PokéBase - Pokémon Q&A
0 votes
2,287 views

Hey everyone who sees this post!
FYI, it is 2020 VGC format, doubles, ranked battles.
Prevoiusly, (more like 2016 VGC Comp.), I've seen a lot of bronzongs in usage. Back then, it was paired alongside Kyogre for a trick room team.
My questions is, can bronzon also become a viable trick room setter in this season? It has access to gyro ball which can be crucial. Additionally, it has the ability levitate to predict ground type attacks and switch-in or scare off ground type moves. It also has relatively nice bulk.
To be more specific:

Q1) Bronzong's moveset?
Q2) Viability as a trick room mon?
Q3) Who can effectively be its teammates? (Hatterene is nice. However, it shares the same psychic typing. Not sure if it will be as effective).
Q4) What are its prospects in this season? If it's terrible, what can replace/substitute for it?

Thanks!

by
edited by

1 Answer

2 votes
 
Best answer

Hello again! I’ll try and answer your questions.

1. Bronzong’s Moveset
Referring to Pikalytics, almost all Bronzong run trick room (98.9%), so it’s primarily a trick room setter. It’s next most used move is Body Press, which allows it to not have to invest in attack. You can also use Iron Defense to further boost its power. Gyro Ball is up there like you mentioned, but after Body Press comes Bulldoze. This has been seen on a lot of trick room setters in 2020 to proc a weakness policy on the team’s sweeper. Other things you can do with Bronzong are dual screen support, steel roller to get rid of psyspam/Rillaboom, and Ally Switch shenanigans.

2. Viability as a Trick Room Setter

The two most popular trick room setters right now are dusclops and Porygon-2, both of which have more bulk than Bronzong. Plus, dusclops has basically the same utility as Bronzong- Trick room, weakness policy proc, ally switch and general annoyance, plus better bulk. However, Bronzong has access to his item slot, so it can use mental herbs/resistance berries to further help trick room go up. Not to mention his 2 immunities to ground and poison.

3. Good Teammates for Bronzong
To recap question 2, Bronzong is good for weakness policy Pokemon, slow Pokémon, and Pokémon with powerful all-target ground/poison moves.
With all this, I’d say he could be a good partner for Rhyperior (and Steelix, but it’s not as powerful) to proc weakness policy and allow free earthquakes, and dragalge, to similarly proc weakness policy and allow free sludge waves. I’d argued that Bronzong is not a good teammate for hatterene as it’s already a trick room setter, so you’re better off with the usual hatterene+ indeedee support.

4. Bronzong’s viability in 2020
I didn’t play back in 2016, but I understand that it was most likely popular because of groudon, because it could switch into a precipice blades for free. However, there’s no groudon anymore! Ground is a good type, but just not overused enough to justify using Bronzong over bulkier options like dusclops and Porygon2. There are some niche roles for it, however, like if you’re worried about taunt/Strong ghost/dark type attacks, it can be better than the eviolite users because of its item slot. In addition, it’s not as passive as dusclops offensively because of body press. It is also good with Rhyperior/Dragalgae, vas I mentioned.

Overall, Bronzong is a solid Trick Room setter that’s usually outclassed by bulkier options, but it has some niche roles.

Hope I helped!

by
edited by
At it once again, answering all my questions. What a legend.
No problem! These are good thought exercises. I honestly never thought of Bronzong + Dragalage before and now I really want to try it!
Bronzong is also pretty badly outclassed by male Indeedee. Indeedee has psychic surge, so it can provide team support without using any moves. It can learn imprison to stop opponents from ending the trick room early. Indeedee also has higher special attack, so it can attack when trick room and psychic terrain are both set up.
Yup. The only benefit of Bronzong is more bulk, weakness policy proc (Indeedee could technically even do this to both Rhyperior and Dragalgae, but is really fast so not the best synergy in trick room, plus high Sp. Atk would probably do to much damage) and immunities to some multi-target moves. Oranguru could even do the same thing with telepathy (it gets bulldoze as well) but isn’t as bulky as Bronzong.