Whereas aggressive gamers proceed to plumb Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s strategic depth and tease out its tactical wrinkles, one creature has gotten a surprising quantity of playtime over the past month: Murkrow. The unevolved flying darkish kind isn’t a heavy hitter and its stats are absolute trash, nevertheless it does have a novel benefit over each different Pokémon within the sport that’s despatched it straight to the prime of the aggressive charts.
Browse social media, hang around on the Smogon message boards, or climb the ranked ladder and also you received’t be capable to escape Murkrow. The tiny black hen first launched in Pokémon Gold and Silver is lastly again within the highlight, and former Pokémon World Champion Wolfe “WolfeyVGC” Glick defined the explanation why in a current TikTok:
The primary is Tailwind, a transfer the Gen 2 hen has had from the soar, however which is supremely vital within the present panorama, offering all different Pokémon on the staff bonus velocity for 4 turns. The second is Prankster, a passive skill that lets Murkow’s non-damage-dealing strikes, like Tailwind, take elevated flip precedence throughout battles, thus permitting it to strike first. In Scarlet and Violet’s Gen 9, Murkrow is the solely Pokémon who has each, guaranteeing a match-defining velocity increase on flip one.
However why Murkrow and never its advanced type of Honchkrow? Properly, Murkrow’s advanced kind loses Prankster in change for the damage-oriented passive skill Moxie, ruining the entire technique. Plus, gamers can mitigate a few of Murkrow’s drawbacks by equipping the held merchandise Eviolite which boosts the traditional and particular protection of Pokémon who aren’t absolutely advanced.
“Don’t get me mistaken, the mixture of Prankster is admittedly good nevertheless it isn’t the one motive that Murkrow is widespread,” WolfeyVGC added in his current TikTok. “Murkrow additionally will get the assault Haze which removes all stat modifications from the battlefield. That is related as a result of one of the vital highly effective new Pokémon added is Dondozo who has a method to increase all of its stats by 2.” Haze utterly nullifies that, making Murkrow an ideal counter to Dondozo along with being a serious utility choose for enhancing the remainder of your staff.
That’s been sufficient to make Murkrow the second most picked Pokémon in aggressive play for December, only one share level behind all-star crypto coin mascot Gholdengo. As WolfeyVGC wrote in a Twitter thread a couple of weeks ago, Gholdengo’s twin ghost/metal kind make it an awesome defensive choose, whereas particular skill Make it Rain does a ton of injury.
The Swords-Dance-wielding Garchomp and Bulk Up defensive tank Annihilape are additionally prime contenders, as is Hydreigon who can lastly use the brand new video games’ Terastalization mechanic to mitigate its conventional 4X weak point to Fairy-type strikes. The mushroom bug Amoonguss, in the meantime, has been tearing issues up due to Rage Powder which forces opponents to focus on it reasonably than buff themselves.