Poison Barb
# Location Repeatable?
1 5% held item chance on these wild Pokémon:

  • Tentacool
  • Tentacruel
  • Roselia
  • Skorupi
Yes

Poison Barbs can only be obtained as held items by wild Pokémon. Specifically you can get this item from Tentacool, Tentacruel, Roselia, and Skorupi. They all have a 5% chance of carrying one.

Of all these Pokémon, the easiest to find in the wild is Tentancool. It is a common wild Pokémon that can be encountered while surfing in most bodies of water in Hoenn.

Locations

Finding Tentacool

Encountering a wild Tentacool on Route 103
Encountering a wild Tentacool on Route 103.

Wild Tentacool has a 5% chance of holding a Poison Barb. It is one of the most common Water-type Pokémon you can find in Hoenn, making it the best candidate for farming Poison Barbs – all you need is a Pokémon that knows Surf.

From Routes 103 to 134 (with a few exceptions), you can encounter Tentacool through surfing or fishing with the Old Rod and the Good Rod.

Finding Tentacruel

Encountering a wild Tentacruel on Route 124
Encountering a wild Tentacruel on Route 124.

Wild Tentacruel can be encountered on Routes 124 to 134 through surfing. Like Tentacool, it has a 5% chance of carrying Poison Barbs.

However, this Pokémon has a low encounter rate – a 15% rarity in most locations, so it’s generally not recommended to farm Poison Barbs from Tentacruel.

Finding Roselia

Encountering a wild Roselia on Route 117
Encountering a wild Roselia on Route 117.

Wild Roselia can be found on Route 117 through walking – it has a 5% chance of holding a Poison Barb with each encounter.

Roselia only has a 20% chance encounter in this location and can’t be found anywhere else, making it less efficient to obtain Poison Barbs from this Pokémon.

Finding Skorupi (post-National Dex)

Encountering a wild Skorupi on Route 114
Encountering a wild Skorupi on Route 114.

Lastly, Poison Barbs can also be found as held items by wild Skorupi (5% chance).

It will only appear in the wild post-game once you receive the National Dex, and it can only be encountered using the DexNav. So Skorupi is really not worth farming for Poison Barbs at all.

To farm held items more efficiently, you can check out this page about forming your own held item farming team. The strategy utilizes Pokémon with the abilities CompoundEyes and Frisk, which increases your chances of encountering wild Pokémon with held items.

Uses

When held by a Pokémon, the Poison Barb raises the power of its holder’s Poison-type moves by 20%.

Back in Gen II and III, Poison Barbs only gave a 10% power boost. But in later generations it was buffed to 20% like most type-enhancing held items.

Back to: Held Items