Top 10 Dark Type Pokemon

También puedes leer este artículo en:Español

Dark Type Pokemon were actually not introduced until Generation two. It was at that point that the almighty psychic types were given something to be concerned about. Running rampant everywhere as psychic moves seemed to be the pinnacle of the Pokemon games, dark types were brought in as a check to psychic types and to bring yet again, maybe not so relevant Pokemon back into the fold. Dark types excel decent attack stats while having mediocre defense however that is not true across the board.

It is assumed that dark types were brought in not only to exist as a check to psychic types but to make fighting and bug types, dark type weaknesses, become relevant within game and post-game. Dark types are the only types to have never been featured in a gym but they have been a team of the elite four for generations two, three, and six. Dark types excel against ghost and psychic types and are ½ effective against other dark, fairy and fighting types.

Defensively, they resist other Dark and Ghost, while being weak to bug, fairy, and fighting moves. One final unique trait to note is that dark types resist all psychic moves 100% of the time much like how Ghost types resist all normal moves. So what are some good dark types? Let’s take a look!


10. Spiritomb

  • Generation: Fourth
  • Pokedex: 442

Spiritomb is what happens when you take the Odd Keystone and put it in a well on the route right before Solaceon Town. You then have to go underground in the fourth version and talk to 32 people that are not the hikers. Once you do, come back up and boom, there it is waiting for you. You can actually do this over and over and over again and make a whole team of Spiritomb if you wanted!

In generation four it was a pseudo legendary because it was a pain to get like all the legendaries in that game, but its stats were not anything to write home about except for that it is slightly bulky. It has 485 combined base stats with a 108 in both defenses and a 92 in both attack stats. However, the HP is a terrible 50 and the speed is worse at just 35. However, it has one benefit that drives people nuts; the typing.

Spiritomb is Ghost/Dark which means up until generation six, it resisted three types while halving another. It resists, normal, fighting, and psychic types while halving poison. With the introduction of fairy types, it is now weak to fairy but that is it. Spiritomb is here for its unique typing and what it can do while using it’s unique ability infiltrator. This allows it to reach past things like Reflect, Light Screen and Substitute. Will-o-wisp is a great move while sucker punch and foul play will allow you to get those stab moves in. Pain Split is a great health option if you don’t want to use leftovers, but then you lose out on access to Taunt or Pursuit which overlooks its abysmal speed. Regardless, though, it’s still great even if it’s only in UU tier.


9. Bisharp

  • Generation: Fifth
  • Pokedex: 625

Bisharp is a dual Dark and Steel Type with a 4x weakness to fighting, and normal weakness to fire and ground. So… where is the merit when it’s 4x weak? Bisharp is actually a fan favorite falling into the OU tier for its massive 125 in attack and 100 on defense. These two stats, however, do not outweigh its 70 in speed which is why it is here. Steel naturally gives it plenty of bulk which allows it to take out many OU tier and Uber threats. Of course it is not perfect, however, a swords dance and pursuit or sucker punch will really help it out.

What Bisharp really needs is what all Pokemon trainers hate more than arena trap or shadow tag, Knock off. All good plans are for naught if you get hit with knock off. Couple that with its ability defiant, and bisharp may not even need a good swords dance to raise its attack. Iron Head for STAB with Sucker Punch as well and you have a lot of types that don’t like you including the new Fairy types! Life Orb if you choose to use it will also help you immensely by raising Bisharp’s attack even further!


8. Hydreigon

  • Generation: Fifth
  • Pokedex: 635

Hydreigon looks like a plant that came to life and flies. It legit can be the stuff of nightmares and that is why it’s rolling in eighth on our list! Hydreigon was first brought to us in the fifth generation and is a very unique Dark and Dragon type. Unfortunately, this does not give it some sort of amazing coverage as it is 4x weak to fairy (again), while being 2x weak to ice, fighting, bug, and dragon. It does, however, resist quite a bit. It resists fire, water, electric, ghost, and fellow dark types so there is that. Hydreigon can fall into UU and OU tiers and today we are looking at the OU setup.

Hydreigon with its three heads roars in at a whopping 600 base stats. Boasting a very good 125 in special attack, it has a 105 in attack as well and a nice 98 in speed. While the speed is not amazing, it is above average allowing it to sweep with many diverse moves from its movepool and be an excellent wallbreaker. If you are willing to take the stat hit, the Draco Meteor is a perfect STAB move. Levitate means that ground moves and all forms of spikes do not hit it. This does, however, mean that it can learn roost to heal!

Just remember though that using it will make Hydreigon viable to those moves again. Flashcannon is there for those nasty fairy sweepers while Fireblast will give you more coverage. The only real downside to it is that it can still be taken out by many fairy types in OU. So beware.


7. Weavile

  • Generation: Fourth
  • Pokedex: 461

Weavile is dangerous. With a great typing and stats, it can hit just about everything for at least normal damage if not more. Weavile is a Dark/Ice type Pokemon and seventh on our list! When you look at Weavile, it looks like it is just wearing a weird hat. All you need to get one is make a Sneasel hold a sharp claw and level it up at night and boom. Weavile town. Weavile is 4x to fighting, while being 2x weak to Fire, Bug, Rock, Steel, and Fairy. What can a Weavile do for you?

Physical STAB sweeper is the way to go. A cool 125 in sped and a 120 in attack, Weavile is hated by many. Pressure is the default ability because why would you even bother with Pickpocket in Battles? You can boost its power with Life Orb if you want to but know that that 70 HP stat is not doing you any justice. Knock off is a staple here to piss off everyone while Icicle crash is a fantastic follow up because it has a 30% chance of making your foe flinch if they are not holding an item because you just knocked it off.

Ice shard is there to hit fast threats as well as help against threats that maybe have boosted their speed/stats. As for your final movepool move, the choice is yours. Low Kick will help you with steel types that will wall you while Poison Jab will stop those fairy types coming for you in their tracks. Let’s keep it going!


6. Hoopa-Unbound

  • Generation: Sixth
  • Pokedex: 720

Hoopa was brought to us via a Pokemon movie, while also appearing in the anime, and in the manga! Hoopa-unbound however, is a beast. 170 in special attack, 160 in attack, and a 130 in special defense, this….is a Pokemon you do not want to go up against. Hoopa-unbound is Psychic/Dark in typing and has a 4x weakness to bug, a move rarely, if ever seen in battling, and 2x weak to fairy. So… how do we handle it? LIKE.A.BOSS. 680 is its total base stats. The speed is a, meh, 80 and the defense is a terrible 60 so you do need to be careful when using it.

Thankfully, though, if you move EVs into speed, special attack, and attack, Hoopa-unbound makes a terrific mixed sweeper. Hyperspace fury and Hyperspace hole will get you those STAB. Protect will help but substitute is also a viable option. Gunk Shot will help you get those fairy types. Happy battling in the Uber tier with it!



5. Mega Sableye

  • Generation: Third
  • Pokedex: 302

Sableye was a Pokemon that was often looked over due to its average to subpar stats. Thankfully Nintendo showed it some love in the sixth generation and gave it a mega evolution, fixing most of its stats, as well as, its run of the mill abilities. Magic Bounce means that every single move that is a non-attacking move, is bounced back on the foe. All statuses, taunts, etc. are sent back to your foe. The mega evolution as well comes with a fixed 480 stat total. Let’s take a look at this team changer.

Mega Sableye has a place on every single stall team out there because it is the true stall breaker. It is Dark/Ghost which means it really only has to be concerned with fairy moves while psychic, fighting, and normal moves do not hit. One thing to note though about magic bounce is that all secondary status effects can still hit.

Thankfully, it can learn recover. This is essential since it cannot hold leftovers. Calm mind is a great way to crank up the 125 defense and 115 special defense further. Or, if you want to do some work with a move, nasty plot is there too. Will-o-wisp is a must to make any and all stallers hate you even more. Knock off is there for stab and to piss off your foes while Shadow ball will give you that second STAB. Just beware fairies.


4. Greninja

  • Generation: Sixth
  • Pokedex: 658

Greninja came in the sixth generation as the final evolution of the water starter Froakie. Water/Dark in typing, it has an impressive matchup but ultimately carries those pesky water weaknesses of Electric, Grass, Fighting, Bug and Fairy. What is commendable is that this Pokemon has a combined base stat of 530 and beats out many legendaries in the uber, that’s right, UBER, pool. Not to mention, anyone can catch him! You can choose him in the beginning. So… what do those stats and moves look like?

Protean is a unique and cool ability that allows Greninja to change its Water/Dark typing to whatever the type of the move is. So… say you used toxic spikes, Greninja is now poison type. It has a very nice 122 in speed with a 103 in special attack and a 95 in attack. Other than that, its HP and defenses leave it hurting where it counts. What makes it so good though is that Greninja is perfect for what is called a suicide lead. It is going to be taken down, but it is going to cause a lot of problems in the meantime. It has access to two moves that will help it out a lot. Those are toxic spikes and shadow sneak. This will drive most leads insane.

Couple that with Taunt to save yourself from statuses, and then spikes to really drive it home before something takes it out. The really important thing about Taunt too is that it prevents defog which will cancel out those spikes aka no good.


3. Yveltal

  • Generation: Sixth
  • Pokedex: 717

Yveltal is the legendary figurehead Pokemon from Pokemon Y. A legendary if there ever was one, Yveltal has a very very nice 680 base stat total like Hoopa-unbound. However, for better or worse, its stats are a bit more evenly distributed. What is critical, though, is that 99 speed. This allows it to outspeed plenty of Ubers and even pokemon in OU. A pretty 131 in both special attack and attack do not hurt it either. It has a 126 stat in HP and its defenses are 95 or higher. Yveltal is a flat out beast. It can be a nice sweeper or it can be a tank actually. Dark/Flying gives it a unique typing as well on this list and allows it to do a lot.

If you are going for sweeper, Dark Pulse is your STAB move of choice along with Oblivion Wing.You still need something that will help you out though for non-type matchups. Sucker Punch, Heat Wave, and Focus blast are all good as well, but if you really want to have some fun with Yveltal, we suggest a tank version over a sweeper. Why do you ask? Let’s see…foul Play for starts because a Dark Aura, its ability, boost makes everything hate it. But in order to be safe, Sucker Punch is also something you could consider.

With it’s flying typing, what makes it so good is the fact that it has access to Roost. You can heal. Even better, since it is so fast, on the turn it uses it, it becomes a pure dark type losing those pesky Electric, Rock, and Ice weaknesses. Taunt keeps you safe while Toxic is another way to really drive it home with those nasty types that will try to switch in on you.


2. Mega Tyranitar

  • Generation: Third
  • Pokedex: 248

Tyranitar was already a pain to deal with, but now that it has a mega evolution, it’s even more difficult to deal with! Tyranitar is Rock/Dark in typing which means a 4x weakness to fighting with a 2x weakness to water, grass, ground, bug, steel, and fairy. Do not let that discourage you, though, a whopping 700 in base stats is no joke! Ready to make this even more fun? Other than speed, it’s pretty solid. Fitting into both the OU and Uber pools, Mega Tyranitar has a 164 in attack and a150 in defense. Nothing to sneeze at, it also has a 120 in special defense. The speed, unfortunately, is a 71. It does have Sand Stream as its ability which means that just about everyone is taking damage. Support or sweeper are your choices.

Support wise, HP and Speed are where you need those EVs to be. Stealth Rock, along with Roar to force switches, or thunder wave to even the playing field are the way to go. Pursuit lets it get pokes that switch in to absorb something to get back out While you can go with Stone Edge for power or Rock Slide for more accuracy. Now if you want a sweeper, you need Dragon Dance. Then murder everything. Stone Edge, Earthquake, Crunch, Taunt (to save yourself), and Payback (since he is a bit slow) if you get hit by defog or something.


1. Darkrai

  • Generation: Fourth
  • Pokedex: 491

The final winning Pokemon for this dark type list is yet another Fourth Generation Pokemon! Darkrai is what nightmares are made of in battling; literally. 600 base stats but that 125 speed allows it to outspeed most things. Put everyone to sleep and then let Bad Dreams, its ability, chip away at their health for a few turns. We could gush about how powerful this Pokemon is regardless of what setting you put it in but that would bore you so let’s talk stats and moves for the #1 Pokemon on our dark Pokemon list!

As stated above, that 125 in speed is nice. Couple that with a 135 in special attack and you need not worry about anything. Pure dark type, and the only pure-dark type on this list, anything you do with Darkrai will be a problem. Dark Void has an 80% chance of putting the foe to sleep. That is 20% more accurate than Hypnosis! Dark Pulse for STAB and then while your foe is sleeping and you are letting your ability chip away at its health, use Nasty Plot to make that special attack even more astronomical! Finally, you need something that will allow you to hit something the Pokemon that resist, or cancel, dark moves with, and that is sludge bomb. You can risk it with thunder, but then you gamble with accuracy, so the choice is yours!


Final Thoughts

Here we are at the end of the Pokemon list! This is the dark type and there is nothing to be underestimated about these pokes as they mean business. Tragically nothing from First generation made this list but that happens considering there is only 1 Pokemon that is dark typing now with the updates. We hope you enjoyed this list and be sure to let us know if we should have considered Umbreon! Till next time everyone!

pokemon-Spiritomb-300x419 Top 8 Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon

Editor/Translator

Author: Nagareboshi

American by birth; international by choice. I am trying to bring attention to one of my favorite causes; me. I translate by day and write by night. Aspiring polyglot. My dream would be to be the personal translator for Amuro Namie. Other than that, my hobbies include languages, weightlifting, sleeping, karaoke, GOOD coffee and music. When I’m not doing any of the above, I am most likely laughing hysterically at Willam Belli videos or EV farming. I ain’t gunna Rupologize for it neither. Waifu are Shirai Kuroko & Euaerin.

Previous Articles

Top 5 Anime by Nagareboshi



Recommended Post

6 Games Like Pokémon [Recommendations]

pokemon-Spiritomb-300x419 Top 8 Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon

Recommended Post

Top 10 Pokemon Trainers