Dark (type)

Template:ElementalTypes Template:TypeNotice Notable Pokémon Trainers that specialize in Dark-type Pokémon are Karen of the Johto Elite Four, Sidney of the Hoenn Elite Four, and Giima of the Unova Elite Four. Notably, the Dark-type is the only type that has not had at least one Pokémon Gym dedicated to it.

Statistical averages

Overall

Fully evolved

Battle properties

Offensive			Defensive
Power	Types		Power	Types
2×			½×
½×			2×
0×	None		0×

Characteristics

Dark-type Pokémon were added in Generation II.

Defense

Dark-type Pokémon are notable for the fact that they don't have any strong stat trends other than Attack (which is in and of itself modified by a few powerful outliers and slightly ironic as Dark was a special type, not a physical type), but usually have relatively poor defenses, with the exception of Umbreon, Spiritomb, Drapion, Zuruzukin, Barujiina and Tyranitar. Just the same, Pokémon that are both Dark-type and Template:Type2 have no true weaknesses, as the resistances of the Dark-type cover the weaknesses of Ghost, and vice-versa. One of the greatest advantages of the Dark-type is that they are immune to Template:Type2s.

Offense

Dark-type moves, when combating Psychic-types, are especially useful due to their secondary effects; Crunch lowers Defense (an already low stat among Psychic-types), Bite causes Flinching, Faint Attack never misses, Night Slash has a high critical hit ratio while Pursuit hits Pokémon as they switch for double damage. Many Dark-type moves also involve stealing or deception, such as moves like Thief, which steals an opponent's held item, and Snatch, which steals the beneficial effects of an opponent's moves.

Even though the Dark type was considered a special type prior to Generation IV, all three special Dark-type moves (Dark Pulse, Bark Out and Night Burst) were introduced after Generation III, meaning that all Dark-type moves that were once special moves are now all Physical moves.

When used in contests, Dark-type moves typically are of the Smart category, but can also fall in any of the other four Contest categories.

Pokémon

As of Generation V, there are 39 Dark-type Pokémon or 6.01% of all Pokémon, making it tied with the Electric type as the twelfth most common elemental type.

Pure Dark-type Pokémon

# Name 197 Umbreon 261 Poochyena 262 Mightyena 359 Absol 491 Darkrai 493 Arceus* 509 Purrloin 510 Liepard 570 Zorua 571 Zoroark

Half Dark-type Pokémon

Primary Dark-type Pokémon

# Name Type 1 Type 2 198 Murkrow Dark Flying 215 Sneasel Dark Ice 228 Houndour Dark Fire 229 Houndoom Dark Fire 302 Sableye Dark Ghost 430 Honchkrow Dark Flying 461 Weavile Dark Ice 559 Zuruggu Dark Fighting 560 Zuruzukin Dark Fighting 624 Komatana Dark Steel 625 Kirikizan Dark Steel 629 Baruchai Dark Flying 630 Barujiina Dark Flying 633 Monozu Dark Dragon 634 Jiheddo Dark Dragon 635 Sazandora Dark Dragon

Secondary Dark-type Pokémon

# Name Type 1 Type 2 248 Tyranitar Rock Dark 274 Nuzleaf Grass Dark 275 Shiftry Grass Dark 318 Carvanha Water Dark 319 Sharpedo Water Dark 332 Cacturne Grass Dark 342 Crawdaunt Water Dark 434 Stunky Poison Dark 435 Skuntank Poison Dark 442 Spiritomb Ghost Dark 452 Drapion Poison Dark 551 Sandile Ground Dark 552 Waruvile Ground Dark 553 Waruvial Ground Dark

Moves

Damage-dealing moves

Non-damaging moves

Trivia

• Officially, this type's Brazilian Portuguese translation is "Noturno", but at times it is named as "Sombrio" or "Trevas" as well. However, Sombrio means Shadow, another type.
• Because of Bite's change to Dark from the Normal-type in Generation II, there has been at least one Dark-type move introduced in each generation. Despite this, there is not a Dark-type Pokémon from each generation; Dark is the only type not assigned to a Pokémon introduced in Generation I. This is the opposite situation to the other type introduced in Generation II, Steel.
• There has yet to be a Pokémon Gym that specializes in the Dark type. Despite this, there have been three Elite Four members who specialize in Dark-type Pokémon.
• Generation V introduced the most Dark-type Pokémon, introducing 16 of the 39.
• So far, 9 Dark-type moves has been shown in the anime, the least of all elemental types.
• All non-legendary pure Dark-type Pokémon are based off of fox, dog, or cat-like creatures.

In other languages

Language Title Japanese あく (悪) aku Mandarin Chinese 邪惡 xié'è Dutch Duister Finnish Pimeys French Ténèbres German Unlicht Greek Έρεβος - Erevos / Σκότος - Skotos Hebrew אופל offel Italian Buio Korean 악 ak Norwegian Mørk Polish Mroczny Brazilian Portuguese Escuro / Noturno Nocturnal Russian Тёмный tyomnii Spanish Siniestro