Real post time:
I think we should drop Darkrai for OU
Why drop darkrai?
For one, offensively, its not that much better than what pokemon we already have. Currently, all of the offensive pokemon are balanced, and the ones that are Super Strong like ogerpon-hearthflame can be managed with hazards, pivots, chip and out-offensing (For example, Gliscor + Pex is a very versatile combo right now that can be paired with a lot of defensive pokemon, and with gliscor's ability to stack hazard, ogerpon will have much less opportunity to get in). Darkrai fits perfectly in the middle of speed tier and power level of the current OU mons, Fast, but not as fast as scarfers, Zamazenta, Dragon Dancers and Dragapult, Strong but not as strong as the big breakers like Ogerpon and Kingambit, its basically just a special attacking Zamazenta but with much less bulk
These are great stats, but also not too overwhelming, you can realistically check it with already good spdef mons like pex with toxic, clefable, gliscor and faster threats like scarf enamorus and zamazenta, dragapult can revenge after chip
Now i've read the responses from
Srn Eeveeto and
ant4456 regarding why we shouldn't drop darkrai due to calcs, and to that i say "yeah, so what?" because pokemon is much deeper than just 1 turn calcs, and if you look at the most popular teams right now (from balance to offense) they all can handle darkrai well without even trying. Take a look at these teams:
Keep in mind these are just the balance teams, i didn't even put the popular offense that can easily overwhelm darkrai like Veil, and remember, this is BEFORE Darkrai is even out so these teams aren't even trying to beat darkrai but still can handle it well, Balance can pivot around it with mons like spdef gliscor, spdef pex, fezandipiti, ting-lu and chip it slowly (just like how they do with other threats like gambit, ogerpon, etc.) HO can trade mons and be on top. So while calcs like these
Looks scary on paper, in practice it’ll be more managable similar to how we handle Walking Wake which has even scarier calcs (and i haven't even touch upon potential moveset and tera changes these pokemon can have to ruin darkrai like twave clef, knock gliscor, protect spam, tera poison, and an increase in scarf users.). Looking at some mons in the past, Mixed Iron Valiant in Home Meta looked super scary with its speed and attacks, with the right move and set its downright unwallable, but the meta managed, with changes like tera fire zamazenta, defensive gholdengo and colbur berry slowking-g, so why can't the meta adapt to darkrai? we have the tools to do it, and in fact it can even help vs some of the huge meta threats like Ogerpon and Manaphy on HO or Gholdengo Spikestack on balance. It can use many sets from nasty plot to taunt knock off to scarf, but theyre still checked by the same few pokemon like Ting-Lu, more niche ‘mons like Fezandipiti which i think is underrated, Etc. Not to mention, it really needs boots because if it runs a non boots set like choice, it will have a very hard time againts Spikestack/Bootspam balance team with Gliscor Dengo Pex. Choice item will be good too since it won’t die as quickly as Life Orb but being locked into 1 80BP dark stab i am not too worried about
Considering how:
-it struggles with hazard and status,
-can be played around with the tools available currently,
-can be out offensed with what we have currently
-can still be revenge killed relatively safely by common threats,
-can even help some Offense and Balance team play checking threats of this tier (gliscor with ice beam, manaphy with thunder, gholdengo) currently
and for those saying "What about tournaments?" We can suspect it on ladder but ban it from SPL/OST while it happens DLC2
Darkrai also has difficult time picking moveslots
Dark Pulse / Focus Blast / Sludge Bomb - Most common but requires set-up as the coverage is weak unboosted. easily played around by SpDef Gliscor, Clodsire, Toxapex. Funny even Sneasler and Great Tusk naturally checks this
Dark Pulse / Ice Beam / Sludge Bomb - walled by Kingambit (which is big) Toxapex Tyranitar in DLC2 since sand should make comeback with Excadrill, also Tyranitar is already underrated with Knock Off now
Dark Pulse / Ice Beam / Psyshock - walled by WaterPon, Fairys - Clefable, Garganacl
For those looking to use a 4 attack set/Choice item, Darkrai simply isn’t strong enough to break through bulky teams, and can realistically only clean through offensive team that has been bludgeoned. Choice sets can be scary, but the hazard weakness + reliance on prediction is really bad for it.
Darkrai is weak without set-up, the common Pokemon it likes to set up on such as Zapdos Rotom-W Slowking-G Amoonguss can click a status move like Thunder Wave or Spore or strong move to get chip like Dondozo Body Press Garganacl Salt Cure or Moltres Tornadus-T slow U-turn into revenge killer/priority, Hell you can even switch in Zamazenta hard a few times since darkrai can’t even 2HKO it.
Even after set-up Darkrai can miss out on KO’s because the moves are either weak or do not have stab, for example Corviknight can live +2 Dark Pulse and finish off a weakened Darkrai with Body Press
This is also with set-up, I am not sure if all Darkrai will run Nasty Plot
Tera Blast-Fairy set Srn posted is most scary which is fair but it once again requires the initial set-up + burning your tera which is a lot to ask. Pokemon such as Regieleki, Volcarona, and Espathra were broken with Tera Blast because they were insanely fast (Eleki) or boosted speed such as Volcarona and Espathra meaning they would snowball out of control. Darkrai however cannot boost its speed and can still be checked outside of priority. I also believe there will be a Tera Blast ban in the future which is good for Darkrai’s balance
People are also scared of the Hypnosis set which I don’t get. The chance of hitting Hypnosis is 60% then 1st turn wake factored makes it around 40%. The
Exotic64 team has Hypnosis Iron Valiant which is true but it really isn’t a good set in my opinion. I am sure he can attest to this and also how a lot of players have changed it for Encore or coverage when laddering. Also Iron Valiant in theory is way scarier if you hit Hypnosis because it has Booster Energy giving it 546 base speed. You can Hypnosis then possibly get 2 Calm Minds but clearly this isn’t a consistent strategy even on that Pokemon so not sure why people say it will be common on Darkrai outside of ladder cheese for the first week it is out
