Pokémon Barraskewda

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Hey guys. I may just be drunk, or may just be having a big brain moment right now (probably the former), but here's an idea that Game Freak should have done. Barraskewda should have been an evolution of Basculin.

It should have gone Arrokuda - > Basculin - > Barraskewda. This is almost as egregious as when we all found out Luvdisc didn't evolve into Alomomola, absolutely unforgivable bullshit.

In regards to Barraskewda, I've found that his coverage only with its speed is what's been keeping it relevant for me. Dracovish has the raw power Water on lock right now. Has anyone else been feeling the slack with Barraskewda, or are there some sets that I've been missing out on?
 
Hey guys. I may just be drunk, or may just be having a big brain moment right now (probably the former), but here's an idea that Game Freak should have done. Barraskewda should have been an evolution of Basculin.

It should have gone Arrokuda - > Basculin - > Barraskewda. This is almost as egregious as when we all found out Luvdisc didn't evolve into Alomomola, absolutely unforgivable bullshit.

Arrokuda and Barraskewda are both barracudas. Basculin is a piranha. Wouldn't make much sense for an evolutionary line to turn into a completely different animal for the second stage... and then back into the original animal for the third.

In regards to Barraskewda, I've found that his coverage only with its speed is what's been keeping it relevant for me. Dracovish has the raw power Water on lock right now. Has anyone else been feeling the slack with Barraskewda, or are there some sets that I've been missing out on?

To be fair, even Gyarados boasts more power than Barraskewda thanks to Dragon Dance. Barraskewda's niche isn't really raw damage output/wallbreaking capabilities (Dracovish is tough to beat when it comes to that), but it also boasts insane Speed and access to Swift Swim, letting it decimate offensive teams that Dracovish often can't touch, and Gyarados requires setup to threaten. I see it as a sort of soft replacement for Mega Swampert, its role on a Rain team is usually pretty similar, minus being an Electric immunity.
 
I’ve been having a great time plowing through teams with this monster in doubles. My favorite thing so far is pairing it with Pelipper that is holding a Choice Scarf. Barraskewda holding Life Orb. Dynamax Barraskewda and use either Max Darkness or Max Poison on whatever can kill you. This will usually allow Pelipper to finish the job. Now just keep using an attack with Barraskewda to boost Pelipper. Obviously this has counters but it so easily plows through many things. If not Pelipper, then Dynamaxed Barraskewda in the rain who is already insanely fast and can set up rain and KO at the same time......very brutal. Try it.
 
With Dynamax getting banned, does this change things for Barraskewda now that it can't set up rain with Max Water, boost Attack with Max Fighting, or even boost speed with Max Flying? I'm not even sure if Swift Swim is gonna be banned again either this generation...
 
With Dynamax getting banned, does this change things for Barraskewda now that it can't set up rain with Max Water, boost Attack with Max Fighting, or even boost speed with Max Flying? I'm not even sure if Swift Swim is gonna be banned again either this generation...

It's still fine. Kinda like with G-Darm, Dynamax leaving does benefit Barraskewda in some ways too, since while it hit hard, Dynamaxing stopped it from being able to OHKO various offensive threats that would blow Barraskewda back due to those awful defensive stats.

Barraskewda is still crazy fast even outside of rain, hits very hard, has good coverage, and has priority (useful against G-Darm).
 
Can this Pokémon be used outside of rain teams? If so, what would be good partners for this Pokémon if you're basing your team around Barraskewda?
 
Can this Pokémon be used outside of rain teams? If so, what would be good partners for this Pokémon if you're basing your team around Barraskewda?
I would not recommend running this Pokemon outside of rain. It would crucially miss out on outspeeding Pokemon such as Scarf Gengar which can easily OHKO it, and the diminished power of its Liquidation would leave it little reason to be used over the otherwise superior Dracovish.
 
This is gonna be awkward but...

HOW DO YOU COUNTER THIS THING?!

With rain up, Swift Swim boosts its speed and rain powers up water type stab. With Psychic Terrain, he is protected from priority, not to mention that he outspeeds Electric and Grass Types easily. This is coming from a decent player, but I’m looking to pros to this.

:(
 
This is gonna be awkward but...

HOW DO YOU COUNTER THIS THING?!

With rain up, Swift Swim boosts its speed and rain powers up water type stab. With Psychic Terrain, he is protected from priority, not to mention that he outspeeds Electric and Grass Types easily. This is coming from a decent player, but I’m looking to pros to this.

:(
Best checked with bulky waters like Seismitoad and Vaporeon. Seismitoad with Toxic + Protect is a great solution. Toxapex can work too, but must watch out for Psychic Fangs. I have personally not seen the rain + psychic terrain but the amount of time it takes to set that up should actually give something like Hydreigon or Gyarados to set up in your opponent's face.
 
Best checked with bulky waters like Seismitoad and Vaporeon. Seismitoad with Toxic + Protect is a great solution. Toxapex can work too, but must watch out for Psychic Fangs. I have personally not seen the rain + psychic terrain but the amount of time it takes to set that up should actually give something like Hydreigon or Gyarados to set up in your opponent's face.
Thanks for the advice because getting rekt by a fish is pretty humiliating :(
 
Barraskewda is better off running Waterfall over Liquidation because Waterfall's flinch chance actually gives the move a higher effective Base Power than Liquidation.

80 * (1 + 0.2) = 96 > 85

Note: This only applies to cases in which you are faster, which is almost always when rain is up.

I've been running an adamant LO set with CC/Liquidation/Crunch (for Dragapult)/Psychic Fangs (for Pex) on rain offense, which has been working ok. It hits most of the tier at least neutrally, which is great to sweep weakened teams.
 
I've been using Barraskewda on a partial rain team, and it really adds value because of its ability to function well outside of rain. Even with a lower speed investment, it still outspeeds the same pokemon, so some bulk can be added. Here I have it at 365 speed.

Barraskewda @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 28 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 228 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Close Combat
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch

The added bulk is more helpful than just maxing the speed in my opinion since it's prone to being hit by priority moves. In my experience, I usually had to let it take at least one hit from something, so that little bit of extra HP could mean one more attack before dying to life orb, which is much more valuable than speed tying another random Barraskewda.

Additionally, life orb is simply superior to choice band in my opinion, especially in a non-dynamax meta. It's coverage is too good to waste by locking into one move.
 
Note: This only applies to cases in which you are faster, which is almost always when rain is up.

I've been running an adamant LO set with CC/Liquidation/Crunch (for Dragapult)/Psychic Fangs (for Pex) on rain offense, which has been working ok. It hits most of the tier at least neutrally, which is great to sweep weakened teams.

I get where you're coming from but this is really kind of... pointless math tbh. Better to look at what ko's you're missing with waterfall... If you're 2hkoing a lot of stuff anyway then the flinch chance is probably worth it, if it's mostly cleaning late game then the extra power is probably worth it...

Edit: Also what about the times where something switches in on my liquidation and I KO it next turn because I got a defense drop? That would effectively be the same as a flinch in that case.
 
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