Gengar (OU Revamp)

Spooky Ghost n_n

[Overview]

[Set]Name: SubSplit
Move 1: Shadow Ball
Move 2: Focus Blast
Move 3: Substitute
Move 4: Pain Split
Item: Life Orb / Black Sludge
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spd

[Set Comments]
This is an offensive Gengar set backed up by recovery and Substitute, allowing it to play for the long game rather than be a glass cannon like most Gengar sets. Substitute gives you protection from the Pursuits of Tyranitar and Scizor (which would otherwise KO you), and thereby allow it to play throughout the game. Pain Split was added to Gengar's movepool in HGSS and forms the crux of this set, allowing Gengar to survive damage from Sand, Life Orb recoil, and spawning Substitutes by stealing the Hitpoints of its enemies. It can also help to weaken certain opponents: After a Pain Split and a layer of Spikes Blissey is 2HKOed by Focus Blast, which is a godsend for both Gengar and special attackers paired with it. Shadow Ball and Focus Blast are both crucial as they get perfect neutral coverage on the OverUsed tier, making Gengar well-nigh uncheckable.

The EVs are fairly straightforward, Maximum speed and Attack allow Gengar to hit as hard as possible while getting the jump on opposing Gengars and everything slower. Life Orb is crucial for two reasons: for one the extra power is crucial in powering through Mixed Walls like Hippowdon, Skarmory, and Vaporeon, and for the other it causes Gengar to get worn down more, thereby making its Pain Split stronger.

[Additional Comments]
As mentioned before, only one layer of Spikes is necessary to beat a Blissey, and Spikes can also wear down Tyranitar, Scizor and Jirachi, common switch-ins to this set: Toxic Spikes can work in a similar vein despite not affecting Steel types. Good Spiking partners include Skarmory, Roserade and Forretress.
Heatran has incredible type synergy with Gengar and thereby the two can create switch-in opportunities for each other: Gengar walks in on a Close Combat or Earthquake aimed at Heatran, and retreats to let Heatran sponge the Crunch coming his way. Heatran also checks SpDef Jirachi, which is one of the biggest threats to this set.
SD Lucario appreciates Gliscor, its nemesis, being set-up on, and can cover Gengar's weaknesses too. One of the oldest tricks in the book is to allow your Gengar to get Pursuited in the lategame, then bring in Lucario, set-up on the hapless Choice-locked mon, and go to town with it.

Name: SubStatus
Move 1: Substitute
Move 2: Shadow Ball
Move 3: Focus Blast
Move 4: Will-o-Wisp / Hypnosis
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Timid
EVs: 112 HP / 64 Def / 80 SpA / 252 Spd

[Set Comments]
This is a bulkier Gengar with Substitute, designed to spinblock and ruin its checks with Status. Gengar's main checks (Tyranitar and Steel types) are absolutely ruined by Will-o-Wisp, which wears them down and compromises their ability to do damage: with the spread, Jirachi can't even break your Substitue once burned. Speaking of which, Substitute is another crucial, move for this set, as it provides cover from Tyranitars and Scizors switching in to try and Pursuit you and allows you to get a safe Wisp off. As mentioned elsewhere Shadow Ball and Focus Blast get perfect coverage on the OU tier, meaning Gengar can wreak havoc. Hypnosis is an option as Sleep is crippling to just about everything, but stuff like Scizor can still stay in and fish for a wake-up. Black Sludge is the main choice of item as it allows you to heal back HP used for Substitutes, as well as other chip damage taken.

The EVs are super crucial as they provide Bulk for survival against a wide range of threats. The defense and HP provide a Black Sludge number to gain back maximum health, and make sure Adamant Breloom and Burned Jirachi cannot break your Substitute. More importantly, it also gives you a good chance to take a boosted Lucario's Bullet Punch from full, making it a last ditch check. The Special Attack improves your chances of killing Scarf Tyranitar from full.

[Additional Comments]
ALWAYS use Substitute your first turn in, I cannot emphasise how crucial this is. This allows you to scout the switch-in, and reduce the risks of attacking or switching
The EVs can be tweaked, 168 SpA for example has a 2HKO on uninvested Gyarados and an OHKO on uninvested Tyranitar after Stealth Rock damage, while other spreads can be used to take certain hits or achieve certain kills, the spread above is just the one that is effective in the most scenarios.
Taunt can be used over Substitute to gain a stallbreaker, which can work very well against some mons like Blissey or Clefable, however it's an inferior option overall.

This Gengar makes a good partner for some Special Offense teams which appreciate Jirachi, Tyranitar and Skarmory crippled and can go to town with it. Dragon Dance Tyranitar also makes a solid partner as it appreciates Scizor and Scarf Jirachi being burned: this compromises their ability to revenge kill it.
Heatran is a good teammate for Gengar as it can switch in on steel types once burned, as well as burned Tyranitar. Zapdos can also take on all 4 (burned) without fear., as Tyranitar's Stone Edge is too weak to effect a KO. However, a more dedicated Tyranitar/Jirachi switch-in like Swampert or Gliscor is also nice to have as both mons still have the potential to get kills when burned.
Will-o-Wisp doesn't quite threaten Blissey bei. Explo Tran can help in that department.

Name: Life Orb
Move 1: Shadow Ball
Move 2: Focus Blast
Move 3: Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fire
Move 4: Explosion / Hypnosis / Taunt
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Timid / Naive
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spd

Name: Choice Scarf
Move 1: Shadow Ball
Move 2: Focus Blast
Move 3: Thunderbolt
Move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Explosion
Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid / Naive
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spd

Name: Lead
Move 1: Icy Wind
Move 2: Shadow Ball
Move 3: Focus Blast / Taunt
Move 4: Counter
Item: Focus Sash
Nature: Mild / Hasty
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd

Other Options:
Taunt+WoW is an option to break down Blissey and Clefable but lack of protection that Sub affords can bite you.
Protect

Checks and Counters:
Choice Scarfed Tyranitar, Scizor and Jirachi check most variants of Gengar but hate getting burned by the SubWoW set. ScarfTar also cannot switch in due to Focus Blast.
Blissey stops Life Orb Gengars but falls to the SubSplitter, while the rare Taunt+WoW can stall it out.
Hippowdon, Skarmory and Vaporeon do decently against non LO-sets but get shredded by Life Orb boosted damage
Weavile cannot switch-in but can beat Gengar if it gets in safely. Other fast mons can work in a similar vein.
 
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PDC

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subsplit should be first set mentioned. black sludge deserves a slash on the set as well.

life orb is fine i guess. sball / blast / bolt (fire) / explosion hits most things u need it 2. should change to naive when using explosion though.

opt for a bulkier spread on the status gengar. a little HP goes a long when when ur main objective isn't purely to just fire off attacks and hope they kill. something for like breloom would be a nice start, or ihead from a jirachi not breaking ur sub after u get burned or whatever.

do people still use scarf gengar? it still has it's uses as it can outspeed any other choice scarfer, trick and explode but i haven't seen anybody use it in awhile. still deserves a mention though.

taunt + wisp could be mentioned somewhere, probably in a/c.

checks and counters: scarftar, bulky zor, scarf zor, sdef rachi and blissey is a buffer but it really can't 'beat' the subsplit set / loses to taunt / explosion sets.

teammates: gengar works with stuff that can feed off of it being pursuited / breaking. lucario (sd and agility), mixape etc. gengar also loves hazards especially if ur facing stall because it forces a lot of switches.
 
I thought Life Orb was the best set (by consensus). but yeah I'm a huge SubSplit fan so it'll go first.

I'm already running 252 HP on SubStatus Gengar, aside from that one could cut 8 EVS in Speed to creep Nape, and run like 248 HP / 16 Def / 244 Spd - like it or not Gengar will need that speed to win.

Was gonna fill in checks and counters at some point, aside from the stuff you mentioned add some other Mixed walls like Skarm, Hippo and Vap (none flat out beat it but all three can annoy it). Also faster mons like ScarfTran, Starmie and Weavile are perennially annoying.
 
Starmie a check ? you can only come on non-substitue variant(as you said it in the viability ranking its rare to see gengar without sub these day) and you need to be offensive to KO him back.Only offensive Starmie can be listen as check.

With Pain split/Focus Blast/Explosion/Taunt,Blissey isn't a check anymore,some stall team are using Clefable which can really work well.
 
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clefable is a terrible gengar counter or even check

252 SpA Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 204-240 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
odds are if it isnt lo, itll taunt or hypnosis. its only good at stalling out one variant, sub wisp, which is probably rarer than even scarf or lead gar.

252 SpA Life Orb Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 264-312 (67 - 79.1%)
self explanatory. keep in mind this is against absolute max clef too and you usually want a few defense evs, not to mention the times when its gonna want to run bold.

on the topic of starmie the supposed gengar check: no.

mild shouldnt even be a slash on the lead, losing to infernape is bad.

its more surprising to see a black sludge gar use pain split but you really want lo for the power that lets you 2hko almost everything short of sdef hippowdon/jirachi, plus the ohko on tran is really big and it helps abuse ps.

definitely need a taunt mention along with willowisp. i would also like a more specific spread than just max hp/spe to live certain things and achieve certain kills - these are just off the top of my head but for example, 168 satk is a 2hko on 0/0 gyara after sr all but .4% of the time and has an 81.3% chance to kill 0/0 tar from full. meanwhile if you stick the remaining 88 evs in hp, you get nice things like taking 85.5% max from scarftar pursuit, so itll never kill after sr and has a good chance to live sand as well, while scarfzor is maxing out at 82%. adamant gyara waterfall and modest zapdos tbolt have only a 6.3% to kill after sr, timid cune hydro doesnt kill even with sr + sand, unboosted max satk starmie never kills with hydro even after sr, even heatran fire blast only has a 25% to kill from full, breloom seed bomb goes from having a very good chance to 2hko after sr/sand to a very low chance. not saying that this should be the spread or something, its just off the top of my head, but there is definitely something more efficient than max hp. 144 hp survives +2 luc bullet punch from full which is a nice thing to have, and you can imagine the cushion it gets against all those other attacks i just mentioned from it. however you cant just have it have no satk investment or it loses a lot of effectiveness.
 
Might as well include Specs on the Scarf set and say Choice. I mean, neither has been used, so don't see the harm. There's not much reason to run Scarf anyway, most just EV other mons to beat/creep 100s.
 
Removed Clef and Star from checks

As far as EVs go I think 176 HP + 8 Def (or something like that) is a necessity to make sure burned Jirachi doesn't break your subs with Iron Head. As 176 is a Lefties number I chalked up the Defense a bit (like 40-48) to make sure Adamant Loom Seed Bomb only 3HKOes and Adamant Luke's +2 BP fails to OHKO (25% chance after SR and sand but w/e). Throwing the rest in SpA ensures you get at least a chance to kill ScarfTar (excluding SR and potential Burn) and 2HKO uninvested Jirachi with the burn. More SpA would be amazing but I really would not want to sacrifice the defensive utility that I have on this.

Also will finish this and Scizor as soon as I get my laptop back, cause doing this on a phone is tiresome.
 
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Throwing the rest in SpA ensures you get about a 2/3 chance to kill ScarfTar (excluding SR and potential Burn) and 2HKO uninvested Jirachi with the burn.
i didnt understand this

36 SpA Gengar Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 296-352 (86.8 - 103.2%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

imho less spa u should invest is 44 as it guarantees ohko on scarftar after sr:

44 SpA Gengar Focus Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 300-356 (87.9 - 104.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

i think this spread could fit too w/o giving up too much spa:

112 hp / 64 def / 80 spa / 252 spe, timid

112 hp: lefties number, same things bkc mentioned on the special side about 88 hp + guarantee survives modest zap tbolt after sr
64 def: same things: burned sdef rachi doesn't break subs, max ada loom is a 3hko, etc, and others like odds are v likely in ur favor (93%) to survive pursuit/burned cruch from scarf tar even after 2 rounds of sr
max spe and rest in spa
 

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