The Ghost type (Japanese: ゴーストタイプGhost type) is one of the eighteen types. Ghost-type moves are super-effective against Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokémon, while Ghost-type Pokémon are weak to Dark- and Ghost-type moves.
Ghost-type Pokémon are now immune to effects that prevent recall or escape (such as Mean Look and Shadow Tag), and they are also guaranteed to flee from any wild battle regardless of Speed.
Offensive
Defensive
Power
Types
Power
Types
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Characteristics
Defense
Ghost is the only type with more than one immunity. However, these immunities can be removed by Foresight, Odor Sleuth, or Scrappy. As of Generation VI, Ghost-type Pokémon are immune to being trapped by all trapping moves and Abilities, including the binding effect of moves such as Infestation. Ghost types are also guaranteed to run from wild battles regardless of Speed. Most Ghost-type Pokémon can learn Will-O-Wisp and other status condition-inducing moves.
Ghost types are also unique in the fact that they have a type-specific attack: Curse, which works differently for Ghost-type Pokémon than it does for other Pokémon. The move Trick-or-Treat adds the Ghost type to the target's types.
Offense
Since Steel-type Pokémon no longer resist Ghost-type attacks in Generation VI, Ghost is tied with Dragon for the least resisted type, being resisted by Dark and ineffective against Normal. Currently, only the Hisuian Zorua family resists a Ghost/Fighting combination while only the Litleo and Shroodle families resist a Ghost/Fairy combination (except when Trick-or-Treat is considered).
Contest properties
In Contests, Ghost-type moves are typically Clever moves, but some may be any of the other Contest conditions.
Pokémon
As of Generation IX, there are 73 Ghost-type Pokémon or 7.12% of all Pokémon (counting those that are Ghost-type in at least one of their forms, including regional forms), making it the third rarest type after Fairy and Dragon and before Electric.
The Pokémon below are listed by their current types. Some Pokémon have had their types changed.
The user attacks its target with spine-chilling resentment. This may also leave the target with frostbite. This move's power is doubled if the target has a status condition.
After using this move, if the user faints, the Pokémon that landed the knockout hit also faints. Its chance of failing rises if it is used in succession.
The user takes the target trick-or-treating. This adds Ghost type to the target's type.
All details are accurate to Generation VII games. For details that have changed between generations, please see an individual move's page. Target data assumes user is in the lower left.
Changed types
The following Ghost-type moves have had their types changed.
A Pokémon with Protean or Libero will become a Ghost-type Pokémon if it uses a Ghost-type move. A Pokémon with Color Change, Imposter, RKS System, or Multitype will become a Ghost-type Pokémon if (respectively) it is hit with a Ghost-type move, is sent out against a Ghost-type opponent, is holding a Ghost Memory, or is holding a Spooky Plate or Ghostium Z.
Generation VII introduced the most Ghost-type moves of any generation, with eight. Generation V introduced the fewest Ghost-type moves, with only one, Hex.
In Generation I, Ghost-type moves have no effect on Psychic-type Pokémon, though an abundance of evidence suggests that this may have been an error. Multiple sources mention that Ghost-type moves are super-effective on Psychic-type Pokémon: official strategy guides published by Nintendo, two episodes of the anime (The Tower of Terror and Haunter versus Kadabra), and even the games themselves, where a Trainer in the Saffron Gym mentions that Psychic-type Pokémon "only fear Bugs and Ghosts" (though the reference to Ghost-type Pokémon was removed in Pokémon Yellow). This was corrected in Generation II to make Ghost-type moves actually be super effective against Psychic-type Pokémon.
The Ghost type is the only type immune to two types: Normal and Fighting.
It is also the only type to have ever been ineffective against two types: Normal and Psychic in Generation I.
Ghost and Normal are the only two types to be ineffective against each other.
While the Ghost-type has an immunity to Normal-type moves, several damaging moves that display as Normal can affect them, including Hidden Power (whose actual type varies) and Struggle (which inflicts typeless damage from Generation II onward).
In the Mystery Dungeon games, Ghost-type Pokémon can walk through "walls" (some dungeons have cliffs, holes, or other equivalents), although doing so rapidly depletes their Belly meter.
From Generation VI to Generation VIII, it was not possible for any Pokémon to possess a double resistance to Ghost. In Scarlet and Violet, it is now possible for a Pokémon to have a double resistance to Ghost-type moves if it has Purifying Salt and is Dark-type.
The only Pokémon to have ever possessed a double resistance to the Ghost-type naturally were Pawniard and Bisharp, both of which are dual-type Dark/Steel.
Kalos is the only region without a notable Ghost-type specialist.
In Pokémon Conquest, Ghost-type Pokémon which are not part-Flying or have Levitate are shown with an animation of physically passing through enemies, referencing the common belief that real-life ghosts can pass through solid objects. They cannot, however, pass through any other obstacle on the field in-game.
Ghost and Dark types are super effective against the same types. As of Generation VI, the only difference between them is that Dark-type moves are not very effective on Fighting or Fairy while Ghost-type moves do not affect Normal Pokémon.
As shown in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, some Ghost-type Pokémon, despite their name, can still die. This was first mentioned in Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime?, where Acerola revealed that her ShinyMimikyu, Mimikins, is in fact the ghost of a deceased Mimikyu. Later, in A Timeless Encounter!, it is revealed that Professor Kukui had once befriended a TotemTrevenant that he nicknamed Elder. It is later revealed that Elder has since died, its body now a regular tree, though the circumstances of the death weren't revealed. Giratina is another Ghost-type whose life has been in danger, in Giratina and the Sky Warrior. However, despite this, it still appears that many Ghost-type Pokémon, particularly ones who are more similar to traditional ghosts, are indeed immune to the ravages of time and can live on indefinitely; for instance, a Yamask shown in A Night in the Nacrene City Museum! was told to be millennia old.
All Ghost-type moves are eligible to be used in Sky Battles.
The Ghost type was the last type to have at least one Pokémon officially owned by Ash in the anime, following his capture of a Gengar in A Chilling Curse!.
Rock is the only type that has yet to be paired with Ghost.
