Gengar the Ghost

[WaterWizard]

Gengar is a singularity in RBY battle. As the only Ghost, no other pokemon is like him.

Take a look at these stats: 323 228 218 358 318 (21.5%)

-Gengar is among the top ten fastest pokemon, tied with Tauros.
-Gengar has the 2nd (3rd) highest special in the game, 60 points higher than Starmie.
-Gengar hits Flying, Water, Poison, Fighting, Rock, and Ground for super effective damage with 358 special, albeit with no STAB.
-Gengar has Hypnosis, making him the fastest sleeper in the game, albeit with shaky accuracy.
-Gengar is immune to Normal/Fighting. Check it; Gengar takes 0% from a Snorlax Self-Destruct and 0% from a Tauros Body Slam.
-Gengar completely walls Persian, Pinsir, Scyther, Victreebel, Venusaur, SurfLax, and many others.
-Gengar learns Night Shade, an uncounterable 100HP attack.
-Gengar learns Explosion, making him a mixed sweeper.

---

Gengar is top OU for a reason. He does so many things that no one else can do...

Chain Switching... Don't knock it. You're only lying to yourself if you think this isn't a useful strategy.

Explosion Catching... No one does it like Gengar. No one.

Fast Booming... Gengar's Explosion allows him to put tremendous pressure on Alakazam, Chansey, Jynx, and many other pokemon who would otherwise just sponge Gengar.

---

A little about Gengar's 358 unstabbed Special....

-Gengar can always 2HKO Starmie with Thunderbolt. 1HKO with a crit. He also does around 40% to Articuno/Lapras.
-Gengar always 2HKOs Slowbro (49-57%), while Chansey/Starmie cannot 2HKO Slowbro.
-Gengar 2HKO's Golem/Rhdyon with Mega Drain, which gives back major HP.

~

As for special defense, Gengar has the same index as Alakazam (actually a tiny bit higher). For instance, they both take 46% max from an Articuno Blizzard. Gengar's special defense index is in the top 15 of all pokemon.

---

In conclusion, Gengar is certainly not "bad" or "gimmicky" or anything of the sort. Gengar is a staple on many OU teams, and this phenomenon is easily justified.

~

more info to follow... i'm walking down to the beach now

WW

[jorgen]

Gengar's a mon of extremes. Everything goes as planned, Gengar's a 3-for-1. Sleep one thing, eat another's explosion, explode on something else. On the flip side, get predicted, or miss Hypnosis, and Gengar eats a big hit. It's very likely that it will just die without accomplishing anything. That's why chain-switching with Gengar is silly. Yes, you can use it to eat explosions if you're confident, those are a big deal. But is chain-switching to avoid a single Snorlax Bslam worth the EQ risk? Especially when it has the leeway to Bslam on the foreseeable chain to Egg/Lapras/whatever?

Gengar's cool and all, but you really gotta be smart about him and not use him so fast-and-loose-like. Chain-switching to avoid Snorlax Bslams is a misuse of his power, and just makes it more predictable when you want it to eat something that's a bigger deal.

On another note, I personally feel that lead Gengar is kinda dumb, even though that's how everyone tells you to use him. Sure, give away your explosion immunity while risking having it eat a huge (potentially OHKO) hit just to get the first sleep off. Good for you. But imo, Gengar works best with surprise, and since Gar is so commonly led, a lot of people will assume you don't have it if you don't lead it. That lets you use it more effectively to absorb a boom in the middle game. In addition, a late-game Gar in itself can actually be pretty tough to deal with, being able to tie Tauros's speed and nail it with a zippy hypnosis/boom while everything else is either dead or weak enough to actually consider its attacks a threat.

[pocket]

Yea, I agree with jorgen that it is a really risky mon to use since most mons other than Chansey can smack it quite hard. I agree that Gengar is probably best when kept hidden until mid-game, but he is undoubtedly one of the top leads in RBY, thanks to its Speedy Hypnosis, which can prevent the opposing Sleep lead from sleeping anything. If I lead with Eggy and Zam I will most likely get them slept, and I am not too keen on having Jynx and Gengar on the same team (although I've seen some players doing it). And a sleeping Gengar can still contribute by switching in on Explosion, although it will probably be more predictable.

Gengar should always pack Night Shade over TB / MD imo. Otherwise it gets walled by Exeggutor, and giving Eggy free switch-ins isn't the best thing to do. It also hits everything, so there is no 'mis'prediction when the opponent brings in their Golem to try and soak up TB, for instance.

[garrinred]

Gengar is so awesome, he is the only pokemon with two discussion topics on this board.

[borat]

I'm genuinely interested. Gengar, or Starmie? Apples and oranges, I know. But seriously.

Also, Icy, since you read every post. Can you make my avatar blue? Cheers.

[Zilch]

Really? I always thought red was your color.

[borat]

You're wrong.

See here: rby2k10.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=acments&thread=862&page=1#6947

It's really easy, open up ps, blue hue, done. I'd do it, but I don't have it installed atm.