Just wondering what you folks here in the battle tower thought was a more useful ability for Bronzong: Levitate, or Heatproof. They each cover a major weakness. I was considering using a Bronzong as a tank in a lineup and was having trouble deciding.

Thanks guys,

Physalis

And it's that sort of thinking why nobody ever uses EQ on a Bronzong.

Tell me; would you 'waste' a turn using EQ to find out if it's got Levitate or not? Or would you opt with definately doing SOME damage but not as much than taking the gamble?

The latter of course, because everyone assumes 'zong will have Levitate.

So, if you use Heatproof, you technically have TWO immunities, because no-one will be foolish enough to EQ an 'obviously' Levitate-wielding Pokemon.

The only drawback is that Bronzong can't switch into predicted EQ attacks, but that's all there is, I think.

Spikes? Bronzong would still take damage from that, and when your opponent sees that, they can use EQ safely. I think Levitate is the safest option.

Hm, I hadn't considered that...unless you spun them out of the way...damn, that's quite a large drawback, lol. I'd still go with Heatproof anyway because I rarely have to deal with Spikes. I don't know what it is, but I don't very often take on SSTR teams. *shrugs*

I had this discussion with someone a while back...not on these forums...anyway...


I believe that as Obs said, you should go with Heatproof. My reason being that most people would assume that you have on levitate so you should choose the latter, just to gain an extra turn of them using a fire attack.

But if Bronzong is your main physical wall, that could be quite a drawback. Heatproof is useful to help Bronzong wall attackers with Fire moves, but it's so easy to slip up, or to incorrectly predict and reveal that your physical wall takes SE from the most common physical attack.

Anyone with experience in battling competitively would be able to tell that their Flare Blitz/Flamethrower/whatever fire attack is doing half as much damage as its supposed to and be able to make the conclusion that it's a Heatproofer instead of a Levitater. Good in theory, not so good in practice.

I repeat.

well no you cant tell....it'll still say super effective when you do a fire move...however, some ppl make the conclusion that it's heatproof by damage....IE: if an infernape flamethrower only took away around 1/4 of bronzong's HP, he can defintely think something was up...however it's just a definte gamble when using a heatproof bronzong...

lol well here's my story of how i used my heatproofed brozong.... I paired it with my arcanine(flash fire) so that it would throw someone off completely about it being heatproofed...they thought it had levitate so they didnt even think about using EQ on it hahaha and the trick worked perfectly...it's mostly how you play a heatproofed bronzong, Play it ALMOST as if it had levitate as an ability..

You could use Bronzong in a Rain Dance Team (or even teach this move to Bronzong) so your opponent will think you are protecting him from Fire attacks and will "deduce" that it has Levitate and, therefore, it won't EQ you.

Ha that means they ALREADY fell for the trick. That's the point of having Heatproof. Do you know that a Flare Blitz from an Infernape is almost a confrimed 1HKO for a Bronzong? Having Heatproof prevents that from happening and if it's a Trick Room Bronzong that this will turn out a even better. The main point of having Heatproof is to Guard against these Fire Attacks especially if you CAN'T afford a switch. It takes 1 turn for the opponent to find out that he actually used a Fire Attack on a Heatproof Bronzong and that 1 turn could be the Defining term of the battle.

Those are all interesting points, but I'm gonna cling to the whole 'kinda want my physical tank to be able to switch in on an earthquake for free rather than take normal damage from fire attacks' feeling

I mean it's much more dangerous to use heatproof, and I usually fight people more than once and want my strength to be consistent and not because of a gimmick they figured out for round two.

If heatproof gets activated you run high risk of being in trouble from then on out. If it never gets activated, then what the hell good was it?

How should I put this...hmmm...people use Fire Attacks on Bronzong ALL the time cos they don't want to take the risk. Do you know what I mean? So rest assured that Heatproof WILL have a chance to activate. Of course, I'm only saying Heatproof is better because people use Fire attacks on it all the time. I don't remember seeing any of my friends using Earthquake on my Bronzong which is easily understood because my Bronzong, like the thousands which other trainers use out there, has Levitate as an ability. So if that's the case, don't you think Heatproof would be a better ability now?

I think the common argument against it goes as folows:

I have out an Aerodactyl.
You have out your Heatproof Bronzong.

I use Fire Fang, because I know it's a super effective attack.
You use Something or other.

Bronzong doesn't take a lot of damage. I use my own knowledge to think "hm, that should have done over 50% or whatever." Perhaps it is a Heat Proof one? (If I'm still in doubt, I could check metalkid's damage calculator and see that it must be a heatproof one.)

Next turn, I use EQ.
Bronzong faints.

However, that's only if the trainer without the Bronzong is brilliant at mental calculations / estimating how much damage an attack should have done. But then, if you're not at the level whereby you should be able to see that x attack should do roughly y damage, then you're probably not 'in the know' enough to know of Bronzong's Levitate ability. All the thick trainer will see is a steel type. EQ, bam.

But I'd still use Heatproof for the novelty of getting one over my opponents. And if I had to, I could switch to a flier / levitater, it's not as if 'zong loses any stat boosts, is it?

I believe there are some damage calculation errors here. A Fire fang followed by an Earthquake would NOT ko a Bronzong. The damage calculations here have been made with a Bronzong of HP of 337 and Def 300. This is my Bronzong, and it's Def is much lower when compared with the Typical Physical Walling Bronzong. Anyway Aerodactlys aren't the the ones to fear out there. It's the Infernapes that u should be more afraid of.

You're right, it wouldn't KO the Bronzong. Actually, Aerodactyl is a bad example here, mainly because it will get totally screwed by Gyro Ball. In that case, you would have downed the fossil, but you better have a main physical tank, because Bronzong won't be around any longer now that its EQ weakness has been exposed somewhat.

Remember, although fire attacks are vital to KOing key steel types (like Bronzong), Earthquake is still the most common move in the game. Having a defensive Pokemon that can handle Earthquakes would be in the best interest of many battlers, and that's where Levitate wins. ^_^

The reason they use fire is because levitate is a better ability. Besides, you're acting like if it always had heatproof no one would learn to eq it. That does not make it better to use than levitate.

If Levitate wasn't being used eq would be used all the time against bronzongs and doing more harm to the usefulness of a physical tank. People naturally use the more effective one.

Heatproof is so very counter to the standard Bronzong, it'd just never be as useful if you made the best of the confusion and more special oriented defenses. If you avoid the fire damage to keep from getting found out then it's useless, if you Do get found out it's more than useless. Even if you never get caught you lose the immunity to ground and gain a physical weakness, so no more switching in on a physical sweeper's eq. That's a lot of long term risk for a potential short term gain.

Even if it did save you in the end, it'd be rather hard to prove that levitate would not have been more useful. You'd need extensive knowledge of your opponent to come to the decision that heatproof would be more effective and your opponent would have to have an unusual team.

Both are good abilities. I'm not saying Levitate is better, but it's definitely the safer option, plus the Spikes thing.

I'd go with Heatproof. Like the second person to post said, they're probably not going to use Earthquake on you (although I will muahahahaha)

During a battle, eventually you'll know your opponent's team. So if you use Bronzong on your team, chances are they'll know eventually too. Someone can deduce that a Bronzong doesn't have Levitate simply by not seeing their foe sending them in at the predicted times.

Not being able to switch into an Earthquake kinda sucks. That, and not everyone has a (good) fire attacker. I had an Adamant CBmence use Flamethrower on Bronzong, but it barely scratched it. I wonder if it was Heatproof...

Example: I have Metagross/Garchomp vs. a Heatran/something weak to Earthquake.

I use Earthquake. Huh? He didn't switch to Bronzong? He switched to Vaporeon instead? Why? Bronzong could've easily switched it. *Unless* - it's heatproof! Dun dun duuuunnnn!

Why I would use Earthquake if I knew that already? Idk, thinking ahead a few turns never really work out in my favor.

Heatproof is still useful, but I'd say levitate is better.