Gen 5 CaliforniBreloom (Gen 5 OU Breloom HyperOffense)

[caelT8]

CaliforniBreloom



"Mach Punch, things go boom
Sand fears its doom
Dreaming of CaliforniBreloom"
​

Introduction

I was procrastinating a lot and never got around to making that gen 4 RMT I mentioned in my previous RMT. I was planning on making it over this couple days, but that changed yesterday. I had made this fun little BW HO team and was laddering with it and used it in a Ruins of Alph room tour. In that room tour, I had the opportunity to play Monai and with some help from the hax gods I managed to win. Then, I laddered and ended up playing Jhonx. I won that game as well and realized that this team might actually be good. I've also been listening to Red Hot Chili Peppers songs recently and all the nicknames are songs from their best album, Californication.

vs. Monai: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5ou-1973242414
vs. Jhonx: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5ou-1973296588-i1yir991nn06tpa89phznyde9j7r873pw

Teambuilding Process


Funnily enough, this team actually was built around Terrakion.


I really liked Cloyster's ability to provide setup was well as to punish flying types, like Lando-T and Gliscor. Plus it provides a setup option.


I needed rocks, and Garchomp does the job. My plan was for Terrak to be a Choice Band set.


Starmie is pretty simple. It adds Rapid Spin and some special attacking power.


Dnite is a must-have on hyper offense. It is one of the most dangerous sweepers around.


Breloom is a personal favorite. It adds more setup and strong priority, plus Grass/Fighting is good offensively.


I realized that Terrak honestly wasn't doing that much. I replaced it with Mag as Cloyster, Garchomp, and Dragonite like having steels out of the way. It can also remove weather with Sunny Day.

​

The Team


Porcelain (Cloyster) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Shell Smash

Setup Sweeper #1. Before this team, I didn't really consider Cloyster to be broken. Now I do. Cloyster can blast through entire teams after just one Shell Smash, which is why this one is sashed. Ice Shard gives us very strong priority, especially after a Shell Smash. This lets us beat Thundurus-Therian. Ice Shard also snipes weakened Dragonite and Latios. Icicle Spear is our main stab, and Rock Blast adds coverage for Ice-resistant Pokemon. Adamant gives the Ice Shards a boost since we aren't holding Never-Melt Ice.


This Velvet Glove (Dragonite) (M) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake

Setup Sweeper #2. I love Dragonite. This is the standard Dragon Dance Multiscale setup version, and I love to use this set because it's so good at what it does. You get a free setup due to Multiscale, and then you can break through with Outrage, Earthquake for mons like Heatran, and Espeed for anything faster (e.g. Scarf Keldeo or Latios) Adamant lets you bust through bulkier threats and Lum Berry just avoids burns and paras-as well as freeing you from your own Outrage's confusion. Dnite is either a late game cleaner or just a general sweeper.


Scar Tissue (Garchomp) (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Swords Dance

Setup Sweeper #3. Although it has Swords Dance, Garchomp's main job is to stealth rock. Rocks chip opponents and break sashes, aiding in the sweep. Earthquake and Outrage are standard STAB moves. SD can make Garchomp into a sweeper if it gets the chance. Jolly is the best nature, to get rocks up as fast as possible. Garchomp is commonly used as a suicide lead against teams that don't have a spinner. Garchomp can also do a cool trick where it revenge kills Dragonite: if its sash is intact it will live Dnite's attack and break Dnite's Multiscale with Rough Skin. Then, it KOs Dnite with Outrage.


Parallel Universe (Starmie) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin

With triple Focus Sash and Dragonite, this team desperately needs a spinner. And when it comes to weatherless HyperOffense, there's no better spinner than Starmie. In addition to spinning, Starmie offers strong and fast special attacks with STAB Hydro Pump and BoltBeam coverage. Analytic allows it to get a nice damage boost on switches. Air Balloon lets Starmie float above Spikes and Toxic Spikes and serve as a ground switch-in occasionally. In general, if Starmie can get rid of hazards and keep them off, it's done its job.


Otherside (Magnezone) @ Air Balloon
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA / 30 Spe
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sunny Day
- Magnet Rise

Cloyster, Garchomp, and Dragonite all do not appreciate steels very much. Naturally, Magnezone is a perfect ally then. Air Balloon and Magnet Rise allow for Magnezone to escape its greatest fear, ground-types. Thunderbolt is strong STAB that hits Skarmory. HP Fire allows for Magnezone to hit most other steel-types, like Excadrill and Ferrothorn. Sunny Day lets Magnezone reverse weather and weaken rain teams once Politoed is KOed, and even sand teams don't like losing their sand. Modest ups Magnezone's damage even more.


Road Trippin' (Breloom) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Swords Dance

Setup Sweeper #4. Breloom is definitely the star of this team. This is my favorite Breloom set as well. Bullet Seed Breloom's best grass move as it gets a nice boost from Technician. It also ignores sashes due to being a multi-hit move, allowing for this Breloom to OHKO Alakazam. Low Sweep is another Technician boosted move. It also doesn't lower your attack like Superpower allowing for the follow-up Mach Punch to deal maximum damage. Speaking of Mach Punch, it is very good . It has a 60 base power after Technician, is a STAB fighting move, has priority, and is coming from a 394 attack stat. And not to mention what happens after a Swords Dance... I went with Sash on this Breloom to guarantee a Swords Dance, or at least 1 attack, usually 2.

Ramblings

Weatherless HO often gets labeled as inconsistent with many bad matchups - and I don't think that this is untrue. But with HO, no matchup is unwinnable. Due to the sheer power of the mons on HO teams, they can often break through and start sweeping after just one error from the opponent. I think using the Focus Sash helps a lot too, as it allows for easier setup. In addition, the priority spam helps. It's a lot harder for things to go wrong when you're moving first and hitting hard.

Outro

I hope you enjoyed CaliforniBreloom! I should hopefully have the gen 4 RMT ready to go in 2 weeks, and that team beat Togaquest when he was using his rank #1 team recently. I'll see you next time!

https://pokepast.es/63d65ff8f8cd2d3e

 

[Shedinja-43152]

Road Trippin' (Breloom) (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Low Sweep
- Swords Dance

I guess I'm too old, because I can't do a Breloom without Spores.
But I need to admit it's a cool Breloom.

 

[Gamer1234556]

I guess I'm too old, because I can't do a Breloom without Spores.
But I need to admit it's a cool Breloom.

Spore is banned in Gen 5

 

[peng]

Hey, so this is a cool take on Sash-spam HO, thanks for writing it up. Always good to have more BW RMTs.

I think the fundamentals are pretty good here - this is broadly a physical HO with Dragon spam + Cloyster, which is intrinsically super strong. However, there are a couple of weaknesses that I think could do with patching up.

Watching back the replays vs Monai and Jhonx, a couple of things become clear. Firstly, sash spam clearly has merit! Secondly, currently you are relying on Sash a bit too much as a crutch to patch up weaknesses to incredibly common and strong mons, mostly Latios. Latios with sand support, well maintained rocks etc is bordering on a straight 6-0, with Focus Sash/Multiscale your only true out. Whilst it worked here, I do question whether you will consistently be able to answer Latios with Sash Garchomp, Sash Cloyster, Multiscale etc over a 100-game sample size, especially on repeat games when players know your items. And that is the test of a good team - it can't be all about surprise value, and 3x Sash (2x on sand weaks) I think is unlikely to find the consistency you are looking for to go to the next level.

Breloom with Magnezone is kinda anti-synergy. Its not seen often and there is a good reason for it - they are filling similar roles. You use both as ways to remove Skarmory (Magnezone traps it, whereas Breloom lures it) as well as being ways to immediately Ferrothorn. Teams that have Garchomp + Dragonite + Cloyster + Breloom shouldn't need Magnezone help to remove defensive Steels, whilst teams of Garchomp + Dragonite + Cloyster + Magnezone broadly don't benefit hugely from Breloom either. (Speaking in broad strokes, I am sure there is a viable Breloom Magnezone build somewhere).

The core issue that I'd like to patch up is that Elec/Fire Magnezone as a lone-steel, and then a bunch of middling 70-102 speed mons and a kinda weak Starmie, is a recipe for disaster into Latios. If you are going mono-steel, you need to make sure it can directly go head-to-head with Latios, or you need to find room for a second Steel-type.

Unfortunately, as with many things in a "solved" old gen meta like BW, the solution is kinda boring...

I think Scarf Jirachi, SD Pursuit Scizor, or maybe even some kind of Weavile, is needed here. Each of them put pressure on Latios, whilst also providing some other utility for the team that dials into your gameplan. The question comes down to what to remove.

Some options I think you could look into are:
Breloom -> Scarf Jirachi

This is the boring one as it literally turns your team into a very well known Cloyster team that has been used by 100 people already, but this is an incredibly strong HO. Scarf Jirachi only needs 100 speed EVs to outspeed +1 Dragonite and can use its remaining EVs pretty much anywhere including near max SDef to serve as a pivot on Latios, then cause all sorts of headaches + opportunities with Scarf U-turn. Trick + Healing Wish are also great utility moves to cripple walls and give your sweepers a second chance.

Breloom -> SD/Scarf Scizor

Magnezone -> SD Scizor

Scizor is a steel that can directly remove Latios with Pursuit, and can slot in over either Magnezone or Breloom on this. SD Scizor + Cloyster also have incredibly good offensive synergy - both are "beaten" by Rotom-W, Jellicent, and Magnezone, but Scizor can run sets that aims to bait and remove these for Cloyster - Life Orb with Jolly nature, hitting 242 speed, and SD / Bullet Punch / Superpower / Pursuit works really well. Lum Adamant is also an option.

Cloyster -> Pursuit Weavile

A bit more abstract, but if you are willing to remove Cloyster, then you could try Weavile, which is more immediately threatening into Latios (not relying on Focus Sash) while still being a threatening physical Ice-type. Weavile also benefits from Magnezone support, as it generally struggles with Skarmory and Scizor. Something like this was used in the Gem meta with Dark Gem SD Weavile with Beat Up, Ice Shard, Low Kick, but you can probably use Dark Glasses or similar here.

Chople Thunder Wave Magnezone, maybe Timid.
The Magnezone set you're using is fine, but its generally best used alongside Icy Wind Jirachi, which lures and slows down Rapid Spin Excadrill so you can safely get off the Magnet Rise. The issue when you don't have Icy Wind support is that your odds of beating Excadrill through Iron Head flinches are not so good - I think it works out to only be about 60-40 in your favour to remove Protect + Iron Head Excadrill over the 5 turns of Magnet Rise factoring in those flinch chances. If you are open to change, you could look into other Magnezone sets that give up on the Excadrill match-up (Starmie, Cloyster, Garchomp are already favourable here) and chase other upsides, like Thunder Wave Chople Magnezone which shores up your Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, Scizor, Alakazam match-ups a touch. Lots of Scizor now run lots of speed investment too, so you may consider running Timid Magnezone to beat at least all Adamant ones.

Lum Berry Cloyster
Unlikely to be a popular recommendation, but I do think Focus Sash on a lategame sweeper is quite high risk and even more-so when that Pokemon is not Sand immune. Not only that but Cloyster is already not short on set-up opportunities on the tier's huge number of physical grounds. If you were open to trying something else, Lum Berry allows Cloyster to set-up on Tentacruel, giving you a stronger Rain match-up, as well as disrupting some other checks like Jellicent.

 

[Monai]

My rotom

 

[caelT8]

Cloyster -> Pursuit Weavile

A bit more abstract, but if you are willing to remove Cloyster, then you could try Weavile, which is more immediately threatening into Latios (not relying on Focus Sash) while still being a threatening physical Ice-type. Weavile also benefits from Magnezone support, as it generally struggles with Skarmory and Scizor. Something like this was used in the Gem meta with Dark Gem SD Weavile with Beat Up, Ice Shard, Low Kick, but you can probably use Dark Glasses or similar here.

Chople Thunder Wave Magnezone, maybe Timid.
The Magnezone set you're using is fine, but its generally best used alongside Icy Wind Jirachi, which lures and slows down Rapid Spin Excadrill so you can safely get off the Magnet Rise. The issue when you don't have Icy Wind support is that your odds of beating Excadrill through Iron Head flinches are not so good - I think it works out to only be about 60-40 in your favour to remove Protect + Iron Head Excadrill over the 5 turns of Magnet Rise factoring in those flinch chances. If you are open to change, you could look into other Magnezone sets that give up on the Excadrill match-up (Starmie, Cloyster, Garchomp are already favourable here) and chase other upsides, like Thunder Wave Chople Magnezone which shores up your Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, Scizor, Alakazam match-ups a touch. Lots of Scizor now run lots of speed investment too, so you may consider running Timid Magnezone to beat at least all Adamant ones.

Thank you for the suggestions! The Weavile and Scizor > Magnezone teams look really fun. I tried out Weavile: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen5ou-1978871405-6licn8hn4toffld6yuenc7q40motzompw