Gigantamax Gengar has emerged as one of Pokémon GO’s most formidable raid bosses, blending spooky Ghost- and Poison-type powers with a daunting 100,000 HP and devastating moves like Shadow Ball. Defeating this spectral menace demands more than just brute force-it requires a finely tuned strategy, the right counters, and impeccable teamwork. Whether you’re rallying 20+ trainers or aiming for the rare feat of taking it down with just four, mastering Gigantamax Gengar is a thrilling challenge that separates the casual players from the true Pokémon GO tacticians.
Below, we list out some general Gigantamax Max Battle tips and counters for Gigantamax Gengar in Pokémon Go.
General Gigantamax Gengar tips
Gigantamax Gengar presents a tough challenge in Pokémon Go Max Battles due to its high attack power and Ghost/Poison typing. To effectively counter it, players should focus on using Pokémon with Ghost, Dark, Ground, or Psychic moves, as these types exploit its weaknesses. Key tips include bringing only one Gengar to the back of your party to utilize its Max Phantasm move efficiently, and making strategic use of shields and healing to survive its powerful attacks. Coordinating with your team to use Dynamax Metagross and Blastoise with moves like Max Guard can help control the battle by drawing Gengar’s focus and reducing damage taken. Additionally, dodging charged attacks and managing Dynamax energy carefully are crucial for success. Preparation, teamwork, and selecting top-tier counters with boosted Max Moves are essential for overcoming Gigantamax Gengar’s threat in Max Battles.
If you’ve been struggling in Max Battles, here’s some general tips to help you out and make sure you’re an asset to your team. Gigantamax battles involve way more strategy than the usual rampant tapping that you do in raids, so make sure to know what you’re doing before jumping in.
- Make sure you have enough players. While Gigantamax Gengar’s Twitter comparatively to the Gigantamax Kanto starters, it can still be a tough battle, especially if you don’t have many players. High-efficiency groups with maxed out investments can take down the Gengar Twitter, but practically, if you don’t have hundreds of spare candy and even more Stardust laying around, this isn’t going to be an option for you – so make sure you have as many people as possible.
- Don’t sleep on Max Spirit and Max Guard. Teams work best when there’s two people focusing on dealing damage, one person focused on healing, and one person focused on defense. Each player should bring Pokémon with those respective max skills leveled up. Max Guard will focus damage towards you and reduce that damage taken and Max Spirit will heal the whole party, so these moves are really important to make sure your damage-dealers can keep dishing.
- Remember to swap to super effective moves when it’s time to Dynamax. For Dynamax Pokémon, their max moves will be whatever type their fast move is. This means if you have a Greedent with Bite, it will know Max Darkness and your Gengar with Shadow Claw will know Max Phantasm. Take advantage of this and make sure to swap to a Pokémon that will deal super effective damage to your target before Dynamaxing, if you can.
- Level up a few ’mons, but you don’t have to go too hard. Depending on your group size, you absolutely do not need to max out all your Dynamax Pokémon to level 40-50. While this will make it easier on the rest of your group, if this isn’t an investment you can make, you don’t have to stress about it. Power things up as high as you can afford to, but don’t fret if you don’t have a maxed out Pokémon.
- That all being said, make sure to come as prepared as you can be. This is a team effort and there’s a reason why groups of 30-40 people can still fail. Do not just bring your unleveled Dynamax Wooloo expecting a free ride to a powerful Pokémon. (After all, if everyone does that, then you certainly won’t clear the battle.) Again, you don’t have to completely max out your Pokémon, but it will be better for everyone involved if you bring something helpful to the table.
- Keep your eye out for a shiny Gengar! If you clear the raid, there is a chance that the Gengar you catch will be shiny – which also means it’ll be a guaranteed catch. Use a Pinap Berry to score extra candy if you get lucky enough to find a sparkly Gengar.

Gigantamax Gengar best counters
The best counters to Gigantamax Gengar in Pokémon GO are Pokémon that exploit its weaknesses to Ghost, Dark, Ground, and Psychic-type moves. Top choices include Metagross with Zen Headbutt and Psychic, Dynamax or Gigantamax Gengar itself, Excadrill, Corviknight, and Zacian – Crowned Sword. Other effective counters are Inteleon, Rillaboom, Charizard, and Greedent, especially when equipped with moves that trigger super-effective Max Moves like Max Phantasm, Max Darkness, Max Quake, and Max Mindstorm. Coordinated teams of 10 to 40 trainers are recommended due to the battle’s difficulty, with strategies involving shielding, healing, and timing Max Moves crucial for success.
Unfortunately, as of writing this, there aren’t any explicit counters for Gigantamax Gengar the way there are with a regular Gengar. This is because there are only a handful of Dynamax and Gigantamax Pokémon eligible for Max Battles.
We’ll want to utilize Gigantamax Gengar’s weaknesses: ground-, ghost-, psychic-, and dark-type moves. There aren’t many Dynamax Pokémon that have these moves at the moment, so your best bet is to bring the following:
- Greedent with Bite (Max Darkness) and Crunch
- Metagross with Zen Headbutt (Max Mindstorm) and Psychic
- Gengar with Shadow Claw (Max Phantasm) and Shadow Ball
- Blastoise with Bite (Max Darkness) and Hydro Cannon
How can I effectively counter Gigantamax Gengar in Pokémon Go
To effectively counter Gigantamax Gengar in Pokémon GO, focus on exploiting its Ghost and Poison typing weaknesses by using Pokémon with Ground, Ghost, Psychic, and Dark-type moves. Top counters include Dynamax Metagross with Zen Headbutt and Psychic, Dynamax Greedent with Bite and Crunch, Dynamax Blastoise with Bite and Hydro Cannon, and Dynamax or Gigantamax Gengar itself with Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball.
Key battle tips include:
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Assemble a large team if possible, but skilled groups of four can succeed with fully powered counters.
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Use Max Moves strategically: Max Spirit to heal your team and Max Guard to reduce incoming damage and redirect attacks, especially shielding one player to absorb hits.
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Dodge charged attacks carefully, especially the unavoidable spread attacks like Psychic, Shadow Ball, and Dark Pulse, to avoid heavy damage.
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Coordinate roles within your team: have dedicated attackers, defenders (using Max Guard), and healers (using Max Spirit) to sustain damage output and survivability.
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Prioritize powering up your counters and use Dynamax energy efficiently, switching between attackers and healers as Gigantamax Gengar’s HP drops.
Following these strategies and using the right counters will significantly improve your chances of defeating Gigantamax Gengar in raids.
What team composition and moves should I prioritize against Gigantamax Gengar
For an optimal team composition against Gigantamax Gengar in Pokémon GO, prioritize a balanced group of four players with distinct roles: two attackers, one healer, and one shielder (defender). This setup leverages Max Moves effectively-Max Attack for damage dealers, Max Spirit for healing, and Max Guard for shielding and damage redirection.
Recommended Pokémon and Moves:
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Attackers: Use Pokémon with strong Ground, Ghost, Psychic, or Dark-type moves to exploit Gengar’s weaknesses. Top choices include:
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Metagross with Zen Headbutt and Psychic (Max Mind Storm)
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Greedent with Bite and Crunch
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Blastoise with Bite and Hydro Cannon (Max Darkness)
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Gengar with Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball
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Healer: Blissey or Snorlax equipped with Max Spirit to heal the team and sustain attackers during the raid.
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Shielder: Blissey or Gengar with Max Guard to absorb and redirect damage, protecting fragile attackers.
Battle Tips:
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Coordinate roles before the battle to ensure smooth use of Max Moves.
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Attackers focus on dealing damage during the Dynamax phase, while healers and shielders maintain team survivability.
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Use fast moves that generate energy quickly (e.g., Shadow Claw on Gengar) to maximize charged move frequency.
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Shields should be used strategically to force Gengar’s single-target moves onto shielded Pokémon, reducing overall team damage.
This combination of type advantage, role specialization, and Max Move synergy is key to defeating Gigantamax Gengar efficiently.
