[OVERVIEW]
Barbaracle is a powerful Pokemon with access to the coveted move Shell Smash, making it one of the most feared threats in the tier. With decent defensive stats Barbaracle is able to set up a Shell Smash on most defensive Pokemons like: Garbodor (without Seed Bomb), Golbat, Mega-Audino and Aromatisse. It's Water- and Rock- typing gives it very few defensive checks, especially in conjunction with Rockium-Z. However, faster Pokemon such as Sceptile, Rotom-C, Whimsicott and Virizion all outspeed and have the ability to OHKO Barbaracle before it boosts. That being said, Barbaracle's Speed tier is able to outrun the whole tier and every viable Choice Scarf user after a boost, and thus is quite difficult to revenge kill.
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Razor Shell
move 3: Return
move 4: Stone Edge / Grass Knot
item: Rockium Z / White Herb
ability: Tough Claws
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Shell Smash boosts Barbaracle's offensive stats and speed greatly, allowing it to outspeed every relevant Pokemon in the tier such as Sceptile, Scarf Delphox, and Cinncino. Razor Shell is Barbaracle's main Water STAB which OHKO's Pokemon like Rhydon, Steelix, and Piloswine. Return gives Barbaracle a reliable move that cannot miss and gets boosted by Tough Claws. Then as last move you can either run Stone Edge which is Barbaracle his second STAB, while this isn't really necessary to have since what you able to hit with Stone Edge you're able to hit everything with Normal Water coverage already. Stone Edge is mainly used in combination with Rockium Z so Barbaracle is able to OHKO Jellicent, Qwilfish, Uxie, Vileplume and defensive Garbodor while not taking any damage in the process. The other option to run in the last slot is Grass Knot is mainly to do heavy damage to the Water Ground types such as Seismitoad and Gastrodon which otherwise will hard check you, and it is also boosted by Tough Claws.
Set Details
========
By maximizing Attack and Speed works the best for Barbaracle to abuse the most of it's raw power after a Shell Smash. Adamant nature is to power up Barbaracles good Attack stat to even greater heights, you could run Jolly so you outspeed, Scarf Delphox and Scyther what is in some cases good but you lose out on alot of power. You wont be able to OHKO Mega-Audino with Z-Stone Edge after Stealth Rock damage for example. Tough Claws is the only good Ability on Barbaracle, it's able to boost Contact moves by 1.3 which will Boost Razor Shell, Return and Grass knot. The item Rockium Z is to make Babaracle's STAB Stone Edge even more powerful and makes some 2HKOs an OHKO. Alternatively, with White Herb you lose reset the stat drops from a Shell Smash and take priority moves easier.
Usage Tips
========
With this set it's best to find a defensive pokemon like Aromatisse, Golbat, Mega-Audino and Garbodor or offensive pokemon that not able to do alot of damage to Barbaracle such as Choice locked Fire-, Flying-type moves, Sneasel that is locked into Ice-type moves and set up on those. You should try to find pokemons on the opponents side that is able to take a hit from Barbaracle and priotize weakening these first before you try to sweep with Barbaracle. Good example is "Garbodor" although Garbodor tends to run Grass coverage to not be a free set up for Barbaracle so you should try to find out first what it's last coverage move is before you try to set up on Garbodor. Good thing to note as last is that people tend to forget Razor Shell / Return is already pretty powerful because of the Tough Claws boost so even without a +2 boost so don't hesitate if you just want to attack fearing a normal counter to Barbaracle to switch in.
Team Options
========
Memento users such as Whimsicott and Uxie work well with Barbaracle, giving the opponent -2 in both Attack and Special Attack and give Barbaracle ample setup opportunities. Fire-types such as Emboar, Houndoom and Delphox are amazing for Barbaracle as they are able to deal with the bulky Grass-types such as Ferroseed, Vileplume and Torterra. In return Barbaracle is easily able to deal with bulky Rock-types such as Rhydon what Fire-types have a hard time dealing with. Grass-types are another great option for Barbaracle, such as Virizion, Vileplume, Sceptile and Rotom-C. If you don't run Grass Knot the Grass-types are able to deal with the bulky Water-types that otherwise are able to hit a hit and probably to OHKO back. In return Barbaracle deals with the Fire-types that these Grass-types have a hard time dealing with.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Superpower is also an option to run as last to hit Ferroseed but this makes you more vulnerable to priority and weaker, as well as the fact that Ferroseed is quite rare. Subsitute is a viable option to run with Memento support, in order to avoid Will-O-Wisp and Scald from Jellicent, Slowbro, and Vaporeon respectively. Shadow Claw is an option to OHKO Slowking and Jellicent after Stealth Rock damage with +2, you don't OHKO Slowbro though. Choice Scarf can be used to get surprise kills on faster Pokémon like Sceptile, Delphox, Houndoom and Sneasel.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Grass-types**: Bulky Grass-types such as Vileplume, Gourgeist-XL, and Lurantis are able to take a hit 90% of the time from non Continental Crush Barbaracle, Ferroseed is able to take Continental Crush as well and because of Barbaracles 4x weakness to Grass you can easily OHKO it back.
**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Pyukumuku, Gastrodon and defensive Seismitoad are easily able to take hits if you don't run Grass knot and do heavy damage back at you. Slowbro and Poliwrath is able to take anything Barbaracle throws at it, Slowbro is able to OHKO it back with Hydro Vortex and Poliwrath can phaze it with Circle Throw.
**Faster Pokemon**: Because Barbaracle has a relatively poor defensive typing offensive threats like Sceptile, Hitmonlee, Scarf Emboar, Whimsicott and Rotom-C can OHKO it, however if Barbaracle has already set up a Shell Smash they cannot deal with anymore.
**Whimsicott**: Despite Whimsicott having incrediblely poor defenses, Whimsicott forces mindgames due to Prankster Encore and can lock Barbaracle into a single move, making counterplay easier.
**Priority Users**: Priority users such as Mach Punch Hitmonlee, Sucker Punch Absol and Spiritomb are able to revenge Barbaracle, however they need significant chip damage to KO it.
Barbaracle is a powerful Pokemon with access to the coveted move Shell Smash, making it one of the most feared threats in the tier. With decent defensive stats Barbaracle is able to set up a Shell Smash on most defensive Pokemons like: Garbodor (without Seed Bomb), Golbat, Mega-Audino and Aromatisse. It's Water- and Rock- typing gives it very few defensive checks, especially in conjunction with Rockium-Z. However, faster Pokemon such as Sceptile, Rotom-C, Whimsicott and Virizion all outspeed and have the ability to OHKO Barbaracle before it boosts. That being said, Barbaracle's Speed tier is able to outrun the whole tier and every viable Choice Scarf user after a boost, and thus is quite difficult to revenge kill.
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Razor Shell
move 3: Return
move 4: Stone Edge / Grass Knot
item: Rockium Z / White Herb
ability: Tough Claws
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Shell Smash boosts Barbaracle's offensive stats and speed greatly, allowing it to outspeed every relevant Pokemon in the tier such as Sceptile, Scarf Delphox, and Cinncino. Razor Shell is Barbaracle's main Water STAB which OHKO's Pokemon like Rhydon, Steelix, and Piloswine. Return gives Barbaracle a reliable move that cannot miss and gets boosted by Tough Claws. Then as last move you can either run Stone Edge which is Barbaracle his second STAB, while this isn't really necessary to have since what you able to hit with Stone Edge you're able to hit everything with Normal Water coverage already. Stone Edge is mainly used in combination with Rockium Z so Barbaracle is able to OHKO Jellicent, Qwilfish, Uxie, Vileplume and defensive Garbodor while not taking any damage in the process. The other option to run in the last slot is Grass Knot is mainly to do heavy damage to the Water Ground types such as Seismitoad and Gastrodon which otherwise will hard check you, and it is also boosted by Tough Claws.
Set Details
========
By maximizing Attack and Speed works the best for Barbaracle to abuse the most of it's raw power after a Shell Smash. Adamant nature is to power up Barbaracles good Attack stat to even greater heights, you could run Jolly so you outspeed, Scarf Delphox and Scyther what is in some cases good but you lose out on alot of power. You wont be able to OHKO Mega-Audino with Z-Stone Edge after Stealth Rock damage for example. Tough Claws is the only good Ability on Barbaracle, it's able to boost Contact moves by 1.3 which will Boost Razor Shell, Return and Grass knot. The item Rockium Z is to make Babaracle's STAB Stone Edge even more powerful and makes some 2HKOs an OHKO. Alternatively, with White Herb you lose reset the stat drops from a Shell Smash and take priority moves easier.
Usage Tips
========
With this set it's best to find a defensive pokemon like Aromatisse, Golbat, Mega-Audino and Garbodor or offensive pokemon that not able to do alot of damage to Barbaracle such as Choice locked Fire-, Flying-type moves, Sneasel that is locked into Ice-type moves and set up on those. You should try to find pokemons on the opponents side that is able to take a hit from Barbaracle and priotize weakening these first before you try to sweep with Barbaracle. Good example is "Garbodor" although Garbodor tends to run Grass coverage to not be a free set up for Barbaracle so you should try to find out first what it's last coverage move is before you try to set up on Garbodor. Good thing to note as last is that people tend to forget Razor Shell / Return is already pretty powerful because of the Tough Claws boost so even without a +2 boost so don't hesitate if you just want to attack fearing a normal counter to Barbaracle to switch in.
Team Options
========
Memento users such as Whimsicott and Uxie work well with Barbaracle, giving the opponent -2 in both Attack and Special Attack and give Barbaracle ample setup opportunities. Fire-types such as Emboar, Houndoom and Delphox are amazing for Barbaracle as they are able to deal with the bulky Grass-types such as Ferroseed, Vileplume and Torterra. In return Barbaracle is easily able to deal with bulky Rock-types such as Rhydon what Fire-types have a hard time dealing with. Grass-types are another great option for Barbaracle, such as Virizion, Vileplume, Sceptile and Rotom-C. If you don't run Grass Knot the Grass-types are able to deal with the bulky Water-types that otherwise are able to hit a hit and probably to OHKO back. In return Barbaracle deals with the Fire-types that these Grass-types have a hard time dealing with.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Superpower is also an option to run as last to hit Ferroseed but this makes you more vulnerable to priority and weaker, as well as the fact that Ferroseed is quite rare. Subsitute is a viable option to run with Memento support, in order to avoid Will-O-Wisp and Scald from Jellicent, Slowbro, and Vaporeon respectively. Shadow Claw is an option to OHKO Slowking and Jellicent after Stealth Rock damage with +2, you don't OHKO Slowbro though. Choice Scarf can be used to get surprise kills on faster Pokémon like Sceptile, Delphox, Houndoom and Sneasel.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Grass-types**: Bulky Grass-types such as Vileplume, Gourgeist-XL, and Lurantis are able to take a hit 90% of the time from non Continental Crush Barbaracle, Ferroseed is able to take Continental Crush as well and because of Barbaracles 4x weakness to Grass you can easily OHKO it back.
**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Pyukumuku, Gastrodon and defensive Seismitoad are easily able to take hits if you don't run Grass knot and do heavy damage back at you. Slowbro and Poliwrath is able to take anything Barbaracle throws at it, Slowbro is able to OHKO it back with Hydro Vortex and Poliwrath can phaze it with Circle Throw.
**Faster Pokemon**: Because Barbaracle has a relatively poor defensive typing offensive threats like Sceptile, Hitmonlee, Scarf Emboar, Whimsicott and Rotom-C can OHKO it, however if Barbaracle has already set up a Shell Smash they cannot deal with anymore.
**Whimsicott**: Despite Whimsicott having incrediblely poor defenses, Whimsicott forces mindgames due to Prankster Encore and can lock Barbaracle into a single move, making counterplay easier.
**Priority Users**: Priority users such as Mach Punch Hitmonlee, Sucker Punch Absol and Spiritomb are able to revenge Barbaracle, however they need significant chip damage to KO it.
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