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One of the more unexpected evolutions introduced in Diamond and Pearl, Dusknoir is an even more dangerous version of Dusclops, a Pokemon with some already impressive defenses. What Dusknoir offers over Dusclops is primarily a much improved offense, an undeniable blessing given that Dusclops’ offense was roughly equal to that of a wet noodle. On the whole, Dusknoir fills much the same role that Dusclops did in R/S/E, blocking Rapid Spin and offering team support in the form of status effects. The creepy cyclops’s increased offense gives it a bit of a new lease on life, though, alongside its more unusual options, in the form of strange support moves like Gravity and Trick Room.

Dusknoir
Ghost
HP: 45 Atk: 100 Def: 135 Sp Atk: 65 Sp Def: 135 Spd: 45
Ability: Pressure: Attacks used by enemy Pokemon against this Pokemon use 2 PP instead of 1.

Dusknoir faces some real competition for a team slot from other defensive Ghost Pokemon, Spiritomb in particular. What Dusknoir offers over its ghostly brethren is mainly the ability to counter a few of the nastier sweepers common in the OU environment, and the ability to cripple or even destroy some of the Pokemon that would be sent out to defeat it; namely Weavile, Tyranitar, and Metagross. It’s not quite as unpredictable as Spiritomb, but it can surprise foes with some unorthodox movesets that make use of its new and improved offense.

One of Dusknoir’s biggest problems is that it can’t make very good use of its Ghost-type STAB; its most damaging Ghost-type attack is Shadow Punch, a move with a fairly nonthreatening base power of 60. This is a pretty serious problem for a Pokemon whose Atk is only fairly good by OU standards. Its ability to use all three elemental punches helps a bit, but it means it more or less has to hit a weakness to deal any respectable damage. On the tanking side of things, its massive defenses are curtailed somewhat by his atrocious HP, and the fact that it has to rely on Pain Split for recovery, which can be a problem if your opponent outpredicts you and switches in a Pokemon at low health. There isn’t any real way to counter these problems, unfortunately, so your best bet is just to be careful and play around Dusknoir’s weaknesses as best you can.

Overall, though Dusknoir has some unfortunate shortcomings, it is still a very impressive and useful Pokemon. While it might appear at first glance to be just another tank, it gets a variety of useable options on the offensive side as well, giving it a surprising level of flexibility. Disregard the creepy cyclops at your own risk.

Support-Clops
Dusknoir @Leftovers
Careful (+Sp Def, -Sp Atk) or Sassy (+Sp Def, -Spd) nature
Pressure ability
252 HP, 144 Def, 112 Sp Def
-Earthquake / Ice Punch
-Will o Wisp
-Gravity / Trick Room
-Pain Split
Dusknoir’s best options for support are Gravity and Trick Room, but you’ll have to modify your team a bit to take full advantage of them. Gravity will disable all flying or levitating Pokemon’s Ground immunity, as well as boosting the accuracy of all moves by two stages; essentially, any move with 70% or better chance to hit will be boosted to perfect accuracy. All of a sudden, the only reason to use lower powered but higher accuracy moves is gone, allowing you to wail on your foes with perfect accuracy Blizzards, Thunders and Fire Blasts. Likewise, Trick Room works best in a team full of slow, bulky sweepers. Of the two, Trick Room requires the most preparation in using, but both Gravity and Trick Room will have some pretty impressive results on foes who aren’t expecting it.

As for the rest of the set, Will o Wisp and Pain Split are pretty predictable moves for a Ghost tank, but don’t underestimate them – crippling your foe’s Atk and draining their HP are two great ways of keeping tension on them. Dusknoir’s final moveslot goes to an attack. Earthquake is your best bet for a good solid hit, and it works well with Gravity, but the elemental punches are probably your best bet for coverage. Ice Punch offers the most coverage, but ThunderPunch and Fire Punch hit two of the most common Rapid Spinners — Forretress and Starmie — so the choice of which to use is up to you. Shadow Punch could also work in this slot, but it doesn’t have particularly good coverage and its base power is rather disappointing.

Split Punch
Dusknoir @Life Orb / Expert Belt / Leftovers
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp Atk) nature
Pressure ability
252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Def
-Focus Punch
-Substitute
-Pain Split
-Shadow Punch / ThunderPunch / Ice Punch
Definitely not your everyday SubPuncher. Most Pokemon who use the Substitute / Focus Punch combo rely on Leech Seed to recover HP little by little, or have other ways of recovering HP. Dusknoir can use Pain Split to achieve an effect similar to Leech Seed, but focused into one turn. Substitute also helps protect Dusknoir against some of his worst foes and their nasty Pursuits. Sub on the turn your foe switches to a Weavile or a Tyranitar, and you’ll be in a great position to destroy what is probably a lynchpin of their team. Shadow Punch and Focus Punch form a perfect type combination, hitting every Pokemon in the game for at least neutral damage, but it’ll be tough to deal much damage with Shadow Punch’s base power of only 60, or 90 with STAB factored in, so one of the elemental punches is definitely an option. Your best bets are the two Punches that counter some common switch-ins – ThunderPunch for Gyarados, and Ice Punch for Dragons like Salamence and Dragonite, all of whom will come in trying to resist Fighting.

The item you choose for this set can be a bit more malleable than it appears at first. Life Orb or Leftovers are probably the best use of your item slot, but Expert Belt is helpful as a way to ensure a one-hit KO on some of Dusknoir’s worst enemies without draining his HP. Using Substitute to get down to where a pinch berry would activate isn’t a bad idea either, especially since you can just Pain Split your health back up.

On the whole, this is a pretty risky set. If Focus Punch doesn’t kill a Pokemon outright, they’ll be left at low HP, preventing you from using Pain Split to recover. For this reason, Shadow Sneak is also an option in that last slot, though again, its base power is pretty low. It’d be better to bring another Pokemon with a powerful priority move, like Metagross’s Bullet Punch, along to seal the deal, or to support with entry hazards like Spikes or Stealth Rock.

Gravity Abuse
Dusknoir @Leftovers / Life Orb
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp Atk) or Brave (+Atk, -Spd) nature
Pressure ability
252 HP, 252 Atk, 6 Def
-Gravity
-DynamicPunch
-Earthquake
-Fire Punch / Shadow Sneak / Will o Wisp
This moveset is a bit more offensive version of the first set, focusing on the benefits of Gravity. Dusknoir is one of the more reliable users of Gravity, and it has the offense and movepool to exploit it quite well.

DynamicPunch is your main weapon for this set, since its accuracy jumps to around 80% with Gravity in play. It gives Dusknoir a useful tool to use against those physical attackers who come in looking to nail him with Pursuit. Earthquake gets even better type coverage under Gravity, allowing Dusknoir to forego Ice Punch if he so desires, since Earthquake will hit most Flying-types neutrally. In the last slot, Shadow Sneak is a good option to cover Dusknoir’s low Spd, or Will o Wisp is a good way to cripple incoming sweepers, and it gets perfect accuracy under Gravity. Fire Punch gets a mention mainly because Heracross resists both DynamicPunch and Earthquake, and loves coming in on Will o Wisp, so it’s a good way to nail the annoying beetle.

The main problem with this set is one of construction. Assuming Heart Gold and Soul Silver don’t add any new move tutors, the only way to get a Dusknoir with DynamicPunch is by breeding a Duskull in Emerald, using that game’s Move Tutor on it, and then transferring it to D/P/P.