After the debut of Shadow Hydreigon in the last Team GO Rocket update, players are on the edge of their seats as another monster ascends in the meta: Shadow Darkrai.
How does this Dark-type Pokémon fare in this cut-throat meta, especially with competition from Ghost types? Let’s plunge into the darkness to find out!
Shadow Darkrai Overview
Shadow Darkrai
Dark
|
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|---|---|
| Max CP | 4227 |
| ATK | 285 |
| DEF | 198 |
| HP | 172 |
| Weak to |    |
| Resists |    |
| Fast moves |
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| Charge moves |
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*Denotes a Legacy Move only obtainable via Elite TM.
Stats
Shadow Darkrai is designed for offense, lacking high bulk figures. It’s not a glass cannon (it is way bulkier than Mega Gengar and Mega Absol), and has an ATK similar to Palkia Origin.
Shadow Darkrai gets the 20% Shadow boost to its ATK, hitting way harder than regular Darkrai, but at the cost of a 0.83x nerf to its DEF, making this Mythical more glassy.
Moveset
It has decent moves. Snarl and Dark Pulse are definitely not the best Dark type moves in Pokémon GO, but Darkrai’s high ATK makes them viable in battle. That said, there’s room for improvement, and that’s how we move across to the fact that Shadow Darkrai’s optimal performance comes with Snarl + Shadow Ball, not Snarl + Dark Pulse!
Of course, if Darkrai’s signature move, Dark Void, is treated well in Pokémon GO, that would become not only the optimal moveset, but would also push Shadow Darkrai higher up the rankings when battling against Psychic and Ghost Raid Bosses.
Comparison with Ghost Pokémon
Both Dark and Ghost types have the same objective in Pokémon GO: helping you quickly beat Raids hosting Psychic and Ghost Bosses. While Ghosts tend to be the table toppers in getting the job done, Dark types have one major advantage over their spooky peers in these battles, and that’s resisting damage from Psychic and Ghost type moves. In fact, in the mainline games, Dark is immune to Psychic!
This is obviously a perk as Ghost Pokémon generally take super-effective damage from Ghost moves and, mostly, neutral damage from Psychic moves. Gengar (and its Mega) famously takes super-effective damage from both Ghost and Psychic (the latter courtesy of its Poison subtyping).
Dark types shrug off these attacks and tend to have higher staying power in Raids. Shadow Darkrai’s bulk isn’t as sorry as, say, Mega Absol, and as such, it can take hits just fine.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how Shadow Darkrai stacks up in the Pokémon GO meta!
Shadow Darkrai in Pokémon GO PvE
DPS
Using our GO Hub DPS Comparer Tool:
- Mega Gengar obviously leads the charade, closely trailed by the powerful Dawn Wings Necrozma. The difference in DPS is negligible, DW Necrozma boasts higher bulk, and most importantly, DW Necrozma isn’t weak to Psychic like Mega Gengar.
- This establishes Dawn Wings Necrozma as the absolute best against Ghost and Psychic Raid Bosses, with a supreme mix of damage output and bulk.
- Mega Absol has the highest damage output of all Dark types, but it’s extremely fragile (even Shadow Chandelure is bulkier). So, even though Mega Absol has the best Dark type DPS, using it is often a challenge. It struggles to even tank Ghost moves and hard-hitting Psychic moves.
- Shadow Darkrai with Shadow Ball is the go-to mode, beating the likes of Shadow Hydreigon, Shadow Tyranitar, Mega Tyranitar, and its own Dark Pulse variant in damage figures.
- In fact, Shadow Darkrai’s performance (both DPS and TDO) is in the same vein as Shadow Hydreigon, with these two Shadow behemoths displaying a similar outing in battle, but with certain differences.
Shadow Darkrai vs Shadow Hydreigon
Shadow Darkrai deals roughly 0.21% more DPS than Shadow Hydreigon, and the Pseudo Legendary has around 1.8% more TDO. While these differences are very low, both Shadows differ quite a lot in utility.
- Brutal Swing is obviously better than Shadow Pulse on a Dark type, but what makes considerable variation in performance is their Fast Moves.
- Bite, with a cooldown of only 0.5s, is smoother to use and blends better with the Party Power mechanics, an extremely strong but underutilized boost in the game. Snarl has a 1.00s cooldown and is slower.
- Even Brutal Swing has a lower cooldown and better energy utilization (2.00s, 3-bar) than Shadow Ball (3.00s, 2-bar), making Shadow Hydreigon very efficient to use in battle, be it attacking or dodging.
- Shadow Hydreigon’s Dragon subtyping hands it more resistances than only the Psychic, Dark, and Ghost resistances associated with a pure Dark type like Shadow Darkrai. The Dark/Dragon Shadow Hydreigon resists all the elemental types, namely Electric, Fire, Grass, and Water. Aside from Hydreigon being bulkier, it also fares better in the situation wherein the Ghost or Psychic Raid Boss weilds any of these coverage moves.
- Shadow Pokémon are difficult to power up in general, but it is way easier to gather XL Candy for Shadow Hydreigon than a Mythical Raid exclusive like Shadow Darkrai.
Overall Performance
- In a broad lens, the fearsome Mega Tyranitar enters the chat, flexing the highest bulk of them all (including Ghosts like Dawn Wings Necrozma).
- So, if you have Mega Tyranitar, Mega Gengar, and even a powered-up (not necessarily maxed out) version of Dawn Wings Necrozma, you’re good to go, and you do not need to spend too many resources on Shadow Darkrai.
- Even in the Shadow realm’s pecking order, Shadow Hydreigon and Shadow Tyranitar are superior options.
Shadow Darkrai is good, no doubt about that, but not really a necessary destination of valuable resources like Stardust and XL Candy. Ghosts like Dawn Wings Necrozma and Mega Gengar, and Dark wielders like Mega Tyranitar, Shadow Hydreigon, and Shadow Tyranitar bring much more to the table when battling Ghost and Psychic Raid Bosses.
Of course, the eventual addition of Darkrai’s signature move, Dark Void, may change the fortunes of Shadow Darkrai, possibly elevating it to the very top echelon of the anti-Ghost ‘n’ Psychic mountain in Pokémon GO.
So keep your Shadow Darkrai handy and don’t hesitate to power it up if you get a Hundo/Shundo, or if you just really like Darkrai.
**SPOILER ALERT**
Darkrai is rumoured to be getting a Mega Evolution in the Legends Z-A DLC, Mega Dimension, so Mega Darkrai may eventually take the throne.
Until then, have fun, stay safe, and catch ’em all!
