Project OU Next Best Thing: Cycle 87 - Not hosted anymore

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a little late but voting has concluded and the winner is Fell Stinger by Firest0rm! Your submission will be added to the hall of fame soon.

Week 57 - Gengar
:ss/gengar:

Our next subject is Gengar, a mostly overlooked offensive threat with a powerful stab combination alongside access to nasty plot and plenty of powerful options for harassment, such as Pain Split, Taunt, and Destiny Bond. While incredibly frail and lacking in any meaningful defensive use, its combination of stats, typing, and movepool make it an absolute nightmare for the bulkier end of the spectrum.
Banned Sets
:black sludge:

Deadline is Monday, good luck!​
 
:gs/gengar:
Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Trick

Choice Scarf and Nasty Plot allow Gengar to be a dangerous revenge killer and stallbreaker in one set. With Choice Scarf, it can be a key revenge killer to faster Pokemon and Choice Scarf users such as Dragapult, Tapu Lele, Kartana, and Blacephalon. Trick allows it to cripple walls such as Blissey, Toxapex, and Ferrothorn. Focus Blast is crucial coverage to hit Tyranitar and Ferrothorn. Nasty Plot allows it to take advantage the free turn to break past Buzzwole and other bulky threats.
 
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Substitute + Pain Split

:ss/gengar:
Gengar @ Life Orb
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Pain Split
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast

This set is similar to the Sub+NP set, but instead of setting up, it takes advantage of Substitute and Life Orb's recoil to get the most out of Pain Split, whose health-averaging effect allows Gengar to both heal itself and wear the opponent down. It's especially effective against bulkier mons with high HP, who can potentially end up losing more than a quarter of their health to Pain Split after just one Substitute.

If you're feeling particularly daring, you can switch into an attack from one of these Pokemon, such as Mandibuzz's Foul Play, then use Pain Split to take away a large portion of their health. However, this will likely result in losing Gengar, so don't do this unless you know you aren't going to regret it later in the battle.

It's worth noting that Pain Split has more PP than conventional recovery moves. This means that if a Pokemon with a healing move decides to start stalling with it, Gengar will most likely win the PP stall war unless the opponent has an attack that can 1HKO (and since Gengar is somewhat frail, the chances of that happening are never zero).
 
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gengar.gif.m.1532458525

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Protect / Corrosive Gas / Mean Look / Sludge Bomb / Trick​

Timid max speed is the only way to go. You outspeed Adamant Weavile and Jolly Kartana, both of which normal beat Gengar, but the former may not want to risk Gengar's set (if it's unknown - i.e. could be scarfed, Focus Blast, depending on the Weavile set), at the very least you can get a burn off; the latter has an 87.5% chance of dying to unboosted Hex. Max SpAtk because why not; Gengar barely lives anything anyways and you might as well spend your EVs where the math favors them.

Hex is a very powerful Ghost move and Gengar can get multiple kills on a team in the late game if enough members are statused. This condition is aided if you have teammates that also can apply status. Will-o-Wisp is the status of choice here because it punishes the many physical attackers that want to come in on Gengar (Weavile, Hippowdon, Bisharp, etc.). Toxic is also an option, but it doesn't affect the many Steels nor Toxapex.

Taunt is necessary for Blissey and Heatran, to a lesser extent. Finally, the last slot has many options. Protect allows you to scout choiced mons, particularly Rillaboom, who may try to come in and feign Grassy Glide or Knock Off, but instead U-turns. It also gives you extra recovery, which could be the difference between living a hit or otherwise (see, again, Rillaboom: 252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Grassy Glide vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Gengar in Grassy Terrain: 178-210 (68.1 - 80.4%) ).

Corrosive Gas is an interesting option to remove items and, while Knock Off is also an option, Gengar won't really be doing any damage with it, but Rocky Helmet chip would be annoying. Plus, how many mons even get to run that move? Of course, Trick is also an option, which allows you to pass Blissey your Black Sludge, gimping its long-term viability and recovery. It also might allow you to pick up other useful items, like Boots against a hazard-heavy team, or trade away a scarf that Fini tricked onto you.

Sludge Bomb is also a decent option, giving you a more immediately powerful STAB with the chance to lay down another status. It does leave much to be desired against Tran, Pex, etc., though. Finally, Mean Look is a niche option specifically meant for Blissey. In conjunction with Taunt, you can slowly PP stall and whittle down the Blissey while it can't touch you. It also means that Pex can't switch out and avoid a 2HKO when burned.
 
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bulky wisp

:bw/gengar:

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect / Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Focus Blast
- Shadow Ball / Hex

the main appeal of this set is will o wisp, a lot of gar’s switch ins really hate being burnt. while gengar isn’t truly bulky, it’s typing is actually kind of neat defensively, resisting common attacking types, mainly fairy, but also stuff like fighting and grass. protect helps with scouting against choice users like kart, and shadow ball and focus blast are staples on any gengar set. sub can be used over protect to deter status, and with max hp, the sub can take predicted uturns pretty well. this is a more longevity based gar, meaning it doesn’t necessarily need spatk investment. speed is pumped because max speed is a staple on gar + it comes in handy when spreading wisps.​
 
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Typing this instead of my midterm exam but anyways.

:SM/Gengar:
”Avenge Me!” Gengar

Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast / Sludge Bomb
- Grudge / Destiny Bond
- Trick

Scarf Gengar isn’t unheard of, we know what it is supposed to do. Trick can cripple annoying mons like Pex. The tech for this set is in your choice of Grudge or Destiny Bond. A fast Destiny Bond is another thing you’ve probably seen before, and you would use that for fast revenge kills.

At a glance, it seems like there’s no reason to use Grudge over Destiny Bond. Why waste PP when you can just kill it? You’d want to run Grudge precisely *so* you don’t kill it, in order to give something a free(r) setup later. Hypothetical example - Tran switches in to Gengar (bc Heatran resists ghost according to most team builds lol), you click Grudge. If they clicked Magma Storm, congrats, you don’t have to deal with that all game (and if you have a sweeper that doesn’t like fire, say like SD Weavile, there you go - you can now use Tran as fodder for Weavile). If they click Earth Power, your own Tran can’t be touched by theirs, etc.

Destiny Bond is probably the objectively more correct choice, but I like the potential that Grudge gives for later in the match if you have setup mons that get forced out by specific stuff but would love the setup chance (certainly more team specific though than Destiny Bond).
 
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Sub Wisp Gengar

:ss/Gengar:

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 192 HP / 44 SpA / 20 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Bomb
- Hex​

This set is designed to cripple offensive teams and harass balance and stall. Wisp frustrates many switchins and helps its Substitutes stay intact. Sludge Bomb is preferred over Sludge Wave due to its higher chance of poison, which helps a lot against Blissey should the situation arise. Hex does what it always does: even with only 44 SpA EVs, Hex hits statused opponents much harder than if Gengar had max SpA and Shadow Ball. The set has 192 HP and 20 SpD to ensure that a burned Toxapex can never break its Substitute with Knock Off nor Scald.

This set is useful for pressuring Corviknight and checking Clefable and Tapu Fini, so it pairs well with Urshifu and Lando-T. Be sure to pair it with a Heatran check as well.
 
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corrosive gas gengar (remove them items)

:dp/gengar:
Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Pain Split
- Corrosive Gas ​

Corrosive Gas can remove items on Pokemon which do not have Sticky Hold as ability and only Gastrodon runs this in OU. If Gastrodon runs Storm Drain it can remove the held item too. Corrosive Gas is non-damaging but also non-contact which gives gengar the ability to not take damage upon removing Rocky Helmet, which Pokemon with Knock Off would. Corrisive Gas is also a very underrated but heat move. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast is its STAB move and coverage of choice, where Shadow Ball hits anything but Dark-types for super feective damage. Focus Blast however can deal with them and also Normal-types. Pain Split + Black Sludge are here to give Gengar some semi-recovery ptions and Pain Split can also cause that Blissey is entirely walled and worn down with Focus Blast in gengars arsenal.
 
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:rs/gengar:
Gengar @ Choice Specs
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Thunderbolt/Trick

Specs Gengar trades away the ability to set up with Nasty Plot for more immediate power. Sludge Wave has a 50% chance to OHKO SpDef Clef, Shadow Ball can also deal decent damage to Phys Def Corviknight and Toxapex. Focus Blast is to hit Dark and Steel types hard, and the last slot can either be Thunderbolt, hitting Water types, or Trick to cripple potential switchins

  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 360-426 (91.3 - 108.1%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 380-448 (94 - 110.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 248 HP / 92 SpD Corviknight: 202-238 (50.6 - 59.6%) -- 84% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 92 SpD Corviknight: 304-358 (76.1 - 89.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 216-256 (71 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Toxapex: 144-171 (47.3 - 56.2%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 302-356 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
  • 252 SpA Choice Specs Gengar Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 320-378 (99 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
 
SubDisable Gengar

Gengar @ Black Sludge
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast


Cursed Body can be a way to force switches, but you rely on a middling chance to use its effect.
With the addition of Disable you remove this uncertainty.
Thanks to its combination of SpA and Spe, Gengar forces many switches and these free turns gained can be used to cover our beloved Ghost under a Substitute.

Disable helps you reducing the moves the opponent can use, thus easing the prediction process. It also neuters Choiced attackers.
 
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Shit talking Gengar.

1633962639580.gif

Gengar @ Black Sludge / Focus Sash
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam / Sludge Wave

I’m not a big fan of Focus Blast but Tyranitar whatever. Fat teams really don’t like this. If you’re feeling extra cheesy run Sash.
 
gengar.gif

Gengar @ Salac Berry
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Sludge Wave / Focus Blast
​
Gengar is usually dealt with via outspeeding it or priority moves - it's quite hard to check it defensively. Most of the time it's Pult, Zeraora, Weavile, Koko or scarfers. Sub Salac Gengar tries to turn the table on them by picking itself boosting a position to get +1 speed and +2 spatk. No viable scarfer outspeeds +1 Gengar barring other scarf Gengars and stuff that naturally outspeeds you crumble to +2 shadow ball or coverage, barring av torn-t but you should probably have already addressed that issue before activating Gengar. These surprise berries are really powerful momentum grabbers and, since Gengar is a prolific user of substitute, it naturally fits its skillset. Black sludge is mostly better, but salac can be more threatening to offensive teams.
 
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