"PSA: Gengar Bulkpoints and Confusion Mewtwo"

#PokemonGO: The common wisdom is that Hex/Shadow Ball Gengar is the best non-legacy counter for Mewtwo, and Shadow Claw/Shadow Ball Gengar is the best non-legacy counter for Mewtwo period.The problem is that, while this is true, it isn't actually true in general - it is only true of very, very high level Gengar with very good IVs. And it is one of the cases where defensive and stamina IVs (and a level above the level 30 point of diminishing returns) are of great importance.Gengar is frail to begin with, having poor defense and even worse HP. But where Gengar really falls down is in its typing - Gengar is a psychic-type counter which, thanks to its poison typing, is actually vulnerable to psychic attacks.The result is that Mewtwo hits Gengar hard. Really hard.In fact, he hits Gengar so hard that Gengar will die in only three confusion attacks at level 30. A Gengar, even with 12+ defense, will take 34 damage per confusion attack at level 30. Even with maximum stamina (15), it will still have only 99 hit points at that point, and die.Indeed, at 15 defense and 15 stamina, it takes until level 32 - at which point the Gengar will take 33 damage per confusion and have 100 hit points - for it to survive those confusions with a single hit point remaining.This is a difference of life expectancy of 33%, and as it turns out, this makes all the difference. Before this point, Gengar is not, in fact, a top counter for Mewtwo when Mewtwo has confusion - not only is it worse than Tyranitar, not only is it worse than the likes of Houndoom, Scizor, and Sky Attack Moltres... it's often worse than the likes of Shiftry and Cacturne.It takes until level 32 for a perfect 15 defense/15 stamina Gengar to take only 33 damage from confusion, at which point it has 100 hit points and will survive with just a single hit point remaining. A Gengar with 14 defense will hit this point half a level later - 32.5 - while a gengar with 13 will take until level 33. A gengar with 12 defense will take until level 34, a gengar with 11 defense will take until level 34.5, a gengar with 10 defense will take until level 35.5, a gengar with 9 defense will take until level 36.5, a gengar with 8 defense will take until level 37, a gengar with 7 defense will take until level 38, a gengar with 6 defense will take until level 39, and a gengar with 5 defense will take until level 39.5 A gengar with 4 or less defense will never take less than 34 damage from confusion.Gengar with very high defenses can actually push it down further, but it probably isn't very relevant unless their HP is very low; a 10-15 defense Gengar can reduce it to 32 damage at levels 35.5-39.5, and a 15 defense Gengar can reduce it to 31 damage at level 40 (which is irrelevant, as it is impossible for Gengar to have so little HP that it would actually matter).Meanwhile, a Gengar's maximum hp at level 40 is only 107; it doesn't get enough hp to survive 3 34 damage confusions until level 35, at which point a perfect, 15 stamina gengar will have 103 hit points.For Gengar, every 1 stamina means about about -3/4ths of an HP at high levels. A gengar with 6 stamina won't ever have more than 99 hit points, so you need at least 7 stamina to hit 100 hit points at level 40 and at least 11 stamina to hit 103 hit points at level 40.Thus, a Gengar, to be worthwhile, must have X/15/0+, X/10+/3+, X/5+/7+, or X/0+/11+ for it to tank four confusions at level 40.And note that this is at level 40; the worse the defensive IVs, the closer to level 40 you have to level your Gengar before it really gets good against Confusion mewtwo. A X/15/15 Gengar will be useful at level 32; a X/13+/14 at level 33, ect.So what does all this mean?Gengar only has a narrow range of IVs over which it is really useful against a Mewtwo with confusion significantly before level 40, and it must be very, very high level (32+) to even be worth using against Confusion Mewtwo over a lot of the alternatives. A Gengar that isn't capable of soaking 3 confusions from Mewtwo and still attacking will lose 25% of its overall damage output, at which point the time you spend with dead pokemon (or worse, having to switch teams) will outweigh any benefits you get from its high DPS, and you're better off using stuff that actually survives more than three attacks.Gengar is not a pokemon you can casually level up to level 30 and have it be a competent attacker against Mewtwo in general; it requires a higher investment to give ROI.The bottom line: If your Gengar cannot tank 4 confusions, it won't be a top-tier counter against Mewtwo, and you need to be at least level 32 for it to even possibly reach that point.If you want to make a lesser investment of stardust/candy, you're going to need even higher IVs. If you want your gengar to be a top tier counter at level 32, it needs to have perfect (15/15) defensive IVs. At 13/14, it will be a top tier counter at level 33. And so on down the line.Overall, given the extremely high investment required to make a worthwhile Gengar, I would recommend not skimping on IVs. For a lot of other pokemon, you can get away with lower IVs on a random weather-boosted one you catch, or simply leveling to level 30. For Gengar, however, IVs really do matter, and you need to level your Gengar into the mid-30s and to have very high defensive IVs for it to really shine against a Mewtwo with Confusion. This sort of investment isn't really worth making unless the Gengar has very high IVs.Note also that Gengar is a lot better against Psycho Cut Mewtwo; Psycho Cut deals substantially less damage, making Gengar a much more powerful counter. But I'm not sure if there's any way to distinguish between a psycho cut Mewtwo and a Confusion Mewtwo without actually fighting it.Gengar Bulkpoints reference:Take the higher of the defense/stamina number here for the minimum level to survive 3 confusion attacks.Stamina IVs: minimum level to reach 100 hp, minimum to take 3 confusions at 33 damage each and survive:15 stamina: Level 32 (actually happens at level 31.5, but you'll still take 34 damage from confusion and die at that level, even at maximum defense)14 Stamina: Level 32.513 Stamina: Level 33.512 Stamina: Level 34.511 Stamina: Level 35.510 Stamina: Level 36.59 Stamina: Level 37.58 Stamina: Level 38.57 Stamina: Level 39.5~Defense IVs: level to take only 33 damage from confusion15 defense: Level 32 (Level 35.5 for 32 damage)14 defense: Level 32.5 (Level 36.5 for 32 damage)13 defense: Level 33 (Level 37 for 32 damage)12 defense: Level 34 (Level 38 for 32 damage)11 defense: Level 34.5 (Level 39 for 32 damage)10 defense: Level 35.5 (Level 39.5 for 32 damage)9 defense: Level 36.58 defense: Level 377 defense: Level 386 defense: Level 395 defense: Level 39.5Defense IVs for Psycho CutGengar takes 9 damage from psycho cut from Mewtwo starting at level 32.5 for a 0 defense IV Gengar, with a defense IV of 3+ reducing it to 9 damage at level 30 or below.8 damage breakpoint:15 defense: Level 35.514 defense: Level 36.513 defense: Level 3712 defense: Level 3811 defense: Level 3910 defense: Level 39.5Attack IVsHex:Neutral Weather: Breakpoints are 11 -> 12 damage and 12 -> 13 damage.No friends: 12 damage breakpoint at level 38.5 for 0 attack IV, 31.5 for 15 attack IV, with level requirement declining by 0.5 levels per attack IVGood friends: 12 damage breakpoint at level 34.5 for 0 attack IV, 30 or less for 10+ attack IV. 13 damage breakpoint at level 40 for 13 attack IV, 39 for 15 attack IV, with level requirement declining by 0.5 levels per attack IV.Great friends: 12 damage breakpoint at 32 for 0 attack IV, level 30 or less for 5+ attack IV. 13 damage breakpoint at level 40 for 7 attack IV, 36 for 15 attack IV, with level requirement declining by 0.5 levels per attack IV.Ultra friends: 12 damage breakpoint at level 30 or below for all Gengar. 13 damage breakpont at level 40 for 2 attack IV, 34 for 14+ attack IV, with level requirement declining by 0.5 levels per attack IV.Best friends: 12 damage breakpoint at level 30 or below for all Gengar. 13 damage breakpoint at level 37.5 for 0 attack IV and level 31 for 13-14 attack IV, with level requirement declining by 0.5 levels per attack IV. 15 attack IV hits the final damage breakpoint at 30.5.~Foggy Weather: First breakpoint is 14 -> 15 damage, second breakpoint is 15 -> 16 damage.No friends: 15 damage breakpoint requires 13 attack IV at level 40, 15 at level 39, with each higher IV reducing the level requirement by 0.5.Good friends: 15 damage breakpoint requires 5 attack IV at level 40, 15 at level 35, with each higher IV reducing the level requirement by 0.5Great friends: 15 damage breakpoint: All will get it by level 40, 15 gets it at level 32.5, with each higher IV reducing the level requirement by 0.5Ultra friends: 15 damage breakpoint: All will get it by level 37.5, with 14 and 15 getting it at level 30.5. 16 damage breakpoint requires 13 attack IV to hit the second breakpoint at level 40, 15 at level 39, with each higher IV reducing the level requirement by 0.5Best friends: 15 damage breakpoint: All will get it by level 34, with 8 and above getting it by level 30, and 15 by as early as 28.5. 16 damage breakpoint requires 6 attack IV to get it by level 40, with 15 attack IV getting it at level 35.5, with each higher IV reducing the level requirement by 0.5~Shadow Claw: The DPS of shadow claw is enough higher than Hex that unless the Gengar doesn't meet the necessary bulkpoints to survive confusion, it will deal higher DPS than a Hex/Shadow Ball Gengar, and thus is always worth pumping to level 40. via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2Rb9ubG