Template:ElementalTypes The Ghost type (Japanese: ゴーストタイプ Ghost type) is one of the seventeen elemental types. Notable Pokémon Trainers that specialize in Ghost-type Pokémon are Agatha of the Kanto Elite Four, Morty of Ecruteak City, Phoebe of the Hoenn Elite Four, Fantina of Hearthome City, and Shauntal of the Unova Elite Four. Prior to Generation IV, where moves are designated physical or special based on the move itself rather than its type, all Ghost-type moves were physical.

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
  ½×  
 
½× None  
 
 
 
 


Generation II-onward

Offensive   Defensive
Power Types   Power Types
 
 
½×  
 
½×  
 
 
 
   
 


Characteristics

The Ghost type is the smallest elemental type 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: Curse, which, other than being the only Template:Type2 move before the type was removed in Generation V, works differently for Ghost-type Pokémon than it does for other Pokémon.

Offense

Ghost-type 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. Also, there is no Pokémon that resists a combination of Fighting- and Ghost-type moves, as the only combination capable of this (Normal/Ghost) has never been used.

Defense

The weaknesses of the Ghost type are covered by the resistances of the Dark-type, and vice-versa, so their combination, seen in the Pokémon Sableye and Spiritomb, has no weaknesses. However, this does not make for a perfect Pokémon. There is always the possibility for the immunities of the Ghost- and Dark-types to be removed via certain moves, such as Foresight, Odor Sleuth, and Miracle Eye, creating a weakness, or neutrality in the case of the latter. The lack of weaknesses is also offset by the lack of any resistances beyond resisting Poison (an uncommon type offensively) and the three immunities to Psychic, Fighting and Normal (which can be removed, as mentioned above).

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

Pokémon

As of Generation V, there are 27 Ghost-type Pokémon or 4.16% of all Pokémon, making it the least common of the seventeen elemental types.

Pure Ghost-type Pokémon

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

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
487  * Giratina Ghost Dragon
607   Litwick Ghost Fire
608   Lampent Ghost Fire
609   Chandelure Ghost Fire

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
592   Frillish Water Ghost
593   Jellicent Water Ghost
622   Golett Ground Ghost
623   Golurk Ground 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.
Hex Special ??? 50 100% 10 One foe Does double damage to opponents with a status ailment.
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 20% 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.
Curse* Status Tough 10 User Used by a Ghost-type: The user will lose half of its maximum HP and put a curse on the target.

Used by a non-Ghost: The user's Speed will drop one stage and its Attack and Defense will increase one stage each.

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

  • There were no pure Ghost-type species in Generation I.
  • In Generation I, Ghost-type moves had 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 Yellow). From Generation II onwards, Ghost-type moves are indeed super effective on Psychic-type Pokémon.
  • There are no Ghost-type moves that have an accuracy lower than 100%.
  • While the Ghost-type has an immunity to Normal-type moves, several damaging moves that display as Normal can affect them, including Hidden Power and Struggle.
  • There are no pure Ghost-type Pokémon that evolve into a dual-type Pokémon.
  • The only Ghost-type move with more than 80 base power is Shadow Force, exclusive to Giratina.
  • All Generation V fully evolved Ghost-type Pokémon are used by Shauntal of the Unova Elite Four.

In other languages

Language Title
  Japanese ゴースト Ghost
Mandarin Chinese 幽靈 / 幽灵 Yōulíng
  Dutch Geest
Spook
  Finnish Kummitus
Haamu
French   Canada Spectre
  Europe Spectre
  German Geist
  Greek Πνευματικού Pnevmatikou
  Hebrew רוח Roach
  Indonesian Hantu
  Italian Spettro
  Korean 고스트 Ghost
  Norwegian Spøkelse
  Polish Duch
Portuguese   Brazil Fantasma
  Portugal Fantasma
  Russian Призрачный Prizrachnyi
Spanish   Latin America Fantasma
  Spain Fantasma