon can also do the job quite well, while also giving Bronzong the chance to set up a Trick Room sweep again with Wish.</p>
--
Thanks in advance for any help.
I've been using this set for a couple of months now, and I have to say that I'm very surprised it isn't in the analysis already since it's easily one of the best Bronzong sets I've used, earning me at least 2 kills per match most of the time. Bronzong is often dead weight on my teams after he's done setting up Stealth Rock since he just sits there soaking up hits until he dies as a result of no recovery, as well as firing off weak Gyro Balls. However, this allows him to be a lategame sweeper, offensive team check, and a Trick Room supporter all in one.
With that in mind, if there are no objections, I'm going to remove the mention of Life Orb on the regular supporting Trick Room set. Not only does it not get any mention in the set comments for that set (for some reason), but it's also just a bad idea since that set is meant to set up Trick Room multiple times and explode when Bronzong is low on health. On this set it is quite useful though due to the more offensive nature, and other reasons which I will explain in the set.
If I have done the additional comments thing wrong, please help me out since this is my first time doing that, and also I'm not very good at writing team options, so if you find a good teammate for this set that isn't mentioned, I'd appreciate the help.
(Just as a final note: this is probably going to be my last contribution to C&C for a long while because I'm getting bored of playing shoddy, so please don't expect me to provide tons of logs or anything. I'm going to try and explain everything very thoroughly so I won't have to.)
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/bronzong
[SET]
name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Gyro Ball
move 3: Explosion
move 4: Earthquake
item: Macho Brace / Life Orb
ability: Levitate
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set focuses on Bronzong's acceptable base 89 Attack and incredible capabilities under Trick Room to perform the following jobs: late-game sweeping, checking offensive teams, and late-game Trick Room support.</p>
<p>Trick Room is the main move on this set. With Trick Room, Bronzong will be going before every OU pokemon; at late-game, this can easily spell victory when the opponent's Pokemon aren't in their best condition. It is very important to count each move you make and to make a note that Trick Room's activation turn counts as a turn of Trick Room. Gyro Ball is amazing in conjunction with Trick Room, and Bronzong is the only Pokemon who can carry this combination with STAB. While Trick Room will make Bronzong "faster" than everything, Gyro Ball's Base Power will stay the same. Against an offensive team, Gyro Ball will often be packing 150 Base Power, and offensive teams will definitely have trouble facing a 150 Base Power STAB move with 100% accuracy, especially later in the game. Earthquake allows for some nice coverage and scores some handy OHKOs as well, particularly against Heatran who may try to come in and hit you with a STAB Fire move, or Magnezone who will come in to trap you. Explosion is very strong and allows Bronzong to take something out either just as Trick Room is ending, or if you want something else to use the rest of the Trick Room turns. If you're going to do this, make sure you won't need Bronzong again later in the match. The best time to use Explosion is on the opponent's last Pokemon. If Trick Room has not run out and the opponent only has one Pokemon left, you have most likely won the game since Bronzong has the "fastest" Explosion in OU under Trick Room.</p>
<p>The EVs for this set are very simple. 252 HP EVs max out Bronzong's lower base 67 HP; with its large amount of resistances and one weakness, this makes it a very bulky sweeper. 252 Atk EVs make sweeping possible in the first place. The final 4 EVs are placed in Special Defense since Fire moves, its only weakness, are mostly special as opposed to physical. Minimum Speed IVs along with a Brave nature give Gyro Ball its fullest potential and allow Bronzong to move before as many Pokemon as possible during Trick Room.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The item choice is extremely important on this set, because the power of Bronzong's Gyro Ball is very heavily influenced by which item it's holding. Macho Brace lets Bronzong hit 31 Speed, which means that any Pokemon with 185 Speed or higher is hit with a 150 Base Power Gyro Ball. Furthermore, Macho Brace is more powerful than Life Orb until about 288 Speed, where Life Orb begins to hit harder than Macho Brace, reaching full power at 377 Speed, at the cost of 10% HP per hit. Life Orb also powers up Bronzong's Earthquake and Explosion, giving them a lot more power to OHKO and 2HKO opponents. Macho Brace is the recommended choice because there are a lot of slow Pokemon in OU who can easily take a Life Orb Gyro Ball, but take a ton of damage from a Macho Brace Gyro Ball. For example, against a standard WishBliss, Life Orb Gyro Ball only does 31.5% - 37.1% due to having only 58 Base Power. With Macho Brace, Gyro Ball does 49.3% - 58.1%, packing 118 Base Power, which is just over double the Base Power of Life Orb's. Another example would be Tyranitar, who is one of the main Pokemon that Bronzong counters. With Life Orb, many variants aren't OHKOed; some variants such as CurseTar take just over 50% from Gyro Ball. However, with Macho Brace, every variant can be OHKOed with Stealth Rock support, except those who rely on surviving with a Babiri Berry. In addition, it's much easier for Bronzong to come in and try its sweep again if it makes a mistake when using Macho Brace, as Life Orb damage will quickly take its toll.</p>
<p>This Bronzong works best as a switch-in to Dragons, especially Choiced ones. Taking advantage of Draco Meteor, which is very common on Choiced Dragons, Bronzong can come in with its resistance and huge bulk, set up Trick Room, and OHKO them after Stealth Rock damage with one of the moves on the set. Of course, switching into any of Bronzong's resistances or immunities is fine, but as a Dragon check, Bronzong does a very good job as none of them can OHKO with Fire Blast or their STAB moves, while Gyro Ball and Explosion take any of them out.</p>
<p>Just as a note, it is important that you do not carry a lot of paralysis support on a team with this Bronzong. If the opponent is paralyzed, Bronzong's Gyro Ball becomes useless and essentially makes it so that Bronzong can only set up Trick Room and blow itself up, although it's capable of so much more. Another thing to keep in mind is that teammates do not need to run 0 Speed EVs and IVs with a hindering nature unless Bronzong is on a dedicated Trick Room team, in which case the supporting Trick Room set would be a better choice. The other Pokemon should be able to take decent advantage of Trick Room (though it is OK to run a Scarfer if needed), but they should not be dedicated Trick Room sweepers because this Bronzong is not going to be setting it up repeatedly, as it is mostly used late-game, and not early-game like the supporting Trick Room set.</p>
<p>As for support that Bronzong does want, Stealth Rock is almost required when using this set. Without it, Gyro Ball misses out on many of its OHKOs and 2HKOs that it could have gotten with that residual damage. Tyranitar and Heatran are good partners for setting up Stealth Rock because not only do they resist Bronzong's only weakness, but they also work very well under Trick Room as backup if the situation allows it. Both of them also take out Rotom-A, who is a big pain for Bronzong since Rotom-A can burn or Trick a Scarf onto it, which will take away any momentum. Heatran can also take out Scizor and Forretress, who can also pose large problems for Bronzong due to their Steel resistance and lack of weakness to Earthquake, unlike their fellow Steel-types. Tyranitar is very helpful against defensive variants of Zapdos, as they will cause Bronzong some PP problems with Pressure and Roost. Swampert is a big pain as well, as unlike Rotom-A, Swampert takes Gyro Ball very lightly, forcing Bronzong to use Explosion or to switch. Skarmory is similar to this, but is an even bigger threat due to its ability to stack Spikes. Choice Specs Kingdra is recommended as a teammate for this reason. Due to its 4x Fire resistance and considerable bulk due to not needing large amounts of Speed, it can easily kill Swampert with Draco Meteor and perform a late-game sweep under Trick Room if needed. Kingdra also does a great job of luring out Skarmory and hitting it extremely hard with Surf or KOing it with Hydro Pump, as most people would switch Skarmory in thinking it's a Dragon Dancer. While it may be odd to suggest Specs Kingdra over Specs Latias, the reason is simple: too many Pokemon will be "faster" than Latias during Trick Room, meaning that she can't perform a late-game sweep nearly as well. Tyranitar and Scizor will also run through her as their Pursuits will go before her attacks. Gliscor, while 2HKOed by Gyro Ball most of the time, is also a large pain for Bronzong if Trick Room is not yet up. It can just Taunt the Trick Room and Roost off any damage it takes. Kingdra once again works very well, but Vaporeon can also do the job quite well, while also giving Bronzong the chance to set up a Trick Room sweep again with Wish.</p>
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Thanks in advance for any help.
