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Description
Barbaracle is an interesting Pokemon overall. It's got an interesting design overall and is actually one of the few nonfossil Pokemon that possesses the Water/Rock typing (with literally the only other 2 being Corsola and Relicanth). With access to Shell Smash and respectable offensive stats, Barbaracle can become a very potent sweeper after setting up. This is furthered by Tough Claws, which gives essentially a Life Orb boost to contact moves such as Razor Shell and Cross Chop. It's thanks to a combination of Touch Claws and having access to Shell Smash that has enabled Barbaracle to carve itself a niche in the metagame as a potent Shell Smash sweeper. Gen. 7 further boosted its sweeping potential thanks to the advent of Z-Moves and Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon giving it access to Liquidation.
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 more Pokemon users after a boost, while Carracosta has to rely on Aqua Jet to hit them and often needs to hold a Focus Sash when you're not running one with its ability Sturdy (so they can't pull off the Rockium-Z strategy). Most teams can be easily swept due to lack of preparation for Barbaracle, as they usually only have a couple decent checks for it and are more often than not unable to prevent it from gaining a good setup opportunity thanks to its great Defense and strong offensive typing. Barbaracle is also a great stall breaker, thanks to its ability to be a boosting Pokemon that can break past most of the stall's typical answers like Quagsire and Gastrodon. However, while Barbaracle is generally effective against most playstyles, it tends to struggle against most matchups where the opponent has one or two strong checks to Barbaracle and thus can dissuade it from ever setting up a Shell Smash. Furthermore, Barbaracle is pretty much a one-trick pony and requires its teammates to cater to it in order to function successfully in the tier. This reliance on being built around as well as its reliance on Shell Smash in order to become a potent threat make Barbaracle a rather mediocre option when compared to other setup sweepers with more overall utility like Azumarill and Scizor.
Here’s my Barbaracle's summary.
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Rockium-Z
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 SpDef / 252 Spe
-Shell Smash
-Stone Edge
-Liquidation
-Poison Jab / Earthquake
Now when I first raised a Barbaracle for competitive battle, it did not have good IV's in its Speed. So if it were to run Shell Smash, it wouldn't be as fast as it usually would even with full Speed EV investment after using it. So I decided to invest EV's that would normally go into its speed into its HP to make it bulkier. So while it wasn't that fast, it made up for it by being bulky. I tried using this Barbaracle set on my Trick Room team and it really didn't perform as well as I thought it would. So ultimately, I decided to raise a second Barbaracle, this one has better IV's in its speed stat, enabling it to run and make full use out of Shell Smash.
Since its debut, Barbaracle has struggled with having a strong physical Water-type move, since it was unable to learn both Aqua Jet and Waterfall, it was left with running Razor Shell (which can be effective after a Shell Smash boost and gets further boosted by Tough Claws, but all the other moves could work better). Thankfully, Barbaracle finally lucked out in becoming one of a handful number of Water Pokemon that got access to the new physical Water-type move Liquidation that's now available via move tutor. Liquidation is boosted by Tough Claws and is Barbaracle's primary STAB attack, hitting neutral and super effective targets for heavy damage after a boost from Shell Smash. Stone Edge is Barbaracle's main STAB attack, sporting high damage output (even more after a Shell Smash boost) despite having low accuracy. Earthquake, despite not being boosted by Tough Claws, still hits Electric, Rock, and Steel-types for super effective damage. Poison Jab is an alternate option that gives Barbaracle coverage against its x4 weakness to Grass not to mention is further boosted by Tough Claws.
Since this new Barbaracle has better speed IV's than the previous one I raised, I've maxed out its speed EV's and have given it a Jolly nature so that it is able to better outspeed numerous threats after receiving a boost from Shell Smash. The rest of the EV's are placed into its Attack so that it is still able to hit its opponents hard. Even without an Adamant nature, Barbaracle is still able to hit foes super hard after a boost from Shell Smash. I have it holding Rockium-Z, which makes Barbaracle an extremely powerful nuke to break past some of the bulkiest walls, such as Alomomola and Suicune, without the need for excessive chip damage, and it also allows Barbaracle to hit targets it normally would with Stone Edge without risking the miss chance; such targets include Serperior, Mega Venusaur, and Latias. Tough Claws is the chosen ability, as it boosts the damage of Liquidation and is more beneficial than other abilities, as Sniper is inconsistent and luck dependent, and Pickpocket doesn't work with Barbaracle's Rockium-Z.
Of course Barbaracle can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions:
-Return is always good for neutral coverage and with max friendship, it has the same boosted power as a STAB Stone Edge thanks to Tough Claws.
-Superpower is capable of OHKOing offensive Normal-types such as Tauros, Kangaskhan, and Snorlax as well as hitting Ferrothorn, which resists both of Barbaracle's STAB attacks, super effectively (did I mention it also gets boosted by Tough Claws). If you run it alongside Shell Smash, just be aware of how quickly it'll deplete Barbaracle's offenses and defenses every time you use it. Especially since Shell Smash already lowered its defense stats upon using it.
-Low Kick is a good move that Barbaracle can utilize especially against Rock-types since a majority of them like Tyranitar, Aggron, and Stakataka are heavy in weight. What's more is that it also gets boosted by Tough Claws.
-Cross Chop is another Fighting-type coverage move boosted by Tough Claws that hits bulky Normal and Steel-types but has very little use outside of that. Nevertheless, it has the least amount of drawbacks compared to Superpower and Low Kick with the only one being that it has low accuracy, but it has the same 80% accuracy as Stone Edge, so it's not like it has any better luck with running its strongest STAB move.
-Shadow Claw has a chance to OHKO bulky Ghost-types Jellicent and offensive Cofagrigus. It's even good for handling Palossand, especially since its Water Compaction ability makes using STAB Liquidation on it a bad option.
-Dual Chop can be good, after being boosted by both Shell Smash and Tough Claws, for handling Pokemon with Substitute as well as breaking Pokemon with either Sturdy or those holding Focus Sashes.
-Grass Knot allows Barbaracle to hit the likes of Swampert, Gastrodon, and Quagsire for super effective damage, preventing them from stopping Barbaracle from sweeping. While technically a special move, Grass Knot also gets boosted by Tough Claws.
-Barbaracle can utilize a Stealth Rock lead set, as it has access to support moves such as Taunt and Endeavor. Although Archeops and Aerodactyl can do that as well and do it better than Barbaracle (primarily since they are immune to the ever-common Earthquake).
-Substitute is can be utilized to dodge status moves, though at the cost of a coverage move.
-Barbaracle has access to a variety of other setup moves like Swords Dance and Bulk Up, but they are all inferior options when compared to the boosts given by Shell Smash.
-Switcheroo allows Barbaracle to switch items with its target, you can have it hold a Choice item like a Choice Scarf and cripple a defensive Pokemon which are common switch-ins to its Shell Smash set, by preventing it from recovering or making it setup bait for a teammate. And if you can't, then well Barbaracle doesn't mind the speed boost it gets from holding a Choice Scarf.
-White Herb can be used to restore Barbaracle's defenses after a Shell Smash, which is useful to soften the damage taken from priority attacks.
-Lum Berry is useful, as status ailments, especially burn and paralysis, greatly hinder Barbaracle's effectiveness.
-Shuca Berry lets Barbaracle set up against a variety of Pokemon since Earthquake is very commonly seen move in the metagame.
-Barbaracle can run Focus Sash to set up against threats that would otherwise prevent it from setting up.
Do you have your own Barbaracle moveset and strategy? Comment below with your moveset!