Anti-Darkrai Team For You

[Grumpy Gray]

Ninjask - 6IV (Or at least max: Attack, Special Attack, Defense, Special Defense, and HP if you're going for Final Gambit)

X-Scissor (STAB and takes advantage of 90 attack)
Fury Cutter (STAB and takes advantage of 90 attack, and grows more powerful)
U-Turn (If Darkrai won't be killed in one hit, switch to Insomnia Honchkrow)
Final Gambit OR Shadow Ball

Honchkrow - 6IV - Insomnia Ability - Holding Grip Claw (Or at least max: Special Attack, Attack, Defense, Special Defense)

Foul Play and/or
Night Slash
Psychic
Sky Attack
Superpower

Shaymin Sky Form - 6IV (Or at least max: SA, A, SD)

Seed Flare
Leaf Storm
Dazzling Gleam
Psychic

Infernape - 6IV - Maybe holding quick claw (Or at least max: A, SA, SPEED)

Close Combat
Flare Blitz
Flame Burst
Heat Wave


Heat Rotom - 6IV - Maybe Holding Grip Claw (Or at least max: SP, SA, SD, HP)

Electro Ball
Overheat
Electroweb
Psychic


Any suggestions/comments?

 

[2Fruit]

multiple attacks of the same type on a moveset are wasteful because they limit the attack coverage of your pokemon.

Honchkrow is killed by Ice beam. If you first send out Ninjask an opposing darkrai may Ice beam, so switching out to Honchkrow will result in an even more coldhearted bird. If anything I recommend You just hit final darkrai with gambit, or strap a choice scarf on Honchkrow so that it can outspeed Darkrai.

 

[Nah]

Building an entire team to counter one Pokemon is probably going to leave you open to several other threats. It's probably better to use something that would bait in Darkrai and kill it (unexpectedly). Sort of like Serperior with HP Ground to act as a Heatran lure.

Shaymin-S also wants Air Slash to abuse Serene Grace with and Earth Power to have something to use against Steels and Primal Groudon. Leaf Storm's Sp.Attk drop is not something it likes and Psychic/Dazzling Gleam do little for it.

What 2Fruit said here:

multiple attacks of the same type on a moveset are wasteful because they limit the attack coverage of your pokemon

is important too.

What format are you planning to battle in btw?

 

[Dark Azelf]

Rate my anti-darkrai team.

Primape@Choice Scarf
252 Atk / 252 speed / 6 sp.def
Adamant Nature
Trait: Vital Spirit
- Digleberries
- Close Combat
-
-

 

[Megan]

Reminds me of that one time when I beat Darkrai with a Xatu. Everyone can tell you that that's not supposed to happen, but it happened anyway. {XD}

 

[SqishyRina]

You should never find yourself building an entire team just to counter a single Pokemon... You could pretty much just use one or two of these Pokemon and you'd have everything you need to check or counter that one Pokemon.

Even for what it is, the team is very lacking. Plenty of the Pokemon have moves that are completely redundant. Why does Shaymin have Leaf Storm? It's only 10 power more than Seed flare, but harshly drops your Special attack.. Similarly, Infernape does not need to be carrying 3 fire attacks, especially when Flame Burst is just a less powerful Heat Wave, and Heat Wave is just a less accurate Flamethrower (unless you're playing double battles).

Ironically, I could actually see several ways to deal serious damage to this team with a Darkrai. If I managed to set up a Substitute, I'd be able to kill pretty much anything except Infernape with Dark Pulse or Ice Beam. Even without a Substitute, your two faster Pokemon: Ninjask and Shaymin don't actually KO Darkrai without a power boost from an item. In fact, Shaymin actually does more damage to Darkrai with Seed Flare than Dazzling Gleam! Your team has almost no Defense, and so if I have the chance to deal damage, I'm going to really hurt it.

If you're that concerned about Darkrai, then allow me to counter it with one Pokemon:

Sylveon
Ability: Pixillate
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Moves:
- Hyper Voice
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Darkrai literally can't do anything to this. You can switch it in against Darkrai's attacks, and the most damage you'll take is less than a quarter of your HP from Thunderbolt/Ice Beam. Darkrai isn't protected by Substitute, since Hyper Voice bypasses it, and one-shots. If Darkrai tries to put you to sleep, then Sleep Talk will still put it under pressure, as you're either going to increase your bulk and power with Calm Mind, or one-shot with Hyper Voice. Darkrai can't win against this Sylveon.

And with that, you can actually build the rest of your team to take on other more important Pokemon.

 

[PlatinumDude]

You should never find yourself building an entire team just to counter a single Pokemon... You could pretty much just use one or two of these Pokemon and you'd have everything you need to check or counter that one Pokemon.

Even for what it is, the team is very lacking. Plenty of the Pokemon have moves that are completely redundant. Why does Shaymin have Leaf Storm? It's only 10 power more than Seed flare, but harshly drops your Special attack.. Similarly, Infernape does not need to be carrying 3 fire attacks, especially when Flame Burst is just a less powerful Heat Wave, and Heat Wave is just a less accurate Flamethrower (unless you're playing double battles).

Ironically, I could actually see several ways to deal serious damage to this team with a Darkrai. If I managed to set up a Substitute, I'd be able to kill pretty much anything except Infernape with Dark Pulse or Ice Beam. Even without a Substitute, your two faster Pokemon: Ninjask and Shaymin don't actually KO Darkrai without a power boost from an item. In fact, Shaymin actually does more damage to Darkrai with Seed Flare than Dazzling Gleam! Your team has almost no Defense, and so if I have the chance to deal damage, I'm going to really hurt it.

If you're that concerned about Darkrai, then allow me to counter it with one Pokemon:

Sylveon
Ability: Pixillate
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Moves:
- Hyper Voice
- Calm Mind
- Sleep Talk
- Rest

Darkrai literally can't do anything to this. You can switch it in against Darkrai's attacks, and the most damage you'll take is less than a quarter of your HP from Thunderbolt/Ice Beam. Darkrai isn't protected by Substitute, since Hyper Voice bypasses it, and one-shots. If Darkrai tries to put you to sleep, then Sleep Talk will still put it under pressure, as you're either going to increase your bulk and power with Calm Mind, or one-shot with Hyper Voice. Darkrai can't win against this Sylveon.

And with that, you can actually build the rest of your team to take on other more important Pokemon.

Doubles is a fast-paced format, meaning that Sylveon won't have much time to set up Calm Minds, as it could risk getting double-targeted. Just having Sleep Talk on a 3-attack set is fine, IMO:
-Hyper Voice
-Moonblast
-Hidden Power (Ground/Fire)
-Sleep Talk
Nature: Modest
EVs: 188 HP/68 Def/252 SAtk
Item: Choice Specs
Ability: Pixilate

 

[BigPaws]

Similarly, Infernape does not need to be carrying 3 fire attacks, especially when Flame Burst is just a less powerful Heat Wave, and Heat Wave is just a less accurate Flamethrower (unless you're playing double battles).

Doubles is a fast-paced format, meaning that Sylveon won't have much time to set up Calm Minds,

I am pretty sure he meant singles.

 

[SqishyRina]

Doubles is a fast-paced format, meaning that Sylveon won't have much time to set up Calm Minds, as it could risk getting double-targeted. Just having Sleep Talk on a 3-attack set is fine, IMO:

Firstly, my suggestion wasn't intended for doubles. I only made a passing remark that the Move Heat Wave has very little difference to Flamethrower outside of double battling. Granted, the guy who created the thread didn't specify what format this team was for, but I though it was perfectly reasonable to assume singles.

Secondly, as someone who has played VGC for years, Calm Mind Sylveon is perfectly viable. Yes, there is a much faster pace, but that extra pressure given by Calm Mind goes a long way. I actually lost to a Calm Mind Sylveon in a recent Regional Championship to a guy who ended up finishing top 4.

 

[*Luxio//Hacks*]

Very Very amazing team. Love it dude. :)

 

[PlatinumDude]

Firstly, my suggestion wasn't intended for doubles. I only made a passing remark that the Move Heat Wave has very little difference to Flamethrower outside of double battling. Granted, the guy who created the thread didn't specify what format this team was for, but I though it was perfectly reasonable to assume singles.

Secondly, as someone who has played VGC for years, Calm Mind Sylveon is perfectly viable. Yes, there is a much faster pace, but that extra pressure given by Calm Mind goes a long way. I actually lost to a Calm Mind Sylveon in a recent Regional Championship to a guy who ended up finishing top 4.

I thought it'd be for VGC 2016, where Darkrai and the other legendary Ubers are allowed.

That being said, if this team is to be used seriously (i.e. in the Uber tier), there are more reliable ways to check/counter Darkrai. You can't just build a team specifically to counter it. You need to cover other threats too, especially Primal Groudon.

 

[Megan]

I thought it'd be for VGC 2016, where Darkrai and the other legendary Ubers are allowed.

Darkrai is considered a Mythical Pokemon and all of them are not allowed to be used.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Darkrai is considered a Mythical Pokemon and all of them are not allowed to be used.

Double-checked, and you're right.

Now I have a rough idea on what format the OP is doing: singles. The Pokemon you have on the team can be easily crushed by the overwhelming power of the vast majority of Uber Pokemon. Building a team solely to counter Darkrai is bad and leaves you wide open to other threats, as stated many times over. You need more reliable checks/counters to Darkrai than what you currently have:

One of these is a Fairy Pokemon for the Darkrai that lack Sludge Bomb. An effective example is Xerneas:
-Moonblast
-Focus Blast
-Thunder/Grass Knot
-Sleep Talk/Aromatherapy
Nature: Modest
EVs: 32 Def/252 SAtk/224 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf

Pokemon such as Genesect and Zekrom, as well as the aforementioned Xerneas, are faster than Darkrai while they're holding a Choice Scarf, making it easier to revenge kill:

Genesect:
-U-turn
-Iron Head
-Ice Beam/Extreme Speed
-Explosion
Nature: Naive
EVs: 248 Atk/8 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf

Zekrom:
-Outrage/Dragon Claw
-Bolt Strike
-Draco Meteor/Sleep Talk
-Volt Switch/Tailwind/Sleep Talk
Nature: Naughty
EVs: 252 Atk/4 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Choice Scarf

Crippling Darkrai with Thunder Wave is effective, since it relies on its Speed to do its thing. Examples of good Thunder Wave users are Primal Groudon and Tyranitar:

Groudon:
-Stealth Rock
-Precipice Blades/Earthquake
-Lava Plume/Stone Edge
-Roar/Thunder Wave/Dragon Tail
Nature: Relaxed
EVs: 252 HP/56 Def/200 SDef
Item: Red Orb

or
-Swords Dance
-Precipice Blades
-Stone Edge/Rock Slide
-Thunder Wave
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/196 Atk/48 SDef/12 Spe
Item: Red Orb

Tyranitar:
-Stealth Rock
-Stone Edge/Rock Slide
-Pursuit/Low Kick
-Thunder Wave
Nature: Careful
EVs: 248 HP/8 Def/252 SDef
Item: Leftovers/Shuca Berry
Ability: Sand Stream

Of course, these are just examples on what checks/counters Darkrai effectively. Have your pick out of some of these options and find other teammates to cover their weaknesses. Of course, this is assuming Smogon tiers.