Pokémon Barbaracle

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Anyone know if you can breed Frost Breath onto him yet? Frost Breath is always critical and with his sniper bringing it to 3x instead of 2x damage this brings the base power from 60 to 180 with 90 accuracy.
Sniper just multiplies crits by 1.5, so Frost Breath would just hit for 135. Which is still really good... on a Pokemon with a good SpA stat. Barbaracle is not one of those Pokemon.
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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Alright so i've been giving Barbaracle a bit of a shot to see how it does in practice, and i've been pretty impressed by how its been doing so far. Barbaracle's decent all around 72/115/86 bulk makes setting up a Shell Smash more than possible, and once Barbaracle gets going it can be pretty hard to stop (as most Shell Smash sweepers are of course). Tough Claws is a good extra to boost Razor Shell and Cross Chop's base power too of course (although personally i use Earthquake over Cross Chop a lot to do as much damage to Aegislash as possible, who's a bit more dangerous than Ferrothorn imo). Outside of pure Shell Smash sweeping, it should be noted that Barbaracle makes a pretty good offensive check to Talonflame as well, who seems to be quite threatening at the moment. It doesn't really care about either of Talonflame's STABs and can easily OHKO the bird in return with Razor Shell or Stone Edge, so thats a cool plus. As mentioned above the main problem i've been having with Barbaracle is that Stone Edge happens to miss at the worst times possible (and Razor Shell apparently but that hasn't happened to me yet), and this can make or break a clean sweep at times. Still though, i'd definitely suggest you all give Barbaracle a shot if you're reading this, its a really solid Pokemon and i don't think you'll be disappointed.
 

meddle

boomer user
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Decided to try this thing out on Wi-Fi and its been pretty fun since every like every team is running a Gale Wings Talonflame, which basically allows for a free setup. As others have said though, lacks immediate power, even after a SS.
 
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Seeing as it gets Pickpocket (aparently) it has a surprising amount of synergy with a white herb shell smash set (use the herb up, then steal an item from the opponent). Whether that's actually worth the drop in damage from tough claws remains to be seen though.
 
While I still say ToughClaws is superior you can run Sniper with SS so you can have StoneEdge. Personally i dont run SE on my ToughClaws set favoring Earthquake but its doable
 
Seeing as it gets Pickpocket (aparently) it has a surprising amount of synergy with a white herb shell smash set (use the herb up, then steal an item from the opponent). Whether that's actually worth the drop in damage from tough claws remains to be seen though.
Pickpocket isn't Magician; it activates when Barbaracle gets hit, which isn't supposed to happen after a Shell Smash. And you really don't want Barbaracle to risk stealing a Choice item.
 
I'm seeing him as a more offensive Carracosta, who didn't do too well last gen. Babaracle does have higher SDef but lower def. He hits harder and has a slightly different movepool, which I hope keeps him from the same fate as our old turtle friend.
 
I'm seeing him as a more offensive Carracosta, who didn't do too well last gen. Babaracle does have higher SDef but lower def. He hits harder and has a slightly different movepool, which I hope keeps him from the same fate as our old turtle friend.
Carracosta doesnt have 2 good offensive abilities as well and if he wanted to KO grass types had to run IceBeam even on a physical set. Barbaracle can run X-Scissor or PoisonJab and both moves can get boosted by ToughClaws. I think Barbaracle is just the Physical Omastar and thats why he can go higher than the ShellSmasher in 5th gen NU
 
Carracosta doesnt have 2 good offensive abilities as well and if he wanted to KO grass types had to run IceBeam even on a physical set. Barbaracle can run X-Scissor or PoisonJab and both moves can get boosted by ToughClaws. I think Barbaracle is just the Physical Omastar and thats why he can go higher than the ShellSmasher in 5th gen NU
That's why I said he's a more offensive version. I would really like barabacle to succeed, but I'm just not sold on ou. It could be a great uu smasher, able to outspeed scarf darm at +2 and ko a large portion of uu at +2 attack. We will have to see how the tiers settle though, as darm might rise or drop for example.
 
Pickpocket isn't Magician; it activates when Barbaracle gets hit, which isn't supposed to happen after a Shell Smash. And you really don't want Barbaracle to risk stealing a Choice item.
Unless Pickpocket overwrites the item you're holding stealing a choice item won't be a problem because you're not immediately locked into the move upon receiving a choice item
 
Unless Pickpocket overwrites the item you're holding stealing a choice item won't be a problem because you're not immediately locked into the move upon receiving a choice item
Not immediately, but even being locked into the next move is not good for a sweeper.
 

lmitchell0012

Wi-Fi Blacklisted
I don't understand why this thing doesn't learn waterfall. Gamefreak creates such cool pokemon, but they always manage to ruin them in some way. Stay classy Gamefreak.
 
This thing. It has a hand for a face.

...Well. The only Shell Smasher of Gen 6, and its only really viable moves are low accuracy. I'm just glad this thing isn't forced to have Hustle. 64% accurate Stone Edge and Cross Chop would be hell.
 
Not immediately, but even being locked into the next move is not good for a sweeper.
but the only thing that ever runs choice items are designed to sweep. You take It, you neuter their Offensive threats and +2 anything from barbaracle can make some holes, It'll be even worse for the opponent if it's a Choice BAND
 
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lmitchell0012

Wi-Fi Blacklisted
What do we know so far about this guys egg moves?? I'd be curious to see if he gets ice punch. He seems like the kind of pokemon who would get it.
 
Barbaracle looks like it might be very viable. It may not have the initial titanic Defense that Cloyster has, but what it does have is usable mixed defenses before it Smashes. I'll be beating the dead horse by saying that the initial post should remove ALL mentions of Nature Power and replace it with the actual Earthquake since Barbaracle can learn it through TM (GODLY thing, too. Granted you miss out on a Tough Claws boost with Earthquake, it's still nice to learn a reliable move). It definitely needs support to pull off, though. Electric, Fighting, Ground, and especially Grass Pokemon won't allow Barbaracle to sweep as easily unless it runs a coverage move to go against all of them. Ice Punch would be an interesting move to see (kind of sad that so far it isn't, yet it can learn Ice Beam and Blizzard).
Whoa...this thing has Switcheroo as an Egg Move (thanks, Serebii!)? Umm...odd move to put on this thing, so...well, it'd be gimmicky. I mean, Trick and Switcheroo work better on Pokemon like Reuniclus since they have Magic Guard, so...I don't see Switcheroo on Barbaracle anytime soon.
 
I've run him a few times with Smash, EQ, Cross Chop, Stone Edge. He's very hard to deal with since he's difficult to OHKO if you have White Herb. You can easily find a smash too with all the Talonflame running around. You have perfect coverage with those 3 moves and I only think tank ground types can take you on. If you have a reliable answer for Aegislash, then you can potentially drop EQ for Razor Shell but I don't think that will help much vs Lando-T or Hippowdon.
 

lmitchell0012

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So I finally managed to breed my flawless binacle last night (adamant). Going to go for jolly next. What would be a good EV spread to use for adamant nature?
 

Okuu

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-snip- I'll be beating the dead horse by saying that the initial post should remove ALL mentions of Nature Power and replace it with the actual Earthquake since Barbaracle can learn it through TM (GODLY thing, too. -snip-
Nature Power actually becomes Tri-Attack in WiFi battles now.
 
Nature Power actually becomes Tri-Attack in WiFi battles now.
Now isn't that sad. I was more referencing the part where it says on Serebii that Barbaracle can learn Earthquake through TM (that and a couple have posted before). Nature Power became useless and Sawsbuck is going to be...nerfed...?
 
I haven't been able to test it out yet, but how does Sticky Barb + Pickpocket work? A combination of them would indicate a switch of items on physical contact made by the opponent. I was thinking of make Barbaracle a Defensive Pokemon with Toxic, Protect. Maybe Fling to be able to steal more items. What do you guys think?
 
Now isn't that sad. I was more referencing the part where it says on Serebii that Barbaracle can learn Earthquake through TM (that and a couple have posted before). Nature Power became useless and Sawsbuck is going to be...nerfed...?
It's a good option for Aurorus as Ice STAB, although if/when Snow Warning Aurorus shows up, Blizzard will be better.
 
this dudes a good talonflame check. switch him in and eat either of his STABs, then on the switch out get a free shell smash. from there though he still gets murdered by priority. Real shame he doesn't get aqua jet or something
 
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