Base Stats: 60 HP / 65 Atk / 60 Def / 130 SpA / 75 SpD / 110 Spe
Ability: Cursed Body
Notable Moves:
- Dark Pulse
- Shadow Ball
- Dazzling Gleam
- Dream Eater
- Energy Ball
- Focus Blast
- Hex
- Psychic
- Thunder
- Thunderbolt
- Toxic
- Toxic Spikes
- Trick
- Will-O-Wisp
- Thunder Wave
- Sludge Bomb
- Nasty Plot
Learned Moves:
Mean Look @ Lv. 1
Shadow Punch @ Lv. 1
Reflect Type @ Lv. 1
Perish Song @ Lv. 1
Confuse Ray @ Lv. 1
Lick @ Lv. 1
Hypnosis @ Lv. 1
Payback @ Lv. 12
Spite @ Lv. 16
Curse @ Lv. 20
Hex @ Lv. 24
Night Shade @ Lv. 30
Sucker Punch @ Lv. 36
Dark Pulse @ Lv. 42
Shadow Ball @ Lv. 48
Destiny Bond @ Lv. 54
Dream Eater @ Lv. 60
TM Moves:
Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Thunder, Psychic, Night Shade, Confuse Ray, Metronome, Rest, Substitute, Thief, Protect, Scary Face, Sludge Bomb, Icy Wind, Giga Drain, Endure, Sleep Talk, Encore, Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, Facade, Taunt, Trick, Brick Break, Skill Swap, Imprison, Fling, Toxic Spikes, Poison Jab, Dark Pulse, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, Giga Impact, Nasty Plot, Shadow Claw, Trick Room, Gunk Shot, Venoshock, Acid Spray, Foul Play, Hex, Phantom Force, Dazzling Gleam, Tera Blast
Mean Look @ Lv. 1
Shadow Punch @ Lv. 1
Reflect Type @ Lv. 1
Perish Song @ Lv. 1
Confuse Ray @ Lv. 1
Lick @ Lv. 1
Hypnosis @ Lv. 1
Payback @ Lv. 12
Spite @ Lv. 16
Curse @ Lv. 20
Hex @ Lv. 24
Night Shade @ Lv. 30
Sucker Punch @ Lv. 36
Dark Pulse @ Lv. 42
Shadow Ball @ Lv. 48
Destiny Bond @ Lv. 54
Dream Eater @ Lv. 60
TM Moves:
Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Thunder, Psychic, Night Shade, Confuse Ray, Metronome, Rest, Substitute, Thief, Protect, Scary Face, Sludge Bomb, Icy Wind, Giga Drain, Endure, Sleep Talk, Encore, Rain Dance, Sunny Day, Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, Facade, Taunt, Trick, Brick Break, Skill Swap, Imprison, Fling, Toxic Spikes, Poison Jab, Dark Pulse, Drain Punch, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, Giga Impact, Nasty Plot, Shadow Claw, Trick Room, Gunk Shot, Venoshock, Acid Spray, Foul Play, Hex, Phantom Force, Dazzling Gleam, Tera Blast
Pros:
- Gengar has two powerful and spammable STABs in Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb. Aside from that, it has amazing coverage options like Thunderbolt, Dazzling Gleam, etc.
- 130 Special Attack allows it to serve as a strong wallbreaker.
- With 110 Speed, it is able to outspeed most of the unboosted metagame (except Iron Valiant, Meowscarada, and Roaring Moon, among others)
- Was in Ash's Championship-winning team
Cons:
- Gengar possesses poor bulk, and with the amount of revenge killers in the metagame right now, it can easily be revenge killed.
- It is outclassed by better Ghost-types in the tier such as Gholdnego and Dragapult.
- It's ability doesn't help its gameplay as much compared to other offensive Pokémon in the tier such as the Paradox Pokémon, Dragapult, etc.
- It gets outsped by most tier threats (even if Choice Scarf), such as BE Iron Valiant.
- When running Choice sets, Gengar can often be forced out when Choice-locked into a move that doesn't work, losing momentum.
- Gengar lacks decent longevity, meaning it often has to rely on Wish support.
- It is often difficult to choose what coverage Gengar should run, and it sometimes might not be enough to handle its checks.
Terastal Potential:
- Gengar, thanks to its wallbreaking potential and wide coverage, is a very good user of Terastalization.
- It can Terastalize into either of its types to make its STABs more threatening.
- With its coverage, Gengar can opt to Terastalize to boost its coverage options.
- In order to better handle its checks, Gengar can use Tera-Fighting or Tera-Fairy to better handle Dark-types, or it can Tera-Water to both handle Ground-types and improve its type matchups.
Potential Set:
Choiced
Gengar @ Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
Tera Type: Ghost / Poison / Fighting / Water / Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Focus Blast / Tera Blast
- Dazzling Gleam / Tera Blast
With Choice Specs, Gengar becomes a terrifying wallbreaker that can shred with its coverage if allowed, and with Choice Scarf, it can outspeed most offensive threats in the metagame. Focus Blast is a good option for more power and if you choose to save Tera Blast for another slot, but Tera Blast Fighting can be used over Focus Blast if you value consistency over power. For the fourth slot, Dazzling Gleam and Tera Blast will both be fine options when running Tera Fairy.
Overall, Gengar has some niche in the tier that make it worth running, but you should still be mostly Dragapult or Gengar as your Ghost-type since they offer better utility compared to Gengar. However, you can still run Gengar if you'd like since it's still a pretty decent Pokémon. Do you think Gengar is worth running? Feel free to comment below!
