Pok�mon of the Week

Breloom, The Mushroom Pok�mon. Its short arms stretch when it throws punches. Its technique is equal to that of pro boxers.It scatters poisonous spores and throws powerful punches while its foe is hampered by inhaled spores. The seeds on its tail are made of toxic spores. It knocks out foes with quick, virtually invisible punches.

Breloom was a pretty good Pokemon even before the arrival of its Dream World ability. But now, it's gotten even better, and the hype for Technician Breloom was justified. Although its base 70 Speed may seem rather lacking, the offensive sets make up for it with Technician boosted Mach Punch and Low Sweep. The main thing that matters about Breloom is its base 130 Attack, which allows Breloom to do a ton of damage, not bad for a walking mushroom. It's Grass/Fighting typing isn't the greatest defensively, but does give some useful resistances to Stealth Rock and several common types. It also has had much more usage with the departure of Tornadus-T from OU, as Hurricane would just ruin Breloom's day. But the main advantage to Breloom as a sweeper is Spore, a 100% accurate Sleep inducing move, which pretty much guarantees a Swords Dance on that set, a free Substitute, or a free move of any sort. Essentially, Breloom is what many sweepers aspire to be, and should be considered as a great threat when teambuilding.

Effect Spore: Has a 10% chance of inflicting a status (either Paralysis, Sleep, or Poison), when Breloom is hit by a contact move. This is easily the worst of Breloom's abilities, as the other two provide much more useful effects.
Poison Heal: HP is restored every turn when Breloom is Poisoned, meaning if Breloom holds a Toxic Orb, it can guarantee a 12% health return every turn. A good ability, and can be argued that it is as good as its next ability.
Technician: Moves with 60 base power or less are increased by 1.5x, meaning moves like Low Sweep, Mach Punch, and Bullet Seed become extremely powerful, leaving Breloom with powerful priority, a move to break through Subs, and and move to decrease an opponent's Speed. This is probably Breloom's best ability, as it gives Breloom the ability to be one of the more annoying sweepers in the game.

-Spore
-Mach Punch
-Bullet Seed
-Low Sweep / Stone Edge
Item Attached: Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Technician
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk) or Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Thanks to the godsend ability Breloom received from the Dream World, Technician, it's become a powerhouse threat capable of ploughing through teams unaided. Taking advantage of its brilliant dual-STAB, new ability, and exceptional base 130 Attack stat, Breloom can abuse a Life Orb or Choice Band to even further increase how hard it hits. Spore allows Breloom to potentially cripple a counter for the rest of a match, giving a teammate room to set up or sweep. Mach Punch is STAB and priority, allowing Breloom to bypass its middling base 70 Speed. This helps it pick off faster threats, specifically Stoutland or Terrakion, without taking severe damage. Bullet Seed plays off Breloom's other STAB, nailing the plethora of Water-, Rock-, and Ground-types it will face, such as Rotom-W, Tyranitar, or Hippowdon. Low Sweep allows Breloom to flatten any opponent that switches in on it or that stands in its way, also reducing its Speed by one stage, giving Breloom the chance to take the jump on many opponents that would otherwise outspeed it. However, Stone Edge may be used instead to hit threats, such as Volcarona or Thundurus-T, that would otherwise set-up and walk all over Breloom.

-Spore
-Swords Dance
-Mach Punch
-Bullet Seed
Item Attached: Life Orb / Lum Berry / Fighting Gem
Ability: Technician
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk) or Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

What many would consider to be Breloom's new flagship set, Swords Dance Techniloom, is a sure-fire way to bring chaos upon your opponents team. It's unparalleled ability to cripple and set-up on threats makes it a top-tier threat in the Overused metagame and a Pokemon you should always be wary of when teambuilding. The premise is simple; come in after one of your Pokemon has fainted, lead with Breloom, or switch in on a weak Water- or Grass-type attack, use Spore, Swords Dance, and have a field day with Mach Punch and Bullet Seed, Breloom's two STAB attacks that play off of Technician, dealing out massive hurt to an array of common Pokemon, such as Rotom-W, Terrakion, Tyranitar, and Politoed.

-Spore
-Substitute
-Focus Punch
-Seed Bomb / Facade / Stone Edge
Item Attached: Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 12 HP / 252 Atk / 244 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Before Technician was bestowed upon Breloom from the Dream World, Breloom found its niche as a status absorber and SubPuncher. Even to this day, this set can catch the opposition off-guard, as they expect the new Technician variants. The goal is to begin by setting up Substitute then crippling a Pokemon with Spore, or vice-versa, then begin punching holes in the opposing team with Focus Punch or Seed Bomb. Facade can be used over Seed Bomb to take advantage of Toxic Heal, but beware - using it means Breloom will be unable to attack opposing Ghost-types. Stone Edge can be used to bypass select checks, specifically Volcarona, who would otherwise typically love switching in on Breloom. Two other viable options can be used on this set, those being Leech Seed and Bulk Up, the former with a bulkier EV spread of 236 HP / 252 Def / 20 Spe, allowing Breloom to embrace a SubSeed and / or Boosting Sweeper role.

Bulk Up, Counter, Drain Punch, Headbutt, Rock Slide, Sky Uppercut, Strength, Superpower, Synthesis, Thunderpunch, Toxic, Wake-Up Slap, Work Up
Bulk Up can be used as a different boosting move, and will provide a Defensive boost as well (which can be useful)
Counter is good on more gimmicky sets or on the Substitute sets
Drain Punch helps with recovery and can be used over Low Sweep on the more offensive sets
Headbutt is a decent neutral hitting move, although not that powerful
Rock Slide can be used as an alternative to Stone Edge, sacrificing power for accuracy
Sky Uppercut is a decent STAB move, and also can be used on the more offensive sets
Strength can be used similarly to Headbutt as a relatively strong neutral hitting move
Superpower is a powerful STAB move that can be used alternatively to most of the Fighting moves Breloom runs, just with the downside of the Attack/Defense drop
Synthesis can be used for recovery, allowing for better survivability for Breloom (which can be useful)
Thunderpunch can be used for super effective hits on Flying types, which can be better than using Stone Edge or Rock Slide
Toxic can be used on the bulkier sets to help wear down opposing walls and just other Pokemon in general
Wake-Up Slap receives a boost from Technician, and thus is usable as a STAB move that's as powerful as Low Sweep
Work Up may be the worst of Breloom's boosting moves, as its secondary boost isn't that useful on Breloom (unless you're running some strange Special Attacking set or Mixed set)

Breloom is pretty good in this format, having a good offensive typing, access to a 100% accurate sleep inducing move, and high Attack all combines to allow it to do well in Doubles and Triples. You would probably want to run a bit more of a bulky offensive set, possibly using Protect over Substitute to activate Poison Heal.

Gothitelle is an excellent partner for Breloom as Gothitelle can trap and deal with most of Breloom's common counters. Other things like Landorus-I, Landorus-T, Mamoswine, hazard setters, and others also work well with Breloom. Anything Bug or Fire type that can deal with Celebi and Amoonguss are also a plus.

Celebi is the main counter to Breloom, as it resists both of its STAB moves and doesn't take much damage from its coverage moves, and can OHKO in return (or before Breloom even makes a move as Celebi outspeeds). Amoonguss and Gengar are also good counters that resist the STABs, but have to be a little wary of Spore, unlike Celebi who has Natural Cure. Pokemon like Volcarona, Skarmory, Gliscor, and Tentacruel can relatively safely tank most of Breloom's attacks and KO in return, but some have to worry about coverage moves (like Volc with Stone Edge, etc). Mamoswine is also a good check as it can outspeed Adamant Breloom and kill the offensive variants with Ice Shard, while Sub variants Icicle Spear takes care of.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Evolve Shroomish.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Colosseum/XD:
Evolve Shroomish (XD)
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald (Colosseum)

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Shroomish

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Safari Zone

Black/White:
Evolve Shroomish (Black)
Trade from Black/Black 2/White 2 (White)

Black 2/White 2:
Hidden Grotto - Pinwheel Forest