Gengar

[Scattered mind]

Gengar: Ghost/Poison

stats:
HP: 60
Atk: 65
Def: 60-80
Sp.Atk: 130-170
Sp.Def: 75-95
Spe: 110-130

Pre Mega Ability:
Levitate -Immune to Ground type moves.
Mega Ability:
Shadow Tag - The opponents cannot switch out (excluding Ghost types)

Viable moves:

Shadow Ball- 80/100 20% chance to lower the target's Special Defense by one stage.
Sludge Bomb- 90/100 30% chance to poison the target.
Taunt- -/100 The target cannot use status moves for three turns.
Will-o-Wisp- -/85 Burns the target
Disable- -/100 Prevents the last move used by the target from being used again for two to five turns.
Icy Wind- 55/95 Lowers foes' Speed by one stage. Hits all adjacent foes
Protect- -/-Prevents anything from working on the user that turn. Chance of failure increases if it, Protect, Endure, Wide Guard, Quick Guard, King's Shield, or Spiky Shield was used successfully the previous turn. Priority +4.
Perish Song- -/- All active Pokemon faint after three turns.
Substitute- -/-Takes 1/4 the user's max HP to create a Substitute that takes damage for the user.
Destiny Bond- -/- If the user faints before using its next move, the attacker faints.

Gengar is one of the few Pokemon that is viable with and without its Mega form, and each one can work very differently. Gengar is a great answer to Mega Kangaskhan with the ability to burn him while it cannot do anything to stop it other than switching out ( unless it is Mega Gengar in which case it simply cannot do anything). Icy Wind gives Gengar the ability to slow down the opponents as well as hurting the common Landorus-T. Will-O-Wisp is a great tool to cripple the physical attackers of the opponents, Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb are incredibly good for coverage (and have decent chances to either poison or lower the target's Sp.Def), and Disable,Perish Song,Sub and Protect are Gengar's tools to to mess up with its opponents which is a whole strategy by itself.
Yet Gengar is a very frail Pokemon and the fact that Lum berry exists lets Pokemon to take 1 Will-o-Wisp and proceed to attack Gengar. Still it does have Sub+Focus Sash as great tools to mitigate its low defenses issues and of course, its great speed and special attack.

Nature: Timid is the best nature for Gengar as it needs the speed to use its status moves before the opponent would hit him with its low defenses. Anyone thinks Modest can be good on a certain set/team?

So what do you think about Gengar in the current metagame with things like Mega Kan, Thundurus, Lando-T, Mega Salamence and rain teams?
How much do you think it is viable overall?
What sets/EV spreads/Moves you think are good/viable, or what is your favorite set to use?
What good teammates you think is best to use with it?
Do you have any interesting calcs?

Share your thoughts

 

[hawk45678]

I think a good pokemon to pair Mega-Gengar with is a Focus Sash Smeargle with Dark Void, this way they are put to sleep and then they can't switch out and you can give them a beatdown with Mega-Gengar. This might be considered gimmicky and not considered viable in VGC, but I think this works.

 

[Scattered mind]

Actually it sounds nice. I think that the problem is how most players that faces Smeargle don't want to switch out anyway but rather to destroy Smeargle ASAP before it can get use DV. How do you use them practically ? I guess Smeargle needs another supportive partner before Gengar.

 

[King Arceus]

Gengar is definitely viable. I did use it at one of the regionals I attended this year and it helped in some matches. I also tested it in Showdown. I found overall that it just didn't fit with my team like the other Pokemon so I switched it out to have greater consistency. The set I was running was a Disable set because that lets it beat Kangashan pretty much 100% of the time once they have mega evolved. Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball were the STAB attacks I used since I didn't want to damage my own Pokemon with Sludge Wave.

I've run into some Gengar that run Focus Sash so they get an extra turn to either inflict a status or dish out damage. One thing I see is that some players use it as their mega but aren't really using it to its full potential. Mega Gengar is suppose to be used if you don't want the opponent to be able to switch out such as on a Perish Trap team. There really are better options if you just need some power.

The best teammates for Mega Gengar are Pokemon that either lower the opponent's stats or cause status conditions other than sleep. These can force switches. One interesting thing to use as a partner for it is a Pokemon with Imprison that knows Protect so you can make your opponent never able to use Protect.

Regarding the Smeargle + Gengar combination: It sounds nice on paper, but it just doesn't perform. The way you beat Smeargle is to not be switching your Pokemon all out. Smeargle is better paired with a Pokemon that has Unnerve so Lum Berry can't be used to counter it.

 

[Scattered mind]

What about Destiny Bond? Is it viable as a last move to clear a strong threat ?
Probably less common on Gengar but on a non Mega one it can work after spreading Will-o-Wisp shutting down physical attackers and then clear away special attackers.

 

[King Arceus]

What about Destiny Bond? Is it viable as a last move to clear a strong threat ?
Probably less common on Gengar but on a non Mega one it can work after spreading Will-o-Wisp shutting down physical attackers and then clear away special attackers.

I haven't had it used against me much, but it could be considered viable, especially when combined with Taunt so you know your opponent is going to attack and not do Protect.

 

[Scattered mind]

Right. And of course after Taunt your opponent must attack since he cannot switch either if you are using the mega form. If not it is still viable imo since you can use it when it is obvious the opponent wouldn't switch out or when your opponent simply run out of Pokemon to switch into.
Added to the OP.

 

[P3DS]

I took mega gengar to UK regionals a couple of .onths, and won with it. It was mainly used to add a little consistency to my team, and it gave me a lot of control in games. It was my MVP of top 4, where perish song swept game 1, and game 2, the control it gave and my +4 att terrakion was a little too much for my opponent to manage. Last year, I had it on a rain perish trap team along side a raichu, and it was pretty strong, netting me top 32 at UK Nationals 2014. Mega gengar is really overlooked as a mega, and is very strong as a secondary mega. It has a lot of control aspects and can smooth out situations that look unfavorable at first. Regular gengar is still usable too; with a focus sash is also pretty neat. Icy wind, will-o-wisp, sludge bomb, taunt are pretty nice, and it gives an unusually good amount of support.

 

[Scattered mind]

Sounds great. So regular Gengar doesn't function as an offensive Pokemon from what I'v read so far, but mainly as a supportive Pokemon while Mega Gengar tends to be more offensive and uses teammates support often.