HeartGold and SoulSilver are overrun with strong Psychic and Ghost-type teams, so in the spirit of cutting through those trainers, let’s take a look at some of the best Dark-types to beat them with.
3. Weavile
You could argue that Weavile is the stereotypical Dark-type Pokémon, and I’d probably agree with you. Its high attack and speed, as well as huge STAB moves, make Weavile a huge threat for you opponents – including multiple Gym and Elite Four teams. Weavile’s centerpiece STAB move will be Night Slash, learned naturally at level 35. For its other piece of STAB, we’ll use Ice Punch to knock out just about any Grass-type, as well as Champion Lance’s Dragonites. To buff these moves into one-shot territory, we’ll set Weavile up with one or more uses of Swords Dance, which will raise Weavile’s physical attack by two stages each time it’s used. Be careful of overdoing it during the buffing phase though, as Weavile’s low HP and defense stats could lead it to get taken out before it even manages to attack. If you have a Pokémon with Light Screen on your team, make sure to put it up before you switch Weavile into battle, so it’ll have the time to set up before fainting. For its last move, we could give Weavile Surf to cover its weakness to Fire-type attacks, and to give some much needed utility for getting through Kanto. How to catch: Catch a Sneasel on Route 28 and equip it with a Razor Claw, purchasable from the Battle Frontier Market. Level up Sneasel at night (8pm – 3:59am) while holding the Razor Claw to evolve it into Weavile.
2. Honchkrow
Next up is Honchkrow, a Diamond & Pearl redemption for the previously useless Murkrow. For move ideas, let’s start off with Nasty Plot, a status move that’ll raise Honchkrow’s special attack by two stages. Honchkrow will learn it naturally at level 35. But don’t worry if you evolve Murkrow later than this, as you can always visit the move relearner in Blackthorn City. With a Nasty Plot or two set up, it’s time to deal some Dark-type STAB damage with Dark Pulse, learned at level 55, or through TM79 found in Victory Road. Honchkrow’s Flying-typing leaves it open to a few weaknesses other Dark-types don’t have to worry about, so we’ll deal with a couple of them in one move. Superpower can be learned from a move tutor in the Frontier Front, and will deal super-effective damage against both Ice-type and Rock-type Pokémon. Finally, we’ll give Honchkrow some Flying-type STAB with Fly (naturally) and save ourselves some time in the overworld. How to catch: Catch a Murkrow from the Safari Zone swamp area or on Routes 7 & 16. Next, come in first playing the bug catching contest in Johto National Park after boarding the S.S. Anne to receive a Dusk Stone. Alternatively, you can grind for points at the Pokeathlon Dome and buy a Dusk Stone with the rewards. Finally, give the Dusk Stone to Murkrow to evolve it into Honchkrow.
1. Umbreon
Umbreon might seem like a strange choice for the top spot on this list. Its low speed and attack stats make it stick out from other Dark-types, most of which are focused on attacking as fast and hard as possible. But what Umbreon lacks in attack, it makes up for in defense. And that’s what we’re going to build around. Umbreon was a surprisingly high-tier Pokémon in Gen 4 competitive play, so we’ll use a version of the meta moveset that kept it in OU-tier all those years ago. For this moveset to work, we’re going to need Umbreon to stick around for a long period of time, so we’ll teach it Protect through the TM found in the Goldenrod City Department Store. To heal its health from the hits that slip through Protect, we’ll teach Umbreon Substitute, a move that’ll buy us some time to start setting up. Find the Substitute TM90 in the Goldenrod Game Corner. Now that we can keep Umbreon alive, let’s get to buffing it. Since Umbreon isn’t a Ghost-type it can make use of Curse’s secondary effect. Through one use of Curse, we can raise Umbreon’s physical attack and defense stats, at the cost of lowering its speed. With a little strategy this downside actually becomes the ticket to victory. For its final move, we’ll teach Umbreon Payback with TM66 found on Route 35. While Payback is usually a fairly mediocre attack, it doubles in damage if the user attacks after its opponent. This means that Curse’s speed debuff will actually buff our Umbreon’s attack even further, by ensuring that Payback always hits second. If you use these specific four moves in combination with each other, Umbreon can become the best defensive Pokémon on your team. How to catch: Speak to Bill in the Ecruteak City Pokémon Center, and then visit him in his house in Goldenrod City. He’ll give you an Eevee, which you should train exclusively at nighttime. Once Eevee reaches a high happiness level, it’ll evolve into Umbreon. Make sure this happens at night, because during the day Eevee will instead evolve into Espeon.
