National Dex Suspect Coverage: Darkrai

By Sulo. Released:2023/01/19
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Natdex Suspect Darkrai Art

Art by Pissog.

Introduction

National Dex OU is home to every Pokémon, mechanic, and item ever released (subject to balance changes by the tiering council), including Z-Crystals and Mega Evolution. With such an expansive tier, there's bound to be a higher power level and therefore Pokémon you would never see ending up higher—or lower—than usual. The advent of The Teal Mask and The Indigo Disk DLC further added onto this power level, with many asking if such a power level would create an environment fit for "weaker" Ubers Pokémon, the most notable of these being Darkrai.

One might think Darkrai's obscene offensive stats and movepool would be way too much for the metagame to handle. However, it wasn't uncommon to find that many teams were naturally equipped with numerous ways to stave it off and take advantage of its paper-like bulk, including naturally fast Pokémon like Tapu Koko, Mega Lopunny, and Zamazenta, walls like Clodsire and specially defensive Toxapex, and Choice Scarf and Booster Energy users like Tapu Lele, Iron Valiant, and Iron Boulder. It also has a virtually useless ability in Bad Dreams, since both of the sleep-inducing moves it learns are inconsistent, limiting its usefulness. Thus, the National Dex council decided to hold a suspect test to truly see if the Pitch-Black Pokémon was overbearing for the National Dex OU tier.

What did Darkrai actually do?

Darkrai has a slew of amazing traits that led to it becoming one of the better wallbreakers and setup sweepers available; it has a phenomenal Speed stat, outrunning naturally fast Pokémon like Iron Valiant before Quark Drive activation, non-Choice Scarf Kartana, and Tornadus-T, only being put behind the likes of Mega Lopunny and Zamazenta. Its STAB and coverage can be a pain to play around as a result, usually necessitating a specially defensive pivot like Toxapex and a Dark-resistant Pokémon alongside it, such as Clefable or Mega Tyranitar. National Dex's reintroduction of Z-Crystals and inclusion of Terastallization also give Darkrai new toys to play around with on Nasty Plot and Choice Specs sets, bolstering its power in whatever way the player wanted it to.

Sets

Choice Specs

Darkrai Image

Choice Specs Darkrai capitalizes on its immense immediate power, significantly wearing down specially defensive walls such as Heatran and Gliscor. Outside of its strongest move in Dark Pulse, Darkrai also has a colorful movepool full of coverage to hit bulky targets even harder, including Sludge Bomb and Focus Blast for Dark-resistant Pokémon like Clefable and Mega Tyranitar, Ice Beam for a clean OHKO against Gliscor, Garchomp, and Landorus-T, and Psyshock for specially defensive Toxapex and Clodsire. If desired, Trick can also be used to eternally cripple many of the aforementioned walls. Tera Dark makes Dark Pulse a catch-all move that does significantly more against neutral targets like Garganacl and Alomomola, easing prediction immensely.

Nasty Plot

Darkrai Image

With Nasty Plot, Darkrai can capitalize on the switches it commonly forces with the threat of coverage or its strong Dark Pulse, cleaning late-game or significantly wearing down the opposition for another teammate to take advantage of. Fightinium Z + Focus Blast gives Darkrai a one-time completely accurate option to take down threats to it like Mega Scizor and Mega Tyranitar.

Darkrai has other sets like Z-Hypnosis and Choice Scarf sets that receive less usage but are still options nonetheless. Z-Hypnosis sets can occasionally clean late-game, thanks to the Speed boost provided by the Z-Move and the ability to take advantage of a sleeping target, while Choice Scarf lets Darkrai provide speed control, outpacing the entire tier at +1.

Pro-unban

On paper, Darkrai has a ridiculous array of qualities that make it seem like one of the most dangerous and centralizing offensive threats introduced to the tier. In practice, this wasn't the case, as Darkrai's middling bulk and subpar defensive typing leave it with little chances to enter the field to set up or fire off attacks. Darkrai was also left with the unimpressive Dark Pulse as its main STAB move, meaning it misses out on KOs against Pokémon like specially defensive Galarian Slowking and Ogerpon-W before it Terastallizes, letting them pivot out or deal heavy damage. Sets that many theorized to be problematic also have their fair share of issues in practice, too, with Z-Hypnosis + Nasty Plot sets struggling to clean late-game due to the major reliance on Hypnosis landing and Choice Scarf sets lacking power.

Anti-unban

National Dex is a tier known for having an huge number of threats to cover for in the builder, and Darkrai adding onto this threat overload was a major negative to many. Despite its below-average bulk and typing, there are numerous pivots that can bring it onto the field with safety, including Galarian Slowking, Tornadus-T, and Alomomola. Darkrai also has coverage options to circumvent Dark Pulse's mediocre neutral damage, making the issue seem like a non-factor; these options include Psyshock for specially defensive Toxapex and Clodsire and Ice Beam for Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, and Gliscor. To add onto these seemingly overbearing traits, Darkrai's Speed tier meant revenge killing it was linear and easily punished, since the Pokémon that outrun it like Mega Lopunny, Zamazenta, Tapu Koko, and Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele and Kartana ran the risk of inviting in walls like Zapdos, Heatran, and Toxapex, leaving them with debilitating status conditions or allowing entry hazards to go up.

Result and Final Thoughts

With 35 unban votes, Darkrai became legal in National Dex OU on January 9th. It's effect on the tier will be seen in future tournaments, which you yourself can discuss in the National Dex Pokémon Showdown! room and the National Dex Discord server.

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