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Published on October 8th, 2013 | by Oryx

8

Shroomsday: On Breloom and Its Uses

Recently, Breloom has risen to prominence in the VGC 2013 metagame given the boost provided to it through its new dream world ability: Technician. With a sky-high attack stat, access to priority, good offensive typing and access to SPORE: the only 100% accurate sleep inducing move, its no wonder Breloom is a force to be reckoned with. However, Breloom does not come without its weaknesses, with paper-thin Defenses, middling Speed and weaknesses to common types in VGC, the killer mushroom requires ample support from its teammates. This article aims to provide an overview on Breloom, how to use it and how to ensure it doesn’t ruin your day.

Base Stats:

As you can see from its stats, Breloom has enormous attacking power akin to sweepers like Scizor, Garchomp, Terrakion and Tyranitar. However, unlike these Pokemon, Breloom lacks any sort of bulk with Base 60/80/60 Defenses. Furthermore, although it is the fastest of all Spore users (barring Scarf variants) with a Base 70 Speed, it still falls quite short of taking on faster threats in the metagame. Thus, Breloom will often require Speed support in the form of Tailwind/Thunder Wave or even Trick Room.

Pre-2013 Breloom

Prior to the release of its Dream world ability, the “standard” Breloom employed Poison Heal, allowing it to heal 1/8 of it’s HP (double that of Leftovers) each turn provided it is poisoned. Slap on a Toxic Orb and along with Drain Punch, Breloom gets decent healing capacity. The addition of Spore along with its impressive Base 130 Attack and strong type coverage against common Pokemon like Politoed, Tyranitar, Bisharp, Hydreigon and Gastrodon made it a force to be reckoned with. All of these factors would have made Breloom a pretty appealing team member, yet…

Due to it’s weak Defenses and average Speed, a Focus Sash-less Breloom is extremely frail and requires a lot of support. In VGC ’12 a sample strategy would involve pairing Breloom with a Fake Out user and going for a Spore. Other possibilities included Rain or the now-common Follow Me.

Poison Heal + Toxic Orb Breloom

Breloom @ Toxic Orb
Adamant Nature
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spe
– Seed Bomb
– Drain Punch
– Spore
– Protect

As you can see, the main purpose of this set is to fire off a Spore so you can either heal back with Drain Punch and Toxic Orb or go for the KO with Seed Bomb. The EVs provide maximum offense and bulk allowing Breloom to usually get off a Spore. Yet, it’s still clear that Breloom can be OHKO’d if hit by a Flying-Type move or a strong Fire/Ice/Psychic/STAB which leaves it quite vulnerable.

A notable usage of this Breloom was by iss at Apex. You can find the battles on the Clash Tournaments Youtube Channel. In this case, Breloom was see on a Rain team consisting of Politoed, Kingdra, Thundurus-T, Scizor and Rotom-W.

2. Technician and the Rise of Breloom

With the release of its Dream World ability, Technician, Breloom received a huge boost. Defensively, its free item slot embraced Focus Sash with open arms. With the Sash, Breloom almost has a guaranteed one turn survival (unless you’re double targeted) enabling it to use Spore: the only 100% accurate sleep inducing move. Breloom can not only put things to sleep but do considerable damage as well.

Offensively, many Breloom opt for Bullet Seed over Seed Bomb given its base power range of 75-187.5 relative to seed Bomb’s meager 80. The use of Seed Bomb allows Breloom to hit through Substitutes and do massive damage to popular Rain teams. Technician also elevates Mach Punch to a respectable 60 Base Power STAB.

Some sample Technician calculations for an Jolly 252 Attack Breloom:

• Bullet Seed (two hits): guaranteed OHKO on Rindo-less, Defensive Casstrodon and Swampert and a 43.75% chance to OHKO 252 HP Jellicent
• Bullet Seed (three hits=75% likelihood): guarantees OHKO on Biosci’s Politoed, 236 HP/88 Def Rotom-Wash, 252 HP Suicune and Zach’s Jellicent
• Three Seed hits also provide a 6.25% chance to OHKO 252 HP Tyranitar hence, at least four Seed hits (50% likelihood) will OHKO
• Mach Punch guarantees an OHKO on Scarf Tyranitar and Bisharp

(Note: a switch to an Adamant Nature raises the likelihood of a three Seed Bullet Seed to OHKO Tyranitar to 62.5%)

3. Different Sets:

I. “Standard” Breloom

Nature: Jolly/Adamant
Breloom @ Focus sash
252 Spe/252 Atk/4 HP
– Spore
– Bullet Seed
– Mach Punch
– Protect

Voila! Breloom’s basic bread-and-butter set. Focus Sash allows Breloom to set up Spore while a potential partner deals with speed control/redirects damage to itself. Otherwise, Breloom can fire off a powerful Bullet Seed or Mach Punch. Protect increases its survivability.

The EV spread provides Breloom with maximum offense and Speed since the Focus Sash eliminates the need for bulk. I personally prefer Adamant over Jolly because Breloom will likely be receiving Speed support anyway and the change in Nature likely results in a 7-10% decrease in damage roll. Moreover, Wer’s Breloom was initially EV’d to outspeed an Adamant Mamoswine whereas, now following the post-Worlds metagame, Scarf Mamoswine is probably the most common set.

As you can see, Breloom has a relatively simple and effective standard set which makes its easy to use and create chaos by putting your opponents Pokemon to sleep.

II. Life Orb

Breloom @ Toxic orb
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
252 Spe/252 Atk/4 HP OR Adamant with 252 Atk/140 Spe/116 HP
– Spore
– Bullet Seed
– Mach Punch
– Protect

The following Breloom set although less common than the Focus Sash variant provides more power. The cost is survivability as without its Sash, Breloom’s pitiful Defenses are left exposed. Nonetheless, with a Follow Me/Rage Powder user, this set can be just as effective and possibly even more given the power boost. Focus Sash does have its disadvantages as it can be broken by Sand or Hail, and then you’re out of an item slot. However, be on the look out for double targeting moves that will cleanly OHKO you like Heat Wave or Blizzard.

The given EV spreads emphasize a maximized Attack and with Life Orb, Breloom hits like a truck. Jolly 252 Atk Life Orb Breloom has a couple of advantages over the standard set:

• Bullet Seed (three hits) gurantees an OHKO on Tyranitar (with one less seed hit than previous)
• Mach Punch has a 18.75% chance to OHKO Hydreigon (81.25% chance if Adamant)

Overall, the increased damaged output is beneficial especially in the case of bulkier threats such as Cresselia.

The latter EV spread, the given EVs allow you to outspeed 4 Speed Cresselia and 4 Speed Rotom-W with the rest dumped in bulk for increased survivability.

III. Scarf Breloom

Breloom @ Choice Scarf
Nature: Jolly
188 Spe/252 Atk/60 HP/4 Def/4 SpD
– Bullet Seed
– Mach Punch
– Rock Slide/Stone Edge
– Spore

The third Breloom we’ll discuss is another uncommon variant: Choice Scarf Breloom. The Scarf eliminates the need for Speed support and allows you to fire Spores and attacks right off the bat. A potential asset of this set would be that your opponent may predict you to set up Speed support and redirect their attacks to Breloom’s partner, allowing you to take advantage of the situation and SPORE! Moreover, Breloom receives an added moveslot for Rock-Type coverage against Flying and Fire-Types that dare to take it on.

An effective way to take advantage of the strategy would be to pair Breloom with a (fast) Fake Out user like Liepard and preferably with good synergy to help get off Spores. The given EV spread allows Breloom to outspeed Scarf Tyranitar, maximum ttacking power with the rest dumped in bulk.

The set however, has clear disadvantages due to the scarf’s movelock and the loss of bulk and flexibility with Focus Sash and Protect. Breloom also becomes quite vulnerable to priority moves and faster Pokemon.

IV. Trick Room Breloom

Breloom @ Focus Sash/Life Orb
Nature: Brave
EV: 252 Atk/252 HP/4 SpD
– Spore
– Bullet seed
– Mach punch
– Protect

This Breloom variant is simple yet difficult to execute as it requires a greater amount of setting up. Although it gains greater bulk and offense relative to the standard set, one must set up Trick Room and safely switch in Breloom or a Follow Me/Rage Powder (whichever is not already out since Follow Me and Trick Room are incompatible).

Recommended partners include Cresselia, Jellicent and Slowking/Slowbro due to their bulk and solid synergy with Breloom.

4.Partners!

Togekiss

Togekiss is a near perfect fit for Breloom due to its good bulk and diverse movepool, specifically, its access to Follow Me and Tailwind. Follow Me is wickedly good in the present metagame as it enables a possibly frail partner such as Breloom to dodge powerful attacks like incoming Draco Meteors, Overheats and Flying-Type attacks. Tailwind on the other hand, elevates Breloom’s subpar Speed to dangerous levels and enables it to actually get off more Spores and powerful attacks. Thus, Togekiss helps Breloom live up to its full potential by providing it with necessary support.

R Inanimate has most popularly used the Togekiss/Breloomd duo to great success in the 2013 season.

Liepard

Liepard rivals Togekiss as one of Breloom’s most common partners; however, unlike Togekiss who supports her teammates, Liepard instead disrupts her opponents. It’s vast supportive moveset provides Breloom with a plethora of options to act as a pivot and unleash its power! Fake Out enables Breloom to get off Spore. Moreover, if the opponents Protect during Fake Out, Liepard can Encore for more fun. Swagger and Spore also form a fantastic disruptive duo to prevent the foe from attacking and breaking your Sash. Finally, Foul play + Dark Gem + Swagger is an amazing way to potentially OHKO a target. Thunder Wave is another option for Speed support.

The disadvantage to using Liepard is that it’s a bit of a gamble. Although you are able to set up significant disruption in turn one and two through Fake Out and Encore, Liepard is unable to give Breloom adequate support from Swagger Confusion 45% of the time (50% confusion * 90% accuracy). Additionally, Liepard, like Breloom is extremely frail and can be shut down by a faster threat .

The Liepard/Breloom duo has been used to great success by Baz Anderson.

Other Tailwind Users

Speed support is a near-must for Breloom due to its average Speed. Luckily, a move called Tailwind receives great distribution and its users have their niches.

Tornadus has access to priority Tailwind which is a great security. Further, it can deal damage through STAB Flying Gem boosted Acrobatics to deal with enemy Fighting-Types. It also has access to Superpower for coverage against Rock and Steel-Types. For the final moveslot a choice of Taunt/Protect/U-turn is likely. Torandus however, shares Breloom’s weakness to Ice-Types. Nonetheless, Tornadus is a great partner for Breloom with good offensive and support potential.

Crobat possesses a niche in Inner Focus, Base 130 Speed and defensive prowess against Fighting-Types. Thus, Crobat is almost guaranteed to get off a Tailwind, speeding up Breloom. It also provides an offensive threat through STAB Flying Gem Acrobatics. Taunt is also effective in preventing your opponent from setting up. However, Crobat has no way of handling Steel-Types and also racks up your weaknesses to Rock and Ice types. If you wanna check out Crobat in action see Wer’s team analysis.

Rage Powder Volcarona

Although not as defensively oriented as Togekiss, Volcarona provides decent support in the form of Rage Powder and Flame Body to neuter physical threats. Unlike Togekiss, Volcarona is a strong offensive presence and it can threaten Ice and Steel-Types especially Scizor. Volcarona and Breloom also have good defensive synergy as Breloom can take care of the Rock and Water-Types that threaten the fire moth.

However, a key disadvantage of the Breloom-Volcarona duo is that the pair is weak to Scarf Tyranitar and faster threats like Latios. Moreover, Volcarona is unable to provide Breloom Speed support.

Sweepers

Sweepers are often paired well with Breloom as they apply offense pressure to a Pokemon threatening it. This theory however, assumes there are not two threats to Breloom or a faster threat to the sweeper.

Terrakion has amazing synergy with Breloom. It takes care of the Flying, Fire, Ice and (to an extent) Steel-Types that would otherwise harm Breloom. It’s monstrous Base 129 Attack and strong Base 108 Speed make it an ideal sweeper candidate and Breloom’s partner in crime, yet one must be weary of Scizor and Latios.

Latios also has good synergy with Breloom. Its Psychic stab takes care of Fighting-Types while a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor clears almost anything in it’s path. Interestingly, one can also use it for Tailwind. It’s also got a useful resistance to Fire-Types, however, it racks up Ice weaknesses yet again. Like Terrakion it has killer stats: a Base 130 Special Attack and Base 110 Speed making it a great sweeper.

Rain = Politoed

Politoed is a ferociously good partner for Breloom. Firstly, it brings the Rain which nullifies Breloom’s weaknesses to Fire. Moreover, its Water typing has a good offensive and defensive synergy with Breloom as it resits Ice and Fire-Types while wreaking havoc on Fire, Rock, Ground (and to an extent) Steel-Types with a Rain-boosted, Water Gem Hydro Pump! If this weren’t enough, it also provides Speed control in the form of Icy Wind. For the final moveslot, a choice of Encore or Ice Beam can be chosen.

The sole drawback of using Politoed is that your team may be vulnerable to Electric/Flying-types like Zapdos and Thundurus which can hit both Politoed and Breloom hard with strong Electric-Type attacks and Hidden Power Flying respectively. Along with Politoed, partners that love the Rain will follow such as Kingdra, Ludicolo and friends.

5. Effective counters

Thundurus

If your team seems to be having trouble with Breloom, Thundurus is a great choice. With great defensive typing and potential, the right Thundurus can demolish Breloom.

Thundurus-Therian is a force to be reckoned with. With the highest usable Special Attack in the VGC metagame at a skyscraping Base 145 and decent Base 101 Speed. Given its offensive prowess, it can OHKO Breloom with HP Flying and dent Togekiss or other Flying-Type partners with an Electric Gem boosted Thunderbolt. Moreover, it’s Electric-Flying Type resists both of Breloom’s STAB moves but beware of the rare Rock-Type coverage move.

The Incarnate form, like Thundurus-T, is a great wall against Breloom, however, more supportive options like Taunt enable it to shut down its partner’s ability to set up Tailwind or Follow Me as well as Breloom’s ability to Spore. Also Hidden Ppwer Ice or Flying enables it to threaten Breloom and its still strong Base 125 Special Attack allows it to do some damage to a Flying-Type partner as well.

Dragons

(not named Hydreigon)

Salamence although an uncommon dragon is a perfect way to counter Breloom. With Intimidate and its Dragon-Flying typing, it resits Breloom’s Grass (4x!) and Fighting STAB. It can also do serious damage back through Hidden Power Flying and Draco Meteor to Breloom and a possible bulky partner respectively.

The Lati twins also possess good efensive typing against breloom as their dual Dragon-Psychic typing provides them resistance to Breloom’s STAB. Whereas Latios applies offensive pressure, Latias plays more of a defensive role. Latios can threaten Breloom with Psyshock and any partner with a strong Dragon Gem boosted Draco Meteor. Latias, like her brother, provides key resistances, but can also play a defensive role by setting up Safeguard to nullify Spore while still providing offensive presence through Psyshock and a Dragon-Type STAB.

Volcarona

sample set:

Modest
@ Lum berry
Potential spreads: 116 Spe/252 SpA/132 HP/4 Def/4 SpD
– Heat wave
– Bug Buzz
– Rage Powder
– Protect/Quiver Dance

Volcarona resits both of Brelooms STAB options and it’s ability Flame Body gives an attractive 30% burn rate enabling it to potentially neuter it’s offensive presence and Sash. Heat Wave is also effective in bringing Breloom to Sash as it is not redirected by Follow Me. The given spread enables it to outspeed a Jolly max-Speed Breloom and maximum offensive potential with the rest dumped in bulk.

Note: Volcarona is seriously threatened by possible Rock Slides and Breloom’s common Flying-Type allies

Abomasnow

(see araluen7’s article)

Timid nature
@ Choice Scarf
EVs: 228 Spe/228 SpA/44 HP/4 Def/4 SpD
– Blizzard
– Giga Drain
– HP Fire/Ground
– Ice shard

Abomasnow provides an amazing outlet against Breloom, the activation of Snow Warning breaks its Sash, and STAB Blizzard, a two-pronged attack both enable it to kill off breloom and deal serious damage to a potential Flying-Type partner or Tailwind setter. Defensively, the basic staple Scarf Abomasnow can take an Adamant Breloom’s Mach Punch provided it does not have Life Orb.

If you’re not fashion conscious and hate the Scarf, you can ditch it for a Sash a long with your very own Rage Powder/Follow Me user like Lum Berry Togekiss (Note: You shouldn’t just be using the Lum Berry due to Breloom fears). Moreover, Quiet Abomasnow sets can also employ Wood Hammer to deal greater damage to Rain teams.

Guts Users

An interesting option against Breloom would be bulky Guts users like Heracross, Conkeldurr, or Hariyama, given their held item leaves them impervious to Breloom’s Spore, and defensively, Breloom can do little to them (ESPECIALLY Heracross) outside of landing a Bullet Seed. However, many Guts user’s require Speed support whether in the form of Trick Room or a Scarf for Heracross. The former is easy to shut down and predictable, whereas a Scarf leaves Heracross quite vulnerable as it will be locked into a move and Protect-less.

Magic Bouncers

These obscure pokemon deserve a mention for their fantastic ability: Magic Bounce, an ability which enables them to bounce back Status inducing moves and the like which not only makes them immune to Breloom’s Spore but able to bounce it off as well. Many other Pokemon can attain this power through the use of a Magic Coat, however the only two Pokemon with it from the start are Xatu and Espeon.

Xatu resists Breloom’s STABs and bounces back Spore which is nifty, however it has no defensive presence and it’s offensive stats are sub-par at best. Espeon, unlike Xatu, possesses a respectable Base 130 Special Attack and a Base 110 Speed, yet it does not resist Bullet Seed.

When all else fails…there’s Vital Spirit and Insomnia…

Other Options

• Low Kick: deals more to heavier targets and punishes them for their weight however the loss of priority is noticeable.
• Drain Punch: enables Breloom to heal from a sleeping foe, yet again the loss of priority is notable
• Stone Edge: sneaks up on Flying-Types like Thundurus and Tornadus and deals a considerable amount more than Rock Slide (56.25% power for double targeting). The low accuracy, however, is unappealing and not recommended.
• Superpower + Fighting Gem: popularized by R Inanimate, this alternative to Bullet Seed forgoes its Grass-Type predecessor’s luck based mechanics and will prevent you from cringing at low Seed hits. On the plus side, it allows you to hit Tyranitar and other threats harder while making you more vulnerable to Ghost and Water-Types.
• Swords Dance: fake a Scizor-esque set and it is a useful combo with Mach Punch, however it requires heavy setting up and Breloom doesn’t come anywhere near Scizor’s Defenses.

Conclusion

To conclude, Breloom, a rising star in the current metagame you should watch out for. With great Attack, typing and movepool especially its access to Spore, Breloom is a great Pokemon. With the right partner, Breloom can further be a deadly and disruptive threat. In any case, a Breloom-weak team is by no means a good team to have in the present metagame. So, you better stock your team with decent checks and counters to the doom shroom unless you want to have your very own Shroomsday.

About the Author

Oryx Nofil Nadeem "Oryx" is a novice competitive Pokemon player with middling finishes at the 2012 and 2013 Toronto Regionals. When he's not playing Pokemon, he's an avid reader, actor, swimmer and Management student at the University of Toronto. Isn't Sylveon the best!?!

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