Thanks to Darkrai's Speed and Dark Void's excellent accuracy (for a sleep-inducing move), it is often easy for Darkrai to set up at least one Nasty Plot. This skyrockets Darkrai's fair (by Uber standards) Special Attack to a frightening 738 in one turn. Using both Dark Pulse and Focus Blast gives Darkrai excellent neutral coverage resisted only by Heracross and Toxicroak. Even with only neutral damage, Darkrai hits hard with +2 Dark Pulse or Focus Blast. STAB Dark Pulse is the main attack, doing heavy damage with the possibility of flinching the opponent. While Focus Blast's accuracy is sometimes unnerving, it allows Darkrai to better handle Steel- and Dark-type Pokemon that resist Dark Pulse, including Tyranitar, Heatran, Dialga, and opposing Darkrai.

This Darkrai set can function superbly as either a lead or a late-game sweeper. When in the lead position, it is recommended that Darkrai has Focus Sash as its item, allowing it to survive attacks when an opponent's Lum Berry wakes it up. This will usually guarantee that a Pokemon is put to sleep. After this, Bad Dreams allows Darkrai to break the Focus Sash of Deoxys-A, Deoxys-S, and Froslass and then OHKO them with Dark Pulse. When using Darkrai as a late-game sweeper, Life Orb is recommended due to the increase in power and the lower chance of encountering Lum Berry. This will greatly increase Darkrai's damage output, while the recoil isn't devastating as long as you watch out for Choice Scarf and priority users.

Substitute can be used over Focus Blast for a mono-attacking Darkrai. While this does reduce Darkrai's coverage significantly, Substitute makes it easier for Darkrai to set up, as well as covering its weakness to faster Pokemon and priority attacks. Substitute also protects Darkrai from being crippled by Thunder Wave and serves as a bulwark against opposing Darkrai. Leftovers is the suggested item in conjunction with Substitute. Substitute and Focus Sash have no use together, and Substitute and Life Orb will wear away at Darkrai's HP too quickly for Darkrai to truly be effective.

Leftovers can be used instead of Life Orb for a late-game sweeper. Using Leftovers allows for Darkrai to restore HP and raise its survivability at the cost of some power. Leftovers helps one of Darkrai's most common problems: being revenge killed. This can be very crucial if you expect to frequently switch Darkrai in and out while trying to set up Nasty Plot throughout the game. Leftovers, as stated above, also works well with Substitute, helping Darkrai regain the HP it loses from creating Substitutes.

This set relies somewhat heavily on its ability to sleep opposing Pokemon, which means that Darkrai really does not like Sleep Talkers, such as Kyogre and Heracross. Because of these threats, Giratina-O and Calm Mind Giratina make good partners, since it is able to check and set up on Sleep Talk variants of both Heracross and Kyogre by resisting their standard attacks, as well as being able to counter the occasional Primeape that will try and ruin Darkrai's fun with its immunity to sleep. Teamwise, Giratina walls Heracross and Primeape, while Giratina-O can set up on either one locked into Close Combat and then proceed to sweep. Latias walls and sets up on any Sleep Talking Kyogre.

Darkrai is most vulnerable after Sleep Clause has been activated. Choice Scarf Palkia and Dialga can switch into Darkrai and OHKO with Draco Meteor. Choice Scarf Kyogre and Darkrai do the same with Surf and Focus Blast respectively. Life Orb Shaymin-S OHKOes Darkrai with Seed Flare after Stealth Rock damage. Although Mewtwo cannot switch into Dark Pulse or Substitute, it can revenge kill Darkrai by outspeeding it and has an 87% chance to OHKO Darkrai with Aura Sphere after Stealth Rock damage (guaranteed with Life Orb). Finally, Life Orb Scizor 2HKOes Darkrai with Bullet Punch, or OHKOes with U-turn, but keep in mind that a +2 Life Orb Focus Blast OHKOes Scizor after Stealth Rock damage. A Scizor of your own can switch into Choice Scarf Dialga and Palkia's Draco Meteors and any offensive Mewtwo without Fire Blast, and either Roost or U-turn (or Pursuit in Mewtwo's case). Wobbuffet destroys Choice Scarf Dialga and Palkia with Mirror Coat, while Encore can help Darkrai set up. Choice Scarf Dialga counters Shaymin-S with its quadruple Grass resistance, and it can switch into any of Scizor's attacks except Superpower and OHKO with Fire Blast. Latias handles Kyogre and can switch into a Choiced Darkrai's Focus Blast.

Trick Darkrai is truly a nasty surprise for its opposition, taking out one of Darkrai's biggest weaknesses, Sleep Talkers, while still giving it the potential to sweep. After crippling a Sleep Talker with Trick, Darkrai is free to put it to sleep with Dark Void. As Sleep Talk malfunctions with Choice Scarf, most of the time, Darkrai is capable of setting up a Nasty Plot or two assuming that the opponent is still slower than it after getting Tricked the Choice Scarf. STAB Dark Pulse is obvious and packs fairly decent coverage since no Pokemon is immune to it.

While Trick holds incredible potential, one must use it wisely, as misplaying Trick can make it easy for opponents to outplay Darkrai. Tricking an opposing Choice user will only lock Darkrai into Trick and keep it from setting up, as well as possibly giving Darkrai a worse Choice item (for its purposes), such as Choice Band. All forms of Arceus are immune to Trick and will lock Darkrai into Trick, giving Arceus a free turn to set up. It is important to note that Giratina-O, another popular Trick absorber in Ubers, cannot switch into Darkrai safely due to STAB Dark Pulse.

Trick Darkrai is an amazing lead; its Speed allows it to outpace Deoxys-S and Deoxys-A leads, either sleeping them with Dark Void, hitting them with Dark Pulse, or Tricking them so that they're stuck on one move, making them easy pickings for a Pokemon with Pursuit such as Scizor or Tyranitar. Yet despite these amazing qualities as a lead, Darkrai can still be used in late-game, where it holds more of a surprise. When used late-game, this Darkrai can use Dark Void to counter such things as Adamant Rock Polish Groudon and opposing Choice Scarf users that can often be extremely troublesome.

Ice Beam is the best coverage option for Choice Scarf Darkrai; it enables Darkrai to reliably revenge kill boosted Dragon Dance Rayquaza lacking Extreme Speed or locked into Outrage, as well as some other miscellaneous targets such as Salac Berry Garchomp. Focus Blast can be used over Nasty Plot, which allows for Darkrai to be more offensive and preserve its ability to Trick Choice Scarf onto a Pokemon for later in the game. Focus Blast can also help Darkrai deal with Choice Scarf Dialga and opposing Darkrai. While Focus Blast does give Darkrai better coverage, Nasty Plot is still recommended over it due to the fact that Darkrai is not as powerful without the aid of Life Orb or Nasty Plot. In addition, Darkrai is sometimes hard to switch in and as long as it still holds the Choice Scarf, Darkrai will be forced to switch in and out frequently in order to be truly useful.

A more offensive Choice Scarf Darkrai can be used with Ice Beam or Spacial Rend over Trick and Focus Blast instead of Nasty Plot. While offensive Choice Scarf Darkrai is often outclassed by Choice Scarf Mewtwo, it does have two things that Mewtwo doesn't: a fast Dark Void to sleep the opponent's Pokemon with, and the ability to beat Wobbuffet because of Darkrai's immunity to Mirror Coat.

When leading with Trick Darkrai, there are several leads who can give it problems. Choice Scarf Mewtwo will outspeed and OHKO Darkrai with Focus Blast, while other variants of Mewtwo will still be able to live through a Dark Pulse. Choice Scarf Shaymin-S can 2HKO Darkrai with Air Slash, which is particularly troublesome because of the flinch chance. Scarf Darkrai's biggest problem is the various leads that rely on Lum Berry or Chesto Berry to absorb Dark Void. A specially defensive Tyranitar with Lum Berry can live through Focus Blast and OHKO Darkrai with Superpower. In a similar vein, a lead Scizor with Lum Berry can OHKO Darkrai with U-turn, and a lead Kyogre with Lum Berry can also OHKO Darkrai with Surf. Both Dialga and Groudon often carry a combination of Lum Berry and Thunder Wave when leading to cripple Darkrai. Support Dialga can be a very useful Pokemon to use with Trick Darkrai, because Dialga resists both Shaymin-S's Air Slash and Scizor's U-turn. Dialga can also help set up Stealth Rock, which will help the rest of team in sweeping. A Bulk Up Dialga can also switch into Kyogre's Surf and set up. Support Groudon is another excellent choice as a teammate, as it not only absorbs Thunder Wave from opposing leads, but it also destroys Tyranitar. Wobbuffet can switch into a Choice Scarf Mewtwo's Focus Blast and 2HKO it with Mirror Coat. Scizor can also survive a Focus Blast from Mewtwo and OHKO Mewtwo with U-turn. Scizor also has the benefit of being able to do a serious amount of damage to lead Tyranitar as long as Scizor avoids a Fire-type attack. Finally, Blissey can easily switch into lead Kyogre and wall its entire moveset.

Since Nasty Plot Darkrai is a huge threat in the Uber metagame, people often deal with it by revenge killing it with faster Pokemon such as Mewtwo and Choice Scarf Palkia / Dialga. By making use of Substitute and Salac Berry, Darkrai has a better chance to avoid this. Simply Substitute when you need to until the Salac Berry activates. When you have the chance, Darkrai can safely Nasty Plot while behind a Substitute. As well as helping Darkrai achieve the Salac Berry boost, Substitute also protects Darkrai from Choice Scarf and priority users that often switch in to revenge kill it. After the boost from Salac Berry, Darkrai will outrun just about everything except Choice Scarf Shaymin-S, Mewtwo, and Deoxys-S, while still retaining the ability to switch moves. With STAB Dark Pulse and Focus Blast, you'll still find it to be a quite fearsome sweeper.

The 30 HP IVs makes Darkrai's HP stat divisible by 4. This allows Salac Berry to activate after 3 Substitutes and still gives Darkrai 70 HP to hold on with, which is useful for surviving a Shadow Sneak from Giratina-O.

Focus Blast can also be replaced with Dark Void to sleep potential counters that Focus Blast would normally cover, such as Scizor and Dialga, and allow for more free turns to set up while your opponent is sleeping. Without Dark Void, Darkrai will have serious issues with Choice Band Scizor. If Darkrai lacks Focus Blast, specially defensive Tyranitar will give Darkrai serious issues after Sleep Clause has been activated, as even a +6 Dark Pulse will only do 39% maximum to Careful 252 HP / 200 SpD Tyranitar. Meanwhile, the same Tyranitar with 56 Attack EVs and a Choice Band will easily break Darkrai's Substitutes with either Stone Edge or Earthquake. Finally, Sand Stream will make Darkrai's life even shorter, chipping away 6.25% of its HP per turn. Because of these issues, Support Groudon is an excellent teammate for this Darkrai. Groudon will be able to demolish Tyranitar with its STAB super effective Earthquakes, and will do serious damage to Scizor.

After Darkrai's Substitute is broken, it is even more susceptible to priority or extremely fast Choice Scarf users. After taking Stealth Rock damage and getting one Substitute broken, Darkrai is in the KO range of Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Punch. Scizor also has the capability of stopping Darkrai's sweep with Bullet Punch after its Salac Berry has been activated and its Substitute broken. Deoxys-A, Rayquaza, and Lucario can also stop Darkrai's sweep in the same manner with Extreme Speed. Giratina-O makes an excellent teammate as it is able to take Bullet Punches aimed at Darkrai pretty well and is immune to Extreme Speed. The mixed attacking spinblocker set is able to take Bullet Punches from Scizor and outspeed Adamant Lucario, while dealing heavy damage with either Hidden Power Fire or Earthquake. It can also outspeed Adamant Rayquaza and OHKO with either Draco Meteor or Outrage, and can OHKO Deoxys-A with Shadow Sneak. Both Choice Scarf Mewtwo and Choice Scarf Shaymin-S have the potential to end Darkrai's sweep after it has used Salac Berry and had its Substitute broken, thanks to their higher Speed. Metagross can take care of Choice Scarf Shaymin-S for Darkrai, thanks to its resistance to both of its STAB attacks and Clear Body; Metagross can then slam it with Meteor Mash. Choice Scarf Mewtwo is easily dealt with by Wobbuffet, who can switch into the Choiced Fighting-type move and beat Mewtwo with Mirror Coat. Wobbuffet also has the bonus of being able to set up Darkrai thanks to its move combination of Encore and Shadow Tag.