Pokémon of the Week #1: Gengar

[Sirfetch’d]

Welcome to Pokemon of the Week! This is a new series that I will be doing each and every week during the Sun and Moon meta. I will be selecting one Pokemon and list a few things about it such as what tier(s) it is viable in, what are some of the best movesets, and then open a discussion on the Pokemon. You can chat about your experiences using or facing the featured Pokémon. And with that, let's kick things off with: Gengar!

Gengar #94


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Gengar is one of the original 151 Pokémon, but has still remained relevant to this day. With it's high Special Attack, above average Speed, excellent movepool, and good defensive typing, there is no question as to why it's been a staple on OU teams throughout the years. Gengar is the only Pokémon to have never fallen below the OU tier until the introduction of Sun and Moon. However, that did not stop Gengar from shining once again in the OU tier. It fares well against common Pokémon such as the Tapus and was a pretty good check to Pheromosa before it was banned.

Here are some potential movesets for this spooky ghost(credit to Smogon for these movesets):

Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 8 HP / 248 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hex
- Taunt
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Wave

or if you like playing Ubers, here is a recommended set,

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

What are some of your favorite sets to run on Gengar? What is your overall opinion on this Pokémon? Discuss anything and everything about Gengar and feel free to post replays of you bringing out the potential in Gengar! Bonus points for providing a replay with physical Gengar!

 

[VoltYellow]

Wow Chase you made a good observation here. I'm trying to add a little here if you don't mind ofc :
Gengar with the ability to levitate can easily thereby having an immunity against ground type moves, the poison type is also resistant to the psychic pokemon being a ghost type and thereby is having a type advantage against many mons while its only weaknesses are the ghost and dark type
Next the stats, As already mentioned by chase this mon has got a good sp. attack with a good speed allowing it to move faster 'n' stab the target in no time. Mega evolving even increases it's stats and it looks awwwessoome in the mega with the third eye ( this eye allows it to look into other dimensions!)

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Oops, accidentally copied a gen 5 moveset and forgot to change Levitate to Cursed Body. Fixed!

 

[punkysaur]

If my laddering experience in the past few weeks tells anything then there is a great increase in scarf gengar.
Though i like gengar very much it almost never gets a place in my team.

 

[wolf]

The overall drop in usage of Pursuit users is very nice. I might give Gengar a try in my next team.

If my laddering experience in the past few weeks tells anything then there is a great increase in scarf gengar.
Though i like gengar very much it almost never gets a place in my team.

I think that was because of Pheromosa. Do you all think Scarf Gengar will remain relevant after the ban?

Bonus points for providing a replay with physical Gengar!

SubPunch pls.

 

[punkysaur]

The overall drop in usage of Pursuit users is very nice. I might give Gengar a try in my next team.

I think that was because of Pheromosa. Do you all think Scarf Gengar will remain relevant after the ban?

I think he will still be relevant cause koko's and greninja's still exist.

 

[Frozocrone]

Still salty about Cursed Body but Gengar is still pretty good. I wonder how Merciless would have worked on it, fully accurate Toxic and crit + boosted Hex/Sludge Wave.

Might have to breed my own Gengar now I have Moon Ball Gastly. It looks like it can still pull the strings despite the power creep. SE on the Tapu's is always nice (but Koko and Lele are less sure).

 

[gimmepie]

Am I the only one who prefers to run Dazzling Gleam over Focus Miss?

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Am I the only one who prefers to run Dazzling Gleam over Focus Miss?

What does Gleam hit specifically? I've actually never really seen it used much so I guess I am a bit curious about it. I guess it hits Sableye for Super Effective damage?

 

[gimmepie]

What does Gleam hit specifically? I've actually never really seen it used much so I guess I am a bit curious about it. I guess it hits Sableye for Super Effective damage?

It covers any dark types that get switched in.The coverage honestly isn't as good as Focus Miss because it doesn't get Steel - but I really hate Focus Miss' accuracy.

 

[Frozocrone]

Gengar needs Aura Sphere :)

Can't say I'm keen on Dazzling Gleam tbh.

 

[5qwerty]

Run what's needed for your team. If you have Mag, you don't have to run Focus Blast.

I really like running Wisp Gengar, it can cripple a lot of its switch-ins.

 

[Christos]

Tried LO Gengar in Gen 6 and I hated Focus Blast so I went with HP Fire to cover Steel instead (mainly Ferrothorn). I found it a bit too frail for me and it losing Levitate sucks, so I'm not really interested in using it again.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Cursed Body is that bad? Sure, Levitate was a superior ability, but being able to disable a move can be pretty clutch. Though, I guess the luck based factor of it is what is so bad.

 

[5qwerty]

Am I the only one who doesn't think Cursed Body is that bad? Sure, Levitate was a superior ability, but being able to disable a move can be pretty clutch. Though, I guess the luck based factor of it is what is so bad.

Yeah I don't think it's too bad. Positives include being able to absorb Toxic Spikes. Also if you get the Cursed Body on a choice-locked Pokémon, you can still do some cool stuff.

 

[punkysaur]

Cursed Body's ability to disable a move isn't its main draw. The biggest advantage Gengar gets out of Cursed Body is the fact that it grounding Gengar ensures that it is affected by Terrain. This means it can viably run Thunderbolt on offensive sets if it is paired with Tapu Koko and can avoid Sucker Punch / other priority entirely if it is paired with Tapu Lele, which makes Choice Scarf sets much more dangerous. Misty Terrain is a bit more situational, but at least it protects Gengar from paralysis.

In UU, losing Levitate sucks. Cursed Body confers exactly zero benefits to Gengar in UU due to the absence of Terrain. Most of the Dark-types that threatened Gengar in OU last generation now reside in UU, which leaves Gengar easier to offensively check. Bisharp and Krookodile, which are both very good Pursuit users, greatly threaten Gengar. Gengar's switch-in opportunities are also limited, as it can no longer come in on Choice-locked Ground-types such as Krookodile or defensive Ground-types such as Swampert and Hippowdon for fear of Earthquake. While this is true for it in all tiers, it is exacerbated in UU as the metagame simply is not favourable to it. It is also easily revenge killed; again, this is more of an issue in UU, as unboosted Shadow Balls from Choice Scarf are much more difficult to spam in UU due to the abundance of Dark-types and Pursuit trappers that can remove Gengar. Gengar is still OK, but not excellent, in UU.

Gengar's niche in OU is being a fast and powerful Pokemon with Ghost-type STAB that can either wallbreak, sweep, or stallbreak, depending on its set. There aren't many Ghost resists in OU now that Tyranitar, Bisharp and Weavile are much less common, and Chansey isn't the best way to deal with Gengar as Taunt on Life Orb / Ghostium Z sets does a number on it. Alolan Muk is obviously an issue for Gengar, but Alolan Muk is quite uncommon due to Landorus-T being on every second team. Both variants of Greninja also threaten it, but neither of them can switch into Life Orb-boosted Sludge Waves at all.

Mega Gengar is one of the reasons, along with Ghostium Z Arceus-Ghost and Lunala, that a Ghost resist is mandatory on Ubers teams, whether it be Arceus-Normal or Yveltal on more offensive teams or Arceus-Dark, Porygon2, Alolan Muk, or defensive Yveltal on defensive teams. This generation, it gets its Speed buff on the turn it Mega Evolves, which means that Protect is no longer necessary, freeing up an important moveslot, and that Gengar can check a wider pool of Pokemon, such as Extreme Killer Arceus. It pairs really well with much of the tier, such as:

・ Xerneas, as it appreciates Xerneas's ability to beat Dark-types and can threaten Toxapex, Chansey, passive Steel-types and other Xerneas checks in return, depending on its set;
・ Yveltal, which provides Gengar with a Dark / Ghost resist as well as U-turn, which lets Gengar pivot in safely; and
・ Primal Groudon, which beats Primal Kyogre and Ho-Oh while setting up Stealth Rock and potentially spreading Toxic, which helps Hex sets.

Shadow Tag lets Gengar pick and choose its matchups, coming in on Pokemon it threatens and often guaranteeing some form of damage thanks to it restricting their ability to switch out It can force trades or stallbreaker with the set Chase included in the OP, serve as an all-out offensive Pokemon that can harass passive status users with Substitute and three attacks:

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball

or wallbreak with a Hex set:

Gengar @ Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Focus Blast
- Hex
- Sludge Wave

Mega Gengar is further customisable depending on your team. It can run Icy Wind, which is extremely annoying to Mega Salamence, Reflect Type, a gimmicky but occasionally effective option that lets it safely escape from Pursuit users, or a Perish Song set that can beat certain passive Pokemon that can't do anything much to Gengar. Naturally, it is not invincible. Levitate being gone is still fairly annoying, as it cannot safely come in on weakened Groudon on the turn it uses Precipice Blades. Gengar also has more problems against defensive teams than it did last generation thanks to Alolan Muk being such a solid check to it, and it does not appreciate the prominence of Arceus-Ground, which handily beats Gengar. Even offensive teams can be a bit problematic, as Gengar does not enjoy how common Choice Scarf Lunala is on this archetype. Nevertheless, it is one of the best Pokemon Ubers has to offer and is very useful on most offensive teams.

Good that u replied late to the thread or else we wouldn't have anything remaining to say after this detailed analysis.

 

[Cyadin]

While I LOVE Gengar, with levitate Gengar was busted, Even now with cursed body it's still super common and still a fantastic sweeper. Dazzling gleam is a very viable choice since dark types and dragons are quite common. But I tend to still run focus blast for pesky steel types(I am a gambler).