Hello Smogon,
I used to be quite into the competitive Pokemon scene, but almost all my active time was spent in 4th Gen. Now I am interested in dabbling again but sticking to a more gimmicky play-style.
I was quite excited watching VGC this year and it made my mind wander to competitive doubles. Watching a Perish Song team work wonders was an interesting spectacle. I tried Uber Doubles for a very short time while I was still playing near the beginning of 5th Gen, and I had used the craziness of Murkrow to deal with Kyogre. I saw, now, that Murkrow gets Perish Song.
Murkrow@Focus Sash/Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Defense / 252 Speed
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Tailwind / Thunder Wave / Quash / Substitute
- Foul Play / Taunt
This is the most focused I think the Murkrow set can be. The entire focus is to bring Murkrow in when the opponent is down to 2 Pokemon and secure the win with a +1 Perish Song. However, as Perish Song users know, losing a Pokemon to bring another in isn't as useful in this numbers game. After the Perish Song has been used, Murkrow can provide stall with Protect and provide a surprising amount of support for the team. Gengar would be the next fastest Perish Song user, but I think Gengar's time would be better spent behind a Protect since it's important to keep him around midgame. Barring Mega Gengar and Arceus, I would say Murkrow is actually the best Perish Song user by virtue of priority alone. But that's me and my bias, I would love to hear other players who use Perish Song give me some experience-fueled feedback.
While the first two options are obvious, you can explore Murkrow's moveset. Priority Tailwind, I think, is probably his next best team option. In other terms of speed control, Murkrow has Thunder Wave, but it also has Quash. Quash is how I beat Kyogre's: use a +1 Quash to make Kyogre go last, hit it with Thunder/etc., Water Spout hits like Kleenex. The advantage of Quash vs the other two options is that Quash has an immediate effect where as the other two take a turn for their speed adjustment to set in. Quash is bit more niche, but you can clutch certain turns that you wouldn't be able to garauntee with the other options. Substitute is an incredibly solid stall option but is only viable on the Eviolite set. Murkrow is a bit too frail to consider running it constantly, but it should be looked at if your goal is to stall.
Confuse Ray and
Swagger are also options as they can help generate turns for your Pokemon and the opponent shouldn't be able to switch away. The confusion options rely on luck, however, and are less useful in other situations (Can Swagger/stat boosts to Attack power up Foul Play? Please let me know as Swagger becomes a super cool option).
Icy Wind is also an option for speed control, but does not make use of Murkrow's Prankster ability.
While Foul Play isn't the strongest move, it can easily turn the tables on heavy physical hitters while costing 0 investment. Murkrow can even potentially threaten a 2HKO on Primal Groudons (gotta roll high twice), and due to a base 91 Speed tier, outpaces them. This will help Murkrow avoid being Taunt bait, but running Taunt with priority is another amazing option. Taunt also stops certain set ups that could jeopardize Perish Song. If you are looking for more priority,
Sucker Punch isn't terribly weak and gets a STAB bonus (you'll want to run Sash and put 252 into Attack to make sure it deals damage, though).
Some other interesting options you could potentially toss into either of the last slots consist of Feather Dance, Screech, Roost (with Eviolite), Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Haze, and Mean Look.
Sash makes sure Murkrow can get a second Perish Song off but Eviolite makes it thick enough to take a hit after chip damage. Murkrow is not very bulky, though, and its resistances are not common place so Sash is the preferred option. Eviolite makes certain options much more viable, like Roost/Sub/Protect, but I think Sash provides more dependable survivability.
Please give me some feedback! While its a tiny, niche role, I think Murkrow uses Perish Song incredibly well.
