When considering if you want to grab Dusknoir for your team in Pokémon Go, there are multiple things you need to consider, especially if you’re going to use it in the PvP league. Like many Pokémon, Dusknoir has plenty of strengths and weaknesses. We’ll be breaking those down for you to give you the best idea if you should be using Dusknoir on your team or not in any of the Pokémon Go leagues.
Dusknoir is purely a Ghost-type. It is weak against Dark and Ghost-type moves, but it is resistant against Bug, Fighting, Normal, and Poison-type attacks. You primarily want to use Dusknoir against the several Bug, Fighting, and Poison-type Pokémon appearing at increasing rates in the Pokémon PvP leagues. A handful of Normal-types has been at the top of the list, such as Ursaring or Porygon-Z. While Dusknor cannot take on the mighty Snorlax, it’s still a decent choice.
The problem with Dusknoir is its stats. Dusknoir has a maximum CP of 2,388, an attack of 154, a defense of 212, and a stamina of 113. Because of its lower stamina meter, it really needs to lean into its defense, but it lacks enough attack to be genuinely devastating like the other Ghost-types, such as Gengar. Even if you were to swap out the normal version for a shadow Dusknoir, the increase and decrease of attack and defense stats don’t make enough difference.
Duskull receives a Community Day on October 9, and Dusknoir can learn a new charged move, shadow ball. While the attack does increase Dusknoir’s usefulness in the Ultra League, it’s not going surging it to the top 10, or even top 50, spots. The low stamina number is a soft spot for Dusknoir, meaning it won’t be used by too many trainers, even after the Community Day.
Overall, Dusknoir is okay, but we don’t recommend it for most Pokémon Go PvP battles or raids. You might be able to use it in the Great League, but it’s a risk even then.
