Pokémon Gengar

[FALCOWNPAUNCH!]

Typing:

Base Stats: 60/65/60/130/75/110 (500 BST)
Ability: Cursed Body

Notable Moves:

: Don't

: Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, Focus Blast, Tera Blast, Hex, Energy Ball, Thunderbolt

: Nasty Plot, Taunt, Trick, Substitute, Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Toxic Spikes, Disable

Pros:

*130 Special Attack makes for a very strong attacker, with (currently) perfect coverage in two moves and the ability to boost its power to frightening levels with Nasty Plot
*110 Speed isn't bad either, giving Gengar a good Speed tier against offensive and defensive Pokemon alike
*Although Ghost/Poison is sketchy defensively, it has key resistances to Fighting, Grass, Fairy, and Bug
*Gengar personally appreciates Knock Off being less prevalent in Scarlet/Violet, as well as Pursuit still being locked in the basement

Cons:

*Gengar's paper-thin defenses cause it to fold to any moderately strong attack
*While 110 Speed is still quite serviceable, Gengar can find itself struggling to keep up in one of the fastest-paced iterations of OU to date
*Ghost/Poison also "gifts" Gengar common weaknesses to Dark, Ghost, and Ground
*Reliant on prediction to perform well, as both Shadow Ball and Focus Blast can be played around

Terastal Potential:

*Ghost Tera gives Shadow Ball the extra power to muscle past some of Gengar's usual switch-ins, and turns Hex into a nuclear bomb under the right conditions.
*Fighting Tera can also be used to stomach a Sucker Punch or the like, and hit hard in return with Focus Blast. It also lets you use Fighting Tera Blast if you really hate missing Focus Blast.

Potential Sets:

SubNP
Gengar @ Leftovers
Ability: Cursed Body
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast / Tera Blast

One of Gengar's defining sets from SW/SH, it returns to punch holes in defensive cores once again. Substitute eases prediction, and can be used to help set up a Nasty Plot if Gengar can force a switch. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast have perfect coverage on their own, with Tera Blast being an option on Fighting Tera sets.

Life Orb Attacker
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast / Tera Blast
- Taunt

With a Life Orb, Gengar gains more immediate power at the cost of 10% of its HP every attack. Taunt shuts down moves like Spore from Amoonguss, Roost and Defog from Corviknight, or Stealth Rock/Spikes from the tier's many hazard setters.

Other Options:

Anywhere Shadow Ball is on a set, Hex can be there instead. The condition for its maximum power, however, can make it situational. Choice-locked sets with Trick are also possibilities, but they are even more prediction reliant. Gengar actually got Toxic Spikes this generation, so it could potentially try its hand at a suicide lead set with TSpikes/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast/Destiny Bond or something similar.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Gengar isn't a dangerous as it once was, it is still viable though. Base 110 speed is good, but still outsped by threats such as Roaring Moon and Meowscarada. The NP plot sets do wreck slower teams but fall short a lot of the time due to Clodsire among other things.

The most effective set I have experimented with is a Sub+Disable/Encore set as it can cause many of defensive threats issues or lock it one move.

 

[Dreadfury]

Honestly, I don't think I'd ever consider Gengar viable in this current meta, and it isn't because Gengar itself is bad. It just... doesn't offer anything for a team.

As far as uncounterable breakers go, Specs Chi-Yu humiliates any defensive team with just its STABs. As far as fast offensive Ghosts go, Dragapult has a half-dozen terrific sets and few of them have any shared counterplay with others. As far as Ghosts with tons of utility go, the String Cheese man is the undisputed best mon in the tier at the moment and has recovery, setup, excellent coverage, good bulk, a broken typing, and a ludicrous ability.

What does Gengar do that other Ghosts can't, currently?

 

[Yarvy]

What does Gengar do that other Ghosts can't, currently?

I am kind of a noob and am not intimately familiar with the OU metagame as it stands, so it seems possible that Gengar is truly outclassed by other mons right now, but I think there are a couple of things that might distinguish Gengar… Gengar gets Nasty Plot and is faster than Gholdengo, so it may be a better Nasty Plot sweeper than Gholdengo (albeit a worse Rapid Spin/Defog blocker). Also, Gengar gets Trick and makes, from my limited experience, a solid Choice Scarf candidate (can do Trick + 3 attacks or Trick/NP/Shadow Ball/Focus Blast). When scarfed, I believe it outspeeds non-boosted/non-scarfed Dragapults, and it still hits hard with 130 base SpA. Gengar also gets some interesting utility options such as Toxic Spikes, Will-O-Wisp, Destiny Bond, etc. It could function as a kind of suicide lead, but I don’t know how viable a set like that is atm

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Honestly, I don't think I'd ever consider Gengar viable in this current meta, and it isn't because Gengar itself is bad. It just... doesn't offer anything for a team.

As far as uncounterable breakers go, Specs Chi-Yu humiliates any defensive team with just its STABs. As far as fast offensive Ghosts go, Dragapult has a half-dozen terrific sets and few of them have any shared counterplay with others. As far as Ghosts with tons of utility go, the String Cheese man is the undisputed best mon in the tier at the moment and has recovery, setup, excellent coverage, good bulk, a broken typing, and a ludicrous ability.

What does Gengar do that other Ghosts can't, currently?

It is more powerful than Dragapult and faster than Goldengo. It also one of the few offensive pokemon that absorbs Toxic Spikes and also has Encore. I think the best set for Gengar Sub+Encore and it works pretty well with hazards.

 

[wrockstah]

Gengar (M) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot

This is the set that i use successfully on the ladder right now peaking in the top 20.