Gengar is a Tier 3 (or a Tier 4 during Gengar day) raid boss in Pokemon GO with 21207 boss combat power. Gengar counters are mostly strong Ghost, Psychic, Dark and Ground Pokemon like Shadow Ball Mewtwo, Groudon, Zen Headbutt / Psychic Metagross, Bite / Crunch Tyranitar and Psychic Latios. In this guide, we’re covering best Gengar counters for both Tier difficulties, and the best strategies to defeat it.
A Gengar raid boss can have these Combat Power values when caught through raid encounters:
- 1420 – 1644 CP at Level 20, without weather boost
- 1776 – 2055 CP at Level 25, under Fog or Cloudy weather boost
A Tier 3 Gengar raid can be effectively solo’d, as outlined in our Gengar Solo Raid Guide, while you will need at least 2 (we recommend 3) players to take down a Tier 4 Gengar raid boss.
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Best attackers against Gengar
| # | Pokemon | Fast Move | Charge Move | Time to win | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |
Gengar (Mega)
|
Hex | Shadow Ball | 87.5s | 4 |
| 2. |
Mewtwo
|
Psycho Cut | Psystrike | 91.6s | 5 |
| 3. |
Landorus (Therian)
|
Mud Shot | Earth Power | 118.7s | 5 |
| 4. |
Giratina (Origin)
|
Shadow Claw | Shadow Ball | 124.5s | 4 |
| 5. |
Latios
|
Zen Headbutt | Psychic | 115.6s | 6 |
| 6. |
Metagross
|
Zen Headbutt | Psychic | 119.9s | 5 |
| 7. |
Groudon
|
Mud Shot | Earthquake | 130.2s | 5 |
| 8. |
Garchomp
|
Mud Shot | Earthquake | 130.4s | 5 |
| 9. |
Houndoom (Mega)
|
Snarl | Foul Play | 115.2s | 6 |
| 10. |
Landorus
|
Mud Shot | Earth Power | 128.3s | 5 |
| 11. |
Meloetta (Aria)
|
Confusion | Psyshock | 134.1s | 5 |
| 12. |
Rhyperior
|
Mud Slap | Earthquake | 134.3s | 5 |
| 13. |
Darmanitan (Zen)
|
Fire Fang | Psychic | 133.1s | 6 |
| 14. |
Gengar
|
Lick | Shadow Ball | 119.1s | 7 |
| 15. |
Darkrai
|
Snarl | Shadow Ball | 123.4s | 6 |
| 16. |
Hydreigon
|
Bite | Dark Pulse | 132.8s | 6 |
| 17. |
Latias
|
Zen Headbutt | Psychic | 135.2s | 6 |
| 18. |
Kyurem (Black)
|
Shadow Claw | Blizzard | 134.7s | 6 |
| 19. |
Excadrill
|
Mud Slap | Drill Run | 130.5s | 5 |
| 20. |
Jirachi
|
Confusion | Psychic | 139.5s | 5 |
| 21. |
Victini
|
Confusion | Psychic | 138.7s | 6 |
| 22. |
Gardevoir
|
Confusion | Psychic | 128.9s | 7 |
| 23. |
Blastoise (Mega)
|
Bite | Hydro Cannon | 141.8s | 6 |
| 24. |
Exeggutor
|
Zen Headbutt | Psychic | 125.4s | 8 |
| 25. |
Celebi
|
Confusion | Psychic | 138.3s | 7 |
| 26. |
Gallade
|
Confusion | Synchronoise | 131.4s | 8 |
| 27. |
Charizard (Mega Y)
|
Fire Spin | Blast Burn | 146.7s | 6 |
| 28. |
Weavile
|
Snarl | Foul Play | 133.0s | 7 |
| 29. |
Alakazam
|
Confusion | Psychic | 121.6s | 9 |
| 30. |
Tyranitar
|
Bite | Crunch | 140.2s | 6 |
No matter if you try to solo Gengar or raid with friends, keep in mind that Gengar is dual typed: ghost and poison.
The best Pokémon to fight Gengar is undoubtedly Mewtwo. A Mewtwo, even if you only had Psychic, is going to be infinitely better than any counter on the list.
Additional Counters
If you are rather poor on the counters above, there are some other options for you, including:
- Gardevior with Confusion / Shadow Ball
- Rhyperior with Mud Slap / Earthquake
- Espeon with Confusion / Future Sight
- Absol with Snarl / Dark Pulse
- Banette with Shadow Claw / Shadow Ball
- Raikou with Thunder Shock / Shadow Ball
- Latias with Zen Headbutt / Psychic
Gengar’s raid moves analysis
Gengar is notorious for its varied move pool, with moves like Shadow Ball and Focus Blast eliminating certain counters in their respective match ups. Let’s see how they stack up.
| Fast move | Charge move |
|---|---|
|
|
If you take a deeper look at Gengar’s fast moves, you’ll soon realize that they’re not that different in a raid environment. All of them are dangerous against your Mewtwo and Gengar teams, where they deal Super Effective damage, but you will likely keep Gengar energy capped for the better part of the encounter, so it doesn’t really matter that much.
Charge move analysis
- Shadow Ball is Gengar’s most dangerous charged move, as it eliminates Mewtwo as a viable counter and deals a ton of damage to other Gengar counters. Best counters against this move are Tyranitar and Gengar, with Tyranitar being a potion friendly option.
- Focus Blast is another interesting move, as it eliminates Tyranitar from the list of viable counters. Although Gengar doesn’t benefit from STAB when using Focus Blast, the sheer damage output is too high for Tyranitar. Best Gengar counters versus Focus Blast are Mewtwo and Gengar.
- Sludge Bomb is a two bar Poison type move which we consider to be a easy Gengar raid move: it’s not super effective against any of the top counters and the damage output is not that high. Best counters against a Sludge Bomb Gengar are Mewtwo, Gengar and Tyranitar, but Groudon, Espeon and Meteor Mash Metagross are also viable.
Quick Gengar Solo Raid Tips
Gengar Solo raids, when it is a Tier 3, are possible and have been already achieved using the Pokémon highlighted above.
- Stock up with a healthy amount of Mewtwos and any combination of the above mentioned Pokémon
- Do not attempt if you’re under Level 30 and your Pokémon are not decently powered up, you will just waste resources
- Do not enter the raid unless you have proper movesets. Movesets are everything against Gengar. A focus blast Gengar can ruin a Tyranitar for example, but at the same time it just makes the already godly Mewtwo and frail Gengar that much better.
