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Murkow was added to the world of Pokemon in Generation II, along with the Dark type itself. It has a yellow, crooked beak and feathers on its head that resemble a witch's nose and hat, respectively. The creature is widely available in the Paldea region but only at night. It can be found in areas like Los Platos, Tagtree Thicket, Asado Desert, Montenevera, and more.
Murkrow evolves into Honchkrow, which is a much more powerful Pokemon if you were to go just by their stats. However, there are certain boxes the former ticks that make it a top-tier pick in PvP battles in Scarlet and Violet and also arguably one of the best support pocket monsters in the meta-game right now.
This guide will tell you why you should use Murkrow in your PvP battles and how to build the creature to maximize its potential.
Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the writer's opinions.
Building Murkrow as one of the best supports in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet double battles
Murkrow is a Dark/Flying type pocket monster. It is not fully evolved and has abysmal stats across the board. However, it has an ability and access to a certain move that makes the entity one of the best supporting Pokemon of this generation.
You need to build Murkrow in such a way that the creature is able to hold its ground for the first couple of rounds. After that, the Pokemon will switch out to make space for other offensively or defensively adept entities, only to make a comeback later on in the game to help its team out.
The following build works best for Murkrow:
- Ability: Prankster
- Nature: Bold (+Defense, -Special Attack)
- EVs: 252 HP / 140 Defense / 116 Special Defense
- Moves: Foul Play + Tailwind + Haze + Taunt
- Tera-Type: Dark
- Item: Eviolite
Murkrow's PvP build explained
Murkrow is the only Pokemon currently in the Scarlet and Violet ecosystem that has the Prankster ability and can learn the move Tailwind. The ability boosts the priority of status moves, letting the creature use Tailwind, which doubles the speed of all its allies for the next four turns. These two things are key to Murkrow's success in this generation's PvP scene.
There is one more aspect that makes Murkrow so powerful, despite having such weak stats. It can use Haze, which sets all the stat changes to the neutral level on the battlefield. This is particularly useful against the Dondozo+Tatsugiri combination, which has been dominating the Scarlet and Violet PvP scene. Haze is also useful against Swords Dance and Nasty Plot users.
If you suspect the opponent is going to use a setup move that might help them counter your Tailwind boost, you can use Taunt first to lock them out of using such a move and then use Tailwind in the next turn.
Lastly, Foul Play is perfect for a weak Pokemon like Murkrow because it uses the target's attack stat while hitting them with a STAB-boosted 95-base power move. Moreover, using Foul Play, the creature can get a two-hit KO on even big hitters like Garchomp.
Giving Murkrow an Eviolite, along with a Bold nature and EV padding to its HP and Defense as well as Special Defense, boosts its sub-par bulk to a respectable point. With all these buffs, the entity can live out one or two non-super effective attacks at least and continue to be a thorn in the opponent's game plan.
Murkrow is being used to this extent for the first time ever in the history of competitive Pokemon. And by following this guide, you, too, can use the Darkness creature in battles to bamboozle your opponents.
