With the lack of true Ghost resists or immunities in the tier right now, every single Ghost-type has the potential to dominate teams, whether it's Decid, Golurk, or Ghostvally. Majority of teams forego the few checks we have, making them even scarier, especially at the top level. In Week 5 of NUPL, in SS NU games, more than half the teams featured had no Ghost resist, often with multiple Psychic-types, such as Xatu, Celebi, and Starmie seeing a ton of usage.
With that in mind, here are some Ghost-types that deserve to see more usage both on ladder and in tour
Best Ghost-types in NU
- Choice Band Poltergeist has the potential to KO/2HKO every single Pokemon in the tier, minus Drap, Guzz, and Braviary, all of which die to coverage in Earthquake, Dynamic Punch, or Ice Punch. With Trick, you can even cripple these switch ins, setting yourself for a powerful endgame.
- With multiple different sets, Decidueye can be a nightmare for teams to stop. Between Choice Specs, Choice Band, and Sword Dance variants on HO, Decidueye can run through teams that will have answers to one, but not the other, and with a good defensive typing, it can often come in and break a ton of common cores. Its main drawbacks lie in the resists in the tier, all of which hard wall both of Decidueye's STABs, but it can abuse them with U-Turn, bringing in a teammate to wall or KO them.
- Dhelm has quickly become one of the few spinners we have, but even outside the defensive utility it provides, CB sets have merit too, 2HKOing all of our Ghost resists with Anchor Shot, and once they're gone, Poltergeists just claim.
- Ghostvally is a fantastic option as a bulkier sweeper that can run through teams after a Swords Dance and some chip. Not much can take a +2 STAB 120 BP move, and the few that can, die to coverage in Rock Slide or XScissor. A super underrated threat in the tier that deserves a second look.
Other Fun Options
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- Both have a cool niche of being able to threaten Magic Bounce Xatu with their STAB, able to get up rocks more reliably than Muds or Copper at times. Palo has consistent recovery, consistently walling Pokemon like Tyrantrum or P Whip-less Copperajah and Rune has a fun benefit as the best Machamp answer, Wisp's, and other fun shenanigans with its ability.
- With such a good offensive typing, both Specs and Band can put in work, destroying the Ghost resists in the tier, but it also has another interesting niche. Similarly to the other Ghost rockers, Froslass threatens Xatu, making Spike sets powerful suicide leads.
- We all remember the Jellicent hype for a week or two, and even though I don't know where it went, it's still a good option in the meta. With a TON of utility options in Taunt, Toxic, Wisp's, Recover, Night Shade, Sap, etc, Jellicent can shut down a lot of common cores in some way, shape, or form. It can also stop a lot of Glastrier sets, too!
- Once a month, someone hops back onto the Haunter hype train, and yes, it still works. Sub Split, Specs, and Sub Disable sets all can put in HUGE work, and when you consider its huge movepool, you can abuse most of the Ghost switch ins.
To prove that literally every Ghost-type can put in work, even the random ones like these^ here's another NUPL replay from that week of the GOAT
OnArceus using Drifblim of all things
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen8nu-562465 - OnArceus v Eternal Spirit
Ghost Answers
- The Glizzy Gobbler is arguably our best Ghost answer right now, consistently switching into Specs Decid and CB Polters that plague the tier right now. From there, it can break and Knock cores and do huge damage.
- Has almost the exact same niche as Drapion, but it is a lot more frail, making it slightly less consistent without Black Sludge or Wish support, both of which pair great with it. Shuca can also allow it to switch into Golurk for free once no matter what, stopping Polters and EQ's
- I take it back. THIS is the Ghost resist in the tier, and severely underused. With its typing, you hard wall Decidueye and Golurk, bar Ice Punch / Trick, and can use them to Defog or set up, turning them from weapon into liability.
- A fun bulky pivot, Persian-A is definitely worse than at its peak this gen, but it still has merit, threatening out every Ghost-type with its speed and Foul Play or Knock Off. Overall, underrated and super cool.
- Although every Normal type dies to coverage, just having one on a team, whether it's Tauros, Exploud, or Heliolisk, can decentivize spamming choice locked Ghost STAB.
Itemless Mons - A practice that has recently fallen out of favor, making a Pokemon itemless is a huge way to catch Poltergeist users off guard. Itemless Flygon, Vileplume, and Dhelm will all wall Decid and Golurk. Hell, I've even seen itemless Bronzong take advantage of Golurk on ladder.
When building, keep all of this in mind and understand just how potent Ghost-types can be. Thanks for reading :D