[OVERVIEW]
At first glance, Gengar appears to be a dangerous special sweeper thanks to its high Special Attack and Speed. However, Gengar's main role is to directly switch into Normal-type attacks like Body Slam, Hyper Beam, and Explosion as well as hard wall Wrap users and Persian because of its rare Ghost typing. It is also the fastest sleep inducer in the game with Hypnosis and can hit everything in the metagame for neutral damage thanks to Night Shade. From there, it can chip the foe with consistent damage or dent defensive switch-ins with Explosion. While all of these attributes are extremely appealing, keep in mind that Gengar has its fair share of shortcomings. For example, Hypnosis has shaky accuracy, so if it misses, it leaves Gengar open to attacks or being afflicted with status itself. Despite its great Ghost typing making it immune to Normal-type attacks, Gengar's secondary Poison typing leaves it weak to common coverage moves like Earthquake and Psychic, which most Pokemon in OU carry. Gengar also lacks a useful STAB move to nail Pokemon it should be able to hit for super effective damage such as Alakazam, Exeggutor, and Jynx. Its rather weak defenses and defensive typing on top of Hypnosis's shaky accuracy force Gengar to have slight competition with Exeggutor and Jynx as a sleep inducer, but Gengar is much faster than both of them and not as vulnerable to Blizzard and Explosion.
[SET]
name: Sleep Inducer
move 1: Hypnosis
move 2: Night Shade
move 3: Thunderbolt
move 4: Explosion
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypnosis is Gengar's status move of choice, as it can cripple foes with sleep. Night Shade hits every single Pokemon in the metagame for 100 damage, providing important chip damage on Pokemon like Exeggutor, Rhydon, and Chansey. Thunderbolt is used mainly to hit Water-types such as Starmie, Slowbro, and Lapras for a decent amount of damage while doing the most damage to Snorlax and Tauros outside of Explosion. Explosion should primarily be used against Pokemon that Gengar can have issues beating, such as Alakazam and Chansey. It also can dent Exeggutor, Snorlax, and Tauros.
Gengar can be used as a lead for its positive matchup against the relatively uncommon slower sleepers such as Jynx, Exeggutor, and Chansey, but it does have shaky matchups against faster Thunder Wave leads like Alakazam and Starmie, as it really dislikes being paralyzed. Gengar can also directly switch into and counter Wrap users such as Victreebel and Dragonite without Thunder Wave, making them much less annoying. Once a foe is asleep, Gengar can switch out to a teammate that can better handle the sleeping threat, or it can proceed to chip the foe down with Night Shade. Gengar should try to stay healthy throughout the match so it can take on Normal-types much more easily. If Gengar's health is low, it can be a good idea to use Explosion, as this move does considerable damage to anything that doesn't resist it and has a chance to OHKO Alakazam. Explosion can also severely dent a threat that Gengar's team may struggle with, making it much easier to deal with. Gengar can also function as a solo sweeper, as Thunderbolt has decent neutral coverage and can break certain sleep absorbers such as Starmie. Gengar's Hypnosis will bait paralyzed Alakazam and Chansey in, so using Explosion is a good way to get rid of them. This way, another sleeper in the back won't have to worry about a paralyzed foe blocking their sleep-inducing move.
Gengar can fit on a myriad of teams thanks to its unique attributes, but that doesn't mean that it can sweep entire teams without support. Running an extra sleep inducer such as Exeggutor or Jynx is unorthodox, but it can be beneficial. Exeggutor can also help stomach incoming Earthquake, and both of them can take Psychic aimed at Gengar.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Mega Drain can be used to 2HKO Rhydon and Golem after Gengar puts them to sleep. Keep in mind that this only works if Gengar lands a Hypnosis or on a predicted switch, as Earthquake from these two will OHKO Gengar, and Mega Drain has little utility outside of this role. Confuse Ray can make Gengar more annoying to deal with, especially against paralyzed foes like Alakazam. Counter seems like an odd choice, since Gengar is already immune to Normal-type attacks. However, if Gengar comes in after your opponent uses Explosion, and if you can predict the opponent bringing something in that Gengar forces out, Counter will heavily dent something on the switch. Submission can be used to deal more damage to Chansey, especially after it has been put to sleep. Seismic Toss is an alternative to Night Shade, as it has 8 more PP at the cost of leaving Gengar susceptible to Counter. Hyper Beam is a decent option to pressure a paralyzed Alakazam or Jynx, as Gengar can really only use Explosion successfully on these Pokemon. Psychic can be used to get Special drops to reduce the Speed of paralyzed foes even further and allow paralyzed Pokemon of yours to outspeed them. It could also be decent against Rest variants of Snorlax trying to stall Gengar. In both instances, however, Thunderbolt usually does enough damage to these Pokemon.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Psychic-type Pokemon**: Alakazam is one of the best ways to stop Gengar, as it is faster, can cripple Gengar with Thunder Wave, and can use Psychic to always 2HKO Gengar. Alakazam does have to be cautious if Gengar uses Explosion, as it has a chance to OHKO Alakazam. Exeggutor can thwart Gengar thanks to its own Sleep Powder, Psychic, and Mega Drain. Jynx can also be an issue; Gengar does outspeed it, but Jynx can inflict heavy damage if Gengar misses Hypnosis, meaning it may need to use Explosion to do anything to Jynx.
**Chansey**: Chansey can force Gengar out because it usually carries Thunder Wave to paralyze it and can take any attack from Gengar barring Explosion on a critical hit. A healthy Chansey does have to be cautious of Hypnosis, however.
**Rhydon and Golem** Rhydon and Golem threaten Gengar because they are immune to Thunderbolt, resist Explosion, and can OHKO it with Earthquake.
**Paralysis**: Even though it's immune to Body Slam, Gengar absolutely does not want to be paralyzed by Thunder Wave. Starmie, Zapdos, and Jolteon are some of the Pokemon that can carry the move.
**Tauros**: Tauros Speed ties with Gengar and can 2HKO it with Earthquake. However, Tauros has no form of recovery and generally doesn't like switching into attacks.
**Snorlax**: Snorlax takes very little damage from Gengar's Thunderbolt, and Earthquake threatens to 2HKO in return.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[JustoonSmitts, 239732]]
- Quality checked by: [[The Idiot Ninja, 265630], [FriendOfMrGolem120, 424525]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Rabia, 336073]]
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