Gengar build and sets

Q: What is the best Gengar build in Pokémon Champions?

The most used tournament build is Gengar @ Gengarite with Cursed Body and Perish Song, Protect, Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb (633 teams).

Q: What item should Gengar hold?

The most used items in tournaments are Gengarite (99%), Focus Sash (0.5%) and Life Orb (0.2%).

Q: What spread (SP) should Gengar run?

The most common spread on the 1760+ ladder is 32 HP / 2 Def / 32 SpA with a Quiet nature (as EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA).

Q: What counters Gengar?

Based on tournament matchups, teams with Delphox, Sinistcha and Kommo-o have the best results against it.

Tier AReg M-CUpdated Nov 11

Ghost

PoisonAbilities: Cursed Body

#1 tournament set

633 teams · has won a tournament

Items: Gengarite
Ability: Cursed Body
Nature: Quiet
Spread (SP) · ladder 1760+: 32 HP / 2 Def / 32 SpA

Perish Song
Protect
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb

Damage calc Save to team

SP and nature: the most used spread on the Showdown 1760+ ladder (tournaments publish item, ability and moves, not the spread).

#1 tournament set

Damage calc Save to team

Tournament usage: 6%
Win rate: 50.5%
Top cuts: 104
Games: 5,115

Base stats

HP60
Attack65
Defense60
Sp. Atk130
Sp. Def75
Speed110
Total500

In Reg M-C, Gengar showed up on 6% of tournament teams (1,119 teams through Nov 10, 2026), with a 50.5% win rate and 104 top cut appearances.

Most used tournament builds

The full Gengar sets that show up most on tournament teams (item, ability and all 4 moves).

Gengarite

Cursed Body

Perish Song
Protect
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb

633 teams · has won a tournament

Gengarite

Cursed Body

Protect
Shadow Ball
Sludge Bomb
Substitute

102 teams · has won a tournament

Gengarite

Cursed Body

Disable
Perish Song
Protect
Shadow Ball

90 teams · has won a tournament

Items, moves and abilities

Items

Gengarite99%
Focus Sash0.5%
Life Orb0.2%
Poison Barb0.1%
Choice Scarf0.1%

Moves

Protect99%
Shadow Ball98.7%
Sludge Bomb85.2%
Perish Song73.1%
Substitute13.2%
Disable10.5%
Focus Blast5.5%
Icy Wind4.5%

Abilities

Cursed Body95.1%
Shadow Tag4.6%
Curse Body0.2%

Nature (stat alignment)

Modest59.4%
Timid36.2%
Calm2.3%

Most used spread (SP)

Spreads from the Showdown 1760+ ladder. Champions gives you 66 Stat Points (max 32 per stat); the EV equivalent is just for reference.

Nature	SP	As EVs	Stats at level 50	usage
Quiet	32 HP / 2 Def / 32 SpA	252 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA	167 / 85 / 82 / 200 / 95 / 117	27.3%
Timid	2 HP / 32 SpA / 32 Spe	12 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe	137 / 76 / 80 / 182 / 95 / 178	23.1%
Quiet	32 HP / 1 Def / 32 SpA / 1 SpD	252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA / 4 SpD	167 / 85 / 81 / 200 / 96 / 117	16.7%
Modest	2 HP / 32 SpA / 32 Spe	12 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe	137 / 76 / 80 / 200 / 95 / 162	13.9%
Timid	32 SpA / 32 Spe	252 SpA / 252 Spe	135 / 76 / 80 / 182 / 95 / 178	9.2%

Gengar Speed

Final Speed at level 50. Trick Room: the minimum. Tailwind doubles any value.

Pokémon	Base	Min (TR)	0 SP	32 SP	Max	Scarf
Mega Gengar	130	135	150	182	200	—
Gengar	110	117	130	162	178	267

See the full Speed tier table

Mega Gengar

Shadow Tag

Stone: Gengarite. Held by 99% of the tournament teams that bring this Pokémon.

HP60
Attack65
Defense80
Sp. Atk170
Sp. Def95
Speed130
Total600

Most common partners

% of teams with Gengar that also bring each Pokémon.

Good and bad matchups

Win rate of teams with this Pokémon against teams with each opponent (only matchups with 100+ games).

Does well against

Swampert57.8% · 197 games
Politoed55.7% · 275 games
Gardevoir55.7% · 284 games

Struggles against

Delphox42.5% · 353 games
Sinistcha44.6% · 421 games
Kommo-o44.7% · 203 games

Weaknesses and resistances

Damage multiplier of each move type against this Pokémon's types.

4x weakness

—

2x weakness

Ground
Psychic
Ghost
Dark

Resists (½)

Grass
Fairy

Resists (¼)

Poison
Bug

Immune

Normal
Fighting

In Showdown games

301 rated games (1500+) with this Pokémon on the team.

brought to battle

75.7%

in the lead

61.1%

Most used moves in games

Protect43.9%
Shadow Ball41.7%
Sludge Bomb39%
Trick Room23.7%
Perish Song20.6%
Substitute6.1%

Leads alongside

Damage calc with GengarOpens the calculator with the most used build already set.Analyze my team with AIGame plan, leads and matchups for your team against the meta.Play a tournamentOpen VGC tournaments on Caneko, online and free to host.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best Gengar build in Pokémon Champions?

The most used tournament build is Gengar @ Gengarite with Cursed Body and Perish Song, Protect, Shadow Ball and Sludge Bomb (633 teams).

What item should Gengar hold?

The most used items in tournaments are Gengarite (99%), Focus Sash (0.5%) and Life Orb (0.2%).

What spread (SP) should Gengar run?

The most common spread on the 1760+ ladder is 32 HP / 2 Def / 32 SpA with a Quiet nature (as EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpA).

What counters Gengar?

Based on tournament matchups, teams with Delphox, Sinistcha and Kommo-o have the best results against it.

What is Gengar's Speed at level 50?

Base 110: 117 at minimum (Trick Room), 162 with 32 SP and a neutral nature, and 178 with 32 SP and a Speed nature.