Overview
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Darkrai has a very high base Speed, letting it outpace most of the DOU metagame with little investment, and thanks to its great Special Attack, it can deal great damage to all of the DOU metagame, 2HKOing most of them and opening up spaces for other team members to set up or sweep the opponent's team. Darkrai also has access to great coverage moves such as Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Focus Blast and Will-O-Wisp for utility, making it an unpredictable and dangerous threat; however, its bulk and typing make for a big drawback, as they are mediocre and make Darkrai weak to very common types, therefore lacking resistances to switch in safely.
Special Attacker
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name: Special Attacker
move 1: Dark Pulse
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Will-O-Wisp / Focus Blast / Thunderbolt
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb
evs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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Dark Pulse is Darkrai's main STAB move, as it is quite powerful and has an extra 20% chance to cause the foe to flinch. Ice Beam is mainly for coverage, as it is able to hit common Pokemon such as Thundurus, Togekiss, and Amoonguss hard. Focus Blast is a strong move that hits Pokemon that resist Darkrai's STAB type such as Tyranitar, Scrafty, and Terrakion hard; however, it is a bit unreliable because of its low accuracy. Thunderbolt hits Keldeo and Azumarill, which both resist Darkrai's STAB type, hard and also hits Mega Charizard Y super effectively. Will-O-Wisp is used to burn and threaten common physical threats, as it is very annoying because it is guaranteed to burn non-Fire-type foes and is more reliable than Focus Blast versus foes such as Bisharp and Terrakion. Protect scouts the opposing Pokemon's moves, helps with avoiding Fake Out, and gives Darkrai's partner a chance to KO opposing threats such as Conkeldurr or other powerful Fairy- and Fighting-types. You can also give Darkrai Blizzard in the place of Ice Beam if you are using it on a hail team.
Set Details
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252 Special Attack EVs are given to maximize the damage Darkrai deals, especially with Life Orb. 176 Speed EVs are given so Darkrai can outspeed all Pokemon up to those with base 115 Speed, such as Raikou. However, if the situation requires it, Darkrai can run more Speed at the cost of HP. The remaining EVs are put into HP to allow Darkrai to gain some bulk.
Usage Tips
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Darkrai is able to scare off all common Follow Me and Rage Powder users such as Togekiss, Jirachi, and Amoonguss with Dark Pulse and Ice Beam. Darkrai should be brought in on a free switch due to its lackluster bulk and weakness to common types. Darkrai can be used at any point in the game depending on the opponent's team, as it can easily deal with early-game Pokemon such as Aegislash but can also perform well late-game when every Pokemon is weak enough for Darkrai to clean.
Team Options
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Redirection partners such as Amoonguss, Togekiss, and Jirachi are excellent due to Darkrai's lackluster bulk. Pokemon with Wide Guard such as Aegislash and Hitmontop help a lot against Sylveon's Hyper Voice, and Aegislash also covers Darkrai's weaknesses well. Pokemon with Quick Guard are good too, as Darkrai is very frail and struggles against Fighting-types; therefore Talonflame is a good partner, as it can take on Fighting-types, scares off Bug- and Fighting-types, can set up Tailwind, resists Fairy-type attacks, and can tank priority moves such as Mach Punch well. Pokemon with a Fairy-type resistance are good to cover Darkrai's weakness, such as Heatran, Aegislash, and Amoonguss. Teammates that can hit Fighting-types hard such as Sylveon, Latios, and Cresselia are good options. Pokemon with Intimidate such as Landorus-T help against most Fighting-types, as most of them are physical attackers. Finally, Darkrai has access to Blizzard, so it can be used in conjunction with Abomasnow, and its Dark typing helps scare off Aegislash, which greatly threatens hail teams otherwise.
Other Options
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Psychic can be considered as an answer against Fighting-types, such as Conkeldurr and Hitmontop, but it's not that useful. Taunt can be considered in order to stop Trick Room users or Pokemon such as Amoonguss from using sleep-inducing moves such as Spore. Sludge Bomb is another good option against Fairy-types such as Sylveon, Togekiss, and Azumarill if you aren't using Thunderbolt, but it provides less useful coverage than other moves.
Checks & Counters
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**Type Advantage**: Fairies such as Sylveon, Mega Diancie, Azumarill, and Mega Gardevoir can take any hit from Darkrai and KO it back with their Fairy-type STAB moves, though they need to watch out for Sludge Bomb. Assault Vest Conkeldurr can tank any hit from Darkrai and OHKO it with Drain Punch or hit a weakened Darkrai with a priority Mach Punch. Escavalier and Volcarona are good checks, as they can tank a hit from Darkrai fairly well and threaten it with their Bug-type STAB moves, and Volcarona is immune to Will-O-Wisp. Keldeo can take any hit from Darkrai and KO it back with Secret Sword.
**Speed Control**: Thunder Wave makes Darkrai useless, so watch out for Thunder Wave users such as Thundurus. Moves that cause Darkrai's Speed to drop such as Thunder Wave, Trick Room, and Icy Wind cause direct harm towards Darkrai's main quality: high Speed, especially because Darkrai does not have the bulk to tank attacks from faster Pokemon. Darkrai is virtually useless in Trick Room, as it will almost always move last and gets hit hard by common Trick Room sweepers such as Scrafty.
**Speed**: Choice Scarf Landorus-T and Genesect can outspeed and deal heavy damage to Darkrai with Superpower or U-turn, but they can't switch in on any of its moves.
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