Gengar Role
A few recent posts have been about Gengar powerups. I started looking at him more. I have a 98% Legacy Shadow Claw/Ball Gengar at level 25 and am debating investing.
My question is about the use for him. Looking at the gym defender lists, he is a poor choice against all but a few. Dragonite is nuetral. Gyarados I'd avoid because most have Bite. A Rock Smash/Stone Edge Rhydon is another chance to use gengar, but that is just one moveset.
Do people with gengar find him often used? Additionally, I powered up a Hex/Shadow Ball gengar during the week that moveset was awesome, so I'm also not sure if the one with shadow Claw is that much better to be worth it.
Answers
I wasn't really looking at hitting super effective, but with Blissey and Snorlax you are, at best taking neutral damage and being resisted, while at worst taking SE and being resisted. Tyranitar is similar. Gyarados deals for SE and gets hit for neutral, as does a Rhydon with ground moves.
I understand the idea of sheer damage output, but I can't imagine he deals 25% more damage than others to make up for being resisted or being hit hard with his low HP. Does he?
I powered up a SC/SB Gengar over the weekend with two main uses in mind:
- Quickly powering through the weaker defenders at the bottom of a gym. I don't want to take the time to switch Mons to get SE matchups.
- Secondary Dragonite attacker. I don't have many ice Mons, so right now Gengar is one of my best options for rapidly KOing Dragonite defenders.
Plus it's just fun having such a DPS beast. The strongest of glass cannons!
Here's a list of best attackers per type by Trainer Tips. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KEfDPfG5jaE3wd-cKQbyJc_05oC1wDll19-m700V73c/edit?usp=sharing&authuser=1&pageId=117739775137850659916 In the 'Overall %' column the Pokémon's DPS is compared to the DPS of a Gengar with Shadow Claw & Shadow Ball. Two columns over the Super Effective damage of these Pokémon is compared to the DPS of SC&SB Gengar and you'll see that only a few Pokémon can output more DPS.