Gengar
Overview
Gengar is a pokemon that has been a fan favourite for many years, and has been pretty much exclusively in the overused tier throughout all 7 generations. But, can it stand up to today's OU metagame?
Gengar has a number of workable sets, however most (except for zmove lure sets and some more obscure ones) share the same set of counters and checks. Specs is a powerful breaker that can threaten many teams, but falls short to a few common defensive threats and is easily trapped thanks to it being forced to lock moves. Life Orb and Ghostium sets trade this immediate power for the ability to switch moves, which can in certain scenarios make Gengar harder to play around. Lure sets can eliminate specific threats for teammates too, which can be extremely helpful for powerful pokemon such as Magearna and Ash-Greninja. However, most of these sets come with some form of opportunity cost, whether it's using a zmove or simply not being able to run a more powerful or "comprehensive" breaker.
So what's changed for Gengar? Over the generational shift, this Pokemon lost its ability levitate in favour of cursed body. This can prove to be both a curse and a blessing. On the negative side, pokemon such as scarf and defensive landorus-t have a far easier time against it, being able to kill with STAB attacks, and losing such an important immunity is never a good thing. However, more positively, Gengar now has the incredibly useful ability to absorb toxic spikes, which is extremely helpful against offensive and balanced teams alike that may utilise the hazard. Cursed Body can also come in clutch against choice-locked pokemon. In addition to the ability change, several new checks to Gengar were introduced, including Toxapex, Celesteela and the omnipresent Magearna, although this is somewhat balanced against the introduction of some slower fairy-types which it has a good matchup against (eg. bulu). Gengar also suffered from the arena trap ban, which led people to increasingly turn toward pursuit trapping- a technique that Gengar is incredibly weak to.
Sets
(n.b. some of these are bad and probably not worth using this is just every set i tested)
@
@
@
@
/
Teambuilding
(click the team preview to get the importable)
teams with names in square brackets were shamelessly stolen because i couldn't figure out how to build for that version of gengar / didn't have time
Conclusion
While Gengar may not be super effective as a stand-alone mon, it can pull it's weight and clearly maintains a niche in today's metagame. Although it suffers from pursuit trapping and several defensive threats, it can still be of use to many a team. Additionally, I was quite frankly surprised at the potency of gengar as a supporting pokemon to many of OUs top threats, whether it be through a z-move lure set of through the pressure of specs. While some may not find it easy to build around, it is certainly a pokemon worth trying in one way or another.
Overview
Gengar is a pokemon that has been a fan favourite for many years, and has been pretty much exclusively in the overused tier throughout all 7 generations. But, can it stand up to today's OU metagame?
Gengar has a number of workable sets, however most (except for zmove lure sets and some more obscure ones) share the same set of counters and checks. Specs is a powerful breaker that can threaten many teams, but falls short to a few common defensive threats and is easily trapped thanks to it being forced to lock moves. Life Orb and Ghostium sets trade this immediate power for the ability to switch moves, which can in certain scenarios make Gengar harder to play around. Lure sets can eliminate specific threats for teammates too, which can be extremely helpful for powerful pokemon such as Magearna and Ash-Greninja. However, most of these sets come with some form of opportunity cost, whether it's using a zmove or simply not being able to run a more powerful or "comprehensive" breaker.
So what's changed for Gengar? Over the generational shift, this Pokemon lost its ability levitate in favour of cursed body. This can prove to be both a curse and a blessing. On the negative side, pokemon such as scarf and defensive landorus-t have a far easier time against it, being able to kill with STAB attacks, and losing such an important immunity is never a good thing. However, more positively, Gengar now has the incredibly useful ability to absorb toxic spikes, which is extremely helpful against offensive and balanced teams alike that may utilise the hazard. Cursed Body can also come in clutch against choice-locked pokemon. In addition to the ability change, several new checks to Gengar were introduced, including Toxapex, Celesteela and the omnipresent Magearna, although this is somewhat balanced against the introduction of some slower fairy-types which it has a good matchup against (eg. bulu). Gengar also suffered from the arena trap ban, which led people to increasingly turn toward pursuit trapping- a technique that Gengar is incredibly weak to.
Sets
(n.b. some of these are bad and probably not worth using this is just every set i tested)
Gengar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Trick
- Focus Blast
So the first set i decided to try was specs gar. I figured that it'd be a cool breaker that pressured fat teams and wasn't completely dead against more offensive teams due to it's decent speed tier. While that was true to an extent, I found it to be quite underwhelming as it still struggled to break specially defensive pex variants, mega venusaur and assorted other bulky mons. Additionally, it struggles to no end with bandtar and other pursuit trappers thanks to the fact that it can't switch moves. It's also held back by poor bulk meaning it can't come in on much of its own accord. Admittedly, the mons it pressures are kinda cool for something like ashninja to capitalise on, but the fact that against a lot of teams running either ttar or the other mons mentioned above it struggles to even get a kill is kind of a letdown.
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 1 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Trick
- Focus Blast
So the first set i decided to try was specs gar. I figured that it'd be a cool breaker that pressured fat teams and wasn't completely dead against more offensive teams due to it's decent speed tier. While that was true to an extent, I found it to be quite underwhelming as it still struggled to break specially defensive pex variants, mega venusaur and assorted other bulky mons. Additionally, it struggles to no end with bandtar and other pursuit trappers thanks to the fact that it can't switch moves. It's also held back by poor bulk meaning it can't come in on much of its own accord. Admittedly, the mons it pressures are kinda cool for something like ashninja to capitalise on, but the fact that against a lot of teams running either ttar or the other mons mentioned above it struggles to even get a kill is kind of a letdown.
Gengar @ Electrium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Thunder
- Focus Blast / Taunt
After using specsgar and pretty much only using it to pressure pex/steela/etc, Webcamparrot alerted me to this gengar set that actually rails on a number of traditional checks to the specs set. It also has the freedom to switch moves which is helpful against ttar, at the cost of the power of its other attacks. This set actually worked surprisingly well playing a lure role in a team and I actually prefer using this set to the specs set. While the lack of power in it's coverage moves is noticeable it doesn't make a huge difference as you muscle past a number of checks with electrium while others remain uneffected.
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Thunder
- Focus Blast / Taunt
After using specsgar and pretty much only using it to pressure pex/steela/etc, Webcamparrot alerted me to this gengar set that actually rails on a number of traditional checks to the specs set. It also has the freedom to switch moves which is helpful against ttar, at the cost of the power of its other attacks. This set actually worked surprisingly well playing a lure role in a team and I actually prefer using this set to the specs set. While the lack of power in it's coverage moves is noticeable it doesn't make a huge difference as you muscle past a number of checks with electrium while others remain uneffected.
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 224 HP / 32 SpA / 252 Spe (or just run max/max)
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute / Sludge Wave (only run sludge if you're running max spa)
- Taunt / Sludge Wave
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
I was thinking about old gengar sets and hexgar came to mind and after screwing around with the calc double switches pointed out that max HP gengar has a sub that isn't broken by toxapex's scald and isn't broken by anything mvenu can throw at it, and allows you to mess with pursuit trappers and revenge killers by clicking sub on passive things/things that are obviously switching out to get a wisp or a hex. The spread was later optimised to allow for some SpA investment while achieving the same benchmarks. Haven't done enough testing to confirm whether this is just a bad gimmick but in the testing sessions we've done so far there are 2 alts sitting at about 1700 and climbing with it so that's something. Don't think that this has a good offensive presence however as with very little investment it doesn't do much against fatmons although this is made up for by the power of a boosted hex, and this is remedied by running max spa if you're feeling less risky but bear in mind that it loses the cool defensive stuff that it had going on.
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 224 HP / 32 SpA / 252 Spe (or just run max/max)
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute / Sludge Wave (only run sludge if you're running max spa)
- Taunt / Sludge Wave
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
I was thinking about old gengar sets and hexgar came to mind and after screwing around with the calc double switches pointed out that max HP gengar has a sub that isn't broken by toxapex's scald and isn't broken by anything mvenu can throw at it, and allows you to mess with pursuit trappers and revenge killers by clicking sub on passive things/things that are obviously switching out to get a wisp or a hex. The spread was later optimised to allow for some SpA investment while achieving the same benchmarks. Haven't done enough testing to confirm whether this is just a bad gimmick but in the testing sessions we've done so far there are 2 alts sitting at about 1700 and climbing with it so that's something. Don't think that this has a good offensive presence however as with very little investment it doesn't do much against fatmons although this is made up for by the power of a boosted hex, and this is remedied by running max spa if you're feeling less risky but bear in mind that it loses the cool defensive stuff that it had going on.
Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
The last set was just All-out attacker Gengar, which is ok. Ghostium is cool to bust through a number of checks while LO can give boosted damage output while maintaining the ability to switch moves. It still falls prey to similar issues as the specs set, however, as ghostium struggles to break pex etc. while LO has a lower damage output than specs so has the same counters + some extra. The ability to change moves does it make it harder to play around, however, which is a positive.
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
The last set was just All-out attacker Gengar, which is ok. Ghostium is cool to bust through a number of checks while LO can give boosted damage output while maintaining the ability to switch moves. It still falls prey to similar issues as the specs set, however, as ghostium struggles to break pex etc. while LO has a lower damage output than specs so has the same counters + some extra. The ability to change moves does it make it harder to play around, however, which is a positive.
Teambuilding
(click the team preview to get the importable)
teams with names in square brackets were shamelessly stolen because i couldn't figure out how to build for that version of gengar / didn't have time
This team was built with Anish and utilises Electrium-z gengar to lure and eliminate toxapex for ashninja and keldeo. Grasses are pressured by the dual water core and stuff like tangrowth doesn't appreciate being knocked off by Lando, which was added to break fat teams. Ferro brings rocks and mew checks half the meta, running volt switch to get some momentum on w.e wants to come in.
The team began with Specs Gengar + Fairium Gearna, which work well to pressure each other's checks, which makes the team particularly threatening when Magearna is given the chance to sweep. What checks these guys can't beat, however, such as venusaur, give free switchins to Reuniclus which really enjoys the ability to setup a CM or w.e. Bandtar is also tempted to come in on it, but can't KO thanks to colbur and is trashed so long as focus blast actually hits. Scarf kart also benefits a lot from what these mons pressure. Mantine and Lando just form a defensive backbone. Team isn't perfect, struggles a bit with koko and you pretty much have to play perfectly to beat stall, but specsgar was a pain in the ass to build around and this is the best I could come up with.
Bit of an odd team but I figured I'd put it in here for context regarding the gengar set. Team uses gengar to actually beat venu and pex 1v1 while chipping like half the metagame and being generally annoying. Ashninja abuses both the chip and the fact that gengar beats its checks, bulu breaks fat teams and hates venu, mew is mew and gearna is gearna. Infernape was added to beat opposing gearna and revenge kill zard y and volc, you can use lati for a better zardy matchup at the cost of losing half your team to bandtar unless you can wisp it and also struggling slightly more against opposing gearna. It's a cool team, worked alright during testing but might be ehh who knows
Mons that share checks-
All of the above are mons that share checks with gengar that are pressured until they cannot perform defensively any more. Ashninja can set spikes to assist gengar with breaking, while magearna can act as an incredible wincon and setup on a number of gengar revenge killers. Koko lets gengar pivot into fat grasses etc.
Pivots-
These all allow Gengar to come in without risking it dying thanks to mediocre bulk. As mentioned above Koko allows gengar to come in on grasses, and scizor + lando are just generally good at grabbing momentum.
"Lures"-
etc.
These mons can all beat gengar's checks and just make the game easier. Koko can run zcharge to dunk on gearna and chansey for specs sets, gren can run esense, lati electrium-z, heatran groundium-z, etc.
Hazards-
Aside from rocks, additional hazards like spikes and tspikes really benefit gengar, making wallbreaking much easier. Unfortunately tspikes are absorbed by pex and venu which are 2 of the best gengar checks so you need a setter that beats them, pretty much only leaving some esense gren variant.
Mons punishing defensive checks-
etc.
Pokemon that either conclusively beat the majority of gengar checks are cool to have, for obvious reasons, such as reuniclus and lele. Additionally, strong breakers that can come in on one or more common gengar check are nice to have as they punish defensive play. These include breaker lele variants, subtox and offensive tran, and multiple kyurem-b sets.
Defensive backbones-
etc.
Gengar has pretty garbage defenses and is prone to revenge killing despite it's decent speed tier. A defensive backbone helps to remedy this, but bear in mind that gengar also struggles with a number of similarly defensive mons so one cannot solely rely on said backbone
Cleaners-
etc.
Gengar hits hard, these mons capitalise on that late game. Pretty simple.
All of the above are mons that share checks with gengar that are pressured until they cannot perform defensively any more. Ashninja can set spikes to assist gengar with breaking, while magearna can act as an incredible wincon and setup on a number of gengar revenge killers. Koko lets gengar pivot into fat grasses etc.
Pivots-
These all allow Gengar to come in without risking it dying thanks to mediocre bulk. As mentioned above Koko allows gengar to come in on grasses, and scizor + lando are just generally good at grabbing momentum.
"Lures"-
These mons can all beat gengar's checks and just make the game easier. Koko can run zcharge to dunk on gearna and chansey for specs sets, gren can run esense, lati electrium-z, heatran groundium-z, etc.
Hazards-
Aside from rocks, additional hazards like spikes and tspikes really benefit gengar, making wallbreaking much easier. Unfortunately tspikes are absorbed by pex and venu which are 2 of the best gengar checks so you need a setter that beats them, pretty much only leaving some esense gren variant.
Mons punishing defensive checks-
Pokemon that either conclusively beat the majority of gengar checks are cool to have, for obvious reasons, such as reuniclus and lele. Additionally, strong breakers that can come in on one or more common gengar check are nice to have as they punish defensive play. These include breaker lele variants, subtox and offensive tran, and multiple kyurem-b sets.
Defensive backbones-
Gengar has pretty garbage defenses and is prone to revenge killing despite it's decent speed tier. A defensive backbone helps to remedy this, but bear in mind that gengar also struggles with a number of similarly defensive mons so one cannot solely rely on said backbone
Cleaners-
Gengar hits hard, these mons capitalise on that late game. Pretty simple.
Conclusion
While Gengar may not be super effective as a stand-alone mon, it can pull it's weight and clearly maintains a niche in today's metagame. Although it suffers from pursuit trapping and several defensive threats, it can still be of use to many a team. Additionally, I was quite frankly surprised at the potency of gengar as a supporting pokemon to many of OUs top threats, whether it be through a z-move lure set of through the pressure of specs. While some may not find it easy to build around, it is certainly a pokemon worth trying in one way or another.
Last edited: