[OVERVIEW]
As the only fully evolved Ghost-type Pokemon in RBY, Gengar fulfills a unique role that no other Pokemon in the generation manages to accomplish: its immunity to Normal-type moves means that it does not take damage from Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Explosion, and Selfdestruct, four moves that completely shape the tier. Gengar is also the fastest sleep inducer available, getting the jump on other sleepers such as Jynx and Exeggutor, an extremely strong trait in a generation where the sleep status is so centralising. Finally, its high Special and Speed mean that it is capable of dishing out strong attacks that come with a 21.48% critical hit rate attached to them. This high critical hit rate also comes into relevance when Gengar uses Explosion, turning it into a very dangerous and disruptive Pokemon.
However, Gengar also comes with an array of shortcomings. Firstly, its Poison typing: it brings no upsides and gives Gengar two very crippling weaknesses to Psychic and Earthquake, two of the most common attacking moves in the tier. Most notably, Tauros and Snorlax 2HKO Gengar with Earthquake, and Starmie, Exeggutor, Alakazam, and Jynx 2HKO it with Psychic, severely hindering Gengar's ability to take on these Pokemon. Secondly, the two most important moves in its arsenal both come with a caveat: Hypnosis has very shaky 60% accuracy that will often prove extremely crippling when it misses, and Explosion comes off of a mediocre Attack stat, meaning that barring critical hits, it is one of the weakest Explosions in the tier. Thirdly, since its attacking options do not benefit from STAB, Gengar's damage output can oftentimes prove to be underwhelming. Lastly, despite being by no means a slow Pokemon, its speed can still leave to be desired, as it means it speed ties Tauros and is outsped by Starmie and Alakazam.
[SET]
name: Sleeper
move 1: Hypnosis
move 2: Explosion
move 3: Night Shade / Psychic / Thunderbolt
move 4: Psychic / Thunderbolt / Night Shade
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypnosis is pivotal to Gengar's success as a sleep inducer in the tier. Gengar possesses the fastest sleep-inducing move in the tier, which means it can get its sleep move in before other prevalent sleepers such as Jynx, Exeggutor and Sing Chansey.
Despite coming off of a mediocre 65 base Attack stat, Explosion is still a very strong move that should never be dropped. Gengar's speed also means that it will manage to Explode more consistently than other slower Explosion users such as Exeggutor, or Snorlax. Moreover, this high base speed means that the move comes with a high critical hit chance paired to it, which can significantly increase the value of Gengar's Explosion, netting a guaranteed KO on almost every Pokemon in the tier.
When used in the lead slot, Gengar is often the Pokemon one is willing to sack to sleep. This means that the final two moves' value is closely tied to how effective they are against the Pokemon Gengar is matched up against in the early game, since once asleep, Gengar's moveset will seldom matter anymore. Night Shade allows Gengar to pressure Exeggutor, the most consistent and common sleeper in the tier, who could switch in with impunity otherwise. Without Night Shade, Exeggutor is not really in a rush to click Sleep Powder, even being able to click Stun Spore and Psychic instead to attempt to beat or force Gengar out, inflicting Sleep onto another Pokemon instead.
As for the final move, Psychic allows Gengar to hit opposing Gengar harder than any other move. Thunderbolt is generally not as effective because its biggest target, Starmie, commonly carries Psychic when used in the lead slot. Moreover, Psychic-less Starmie variants often switch out of Gengar to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Jynx in the hopes of catching a switch to a Pokemon such as Sing Chansey, making Thunderbolt a worse choice overall. However, if Starmie is not expected to carry Psychic, or one plans their early game around paralysing Starmie and subsequently forcing sleep onto another Pokemon by threatening it with Thunderbolt, it becomes a considerably stronger option.
Gengar excels in the lead slot both due to being able to immediately threaten Sleep using its fast Hypnosis and being arguably the best Pokemon in the tier to sack to Sleep, since it retains a lot of its utility even while asleep through its Normal-type immunity. Outspeeding Jynx is especially relevant since both are most commonly found in the lead slot and teams with Jynx usually do not carry any other sleeper in the team, creating an awkward situation for the Jynx user both through the threat of Hypnosis or Explosion paired with a backup sleeper. Some of its utility includes deterring the opponent from clicking Explosion simply by virtue of its existence, as well as walling Tauros and Snorlax variants not packing Earthquake or Amnesia. Moreover, it allows its user to switch into Body Slams and Hyper Beams, drawing in weaker moves such as Earthquake or Ice moves from the aforementioned Snorlax and Tauros for cleaner entry to another Pokemon. These two reasons also give the Gengar user opportunities to try to wake it up, as the opponent may click the Normal move again expecting the switch, or burn sleep turns against the aforementioned Tauros and Snorlax sets.
Gengar's perks while asleep mean that one should generally opt to Psychic opposing Gengar instead of clicking Hypnosis. One Psychic leaves Gengar in a very awkward position against Pokemon such as Exeggutor, who can now much more effectively push Sleep past Gengar since Psychic is now a KO, and Snorlax, who can now threaten the KO too with Earthquake. In fact, even if Snorlax is not packing Earthquake, Gengar will still have to respect its threat and oftentimes switch out, allowing even mono-attacking Snorlax variants to capitalise on the opponent's lack of information to generate progress it would otherwise not be able to. When using Gengar for its defensive abilities, one must be very aware of its HP, because Gengar relies on it a lot to perform that job.
Nevertheless, leading Gengar often translates into high variance and a lot of mindgames in the first turns of the game. This is especially acute in lead Gengar dittos, because of Psychic's special drop chance, Gengar's critical hit rate, and Hypnosis' shaky accuracy. Even if the opponent is not leading Gengar, experienced opponents will often try to beat Gengar instead of inflicting sleep on it. This includes both damaging it with a strong move, creating the dynamics mentioned in the previous paragraph, or even paralysing it instead, since a paralysed Gengar is often preferrable to a sleeping Gengar. These dynamics result in several mindgames across the early game surronding clicking a Sleep move versus a Paralysis-inducing/attacking move.
Despite being less common than lead Gengar, a Gengar used outside the first slot dodges the early game mindgames and high variance dynamics lead Gengar often provides. It also allows Gengar to come in against Snorlax and Tauros early game, since these Pokemon will generally click Body Slam until Gengar has been revealed (unless given a specific reason not to, such as scouting for Counter on Chansey). This allows the Gengar user to turn the tables on them and immediately generate threat through sleep - it outspeeds Snorlax and Tauros is generally percieved as too high value to be sacked to sleep, thus being forced out.
Night Shade's ability to hit Exeggutor becomes of less importance outside the lead slot, since Gengar is considerably less subject to pressure from Exeggutor when played from the back. Moreover, Thunderbolt allows Gengar to hit Water-types such as Starmie, Cloyster, Slowbro, and Lapras for super effective damage, Psychic-types such as Alakazam and Jynx for more damage than Psychic, as well as coming with a nice 10% paralysis chance, all traits that are more relevant when Gengar is used outside the lead slot. Lastly, since Gengar appreciates the ability to hit Rhydon hard and reliably forcing Rest Snorlax without Earthquake out, Psychic is generally preferred over Night Shade too. When kept awake, back Gengar can also be more effectively used for the aforementioned defensive traits against Snorlax and Tauros, since it can actually damage them in return.
Team Options
========
Due to how inconsistent Gengar's sleep move is, how exploitable it is, and the wide range of Pokemon that can 2HKO it by exploring its Poison-type, Gengar should be paired with another sleep-inducing Pokemon. The most common options include Sleep Powder Exeggutor and Sing Chansey. The former is the most consistent way at inflicting sleep, since Exeggutor is less exploitable and packs a more accurate sleep move. However, it is a notoriously weak core to Starmie carrying both Psychic and Blizzard. One should expect to play the early game on the backfoot at sight of Starmie lead if using this core, especially if the opponent also has an Exeggutor of their own. The latter doesn't have any notorious bad early game matchups, however, it relies on two considerably innacurate moves, which allows for Pokemon such as Alakazam and Starmie to muscle past Chansey through repeated Sing misses, Psychic special drops, paralysis chance, or in the case of Starmie, a freeze. Even against lead Gengar, especially if paired with Exeggutor, it is not unrealistic for one to end up with one of Gengar and Chansey KOed and the other asleep without inflicting sleep beforehand because of the Gengar/Exeggutor early game dynamics already mentioned.
When including Gengar in teams using the Chansey-Snorlax-Tauros core, one should generally also pair it with at least one Psychic-type. Exeggutor is an especially good partner for Gengar as it resists both Psychic and Earthquake, whereas Gengar can take the normal moves thrown at Exeggutor, thus giving the possibility of one creating safe entry points for the other, especially in the early game when full teams are not revealed yet. Starmie also appreciates Gengar drawing Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, avoiding the threat of paralysis from Body Slam upon entry. These dynamics also allow Gengar to more easily burn sleep turns should it attempt to wake up. When it comes to the Normal-type trio's movesets, the presence of Gengar discourages the use of Counter Chansey, since the utility provided by both overlaps considerably, whereas the choice of the movesets on Tauros and Snorlax generally depends more on the rest of the team than Gengar itself.
Outside of teams including the aforementioned trio of Normal-type Pokemon, Gengar can also take part in a core of Explosion users including Pokemon such as Exeggutor, Snorlax, Cloyster, or Golem, which pave the way for fast win conditions such as Tauros, Starmie, Alakazam, and Jolteon, or Pokemon carrying Agility such as Zapdos, to late-game sweep.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
The most common other options include Mega Drain and Confuse Ray. Mega Drain is used with the purpose of 2HKOing Rhydon. However, Psychic is already a roll to 3HKO before factoring in the chance of a Special drop, and it does not turn the matchup in Gengar's favour, since Rhydon has a guaranteed with OHKO with Earthquake. Confuse Ray is used with the intent of denying recovery to Pokemon such as Chansey, Alakazam, or Rest Snorlax, or providing safer entry points, but the fact it is RNG reliant makes it an inconsistent option.
Gengar can use Toxic in teams utilising partial trapping strategies, but these teams are often inconsistent and luck reliant as a whole. Gengar can also use Submission to threaten a 3HKO on Chansey, but its accuracy and recoil make it a fringe option - Gengar will take 60% in recoil damage to KO a Chansey from full HP. Moreover, Rest can seem like an appealing option on Gengar, but Gengar's frailty and typing mean that it is 2HKO'd by a very significant amount of the Pokemon in the tier, making it hard to wake it up. There is also little incentive to run it, as it does not need Rest to wall the Pokemon it already does without it.
Lastly, it should be noted that despite the fact Gengar learns Seismic Toss (which has 8 extra PP), the fact Seismic Toss can be countered on Gengar's switch and Night Shade cannot makes Night Shade the superior choice, since Gengar generally does not last enough to make use of the 8 extra PP.
Checks and Counters
===================
Psychic: Gengar is 2HKO'd by every STAB Psychic user in the tier. Alakazam and Exeggutor deserve special mentions because the former outspeeds and always carries Psychic, whereas the latter can use Psychic to push past Gengar and inflict sleep on another Pokemon. Gengar is also very threatening to itself, because one Psychic is enough to leave it in range of Exeggutor's Psychic and Tauros and Snorlax's Earthquake, severely hindering its defensive ability. However, Slowbro and Starmie may not necessarily be running Psychic, and Thunderbolt turns the tides on them.
Rhydon: Gengar is OHKO'd by Rhydon and even if Sleep Clause is not active, clicking Hypnosis is often suboptimal, as one is taking a 60% gamble to put a Pokemon asleep over 40% of outright losing one, and that's before considering wake up chances. However, Rhydon should not necessarily be seen as a Gengar counter but more of a check, because Psychic means Rhydon can only expect to be able to switch in safely once, on average, and Rhydon depends a lot on keeping its HP as high as possible to be threatening.
Earthquake: Gengar is 2HKO'd by Snorlax and Tauros' Earthquake. Tauros' high critical-hit rate means that a critical hit OHKO is also a realistic prospect, whereas Gengar can only 4HKO Tauros and 5HKO Snorlax without resorting to Explosion. Hence, Gengar should be very wary of its HP, as its ability to be threatening becomes hindered once it is in range of these two Pokemon's Earthquake. However, with Sleep Clause active, Gengar can also force both Pokemon out, since Tauros is often percieved as too high value to risk the interaction and Snorlax is outsped. Moreover, Snorlax might not be using Earthquake, and although rare, Tauros can also choose to drop it for other moves, significantly improving the matchup for Gengar due to turning the 2HKOs into 5HKOs or 6HKOs.
Chansey: Once Sleep Clause is active, Chansey takes very little damage from Gengar's attacks, and can threaten it with paralysis and proceed to damage it while only being wary of the threat of Explosion. In fact, if carrying Reflect, Chansey doesn't even fear Explosion unless it scores a critical hit.
Paralysis: Gengar is notoriously weak to paralysis. In fact, it is often considered desirable to paralyse it even with Sleep Clause not yet active. A paralysed Gengar cannot block Sleep from the opponent consistently, since all of Jynx, opposing Gengar and Exeggutor carry a strong move to damage it with, and Chansey can chip it with its attacking moves until it is forced to Explode. Moreover, it means that Tauros is guaranteed to outspeed, and Snorlax with Earthquake becomes a much bigger threat. Paralysis also hinders the chances of landing Hypnosis, which coupled with the fact that a very significant amount of Pokemon in the tier can 2HKO it, makes landing Hypnosis a difficult proposition. All of this means that a paralysed Gengar will often be forced to Explode fairly quickly in a predictable fashion, making it significantly easier for the opponent to absorb Explosion in the most optimal way possible for them.
Chip damage: As mentioned before, Gengar heavily relies on its HP to be able to switch it in safely, be a defensive check and be more threatening. This means that chip damage with the intent of lowering Gengar's HP to the point it is in range of an Earthquake or Psychic is often good progress when it comes to beating it.
[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sceptross.123746/
Quality checked by:
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As the only fully evolved Ghost-type Pokemon in RBY, Gengar fulfills a unique role that no other Pokemon in the generation manages to accomplish: its immunity to Normal-type moves means that it does not take damage from Body Slam, Hyper Beam, Explosion, and Selfdestruct, four moves that completely shape the tier. Gengar is also the fastest sleep inducer available, getting the jump on other sleepers such as Jynx and Exeggutor, an extremely strong trait in a generation where the sleep status is so centralising. Finally, its high Special and Speed mean that it is capable of dishing out strong attacks that come with a 21.48% critical hit rate attached to them. This high critical hit rate also comes into relevance when Gengar uses Explosion, turning it into a very dangerous and disruptive Pokemon.
However, Gengar also comes with an array of shortcomings. Firstly, its Poison typing: it brings no upsides and gives Gengar two very crippling weaknesses to Psychic and Earthquake, two of the most common attacking moves in the tier. Most notably, Tauros and Snorlax 2HKO Gengar with Earthquake, and Starmie, Exeggutor, Alakazam, and Jynx 2HKO it with Psychic, severely hindering Gengar's ability to take on these Pokemon. Secondly, the two most important moves in its arsenal both come with a caveat: Hypnosis has very shaky 60% accuracy that will often prove extremely crippling when it misses, and Explosion comes off of a mediocre Attack stat, meaning that barring critical hits, it is one of the weakest Explosions in the tier. Thirdly, since its attacking options do not benefit from STAB, Gengar's damage output can oftentimes prove to be underwhelming. Lastly, despite being by no means a slow Pokemon, its speed can still leave to be desired, as it means it speed ties Tauros and is outsped by Starmie and Alakazam.
[SET]
name: Sleeper
move 1: Hypnosis
move 2: Explosion
move 3: Night Shade / Psychic / Thunderbolt
move 4: Psychic / Thunderbolt / Night Shade
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypnosis is pivotal to Gengar's success as a sleep inducer in the tier. Gengar possesses the fastest sleep-inducing move in the tier, which means it can get its sleep move in before other prevalent sleepers such as Jynx, Exeggutor and Sing Chansey.
Despite coming off of a mediocre 65 base Attack stat, Explosion is still a very strong move that should never be dropped. Gengar's speed also means that it will manage to Explode more consistently than other slower Explosion users such as Exeggutor, or Snorlax. Moreover, this high base speed means that the move comes with a high critical hit chance paired to it, which can significantly increase the value of Gengar's Explosion, netting a guaranteed KO on almost every Pokemon in the tier.
When used in the lead slot, Gengar is often the Pokemon one is willing to sack to sleep. This means that the final two moves' value is closely tied to how effective they are against the Pokemon Gengar is matched up against in the early game, since once asleep, Gengar's moveset will seldom matter anymore. Night Shade allows Gengar to pressure Exeggutor, the most consistent and common sleeper in the tier, who could switch in with impunity otherwise. Without Night Shade, Exeggutor is not really in a rush to click Sleep Powder, even being able to click Stun Spore and Psychic instead to attempt to beat or force Gengar out, inflicting Sleep onto another Pokemon instead.
As for the final move, Psychic allows Gengar to hit opposing Gengar harder than any other move. Thunderbolt is generally not as effective because its biggest target, Starmie, commonly carries Psychic when used in the lead slot. Moreover, Psychic-less Starmie variants often switch out of Gengar to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Jynx in the hopes of catching a switch to a Pokemon such as Sing Chansey, making Thunderbolt a worse choice overall. However, if Starmie is not expected to carry Psychic, or one plans their early game around paralysing Starmie and subsequently forcing sleep onto another Pokemon by threatening it with Thunderbolt, it becomes a considerably stronger option.
Gengar excels in the lead slot both due to being able to immediately threaten Sleep using its fast Hypnosis and being arguably the best Pokemon in the tier to sack to Sleep, since it retains a lot of its utility even while asleep through its Normal-type immunity. Outspeeding Jynx is especially relevant since both are most commonly found in the lead slot and teams with Jynx usually do not carry any other sleeper in the team, creating an awkward situation for the Jynx user both through the threat of Hypnosis or Explosion paired with a backup sleeper. Some of its utility includes deterring the opponent from clicking Explosion simply by virtue of its existence, as well as walling Tauros and Snorlax variants not packing Earthquake or Amnesia. Moreover, it allows its user to switch into Body Slams and Hyper Beams, drawing in weaker moves such as Earthquake or Ice moves from the aforementioned Snorlax and Tauros for cleaner entry to another Pokemon. These two reasons also give the Gengar user opportunities to try to wake it up, as the opponent may click the Normal move again expecting the switch, or burn sleep turns against the aforementioned Tauros and Snorlax sets.
Gengar's perks while asleep mean that one should generally opt to Psychic opposing Gengar instead of clicking Hypnosis. One Psychic leaves Gengar in a very awkward position against Pokemon such as Exeggutor, who can now much more effectively push Sleep past Gengar since Psychic is now a KO, and Snorlax, who can now threaten the KO too with Earthquake. In fact, even if Snorlax is not packing Earthquake, Gengar will still have to respect its threat and oftentimes switch out, allowing even mono-attacking Snorlax variants to capitalise on the opponent's lack of information to generate progress it would otherwise not be able to. When using Gengar for its defensive abilities, one must be very aware of its HP, because Gengar relies on it a lot to perform that job.
Nevertheless, leading Gengar often translates into high variance and a lot of mindgames in the first turns of the game. This is especially acute in lead Gengar dittos, because of Psychic's special drop chance, Gengar's critical hit rate, and Hypnosis' shaky accuracy. Even if the opponent is not leading Gengar, experienced opponents will often try to beat Gengar instead of inflicting sleep on it. This includes both damaging it with a strong move, creating the dynamics mentioned in the previous paragraph, or even paralysing it instead, since a paralysed Gengar is often preferrable to a sleeping Gengar. These dynamics result in several mindgames across the early game surronding clicking a Sleep move versus a Paralysis-inducing/attacking move.
Despite being less common than lead Gengar, a Gengar used outside the first slot dodges the early game mindgames and high variance dynamics lead Gengar often provides. It also allows Gengar to come in against Snorlax and Tauros early game, since these Pokemon will generally click Body Slam until Gengar has been revealed (unless given a specific reason not to, such as scouting for Counter on Chansey). This allows the Gengar user to turn the tables on them and immediately generate threat through sleep - it outspeeds Snorlax and Tauros is generally percieved as too high value to be sacked to sleep, thus being forced out.
Night Shade's ability to hit Exeggutor becomes of less importance outside the lead slot, since Gengar is considerably less subject to pressure from Exeggutor when played from the back. Moreover, Thunderbolt allows Gengar to hit Water-types such as Starmie, Cloyster, Slowbro, and Lapras for super effective damage, Psychic-types such as Alakazam and Jynx for more damage than Psychic, as well as coming with a nice 10% paralysis chance, all traits that are more relevant when Gengar is used outside the lead slot. Lastly, since Gengar appreciates the ability to hit Rhydon hard and reliably forcing Rest Snorlax without Earthquake out, Psychic is generally preferred over Night Shade too. When kept awake, back Gengar can also be more effectively used for the aforementioned defensive traits against Snorlax and Tauros, since it can actually damage them in return.
Team Options
========
Due to how inconsistent Gengar's sleep move is, how exploitable it is, and the wide range of Pokemon that can 2HKO it by exploring its Poison-type, Gengar should be paired with another sleep-inducing Pokemon. The most common options include Sleep Powder Exeggutor and Sing Chansey. The former is the most consistent way at inflicting sleep, since Exeggutor is less exploitable and packs a more accurate sleep move. However, it is a notoriously weak core to Starmie carrying both Psychic and Blizzard. One should expect to play the early game on the backfoot at sight of Starmie lead if using this core, especially if the opponent also has an Exeggutor of their own. The latter doesn't have any notorious bad early game matchups, however, it relies on two considerably innacurate moves, which allows for Pokemon such as Alakazam and Starmie to muscle past Chansey through repeated Sing misses, Psychic special drops, paralysis chance, or in the case of Starmie, a freeze. Even against lead Gengar, especially if paired with Exeggutor, it is not unrealistic for one to end up with one of Gengar and Chansey KOed and the other asleep without inflicting sleep beforehand because of the Gengar/Exeggutor early game dynamics already mentioned.
When including Gengar in teams using the Chansey-Snorlax-Tauros core, one should generally also pair it with at least one Psychic-type. Exeggutor is an especially good partner for Gengar as it resists both Psychic and Earthquake, whereas Gengar can take the normal moves thrown at Exeggutor, thus giving the possibility of one creating safe entry points for the other, especially in the early game when full teams are not revealed yet. Starmie also appreciates Gengar drawing Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, avoiding the threat of paralysis from Body Slam upon entry. These dynamics also allow Gengar to more easily burn sleep turns should it attempt to wake up. When it comes to the Normal-type trio's movesets, the presence of Gengar discourages the use of Counter Chansey, since the utility provided by both overlaps considerably, whereas the choice of the movesets on Tauros and Snorlax generally depends more on the rest of the team than Gengar itself.
Outside of teams including the aforementioned trio of Normal-type Pokemon, Gengar can also take part in a core of Explosion users including Pokemon such as Exeggutor, Snorlax, Cloyster, or Golem, which pave the way for fast win conditions such as Tauros, Starmie, Alakazam, and Jolteon, or Pokemon carrying Agility such as Zapdos, to late-game sweep.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
The most common other options include Mega Drain and Confuse Ray. Mega Drain is used with the purpose of 2HKOing Rhydon. However, Psychic is already a roll to 3HKO before factoring in the chance of a Special drop, and it does not turn the matchup in Gengar's favour, since Rhydon has a guaranteed with OHKO with Earthquake. Confuse Ray is used with the intent of denying recovery to Pokemon such as Chansey, Alakazam, or Rest Snorlax, or providing safer entry points, but the fact it is RNG reliant makes it an inconsistent option.
Gengar can use Toxic in teams utilising partial trapping strategies, but these teams are often inconsistent and luck reliant as a whole. Gengar can also use Submission to threaten a 3HKO on Chansey, but its accuracy and recoil make it a fringe option - Gengar will take 60% in recoil damage to KO a Chansey from full HP. Moreover, Rest can seem like an appealing option on Gengar, but Gengar's frailty and typing mean that it is 2HKO'd by a very significant amount of the Pokemon in the tier, making it hard to wake it up. There is also little incentive to run it, as it does not need Rest to wall the Pokemon it already does without it.
Lastly, it should be noted that despite the fact Gengar learns Seismic Toss (which has 8 extra PP), the fact Seismic Toss can be countered on Gengar's switch and Night Shade cannot makes Night Shade the superior choice, since Gengar generally does not last enough to make use of the 8 extra PP.
Checks and Counters
===================
Psychic: Gengar is 2HKO'd by every STAB Psychic user in the tier. Alakazam and Exeggutor deserve special mentions because the former outspeeds and always carries Psychic, whereas the latter can use Psychic to push past Gengar and inflict sleep on another Pokemon. Gengar is also very threatening to itself, because one Psychic is enough to leave it in range of Exeggutor's Psychic and Tauros and Snorlax's Earthquake, severely hindering its defensive ability. However, Slowbro and Starmie may not necessarily be running Psychic, and Thunderbolt turns the tides on them.
Rhydon: Gengar is OHKO'd by Rhydon and even if Sleep Clause is not active, clicking Hypnosis is often suboptimal, as one is taking a 60% gamble to put a Pokemon asleep over 40% of outright losing one, and that's before considering wake up chances. However, Rhydon should not necessarily be seen as a Gengar counter but more of a check, because Psychic means Rhydon can only expect to be able to switch in safely once, on average, and Rhydon depends a lot on keeping its HP as high as possible to be threatening.
Earthquake: Gengar is 2HKO'd by Snorlax and Tauros' Earthquake. Tauros' high critical-hit rate means that a critical hit OHKO is also a realistic prospect, whereas Gengar can only 4HKO Tauros and 5HKO Snorlax without resorting to Explosion. Hence, Gengar should be very wary of its HP, as its ability to be threatening becomes hindered once it is in range of these two Pokemon's Earthquake. However, with Sleep Clause active, Gengar can also force both Pokemon out, since Tauros is often percieved as too high value to risk the interaction and Snorlax is outsped. Moreover, Snorlax might not be using Earthquake, and although rare, Tauros can also choose to drop it for other moves, significantly improving the matchup for Gengar due to turning the 2HKOs into 5HKOs or 6HKOs.
Chansey: Once Sleep Clause is active, Chansey takes very little damage from Gengar's attacks, and can threaten it with paralysis and proceed to damage it while only being wary of the threat of Explosion. In fact, if carrying Reflect, Chansey doesn't even fear Explosion unless it scores a critical hit.
Paralysis: Gengar is notoriously weak to paralysis. In fact, it is often considered desirable to paralyse it even with Sleep Clause not yet active. A paralysed Gengar cannot block Sleep from the opponent consistently, since all of Jynx, opposing Gengar and Exeggutor carry a strong move to damage it with, and Chansey can chip it with its attacking moves until it is forced to Explode. Moreover, it means that Tauros is guaranteed to outspeed, and Snorlax with Earthquake becomes a much bigger threat. Paralysis also hinders the chances of landing Hypnosis, which coupled with the fact that a very significant amount of Pokemon in the tier can 2HKO it, makes landing Hypnosis a difficult proposition. All of this means that a paralysed Gengar will often be forced to Explode fairly quickly in a predictable fashion, making it significantly easier for the opponent to absorb Explosion in the most optimal way possible for them.
Chip damage: As mentioned before, Gengar heavily relies on its HP to be able to switch it in safely, be a defensive check and be more threatening. This means that chip damage with the intent of lowering Gengar's HP to the point it is in range of an Earthquake or Psychic is often good progress when it comes to beating it.
[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sceptross.123746/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
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https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user6.105/
Last edited:
