Pokmon GO: Best Moveset For Gengar & Is It Any Good?

2 days ago 6

Pokémon GO

The Pokemon Gengar against a custom purple background

Gengar has a wide selection of attacks in Pokémon GO, but there is one moveset that stands as its best compared to other combinations. The final evolution from the original set of Ghost-type Pokémon, this Gen-1 head of the Ghastly family is still a fan-favorite for good reason. With a high attack and a selection of resistances, the broad-grinning purple ghoul can be a great member of your team in the right circumstances.

Gengar also has a handful of weaknesses as well, though, so Trainers need to be selective about when it's best to use it. If you want to expand your arsenal of ghosts after learning how to evolve Yamask in Pokémon GO, Gengar is still a no-brainer. You just need to make use of the best Fast Attacks and Charge Attacks to get the most out of the mischievous-looking ghoul.

Best Moves To Use With Gengar

Lick & Shadow Ball

The best moveset for Gengar in Pokémon GO is having Lick as its Fast Attack and Shadow Ball as its Charged Attack. It's a close call because Gengar's dual Ghost and Poison typing means you can use both types of moves to get a 20% STAB (same-type attack bonus). Alternatively, you could swap out Shadow Ball for Sludge Bomb and achieve roughly the same results.

A group of spooky Pokemon, including Dusclops, Shuppet, Gengar, Bannete, Murkrow, Sabeleye, and Duskull, silhouetted by the moon

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However, when crunching the numbers, Lick and Shadow Ball achieve an overall higher DPS (damage per second) of 16.28 compared to Lick and Sludge Bomb's 15.73. That is part of why Shadow Ball is also great to use for movesets of counters against Dynamax Ghastly in Pokémon GO. Even when you're not prepping a Gengar to battle Pokémon of types that are weak to Ghost-type attacks - Psychic and Ghost-types - this moveset will still make yours a decent all-round attacker to deal strong neutral damage.

You can only have Gengar learn Lick in Pokémon GO by using an Elite TM.

Is Gengar Good For Battles?

In Certain Circumstances

Gengar against the background art for the Pokemon GO Hallowen Part 1 event

With a high Attack stat but lower Stamina and Defense, Gengar is widely considered a glass cannon, but can still be good in Pokémon GO for certain PvE match-ups and PvP battles. Its four weaknesses; Dark, Ghost, Ground, and Psychic; and low bulk don't make it great for defending Gyms, since it can easily be countered.

When taking on Raids along with Great League and Ultra League matches, on the other hand, Gengar's fantastic for dealing high amounts of damage at a fast rate, especially when you take its Mega Evolution and Dynamax forms into account. It's only in facing the high contenders in the Master League with better stats where it falls short. Just remember to add Lick and Shadow Ball to its moveset, and you'll have the best Gengar to add to your Pokémon GO team.