Ghost (type)

Template:ElementalTypes Template:TypeNotice Notable specialists in the Ghost-type include Agatha of the Kanto Elite Four, Morty of Ecruteak City, Phoebe of the Hoenn Elite Four, and Fantina of Hearthome City.

Statistical averages

Overall

Stat
HP: 41
Attack: 68
Defense: 64
Sp.Atk: 76
Sp.Def: 66
Speed: 62
Total: 0

Fully evolved

Stat
HP: 67.65
Attack: 79.53
Defense: 87.88
Sp.Atk: 92.94
Sp.Def: 90.41
Speed: 78.88
Total: 0

Battle properties

Generation I

Offensive			Defensive
Power	Types		Power	Types
2×			½×
½×	None		2×
0×			0×

Generation II-onward

Offensive			Defensive
Power	Types		Power	Types
2×			½×
½×			2×
0×			0×

Characteristics

The Ghost-type is one of the smallest elemental types in the game, with few additions in each new Pokémon game. They are also unique in the fact that they have a type-specific attack called Curse, which, other than being the only Template:Type2 move, works differently for Ghost-types than it does for other Pokémon.

Ghost Pokémon are used mainly to inflict status effects, like confusion or paralysis. Most Ghost-type moves cause some sort of effect or a status ailment. They are a good type to use in Pokémon battling, because of their possession of all-around good attacks, such as Hypnosis and Shadow Ball.

It is interesting to note that the weaknesses of the Ghost-type are covered by the resistances of the Template:Type2, and vice-versa, so their combination, seen in the Pokémon Sableye and Spiritomb, has no weaknesses at all. What is to be remembered is that this does not make for a perfect Pokémon. There is also always the possibility for the immunities of the Ghost- and Dark-types to be removed via certain moves, such as Foresight and Odor Sleuth as well, creating a weakness.

When used in contests, Ghost-type moves typically become Smart moves, but some may be Cute or Tough moves.

In total, there are 18 Pokémon with the Ghost-type, and so accounts for 3.7% of the entire Pokédex, making it the rarest of all types to be had by a Pokémon.

Pokémon

Pure Ghost-type Pokémon

# Name 200 Misdreavus 353 Shuppet 354 Banette 355 Duskull 356 Dusclops 429 Mismagius 477 Dusknoir

Half Ghost-type Pokémon

Primary Ghost-type Pokémon

# Name Type 1 Type 2 092 Gastly Ghost Poison 093 Haunter Ghost Poison 094 Gengar Ghost Poison 425 Drifloon Ghost Flying 426 Drifblim Ghost Flying 442 Spiritomb Ghost Dark 487 Giratina Ghost Dragon Ghost Dragon

Secondary Ghost-type Pokémon

# Name Type 1 Type 2 292 Shedinja Bug Ghost 302 Sableye Dark Ghost 478 Froslass Ice Ghost 479 Rotom Electric Ghost

Moves

Damage-dealing moves

Name Category Contest Power Accuracy PP Target Notes Astonish Physical Smart 30 100% 15 One foe Has a 30% chance of making the target flinch. Lick Physical Tough 20 100% 30 One foe Has a 30% chance of paralyzing the opponent. Night Shade Special Smart Varies 100% 15 One foe Inflicts damage matching the user's level. Ominous Wind Special Smart 60 100% 5 One foe Has a 10% chance of raising all the user's stats by one level. Shadow Ball Special Smart 80 100% 15 One foe Has a 10% chance of lowering the target's Special Defense. Shadow Claw Physical Cute 70 100% 15 One foe Has a high critical hit ratio. Shadow Force Physical Smart 120 100% 5 One foe The user disappears on the first turn, strikes on the second turn. Hits through Protect. Shadow Punch Physical Smart 60 — 20 One foe Never Misses. Shadow Sneak Physical Smart 40 100% 30 One foe Always attacks first.

Non-damaging moves

Name Category Contest Power Accuracy PP Target Notes Confuse Ray Status Smart — 100% 10 One foe Confuses the foe. Destiny Bond Status Smart — — 5 User If the user faints, the foe that landed the knockout hit also faints. Grudge Status Tough — — 5 User Fully depletes the PP of the foe's move that knocked the user out. Nightmare Status Smart — 100% 15 One foe Reduces sleeping foe's health by 1/4 every turn until it awakens. Spite Status Smart — 100% 10 One foe Reduces up to 4PP the move last used by the foe.

Trivia

• Pure Ghost-type species were not introduced until Generation II.
• In Generation I, Ghost-type moves had no effect on Psychic-type Pokémon. An abundance of evidence suggests that this may have been a programming error, rather than intentional: the immunity is contradicted by official type charts published by Nintendo for their Generation I strategy guides, as well as the anime in which it was said that Ghost-types are the best type to fight Psychic-type Pokémon. In Red and Blue, a Trainer in the Saffron Gym even states that Psychic-type Pokémon "only fear Bugs and Ghosts" though this was corrected to just Bug-types in Yellow. It is the only elemental type to go from 0× effectiveness to 2× effectiveness on another type between generations.
• Although they are said to have an immunity, Ghost types can be affected by numerous normal type attacks (Sonicboom, Struggle, Hidden Power, Secret Power, Weather ball) although some moves become a different type.
• There are no Ghost-type moves that have an accuracy lower than 100%, as all of them have a 100% accuracy or never miss.
• Ghost-type Pokémon are the only single-type Pokémon that can have more than one immunity.
• The Ghost-type is one of the two types that are weak to their own moves, together with the Dragon-type.
• All Ghost-type Pokémon that have a secondary type that is weak to Ground-type attacks have the Levitate ability, so as of Generation IV there is no Ghost-type Pokémon that is weak to Ground-type attacks unless the ability has been somehow negated.
• Although they are clearly depicted as levitating in the anime and in the games, the Ghost-types Shedinja, Shuppet, Spiritomb, Dusknoir, and Froslass do not have the ability Levitate and thus remain susceptible to Ground-type moves.
• Disregarding abilities, Drifloon, Drifblim, Sableye and Spiritomb are the only Pokémon so far to be immune to three types (Drifloon and Drifblim are immune to Normal, Fighting and Ground, whereas Sableye and Spiritomb are immune to Normal, Fighting and Psychic).
• Ghost is the least abundant type among Pokémon, with only 18 Pokémon of this type among the 493 total.
• So far, the only Ghost-type attack with a base power greater than 80 is Shadow Force, which is exclusive to Giratina.
• There has yet to be a Pokémon with a double weakness or a Pokémon with a double resistance to Ghost, though multiple types are weak to it and resist it.
• As of Generation II, the Ghost-type (along with Normal) are one of only two pairs of different types to share the same interaction against each other (Normal is immune to Ghost and vice versa), not including matchups of regular effectiveness. The other pair is Bug and Fighting (Bug resists Fighting and vice versa).
• There has been one Gym Leader or Elite Four member in each generation specializing in Ghost-types.
  • Interestingly, it has swapped each generation: odd numbered generations feature Elite Four members (Agatha and Phoebe) and while even numbered generations feature Gym Leaders (Morty and Fantina).

In other languages

• Brazilian Portuguese: Fantasma
• Dutch: Geest
• French: Spectre
• German: Geist
• Italian: Spettro
• Korean: 고스트 ghost
• Polish: Duch
• Spanish: Fantasma
• Hebrew: רוח "roach"