Iron Barbs (Ability)

Iron Barbs

てつのトゲ

Iron Thorns

Flavor text

Generation V
Inflicts damage to the Pokémon on contact.

Generation VI
Inflicts damage to the attacker on contact.

Generation VII
Inflicts damage to the attacker on contact with iron barbs.

Generation VIII
Inflicts damage on the attacker upon contact with iron barbs.

Generation IX
The Pokémon's iron barbs damage the attacker if it makes direct contact.

Iron Barbs (Japanese: てつのトゲ Iron Thorns) is an Ability introduced in Generation V. Prior to Generation VII, it was the signature Ability of Ferroseed and Ferrothorn.

Effect

In battle

When a Pokémon with this Ability is hit by a move that makes contact, the attacking Pokémon takes damage equal to 1/8 of its own maximum HP. If Iron Barbs causes both the Pokémon with this Ability and the attacking Pokémon to faint, then the attacking Pokémon will faint first.

If a Pokémon with this Ability is hit by a multistrike move that makes contact (such as Fury Swipes), each hit will activate this Ability.

Outside of battle

Iron Barbs has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Iron Barbs

#		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0597	Ferroseed	Grass	Steel	Iron Barbs	None	None
0598	Ferrothorn	Grass	Steel	Iron Barbs	None	Anticipation^{Gen VI+}
0777	Togedemaru	Electric	Steel	Iron Barbs	Lightning Rod	Sturdy
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

In other games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

When a Pokémon with this Ability is hit by a move that makes contact, the attacking Pokémon takes damage equal to 1/10 of its own maximum HP. If a Pokémon with this Ability is hit by a multistrike move that makes contact (such as Fury Swipes), each hit will activate this Ability. The Ability does not activate if the move causes the Pokémon with Iron Barbs to faint.

Description

Games	Description
MDGtI	Unavailable
SMD	When the Pokémon is hit with a contact move like Tackle or Scratch, the attacker is damaged a little!

Trivia

Iron Barbs has the same Japanese name as the item Iron Thorn from the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series.
- Its Japanese name is also the same as Iron Thorns's English name.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	鐵刺 Titchi
Chinese	Mandarin	鐵刺 / 铁刺 Tiěcì
French		Épine de Fer
German		Eisenstachel
Italian		Spineferrate
Korean		철가시 Cheol Gasi
Russian		Желзные Шипы Zhelzyye Shipy
Spanish		Punta Acero

Variations of the Ability Rough Skin
Rough Skin • Iron Barbs

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.