Spinblockers (Ghost-types)

[TGMD]

I think Destiny Bond is an underrated move that can definitely increase the effectiveness of Gengar's spin blocking capabilities. If it switches in on Forretress' Gyro Ball (which is a 2HKO after Stealth Rock) it can simply Destiny Bond and take Forretress down with it, letting you keep your hazards up for the rest of the game. This also works against Tentacruel, you switch in on a rain-boosted Scald (2HKO), Destiny Bond, then permanent hazards. In conclusion, you may have trouble fitting Destiny Bond onto a Gengar set, but it increases Gengar's effectiveness as a spin blocker and eases prediction by allowing you to throw Gengar in front of almost any spinner (Starmie needs to die -_-) with the knowledge that regardless of whether they spin or attack, your hazards will still be up by the time they switch out / get KOed.

 

[gengarsnemisis]

@The Great Mighty Doom: Thats actually a really good idea...i gotta try that !
Anyways, I've been using gengar as of latey on a HO team I just made and he's been nothing short of AMAZING at keeping my hazards on the field.

Jirachi @ Life Orb
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Satk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- HP Ice/fire
This is by far my favorite set for HO. Life orb helps with keeping more of an offensive presence, and honestly makes a huge difference. It's main job is to kill the spinner or severley weaken it than die. Thunderbolt is great for hitting Tentacruel extremely hard. Hp fire can smoke foretress and any other 4x. This thing just does work. He can easily beat every spinner except starmie, of course starmie is a huge pain I think the only way to solve starmie issues is a partner that can outright k0 starmie after gengar dies. Either way if you want offense and a great overall pokemon, gengar fits the bill.

 

[chimpact]

Taunt + Destiny bond is definitely an efficient way of taking out a rapid spinner. If they switch they just take more hazard damage and if they stay in, they're going to faint to Destiny Bond.

If I really need my hazards to stay I will pair my Gengar up with Scarf tar or weavile to take out starmies, which is pretty much the only spinner that can take on gengar 1v1 (and tenta, but you can at least damage it and it might not 2hko).

Thunder is also an option considering tenta is used primarily on rain teams.

 

[flea]

Yeah I can second that I've found DestinyGar to be a very good option for HO teams. If your team synergizes well enough without it you can forgo Disable or Focus Blast (really just a matter of preference) to take down tentacruel and forretress, especially. It's also actually a pretty useful move as a last-ditch way of killing anything that you're faster than but can't ko (banded terrakion/garcomp/dragonite and specs toed/sometimes latios are examples). This works especially well when you are facing teams that don't have spinners, often times I find a standard Gengar isn't very useful then and Destiny Bond works well to keep it from being a wasted slot. It's definitely a set that deserves mentioning on the strategy dex and this thread.

 

[Lavos]

I use Destiny Bond a lot on my Gengar for HO teams, especially when I know I'm going to be playing against a person who likes using defensively oriented teams, as those always seem to have either Forretress or Tentacruel to spin for them. With Taunt, Gengar lures Forretress into killing Gengar with Gyro Ball, and Tentacruel with Scald, then smacks on a Destiny Bond on the last turn to take the aforementioned spinner down with it. Since Gengar's only real purpose on most of my teams is to block Rapid Spin, losing it isn't a big deal, since hazards remain up on my opponent's side and it will now be much easier to set up a big sweep with Genesect, Landorus, Lucario, whatever it happens to be. Definitely add this to the OP, as Chimpakt and flea mention above. It's a great set for this metagame.

 

[dragonuser]

Really want to emphasize how useful MysticGar is atm. With everyone running Choiced mons MysticGar is extraordinarily good, and it is a phenomenal check to Scarf Genesect. I ran it on a weatherless HO team last suspect and had great results. A move that I found really great on it was Thunder. Thunder is great vs all the rain teams in our metagame, and can really hurt a Tentacruel who thinks they can Protect + Rain Dish off any damage. When using Gengar I have found a Life Orb to be very helpful. While MysticGar with a LO may sound frail and like it would die too fast, it really gives Gengar the extra power to break through countless walls and helps a lot vs spinners (Thunder does 80ish% to Tentacurel iirc). Its kind of a shame that Gengar isn't used more in this metagame, its fantastic.