Question

Is Honchkrow good for Diamond in-game?

Answer 1

Lets see the pros and cons of Honchkrow in-game.

Pros

• Great attack and special attack stats, being 125 and 105 respectively
• Great STAB attacks in Fly and Night Slash or Dark Pulse
• Murkrow is avalible early, in Eterna Forest or Lost Tower
• Even as a Murkrow, it has decent attacking stats and speed so it won't be complete dead weight until it evolves
• Useful against Gardenia, Maylene, Fantina, Candice's Medicham, Aaron, Lucian, and Cynthia's Roserade

Cons

• Bad defenses, both being a measly 52
• Evolves somewhat late (Dusk Stone is avalible at the Galactic Hideout at the earliest)
• Shallow movepool (Psychic and Steel Wing are the only good non-STAB moves)
• Somewhat slow with 71 speed
• Not useful against Roark, Byron, most of Candice's team, and most of Volkner's team

With that being said, Honchkrow faces competition from other Flying types like Staraptor and Gyarados. Staraptor has better speed but slightly worse attack, and Gyarados is bulkier than both of them while sporting a decent speed stat. In the end, it's up to you. Pretty much all Pokemon can work in-game, but Honchkrow is outclassed by Staraptor or Gyarados. However, it does have some things going for it like its unique dark typing that makes it useful against different gyms than the other two.

Comments

You didn't say if it was good or bad.

---

edited now.

Answer 2

Of course, any Pokemon is good for in-game, but some of them are better when compared to others. Honchkrow in particular is outclassed by Staraptor and Gyarados.

Starly can be caught earlier and learns wing attack earlier, and Staraptor evolves earlier. Staraptor has a better ability and better base speed. Its STAB return has more power than Honchkrow's STAB fly. Staraptor also learns close combat, which makes it significantly more useful against Byron and Bertha.

Magikarp is either useless for a long time or requires a good rod to catch at a higher level. This means Murkrow is more useful against Gardenia, but Gyarados still evolves earlier than Honchkrow. Gyarados also has a better ability and better base speed. Gyarados's many different moves, like surf, waterfall, ice fang, earthquake, and dragon dance, make it more useful against Byron, Volkner, and Bertha.

Comments

I guess Honchkrow is a far better option than Staraptor and Gyarados. Honchkrow has an additional Dark type being immune to Psychic and learning Night Slash and Dark Pulse by level up, since there are a few Dark types Honchkrow is a better option along with Drapion, but Drapion comes very late while Murkrow comes early.
It is good to Gardenia, Maylene, Fantina, Aaron and Lucian.

---

Staraptor has an additional normal type, being immune to ghost and getting STAB when using return. There are many normal types, but Staraptor is the best option because the others have weaker physical attack, and most also come later and have weaker speed. It is good against Gardenia, Maylene, Fantina, Byron, Candice, Aaron, and Bertha. Staraptor is worse against Lucian, but why is that more important than the battles where Staraptor is better?

---

Normal is worse than Dark, Normal-type moves are super-effective to nothing while Dark-type moves are super-effective to Psychic and Ghost. Dark types resists Ghost and they are immune to Psychic (like I said earlier) making them do good work at Fantina and Lucian. (except his Bronzong)
Staraptor's Close Combat is worse than Infernape's Fighting-type moves cause Infenape gets STAB from Fighting-type moves, besides that it helps from Steel-types that are neutral to Fighting (Ex: Bronzong) using Fire-type moves.

---

I already know that Honchkrow is better against Lucian. STAB return is stronger than STAB night slash, so normal is better than dark in every battle besides Fantina and Lucian. Why do you think Lucian is more important than those other battles?
Staraptor is worse than Infernape because Staraptor's close combat does not get STAB. Honchkrow is worse than both Infernape and Staraptor because it can't learn close combat.

---

Honchkrow has a base Attack of 125 while Staraptor has a base Attack of 120.
So Honchkrow is strong than Staraptor. Honchkrow is the best Flying-type you can get in Diamond.

---

100 Atk Staraptor Return vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hippowdon: 61-73 (33.3 - 39.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
100 Atk Honchkrow Night Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hippowdon: 43-52 (23.4 - 28.4%) -- 94.1% chance to 4HKO