Competitive Information for Gastly [Sword/Shield]


Ghost / Poison
Abilities:
Movesets for Singles
What is a good competitive moveset for Gastly? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in Sword/Shield Single Battles. The movesets and EVs have been specifically calibrated to deal the most amount of damage to the largest group of potentially common opponents and typing threats for the Sword/Shield generation metagame.
Gastly is an outstanding Ghost and Poison-typed Pokemon. Gastly is not a Pokemon anyone usually expects sees on the battlefield. Gastly is weak to Dark, Ghost, Ground, and Psychic-typed attacks.
Item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball / Hex
- Energy Ball
- Thunderbolt
Special Sweeper Gastly (Levitate)
Gastly is a fabulous Special Sweeper. It's goal is to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Choice Specs will increase the damage of Gastly's special moves by 1.5x but will lock you into the first move you pick. Life Orb boosts the power of Gastly's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Levitate, Gastly is immune to ground; gravity/ingrain/smack down/iron ball nullify it.
♦ Sludge Bomb is a special STAB-boosted 90-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Shadow Ball is a special STAB-boosted 80-base power Ghost-type move (20% chance to lower the target's special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Hex is a special STAB-boosted 65-base power Ghost-type move (power doubles if the target has a status ailment).
♦ Energy Ball is a special 90-base power Grass-type move (10% chance to lower the target's special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Thunderbolt is a special 90-base power Electric-type move (10% chance to paralyze the target).
Movesets for Doubles
What is a good doubles moveset for Gastly? These builds have been optimized for Sword/Shield Double Battles. They have movesets and EVs specifically calibrated to generally work best versus multiple Pokemon at once as well as helping to support other team members and allys in the Sword/Shield generation metagame.
Item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb
- Dazzling Gleam
- Shadow Ball / Hex
- Icy Wind
Doubles Special Sweeper Gastly (Levitate)
Gastly is an awesome Special Sweeper. It was designed to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Choice Specs will increase the damage of Gastly's special moves by 1.5x but will lock you into the first move you pick. Life Orb boosts the power of Gastly's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Levitate, Gastly is immune to ground; gravity/ingrain/smack down/iron ball nullify it.
♦ Sludge Bomb is a special STAB-boosted 90-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Dazzling Gleam is a special 80-base power Fairy-type move (no additional effect. hits adjacent foes).
♦ Shadow Ball is a special STAB-boosted 80-base power Ghost-type move (20% chance to lower the target's special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Hex is a special STAB-boosted 65-base power Ghost-type move (power doubles if the target has a status ailment).
♦ Icy Wind is a special 55-base power Ice-type move (100% chance to lower the foes speed by 1 stage).
Item: Focus Sash / Poison Barb
Ability: Levitate
Nature: Quiet (+SpA, -Spe)
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 136 Hp / 80 Def / 252 SpA / 40 SpD
Moveset:
- Sludge Wave / Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball / Hex
- Energy Ball
- Trick Room
Offensive Trick Room Gastly (Levitate)
Gastly is a pretty decent Offensive Trick Room. Focus Sash helps protect Gastly from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. With Levitate, Gastly is immune to ground; gravity/ingrain/smack down/iron ball nullify it.
♦ Sludge Bomb is a special STAB-boosted 90-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Shadow Ball is a special STAB-boosted 80-base power Ghost-type move (20% chance to lower the target's special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Hex is a special STAB-boosted 65-base power Ghost-type move (power doubles if the target has a status ailment).
♦ Energy Ball is a special 90-base power Grass-type move (10% chance to lower the target's special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Trick Room is a status move (goes last. for 5 turns, turn order is reversed).
Movepool
Wondering what moves can Gastly learn? Here is the list of moves this Pokemon can learn in this selected generation.
Sort and organize the learnset by move type, category, accuracy, and power. Bolded moves will gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) if this Pokemon uses them.
Damage Modifiers:
Combo List
These are a list of several common move combinations Gastly can perform in Sword/Shield. Not every combo going to be game-changing, but some can be pretty fun to play with. Sometimes these can be easily overlooked or forgotten, hence why we find and list them here. Discover what items, abilities, and moves this Pokemon can use in combination with each other to gain a strategic advantage in competitive battles.
Competitive SS Move and Ability Combos for Gastly
- Moves: Swagger + Foul play
- Moves: Swagger + Psych Up
- Moves: Psych Up + Haze
- Moves: Rain dance + Thunder
- Moves: Rest + Sleep talk
- Moves: Perish Song + Protect
- Moves: Pain Split + Toxic
- Moves: Pain Split + Will-O-Wisp
- Move: Facade + Item: Flame Orb
- Move: Facade + Item: Toxic Orb
- Item: Blunder Policy + Move: Zap Cannon
- Moves with Priority: Endure, Protect, Sucker Punch, Ally Switch
- Moves that Break Screens: Haze
Most notable and possible best moves for Gastly
- Protect
- Rest
Common Effort Values for Gastly in Sword and Shield
- Adamant Nature ( 0/252/0/0/0/252 )
- Modest Nature ( 0/0/0/252/0/252 )
- Optimize Gastly's EV spread for Pokemon Sword and Shield
Related Videos
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