[OVERVIEW]
Breloom has a high base Attack stat as well as access to the coveted Spore, which makes it a powerful offensive threat in the OU metagame. It also has access to a strong priority move in Mach Punch, which is boosted by its Technician ability. However, Breloom's low Speed stat leaves it significantly less useful versus offensive teams, forcing it to rely heavily on Mach Punch in these matchups. Breloom is also extremely frail; it can be OHKOed by even some strong neutral attacks. While its defensive typing does allow it to take on certain Water-types such as Mega Gyarados and Toxapex as well as the likes of Tyranitar, it also gives it crippling weaknesses to common attacking types in Fairy, Flying, Fire, and Ice. Additionally, Breloom faces a lot of competition from Tapu Bulu as a physically attacking Grass-type, as the latter offers more defensive utility thanks to its better bulk and more useful defensive typing. Finally Breloom struggles with the increased presence of Pokemon that resist Fighting-type moves such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, Zapdos, and Landorus-T.
[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Mach Punch
move 3: Bullet Seed
move 4: Spore
item: Life Orb
ability: Technician
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance boosts Breloom's already high base Attack stat to incredible levels, allowing it to achieve feats such as 2HKOing specially defensive Celesteela from full with Mach Punch. Alternatively, Rock Tomb could be used to hit certain switch-ins such as Zapdos and Latios on the switch and put Breloom in a position where it can use Spore on them. Mach Punch gives Breloom some priority to make up for its low Speed stat and also allows it to put in work versus offensive teams. Bullet Seed is used to take advantage of Technician and give Breloom access to a more powerful STAB move, which is helpful in certain situations. Spore puts one Pokemon to sleep, giving Breloom several options to take advantage of if it can get it off successfully; for example, it can set up a Swords Dance or use the opportunity to fire off a powerful Bullet Seed. However, the omnipresence of Electric Terrain and Misty Terrain make this move less reliable.
Set Details
========
Technician boosts the power of Mach Punch and Bullet Seed significantly, allowing Breloom to hit as hard as possible. Maximum Attack and Speed EVs alongside an Adamant nature are utilized because Breloom needs as much speed and power as it can get. Jolly is an option to outpace neutral-nature Gyarados, Tapu Bulu, Heatran, and Volcanion, as well as Speed tying with Jolly Bisharp, but it is generally worse than Adamant. Life Orb increases Breloom's overall power at the cost of recoil. Black Belt can be used instead to avoid this recoil, but the power drop is noticeable.
Usage Tips
========
Breloom should very rarely be switched directly into attacks, as it's ridiculously frail and will lose significant HP. Mach Punch can be used to revenge kill weakened threats and prevent Breloom from being easily revenge killed itself. Utilize Swords Dance to take advantage of the various double switches that Breloom forces, as well as the free turns provided by Spore if running it. If there is a Tapu Fini or a Tapu Koko on the opposing team, be mindful of the fact that their Terrains stop Spore from working against grounded Pokemon, although neither wants to take a Bullet Seed.
Team Options
========
Tapu Bulu forms an effective Grass-type-stacking core with Breloom, as its Grassy Terrain boosts the power of Bullet Seed to extremely high levels and makes it harder for even Pokemon that resist Grass to switch in to Breloom; for example, defensive Zapdos and Alolan Muk can potentially be 2HKOed by Bullet Seed under Grassy Terrain. Tapu Bulu is also able to use Swords Dance to break through many of the Pokemon that Breloom struggles to take on such as Celesteela. Hazard support helps Breloom to pick up more KOs; as such, Stealth Rock setters such as Landorus-T and Heatran and Spikes setters such as Greninja make for good partners. Pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar, Weavile, and Mega Scizor can eliminate troubling Psychic-types such as Tapu Lele and Latios for Breloom. Magnezone is capable of taking on Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko with ease, as well as providing a slow Volt Switch to get Breloom in safely. It also traps and KOes Celesteela and Skarmory, which otherwise give Breloom issues. In return, Breloom can deter Ground-types for Magnezone.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Focus Punch gives Breloom a 150-Base Power STAB Fighting-type move, which is mainly useful for hitting sleeping foes and Pokemon such as Skarmory and Tangrowth on the switch. Force Palm is a 90-Base Power STAB move when taking Technician into account, which comes with a nifty 30% chance to paralyze the foe. However, the priority provided by Mach Punch is generally more useful. Stone Edge in combination with Rockium Z breaks through a number of traditional Breloom checks such as Mega Charizard Y, Zapdos, and Mega Pinsir. A Poison Heal set allows Breloom to passively recover considerable amounts of HP each turn and avoid status. However, it struggles with the plethora of fast threats in the metagame. A Focus Sash set with a Jolly nature allows Breloom to patch up its poor bulk, although it comes at the cost of a significant amount of firepower. Choice Band with Superpower / Mach Punch / Bullet Seed / Rock Tomb is an option to take advantage of Breloom's high Attack stat to the fullest and avoid the recoil damage from Life Orb, but such a set faces heavy competition from Tapu Bulu.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types in general are difficult for Breloom to deal with. Tapu Lele blocks Mach Punch with Psychic Terrain and can easily OHKO Breloom with its super effective STAB attacks. Tapu Koko and Tapu Fini prevent Spore from putting a foe to sleep with their respective Terrains. Magearna resists Bullet Seed, can take several hits from Mach Punch, and can OHKO Breloom with Fleur Cannon. Clefable resists Mach Punch, and its natural bulk allows it to take a Bullet Seed from Breloom and beat it 1v1.
**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types such as Tapu Lele, Mew, Latios, and Mega Alakazam resist Mach Punch and can easily OHKO Breloom with their super effective Psychic-type STAB attacks. However, many of them have trouble switching into Breloom's Bullet Seed.
**Flying-types**: Flying-types such as Skarmory, Zapdos, and Landorus-T can take on Breloom with relative ease, as they resist its STAB combination. However, they do have to watch out for the rare Rockium Z.
**Fire-types**: Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, and Alolan Marowak all resist Bullet Seed and can OHKO Breloom with their powerful Fire-type STAB moves. However, they also have to be wary of the potential Continental Crush.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types are immune to Breloom's Fighting-type moves, which is why most of them can beat it in a 1v1 scenario. Gengar can easily take out Breloom with a strong Poison-type STAB attack. Alolan Marowak is notable because it resists Bullet Seed and can come in on Breloom's attacks with impunity. Cofagrigus is also worth a mention because it can come in on Bullet Seed multiple times and burn Breloom with Will-O-Wisp. However, all of these Pokemon have to watch out for Spore and struggle to come in if a Pokemon on their team isn't already asleep.
**Bug-types**: Bug-types naturally resist Breloom's STAB combination, which means that many of them can beat it 1v1. Mega Scizor takes pitiful damage from both Bullet Seed and Mach Punch and can 2HKO Breloom with Bullet Punch after Stealth Rock damage. Mega Heracross outspeeds Breloom and can OHKO it with one of its STAB moves. Volcarona also outpaces Breloom and can notably use it as setup fodder with Quiver Dance, although it must watch out for Rock Tomb or Continental Crush.
**Faster attackers**: In general, fast, powerful attackers that are able to take a Mach Punch such as Latios, Zapdos, Mega Pinsir, and Tapu Lele are able to easily revenge kill Breloom thanks to its low bulk and relatively poor base Speed.
Breloom has a high base Attack stat as well as access to the coveted Spore, which makes it a powerful offensive threat in the OU metagame. It also has access to a strong priority move in Mach Punch, which is boosted by its Technician ability. However, Breloom's low Speed stat leaves it significantly less useful versus offensive teams, forcing it to rely heavily on Mach Punch in these matchups. Breloom is also extremely frail; it can be OHKOed by even some strong neutral attacks. While its defensive typing does allow it to take on certain Water-types such as Mega Gyarados and Toxapex as well as the likes of Tyranitar, it also gives it crippling weaknesses to common attacking types in Fairy, Flying, Fire, and Ice. Additionally, Breloom faces a lot of competition from Tapu Bulu as a physically attacking Grass-type, as the latter offers more defensive utility thanks to its better bulk and more useful defensive typing. Finally Breloom struggles with the increased presence of Pokemon that resist Fighting-type moves such as Tapu Lele, Gengar, Zapdos, and Landorus-T.
[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Mach Punch
move 3: Bullet Seed
move 4: Spore
item: Life Orb
ability: Technician
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance boosts Breloom's already high base Attack stat to incredible levels, allowing it to achieve feats such as 2HKOing specially defensive Celesteela from full with Mach Punch. Alternatively, Rock Tomb could be used to hit certain switch-ins such as Zapdos and Latios on the switch and put Breloom in a position where it can use Spore on them. Mach Punch gives Breloom some priority to make up for its low Speed stat and also allows it to put in work versus offensive teams. Bullet Seed is used to take advantage of Technician and give Breloom access to a more powerful STAB move, which is helpful in certain situations. Spore puts one Pokemon to sleep, giving Breloom several options to take advantage of if it can get it off successfully; for example, it can set up a Swords Dance or use the opportunity to fire off a powerful Bullet Seed. However, the omnipresence of Electric Terrain and Misty Terrain make this move less reliable.
Set Details
========
Technician boosts the power of Mach Punch and Bullet Seed significantly, allowing Breloom to hit as hard as possible. Maximum Attack and Speed EVs alongside an Adamant nature are utilized because Breloom needs as much speed and power as it can get. Jolly is an option to outpace neutral-nature Gyarados, Tapu Bulu, Heatran, and Volcanion, as well as Speed tying with Jolly Bisharp, but it is generally worse than Adamant. Life Orb increases Breloom's overall power at the cost of recoil. Black Belt can be used instead to avoid this recoil, but the power drop is noticeable.
Usage Tips
========
Breloom should very rarely be switched directly into attacks, as it's ridiculously frail and will lose significant HP. Mach Punch can be used to revenge kill weakened threats and prevent Breloom from being easily revenge killed itself. Utilize Swords Dance to take advantage of the various double switches that Breloom forces, as well as the free turns provided by Spore if running it. If there is a Tapu Fini or a Tapu Koko on the opposing team, be mindful of the fact that their Terrains stop Spore from working against grounded Pokemon, although neither wants to take a Bullet Seed.
Team Options
========
Tapu Bulu forms an effective Grass-type-stacking core with Breloom, as its Grassy Terrain boosts the power of Bullet Seed to extremely high levels and makes it harder for even Pokemon that resist Grass to switch in to Breloom; for example, defensive Zapdos and Alolan Muk can potentially be 2HKOed by Bullet Seed under Grassy Terrain. Tapu Bulu is also able to use Swords Dance to break through many of the Pokemon that Breloom struggles to take on such as Celesteela. Hazard support helps Breloom to pick up more KOs; as such, Stealth Rock setters such as Landorus-T and Heatran and Spikes setters such as Greninja make for good partners. Pursuit trappers such as Tyranitar, Weavile, and Mega Scizor can eliminate troubling Psychic-types such as Tapu Lele and Latios for Breloom. Magnezone is capable of taking on Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko with ease, as well as providing a slow Volt Switch to get Breloom in safely. It also traps and KOes Celesteela and Skarmory, which otherwise give Breloom issues. In return, Breloom can deter Ground-types for Magnezone.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Focus Punch gives Breloom a 150-Base Power STAB Fighting-type move, which is mainly useful for hitting sleeping foes and Pokemon such as Skarmory and Tangrowth on the switch. Force Palm is a 90-Base Power STAB move when taking Technician into account, which comes with a nifty 30% chance to paralyze the foe. However, the priority provided by Mach Punch is generally more useful. Stone Edge in combination with Rockium Z breaks through a number of traditional Breloom checks such as Mega Charizard Y, Zapdos, and Mega Pinsir. A Poison Heal set allows Breloom to passively recover considerable amounts of HP each turn and avoid status. However, it struggles with the plethora of fast threats in the metagame. A Focus Sash set with a Jolly nature allows Breloom to patch up its poor bulk, although it comes at the cost of a significant amount of firepower. Choice Band with Superpower / Mach Punch / Bullet Seed / Rock Tomb is an option to take advantage of Breloom's high Attack stat to the fullest and avoid the recoil damage from Life Orb, but such a set faces heavy competition from Tapu Bulu.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types in general are difficult for Breloom to deal with. Tapu Lele blocks Mach Punch with Psychic Terrain and can easily OHKO Breloom with its super effective STAB attacks. Tapu Koko and Tapu Fini prevent Spore from putting a foe to sleep with their respective Terrains. Magearna resists Bullet Seed, can take several hits from Mach Punch, and can OHKO Breloom with Fleur Cannon. Clefable resists Mach Punch, and its natural bulk allows it to take a Bullet Seed from Breloom and beat it 1v1.
**Psychic-types**: Psychic-types such as Tapu Lele, Mew, Latios, and Mega Alakazam resist Mach Punch and can easily OHKO Breloom with their super effective Psychic-type STAB attacks. However, many of them have trouble switching into Breloom's Bullet Seed.
**Flying-types**: Flying-types such as Skarmory, Zapdos, and Landorus-T can take on Breloom with relative ease, as they resist its STAB combination. However, they do have to watch out for the rare Rockium Z.
**Fire-types**: Mega Charizard X, Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, and Alolan Marowak all resist Bullet Seed and can OHKO Breloom with their powerful Fire-type STAB moves. However, they also have to be wary of the potential Continental Crush.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types are immune to Breloom's Fighting-type moves, which is why most of them can beat it in a 1v1 scenario. Gengar can easily take out Breloom with a strong Poison-type STAB attack. Alolan Marowak is notable because it resists Bullet Seed and can come in on Breloom's attacks with impunity. Cofagrigus is also worth a mention because it can come in on Bullet Seed multiple times and burn Breloom with Will-O-Wisp. However, all of these Pokemon have to watch out for Spore and struggle to come in if a Pokemon on their team isn't already asleep.
**Bug-types**: Bug-types naturally resist Breloom's STAB combination, which means that many of them can beat it 1v1. Mega Scizor takes pitiful damage from both Bullet Seed and Mach Punch and can 2HKO Breloom with Bullet Punch after Stealth Rock damage. Mega Heracross outspeeds Breloom and can OHKO it with one of its STAB moves. Volcarona also outpaces Breloom and can notably use it as setup fodder with Quiver Dance, although it must watch out for Rock Tomb or Continental Crush.
**Faster attackers**: In general, fast, powerful attackers that are able to take a Mach Punch such as Latios, Zapdos, Mega Pinsir, and Tapu Lele are able to easily revenge kill Breloom thanks to its low bulk and relatively poor base Speed.
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