Pokémon Barbaracle

[Electrolyte]

Barbaracle

Pokedex #689

Types:

/

Base Stats:
x / x / x / x / x / x


Abilities:

Sniper- Critical hits will do 2× damage instead of 1.5×.

Tough Claw- Tough Claws boosts the power of contact moves. (by possibly 1.5x)

(Hidden) Pickpocket- Whenever an opponent makes contact with the user of Pickpocket, it steals the opponent's held item. It will fail if the user is holding an item or if either Pokémon is behind a Substitute.


Notable Moves:

Shell Smash
Stone Edge
X-Scissor
Poison Jab
Nature Power
Power-Up Punch
Surf
Rock Polish
Hone Claws
Night Slash
Razor Shell
Cross Chop
Skull Bash
(More moves might be confirmed soon)


General Analysis

Barbaracle seems as if it will have a very profound impact on the XY metagame. Its stats are not only very solid, with a powerful 115 base Attack, 80 Speed, and very solid 70 / 115 / 100 Defenses (these are still estimates; exact stats will be determined soon), but it also has a very diverse and powerful movepool that will definitely make it a top tier threat if its stats stay as high as they are estimated to be. Because of its Rock-typing, it will also receive a 50% boost in Special Defense in Sandstorm, making it the ultimate bulky offensive setup sweeper. Shell Smash is what makes it seem so great, boosting its already high Attack and Speed stats to godly levels. It has the bulk to sponge attacks in order to grab its boost, and the introduction of Fairy-types / nerf of Fighting-types will definitely make its job a lot easier. Barbaracle has awesome power and coverage to back it up too- it gets the infamous Edge"Quake" combo in STAB Stone Edge and Nature Power, along with nice coverage in Razor Shell / X-Scissor / Poison Jab / Cross Chop. Tough Claws, its ability, packs it an even greater punch by boosting all of its physical contact moves. (by how much is currently unknown.) With terrific stats, a wide movepool, and access to the godly Shell Smash, Barbaracle will definitely be a powerhouse to be reckoned with.


Possible Set

name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Cross Chop
move 4: Razor Shell / Poison Jab
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry / White Herb
ability: Tough Claw
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

This set will probably be Barbaracle's standard Shell Smash sweeper set. Using its natural bulk, Leftovers, and 4 HP EVs, Barbaracle will be able to sponge a few attacks as it sets up Shell Smash and begins to sweep. 252 Atk / 252 Spe / Jolly maximizes its offensive potential, letting it fire off STAB Stone Edges and Cross Chops with tremendous force. EdgeChop is Barbaracle's main attacking moves, and hit almost every thing neutrally. They are all it really needs to crush everything after Shell Smash. Its last slot can be filled by a coverage move. Razor Shell is great secondary STAB that's stronger than Cross Chop and hits Landorus-T / Gliscor a lot harder than Stone Edge. Poison Jab can also work to nab Grass-types that try to switch in and stop Barbaracle from sweeping or setting up. It gets a boost in Tough Claw and also has a chance of poisoning foes as well, leaving them crippled even should Barbaracle fall. This set gives Barbaracle massive amounts of power, speed, and offense after a Shell Smash, and turns it into a frightening sweeper.


Checks / Counters

In order to counter Barbaracle, catching it before it Shell Smashes is extremely important. Fighting-types are probably going to be the bane of Barbaracle, especially Toxicroak, who resists all of Barbaracle's attacks. Grass-types as well can easily force even boosted Barbaracle out unless it carries Poison Jab. Bulky physically defensive pokemon such as Hippowdown, Gliscor or Landorus-T will also give Barbaracle problems, but they too must watch out for Razor Shell.




As of right now, Barbaracle does not have a legitimate enough support movepool for it to be able to take the role of a support Pokemon, but it definitely does have the bulk, so we shall see if new moves for it are discovered / confirmed. Thankfully, its Shell Smash set is already more than enough to give it a solid spot in the metagame.


Final Thoughts

Barbaracle seems really solid and powerful, and it's definitely a Pokemon I want to try out. It's got bulk, power, speed, and coverage, making it a reliable sweeper. What do you guys think?

 

[Talpr0ne]

Nature Power now becomes Tri-Attack in Wifi battles. Barbaracle seems one that could get Earthquake thought, and if not Cross Chop still provides similar coverage, so there are little issues whit this.

 

[Electrolyte]

Oh gosh, thanks for the heads up. I have edited the set accordingly and replaced Nature Power with Cross Chop.

 

[termi]

Using leftovers on a Shell Smash set isn't really effective. Use either White Herb to restore his bulk (allowing him to take Mach Punches etc) or Life Orb for that extra bit of oomph. Leftovers really don't add anything as he's supposed to wreck as much as possible, which can't be done as well when using lefties.

 

[Molk]

Damn barbaracle looks pretty interesting/strong to be honest. When i first caught a glimpse at binacle i thought it was either fake or was going to end up as a throwaway mon if it was in fact real, but damn, barbaracle really surprised me. Not only do i like its design much more than Binacle's (kinda subjective i know...) but it gets pretty good stats all around, a solid ability and quite a few moves it can use effectively with it. Of course the thing that made Barbaracle look really great was Shell Smash though, it looks like it has enough bulk to set it up at least once during the match, and it definitely appreciates the +2 Attack and Speed boosts to help it get a sweep off. At the very least it looks a lot better than the majority of Shell Smash Pokemon we have now. I can't wait to see how Barbaracle performs in Pokemon x/y tbh. By the way, do we know just how much Tough Claws boosts the power of contact moves? if its a significant boost thats another really big boon for barnacle (like 1.3-1.5).

EDIT: also agreeing with Robert Alfons that i probably wouldn't use Leftovers on Shell Smash Barbaracle. Personally i'd either use White Herb to remove the Shell Smash drops and make it easier to take priority as mentioned. Or a Lum Berry to give that nice one time safety net against random Will-O-Wisps and Thunder Waves. Life Orb could be an option too but if the Tough Claws boost is significant enough i have a feeling barnacle wouldn't even need the extra power.

 

[Electrolyte]

I don't think there has been any confirmation about the amount of boost Tough Claw provides, though I will update this thread as soon as I see something.

Regarding the item for the set, White Herb / Life Orb is ok as well, but keep in mind that Barbaracle actually has enough bulk to shrug off most priority attacks (it can actually survive Jolly Lefties Brelooom TechniPunch about 40% of the time at -1) I prefer Leftovers on my setup sweeper sets mainly because of how it does grant a bit of healing, but White Herb sounds great too. Life Orb is another option as well, but just be careful of the fact that Barbaracle can be OHKO'd by CB Scizor BP and TechniLoom Mach Punch after just one attack. I've made edits to the OP accordingly.

Edit @ below:

jahordon: Cross Chop / Stone Edge are near perfect coverage by themselves. Plus, cross chop hits Ferrothorn. Poison Jab / X-Scissor is fairly redundant coverage other than Fairy-types.

AJC: OP has been edited accordingly. it doesn't affect Barbaracle's viability though.

Pocket: I'll make a note.

 

[Jahordon]

X-Scissor, Razor Shell, and Stone Edge hits everything. Any reason to take Cross Chop over X-Scissor?

 

[AJC]

also crit nerf likely means sniper now only boosts to double instead of triple. (gen 6 crits now deal 50% more damage instead of double)

 

[Pocket]

I read somewhere that Tough Claws boost qualified moves by 50%, similarly to a Technician boost, but don't quote me on it. Same boost percentage for Mega Launcher and Strong Jaw.

Since crits only do 1.5x damage now, Sniper's effect may have possibly been reduced to 2x.

Greninja AJC

 

[ebeast]

Jahordon
Cross Chop would be a way for Barbaracle to OHKO Ferrothorn at +2 while also hitting Keldeo neutrally.(If Tough Claws is a 50% boost then Cross Chop does 101% min at +2 with Jolly and no boosting item) X-Scissor doesn't help with anything really; Breloom/Chesnaught are hit harder by Cross Chop than X-Scissor and all the new Grass-types are hit by Stone Edge, none who can really take the +2 hit anyways.

 

[Jahordon]

Jahordon
Cross Chop would be a way for Barbaracle to OHKO Ferrothorn at +2 while also hitting Keldeo neutrally.(If Tough Claws is a 50% boost then Cross Chop does 101% min at +2 with Jolly and no boosting item) X-Scissor doesn't help with anything really; Breloom/Chesnaught are hit harder by Cross Chop than X-Scissor and all the new Grass-types are hit by Stone Edge, none who can really take the +2 hit anyways.

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

[zzecretasianmanzz]

Fighting this...
thing...
in the Elite 4 showed some of its major flaws.
Like you said, fighting is its major bane. But I say that with that 80 speed and 115 Def, it's not going to be able to withstand a physical hit from a Lucario or with its 100 SpD, a hit from Focus Blast, Grass moves in general, etc. Simply put, it's gonna have a damn hard time getting that Shell Smash up, and when you do, a Mach punch will easily one-shot it. Just my two cents.

 

[Mymom234]

Why isn't this guy called Bibarian? Anyways, I feel like sniper could be abused well with a set like this: cross chop/stone edge/ hone claws/ night slash, scope lens for more likely crits, with attack and speed investement. Shell smash lowers this fragile thang's defenses even more, so instead I went with hone claws for the accuracy buff. Really we have to wait and see how much damage tough claws boosts though

 

[radica]

Strong/Tough Claws only boosts 20%. Stone Edge is not a contact move.

It does not learn Earthquake.

It's Cloyster with better Attack/SDef/Speed stats but lower damage moves and 80% hit rate that trades away Rock weakness for Ground and 4x Grass.

White Herb/Life Orb/Focus Sash are ideal for it.

Mega Launcher and Strong Jaw are 50% though.

 

[ginganinja]

I don't like this thing that much, as I used a Shell Smash set vs kd and it did sub par damage. Sure, I wasn't using Life Orb, but I couldn't "one shot" his Garchomp (it was prolly defensive but w/e) and I felt let down. Its potentially not going to be a "bad" pokemon, but I don't think its going to be amazing either.

 

[Electrolyte]

Yeah, Ginga's prediction is probably right. My excitement was based off of the fact that it got EdgeQuake, which it now unfortunately does not, and it must rely on two 80% accurate moves in order to attack.

Still, on paper, Barbaracle seems pretty top tier. Its stats are still terrific and its movepool above average. Unfortunately Rock is kind of a bad defensive type but oh well.

 

[Lovelace]

I've been using this thing and it's been pretty strong, basically it's a fast physical omastar. Great physical bulk and a few key resistances give it lots of opportunity to set up. I've been using it with sand for residual damage and spdef boost.

 

[Mattman324]

So it's a Kabutops that uses Shell Smash instead of Swift Swim? That's viable! Especially if it gets EQ (which it should, we need someone to test this.), this thing has a potential spot on good teams.

Though I doubt it will be higher than BL.

 

[radica]

My biggest problem is that being weak to Ground is a lot worse than being weak to Rock for Cloyster which has the high defense for Rock moves. Also, 4x Grass.

 

[alexwolf]

My biggest problem is that being weak to Ground is a lot worse than being weak to Rock for Cloyster which has the high defense for Rock moves. Also, 4x Grass.

Most Ground moves are physical as well and not being weak to Rock means being neutral to Stealth Rock. Not to mention that special Ground moves do almost the same damage to Cloyster as they do to Barbaracle due to the first's pathetic special bulk. Barbaracle has definitely the best typing to setup out of those two.

 

[Upstart]

Does he not learn waterfall?

 

[TwoBit]

Seems like having a more difficult time setting up is preferable to not be able to sweep effectively after setting up.

Have you considered running Return for coverage? Irrc, it's a contact move as well, so it should end up being a 120 BP move after tough claws. Normal may not any super effective coverage, but strong and reliable neutral coverage can be very useful as well. It can for, instance, help Babaracle get past Toxicroak.

 

[Drathmar]

So, I saw someone say he does not learn Earthquake, and it is not listed but they are mistaken:

 

[Picollo]

iam curently breeding it, its a fantastic mon i loved it with the first sight...btw this guy looks like it should learn ice punch (it learns ice beam ) but it might be an egg move :/

 

[Mattman324]

Most likely an Egg Move, putting Binnacle in the realm of Wooper and Gastly in the "HOW DOES IT DO THAT" category.