Competitive Pokemon History - Dusknoir Quiz

Answer: 130

With 130/130 defenses, Dusclops was respectfully tanky if it heavily invested in its bulk. Sadly, this was thoroughly undermined by its pathetic Base 40 HP, which made its overall uninvested bulk out to be akin to that of Onix, rather than bulky behemoths like Lugia.

Answer: Pressure

Dusclops could put Pressure to good effect when run in tandem with Rest and Sleep Talk, as it could pretty easily out-stall most defensive threats that lacked the ability to significantly hurt it, which were many.

Answer: It lacked good STAB attacks

In the third generation, Ghost attacks were strictly physical, meaning Dusclops could make good use of a STAB Shadow Ball. Sadly, Dusknoir's terrible Base 65 Special Attack meant Shadow Ball was out of the question. In terms of physical options for its respectable Base 100 Attack, Dusknoir had the uninspiring Shadow Punch and Shadow Sneak for remotely viable STAB choices, and both were extremely weak. Thus, Dusknoir's offenses were often very mediocre unless it was hitting for super effective damage with a non-STAB move.

Answer: Spiritomb

Tyranitar and Houndoom could work against specific Dusclops or Dusknoir sets, but if the latter ever packed Earthquake or especially Focus Punch and predicted the switch, they would lose. Absol's terrible bulk meant countering Dusknoir was out of the question, as even switching in on Earthquake or an elemental punch did a number on it, much less getting destroyed by Focus Punch. Any of the aforementioned three could check, but not counter, the tandem.

Meanwhile, Spiritomb scoffed at any damaging attack the tandem could throw at it. It could return fire by slamming them with strong Dark or Ghost moves, setting up with Calm Mind and threatening a potential game-ending sweep, or spamming Pursuit to ensure Dusclops or Dusknoir's removal.

Answer: First pre-evolved form to be more viable than its evolved form

Dusclops was in UnderUsed per Smogon usage statistics, while Dusknoir dropped to the tier beneath UU, RarelyUsed.

Dusknoir was pitiful and useless in fifth generation RU, where it was outclassed as either an offensive or defensive Ghost type by multiple different threats. Yet, its stats were just too high to be permitted entry into NeverUsed, so Dusknoir lingered in Pokémon Purgatory during the fifth generation.

Dusclops was very niche and somewhat difficult to justify using in UnderUsed, but it did have a niche here. With a bizarre set of Curse/Night Shade/Will-O-Wisp/Pain Split or Rest, Dusclops could reliably put an end to last-Pokémon sweepers of any kind, as well as protect its team from Baton Pass chains that could otherwise wreck house against stall teams. Curse would make continually boosting impossible for either scenario, and made it easier for Dusclops' team to stall the opposing threats out.

Answer: Eviolite

Dusclops and Dusknoir both benefit in the same exact way as one another from the three other options for this question. However, only Dusclops has any sort of benefit from Eviolite, an item that boosts the Defense and Special Defense of a pre-evolved Pokémon by one stage. That one stage makes Dusclops significantly bulkier than Dusknoir, despite Dusknoir's higher base defensive stats.

Answer: Frisk

Frisk allows the user to immediately reveal the held item that the opposing Pokémon is holding the moment that Dusclops or Dusknoir come into play. This could have some niche uses, such as revealing various resist berries or Choiced items. In any case, Dusknoir certainly made better use of this ability than Pressure, especially on its own Choiced sets that frequently ran Trick - these Trick sets could ascertain the item Dusknoir was about to receive before using the move.

Answer: Spinblocker

As a Ghost type, Dusknoir is able to deny Rapid Spin and its attempt at removing entry hazards from the opponent's side of the field. While the overall value of a spinblocker declined with the advent of Defog, Dusknoir was able to heavily pressure most Defoggers in both PU and NU, stopping them from switching in safely with its good Attack stat and, thus, "blocking Defog" in a way.

Therefore, it was a good pick in both tiers for teams that liked pressuring the foe with entry hazard stacking.

Answer: Untiered

Dusknoir's niche as a spinblocker was no longer useful. It lacked the bulk to reliably take hits in the Z-Move era, more things got Defog that Dusknoir couldn't beat, and its Base 100 Attack with no usable STAB moves made it rather passive. Dusclops' use in any serious competitive play had long since passed, as it was too passive and didn't have a good enough movepool to function in any serious way.

Answer: Yes

This gave the tandem a prime opportunity to try to make a comeback, and become useful on a competitive team once again. Sadly, Dusknoir never saw serious usage in standard play, UnderUsed, RarelyUsed, NeverUsed or even PartiallyUsed before being phased into obscurity before the entire National Pokedex could even join it in Galar. Dusclops would hang on by a thread in PartiallyUsed, as a niche choice for a bulky general Wall for stall teams, but its prospects would ultimately not hold up as superior choices, such as Sableye, Spiritomb and even Misdreavus, would enter the Galar region down the road.