[OVERVIEW]
Haunter is a great special wallbreaker and one of the tier's best Ghost-types due to its blistering power, good Speed tier, and a great typing giving it many offensive and defensive benefits. Haunter's STAB combination bolstered by its base 115 Special Attack makes it a ferocious offensive presence late-game when the opposing team is weakened. Its typing and ability in Levitate also give it three immunities to Normal, Fighting, and Ground, letting it pivot into physical attackers like Hitmonchan, Tauros, and Medicham while also serving as an offensive spinblocker. The ability to force trades reliably, especially with Destiny Bond, makes Haunter a great glass cannon on offensive hazard-stacking and hyper offensive teams.
However, while Haunter has multiple immunities and resistances, Haunter's frailty means it struggles at taking neutral hits, even from Pokemon that it can switch into such as Hitmonchan and Nidoqueen. Haunter is also easily worn down and lacking in longevity due to the constant recoil it takes from Life Orb and lowering its health with Substitute. While Haunter has high damage output, it struggles to KO foes without prior chip damage, making Haunter reliant on the opposing team being chipped to put them into range of Haunter's attacks. While it can threaten a large portion of the tier, one huge roadblock for it is Skuntank, which resists its STAB combination and can Pursuit trap it. Tauros can also pose a problem for Haunter, as it can punish Shadow Ball, while Haunter struggles with taking Pursuit even when staying in.
[SET]
Name: Special Attacker
Move 1: Sludge Bomb
Move 2: Shadow Ball
Move 3: Hidden Power [Ground]
Move 4: Substitute / Destiny Bond
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Sludge Bomb is Haunter's strongest neutral move that provides coverage for Dark-types such as Cacturne and Shiftry, which resist Shadow Ball, as well as Normal-types like Tauros and Lickilicky. Its poison chance is also able to pressure switch-ins that aren't Poison- or Steel-types. Shadow Ball threatens Psychic-types such as Slowking, Medicham, Gardevoir, and Jynx, as well as opposing Ghost-types such as Drifblim, Dusclops, and opposing Haunter. Hidden Power Ground rounds out Haunter's coverage for Skuntank and Magneton, KOing offensive Skuntank after chip from either attack or Stealth Rock and one Spike from full health. Substitute is one of Haunter's best tools for capitalizing on switches, easing prediction from opposing switches, and baiting Sucker Punch from Skuntank, Cacturne, and Shiftry. If Haunter can't KO Skuntank from behind a Substitute, then it protects Haunter against a Pursuit trap. Destiny Bond is an alternative option that can trade against foes it can't KO while also forcing a trade against Skuntank. If Skuntank keeps using Sucker Punch to bait Destiny Bond and stall its PP, Haunter can potentially escape a Pursuit trap. Life Orb is Haunter's most preferred item for increasing its general power.
Team Options
=========
Haunter fits well onto entry hazard-stacking teams to block Rapid Spin from Hitmonchan and Sandslash, while Haunter itself benefits from the opposing team getting worn down by them. Stealth Rock users such as Regirock and Nidoqueen work well with Haunter on these teams; Regirock helps check Charizard and Skuntank while using Explosion to soften the opposing team for Haunter, and Nidoqueen also checks Skuntank as well as Regirock and Manectric while shuffling foes around with Roar to rack up hazard damage or using Toxic Spikes for additional entry hazard support. Spikes support from Cacturne and Glalie provides additional entry hazards for Haunter to capitalize on, with Cacturne setting up on bulky structures while checking Drifblim in a pinch with Sucker Punch, and Glalie being used as a lead to get Spikes up as soon as possible while shutting down opposing entry hazard leads with Taunt. Since Haunter acts as a good Skuntank lure, many Pokemon that are walled by Skuntank synergize well with Haunter's ability to batter it down or force a trade with Destiny Bond. Being another Ghost-type, Drifblim especially appreciates Skuntank being gone, as this helps it sweep late-game with Calm Mind + Unburden. Drifblim also serves as a secondary spinblocker in case Haunter goes down by trading with Skuntank. Offensive Psychic-types such as Medicham, Gardevoir, and Jynx can also threaten to sweep without Skuntank in the picture. Fast cleaners, such as Floatzel, Tauros, and Manectric, appreciate Haunter's mid-game progress and ability to maintain hazards to clean up late-game, with Choice Scarf Tauros providing insurance against a Drifbilm sweep. If Haunter ever gets successfully Pursuit trapped, it appreciates Pokemon that can exploit Skuntank and Choice-locked Pursuit Tauros such as Hitmonchan, Poliwrath, and Magneton.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf allows Haunter to both revenge kill Pokemon it would otherwise lose to, such as Charizard, Tauros, and Floatzel, and cripple walls such as Regirock, Cradily, and Articuno with Trick. However, Haunter's power with Choice Scarf is lacking compared to using other items, and it is more vulnerable to getting Pursuit trapped by Skuntank and Tauros as a result of Choice locking. Choice Specs Haunter wields devastating power while maintaining Haunter's ability to use Trick against defensive Pokemon, but it loses the Speed advantage compared to Choice Scarf while suffering from the same vulnerability to Pursuit trapping. Other items such as Spell Tag and Expert Belt can be used for an increase in power without Life Orb's recoil, but Haunter's glass cannon nature still makes Life Orb the preferable item for neutral hits. Explosion can be used over Destiny Bond as a more proactive way to trade against bulky Pokemon, but Haunter's low base Attack means it isn't guaranteed to OHKO them, and unlike Destiny Bond, Explosion makes it vulnerable to Sucker Punch and takes away its ability to trade with Normal-resistant foes. Will-O-Wisp is an alternative way for Haunter to lure Skuntank while crippling other slower physical attackers such as Regirock and Hitmonchan, but Haunter is generally less effective than other Pokemon that can lure Skuntank with Will-O-Wisp such as Drifblim and Gardevoir. Substitute + Pain Split allows Haunter to recover lost health from Substitute and Life Orb recoil and to weaken bulky Pokemon, notably allowing it to check Vileplume.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Skuntank**: Skuntank resists Haunter's STAB combination and can either use Pursuit as Haunter switches out or uses Substitute or use Sucker Punch to prevent Hidden Power Ground from KOing it. Haunter can end up in situations where it has to make good predictions against Skuntank to be able to threaten the rest of its team, and this sometimes isn't enough if Skuntank is a bulky variant, especially if it is holding Shuca Berry.
**Normal-types**: Tauros can situationally find entry on Shadow Ball, consistently KOing Haunter from full HP with Choice Band or Life Orb Stone Edge or using Pursuit to trap it. Although Lickilicky lacks good tools to deal damage to Haunter on defensive sets, Haunter can struggle to break past it because it can get Wish stalled and take Life Orb recoil in the process.
**Specially Bulky Pokemon**: Specially defensive tanks like Regirock, Cradily, and Articuno can comfortably tank Haunter's hits and trade well with it when they're healthy. Even special walls that Haunter threatens such as Slowking can situationally trade hits with it due to its frailty.
**Faster Threats**: While Haunter has good Speed, some offensive threats, such as Charizard, Tauros, Floatzel, and Manectric, are able to outspeed Haunter and revenge kill it with ease due to Haunter's lack of Speed control. This also makes stopping a Drifblim sweep after Unburden activation impossible, which Drifblim can potentially take advantage of if it runs Endure + Petaya Berry to countersweep Haunter. Haunter is also susceptible to priority moves such as Skuntank, Cacturne, and Shiftry's Sucker Punch, Dusclops's Shadow Sneak, Sharpedo's Aqua Jet, and Medicham's Bullet Punch.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/amity.619555/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stories.400664/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/rabia.336073/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/
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