Pokemon of the Week DP: Gengar
Sets
Special Sweeper
- Item Held
- Life Orb / Choice Specs / Choice Scarf / Expert Belt
- Nature
- Timid(+Speed, -Attack) / Modest(+Sp.Attack, -Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Sp.Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt
- Energy Ball
- Destiny Bond / Hypnosis / Hidden Power Ice / Focus Blast
Gengar has an excellent movepool and great stats to support it. Shadow ball provides a great STAB,while Thunderbolt kills Gyarados and hurts lots of other Pokemon. Energy Ball is a powerfull grass move that hurts Swampert and Rhyperior. The last slot depends on your choice.If you are using Choice Specs / Scarf you should use an offesive move. Focus Blast hits Tyranitar,Weavile and Blissey but has low accuracy while Hidden Power Ice hits the Dragons but it's very difficult to find the right Hidden Power with the right nature and IVs. Hypnosis is a good choice especially now that it has better accuracy. Destiny bond is the best choice in my oppinion if you are using the Life Orb/Expert Belt set.
Focus Sash
- Item Held
- Focus Sash
- Nature
- Timid(+Speed, -Attack) /Hasty(+Speed, -Defense)
- Effort Points
- 252 Sp.Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Attack
- Counter
- Destiny Bond / Explosion
- Hypnosis
- Shadow Ball / Hidden Power Ice / Focus Blast
This set can destroy a lot of people because it is a surprise set. Switch in a hard Physical Sweeper wich you predict that is going to use a Ground / Fighting / Normal move. Your Enemy will try to hit you with a super effective or STABed physical move that will surely kill you. Focus Sash will save you and your opponent will start crying because he is going to take HUGE damage from counter. After that, you can either sweep something with a super effective special move,or take something with you using Destiny Bond or Explosion. Explosion is not good on Gengar but it is useful only if you want to destroy Blissey. Like every Focus Sash set,the big problem here is Stealth rock and Sandstorm wich will destroy the whole concept of this moveset.
Mixed Sweeper
- Item Held
- Life Orb
- Nature
- Hasty(+Speed, -Defense) / Naive(+Speed, -Sp.Defense)
- Effort Points
- 128 Attack. - 128 Sp.Attack-252 Speed
- Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Ice
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Punch / Focus Blast
- Explosion
This is simillar to the very popular McIceGar of the Third Generation. Focus Punch OHKOs Tyranitar and does 60-70% Damage to Blissey while Explosion can OHKO Blissey (you can put more EP in Attack to ensure this) . The other Special moves are there for Super Effective hits.
Other Possible Options
Hypnosis + Will-o-Wisp is good for double status but Gengar doesn't have the right defenses to use them well. Mean look + Perish Song for Perish Trap is another possible option but it is useful only against Blissey. If you don't like Mean Look on Gengar you can use Dugtrio or Mean Look + Batton Pass Umbreon to support it. Sludge Bomb is another STAB that became Special but it has a very bad type coverage. Substitute is always an option with Focus Punch sets. Psychic is there for Fighting Pokemon like Heracross and Infernape.
Counters
There is NO Pokemon that can trully counter every single Gengar moveset. The main weapon against Gengar is Sucker Punch and Pursuit but they are both bad against the Focus Sash set.
Steel Pokemon like Registeel, Metagross,Bronzong and Jirachi are good counters providing that the enemy Gengar doesn't use HP fire.
Spiritomb can switch in easilly and beat Gengar with Pursuit or Sucker Punch and Jolly Weavile wich is faster than Timid Gengar can destroy it with Night Slash/Pursuit but it will be destroyed if Gengar uses the Focus Sash set.
Blissey is always a good Counter for Gengar but she fears Focus Punch,Focus Blast and Explosion.
Stealth Rock, Sandstorm and Hail completely destroy the Focus Sash set and they are a big problem to Gengars that use Life Orb.
Opinion & Notes
Gengar is my favorite Pokemon.It has excellent Speed and one of the best Speciall Attack stats in the game.As I said, NO Pokemon can be sure that it will not be defeated by Gengar because Gengar has LOTS of choices. You can change any special attack in the Special Sweeper set with another (Psychic for example) that fits better in your team. I would suggest Timid over Modest and Life Orb over Choice Specs / Scarf because you are going to use Gengar against a Pokemon that is weak against one of its moves. Choice Specs can make Gengar more Powerful than Life Orb but they stop it from using all of its moves at its favor. Gengar can switch easilly into play due to its Type and Ability.It can also use its horrible defenses to take something with it using Destiny Bond or the Focus Sash set.
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MANUELF @ 01/10/2007, 04:29:22 pm
i would be also a good idea to add the wiseglasses at the special sweeper gengar and a good movepool is: psychic, shadow ball, dark pulse and hyper beam/focus blast/ energy ball!
but, anyway, it is a great guid!
MANUELF @ 01/10/2007, 04:31:28 pm
ps: GENGAR is my favorit pokemon too: not only it is hansome but it's speciall atk is fantastic!
Ninjomewtwo @ 01/10/2007, 10:06:38 pm
Manuelf, if I am right, Wise Glasses gives a boost of 1.1x to every Special move. That is too little and won't make the difference like Life Orb's 1.3x will. Sure, Life Orb may chip some of Gengar's HP away, but Gengar isn't supposed to last anyway. Plus, if you lower your HP a bit, you'll be sure that your opponent will KO your Gengar the turn you use Destiny Bond.
About your moveset, it has two mistakes. 1st, Dark Pulse hits exactly the same types as Shadow Ball so it's not worth using it. 2nd, Hyper Beam may kill a foe, but in the next turn, your Gengar is totally open to anything your opponent wants to do to it, should that be OHKOing it or just crippling it with Thunder Wave or Hypnosis/Sleep Powder/Spore.
Aluado, I am not sure, but I think that the 128 Attack EPs that Blue suggested guarantee the KO on Blissey with Explosion. But I am not sure, I need to calculate it some time.
Blue @ 02/10/2007, 10:33:17 am
I think it does but with 31 Attack IV.If you don't have such IVs you should give Gengar more Attack EPs
momtaro @ 04/10/2007, 12:04:36 am
I don't see Counter on any of Gengars egg or move lists. Am I missing something?
Ninjomewtwo @ 04/10/2007, 01:54:09 pm
You can only get Counter from the FR/LG/E move tutor. Breed your Gastly there and then transfer it to D/P.
random person o_o @ 31/12/2007, 08:44:33 pm
To Manuelf,
I wouldnt suggest ANY pokemon to have both dark pulse and shadow ball since theyre both only super effective against ghost and psychic types. I think shadow ball would be a better choice for STAB. I would stick with thunderbolt/hidden power ice/focus blast/shadow ball.
felipe @ 12/01/2008, 11:23:53 pm
i like gengar because it can learn electric,grass,ghost,phychic,and ice types
MANUELF @ 27/04/2008, 06:19:43 pm
YEAH! finaly i see that a better movepool is: psychic, shadow ball, thunderbolt and energy ball (actuallly this is my gengar' s new movepool)
Kick-butt Registeel @ 06/06/2008, 04:28:42 am
NM2 or Blue,
I may be wrong about this but isn't Focus Punch more effective than explosion against blissey? Focus Punch has a base of 150, x2 = a base power of 300. Explosion's base power would just be 250. So Focus Punch WOULD OHKO Blissey if Explosion would.
Altema @ 20/06/2008, 10:31:53 am
Gengar is a good pokemon, but in case you haven't noticed, there is a single pokemon that counters him easily: Alakazam. It has a STAB-ed super effective Psychic and 10 extra base Speed. Plus, I think the best Gengar moveset is as follows:
Shadow Ball (STAB)
Sludge Bomb (STAB)
Dark Pulse/Focus Blast/Energy Ball/Thunderbolt
Dark Pulse/Focus Blast/Energy Ball/Thunderbolt
Swellow_soul @ 21/07/2008, 02:15:01 am
Kick-butt Registeel:
Explosion halves the opponents defense when it is used so its base power is effectively doubled, making it 500, not 250. And Focus Punch is too weak without significant EV investment in ATK to KO Blissey (Max Def) for Gengar.
bizness86 @ 13/01/2009, 11:31:03 am
SneakyBeamGar (or Free Beam or BeamSash),
Focus Sash Variant
Item Held
Focus Sash
Nature
Hasty(+Speed, -Defense) /Naive (+Speed, - Special Defense)
Effort Points
252 Sp.Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Attack
* Hyper Beam
* Destiny Bond / Explosion
* Hypnosis / Thunderbolt / (filler)
* Shadow Ball / Thunderbolt / (filler)
Of equal principal to the Focus Sash set, you surprise the foe by surviving a lethal hit. The gimmick would be to using Hyper Beam to OHKO something that you couldn't beat otherwise (while having full health, of course). Hopefully, the next Pokemon to come out with be looking for retribution (something that could easily kill Gengar) while Gengar is resting from Hyper Beam. It's here that Sash should kick in as you prepare to make your next move.
This is probably dangerous due to the fact that the your opponent's next move could be a switch for a Tyranitar or Hippodowon, so you would want to analyze tyour opponent's team prior to.
Hyper Beam is more or less this set's staple; this may throw the opponent off and this allows setup for Focus Sash. It's simple to state that the one-turn rest move is useless, however, if you can get the OHKO on something you normally couldn't, and lure out a threat only to have it not kill you, then this set may be worth a mention at least.
You may want to disguise this set, or may may want to actually try and sweep before or after using Hyper Beam. Use two simple sweeping moves such as the nothing-new Bolt-Ball combination, or you may fill in the blank for the sake of type coverage. Hypnosis may also pay off and buy time before using Hyper Beam, albeit, it's probably a gamble if you're trying to preserve HP.
After being dwindled down to 1 HP, you will definitely find some solace in Destiny Bond or Explosion, or even using Hyper Beam again, as long as you can get a second OHKO.
Since this set mostly revolves around Beam and Sash, the point is to find other moves to counter weaknesses or Walls to Hyper Beam while waiting for the opportunity to strike. I honestly wanted to attempt creating a moveset. It's easy to say that this only sending a good Pokemon to the chopping block, but with Gengar's abysmal defense and eventual defeat by anything threatening, why not be sneaky on the way out?
LucarioSinnoh @ 29/01/2009, 01:36:49 pm
In my opinion Boltbeam is THE best combo ever. If you add a Hyper Beam you can take down any Pokemon except for Shedinja and Magnezone. If you add a Flamethrower you cantakedown any Pokemon except Lanturn. If you add both with a high Special Attack and Speed you would have a awesome sweeper!
LucarioSinnoh @ 29/01/2009, 01:39:12 pm
Can U please put Lucario as a Pokemon of the week cuz it's my all time FAVORITE Pokemon EVER!
Radiohead @ 26/10/2009, 09:19:17 pm
My gengar is kind of the focus sash one only mine knows sludge bomb, thunderbolt, energy ball, and destiny bond
Aluado @ 01/10/2007, 04:40:18 am
Nice things to say! But Explosion doesn´t always OHKO Blissey, so be careful not to sacrifice Gengar in vain.:P