Murkrow offense

Strawberry_Lynn · Oct 24, 2026

Ok I've got an absolute banger of a concept here, but I tend to leave massive design flaws in my teams, so I'm posting this here for all to see and criticise. Behold: my double dog Murkrow spikes team:

:Skarmory: @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 104 SpD / 152 Spe
Careful Nature
- Drill Peck
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Roar

:Raikou: @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Crunch
- Calm Mind

:Suicune: @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 224 HP / 252 SpA / 32 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Roar

:Metagross: @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 196 HP / 252 SpA / 60 Spe
Rash Nature
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Brick Break
- Explosion

:Regice: @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 48 HP / 208 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Seismic Toss
- Explosion

:Murkrow: (Murkrow) (F) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pursuit
- Thunder Wave
- Taunt
- Feather Dance

The concept of this team is to sweep with Raikou. To succeed with the sweep, several common barriers must be removed. There are three particular mons that Raikou does not want to see: :blissey: :dugtrio: :claydol:

The most common way to remove Blissey and Dugtrio is with Dugtrio and Porygon2, respectively. Additionally, SuitTar can force some chip on Claydol, at the cost of its own life and setting sand. Committing to each of these in a triple trapper style team would be quite the challenge to build. What I propose is to instead use a funny bird to compress trapping Dugtrio and Claydol into one slot.

Introducing :murkrow:. This 405 BST corvid with 60/42/42 defenses can do something that no other mon can do. With its Dark/Flying type, it is completely immune to Earthquake/Psychic. Since many Claydol run this combination, it is often the case that the only move Claydol can actually hit Murkrow with is Rapid Spin.

216+ Atk Claydol Rapid Spin vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Murkrow: 31-37 (11.8 - 14.1%) -- possible 8HKO

This means that Murkrow can switch into Claydol with impunity and Pursuit trap it. This offers an extremely reliable way to force damage on Claydol, provided we can get the opponent to switch it in.

Its Earthquake immunity also lets Murkrow Pursuit trap Dugtrio. Unfortunately, this will not OHKO any Dugtrio. Against bulkless Dugtrio, a 252+ Murkrow Pursuit does 69.6% - 82.4%. Black Glasses boost this to 75.8% - 89.5%. Assuming a "sliver of bulk" Dugtrio, we get:

252+ SpA Black Glasses Murkrow switching boosted Pursuit vs. 8 HP / 20 SpD 30 IVs Dugtrio: 158-186 (74.1 - 87.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

We don't need to worry about the range on bulkier Dugtrio variants, as Raikou will outspeed them and finish them off easily after they've been chipped once. This means that we need to solve two problems for Murkrow:
* How do we lure in Claydol?
* How do we deal the remaining 25% to Dugtrio?

Introducing everyone's second-favourite bird: :skarmory:. The concept is simple: a single scrumptious layer will deal 12.5% to Dugtrio as it first comes in. Then we deal at minimum 74.1% - assuming the tiny bulk investment on Dugtrio. If it then wants to come in on Raikou, it will simply die to the spike (87.5% of the time). More layers or roaring in the dug will change this 87.5% into 100%. Additionally, spikes help to draw in Claydol, which we can then Pursuit with Murkrow.

So we've got 3/6 mons on our team: :murkrow: :raikou: :skarmory:. Now we need some defensive backbone, keeping in mind that Murkrow provides none. I don't expected to be able to fit a spinner on here, so we don't want mons that let Skarm get up spikes too freely.

The bulky water is obvious: :suicune:. I'm going with a 252+ SpA offensive Suicune set to help break for Raikou.

Ok we need something that helps blow up the annoying pink blob, and I don't want it to be just one mon. I'm choosing :Regice: as a special wall, as opposing Skarm hate its Thunderbolt and it can blow up on Blissey. That leaves the Rock resist slot, and for that I'm picking :Metagross:. I'm specifically choosing a mixed Metagross, as it has both leftover recovery and a move that deals acceptable damage to Skarmory in HP:Fire. Metagross is also a juicy Dugtrio target, which helps Murkrow get its Pursuit for Raikou.

Notes on the individual sets:
* Because the team lacks a spinner, I'm using Taunt Skarmory. I'm unfamiliar with speed investment for Taunt Skarm so I put it at 214 to possibly help in Taunting defensive Jirachi and preventing it from Wishing. I lead with it to get a spike up as early as possible. Skarm has Drill Peck to help with fighters.
* Murkrow gets a suprising support movepool, so I'm keeping Pursuit as its only damaging move. It gets Thunder Wave for some reason, so that's nice. Taunt prevents spikes and other shenanigans. For the last move I've chosen Featherdance. This prevents DD mons from setting up on it, and if for instance you Featherdance and a Tyranitar kills you with Rock Slide, the now -2 Tar might provide a setup opportunity for Raikou. Murkrow also gets Perish Song, Whirlwind, Haze, Mean Look, and Drill Peck, so it has plenty of room for shenanigans. Murkrow has a secret defensive purpose in that it reverses momentum against opposing lead Smeargle and Breloom. With its Insomnia it switches into Spore. It outspeeds and Taunts Smeargle, and it threatens Breloom with a (bluffed) Flying move, letting it Thunder Wave a switch.
* I run Crunch/HP:Grass Raikou to help against Celebi.
* Suicune has 214 speed and HP investment. This is because it's the only thing on the team that wants to switch into Fire moves. I've given it Roar to get more spikes damage and possibly roar out opposing Bold Suicune.
* My Regice sets often end up with high ATK investment, and this is no exception. I love 208 ATK Regice for its 87.5% - 103% Explosion on Blissey, and this benchmark is great too for Superpower/Focus Punch sets to help with both Blissey and Tyranitar. It does not have Thunder Wave, instead opting for Seismic Toss to help against opposing lead Zapdos scaring out our Skarmory and trying to sub pass.
* I run 190 speed Metagross, for which I've chosen a Rash nature over the usual Quiet one. Psychic/HP:fire is really good coverage with the Bolt/Beam that's on the team already. I really like Brick Break on mixed Meta over Meteor Miss as it does identical damage to normals and Tar but cannot miss.

So far, this team to me seems to have two/three flaws (possibly more of course), and I'd like some help in figuring out ways to deal with them:
* There are three Fire-weak mons on the team (effectively four since Murkrow cannot take any hit), and while Raikout is great at revenging/scaring out Zard/Molt, it hates switching into Fire moves. This means that Suicune has to switch into them over and over, which is difficult without Rest.
* Nothing on this team likes switching into Thunder Wave/Will-O-Wisp, as none of the mons have any way to heal status.
* This team has no Earthquake users, which could cause problems against opposing Raikou/Jirachi. Earthquake would additionally be helpful to draw in Claydol.

If you've survived reading all my ramblings, thank you for your time! Any advice on how to improve this team is welcome.

Tetrafolium · Nov 5, 2026

Hello Strawberry_Lyn, this is Tetrafolium. I was compelled by your concept of partnering Murkrow with Raikou to cover its weakness to Dugtrio and Claydol. I will focus this analysis on fleshing out that core idea.

Analysis

I think your identification of Blissey, Claydol, and Dugtrio as the primary opposition for Raikou is accurate, but not quite complete. Snorlax is another special wall that threatens Raikou, and some slightly more position-based checks, such as Aerodactyl, Celebi, Tyranitar, and Registeel, are worth consideration as well. I want to assess how well Murkrow covers each of these notable threats to establish a baseline for what further support might be needed. In short, Murkrow handles Claydol well but is marginal at best in clearing out the other threats to Raikou without incurring significant costs. The way that the current team compensates for coverage gaps against Raikou’s checks exposes some larger structural problems.

By far, Murkrow is the most capable of checking Claydol. Murkrow’s Dark and Flying typing completely stuffs Claydol’s common coverage of Earthquake and Psychic. If Claydol is the switch-in for Raikou, it is reasonable to expect that Murkrow will find a safe entry on Earthquake. The caveat is that if Claydol decides to commit to Explosion, you will certainly lose the Murkrow. This is usually a worthwhile exchange since you lose the Claydol counter in exchange for eliminating the Claydol, which puts you one step closer to a Raikou sweep. It is worth noting, however, that Claydol will occasionally have Ice Beam or Rock Slide to allow it to target opposing Salamence or Zapdos. In these cases, Murkrow is somewhat insufficient as a check.

32- SpA Claydol Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Murkrow: 188-222 (71.7 - 84.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
216+ Atk Claydol Rock Slide vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Murkrow: 227-268 (86.6 - 102.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

To address this, I suggest adding some defensive investment to Murkrow so it can consistently survive and land a second Pursuit. This should chip Claydol sufficiently for Raikou’s Crunch to be able to finish it off. Specific details on how I would suggest investing in Murkrow’s EVs will be in the “Suggestions and Alterations” section.

Next, I want to point out Aerodactyl. Murkrow is surprisingly good at punishing an Aerodactyl that has locked into Earthquake.

252+ SpA Black Glasses Murkrow Pursuit vs. 4 HP 30 IVs / 0 SpD 30 IVs Aerodactyl as it switches: 153-180 (50.8 - 59.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

If Murkrow can find a way to switch into an Aerodactyl Earthquake, it can scare Aerodactyl away from clicking Earthquake again for the rest of the game, lest it become an easy revenge kill (slightly hyperbolic, but the point stands). This plan depends on forcing Aerodactyl to lock into Earthquake, which leads into one of the core issues that I see with the current construction of the team. To highlight this issue, I want to examine Murkrow as a Dugtrio counter.

We agree that once Dugtrio has locked into Earthquake, Murkrow will punish it hard with a Black Glasses-boosted Pursuit, usually leaving Dugtrio with less than 25% HP. However, think about what has to happen to get Dugtrio to click Earthquake. It must come in; trap Metagross, a weakened Regice, or Raikou; and KO with its Earthquake so that Murkrow can enter the field. If Dugtrio eliminates Metagross or Regice, we lose one of two key defensive components, which may open us up to losing to late-game win conditions (e.g. Dragon Dance Tyranitar, Curse Snorlax, Calm Mind Celebi). If Dugtrio eliminates Raikou, we lose the win condition that the team was built around. It wouldn’t do us much good to use Murkrow to protect Raikou from Dugtrio if Raikou is the one that baits the Dugtrio in. In other words, to get value out of Murkrow, we have to let Aerodactyl and Dugtrio click Earthquake into our especially Earthquake-weak team. Dugtrio is the more insidious of the two since we are not able to switch from the Earthquake targets to Murkrow to punish the lock-in for free. Still, we can navigate to a win regardless so long as we limit Dugtrio to one entry and have enough bulk in the late game to survive Aerodactyl’s attempt to sweep.

You addressed Dugtrio with Spikes from a lead Skarmory. In theory, this could work since three layers of Spikes will finish off a Dugtrio that Pursuit has left below 25% HP. However, I have some concerns about how reliably we can maintain the Spikes against common Dugtrio team structures. Slow-paced or stall builds revolving around Claydol, Dugtrio, and Public Enemy No. 1 Blissey are incredibly oppressive to the Raikou win condition. A typical game may go like this: Dugtrio eliminates Metagross, then we go to Murkrow to force Pursuit damage onto Dugtrio. Blissey switches in and threatens Thunder Wave, which we don’t have a great Pokemon to absorb. Now, we are in a race with the opponent to Roar the Dugtrio back in to secure the last piece of chip damage before the opponent KOs our Skarmory and either spins or KOs Murkrow, letting Claydol stick around for the long haul. All the while, the team is worn down by the opposing Skarmory’s Spikes (which it can set up against our Suicune), Blissey’s Seismic Toss, and Surf or Toxic from a defensive Water-type such as Milotic. At this point, Dugtrio may not even be the main concern because a stronger threat has emerged.

Frankly, a healthy Blissey gives the opponent a lot of leeway for Claydol to spin away the initial layers and then Explode into Murkrow to cash in its value. Once our Skarmory is chipped and Metagross is eliminated, Blissey (with Seismic Toss) can handle virtually the entire team by itself. Suicune without Rest can be statused and worn down by Blissey or its teammates. Regice’s Explosion does not leave Blissey in consistent KO range of anything except Metagross’ Brick Break. Raikou is woefully unequipped to 1v1 Blissey. Skarmory can try to establish Spikes to chip Blissey as it switches in, but once Metagross has been dealt with, Blissey has little reason to switch. Thus, Spikes accomplish little against Blissey in the late game. To summarize, I think that the team has Metagross performing contradictory roles: it cannot both be the primary Dugtrio lure and the only Blissey answer.

Returning to Murkrow’s coverage of the notable threats, there is still the issue of alternate special walls such as Snorlax, Registeel, Celebi, and Tyranitar (which only walls Raikou with specific sets). Murkrow can Feather Dance Snorlax or Tyranitar to help one of the team’s Calm Mind users to get ahead in the boosting war. It can Thunder Wave Registeel to potentially steal free turns, which the team may need since nothing else on the team can threaten to 2HKO. A weakened Celebi can sometimes be pressured out by the threat of a Flying-type attack only to be KOed by a straightforward Pursuit. In each of these examples, Murkrow provides only marginal value. Regice, Metagross, and Suicune will often be tasked with the lion’s share of breaking these threats. Typically, you would expect something like your own Dugtrio to be instrumental in breaking and eliminating them—and it would fit well in conjunction with Regice and Suicune. More specifically, it would relieve Metagross of the duty of KOing Blissey, freeing it up to focus on luring the opposing Dugtrio. As it stands, however, it is not simple to slot Dugtrio in since every current team slot is performing a vital role. It is not impossible, though, if you are willing to make some alterations.

Suggestions and Alterations

Idea 1: Keeping the Spikes + Murkrow Core

Before moving on to a larger rebuild, I want to offer a few changes that keep most of the roles on your team intact while addressing the concerns above.

The first is the Murkrow investment mentioned earlier. Shifting some EVs into the defenses will allow Murkrow to survive a Rock Slide from Claydol and land a second Pursuit, which should leave Claydol in range of Raikou’s Crunch. I suggest 32 HP EVs to survive an Ice Beam from 44 SpA Claydol (a somewhat common benchmark for the Gengar matchup) even after sand damage. Additionally, 32 Def EVs will allow Murkrow to survive a 216+ Atk Rock Slide in sandstorm. 52 Def would guarantee that Murkrow survives a 252+ Atk Rock Slide, but this may cut too much into Special Attack and Speed investment to be worthwhile.

44 SpA Claydol Ice Beam vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Murkrow: 214-252 (79.5 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
216+ Atk Claydol Rock Slide vs. 32 HP / 32 Def Murkrow: 214-252 (79.5 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Both ranges cap at 252 damage, leaving Murkrow with at least 17 HP. Sand deals 16 damage, leaving Murkrow with at least 1 HP.

The second is replacing Regice with Snorlax as the team’s special wall. Snorlax applies more immediate offensive pressure to Blissey and the opposing Snorlax thanks to targeting their lower physical defenses rather than their superb special defenses. This takes some of the burden of breaking those walls off Metagross, allowing it to focus on luring in Dugtrio. In the worst case, Snorlax can trade itself away with Self-Destruct to swing the momentum back from your opponent as well as potentially remove a counter to Raikou. This alone could make the team a bit more cohesive, but I still worry about the Dragon Dance Tyranitar matchup.

To address the Tyranitar problem, I bounced some ideas around with Figull400, who suggested compressing the roles of Metagross and Raikou into Jirachi since it shares Metagross’ Steel/Psychic defensive profile while retaining Raikou’s Calm Mind sweeping capability. This frees a slot for our own Dugtrio, which stops Tyranitar from rolling through the team once it reaches +1, even if Suicune or Skarmory has been compromised. Dugtrio can be used to finish off a weakened Blissey or Snorlax to unlock Raikou’s potential to sweep. Dugtrio also enables tricky double switches when Murkrow is threatening a Pursuit trap. For instance, if the opponent switches Claydol out for Tyranitar in the face of Murkrow, we can anticipate that by double switching to Dugtrio to secure the Tyranitar elimination. Or, if you’re feeling extra tricky, you could bait in the opposing Dugtrio with Jirachi, double switch to Murkrow to threaten Pursuit, and then switch again to your own Dugtrio on a predicted Rock Slide to secure the elimination. This line is not especially consistent, however. Opposing Spikes can leave our own Dugtrio in range of two Rock Slides, or the opposing Dugtrio may use Hidden Power Bug, which 2HKOes ours regardless of Spikes. We may need to win a speed tie to pull this strategy off, so it may not be a line that you can rely on (but it would make for an amazing clip). This edit showcases Murkrow well, and I will leave a rough sketch of the team below if this idea appeals to you.

Paste: :skarmory::jirachi::suicune::dugtrio::snorlax::murkrow:

Unfortunately, the Jirachi edit trades away the Murkrow and Raikou pairing that made your team so interesting to me in the first place. As such, I want to show another take on the duo that I think fares better in the current metagame. Rather than using Murkrow and Spikes to play for a clean Dugtrio KO, this version borrows from a different style of offense that preys on common Dugtrio teams.

Idea 2: Preserving the Raikou + Murkrow Synergy

Paste: :suicune::tyranitar::raikou::registeel::salamence::murkrow:

Instead of playing for a clean KO on Dugtrio, we can borrow from a style of offense that preys on Dugtrio teams. "Slop" is an archetype built around Dragon Dance Salamence as both a Dugtrio punish and win condition. Anytime Dugtrio commits to using Earthquake, it opens the door for Salamence (who is clearly immune to Earthquake) to come in and set up to win the game. Suciune and Raikou, the Double Beasts, form a solid special breaking core, or occasionally act as win conditions, since they force damage onto common threats to Salamence, such as Metagross, Jirachi, and Gengar. In contrast with the original team, Registeel functions as the primary special wall. It combines the high Special Defense of Regice with the superb Steel typing of Metagross (which is important because of immunity to sandstorm and resisting Rock-type moves) while retaining access to Explosion. Registeel’s Seismic Toss spreads consistent damage across the board while Thunder Wave hampers every switch-in except for Ground-types such as Swampert, Claydol, and Dugtrio. Registeel can directly threaten Swampert with a 4x effective Hidden Power Grass while the latter two can be abused by the combination of Salamence and Murkrow. A physical breaker rounds out the offensive core, and the classic choice is Adamant Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Its permanent sand keeps non-sand-immune targets in range for Salamence and Raikou to clean up.

When using a Pokemon with as narrow a matchup spread as Murkrow, the other five members need solid gameplans of their own so that Murkrow is never asked to do something that it can’t—like KO a Blissey. This touches on a concept called “matchup division”. In Murkrow’s case, it is mostly tasked with checking Claydol, finishing off weakened foes with Pursuit, and spreading Thunder Wave or Feather Dance to swing momentum. If your opponent’s team does not give Murkrow a chance to accomplish these tasks, then the rest of the team should be able to win without Murkrow’s contribution. This comes up a lot with Raikou, too. Teams that over-index on Raikou checks, such as the dreaded Blissey, Claydol, and Dugtrio squads, tend to be vulnerable to Dragon Dance Salamence and Tyranitar, so Raikou doesn’t necessarily have to secure a KO for the team to win.

Some set alterations:
Murkrow (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 32 HP / 36 Def / 200 SpA / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Pursuit
- Hidden Power Flying
- Thunder Wave
- Feather Dance

I adopted the EV spread from the previous suggestion so Murkrow can survive the occasional super effective move from Claydol. I also added exactly 4 more Def EVs to guarantee that it survives two Mach Punches from Jolly Breloom outside of sand. The Special Attack investment allows Murkrow to usually 4HKO Claydol. Pursuit still deals nearly half of Aerodactyl’s HP, but without maxed out SpA and Black Glasses it no longer reliably forces the 2HKO.

252 Atk Breloom Mach Punch vs. 32 HP / 36 Def Murkrow: 120-142 (44.6 - 52.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
200+ SpA 30 IVs Murkrow Pursuit vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Claydol: 91-108 (28 - 33.3%) -- 91.6% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
200+ SpA Murkrow Pursuit vs. 4 HP 30 IVs / 0 SpD 30 IVs Aerodactyl on a switch: 135-159 (44.8 - 52.8%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO

Leftovers replaces Black Glasses to offset the sandstorm damage so that Murkrow can’t be chipped away as switch spam fodder against bulkier teams. Black Glasses is still an option if you want the stronger trap into Aerodactyl.

This Murkrow outspeeds Smeargle (and coincidentally +Spe Claydol), allowing for some entries on potential Spore thanks to its Insomnia ability. Since 274 Speed is the minimum required, you can move the 8 extra EVs elsewhere, but when in doubt, I like to throw the extra EVs into Speed to creep other Pokemon that are also looking to outspeed Smeargle. Taunt has been dropped from the original set, which may detract from the Smeargle matchup, but this makes room for Murkrow to pack a move that punishes the other Spore user, Breloom. Surprisingly, with no investment and a negative nature, Murkrow’s Hidden Power Flying is powerful enough to OHKO both Breloom and Heracross. Drill Peck would be even better—if only to spare some IVs, but Drill Peck is incompatible with Feather Dance.

0- Atk Murkrow Hidden Power Flying vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Breloom: 289-340 (110.7 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0- Atk Murkrow Hidden Power Flying vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Heracross: 306-360 (101.3 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 176 SpA / 80 Spe
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Ice Beam

Lead Substitute Suicune gets early progress against a lot of common leads and threatens to steamroll teams that are over-reliant on Seismic Toss users such as Blissey and Registeel to beat the Suicune. 252 HP is necessary for setting 101 HP Substitutes to achieve the desired positive matchup vs the Seismic Toss users. 176+ SpA is a “jump point” (or a point at which 4 EVs give two stat points instead of one). Suicune threatens to OHKO even the bulkiest common Salamence spread from neutral with Ice Beam (at least 75% of the time) and max HP Tyranitar at +1 with Surf (around 56% of the time). Metagross will always perish to two +1 Surfs, forcing a mindgame around whether the opposing Metagross should Explode to stop the 2HKO at the risk of thudding into a Substitute or Earthquake to punish the Substitute at the risk of playing into the 2HKO. The rest of the EVs have been dumped into Speed. This puts Suicune at 226, which outspeeds Adamant Tyranitar by five points. You can reinvest as many as 16 EVs from Speed into other stats if you want—it may improve the odds to OHKO Salamence or Tyranitar.

176+ SpA Suicune Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 212 SpD 30 IVs Salamence: 319-376 (96.3 - 113.5%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+1 176+ SpA Suicune Surf vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar: 374-440 (92.5 - 108.9%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
+1 176+ SpA Suicune Surf vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Metagross: 204-240 (56 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

With Substitute and Ice Beam, Suicune pairs very well with Raikou since it threatens a lot of Raikou’s checks such as the Seismic Toss users, Tyranitar, Aerodactyl, and Celebi. This alleviates pressure from Murkrow to have to always be involved in counter-checking for Raikou. I recommend running this Suicune set in the lead slot so that it breaks down the walls early. It does not need to stick around: its job is to leave those threats compromised for the rest of the team to finish off.

I won’t go into as much detail about the other team members since their sets are mostly straightforward. However, I will mention that the Salamence is designed to survive an uninvested Ice Punch from Gengar or a low investment Ice Beam from Swampert after sand damage. It has enough Speed to outspeed every Adamant Heracross, Modest Suicune, and other Salamence that invest the bare minimum to catch the former two. 4 Def EVs can be invested to allow Salamence to always survive a Rock Slide from -1 Choice Band Aerodactyl, but I find that this is not overly necessary. Fire Blast allows Salamence to achieve value in the midgame without the need for a Dragon Dance boost as a check to Steel-types such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Metagross.

0 SpA Gengar Ice Punch vs. 8 HP / 192 SpD 30 IVs Salamence: 265-312 (79.5 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Swampert Ice Beam vs. 8 HP / 192 SpD 30 IVs Salamence: 234-276 (70.2 - 82.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
-1 252 Atk 30 IVs Choice Band Aerodactyl Rock Slide vs. 8 HP / 4- Def Salamence: 282-332 (84.6 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Usage Notes and Replays

I played a handful of games on a new account, including some with the original team (which I frankly struggled to win with). Some of the games were admittedly against weaker players, but the concepts should hold up against higher-level competition.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708326236-jnec5vgmuldr820kowdy9827n4thov0pw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708328614-q5mdyexfafx3vslxxpnwad69pd0eedxpw?p2
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708330364-g7fklogy3rw7mc0e8bvnvmx6hdtst64pw?p2

Why Murkrow shouldn’t trap Dugtrio in every game:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708386661-0lfqipqpqybd6sb68myqqrbk3hajhsipw
In this game, the opponent revealed Dugtrio to trap and eliminate on Turn 28. I could have either sent in Salamence or Murkrow to revenge kill the Dugtrio. Since there was a Gengar that outspeeds and OHKOes both Salamence and Murkrow, I needed to use the Dugtrio as a set up opportunity for Salamence to outspeed and KO the remaining three Pokemon. Murkrow did not see the field, but it did not need to for the team to win.

Feather Dance + Intimidate synergy:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708358004-icalw0sqg05ruwimnho35hod8ch2fg2pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708390233-9fpq1ab8v88eilcs52503p2310o6k3wpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708401126-r54wbomr5anm4vti0cjprvm2g7stm84pw
Feather Dance is great at stifling Tyranitar or Snorlax as they try to use Murkrow as a setup opportunity. Feather Dance puts the target at -2 (or -1 if it uses Dragon Dance or Curse), and Salamence’s Intimidate stacks the debuff to put the target at -3 (or -2). This makes Salamence very unlikely to be KOed by physical attacks and lets it set up its own Dragon Dances with impunity.

Pursuit synergy with Registeel:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708364421-1aulmaw8s9dau9jo8m0d9da69pq77kkpw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2708384262-8pdxxa1wrtpanh0arnyxcsw1ig7kmeppw
Registeel often baits the Dugtrio in. While we can use Explosion to kill Dugtrio, it is sometimes better to sack Registeel with a simple Seismic Toss click to allow Murkrow to find the Pursuit KO. This is because it forces the opponent to reveal their punish for Murkrow, which constrains the gamestate and avoids a guessing game of which Pokemon will switch in after the Explosion double down.

Strawberry_Lynn · Nov 5, 2026

Thank you for this very elaborate reply. I think this means you've played more Murkrow games than I have at this point - I think I spend approximately 20 hours in the teambuilder for every hour I spend actually playing games. Interesting EV spreads as well. I was actually Rock Slid once by a Claydol, and the bulk would've helped in such a case. I should definitely try out your teams and see if Murkrow feels like a genuine asset on those. Playing with an actually cohesive team (as far as that is possible while operating under shitmon clause, i.e. feeling the need to include one shitmon in all my teams) will likely also help my understanding on the game to progess a bit. I can provide some feedback on how those teams feel once I've found the time (and especially the courage) to sit down and play some games.

The weakness/inconsistency of the original team into Blissey is something I felt as well. Too many bad Regice boom mindgame outcomes leading into unsalvageable situations. I've been thinking about how to work out this Murkrow trapping Claydol/Dugtrio team concept since the first post, and I've also arrived at the thought that Jirachi might be a good Murkrow partner. In particular, I've read that the wish+cm and sub+cm variants are reasonable into Blissey. I was thinking about trying the sub+cm+psychic+fire punch variant. This is the concept I've come up with so far:

:Tyranitar: @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hidden Power [Rock]
- Earthquake
- Brick Break
- Taunt

Edit: after 1 game I realised that this set doesn't work because it is just too bad into swampert - could've seen that coming. Replace it with Mixed Tar, which doesn't outright kill opposing Tar but does enough damage while actually threatening things
Sub+cm Jirachi wants sand, so we need Tar. This lead Tar set is designed specifically for Tar-on-Tar violence. 252+ Atk Brick Break kills any bulkless Tar 100% of the time, and has a very slim chance to ohko max HP Tar. Apart from CB Tar this Tar usually won't be ohko'd by opposing Tar. I chose taunt to prevent lead Skarm from doing anything, which frees up the HP slot for the reliable HP Rock. People who don't experience my raw, unmitigated hatred of non 100% accurate moves can use Rock Slide to not get outsped by every speed-invested tar. This set notably thuds into Claydol (which is solved by Murkrow) and Swampert (which we'll need other solutions for). Once you kill the opposing Tar the opponent might switch in Dug to finish off our Tar, which then gets a Murkrow hit on Dug. The reason we want to engage in this Tar-on-Tar violence is:

:Jirachi: @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 80 SpA / 136 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic
- Fire Punch
- Calm Mind
- Substitute

I've been told by the Smogon Strategy Pokedex Gods that this thing does something into Blissey. Seems better to me than the Wish variant since you don't get t-waved and para'd into kingdom come. Psychic having stab and 20% SpD drop chance probably helps into Blissey more than boltbeam. Fire Punch does nothing into Tar, which is why we want our Tar to remove or at least severely bludgeon it.

:Skarmory: @ Leftovers
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 144 SpD / 112 Spe
Careful Nature
- Drill Peck
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Roar

It's the same Skarm but with less speed and more bulk. I read somewhere that apparently taunt Skarm commonly go 200-203, so I went 204. This is the same Murkrow+spikes concept as I originally posted, but with sand the spikes and Roars will stick more.

:Suicune: @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 224 SpA / 32 Spe
Modest Nature
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Calm Mind
- Roar

Not 100% sure about this thing. I want some sort of water type to help our two steels against fires, and our Tar lead against opposing waters. I also want something that can remove Mence with Ice Beam. Suicune has the bulk to switch in and attack back, but I'm also putting a Suicune on a team with sand and no spinner. I was thinking maybe Starmie, but Suicune gets roar and can help with the spikes+sand shuffling strategy that way. Swampert would be an actual Rock resist, but I feel like it doesn't help that much against fires since it just gets HP:grass'd.

:Jolteon: @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
Hidden Power: Ice
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Baton Pass
- Roar

I was considering Roar Raikou as a switch into electric moves and spikes shuffler, but then the thought occured to me that Jolteon might be more useful on this team, as it gets the same Roar synergy while having better switch-in opportunities with Volt Absorb. It also provides minor Tar insurance by outspeeding any +1 Tar and bolting it for some damage, as well as the Aero tie gambit. This might be a low ladder thing, but I used a lot of Jolt spikes in the past, and people would often try to trap it with a full HP Dug. This would let me BP to Murkrow on the quake and get a pursuit off. BP is also cool into Claydol as it gets Murkrow in with momentum.

:Murkrow: @ Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 32 HP / 36 Def / 200 SpA / 4 SpD / 236 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 30 Spe
- Pursuit
- Hidden Power Flying
- Thunder Wave
- Feather Dance

The funny bird itself. I think I'd like to try out your HP:Fly set. HP:Grass could also be decent to get some chip on Swampert. Taunt is not as important as lum Tar can eat Smeargle leads.

This team obviously has no good Rock resist. Its match-up into Tar/Aero is a patchwork of Jirachi+Suicune acting as pivots, Tar wanting to remove opposing lead Tar, Jolteon revenge/speed tie action, and Murkrow possibly trapping EQ-locked Aero. That by itself makes the design questionable. I haven't really been able to come up with a solution to that. The team is also built around the assumption that sub+cm Jirachi actually does something to Blissey - though the sand+spikes and roar action should also make its life at least a bit more difficult. The team also looks like it has the same issues switching into t-wave.

Strawberry_Lynn · Friday at 12:56 AM

Something else that came to mind just this morning: Murkrow + Mach Punch Breloom + Raikou might make good use of Murkrow's capabilities. If Loom gets trapped first, Dug eats a Mach Punch and gets finished off by Pursuit, as Murkrow lives Aerial Ace. If Raikou gets trapped, Dug eats a Pursuit from Murkrow and cannot trap Breloom any more without getting finished off by Mach Punch. Murkrow can also help Breloom more confidently click fighting moves into teams with Claydol, as it's such a free switch into Dol.

Timid Murkrow can reach 309 speed, 1 more than 308 Gengar (do people run that set?). If you're insane, you can run max speed Murkrow to try and force one Pursuit on slow Gar, so Breloom HP:Ghost / Raikou Crunch can finish it. Or possibly very bulky Murkrow could live a Gar hit and Pursuit it that way. I don't really have time to dive into the damage calculator right now, but there could be possibilities of being able to force one Pursuit hit on Gar, for what that's worth.

Tetrafolium · Friday at 2:27 AM

The Mach Punch Breloom + Pursuit strategy is pretty common, but mostly with Tyranitar. As for being a Gengar check, I think Murkrow is poorly suited (pun intended) at handling it. Thunderbolt, even from an uninvested Gengar, is pretty likely to OHKO. Even if you get to 309 Speed, it’s unlikely that you’ll outspeed most Gengar since they tend to either be the Utility or Offense spreads nowadays. I think Murkrow might actually fit best on stall. You could use Skarmory or Forretress, Aromatherapy Blissey, Bold Suicune, Rest Raikou, Claydol, and Murkrow. Murkrow would almost entirely be trying to finish off opposing Claydol to win the Spike war. You can also use Perish Song to force switches and to secure victory against last-mons that might otherwise be difficult to KO like Suicune. Personally, I think it’s interesting to try to make it work on offense—it’s something I haven’t seen very much before. Keep experimenting and let us know what you come up with.

jimmy the card · Friday at 5:33 AM

Tetrafolium said:
I think your identification of Blissey, Claydol, and Dugtrio as the primary opposition for Raikou is accurate

Camerupt erasure

Strawberry_Lynn · Tuesday at 2:11 PM

Tetrafolium's video has led to a situation never before seen on ADV ladder... the Murkrow mirror. Truly a marvel of nature

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen3ou-2712054281-wu4c0p9fd0d2erwgduumjgctyjhuj13pw

Strawberry_Lynn · Tuesday at 3:07 PM

As the above replay gives away the new team I've been tinkering on, I'd say it's time to post it here as well:

:Breloom: :Murkrow: :Tyranitar: :Moltres: :Snorlax: :Swampert: (Click for paste)

I found this 128-slide presentation by Vapicuno about how to build offense. It was a really nice read, and I tried to incorporate the concepts into this team. It's earnestly built around trying to find a team in which Murkrow could shine.

:Breloom: @ Leftovers
Ability: Effect Spore
EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 28 SpD / 184 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Focus Punch
- Mach Punch
- Substitute
- Spore

(Breloom EVs are experimental at this point). To match the concept of "Krow traps Dug/Dol", I chose a Loom lead. Adamant for maximum power and 222 speed for Adamant Tar. Substitute to get advantage from Tars switching out. Dol might come in to try and absorb a sleep, and if we're behind a sub, we can Focus Punch it. Then we can switch to Krow and force a Pursuit on it, bringing the Dol to extremely low health. This interaction of trapping Dol can also free up Loom's sleep for more interesting targets. Mach punch is a nice defensive fallback against opposing Tar. It also chips any Dug, either opposing Dug lead or other Dugs coming in to revenge Loom.

:Murkrow: @ Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 32 HP / 128 Def / 232 SpA / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Pursuit
- Night Shade
- Thunder Wave
- Feather Dance

The funny bird itself. As explained earlier in this thread, its purpose is to trap Dol & Dug. Note the bulky spread: it lives two Aerial Aces from Adamant Dug outside of sand, and Jolly dug in sand. This is to ensure that a Dug chipped by Breloom can't try to get cheeky and duel our Krow with Aerial Ace. If Dug switches it gets removed by Pursuit, and if it stays it gets 2HKO'd by Pursuit. This interaction may put our Krow into range of Dol Rapid Spin (sentences only uttered by the clinically insane), but Dol has little incentive to click Rapid Spin into our spikesless team. Since Krow does not take spikes, even a Krow at 10% can still find some entry and TWave/Night Shade something. I run 232 SpA+ since it has the same Pursuit ranges against Dol as 252+ (pursuit is weird. You can probably go even lower without actually losing any damage ranges). 116 Spe puts it at 247, which outspeeds al Tars and slightly creeps utility Celebi. Being able to force a Pursuit on slow Celebi could be relevant in some cases, particularly for our bugless Tar. I think Night Shade is a good option on Krow too. With TWave/Night Shade you are basically as good at damaging Skarm as Registeel (though Skarm can kill you if it feels like it), and it gets nice chip on other things. Feather Dance sets DDers to -1 and forces them to kill the Krow, giving our own setup threats a great opportunity to get going.

:Tyranitar: @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 80 Atk / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Rest

Our end-game concept: sweep with bulky DD Tar. With our Dol-chipping bird, we can drop HP:Bug. I'm experimenting with a resto+chesto DD set to be less vulnerable to status. It probably has obscent surprise value as well, as a +1/2 speed Tar can get a fast rest+wake, and the opponent likely won't click status into a status'd Tar. This set is probably a bit too spicy, but it is something that is uniquely enabled by Krow. Note that this set does not like to see Flygon. Another cool possible trick since we have Ghostless Loom: Gar will think it's Pursuit and try to status/fight it. This lets Tar get DDs and rest, possibly enabling a sweep. If they don't see Leftovers and also don't see Lum after a Wisp, they'll possibly think it's a Black Glasses set, and be even less likely to switch.

:Moltres: @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 12 SpD / 244 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
- Flamethrower
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Overheat
- Will-O-Wisp

Our Loom set cannot hit Gar (though it can sleep Gar should it be behind a sub), and it also does not do a lot to Celebi. Moltres is here to help with these match-ups. 12 SpD EVs mean 8 SpA Gar cannot kill with a Tbolt following an Ice Punch in sand without letting Molt get an Overheat on it. The initial plan against a Gar is to switch in Molt and observe what happens. Against Wisp or weak Ice Punch (23.6-28%), stay and Overheat. More damage implies off Gar and we switch to our Lax. Molt is great against many Celebi, but SDpass Celebi can kill it with HP:Rock. If we see SD:Pass, switch back to Loom on the HP:Rock. Loom tanks the +2 HP:Rock and a possible following Shadow Ball, and can threaten Spore. I did not choose Zard for this slot, because it doesn't have the Bulk to wrestle with Def Gar this way if it takes an Ice Punch switching in.

:Snorlax: @ Leftovers
Ability: Immunity
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Atk / 56 Def / 52 SpD / 16 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Body Slam
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Ball
- Self-Destruct

Everyone's favourite rapper Ronnie Flex. Switches into leads that Loom finds scary. Good into Off Gar, which complements our Molt threatening Def Gar. I've chosen its EVs to always live 3 Timid Mie/Modest Cune pumps. 132+ AtK to always OHKO +8 HP Dug with slam. I think Focus Punch into Skarm is more important than EQ into Tar/Meta, as we're already beating on Skarm with our other team members and we want to overload it for Tar to not get Roared. Forbidden gamer knowledge: if you find yourself spamming Lax Shadow Balls into utility Celebi trying to leech+recover stall it, and you somehow get 2 SpD drops, Krow Pursuit OHKOs it if it switches. Will probably never happen, but it would be hilarious.

:Swampert: @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 248 HP / 192 Atk / 48 SpD / 20 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Curse
- Rest

Rock resist with an offensive slant. This is also our secondary Starmie answer: timid Mie cannot 2HKO this Pert from full with pump (Modest Mie gets an 8.2% chance), and a +1 EQ precisely kills 4 HP mie. Against DefMie you just go to the moon with Curse. Rock Slide beats on Skarm - a great combo with our Lax/Krow paralysing it - and is an unexpected move in general. Unrevealed Pert is also great at scaring out Flygon, letting it switch into a Slide and get a free Curse off. This Pert appreciates Dol being gone not necessarily because it couldn't 1v1 Dol with curse+rest and resisted Slide, but because this prevents Dol from booming it.

I need to sit down with this team and play some games + review my own replays. Following those concepts from the Vapicuno slides was counterintuitive to me, but also very interesting. I think the concept of Murkrow enabling physical threats who only use QuakeSlide as their 2 attacking moves by removing Claydol is an interesting way of using Murkrow on this team.

If this team ever becomes popular for whatever reason, I'm stating right here and now that it shall henceforth be known as "Dawn Offense". The combination of shinies on this team gives a really pleasing orange/blueish colour scheme, and I love mornings in general.

Murkrow offense

Toasty