Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's competitive battles are being dominated by one of its most unassuming creatures - a hat-wearing crow.
As pointed out by Hopcatsmash on TikTok, the Dark/Flying-type Pokemon Murkrow is currently the second most popular Pokemon to use in competitive play in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. You'd be forgiven for not expecting this little crow to be a crowd-pleaser - in fact, the little monster's stats are pretty bad, but somehow this little guy is being picked by players over the likes of much more powerful Pokemon such as Dragonite or Garchomp.
According to the TikTok embedded below, most people are opting to use Murkrow due to its hidden ability Prankster as well as its support moves, some of which are the best in the game. As the video explains, the way Prankster works is that it allows the Pokemon to use non-damaging moves first, meaning the creature's support moves usually be used ahead of an attack from the opponent.
- Former Pokemon world champ uses a "stupid strategy" that "should never work" to transform a Lapras into an OHKO machine so powerful it can even take out enemies in alternate dimensions
- Legendary Pokemon player brings back his most infamous strategy for another massive tournament win: "I don't think I've ever lost a tournament with Perish"
@hopcatsmash ♬ original sound - HopCat
Speaking of these support moves, Murkrow can use Tailwind, which doubles your entire team's speed for four turns, and Haze, which eliminates all stat changes. As well as these two moves, Murkrow also has Foul Play, which uses the opponents' attacks against them, so you don't need to worry about using Murkrow's awful stats. As Hopcatsmash also points out, it may be tempting to use Murkrow's evolution instead, Honchkrow, however, this Pokemon loses the Prankster ability, which is pretty essential here.
This isn't the first time we've noticed an unexpected Pokemon being used in the gen 9 game. Last week, we reported that a literal flamingo is tearing up Pokemon Scarlet and Violet speedruns - that flamingo is the flying/fighting-type Flamigo. At the time of writing this, several of the top speedruns on speedrunning.com primarily use the Pokemon and have managed to beat the game in record time.
Find out what other pocket pals you'll get to meet with our Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Pokedex guide.
