well... time to throw my last opinions on darkrai b4 the votes go out. in my latest reqs run was 9-0 and then i ran into atales HO twice and got cleaned. am i good or bad at ndou we will never know.
This is a Darkrai Ban post. Topics written about Darkrai in this post are about how it's too much for NDOU.
DARKRAI: META AND ITS ATTRIBUTES
honestly my thoughts on darkrai has not changed at all, i still think its an extremely oppressive offensive piece that has too much power. there is simply so little defensive counterplay to darkrai that i think its too pressuring on the meta. look at the most commonly used special defensive pieces. you see slowking, iron crown, which are both weak to darkrai's STAB and naturally get crushed by +2 dark pulse(just base dp chunks a lot!). other offensive darks, like hsam, are physically oriented, which leaves them to be naturally checked by physically positive foes like urshifu that naturally have good physcial defense. this is not the case for darkrai. it has 135 base special attack with all of its resists being specially weak foes that noticably cannot take several dark pulses, like aforementioned shifu and mlop, which take around 30 from unboosted dark pulse. even 4x resists like iron valiant cant take specs terastallized dark pulse several times, not to mention those fairies could easily be sludge bombed as its usually the only member that can switch in and threaten rai out.
252 SpA Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 102-120 (29.9 - 35.1%) -- 17.5% chance to 3HKO
as seen, darkrai's very limited defensive checks such as urshifu can't take dark pulses more than 4 times, not to mention that isnt even realistic considering chip from partners like helm pex/chomp/lando and ferro, alongside switching in multiple times as speed control and therefore taking hazards chip. the same deal with mlop, and koko(elec z > boots, and even then boots koko cant threaten an ohko).
of course, there are notable dark resists in the tier that are defensively specially oriented, like ting lu and mtar. however, this is only really applicable to choice specs/scarf sets, where they are unable to switch moves and are noticably worse/less threatening than nasty plot(will explain in movesets). there is virtually nothing preventing darkrai from switching out(it resists suit and realistically its only taking hazards chip as dp is non contact and with its frail dark typing its pivoted in most of the time), and then switching back in on an opening to cause more havoc.
and... there's always the option of clicking focus blast and seeing mtar go down from full. or just click dark pulse as both checks dont have reliable recovery.
its naturally easy to wear down both of those checks with uturn and hazards, meaning that with darkrai's superior speed and coverage, those will be going down in the course of a game.
let's take a look at what darkrai can actually provide.
it boasts 135 base spatk, an above average attacking stat with a superior stab option.
it also has the speed tier of weavile, naturally outspeeding foes like mdia, usually requiring speed control to force it out like mlop or z koko. this means that switching that speed control is incredibly hard, and usually requires a sacrifice to bring it in against choice specs or nasty plot sets.
has superior stab into the tier.
has incredible set variety, which some universally agreed above others, but the fact it has so many sets, and one for literally all of its possible checks, means that playing against darkrai is even more difficult due to not knowing what it could click.
singlehandedly the most powerful abuser of hypnosis/sleep in the game, being able to instantly steal games due to z-hypnosis, and being one of the main reasons why some people agree on its ban.
while rare to see, darkrai also boasts an incredibly large amount of utility, having support moves in twave, willo, toxic, knock off, which are rarely used in contrast to trick, which can be seen on choice sets to severely cripple its already limited checks in ting lu and urshifu.
DARKRAI: GAME/TIER/TEAMBUILDER IMPACT
its no surprise that darkrai can majorly impact the course of a game. but... how does this occur in a game setting?
while it can be harder to place darkrai in the game to set up due to its fragility, it can happen more than once, and darkrai usually has several opportunities to punch holes. being placed in versus a pivoting move, such as uturn on passive foes like toxapex, gliscor, locked tapu lele, and all naturally dark weak outsped mons like mmedi and mtios. the sheer oppresion of darkrai on the field versus passive foes already pressures the opponent to switch. but with a speed tier that ties with weavile, that usually requires speed control, like mega lopunny. but that means lopunny has to take rocks and a possible dark pulse, while also taking chip from darkrai's partners like lando on the switch and the inability to check darkrai later, while also taking in the possibility of a focus blast. this puts the opponent in a very oppresive negative position, where they have to risk a play that could result in a mon going down or the inability to check darkrai later, all depending on what darkrai clicks. making a midground play like hard pex to toxic and chip it down can just result in darkrai clicking nasty plot and deleting pex entirely with a z move. and featuring such a high speed, when that dark resist like mtar walks into to tank the hit... it just gets focus blasted. the amount of power, coverage and pure speed that darkrai has in the that moment makes it almost impossible for the speed control to pivot in without something being sacrificed.
i do acknowledge that this is an imaginary, situational occurence where darkrai is able to put off tons of pressure. however, i can attest, and im sure many others can as well, that this is a valid explanation of just how oppressive rai can be in these situations. just one free turn, making the wrong midground, or being too agressive, can simply result in a mon being sacd or a tera being wasted in order to contain darkrai from breaking the whole defensive structure of the team.
speaking of defensive structures... currently, there are none!
this is a great time to move onto the topic about how darkrai(and other metagame offensive threats)have largely contributed to the rising increase of offense in this tier. many people in the nd community have expressed the shared opinion that ndou is in possibly one of the worst metas right now. the amount of pressure that mons like darkrai is able to impose on defensive cores have made offense, which contains a limited defensive profile, to become the most consistent playstyle in ndou.
as expected, this is an issue. the definition of a balanced meta is one that all playstyles are equally as good and equal to play. ndou is near the opposite. stall is mid, fat is mid, balance is trash, offense is literally king, and ho is good. nasty plot darkrai, ogerpon, dd z move gouging, hsam, yard, ursaluna, mdia, mmedi... i could keep going. there are so many offensive threats in the tier that the concept of outoffensing the opponent has become the best strategy to win in this tier. basically, "kill them before they kill you" mentality.
offense archetypes that contain a lot of high momentum and pivoting rarely gives darkrai a good chance to switch in, due to playstyles like BO try to gain the best position against the opponent. this, alongside maintaining positive matchups against the other threats in the tier, like gouging and mmedi, is the main reason why offense is so prevalent: outoffensing, in which obviously offense allows you to do this the best and most often. some builkier playstyles, like fat and balance, have more defensive options that sometimes dont require pivoting, which just leads to more opportunities for darkrai to break.
i agree with hidin's post on this issue. banning darkrai, suspecting ogerpon, then taking a look at some of the most popular offense threats like gouging, would probably be the best attempt at fixing the tier, step by step.
this is also the section to mention how restrictive darkrai can be on the builder. naturally, finding a defensive check to darkrai can be extremely difficult, often resorting to more new sets, like recently experimented with defensive kommo-o, clefable, or just being limited to speed control that can take care of darkrai(somewhat). it has made teambuilding in general very hard to go about as many of the structures this tier can support are just crushed by nasty plot darkrai smashing through would be checks or specs darkrai breaking through defensive cores extremely easily.
DARKRAI: MOVESETS
alongside how oppresive darkrai already is, it has to be mentioned that darkrai has amazing set variability in that it has a set that can always beat its checks, so discovering which set the rai is can cost you an important piece of the game.
NASTY PLOT
Darkrai @ Darkinium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Bad Dreams
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Bomb
this is unaminously agreed as the most oppresive rai set: nasty plot. giving this set an opportunity to set up commonly means that something is dying or something is being terad. its very limited checks in toxic glisc and pex which aim to take one hit and toxic... simply get blown by dark z, which is generally a gigantic burst of power that can kill every non resist. on the flip side, for literally only ting lu specifically... we have fightinium, which clean OHKOs lu, not to mention ting lu still takes a significant chunk from +2 fb, and mtar is ohkod. fight z is really for the accuracy, which can ohko ting lu and ferrothorn without gambling with fblast missing. also, ting lu cant really threaten it out, best deal is whirlwind which at least forces it. its coverage also includes sludge bomb, which hits fairies like koko, ival, and clef, while also threatening post tera gliscor and iron crown.
NASTY PLOT + Z-HYPNOSIS
Darkrai @ Psychium Z
Ability: Bad Dreams
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast / Sludge Bomb / Ice Beam
- Hypnosis
right behind the regular nasty plot, this is also a primary reason why darkrai is on the ban watch. hypnosis is a very cheesy set that can run away with games if performed successfully. this set can be incredibly frustrating to play against. watching your terastallized or simply just neutral check being put to sleep, and then darkrai just setting up while your ferrothorn or toxapex just snoozes away. z hypnosis gives darkrai a necessary +1 speed boost, which allows it to outspeed its faster checks like tapu koko, urshifu, and mlop. this set does come with a cost of one important coverage move, with focus blast and sludge bomb being pretty popular, and ice beam being able to snipe gliscor while also hit ting lu for se. it should be noted this set brought back up the ban sleep discussion from a while ago, and significantly contributes to darkrai's ban reasoning.
CHOICED
Darkrai @ Choice Specs / Scarf
Ability: Bad Dreams
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Pulse
- Focus Blast
- Sludge Bomb
- Ice Beam / Trick
this set just aims to take advantage of darkrai's already limited checks, great offensive stats and above-average speed tier. nearly nothing in the tier can comfortably tank a choice specs dark pulse without terastallization. tera dark simply takes this to another level as a wallbreaker, with common defensive pieces like toxapex, ferrothorn, and gliscor being cleanly 2khod, and weak resists like urshifu, mlop, ival, koko, and clef are broken through the same.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera-Dark Darkrai Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid Strike: 204-240 (59.8 - 70.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
this set forces tera on a defensive piece almost every game if its able to switch in and break consistently, and the best(and near only) counterplay to specs darkrai is to not let it in in the first place with proactive play. a fast breaker thats impossibly hard to switch into.
the one complaint about this set is yes, the fact that you cannot change moves. this makes playing around mtar and ting lu a bit harder, but considering the fact it does have the coverage in focus blast to just ohko in mtar's case, also possibility of switching out, and they dont have recovery, makes it so that these checks are just worn down over time despite being able to scout for that coverage. those fairies also dont want to catch a stray sludge bomb, and so doesnt that post tera iron crown... not to mention dark pulse breaks through them with limited switch ins anyway. ice beam snipes gliscor and full hp lando, and trick cripples its defensive counterplay in post tera crown, gking, ferro, and pex.
scarf darkrai is interesting, since a lot of people disregard that set as mediocre compared to the superior wallbreaking capabilities as nasty plot, but they hold different roles. scarf darkrai is valuable against offense as a very fast speed control option that is able to clean very effectively due to those hard-to-resist stabs(unlike kartana, pannu) alongside surprise its presumably faster checks in mlop and koko, firing off its colorful stab to dispose of those checks and make darkrai even more imposing and change the tides of the game in a whole. however, this does come with a large damage decrease.
DARKRAI: BAN ARGUMENT SUMMARY
TLDR for you little fucks who cant bother to read anything longer than 3 sentences: darkrai is way too strong for this tier, with nasty plot threatening kos every time its given the opportunity, specs being able to put off a lot of immediate power and wallbreak very efficiently, and scarf being a very effective speed control option to surprise its checks as an unwallable scarfer. its also shifted the tides of the meta itself alongside other offensive threats, and has made teambuilding more difficult, and has contributed to making this tier worse as a whole.
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get on my level, scrubs.
can be a big threat that you cant outspeed or wall. only threat imo is really
which fake out spams you but saccing that many mons to take down
is bad. It was banned due to how fast it was and stab u-turns AND having a terrifying movepool. 
was banned for specs+beast boost being too strong in ss iirc and in gen9 it can just click tera.
is the best shot at walling 
is mid, 
literally rose to stop 
is kinda mid and 
is alr popular imo
would be an insane check vs 
as a check with scarf
is a great check to smth like 
but outside of that, it's useless(yes I know it's not the best example but it's what I came up with on the whim so stfu). Also;
bullet punch and 
e-speed
