QC: Kl4ng / Aesf / Adrian Marin
GP: Rhythms / P Squared
[OVERVIEW]
By virtue of its great coverage and natural power augmented by Sheer Force and Life Orb, Gengar is one of the better wallbreakers in Almost Any Ability, and one that is not dead weight against more offensive teams thanks to its great Speed tier. Gengar also has access to a great support movepool including moves such as Taunt and Mean Look, which help it do its job as a Sheer Force wallbreaker and Normalize attacker. Gengar's Ghost typing gives it utility as a spinblocker, making it a good fit on offensive entry hazard-stacking teams, and an important immunity to regular Normal-type Extreme Speed, allowing Gengar to revenge kill Pokemon such as Tough Claws Lucario. However, it also makes Gengar weak to Pursuit and Knock Off, the latter of which being quite popular. Very low bulk makes Gengar vulnerable to faster attackers and the enormous amount of priority in Almost Any Ability, and it means that, if Gengar does not KO the foe, it will most likely get KOed itself. Additionally, the Normalize set is quite useless if Gengar does not get a chance to use Skill Swap. Last but not least, Gengar faces competition from Doublade and Aegislash as an offensive Ghost-type because they have more bulk and resistances, but Gengar is faster and more threatening to bulkier builds.
[SET]
name: Sheer Force
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Sludge Wave
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Taunt / Substitute
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Shadow Ball hits most types for neutral damage and opposing Ghost-types for super effective damage. Sludge Wave is a secondary STAB move and has good neutral coverage with Shadow Ball. Focus Blast hits Dark-, Normal-, and Steel-types such as Tyranitar, Chansey, and Ferrothorn for super effective damage. Taunt allows Gengar to prevent any status move from being used, which is mostly helpful against special walls that would otherwise be able to use status and recovery moves freely against Gengar, such as Porygon2, but also helps against entry hazard setters such as Garchomp and Hippowdon. Substitute also protects Gengar from status and can act as a shield against priority, but it cannot prevent the foe from healing up with recovery moves.
Set Details
========
The given EV spread optimizes Gengar's ability to break through walls while allowing it to outspeed the majority of Almost Any Ability. A Timid nature is mandatory because Gengar is frail and thus needs to move before the foe if it does not want to faint. Sheer Force grants Gengar a 1.3x boost to all of its attacks with secondary effects, which is all of them. It should, however, be noted that the secondary effects disappear. Life Orb boosts the power of all of Gengar's attacks and works very well with Sheer Force, as the ability negates the recoil damage on all attacks with secondary effects.
Usage Tips
========
Gengar works best early- or mid-game to break through defensive cores for teammates or outright sweep bulkier teams itself. If you suspect the opponent is planning on sacrificing a Pokemon against Gengar and you have Substitute, Gengar can use it on the predicted switch, get rid of the sacrificed Pokemon, and come out of it behind a Substitute, forcing the opponent to sacrifice another Pokemon to break it. It is usually a very bad idea to switch Gengar into even neutral attacks because of its low bulk. If you really must, you can, however, make use of Gengar's immunities and switch it into Normal- and Fighting-type moves. You should especially try switching Gengar in against Rapid Spin if entry hazards are up on the opponent's side. Watch out for priority attacks because even weaker users such as Zygarde can KO Gengar with just a little prior damage. Finally, note that Gengar can stall out the PP of walls late-game.
Team Options
========
Other special attackers such as Goodra and Diancie appreciate Gengar, as it softens or outright breaks through special walls for them. Pokemon that can take on common priority users such as Braviary and Entei are great teammates because of Gengar's weakness to priority. Steel-types such as Doublade and Flash Fire Skarmory are especially good because they resist all priority moves barring Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch, and they can take on Doublade anyway, while Sucker Punch is almost nonexistent in the metagame. Entry hazard setters such as Deoxys-S and Garchomp help Gengar get some extra KOs such as the guaranteed OHKO with Focus Blast on standard Ferrothorn. In return, Gengar's Ghost typing allows it to block Rapid Spin so the entry hazards that its teammates set are not removed. Slow Volt Switch, U-turn, and Baton Pass users such as Magnezone, Scizor, and Sylveon help with bringing Gengar in safely so it can wreak havoc without risking taking damage. Pokemon such as Lucario and Mega Altaria can take advantage of Dark-types that can trap Gengar with Pursuit such as Krookodile.
[SET]
name: Normalize
move 1: Skill Swap
move 2: Mean Look / Substitute
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Focus Blast / Sludge Bomb
item: Black Sludge
ability: Normalize
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Skill Swap gives the foe Normalize, turning all of its moves into Normal-type so that it is unable to touch Gengar. Mean Look traps the Pokemon that the opponent switches into Gengar and can let Gengar take it out for the rest of the match. Substitute is an option over Mean Look, as it lets Gengar takes advantage of the free turn provided by Skill Swap to create a shield to hide behind and thus be able to safely attack without having to predict the Pokemon coming in. Shadow Ball is Gengar's best STAB attack and hits opposing Ghost-types such as Doublade for super effective damage. Focus Blast hits Dark- and Steel-types such as Tyranitar and Heatran and has perfect neutral coverage together with Shadow Ball. Sludge Bomb can be used over Focus Blast as a secondary STAB attack that also has good neutral coverage alongside Shadow Ball. However, the most relevant Fairy-type, Diancie, is not hit for super effective damage by Sludge Bomb and, without Focus Blast, Gengar becomes much more vulnerable to Pursuit trappers.
Set Details
========
The given EV spread combined with a Timid nature optimizes Gengar's Speed so it will be faster than the foe the majority of the time, allowing Gengar to use Skill Swap without taking damage while hitting as hard as possible. Normalize works together with Skill Swap to prevent the foe from touching Gengar as long as Gengar is faster. Black Sludge is the item of choice because, without it, Substitute wears Gengar down way too fast, and this set does not need a power boost.
Usage Tips
========
Use Skill Swap against slower foes to make them unable to touch Gengar, set up a Substitute as the opponent switches in something to handle Gengar, and then use the appropriate attack, depending on the Pokemon sent out. If you suspect the opponent is going to switch into another Pokemon, you can use Substitute as the foe switches out and then use Skill Swap, creating another free turn for Gengar to attack. Skill Swap can also be used to stop slower sweepers such as Snorlax and Suicune cold in their tracks. It is most of the time wise not to switch Gengar into any Pokemon with an offensive presence, as Gengar's low bulk results in it disliking even strong resisted hits. However, you can make use of Gengar's two immunities to switch into Normal- and Fighting-type attacks if you really must. Rapid Spin is a move you should especially try to prevent if there are entry hazards up on the opponent's side. Due to Gengar's low bulk, it is ill-advised to stay in against any remotely strong priority user or faster Pokemon unless you're trying to make a prediction. This set does very well against teams with just one Gengar check because, if that one check gets hit by Skill Swap, the opponent is forced to switch to a Pokemon that does not take Gengar on well. Even after you have already used Skill Swap, Gengar checks that rely on Poison Heal can still be screwed by just using Skill Swap again.
Team Options
========
Pokemon that can take on priority users such as Doublade and Staraptor are good teammates because those foes can easily OHKO Gengar. Steel-types such as Skarmory and Mega Metagross work particularly well thanks to their resistances to most priority moves. Flash Fire Doublade deserves a special mention because it can switch into every priority move except Shadow Sneak and can Pursuit trap the priority users or use Skarmory without Taunt or Whirlwind as setup fodder. If you're using Mean Look on Gengar, fast special attackers such as Shaymin-S and Thundurus appreciate Gengar luring in and trapping special walls such as Chansey and Goodra. Entry hazard setters such as Deoxys-S and Ferrothorn are great teammates because this set forces a lot of switches, causing foes to take a lot of residual damage, and Gengar's Ghost typing allows it to block Rapid Spin, preserving the entry hazards on the opponent's side. Slow U-turn, Volt Switch, and Baton Pass users such as Scizor, Mega Ampharos, and Togekiss grant Gengar free switches in without the risk of taking heavy damage. Because Gengar is vulnerable to Pursuit, Pokemon that take advantage of Dark-types, especially setup sweepers such as Lucario and Togekiss, are great teammates. Choice Band Adaptability Tyranitar traps most of Gengar's counters, barring Assault Vest + Focus Blast Meloetta, with Pursuit.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A set with Will-O-Wisp and Hex allows Gengar to cripple common switch-ins such as Goodra and a ton of Poison Heal users before their Toxic Orb has activated, but most Gengar checks do not care about burns that much, and it can backfire against Magic Bounce users. An Illusion set makes good use of Gengar's two immunities to fool the opponent into doing things such as using Fighting-type attacks because they think Gengar is a Lucario, or it can lure in and KO checks for sweepers. No Guard grants Gengar the ability to use 100% accuracy Hypnosis and Focus Blast. Destiny Bond is a good option because, with Gengar's high Speed stat, it can more than often take down a Pokemon that threatens your team. However, the most threatening sweepers in Almost Any Ability use priority and Gengar cannot deal with those without Prankster. Even without Hex, Will-O-Wisp is a decent move that can be used over Taunt on the Sheer Force set and over Mean Look on the Normalize set to cripple walls and physical attackers such as Braviary. Knock Off is an option on the Sheer Force set because it cripples Regenerator + Assault Vest Pokemon such as Goodra, which are the most common Gengar checks, as well as Chansey. Thunderbolt is another option on the Sheer Force set, as it hits bulky Water-types such as Vaporeon and Suicune harder and also gives Gengar a move that is not completely stopped by Bulletproof. Wonder Room can screw over special walls such as Goodra and Chansey because they are much frailer defensively.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulletproof**: Although somewhat rare, Bulletproof users such as Excadrill and Gliscor are immune to Shadow Ball, Sludge Bomb, and Focus Blast, and they can do whatever they want against Gengar unless they get Taunted. Gengar can still defeat Bulletproof users with Sludge Wave, but the most common users either resist or are immune to Poison-type moves.
**Regenerator + Assault Vest Users**: Regenerator + Assault Vest users, most notably Goodra, Tentacruel, and Meloetta, have little trouble taking hits from the Sheer Force set and making quick work of Gengar in return.
**Dark-types**: Dark-types such as Tyranitar and Sneasel hit Gengar for super effective damage with their STAB attacks and can Pursuit trap it as well. However, neither can switch in safely against Focus Blast variants, and the latter cannot switch into Gengar's Poison-type STAB move either.
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon such as Thundurus, Raikou, and most Choice Scarf users can easily force Gengar out because of its low bulk.
**Priority**: Due to Gengar's terrible bulk, priority users such as Entei, Honchkrow, and Scizor make quick work of it if it's not behind a Substitute.
**Special Tanks**: Although Gengar defeats most specially bulky Pokemon, the less passive ones such as Zygarde and Snorlax can tank a hit and do huge damage in return. Specially bulky Pokemon with Skill Swap can also give Normalize back to Gengar.
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