• R/B
• G/S
• R/S
• D/P
• B/W
• Strategy
• Moves

Haunter

Levitate The wielder is immune to Ground-type moves.

• Neverused
• Rarelyused

Overview

With its great Special Attack and relatively good Speed, Haunter is one of the best offensive Ghost-type Pokemon in the tier. Furthermore, thanks to three common immunities and two 4x resistances, Haunter has no trouble finding an opening to switch in. Its excellent offensive movepool and many other tricks, which include Taunt, Trick, and Disable gives Haunter a variety of ways to mess with the opponent.

However, courtesy of its horrid defensive stats, Haunter can rarely take an unresisted hit, and is often forced to rely on a Substitute if it wishes to do anything other than attack. In addition, despite being a Ghost-type, Haunter is easily shut down by the only decent spinner in the tier, Armaldo. Even with its drawbacks, though, Haunter is an unpredictable threat, and is a great choice for teams of many different playstyles.

This set is perfect for people who take pride in making their opponents as frustrated as possible, by taking advantage of Haunter's three immunities and two 4x resistances, namely to Ground, Fighting, Normal, as well as Poison and Bug. As a large portion of the metagame carries only one move that can hit it, between Substitute and Disable Haunter is able to make the opponent unable to damage it at all. The idea is to set up a Substitute while the opponent tries to attack, then use Disable to render the opponent useless. Many Pokemon will be unable to hit Haunter at all if it is behind a Substitute and has used Disable.

Shadow Ball is the preferred STAB attack as it has better coverage than Sludge Bomb. Hidden Power Fighting hits Pokemon that resist or are immune to Shadow Ball, such as Bastiodon, Probopass, and Miltank; additionally the combination of Shadow Ball and Hidden Power Fighting gets perfect coverage in NU. Sludge Bomb can be used over Hidden Power Fighting as a secondary STAB option with considerably more power, but this leaves Haunter walled by many Pokemon, such as Bastiodon and Probopass.

This is probably Haunter's simplest and easiest set to use. This set aims to give Haunter a bit more longevity to do some decent damage. Substitute protects Haunter from status, particularly paralysis, that would otherwise render it useless, and also insures it against priority move as well as powerful attacks from faster Pokemon. Haunter can easily come in on one of its three common immunities and force out a Choice-locked opponent, such as Sawk or Golurk, and set up a Substitute. Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball are Haunter's most powerful STAB options, while Hidden Power Ground, gives it coverage on all the Pokemon that resist these two moves, most importantly Bastiodon, Probopass, and Skuntank. Pain Split is an option over Hidden Power Ground; while it grants Haunter some much needed recovery, the lack of coverage on Steel-types might put Haunter in an even worse position.

Haunter can boast of being one of the fastest Choice Scarf users in the tier; with the item boost, it can outspeed Rotom-S, Sawk, Braviary, and Golurk. Haunter's excellent coverage and great Special Attack stat, which is higher than that of even Rotom-S, makes it difficult to switch into. Furthermore, the combination of good Speed and Special Attack allows Haunter to revenge kill a large portion of the tier, such as Serperior and Kadabra.

The first three moves are there for coverage purposes: Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball are Haunter's best STAB moves, and Hidden Power Ground provides it with perfect coverage. The fourth move is down to general preference. Trick messes with walls, stall Pokemon, and setup sweepers in the tier, and effectively renders them useless for the rest of the game if you predict correctly, while Thunderbolt hits bulky Water-types such as Alomomola and Wartortle that would otherwise tank Haunter's other moves. Thunderbolt also lets Haunter easily revenge kill Gorebyss, even when it is at +2 Speed.

Other Options

Haunter has a large number of toys to play with in terms of support and defensive moves—such as Haze, Hypnosis, Perish Song, and Taunt—but simply does not have the bulk to use them to their full extent. Destiny Bond is a great move that can easily take out a Pokemon that Haunter would otherwise be unable to KO. Will-O-Wisp is handy to render many threats useless, but it is difficult to fit onto a set. Nonetheless, a bulky Eviolite set with Will-O-Wisp and Taunt could possibly work by playing off Haunter's resistances and immunities. Giga Drain provides HP recovery that can be useful, and can in particular take out bulky Water-types. A Choice Specs wallbreaking set is very powerful, and even without a Choice Scarf, Haunter would be able to outspeed a great portion of the tier.

Checks and Counters

Skuntank is the main threat to Haunter as it can KO it with either Pursuit or Sucker Punch. As all of Haunter's sets rely on Speed, so Pokemon that can outspeed and KO it are huge threats. Faster Choice Scarf users, such as Tauros, Electabuzz, and Raichu, are all nice checks to all three sets, but mainly Choice Scarf, as they can easily revenge kill Haunter. Priority attacks, such as Bullet Punch, Aqua Jet, and Sucker Punch, are naturally another one of Haunter's fears. Carracosta is a great priority user that can use Aqua Jet and KO a Stealth Rock weakened Haunter. Lickilicky is a great counter to Haunter that can take all of Haunter's attacks, although it hates SubDisable Haunter. Steel-type Pokemon, such as Probopass and Bastiodon, completely wall Haunter if it lacks Hidden Power Ground alongside its STABs.