Monotype rules are still located here
So ghost is often looked on as being on the low end side of viability, but in actual fact, it has mostly 40-60% matchups across the board. For all that it can't win by a huge margin, it also dosen't tend to lose by very much either. Another thing about the stat tables is... that there is more room for error due to the low amount of data (ghost players) available, as we will see, ghost vs say, dragon, can become a slaughter.
Gourgeist-Super @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Shadow Sneak
Gourgeist gets synthesis in ORAS, but the scouting potential of protect is necessary, as is shadowsneak for a handful of DD+roost pokemon like mega altaria, not to mention anything that JUST escapes being finished off by other mons and hazards.
Being immune to stun spore and spore is a bonus, but his main reason for being on the team is that he can tank boosted altaria and dragonite, STAB knock off, and mega loppuny well enough to get a will o wisp off. (he actually hard walls lopunny, so I can switch gourgeist into a hi jump kick or power up punch with no fear of a second one KOing).
Leech seed also can't get the cut, since the full 24% damage + shadow sneak can prevent roost abuse in some cases, and if needed, I can have him hit volcarona trying to set up on the assumption that he will set up.
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 44 Def / 208 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Pain Split
Gengar is a mean bugger than can melt the fairy types that threaten my team. More importantly, he can finish off a massive list of pokemon after spikes, and almost anything should they be so unfortunate as to switch into spikes twice.
Substitute is his go-to move against mons that will try to run away from him to escape KOs and things like blissey who only have thunderwave available. painsplit is obvious. It is easy to control when gengar faints, so I almost never have to deal with anything unexpected switching in after one of his KOs.
Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball
Chandelure's primary job is to absorb fire attacks. He can also provide offensive pressure. I see scarf gengar as a better mon overal, but the team required a split gar and chandelure is the better of two evils when I looked for a replacement. Despite this, he is irreplaceable in certain match ups.
Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Froslass's lead game seems like it can be played around, but the more knowledge an opponet has of what it SHOULD carry, the more effective it becomes against them. Spikes are used on non flying/dragon teams. Generally it will have been knocked down to sash right there. Against potential scarf mon's or generally annoying special attackers, thunderwave is the first move. This includes a lot of pokemon, but the most important are kyurem and volcarona.
Ice beam is deployed on flying teams, especially if they don't have a good answer to it. If faced with charizard, gyarados, or dragonite, I will t wave without waiting for a mega evolution or substitue. Ice beam is used on most other pokemon these teams try to lead with for it's greater reward over time (or at all) than spikes.
After I have been knocked down to sash and they have something slower than me out (sometimes due to thunderwave) I usually expect them to switch out, and depending on what is most likely to come in, I'll either spike again (always if it's the first layer) or thunderwave.
D-bond is deployed against pokemon that have no use for the enemy once frosslass is dead, opponets guilty of bad teambuilding, and when all of their other pokemon are too important to risk as switch ins an;d attacking is their only logical choice.
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Dark Pulse
All important miracle worker. Sableye is a support first and foremost. His ability and bulk do the majority of the work. I only plan to sweep with him against electric, other ghost teams, and weakened fighting/steel teams. Mandatory as a lead against t-spikes based water. Otherwise I plan to keep his prankster as long as possible. Very dangerous to send out against psychic or normal, despite what others might claim.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
I didn't put a disclaimer this time, but as has been mentioned, monotype uses a modified banlist. Sadly though, using aesislash's best sets with such a limited supporting team is counterproductive in the even and bad matchups, despite all the horror it inflicts on fairy and psychic.
Instead I use a shadow ball so that I can almost always attack second against healthier opponets, which allows me to keep shield form when I'm forced to tank a fire/dark/ghost move, lower their health, and then still be able to tank it again when I return to shield form. Shadow sneak is maintained for the huge advantage it gives against the relevant opposing types and to get that last bit of poke damage when aegislash's death is inevitable..
Dianie mega has to be attacked directly, which only gengar (50% of time) and aegislash can do effectively, and it can hurt most of the team fairly easily between diamond storm and moonblast
Whether it's Dragon Dance or Bulky wisp, char-X is a huge obstacle. However, it can't stay in on everything the team has to offer, and double switches back to him are somewhat obvious.
Volcarona is infamous for sweeping ghost teams, and while I don't go for assvest golurk or specs chandelure, It can still be dealt with consistently with the given team.
Dark pokemon on non-dark teams are a hassle, especially if the team they were on already has an advantage against stall. Generally the opponet, knowing this, will use them early, which gives me more oppurtunities than I need to cripple them. Gourgeist can also work miracles against knock off if needed.
Toxic spikes are rare, but completely fatal to this type of team. Tentacruel (water) is nearly the only abuser worth mentioning, but he is such a whopper of an abuser that he can delay my team's plays and force me to reserve a pokemon for countering him at the same time.
It's got knock off, priority, and stab earthquake, and to top it off it's ability protects it from my scarfed Pokemon. Pretty much just goes through everything.
non choice kyurem. Fortunately, there is no way for kyurem to hide it's item thanks to gourgeist's frisk. Spikes and aegislash attacks aren't ideal, but it dosen't usually change the matchup very often.
Lopunny is absurdly viable, but some people gotta be mean with this BS. Meloeta's spec shadowball isn't half the problem this guy is. Forced to switch away from chandelure, and aegislash can survive even it's focus blast at full health.
Never give it time to set up calm minds. Choice specs sets still do solid damage, but for all the trouble it causes, it can't lead or froslass will completely dismantle it as a threat.
A special attacker firmly in the lati@s club, but with the added benefit of being able to mess up sableye. Generally scarfed, so it may even healing wish a teamate if it's really feeling mean. Walled by aegislash, and Very vulnerable to both it and gengar should it be used to break my sub or get paralysed.
Conclusion
I'll probbably add some replays to this, because I went overboard listing the bad things that can happen to you. They don't cost games if you play against them correctly, but doing well at ghost DOES require pretty intimate knowledge of most of the thought processes that other teams will use against you.
And then I'll indent the paragraphs so it doesn't give people eye cancer.
So ghost is often looked on as being on the low end side of viability, but in actual fact, it has mostly 40-60% matchups across the board. For all that it can't win by a huge margin, it also dosen't tend to lose by very much either. Another thing about the stat tables is... that there is more room for error due to the low amount of data (ghost players) available, as we will see, ghost vs say, dragon, can become a slaughter.
I based my ghost team off of an old user called fluffyxtreme, which you can see here. Even in the beginning, I had chandelure>golurk. Obviously, I had the benefit of ORAS, so there was no need to use normal sableye(although the confide and taunt days were sexy, having a way to play around two of your biggest problems wins out). My original frosslass was essentially taunt, d bond, spikes, ice beam. The first major change was aegislash, who I made into a specially defensive tank still able to attack after will o wisp, and still get 3HKOs on hazard setters that like to use it as set up bait like skarmory. My initial experience with frosslas was that many players ASSUMED it would have taunt and d bond as a matter of course, and would attack and then always switch out after bringing it down to sash so that they could use a priority mon or something with wisp/toxic/leech seed to finish it off. I still wanted to do lasting damage before it died, so I gave it thunderwave, and I haven't actually suffered too much from cheeky things trying to set up alongside it.. mostly because my hazards will greatly outdamage theirs if they give me a third turn that way. I played around with different gengar sets, since they are all very fun, but Kept running into a couple recurring problems. A sub disable gengar simply dosen't fit the needs of the team, and while a full LO or 3attacks+dbond is fun, I like being able to gamble on opponets trying to save mons by switching out and to heap extra abuse against things like t-wave chaney.
Gourgeist-Super @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Shadow Sneak
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 44 Def / 208 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Pain Split
Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball
Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Dark Pulse
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Shadow Sneak
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 44 Def / 208 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Pain Split
Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball
Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Dark Pulse
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
Gourgeist-Super @ Leftovers
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Will-O-Wisp
- Protect
- Shadow Sneak
Gourgeist gets synthesis in ORAS, but the scouting potential of protect is necessary, as is shadowsneak for a handful of DD+roost pokemon like mega altaria, not to mention anything that JUST escapes being finished off by other mons and hazards.
Being immune to stun spore and spore is a bonus, but his main reason for being on the team is that he can tank boosted altaria and dragonite, STAB knock off, and mega loppuny well enough to get a will o wisp off. (he actually hard walls lopunny, so I can switch gourgeist into a hi jump kick or power up punch with no fear of a second one KOing).
Leech seed also can't get the cut, since the full 24% damage + shadow sneak can prevent roost abuse in some cases, and if needed, I can have him hit volcarona trying to set up on the assumption that he will set up.
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 44 Def / 208 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Bomb
- Pain Split
Gengar is a mean bugger than can melt the fairy types that threaten my team. More importantly, he can finish off a massive list of pokemon after spikes, and almost anything should they be so unfortunate as to switch into spikes twice.
Substitute is his go-to move against mons that will try to run away from him to escape KOs and things like blissey who only have thunderwave available. painsplit is obvious. It is easy to control when gengar faints, so I almost never have to deal with anything unexpected switching in after one of his KOs.
Chandelure @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball
Chandelure's primary job is to absorb fire attacks. He can also provide offensive pressure. I see scarf gengar as a better mon overal, but the team required a split gar and chandelure is the better of two evils when I looked for a replacement. Despite this, he is irreplaceable in certain match ups.
Froslass (F) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Destiny Bond
- Spikes
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Froslass's lead game seems like it can be played around, but the more knowledge an opponet has of what it SHOULD carry, the more effective it becomes against them. Spikes are used on non flying/dragon teams. Generally it will have been knocked down to sash right there. Against potential scarf mon's or generally annoying special attackers, thunderwave is the first move. This includes a lot of pokemon, but the most important are kyurem and volcarona.
Ice beam is deployed on flying teams, especially if they don't have a good answer to it. If faced with charizard, gyarados, or dragonite, I will t wave without waiting for a mega evolution or substitue. Ice beam is used on most other pokemon these teams try to lead with for it's greater reward over time (or at all) than spikes.
After I have been knocked down to sash and they have something slower than me out (sometimes due to thunderwave) I usually expect them to switch out, and depending on what is most likely to come in, I'll either spike again (always if it's the first layer) or thunderwave.
D-bond is deployed against pokemon that have no use for the enemy once frosslass is dead, opponets guilty of bad teambuilding, and when all of their other pokemon are too important to risk as switch ins an;d attacking is their only logical choice.
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
- Dark Pulse
All important miracle worker. Sableye is a support first and foremost. His ability and bulk do the majority of the work. I only plan to sweep with him against electric, other ghost teams, and weakened fighting/steel teams. Mandatory as a lead against t-spikes based water. Otherwise I plan to keep his prankster as long as possible. Very dangerous to send out against psychic or normal, despite what others might claim.
Aegislash @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Stance Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- King's Shield
- Shadow Ball
- Shadow Sneak
- Sacred Sword
I didn't put a disclaimer this time, but as has been mentioned, monotype uses a modified banlist. Sadly though, using aesislash's best sets with such a limited supporting team is counterproductive in the even and bad matchups, despite all the horror it inflicts on fairy and psychic.
Instead I use a shadow ball so that I can almost always attack second against healthier opponets, which allows me to keep shield form when I'm forced to tank a fire/dark/ghost move, lower their health, and then still be able to tank it again when I return to shield form. Shadow sneak is maintained for the huge advantage it gives against the relevant opposing types and to get that last bit of poke damage when aegislash's death is inevitable..
Easy Matches
posion and grass> they can't outstall you even if they are blatantly allowed to get toxic spikes up. By far the closest thing "traditional" ghost has to an autowin. Offensive versions of these teams can be bogged down fairly easily as well, as leading with a disabler like froslass prevents them from getting stuff like serperior ready before and after your defensive machine has gotten up and running, especially with breloom made completely deadweight by gourgeist, who can switch in on anything it has.
Rock> Far and away the biggest problem is mega diancie Only Aegislah wants to fight it consistantly, although gengar can be used in an emergency. The rest of the team is almost always going to be horrendously vulnerable to wisp spam from gourgeist and sableye. Getting spikes up is usefull, but a diancie lead against froslass does so much damage that you may want to lead aegislash.
Ice> They tend to try to set SR, so you can lead with sableye >over frosslass if you see certain trends in their team (piloswine/mamoswine) Both of these mon's can neuter a suprising agressive lead like weavile, cloyster, or kyurem, so you will almost always start out strong. Sadly Gourgeist dosen't get to have fun with them. Always test avalugg for mirror coat, even if it means using sub when you already have one. Generally you can wear them out before they do much damage, as their coverage against aegislash in particular is very poor, and they are more or less stuck with however many spikes you can pull off(2 against most of their leads).
Normal > Gourgeist takes a lot of the to and fro out of this matchup, since lopunny can huff and puff all it wants, it'll just get burn every time. Even a critical Hi jump kick+ a normal one dosen't faze the pumpkin king, not that he has to even risk that with protect. Of course, they will have a cleric, but since you can leech seed immediately after each burn, even the damage lopunny DID accomplish will be cleared up in a heartbeat every time, and you can even use protect fake out a toxic and get a second turn of healing(although with their HP, you can heal through toxic's first 3 turns) The other problems are meloetta and exploud. The former is also very good and can easily fit on normal teams, while the other is... well your unlucky when you see. Both should be locked into choice specs, so you can use aegislash to kill or weaken them fairly well, with gengar and chandelure brought in to do extra poke damage if necesary. Since gourgeist is preferred as a lead to frosslass, you can use it more casually and get the full crippling hazards. It just goes to show the costs of using taunt bait.
Psychic > The golden rule is to use sableye as few times as possible. Every time you have to mega sablye, you invite victini or something like scarf gardevoir to switch in. Aegislash can come in freely on almost any pokemon on a psychic team, and gengar can offer offensive pressure to any pokemon that they might go out of their way to go or that gengar managaes to outspeed. Gourgeist is superior to aegislash when it comes to walling out mega metagross, although he dosen't like the other megas so much. Chandelure can do damage at most points of the battle. Frosslass is the weak link, as psychic teams have great access to defog in mew and latias, which makes spikes unimpressive.
Dragon > Frosslass leads. If you are against kyurem, lati@s, hydregon, altaria, or dragonite, thunder wave is the best move. Anything else, from drudigon to garchomp, should be ice beamed. In the case of the dragon dancers, you can just use ice beam after they are parad and likely kill them with frosslass still alive for their next pokemon. Destiny bond is only really wanted on a paralysed kyurem, but don't be suprised if you don't get the KO, since that trade is so far from their best interest that you can usually go for a second t-wave. The star of this matchup is of course, Gourgeist, who will likely come in once frosslass is dead (unless a paralysed lati/hydregon stayed in on the ice beam to KO and you need to use gengar to finish them) If you find scarf on kyurem, the game is basically over. If needed, gourgeist can manhandle boosted dragonite or altaria, and since protect locks choiced pokemon into their moves, it mocks the other dragons. Wisp should come out first, since most players simply don't know what is coming and will think their fire punches, outrages, and pixilate will be enough. Afterwards you can leech seed. If altaria is a dick and is running dd+roost, you can neutralise all healing with the combination of both leechseed, wisp, and shadow sneak, and 2HKO him after he gets bored and uses a non-roost move, or attacks you(don't worry about PP on gourgeist) If altaria knows refresh/healbell, and you already have leech seed up, you can actually have gourgeist spam wisp. When kyurem uses ice beam on your protect (or turns out not to be scarfed) or they send out a special attacker on gourgeist, you get to send in aegislash first to pressure them (sableye for hydregon) and then go from there.
Average Matches
Electric > Special mention. It's not hard to win, but very formulaic, and if your sole wincon dosen't work then you have a team very weak to electric overall. Generally you need to get the ghost team to last long enough for all the threats to a sabeye sweep are taken care of. Conveniently, they are all predictable. Nasty Plot Thundrus(usually I, as Therian prefers other roles), Ampharos(not all ampharos sets need to die, but it's a good rule of thumb to take it out before trying sableye anyway) and Guts luxray(literally the only thing it's put on their team for ever). Even if you do this, not all is rosy, as sableye will be under constant attack, and it's quite likely that you'll have to take a speced volt switch followed by spam from an electrivire. You can recover out of 2HKO range and burn the thing, but the 3 or so turns when you are taking 30-40% damage and only healing a little bit overall per turns is that many more chances for them to get a critical hit on you.
Ghost > The biggest question you probbably have is how to deal with enemy megasableye. It should never lead against you (for fear of dazzling gleam gengar), giving frosslass chances to abuse scarfers with t wave or throw up spikes. If spikes are up and sablye switches into gengar (perhaps after gengar KOd another mon. Then it will be vulnerable to a 2HKO from shadow ball assuming that it's the standard 252/252 bold. However, if this isn't the case, it does not usually attack gengar switching into it, preferring to use calm mind instead. This gives you time to use substitue, and then spam sludge bomb until it is poisoned or forces you to set the sub again. From here you can painsplit it when you get too low to sub (or earlier), not to mention making it vulnerable to a shadow ball 2HKO if it dosen't heal, and if it takes that oppurtunity to KO gengar, then it is guranteed to be in chandelure range. The "worst case scenario" of a hyper agressive sableye that attacks every gengar sub ASAP, still gets you a huge painsplit followed by easily being in Chandelure range. As a "Preventative" you can get aegislash activated before it comes out, and then since it will be there no1 check to aegislash, they will take a full +2 shadowball when they try to cripple you with wisp, and then get KOd in mega form before they can do anything else.
Fairy > As with rock, diancie-mega is a major pain, however, most fairy users end up with a built in mentality of "screens first" after laddering for a while, so starting with froslass will be safer. Spiking them up seems unusual given their offense, but klefki cannot runaway from gourgeist to physical pokemon like azumarill and slurpuff, and landing leech seeds on the special attackers will wear them down before running away to aegislash or chandelure. Chandelure actually gets to use trick in this matchup, which is unusual. Gengar is the go to switch in to clefable, and it easily forces klefki back in, which allows you to repeat the gourgeist cycle. However, togekiss, as always is a great equaliser. Still, generally fairy teams will be unable to play the waiting game well enough to conquer this ghost.
Fighting > Frosslass leads, then follows its spike+spike if not setup/scarf or twave/spike if it is setup+scarf. If a mega gallade, most gallade with shadowsneak will lead against froslass and thus make them selves aegislash bait by getting paralysed. Chandelure is the only possible member that could fail to cripple it if it used sword dance, so gourgeist and aegislash should be able to tank it out regardless of if comes in late. Bigger threats are keldeo and hawlucha. Thanks to Hawlucha's flying stab, and ability to run substitue and encore sets, gourgeist doesn't want to mess with it, making aegislash the only safe pokemon to use against it. Keldeo is annoying, but since you'll only need one of the gourgeist/sableye pair to win, you can "spend" one of them to weaken it and then spam substitue on gengar until the burn lowers it into the KO range of sludge bomb. Scrafty is used on a very small number of teams, but can be worn down easily. Against breloom leads, you should always save frosslass for later by doubling to gourgeist.
Steel > The skarmories on steel teams are much less likely to carry defog, but even if a steel team has no defogger, that dosen't necesarily mean it's not better to lead with sableye so you have magic bounce available for switching in for the rest of the match. It also does well against the majority of steel mons. If you do lead with it, you should immediately double switch to aegislash or gengar (unless they have empoleonn or klefki, they are almost guranteed to switch in heatran to pressure sableye out) to begin getting chip damage on heatran. Knocking him out is your basic win condition. However, the steel team will stall back just as hard as you do, and if they have both stealth rock and spikes you will quickly get overwhelmed. Mega metagross faces the same obstacles as dragons teams, namely gourgeist, once again, most users don't know just what gourgeist can do, and they might attack again after the first meteor mash does under 40%, however, whether you want to risk the wisp or go for leech seed and use protect to make up for not lowering his stats is up to you. Generally you will need to sac a few mons to take heatran out. If they brought along bisharp as a guest member, lay off the froslass and chandelure and have other mons out whenever possible. As long as it isn't boosted, gourgeist will get one chance to cripple it (sableye can do it too of course, but they will see that coming a mile away and switch) The other pokemon generally want to outright attack it despite a potential suckerpunch because losing them is less costly than leting it get to +2. Gengar can generally substite on a sucker punch (to avoid what looks like f-blast) then shadow ball twice (they'll predict more subbing every time). If you had hazards before this, you this should be enough to kill it due to it's awful spdef.
Water > if they have tentacruel you have to lead with mega sab. They'll either acid spray/scald, or switch to something that can chase you out like azumarill. However, you will have prevented them from using spikes. Even though you could easily get three layers of spikes on a tentacruel, toxic spikes will immedieately make the game impossible to win. Most of the time mega sab is in you will use recover and wisp until tentacruel leaves, but getting him out of prankster form asap is most important. If they have greninja , remember that aegislash can technically revenge it even if it has dark pulse. Gourgeist dosen't like using his special defense, but most scald pokemon are barely or completely uninvested in special attack, which makes his typing and HP investment look good enough. gyarados is far more dangerous than mega pert, since it could sub or taunt gourgeist even if it isn't mega. if anything has rest talk, only gengar and chandeulre can kill them (while asleep) Frosslass's spikes are easier to get multible layers up than in most games, although t wave should be skipped on things other than gyarados if they have lanturn> swampert.
Bug > Bug teams tend to be very offensive, making games against this type very hap hazard. If T-wave is available on volcarona or pinsir, it should always be taken. Damaging pinsir with ice beam is worth not setting spikes. If chandelure gets a flash fire, volcarona will usually die, no matter if roosts once at +1. It simply doesn't get the oppurtunity to +2. It's possible to fake some people out with gourgeist, since they will quiver dance predicting that you will switch. With leech seed, chandelure really has nothing to worry aobut. If volcarona Hp grounds it's way out of the situation, it will be at low enough health for aegislash's shadow sneak. If gengar uses sub on something like forretress then it can take out volcarona with sludgebomb provided it has spikes support even if it tries a quiver dance+roost combo. Scarf Heracross can't defeat sableye, aegislash, or gourgeist, although you have to budget them and have the one you didn't use ready for something like knock off mega scizor or pinsir. Genesect generally gives free switch ins to chandelure. Best case scenario is fighting shuckle teams rather than galvantula teams, although you cannot have frosslass stay in on encore no matter how nice an undisputed layer of spikes may seem, as boosted pinsir or volcarona shouldn't be treated so lightly.
Hard Matches
Dark > If you respect the opponet at all, you should forfeit. If you want a good replay, you can fight them with this team, and consistantly get 3 KOs and a 4th pokemon at seriously low health, forcing them to stay on their toes throughout, but this matchup is a complete farce. It's a pretty absolute judgement if a balanced or offensive dark team comes up in team preview. However, I do recommend you learn how to recognize a rubbish dark team. The people who use certain pokemon deserve to be beaten by ghost, and to be taught a lesson for... nevermind...
Fire > The second worst match for ghost. Frosslass STILL leads. To see if they are worth trying to beat, check their flash fire pokemon. With frosslass eliminiating all sashed mons and possiby getting an irrelevant para, we can begin. After frosslass dies, I send in aegislash unless they have volcarona active. aegislash does not stay in, instead doubling to chandelure. Chandelure then uses fire blast. The "not very effective text" becomes a cruel joke between the combined power of flash fire and sunny day. The next thing in your favor is the "coverage attacks" fire teams use. Scarf darmanitan and scarf victini, cannot do shit do gourgeist outside of fire attacks, and he doesn't even have to guess thanks to protect(never use it on anything but a new pokemon), easily getting leech seed damage to add to the unspinnable spikes. If they did bring a heatran, it'll probbably be necceasry to fodder both gengar and aegislash to get rid of it, although if they are competent it should make it impossible to win altogether.. The last thing in your favor is charizard Y itself, which SHOULD be hard walled by chandelure, since air slash is too awful for good trainers to carry, eq is redundant to fire teams, and solarbeam/focusblast aren't doing anything.
Flying > Essentially, you have no hazards vs flying. Froslass can still lead, just to force them to have to show the sets of multiple pokemon if they thought you would keep it in reserve. If a mega comes out, you should drop t-wave on it (also rogue togekiss/dnite/altaria) Otherwise you can ice beam if they think you don't mean business. if skarmory is running too much speed creep or has a "OHKO bravebird" EV set then you can actually 2HKO it with ice beam. afterwards you have to deal with the bad... you need sableye to go mega semi early to keep their SR down. CharY and altaria are the megas you want to see, gyarados and charx are the ones you don't want to see (normal dos can do lots of damage too) Scarf pokemon like thund-t, lando-t, and togekiss are still problemic. Essentially, you are reduced to throwing bodies (aegislash, chandelure, and gengar) at the enemy team until they are weakened enough to succumb to the gourgeist and sableye. It can be hard to tell what double switch is needed for any specific job in this matchup, however.
Ground > While I dislike seeing fire more, ground is the second worst type for ghost to fight according to the statistics page. Megasableye can't get through LO lando-I. Fact. Gourgeist cannot get through excadrill with enough health to also deal with their guest mon, especially if its mamoswine. Frosslass cannot do anything but spikes and even that is done badly due to thick fat mamoswine, and will probbably be finished off with toxic or roar if it tries to d-bond. If they end up using mega-garchomp (which is hugely popular at the moment) then you can may be able to fake it into using fire blast on chandelure, strip half it's health with fire blast, and KO it with gengar. excadrill itself, while it can be walled, completely restricts your options, making you vulnerable to people suprising you with lando-I and company as long as sand is in play. Aegislash's primariy role, amusingly enough, is foddering himself to scout moves. However, even though each of the top 6 most popular pokemon on ground teams have over 50% reported usage, you may run into weaker teams. Leaving sableye non mega, and switching it out so you can prankster wisp something else, even if it costs most of it's life, can turn out to be a life saving gamble for once. Lando-T is still vulnerable to gengar and chandelure, and if they assume that their mvp versus most teams (excadrill) will be all they need, then you can get them to put their other pokemon in risky situations.
posion and grass> they can't outstall you even if they are blatantly allowed to get toxic spikes up. By far the closest thing "traditional" ghost has to an autowin. Offensive versions of these teams can be bogged down fairly easily as well, as leading with a disabler like froslass prevents them from getting stuff like serperior ready before and after your defensive machine has gotten up and running, especially with breloom made completely deadweight by gourgeist, who can switch in on anything it has.
Rock> Far and away the biggest problem is mega diancie Only Aegislah wants to fight it consistantly, although gengar can be used in an emergency. The rest of the team is almost always going to be horrendously vulnerable to wisp spam from gourgeist and sableye. Getting spikes up is usefull, but a diancie lead against froslass does so much damage that you may want to lead aegislash.
Ice> They tend to try to set SR, so you can lead with sableye >over frosslass if you see certain trends in their team (piloswine/mamoswine) Both of these mon's can neuter a suprising agressive lead like weavile, cloyster, or kyurem, so you will almost always start out strong. Sadly Gourgeist dosen't get to have fun with them. Always test avalugg for mirror coat, even if it means using sub when you already have one. Generally you can wear them out before they do much damage, as their coverage against aegislash in particular is very poor, and they are more or less stuck with however many spikes you can pull off(2 against most of their leads).
Normal > Gourgeist takes a lot of the to and fro out of this matchup, since lopunny can huff and puff all it wants, it'll just get burn every time. Even a critical Hi jump kick+ a normal one dosen't faze the pumpkin king, not that he has to even risk that with protect. Of course, they will have a cleric, but since you can leech seed immediately after each burn, even the damage lopunny DID accomplish will be cleared up in a heartbeat every time, and you can even use protect fake out a toxic and get a second turn of healing(although with their HP, you can heal through toxic's first 3 turns) The other problems are meloetta and exploud. The former is also very good and can easily fit on normal teams, while the other is... well your unlucky when you see. Both should be locked into choice specs, so you can use aegislash to kill or weaken them fairly well, with gengar and chandelure brought in to do extra poke damage if necesary. Since gourgeist is preferred as a lead to frosslass, you can use it more casually and get the full crippling hazards. It just goes to show the costs of using taunt bait.
Psychic > The golden rule is to use sableye as few times as possible. Every time you have to mega sablye, you invite victini or something like scarf gardevoir to switch in. Aegislash can come in freely on almost any pokemon on a psychic team, and gengar can offer offensive pressure to any pokemon that they might go out of their way to go or that gengar managaes to outspeed. Gourgeist is superior to aegislash when it comes to walling out mega metagross, although he dosen't like the other megas so much. Chandelure can do damage at most points of the battle. Frosslass is the weak link, as psychic teams have great access to defog in mew and latias, which makes spikes unimpressive.
Dragon > Frosslass leads. If you are against kyurem, lati@s, hydregon, altaria, or dragonite, thunder wave is the best move. Anything else, from drudigon to garchomp, should be ice beamed. In the case of the dragon dancers, you can just use ice beam after they are parad and likely kill them with frosslass still alive for their next pokemon. Destiny bond is only really wanted on a paralysed kyurem, but don't be suprised if you don't get the KO, since that trade is so far from their best interest that you can usually go for a second t-wave. The star of this matchup is of course, Gourgeist, who will likely come in once frosslass is dead (unless a paralysed lati/hydregon stayed in on the ice beam to KO and you need to use gengar to finish them) If you find scarf on kyurem, the game is basically over. If needed, gourgeist can manhandle boosted dragonite or altaria, and since protect locks choiced pokemon into their moves, it mocks the other dragons. Wisp should come out first, since most players simply don't know what is coming and will think their fire punches, outrages, and pixilate will be enough. Afterwards you can leech seed. If altaria is a dick and is running dd+roost, you can neutralise all healing with the combination of both leechseed, wisp, and shadow sneak, and 2HKO him after he gets bored and uses a non-roost move, or attacks you(don't worry about PP on gourgeist) If altaria knows refresh/healbell, and you already have leech seed up, you can actually have gourgeist spam wisp. When kyurem uses ice beam on your protect (or turns out not to be scarfed) or they send out a special attacker on gourgeist, you get to send in aegislash first to pressure them (sableye for hydregon) and then go from there.
Average Matches
Electric > Special mention. It's not hard to win, but very formulaic, and if your sole wincon dosen't work then you have a team very weak to electric overall. Generally you need to get the ghost team to last long enough for all the threats to a sabeye sweep are taken care of. Conveniently, they are all predictable. Nasty Plot Thundrus(usually I, as Therian prefers other roles), Ampharos(not all ampharos sets need to die, but it's a good rule of thumb to take it out before trying sableye anyway) and Guts luxray(literally the only thing it's put on their team for ever). Even if you do this, not all is rosy, as sableye will be under constant attack, and it's quite likely that you'll have to take a speced volt switch followed by spam from an electrivire. You can recover out of 2HKO range and burn the thing, but the 3 or so turns when you are taking 30-40% damage and only healing a little bit overall per turns is that many more chances for them to get a critical hit on you.
Ghost > The biggest question you probbably have is how to deal with enemy megasableye. It should never lead against you (for fear of dazzling gleam gengar), giving frosslass chances to abuse scarfers with t wave or throw up spikes. If spikes are up and sablye switches into gengar (perhaps after gengar KOd another mon. Then it will be vulnerable to a 2HKO from shadow ball assuming that it's the standard 252/252 bold. However, if this isn't the case, it does not usually attack gengar switching into it, preferring to use calm mind instead. This gives you time to use substitue, and then spam sludge bomb until it is poisoned or forces you to set the sub again. From here you can painsplit it when you get too low to sub (or earlier), not to mention making it vulnerable to a shadow ball 2HKO if it dosen't heal, and if it takes that oppurtunity to KO gengar, then it is guranteed to be in chandelure range. The "worst case scenario" of a hyper agressive sableye that attacks every gengar sub ASAP, still gets you a huge painsplit followed by easily being in Chandelure range. As a "Preventative" you can get aegislash activated before it comes out, and then since it will be there no1 check to aegislash, they will take a full +2 shadowball when they try to cripple you with wisp, and then get KOd in mega form before they can do anything else.
Fairy > As with rock, diancie-mega is a major pain, however, most fairy users end up with a built in mentality of "screens first" after laddering for a while, so starting with froslass will be safer. Spiking them up seems unusual given their offense, but klefki cannot runaway from gourgeist to physical pokemon like azumarill and slurpuff, and landing leech seeds on the special attackers will wear them down before running away to aegislash or chandelure. Chandelure actually gets to use trick in this matchup, which is unusual. Gengar is the go to switch in to clefable, and it easily forces klefki back in, which allows you to repeat the gourgeist cycle. However, togekiss, as always is a great equaliser. Still, generally fairy teams will be unable to play the waiting game well enough to conquer this ghost.
Fighting > Frosslass leads, then follows its spike+spike if not setup/scarf or twave/spike if it is setup+scarf. If a mega gallade, most gallade with shadowsneak will lead against froslass and thus make them selves aegislash bait by getting paralysed. Chandelure is the only possible member that could fail to cripple it if it used sword dance, so gourgeist and aegislash should be able to tank it out regardless of if comes in late. Bigger threats are keldeo and hawlucha. Thanks to Hawlucha's flying stab, and ability to run substitue and encore sets, gourgeist doesn't want to mess with it, making aegislash the only safe pokemon to use against it. Keldeo is annoying, but since you'll only need one of the gourgeist/sableye pair to win, you can "spend" one of them to weaken it and then spam substitue on gengar until the burn lowers it into the KO range of sludge bomb. Scrafty is used on a very small number of teams, but can be worn down easily. Against breloom leads, you should always save frosslass for later by doubling to gourgeist.
Steel > The skarmories on steel teams are much less likely to carry defog, but even if a steel team has no defogger, that dosen't necesarily mean it's not better to lead with sableye so you have magic bounce available for switching in for the rest of the match. It also does well against the majority of steel mons. If you do lead with it, you should immediately double switch to aegislash or gengar (unless they have empoleonn or klefki, they are almost guranteed to switch in heatran to pressure sableye out) to begin getting chip damage on heatran. Knocking him out is your basic win condition. However, the steel team will stall back just as hard as you do, and if they have both stealth rock and spikes you will quickly get overwhelmed. Mega metagross faces the same obstacles as dragons teams, namely gourgeist, once again, most users don't know just what gourgeist can do, and they might attack again after the first meteor mash does under 40%, however, whether you want to risk the wisp or go for leech seed and use protect to make up for not lowering his stats is up to you. Generally you will need to sac a few mons to take heatran out. If they brought along bisharp as a guest member, lay off the froslass and chandelure and have other mons out whenever possible. As long as it isn't boosted, gourgeist will get one chance to cripple it (sableye can do it too of course, but they will see that coming a mile away and switch) The other pokemon generally want to outright attack it despite a potential suckerpunch because losing them is less costly than leting it get to +2. Gengar can generally substite on a sucker punch (to avoid what looks like f-blast) then shadow ball twice (they'll predict more subbing every time). If you had hazards before this, you this should be enough to kill it due to it's awful spdef.
Water > if they have tentacruel you have to lead with mega sab. They'll either acid spray/scald, or switch to something that can chase you out like azumarill. However, you will have prevented them from using spikes. Even though you could easily get three layers of spikes on a tentacruel, toxic spikes will immedieately make the game impossible to win. Most of the time mega sab is in you will use recover and wisp until tentacruel leaves, but getting him out of prankster form asap is most important. If they have greninja , remember that aegislash can technically revenge it even if it has dark pulse. Gourgeist dosen't like using his special defense, but most scald pokemon are barely or completely uninvested in special attack, which makes his typing and HP investment look good enough. gyarados is far more dangerous than mega pert, since it could sub or taunt gourgeist even if it isn't mega. if anything has rest talk, only gengar and chandeulre can kill them (while asleep) Frosslass's spikes are easier to get multible layers up than in most games, although t wave should be skipped on things other than gyarados if they have lanturn> swampert.
Bug > Bug teams tend to be very offensive, making games against this type very hap hazard. If T-wave is available on volcarona or pinsir, it should always be taken. Damaging pinsir with ice beam is worth not setting spikes. If chandelure gets a flash fire, volcarona will usually die, no matter if roosts once at +1. It simply doesn't get the oppurtunity to +2. It's possible to fake some people out with gourgeist, since they will quiver dance predicting that you will switch. With leech seed, chandelure really has nothing to worry aobut. If volcarona Hp grounds it's way out of the situation, it will be at low enough health for aegislash's shadow sneak. If gengar uses sub on something like forretress then it can take out volcarona with sludgebomb provided it has spikes support even if it tries a quiver dance+roost combo. Scarf Heracross can't defeat sableye, aegislash, or gourgeist, although you have to budget them and have the one you didn't use ready for something like knock off mega scizor or pinsir. Genesect generally gives free switch ins to chandelure. Best case scenario is fighting shuckle teams rather than galvantula teams, although you cannot have frosslass stay in on encore no matter how nice an undisputed layer of spikes may seem, as boosted pinsir or volcarona shouldn't be treated so lightly.
Hard Matches
Dark > If you respect the opponet at all, you should forfeit. If you want a good replay, you can fight them with this team, and consistantly get 3 KOs and a 4th pokemon at seriously low health, forcing them to stay on their toes throughout, but this matchup is a complete farce. It's a pretty absolute judgement if a balanced or offensive dark team comes up in team preview. However, I do recommend you learn how to recognize a rubbish dark team. The people who use certain pokemon deserve to be beaten by ghost, and to be taught a lesson for... nevermind...
Fire > The second worst match for ghost. Frosslass STILL leads. To see if they are worth trying to beat, check their flash fire pokemon. With frosslass eliminiating all sashed mons and possiby getting an irrelevant para, we can begin. After frosslass dies, I send in aegislash unless they have volcarona active. aegislash does not stay in, instead doubling to chandelure. Chandelure then uses fire blast. The "not very effective text" becomes a cruel joke between the combined power of flash fire and sunny day. The next thing in your favor is the "coverage attacks" fire teams use. Scarf darmanitan and scarf victini, cannot do shit do gourgeist outside of fire attacks, and he doesn't even have to guess thanks to protect(never use it on anything but a new pokemon), easily getting leech seed damage to add to the unspinnable spikes. If they did bring a heatran, it'll probbably be necceasry to fodder both gengar and aegislash to get rid of it, although if they are competent it should make it impossible to win altogether.. The last thing in your favor is charizard Y itself, which SHOULD be hard walled by chandelure, since air slash is too awful for good trainers to carry, eq is redundant to fire teams, and solarbeam/focusblast aren't doing anything.
Flying > Essentially, you have no hazards vs flying. Froslass can still lead, just to force them to have to show the sets of multiple pokemon if they thought you would keep it in reserve. If a mega comes out, you should drop t-wave on it (also rogue togekiss/dnite/altaria) Otherwise you can ice beam if they think you don't mean business. if skarmory is running too much speed creep or has a "OHKO bravebird" EV set then you can actually 2HKO it with ice beam. afterwards you have to deal with the bad... you need sableye to go mega semi early to keep their SR down. CharY and altaria are the megas you want to see, gyarados and charx are the ones you don't want to see (normal dos can do lots of damage too) Scarf pokemon like thund-t, lando-t, and togekiss are still problemic. Essentially, you are reduced to throwing bodies (aegislash, chandelure, and gengar) at the enemy team until they are weakened enough to succumb to the gourgeist and sableye. It can be hard to tell what double switch is needed for any specific job in this matchup, however.
Ground > While I dislike seeing fire more, ground is the second worst type for ghost to fight according to the statistics page. Megasableye can't get through LO lando-I. Fact. Gourgeist cannot get through excadrill with enough health to also deal with their guest mon, especially if its mamoswine. Frosslass cannot do anything but spikes and even that is done badly due to thick fat mamoswine, and will probbably be finished off with toxic or roar if it tries to d-bond. If they end up using mega-garchomp (which is hugely popular at the moment) then you can may be able to fake it into using fire blast on chandelure, strip half it's health with fire blast, and KO it with gengar. excadrill itself, while it can be walled, completely restricts your options, making you vulnerable to people suprising you with lando-I and company as long as sand is in play. Aegislash's primariy role, amusingly enough, is foddering himself to scout moves. However, even though each of the top 6 most popular pokemon on ground teams have over 50% reported usage, you may run into weaker teams. Leaving sableye non mega, and switching it out so you can prankster wisp something else, even if it costs most of it's life, can turn out to be a life saving gamble for once. Lando-T is still vulnerable to gengar and chandelure, and if they assume that their mvp versus most teams (excadrill) will be all they need, then you can get them to put their other pokemon in risky situations.
Conclusion
I'll probbably add some replays to this, because I went overboard listing the bad things that can happen to you. They don't cost games if you play against them correctly, but doing well at ghost DOES require pretty intimate knowledge of most of the thought processes that other teams will use against you.
And then I'll indent the paragraphs so it doesn't give people eye cancer.
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