#355 - #356, #477: Duskull, Dusclops & Dusknoir

Official art of Duskull by Ken Sugimori, courtesy of Nintendo
and Game Freak, blah blah blah, yada yada yada... 

While Shuppet's appearance is reminiscent of common depictions of ghosts, especially those that are basically floating white sheets, Duskull is a stylized personification of the Grim Reaper, the embodiment of death: its body is a black robe with two bones on its back, its mask is basically a skull, and it has a single eye that floats between its eye sockets. The only thing that's missing is the scythe, but that's a minor detail. The question is whether Duskull behaves even remotely like the Grim Reaper. I'd say no, as it chooses a target in the dead of night and doggedly pursues its intended victim until it abandons the chase at the break of dawn, which the Grim Reaper doesn't. It's just an alternative name for the Angel of Death and has come into use as to allow us to embody the concept of death into a tangible creature. The truth is that death is imminent, and when it's your time to go, the Angel of Death - or Grim Reaper - will come and get you. It's not supposed to be a mean-spirited being; rather, the Angel of Death is impartial and just guides you to the hereafter when you pass away, whether this is at dawn, day, dusk or night. Personally, I don't believe in this spiritual/religious bullshit, but I think I understand the concept of the Grim Reaper and I doubt it spirits away disobedient or misbehaving children, let alone enjoys the crying of children. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Duskull can pass through walls no matter how thick they are, but I've seen other ghost-type Pokémon doing that, so I'm not impressed. I mean, I'm sure everyone here remembers the Gastly, Haunter and Gengar from the "The Tower Of Terror", the 23rd episode of the very first season. Right?

Dusclops in the anime. When you compare it to its official art, it is
actually much creepier: these hands actually look more human,
which is unsettling, but they're also in a much paler shade of gray,
making them stand out more than those of its official art. 

As for Dusclops... well, let's say Hoenn really likes the subject of black holes, as Gardevoir is known to create them and Dusclops pretty much acts like one: its body is said to be hollow and can absorb anything, no matter how large an object may be. Dayum. Also, Dusclops hypnotizes its foes and makes them do its biddig by moving its hands about in a macabre manner and bringing its single eye to bear. Dayum. It also likes being weird, as it seeks drifting will-o'-the-wisps and sucks them into its empty body. (Wait, does that mean it's consuming its kin? Duskull's German name is Zwirrlicht, which is a combination of Zwielicht and Irrlicht, meaning 'twilight' and 'will-o'-the-wisp', respectively.) Up till today, it remains a mystery what happens inside its body, but it is speculated that a spectral ball of fire is burning inside it. Not that anyone who has found out the truth can tell it through, as peering into Dusclops's body to see whether there actually is a mysterious fire burning inside its hollow body will only result in your spirit to be sucked into the void. Dayum. Contrary to Duskull, however, Dusclops is based on something much more uncommon than the universally recognized Grim Reaper: the chōchin-obake - literally a 'paper lantern ghost' - is a one-eyed haunted paper lantern, as its name implies. Dusclops even has some similarities to mummies, although this concept would be executed much better later on in the franchise in the form of Cofagrigus (have fun pronouncing that name). It has to be said, though, that Cofagrigus is in fact a sarcophagus rather than a mummy, but I cannot deny its cool design. And I don't want to know (yet) what houses inside it.

Brrrrrr, the realistic aesthetics make this Duskulll art very creepy. 

The weirdness doesn't end with Dusclops, however. It evolves into Dusknoir by trading it while letting it hold a Reaper Cloth, and if that ain't a reference to the Grim Reaper then I don't know what is. The cyclops aspect in Dusclops's design is retained, but Dusknoir's flavor is much weirder than its pre-evolution's: its antenna allows it to receive electrical waves from the spirit world that tell it to bring people there, although the anime has demonstrated it protecting people from being taken to the spirit world as well. These transmissions are a clear reference to electronic voice phenomena (EVP), which within ghost hunting and parapsychology are static noises found on electronic recordings that are interpreted as spirit voices. Protecting people from the spirit world doesn't stop Dusknoir from opening the yellow band around its waist and take the lost spirits from people into its pliant body, however, just so to carry them home or as it travels to unknown places.

Dayum. Duskull and its evolutions are some of the scariest Pokémon out there.

This artist managed to make Dusclops look more mummy-like.
Pretty cool.

The most surprising thing is that both Dusclops and Dusknoir are very bulky Pokémon, sporting some amazing defenses. Their HP is trash, but by investing some EVs in this stat Dusclops and Dusknoir will be able to take plenty of hits. At least they'll survive long enough to do whatever they deem necessary before going down. As Dusclops doesn't have good attacking stats, it is better to use an Eviolite support set: the Eviolite buffs up both of its defensive stats by 50%, making it more bulky than it already is, while a Bold or Calm nature increases either its defense or special defense a little, depending on which one you want, really. Dusclops has access to some nifty status moves, too: Will-O-Wisp burns foes and especially cripples physical attackers, Destiny Bond makes it take an opponent with it when it gets knocked out, Night Shade lets it deal a fixed amount of damage depending on its level (in online battles its level is usually 50), and Rest lets it heal up fully but puts it asleep. Alternatively, Pain Split shares the remaining amount of HP between it and the opposing Pokémon, so if the foe has 151 HP left and Dusclops 21, both will end up at 86 HP... or at least that's how I think it works. It's a pretty good moveset and I'd actually recommend Pain Split over Rest, but both allow Dusclops to last on the battlefield longer than your opponent would wish. While aforementioned moveset works phenomenally, there's also moves like Curse, Substitute, Memento and Taunt to consider. However, Curse and Memento only make it harm itself to inflict some kind of status condition that fades away when the opposing Pokémon is switched out anyway, so they're hardly worth the hassle, while Substitute works better with the Leftovers, which Dusclops is not going to hold because it needs the Eviolite. The only good option is Taunt, which prevents Dusclops from being set-up bait. Smogon mentions a Calm Mind set, but that's just... bad. Dusclops's base 60 special attack is just really mediocre and even after one or two boosts it doesn't hit very hard. It's not supposed to, either, so just stick with the moveset I mentioned.

Dusknoir opening its hollow body in order to throw a Shadow Ball in its opponent's
face.

Dusknoir needs another approach. Not only does it have a higher base attack stat (100, as opposed to Dusclops's base 70 attack), it also has a good physical movepool. It can pull of a STAB Shadow Punch or Shadow Sneak and hit relatively hard or just with priority, while sporting some type coverage in moves like Earthquake, the elemental punches, Brick Break, Sucker Punch and Rock Slide. Give it an Adamant nature and the Leftovers as a held item - the Eviolite only works on Pokémon that are yet to evolve, so it's useless on Dusknoir - and you'll be sure it lasts long enough to cause some significant damage to the opposing team. Alternatively, a Life Orb or Choice Band can be used for some more oomph behind its attacking moves. Both Dusclops and Dusknoir are best off with the ability Pressure, which takes an extra PP point from the move it is attacked with (I'm pretty sure it only works on damaging moves), so ignore its hidden ability Frisk.

One big happy family... I guess?

While I love the Duskull line's flavor texts, their designs don't really appeal to me all that much. Duskull and Dusclops are alright, but the more rotund shape of Dusknoir just seems really off to me. I'm not a fan of fat-looking Pokémon in the first place, anyway. For example, I'm not as big a fan of Snorlax as I probably should be; it's a fan favorite and I just don't get why. And you'd better remember my review of Lickilicky, who is my least favorite Pokémon in existence and will be my least favorite Pokémon until the day I die - which, hopefully, won't be for another 70 years at least. Of all the 'fatty' Pokémon thus far, Dusknoir is still the one I like the most - not in the least because of its flavor - so I reckon a 4-star rating will suffice here.

Rating: 4/5