Why does Showdown! say Barrier is usually useless in Alakazam's learnset?

Question

My Alakazam has Barrier and it's really helpful since it's Defense is horrendous, so how come Showdown! says it's usually useless?

Comments

It's a useless move.

I don't think Barrier Alakazam is useful because Alakazam is supposed to be a Special Sweeper. Not a tank. So Calm Mind is more useful. Raising Defense by 2 stages doesn't matter for Alakazam. And a sweeper will never use a Def. raising move instead of an attack or Atk/SpA raising move. It's not even useful for Tank or Wall.
Very few pokemon can learn Barrier, and all of them, I think only Mew (?), Avalugg, Cloyster and Musharna are tanky.

Mew- Why Mew will use Barrier when it can use Wil-O-Wisp?
Avalugg- it's Defense is already high, then why it
will use Barrier instead of Rapid Spin or Toxic?
Cloyster- Its a great Shell Smash user, so it's never going to use Barrier.
Musharna- It is a Special Wall. So it should use Calm Mind. Why will you use Barrier?

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0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. +2 0 HP / 4 Def Alakazam: 138-163 (54.9 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
You're still going to die. Why not spam psychic as many times as possible before you do?

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The main things I think you should take away from this question are:
a. What's suitable for in-game won't always have transfer value playing against real people. Competitive Pokemon is a completely different ball game.
b. In competitive, you use Pokemon for their strengths, not to fix their weaknesses. Alakazam's Defence is terrible, but that doesn't mean you should go fixing it. If you feel like fixing it, it's a sign you should use a different Pokemon. It's the same reason you invest in SAtk and Spe when playing Alakazam, not Def. Basically, if you want good defence then don't use a frail sweeper.

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100% agree with Fizz.

Sure, Alakazam's defense is horrendous, but that doesn't mean to waste a moveslot on a move like Barrier. It won't make the defense stat much better, and you're better off making use of Alakazam's good offensive stats. A much better move would be Calm Mind, as it raises a stat that is actually useful.

As for next time, maybe take Showdown!'s advice. Smogon is made up of many experienced battlers, so you should probably listen to them.

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I tested Barrier on Pokemon Showdown!, and i won lots of battles, my Alakazam survived lots of physical moves. That 4 Defense Alakazam, i can't say i agree with you because it's not my exact Alakazam.

Answer 1

Most Pokémon that gets barrier are sweepers it defensive so they don’t really need that defence boost. Alakazam is better running a sweeper since
Uxie is bulkier and qlakazam already has ok special defence

Comments

Typos:
qlakazam.
Period missing at the end of answer.
Is this a typo too: ''it defensive''.
''Most Pokémon that gets (get).
Why are you talking about ok special defense?

:) :) :)

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Why use Uxie when you can use Cresselia?

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Uxie learns stealth rock and heal bell. Though Jirachi is usually better than both of them.