taken over from Can-Eh-John
[OVERVIEW]
With access to Shell Smash and respectable offensive stats, Barbaracle is a very potent sweeper in NU. This is furthered by Tough Claws, which gives essentially a Life Orb boost to contact moves such as Razor Shell and Cross Chop. In contrast to Carracosta, which shares Barbaracle's typing and role as a Shell Smash sweeper, Barbaracle has a significantly higher base Speed that allows it to outspeed the majority of Choice Scarf users after a boost, while Carracosta has to rely on Aqua Jet to hit them. However, Carracosta's combination of higher Defense and Solid Rock gives it more opportunities to set up, and its access to Aqua Jet gives Carracosta more early- and mid-game presence than Barbaracle. Barbaracle is also severely troubled by the abundance of Grass-types in NU, which put immense amounts of pressure on it.
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Razor Shell
move 3: Return
move 4: Earthquake / Grass Knot
item: Shuca Berry
ability: Tough Claws
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Shell Smash doubles Barbaracle's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed at the cost of lowering its defenses. Razor Shell is boosted by Tough Claws and is Barbaracle's primary STAB attack, hitting neutral and super effective targets for heavy damage. Return has solid neutral coverage overall, hitting most Pokemon that resist Water for decent damage, and it is also boosted by Tough Claws. Earthquake, despite not being boosted by Tough Claws, OHKOes Garbodor after a boost and avoids Rocky Helmet and Aftermath damage as well as hitting Lanturn hard. Grass Knot hits Quagsire, which would otherwise wall this set due to Unaware, as well as dealing substantial damage to Carracosta. Cross Chop can be used to hit Ferroseed, Miltank, and Poliwrath.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack and Speed investment is used to hit as hard and as quickly as possible. An Adamant nature is preferred over Jolly, as even with a neutral Speed nature Barbaracle hits 470 Speed after a Shell Smash, outpacing a significant portion of the metagame after a boost. However, a Jolly nature can be used if outspeeding positive-natured base 95 Speed Choice Scarf users such as Haunter and Jynx is important. Shuca Berry significantly weakens damage taken from Ground-type attacks, allowing Barbaracle to set up on Normal- and Flying-types such as Tauros, Kangaskhan, and Archeops, which carry Earthquake for coverage. Lum Berry can be used to avoid status conditions from the likes of Miltank, Weezing, and Misdreavus. Tough Claws significantly boosts the power of all of Barbaracle's contact moves.
Usage Tips
========
Barbaracle will often only get one opportunity in the match to set up, so make sure that you have either removed or significantly weakened its checks and counters first. With a Shuca Berry, Barbaracle can set up on Pokemon that would otherwise severely damage it with Earthquake, such as Archeops and Tauros. Set up on Choice-locked Pokemon such as Pyroar locked into Fire Blast and Scyther locked into Aerial Ace or against weaker defensive Pokemon such as Audino and Mawile.
Team Options
========
Wallbreakers such as Sawk, Tauros, and Haunter are good teammates, as they can wear down defensive cores for Barbaracle to sweep late-game. Fire- and Ice-types such as Pyroar, Magmortar, Aurorus, and Jynx act as wallbreakers and also threaten Grass-types, which are problematic for Barbaracle. Bulky Water-types are bothersome for Barbaracle, so Grass-types such as Lilligant, Cacturne, and Vileplume make for good teammates to cover them, and Vileplume also checks Grass-types thanks to its secondary Poison typing. Dual screens support from Uxie and Memento support from Jumpluff and Uxie give Barbaracle more opportunities to set up. Healing Wish support from Mesprit, Lilligant, and Musharna is helpful to potentially give Barbaracle a second chance at sweeping.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Barbaracle can utilize a Stealth Rock lead set, as it has access to support moves such as Taunt and Endeavor. Although it is generally outperformed at this role by Archeops, Barbaracle's value as a lead comes from its Water-type STAB moves to target common Stealth Rock users such as Rhydon and its neutrality to Water unlike Archeops. Stone Edge hits Grass-types and some Water-types harder than Barbaracle's other main attacks, but it is generally not worth the moveslot, as Return is almost always more reliable thanks to its perfect accuracy and the fact that it is just as strong as a STAB Stone Edge. A Choice Scarf or Choice Band can be used with Switcheroo to cripple defensive Pokemon. White Herb can be used to restore Barbarace's defenses after a Shell Smash, which is useful to soften the damage taken from priority attacks.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Tangela, Vileplume, Gourgeist, and Lilligant are major threats to Barbaracle. The first three all sport excellent physical bulk and resist Barbaracle's Water-type attacks and threaten back with a 4x super effective STAB move. Lilligant cannot take boosted attacks, unlike the others, but it acts as more of an offensive check to Barbaracle.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Pelipper, Prinplup, and Poliwrath resist Barbaracle's Water-type attacks and can prey off of Barbaracle's subpar Special Defense and also threaten to cripple it with a burn from Scald. Poliwrath also has STAB Vacuum Wave to pick off a weakened Barbaracle. Quagsire walls all non-Grass Knot variants thanks to Unaware.
**Physically Bulky Pokemon**: Bulky Pokemon such as Musharna, Uxie, Weezing, and Gurdurr can all take a boosted hit from Barbaracle given that they are sufficiently healthy. Musharna can hinder Barabarcle's sweeping capabilities with a Thunder Wave or Yawn, Uxie can cripple Barbaracle with Thunder Wave or OHKO it with Giga Drain after the Special Defense drop given by Shell Smash or after Stealth Rock, Weezing can cripple it with Will-O-Wisp, and Gurdurr can OHKO Barbaracle with the combination of Drain Punch and Mach Punch.
Last edited:
