Best Gengar Nature: Timid Keeps the Matchups, Modest Hits 10% Harder

Gengar’s Attack stat is a dump stat either way — 65 base, useless on a set built around 130 base Special Attack[1][2]. So the real fight isn’t about which nature to avoid, it’s about what you do with the stat you don’t dump. Timid puts it into Speed. Modest puts it into Special Attack. That sounds like a wash. It isn’t, because Gengar’s base 110 Speed sits in one of the most contested tiers in the game, and which side of the tie-breaks you land on changes who moves first in a fight neither of you survives.

This isn’t a coin flip you can shrug off with “either works.” The numbers below show exactly what each nature buys you, who you’re racing against at base 110, and the one real damage trade-off (backed by usage data, not vibes) that decides which one belongs on your set.

Quick Answer

Run Timid unless you have a specific reason not to. Across Gen 9 OU usage data, Timid outnumbers Modest roughly 8-to-1[8], and in National Dex OU specifically it’s used on 99% of Gengar sets[7]. Speed decides whether Gengar gets to attack at all — a dead Gengar deals zero damage regardless of its Special Attack stat. Modest is the correct call only when you’re running Choice Scarf (where the item, not the nature, buys your Speed) and you specifically need the extra Special Attack to force a one-hit knockout that Timid’s spread can’t guarantee^[9] — see the Trick Room case below.

Why Speed Decides This, Not Power

Nature multipliers add or subtract exactly 10% from a stat, rounded down at the end of the calculation[3]. That 10% doesn’t feel like much until you convert it into the actual Speed stat Gengar ends up with at Level 100, the level Pokémon Showdown’s singles formats use.

Using the game’s own stat formula[3] with 31 Speed IVs and 252 Speed EVs — the standard maximum investment[4] — Gengar lands at two very different numbers depending on nature:

That 31-point gap is the whole article in one table. A maxed, Speed-natured Pokémon at base 108 — Terrakion is the clean example, confirmed at exactly base 108 Speed[12] — reaches 346 Speed with a positive nature. Timid Gengar’s 350 clears that by 4 points. Modest Gengar’s 319 doesn’t come close; it loses outright to any 108-base attacker that also invested in Speed, and only barely clears the *neutral*-natured version of the same Pokémon (315). Modest Gengar isn’t slow, exactly — it’s just no longer fast enough to beat the optimized version of the tier directly below its own.

The Base-110 Speed Tier: Who Else Lives Here

Base 110 isn’t a quiet corner of the speed chart. Latios sits at exactly the same base 110 Speed as Gengar[10], meaning two Timid, fully-invested copies of either Pokémon speed-tie — the game flips a coin on who attacks first[4]. Ogerpon’s Wellspring and Cornerstone Masks also land on base 110[6], so a Timid Gengar and a fully-invested Ogerpon in either of those forms tie as well.

Just below Gengar, at base 109, is Kartana, usually running Choice Scarf rather than a flat Speed EV investment[6]. At base 108 sit Terrakion[12] and Keldeo[6] — both of which a Timid Gengar beats outright, and a Modest Gengar only beats if they’re running a neutral Speed nature. One tier up, Iron Valiant at base 116 outpaces Gengar regardless of nature[6] — no EV or nature choice changes that matchup.

The practical read: Timid isn’t just “more Speed for the sake of it.” It’s the difference between winning the coin flip against Latios and Ogerpon, beating Terrakion and Keldeo cleanly instead of narrowly, and correctly conceding to Iron Valiant either way. Modest keeps the Iron Valiant loss, turns the Latios/Ogerpon tie into a clean loss, and turns the clean win over Terrakion/Keldeo into a coin flip against their own Speed-invested spreads.

Timid vs Modest: The Real Trade-Off

Real usage data shows this isn’t close in most formats, but it isn’t unanimous either — and the exception tells you exactly when Modest earns its slot.

In Gen 9 OU, Choice Scarf is Gengar’s most-used item at 58%[8] — the Scarf itself supplies a 50% Speed boost, so a Scarf Gengar’s own base nature matters less for outspeeding things and more for how hard it hits once it’s already guaranteed to move first (or, on Trick sets, after it’s swapped its Scarf for a slower target’s item). That’s where Modest’s 10% Special Attack actually earns its keep: one well-regarded Smogon analysis notes that Modest Choice Scarf Gengar can one-shot a max-HP Hatterène before it gets a turn to set Trick Room[9] — a common Trick Room setter whose whole game plan is neutralizing Gengar’s Speed advantage in the first place. No calc was published alongside that claim, so treat it as a directional data point, not a guaranteed OHKO on every set — but the logic holds: against a Trick Room-heavy metagame, the Speed Gengar would normally win with stops mattering the moment Trick Room is up, so the extra power is what’s left.

Outside of that Scarf-plus-Trick-Room scenario, Modest is giving up real, frequently-relevant Speed ties and wins for a 10% damage boost that mostly turns already-comfortable 2HKOs into slightly-more-comfortable 2HKOs. That’s why National Dex OU — a slower-paced, bulkier metagame with less Trick Room pressure — runs Timid on almost every Gengar[7], while the faster-paced, Scarf-heavy regular OU tolerates more Modest sets[8].

Which Nature Fits Your Situation

Format Differences: National Dex OU, Regular OU, and Pokémon Champions

The nature math itself doesn’t change between formats — a 10% multiplier is a 10% multiplier[3]. What changes is how much that 10% is worth relative to the rest of the metagame’s Speed. National Dex OU’s slower pace and near-unanimous 99% Timid rate[7] versus regular OU’s faster, Scarf-saturated meta and its real (if minority) Modest presence[8] is the clearest evidence of that.

Pokémon Champions changes the underlying investment system entirely: EVs are replaced by Stat Points (SPs), capped at 66 total and 32 per stat, with a standard special attacker running 32 SpA/32 Spe/2 HP[11]. The nature multiplier still applies the same way on top of that smaller pool — Timid still buys Speed, Modest still buys power — the math in this guide scales down, it doesn’t change direction. Mega Gengar (where the format allows it) adds Shadow Tag, which traps the opponent’s Pokémon in place[11]; a trapped target you can’t outspeed just gets a free hit in before you finish them off, which is exactly why Speed stays the priority even on a trapper. Nature multipliers round the same way ability multipliers do — the Adaptability ability explained breakdown covers that rounding behavior on a STAB-doubling ability instead of a stat, if you want the mechanic from the other direction.

Choice Scarf Gengar deserves its own callout regardless of format: with the item’s boost stacked on top of base 110 Speed, Timid Scarf Gengar outpaces Dragon Dance Dragonite and Salamence even after they’ve taken a boost, on top of the other Scarfers it already beats[5]. If you’re building the physical sweeper on the other side of that matchup, the Best Dragonite Nature and Moveset guide covers how to plan around exactly this kind of revenge-kill threat. And if you’re weighing the same Speed-versus-power question on a different special attacker, the Best Charizard Nature and Moveset guide walks through the same trade-off with a different base stat spread and a different answer.

FAQ

Isn’t Jolly the same Speed boost without losing the Attack stat Gengar isn’t using anyway?
No — Jolly boosts Attack’s counterpart nature slot for Speed but lowers Special Attack, not Attack. Gengar’s Special Attack (130 base) is its whole offensive identity; trading 10% of it away for a nature that helps a 65-base Attack stat you’re never using is a straight downgrade from Timid, not a clever workaround.

If Modest Gengar still outpaces some things, why does the data lean so hard toward Timid?
Because “still outpaces some things” isn’t the bar — the National Dex OU and regular OU metagames are full of Pokémon sitting at or just above base 110[6][10], and Modest loses precisely the coin-flips and clean wins against that specific group[4]. A nature that wins most of its matchups except the ones that matter most isn’t actually winning most of its matchups.

Does the Speed-tier math change if I’m just playing through the story, not competitively?
Less, not never. AI trainers rarely run optimized EV spreads, so the gap between Timid’s 350 and Modest’s 319 Speed matters less against them specifically — but it costs nothing to run Timid in-game either, since Gengar was never using its Attack stat regardless of format.

Version Verification Note

Stats, usage percentages, and speed-tier data verified against Pikalytics and Smogon Forums resources current as of August 2026[6][7][8][9]. Base stats and ability data cross-checked against Pokémon Database and Serebii[1][2]. EV/nature usage shares shift with each metagame slate — reverify Pikalytics before copying an exact spread late into a season.

Sources

1. Pokémon Database — Gengar Pokédex: stats, moves, evolution & locations
2. Serebii — Gengar Scarlet/Violet Pokédex (base stats and ability cross-check)
3. Bulbapedia — Stat (nature multiplier formula)
4. Smogon Forums — Gengar OU Analysis
5. Smogon Forums — Gengar (Choice Scarf) [QC 3/3]
6. Smogon Forums — National Dex Speed Tiers Resource
7. Pikalytics — Gengar Gen 9 National Dex Stats
8. Pikalytics — Gengar Gen 9 OU Stats
9. Smogon Forums — Gengar (community analysis thread, Modest Choice Scarf discussion)
10. Pokémon Database — Latios Pokédex (base Speed confirmation)
11. Champions Builder — Gengar Pokémon Champions VGC Build Guide
12. Pokémon Database — Terrakion Pokédex (base Speed confirmation)

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.