Monotype Hazard Stack Ghost

[InfernoDragon]

With the very limited distribution of defog and Ghost's immunity to Rapid Spin, I thought that this current post-dynamax metagame might be the time Ghost is actually able to pull off a hazard stack team. Very few of the tier's remaining defoggers, with some notable exceptions in Galar-Weezing and Mandibuzz, can stand up to Ghost's offensive power, and other types like Ground and Psychic tend to rely on Rapid Spin to remove hazards. All in all, this results in a team that can reliably set up hazards and make it very difficult for the opponent to remove them.

The Team

Froslass @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Spikes
- Icy Wind
- Destiny Bond​

Froslass serves as the ultimate spike setter and suicide lead for this team. The combination of Taunt to stop other stealth rockers and spike setters and Focus Sash to live one hit all but ensures that Froslass will be able to get up at least one layer of spikes. Icy Wind can help Froslass achieve this goal by slowing down faster leads in order to get a layer of spikes up after tanking a hit. There are many options for the fourth moveslot, but I personally prefer Destiny Bond as it can help take down your opponent's setter to ensure they don't get any hazards up. In some games, it is important to recognize that getting another layer of spikes up is more important than using destiny bond, so be careful about when you chose to go for it. Froslass can often require a lot of prediction skill to use to it's maximum potential (for example, against Scarf Pelliper you want to go for Icy Wind, but any other set will invalidate your sash with U-turn, so you want to use spikes), but if used properly it can be a massive asset to the team

Runerigus @ Leftovers
Ability: Wandering Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic Spikes
- Earthquake
- Will-O-Wisp​

Runerigus forms a powerful hazard stacking core with Froslass, often coming in after Froslass dies to (almost) guarantee that Stealth Rock gets set up. Against any team that doesn't carry a grounded poison type or isn't mono-steel, Toxic Spikes can be absolutely devastating, even if you only get one layer up. Against teams that do carry pokemon like Gengar, Drapion, or Toxapex, Runerigus can come in after your offensive threats have eliminated those pokemon to set up Toxic Spikes. Runerigus can also act as a physical wall for a short amount of time and burn opposing offensive threats with Will-O-Wisp. The combination of Will-O-Wisp and Earthquake can come in handy in taking down opposing walls and threatening some of the poison types that would otherwise come in for free. Earthquake has also been surprisingly useful against opposing ghost teams, as Runerigus can break Mimikyu's disguise on the switch and then take it out, or your Mimikyu can come in and clean up after the disguise is broken.

Jellicent @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp​

With Water as one of the strongest types in the meta even without Dynamaxed Gyrados, Jellicent is absolutely needed in order to give this team a chance against Water's most prominent offensive threats. Water Absorb provides Jellicent with it's amazing water immunity, and allows it to form a decent defensive core with Runerigus because of its Electric immunity. Recover and full EV investment into HP and SpD allows Jellicent to wall all of the tier's strongest special attackers, with the exception of Electric types and Gengar and Duraludon sets running Thunderbolt for coverage. Although uncommon, I've found Hex to be absolutely critical for Jellicent to serve its role on this team. In combination with Runerigus's Toxic Spikes, Hex can deal massive damage to opposing special attackers. It also allows Jellicent to take on other walls such as Galarian Corsola and Toxapex (as long as it doesn't get hit by Toxic). Will-O-Wisp allows it to get the full boosted power of Hex against steel and poison types, and can even allow Jellicent to take on Dracovish if need be.

Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak​

Aegislash can serve as both a breaker and a potent sweeper for this team, depending on the matchup. Against types like Dark, Fairy, Ice, and Normal, Aegislash can come in and crush important team members with the deadly combo of Iron Head and Close Combat. However, the most common role for Aegislash to take is as the team's secondary sweeper. The EV investment in HP allows Aegislash to tank super-effective attacks and gain the Weakness Policy boost. In combination wtih Swords Dance, Aegislash can run its way right through any team not running at least one normal type with Shadow Sneak. Even other priority users often can't deal enough damage to take Aegislash down, and Dragapult can often remove this offenders using sucker punch before Aegislash comes in to sweep.

Mimikyu @ Life Orb
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw
- Play Rough​

Mimikyu is the reason I tried so hard to make Ghost work last gen and why I love playing it so much this generation. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say about half of my wins come from this mon. In so many matchups sacking Runerigus after setting up hazards allows Mimikyu to come in, set up Swords Dance while its Disguise is broken, and then run amok until it dies from life orb damage or the opponent's team is gone. The Jolly nature allows it to outspeed most opposing Mimikyu, who are running Adamant, and allows it to use Play Rough against Dark and Dragon teams more often once their scarfers or fast revenge killers like Dragapult and Weavile are gone.

Dragapult @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Darts
- Phantom Force
- U-turn
- Sucker Punch​

In my opinion, Dragapult is just absolutely mandatory on any serious ghost team. Its uncontested speed tier means that even without scarf it can revenge kill very reliably and even run through entire opposing teams. Choice Band makes its Dragon Darts strong enough that running Outrage is overkill, allowing it to run sucker punch to kill opposing scarfers and priority users. While the two-turn charge isn't great, Phantom Force is invaluable against other Ghost teams, and U-turn can be used to bring one of your sweepers while revenge killing opposing slow pokemon. This particular set also allows Dragapult to absolutely destroy other Dragon teams, outspeeding some other variants of Dragapult with its jolly nature. Only Duraludon stands any chance against the menace that is banded Dragon Darts. Against basically anything but Fairy, Dragapult is capable of destroying the opponents entire team.

Weaknesses​

Galar-Weezing and Mandibuzz: These two are the only defoggers in the metagame right now that's I've seen that are capable of reliably removing the hazards I set up. Both are incredibly bulky and can get defog off before my sweepers can run through them. Even though Weezing-G and Mandibuzz are defeated by Aegislash and Mimikyu respectively, they can still often get a defog off on the switch. Other defoggers can occasionally be an issue, but they are often too frail to avoid getting taken out before they do their job

Rotom-Wash: This mon is the team's absolute worst nightmare. It's combination of Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt means dealing with it turns into a prediction game between sending in Jellicent and Runerigus, where getting the prediction wrong means losing an important team member. Even once they are in, neither one has the power to really contest Rotom before they are hit super-effectively. Because of Levitate, Rotom also manages to avoid damage from both Spikes and Toxic Spikes. On top of all of that, he's often way too bulky to get revenged killed by any of my sweepers and can come in to get a burn or paralysis off on Mimikyu or Aegislash, which significantly limits their effectiveness

Sand Setters: Hippowdon and especially Tyranitar can cause early-game problems for the team. Because they can break Froslass's focus sash with Sand's buffer effect, they are the only two lead pokemon that can stop spikes from being set up. Tyranitar can be scarfed to be faster than Froslass, so it can have a 100% guarantee to stop Hazards

Magic Bounce: Xatu and Hatterene can cause early problems by bouncing hazards, but if dealt with properly the team can still set up later

Ribombee: The only common lead that can consistantly beat Froslass other than the rare Tyranitar. Ribombee is faster that Froslass and is immune to Icy Wind's speed drop due to Shield Dust. This combination means that Froslass is often forced to Destiny Bond turn 1 to get a layer of spikes up, but that allows Ribombee to get Sticky Web up, which while not game-ending limits Aegislash to Shadow Sneak in most situations and hurts the sweeping potential of Mimikyu and Dragapult

Thank you for reading, and here is the pokepaste if you want to test it out: https://pokepast.es/ff9f3b846dd183a3

 

[Splash]

Hey InfernoDragon not sure if you're looking for suggestions to improve your team or not but I do got a couple recommendations.

Major Change:

----->

Setup sweepers such as Polteageist benefit the most when paired with hazard-stacking teams as the Pokemon that might check them usually will likely end up being range from the hazards. With the nature of Ghost this generation being a more offensive archetype, I see Polteageist having a greater role on the team over Jellicent. You mention how Jellicent takes on offensive Water-types however in most cases, Pokemon such as Barraskewda, Crawdaunt, and even Dracovish will most likely be spamming Crunch vs Ghost teams regardless, therefore Jellicent's value is greatly reduced. In addition, playing with passive Pokemon such as Jellicent over a Pokemon like Polteageist will give the opponent more opportunities to Defog those valuable hazards you set in Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes. Polteageist cleans vs these Water teams as it gets access to Giga Drain for Pokemon such as Rotom-W which is a huge threat to your team as you stated, and Stored Power which OHKOs Toxapex after just one Shell Smash. Polteageist sky-high SpA and respectable base 70 Speed makes it very tough to revenge kill aside from base 110 Speed Choice Scarf mons or priority such as Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch.


Minor Change(s):



A Choice Specs Dragapult set would be far more effective than a Choice Band set in today's meta as the coverage is too great to pass up on. Specs Fire Blast / Flamethrower can clean through Steel teams with ease. Specs Thunderbolt puts in an immense amount of work vs Water and Flying teams paired with its high base 142 Speed. Shadow Ball is far more effective than Phantom Force as you do not have to wait two turns to attack. Lastly, If you wanted to pair Hex with Toxic Spikes set by Runerugus that could also be an option.


These were the suggestions I came up with hope you find them useful:

Sets

Polteageist @ Focus Sash
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Shadow Ball
- Stored Power
- Giga Drain

Dragapult @ Choice Specs
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball / Hex
- Draco Meteor
- Thunderbolt
- Fire Blast / Flamethrower

 

[InfernoDragon]

Thanks for the rate Splash! I’ll be sure to test out the changes and see how I do

 

[mixu]

I've been using the changes suggested above. So far so good, but lack of hazard control hurts especially for teapot. I feel like Gengar for absorbing t-spikes at the least would be beneficial, with a choice item and trick to cripple walls.