The Team
1. Introduction
After getting tired of using only balance for the last couple months, I decided to try my hand at building a competitive hyper offense for the first time in the DLC2 metagame. Gengar, being my favorite pokemon, immediately popped into my head as a potential piece to build around. I've used many Gengar sets in the past in SS OU, including Nasty Plot Life Orb, Choice Specs, Trick Nasty Plot Scarf, and Destiny Bond Lead (very bad). However, I got a new idea for a potential use for Gengar when paired with suicide lead mew. The set used on this team is Focus Sash with Nasty Plot and Taunt, enabling it to keep hazards up for the rest of the team with taunt and pose a huge threat to common defensive cores in the current metagame with the combination of Nasty Plot and terrific coverage. With this idea I moved forward and built a team and ended up doing quite well with it.
2. Proof of Peak (On House Fancy Alt)
3. Sets
Cloyster @ King's Rock
Ability: Skill Link
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Icicle Spear
- Rock Blast
- Ice Shard
This was originally an Alolan Ninetales, as the first iteration of this team was a screens team. However, when I added the other members, I realized that none of them really need screens to function, so i added a Cloyster instead. This is because Cloyster provides some of the same offensive functionality as Ninetales, being an ice type, while being a threatening sweeper and giving the team an additional form of priority. As far as the pokemon itself, its no secret what King's Rock Cloyster does. You Shell Smash vs a variety of physical attackers and passive mons and try to break through the opposing team with flinches. In many cases, only one flinch is required to sweep an entire opposing team, so at 41 percent to flinch I like those odds. Ice shard comes in very handy vs Garchomp, Dragonite, and other fast ice-weaks. I only listed Ice Shard as an option in the last slot because I believe liquidation to be inferior overall on this team.
Mew @ Red Card
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Taunt
- Explosion/Flare Blitz/Skill Swap
Pretty standard lead Mew, you lead it pretty much every game unless you play against an opposing lead Mew or the rare lead Terrakion, in those matchups Gengar is a better lead to keep rocks off the field with taunt. It is very important to identify opposing hazard setters as these should always be taunted if lead vs Mew. I really like Mew as a suicide lead because it is often able to set up multiple layers of hazards vs balanced and defensive-oriented teams. In the last slot, I prefer Explosion as a form of momentum and a way to potentially chip opposing defoggers such as Mandibuzz or Zapdos. Flare blitz is another option to match up more favorably with Excadrill, which is pretty much the only relevant rapid spinner in the tier. Skill Swap can also be used to be able to set hazards vs magic bounce users like Hatterene and Xatu, although I consider this to be a very niche option.
Gengar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Taunt
The undisputed MVP of the team. This thing is an absolute menace. With taunt, it is able to keep Mew's hazards up during the early and mid portions of the game, and between nasty plot, shadow ball, and focus blast, it is able to break down nearly any defensive core you can possibly throw at it. Virtually the only pokemon that can switch into Gengar after a np and not risk getting 2hko'd is the rare Kommo-o because of Bulletproof. On top of that, after getting it's first ko, it is often able to pick up a second thanks to focus sash allowing it to live any one hit. This is especially helpful when the opponent attempts to revenge you with their Dragapult, which any HO appreciates the removal of. Against stall teams in particular, this Gengar is able to taunt the opposing Corviknight to keep hazards up (against stall there will almost always be max hazards up due to everything being slower than Mew), nasty plot for free at least once, then just clean sweep everything. Blissey/Chansey are walled due to taunt unless they're running a bizarre coverage move, Pex dies, Slowking-g dies, ID Corv is walled and dies, Unaware Clef dies, they all die. Every time I am matched up vs a stall team I am quite literally overjoyed because I know exactly how the game is going to go every time, and its mostly thanks to this Gengar set. Gengar also functions as a tspike absorber, a great bonus for this team. Lastly, cursed body actually has great synergy with other members of the team. I have won so many games just because I got a cursed body on a choiced mon, leading to a free Shell Smash or Swords Dance for another member. Gengar is truly a godsend for this team or any HO and I can not recommend it enough.
Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Sucker Punch
Sometimes due to game flow the opponent is able to put themselves in a situation where I can't stop defog with taunt from Mew or Gengar. This is where Bisharp comes in. It is able to switch in predicted defogs from utility Torn-T, Corviknight, Mandibuzz, and Zapdos and hit them with a very powerful +2 Knock Off or Iron Head. I have won many games with this team from Bisharp switching into a defog from one of these, severely damaging or ohkoing them, and opening the door for an easy Rillaboom sweep. Bisharp is also a very threatening sweeper in its own right due to sucker punch, swords dance, and a solid defensive typing. It gives the team a much needed psychic immunity vs choiced Tapu Lele. It can be prediction reliant but with the right reads Bisharp will put in work in almost any matchup.
Rillaboom @ Life Orb
Ability: Grassy Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Grassy Glide
- Knock Off
- Drain Punch/Superpower
Rillaboom gives the team breaking power, strong priority, sweeping potential, and extremely important Grassy Terrain support. Terrain removes the ground weaknesses of Gengar and Bisharp, provides passive recovery, and gives Hawlucha an avenue to be a threatening sweeper. It is the team's most reliable way of revenge-killing Tapu Lele if the set is unknown. It also gives the team a reliable ground resist, since Hawlucha does not perform in that role very well. I prefer Drain Punch in the last slot to heal off life orb recoil while retaining the KO on Heatran at +2, although Superpower could be used to be able to KO Banded Melmetal at +2. Not much else to say, Rillaboom is pretty easy to use and Grassy Glide is an immensely useful tool for revenge killing faster threats on opposing teams. Jolly nature can be used over Adamant to always outspeed Heatran, opposing Rillaboom, and utility Zapdos.
Hawlucha @ Grassy Seed
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Acrobatics
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
The final member of the team was an obvious fit here, having already added terrain support and needing speed control and another very threatening sweeper all in one slot. Hawlucha is almost impossible to deal with for many opposing HOs. It is a scary late-game cleaner that can easily get an SD off in a lot of situations due to the HP investment and +1 defense from Grassy Seed. I opted to add the HP because given that my team has three forms of priority and a sash user, I don't feel I struggle very much with opposing Hawlucha at all. I gave it enough speed to outspeed Sand Drill at +2 and dumped the rest in HP. I believe Stone Edge is the optimal choice in the last slot to be able to hit Zapdos and Tapu Koko, as well as to avoid making contact with Volcarona and risking a burn. Taunt can be used for Hippowdon and Toxapex I suppose but this team does not really struggle with either of those at all.
4. Threats
Major
Melmetal - Worst case scenario matchup. Gengar can do a ton to it with Focus Blast, but if you miss then you're likely going to have to sack a mon just to chip it and revenge it with the next one. Banded Melmetal is very tough to deal with and god forbid its sub acid armor. if it gets a free sub, thats pretty much game right there, so make sure it does not do that.
Kommo-o - Really annoying to deal with because it hard counters Gengar, checks Bisharp well, counters Rillaboom, and requires Hawlucha to use its Grassy Seed just to be able to revenge it. Cloyster comes in handy in these matchups and must be used carefully.
Offensive Zapdos - Can KO every mon on the team except Gengar because of sash. Gengar should be played carefully in this matchup to be able to whittle it down, and its not a bad idea to explode on it with Mew either. Can be dealt with however between grassy glide chip and stone edge from Hawlucha after the Unburden boost.
Minor
Tapu Koko - Kind of annoying because of the speed tier and the fact that it resets terrain upon switch-in, meaning it can come in on Rillaboom and U-turn for free. Also walls Hawlucha. However, not the end of the world by any means because Rillaboom can revenge and Gengar + Bisharp can live a hit and chip it back.
Tapu Lele - Tapu Lele itself is not too much of a problem but Psychic Terrain can be frustrating to deal with sometimes due to the reliance of this team on priority moves. I would not consider it a big problem however.
NP Torn - Has good coverage vs this team but will almost never get a free NP off. Also takes a lot of damage from Cloyster and Bisharp priority, Gengar's Shadow Ball as well as Hawlucha's stone edge, and it usually ends up beating itself by missing a Hurricane or Focus Blast anyway. Not overly common on the ladder from what I've experienced either.
Volcarona - Can't really switch into anything on the team except for Rillaboom but hard to revenge kill. Knocking it with Rilla on a predicted switch and keeping rocks up is your best bet. Hawlucha can always revenge once after using Grassy Seed.
5. Replays
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1311569147-x4dg1q4n2ejpa83eahed1hw3z7n0ufopw
Showcases Gengar's stallbreaking capabilities in action. Opponent has zero counterplay.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1311567223-l25onp24zeal62q9ci468xn5cj3lsq9pw
Gengar puts the opponent in a very tough spot. He must either let his Corviknight take a +2 Shadow Ball, meaning he would not be able to defog for the rest of the game, or try to switch around and save it. After the taunt on Blissey I make a nice prediction on the Pult switchin and the opponent forfeits knowing the game is over at that point.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8ou-1311710015-j2efli8lmsq8vjo1gft1ip4inqkx4orpw
Good example of Rilla/Lucha vs opposing HO.
Thanks for taking the time to read if you made it this far! This is my first RMT so I hope i did a decent job. If you'd like to try out the team there is an importable below and if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them in the comments.
https://pokepast.es/7205347012f30019
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