Legendary Pokémon

Pokemon of the Week DP: Bronzong

Sets

Bronze Wall

Item Held

Leftovers

Ability

Levitate

Nature

Relaxed (+Defense, -Speed) / Sassy (+Special Defense, - Speed)

Effort Points

252 HP - 152 Attack - 96 Special Defense - 10 Defense OR 252 HP - 152 Attack - 96 Defense - 10 Special Defense

• Hypnosis
• Gyro Ball
• Stealth Rock / Earthquake
• Reflect / Light Screen

This set can pretty much drop a gigantic, bronze wall in front of your foe (metaphorically, of course). With its excellent Defenses and its long list of resistances and immunities, it won't have a problem walling some hits while crippling its opponents with Hypnosis. Gyro Ball is going to be your main way to hit your opponents, given how low Bronzong's Speed is. Bronzong is also a great Pokémon to set Stealth Rock for two reasons. Firstly, due to its durability, it can easily switch in any time and lay some rocks down on the field, and, secondly, because Stealth Rock will cost 25% of their max HP to Pokémon of the only type that will hit Bronzong for super-effective damage, the Fire type. Otherwise, Pokémon like Infernape would quickly melt their way through your bronze wall. However, if you already have a Spiker in your team, Earthquake is a good move for hitting those Fire-types as well as Electric types that resist Gyro Ball. In the end, Reflect or Light Screen will offer team support, boosting the desired stat for some turns.

The nature and the EP distribution will vary in this set, primarily depending on what moves you would like to wall the most. The spread listed above is just the most common one. Choose the first EP spread with Relaxed nature and the second one with Sassy. Taking away EPs from Attack to further raise one of the Defenses is not a bad idea but never remove those 252 EPs from HP.

Rest-Talker

Item Held

Leftovers / Life Orb

Ability

Levitate

Nature

Brave (+Attack, -Speed)

Effort Points

252 HP - 152 Attack - 96 Special Defense - 10 Defense OR 252 HP - 152 Attack - 96 Defense - 10 Special Defense

• Rest
• Sleep Talk
• Gyro Ball
• Earthquake

A Bronzong set that attempts to both stop Sweepers and sweep. Gyro Ball and Earthquake are again your sweeping moves for the same reasons mentioned in the first set. Rest is Bronzong's only way of healing apart from Leftovers and should always be used with Sleep Talk for having something to do while asleep. Life Orb could be used instead of Leftovers in this set as Bronzong now has a way to restore its HP and the 10% loss per hit won't hurt it much.

Special Sweeper - Wall

Item Held

Chesto Berry

Ability

Levitate

Nature

Bold (+Defense, -Attack)

Effort Points

252 HP - 152 Special Attack - 106 Defense

• Calm Mind
• Psychic
• Rest
• Block / Hidden Power Ice

With a move like Calm Mind in its arsenal, Bronzong can sure function well on the Special side too. Calm Mind up, then sweep with Psychic and Hidden Power Ice if you chose it, using Rest whenever you need to recover what was lost in the process. Block can be used to trap something that can't hit you at all (like a Choice Specs Alakazam locked to Psychic) and use it as a set-up fodder. However, sweeping with just one move, especially with a move that some Pokémon are immune to, is quite difficult.

Trick Room Team Leader V1.0

Item Held

Leftovers

Ability

Levitate

Nature

Relaxed (+Defense, -Speed) / Sassy (+Special Defense, - Speed)

Effort Points

252 HP - 129 Defense - 129 Special Defense

• Trick Room
• Hypnosis
• Gyro Ball
• Stealth Rock

Bronzong is slow, Bronzong is bulky, Bronzong has access to a STABed Gyro Ball. All these make it a great candidate for leading a Trick Room themed team. After setting Trick Room, you can either set those pointy rocks or put your opponent to sleep. Gyro Ball is for hitting Pokémon like Weavile and Gengar, but better leave sweeping to one of your team-mates. It is suggested that you first use Stealth Rock and then Trick Room so that you don't lose a turn of your "bizarre area in which slower Pokémon get to move first". Once Trick Room stops being active, come in, set it and back out again. The EP spread can be adjusted according to personal preference, based on which defensive stat you want to pump up more.

Trick Room Team Leader V2.0

Item Held

Macho Brace

Ability

Levitate

Nature

Brave (+Attack, -Speed)

Effort Points

252 HP - 152 Attack - 96 Special Defense - 10 Defense OR 252 HP - 152 Attack - 96 Defense - 10 Special Defense

• Trick Room
• Gyro Ball
• Earthquake
• Explosion

This set works more or less like the previous one. The difference between the two of them is that, in this set, Bronzong sweeps, not only sets Trick Room, then flees. Not much can be said, Gyro Ball and Earthquake are your obvious sweeping moves. Explosion when you're done. Macho Brace is suggested instead of the standard Leftovers for indirectly raising Gyro Ball's power.

Other Possible Options

In the Physical Sweeping section, Rock Slide is Bronzong's only other option but Earthquake seems to be doing the job. In the Special Sweeping one, Grass Knot can hurt Swampert and Rhyperior, Hidden Power Electric/Charge Beam for Gyarados, Shadow Ball for Pokémon like Dusknoir and Azelf and Flash Cannon for STAB. But anyway, none of them is really recommended, the moves listed in the sets are far better.

Regarding its supporting options, Bronzong has access to Toxic and Confuse Ray for annoying your opponent. Imprison could be used along with Explosion, Protect and Earthquake in double battles and Skill Swap would be good for doubles too. Bronzong's second ability, Heatproof, could be also selected as a surprise option, just in order to trick your opponent into thinking that they can't hit you with Earthquake. But Levitate is certainly the safe way to go.

Counters

Magnezone is the number one counter to any Bronzong that lacks Earthquake. If Earthquake is absent, Heatran can KO Bronzong with its Fire-type move of choice, should that be Overheat or Lava Plume. Infernape can most likely OHKO a slightly weakened down Bronzong with its Flare Blitz.

Gyarados can come in on a Gyro Ball/Earthquake and Taunt Bronzong before it can do anything else, then proceed to Dragon Dance. Blissey can wall sets that lack Explosion. The rare, Fire Blast using and Trick Room abusing Slowbro is slower than Bronzong so it can hit first with Trick Room active. Finally, Pokémon like Weezing and Dusknoir can stop it and give it a burn with Will-O-Wisp, making its Gyro Ball hurt just like a table-tennis ball. However, most Bronzong counters are afraid of Hypnosis, no one likes being asleep.

Opinion & Notes

Though Bronzong's Defense and Special Defense are pretty awesome, its HP is rather low and that's why if you raise a Bronzong, you should always invest 252 EPs on its HP. The problem is that Bronzong suffers from what they call "The Cresselia Syndrome", the lack of a reliable recovery move that is. Although it can withstand some hits due to its resistances and immunities, it has no way to heal itself except for Rest. Leaving its recovery problems aside, its movepool is quite large, containing useful moves like Gyro Ball, Hypnosis and Explosion. While, at first glance, it may seem inferior to other defensive minded Pokémon like Swampert and Forretress, it's actually quite good. What I have to say is that you'll never realise its potential if you don't use it first.

Special thanks to our member, KingDedede, for writing most of this guide.

Permanent link |

←Pokemon of the Week DP: Weavile - Pokemon of the Week DP: Staraptor→