Gengar: Best Moveset, Weaknesses & Counters, Stats, and Evolution

The world of Pokémon has been a growing phenomenon since 1996, when the first pair of video games came out in stores. Pokémon started off as a video game series and although new creatures are primarily introduced in the video games, the anime series has become as popular as the video games. As of December 2021, there are almost 900 individual Pokémon identified by the PokéDex and in this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about one of them – Gengar.

Gengar is a dual Ghost- and Poison-type Pokémon first introduced in Generation I of the core video games. It is the second and final evolution form of Gastly. Gastly first evolves into Haunter, which, in turn, evolves into Gengar. It is weak only to Ground-, Ghost-, Psychic-, and Dark-type moves, and is super effective against Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokémon. It is immune to Normal- and Fighting-type moves.

In this article, we are going to tell you all the information you’ll need if you want to breed a Gengar in any of the games. You’ll find out about its type, its powers, its strengths and weaknesses, its evolutions, and its moves. We’re going to focus on both the core games, as well as other popular video games based on the Pokémon franchise.

Best moveset

In the Pokémon GO videogame, the best moves for your Gengar are Lick and Shadow Ball if you’re battling Pokémon in Gyms. Namely, this moveset gives you the highest total DPS and is, likewise, the best moveset for PVP battles. The official description for Lick reveals the following: “The target is licked with a long tongue, causing damage. This may also leave the target with paralysis”; as for Shadow Ball, the attack is described as follows: “The user hurls a shadowy blob at the target to deal damage. This may also lower the target’s defensive stats.”

Weaknesses and Counters

As a dual Ghost- and Poison-type Pokémon, Gengar is weak only to Ground-, Ghost-, Psychic-, and Dark-type moves, and is super effective against Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokémon. It is immune to Normal- and Fighting-type moves. It receives normal damage from Flying-, Rock-, Steel-, Fire-, Water-, Electric-, Ice-, Dragon-type moves.

Powers and Abilities

Gengar’s Stats, based on the most recent available data, are:

In Pokémon GO, Gengar has a Base Stamina of 155, a Base Attack of 349, and a Base Defense of 199.

As for its abilities, they are:

• Cursed Body: May disable a move used on the Pokémon.
• Levitate: By floating in the air, the Pokémon receives full immunity to all Ground-type moves. (Gen. III-VI)
• Shadow Tag: This Pokémon steps on the opposing Pokémon’s shadow to prevent it from escaping. (Hidden Ability)

Evolutions

Gengar was first introduced in Generation I as the second and final evolution of Gastly. Gastly first evolved into Haunter, starting at Level 25, but in order to evolve your Haunter into Gengar, you have to trade it with another player. Now, while Gengar has no Regional Variants, it does have a Mega Evolution (Mega Gengar is obtained by exposing Gengar to Gengarite) and a Gigantamax Form.

In Pokémon GO, Gengar is also obtained by first evolving Gastly into Haunter, for which you need 25 Gastly Candy, and after that, Haunter to Gengar, for which you need 100 Gastly Candy, or you can trade your Haunter to make the evolution “free” in terms of Candy needed..

Moves

As of Generation VIII, the movies that Gengar can learn are:

• Bold indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Gengar
• Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Gengar
• × indicates a move that cannot be used in Generation VIII

By leveling up

By TM

By transfer from another generation

In Pokémon GO, Gengar can learn Sucker Punch, Hex, Shadow Claw, and Lick as Fast Attacks, and Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Dark Pulse, Psychic, and Shadow Punch as Charged Attacks. Some of these attacks depend on when you caught and evolved your Gengar, as they are event-only attacks.