Is Gastly Good in Red & Blue Playthrough?
Gastly is too fragile to fight anything directly, but it's the start of the Gengar line. The Ghost typing is unique in Red and Blue. Worth catching in Pokemon Tower and evolving up.
Gastly has the type edge here and should clean up Brock's team.
Misty's typing presses Gastly's defenses.
Gastly trades roughly evenly with Lt. Surge's team.
Haunter trades roughly evenly with Erika's team.
Gengar has the type edge here and should clean up Koga's team.
Gengar trades roughly evenly with Sabrina's team.
Gengar has the type edge here and should clean up Blaine's team.
Gengar resists most of Giovanni's coverage and hits back hard.
Gengar has the type edge here and should clean up Lorelei's team.
Gengar resists most of Bruno's coverage and hits back hard.
Gengar has the type edge here and should clean up Agatha's team.
Gengar has the type edge here and should clean up Lance's team.
Gengar has the type edge here and should clean up Blue's team.
Catchable
Catch Gastly in Pokémon Tower (walking, Lv 18-24, common). Needs the Silph Scope; without it every Pokemon here is an unidentified Ghost that cannot be caught.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 18)
- LV 18GhostNight ShadePower 50Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Lt. Surge
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Prize for defeating Vermilion Gym Leader Lt. Surge
- LV 27PsychicHypnosisPower —Accuracy 60%PP 20
- LV 35PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Koga
- TM36NormalSelf-DestructPower 130Accuracy 100%PP 5Silph Co.
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Kanto Power Plant
- TM29PsychicPsychicPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Saffron City
- After Giovanni
- TM47NormalExplosionPower 170Accuracy 100%PP 5Victory Road 3F
Evolve Gastly to Haunter
Gastly evolves into Haunter at Level 25. Your Gastly should hit Level 25 before you reach Erika, at typical leveling pace.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 25)
- LV 25GhostNight ShadePower 50Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Lt. Surge
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Prize for defeating Vermilion Gym Leader Lt. Surge
- LV 29PsychicHypnosisPower —Accuracy 60%PP 20
- LV 38PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Koga
- TM36NormalSelf-DestructPower 130Accuracy 100%PP 5Silph Co.
- TM25ElectricThunderPower 120Accuracy 70%PP 10Kanto Power Plant
- TM29PsychicPsychicPower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Saffron City
- After Giovanni
- TM47NormalExplosionPower 170Accuracy 100%PP 5Victory Road 3F
Evolve Haunter to Gengar
Haunter evolves into Gengar when traded. Most players are ready to trade before reaching Koga.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 29)
- LV 29PsychicHypnosisPower —Accuracy 60%PP 20
- After Lt. Surge
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Rocket Game Corner
- TM10NormalDouble-EdgePower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Rocket Hideout
- TM24ElectricThunderboltPower 95Accuracy 100%PP 15Prize for defeating Vermilion Gym Leader Lt. Surge
- After Erika
- TM40NormalSkull BashPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15Safari Zone
- LV 38PsychicDream EaterPower 100Accuracy 100%PP 15
- After Koga
- TM36NormalSelf-DestructPower 130Accuracy 100%PP 5Silph Co.
- After Giovanni
- TM47NormalExplosionPower 170Accuracy 100%PP 5Victory Road 3F
How to Get Gastly in Red & Blue
The Pokemon Tower in Lavender is the lone home for Gastly, ten common encounters across its haunted floors. This is the only Ghost-type line in the game, so the Tower is mandatory.
1 location to catch Gastly
Encountered via tall grass encounters
Badge 4Where To Catch Gastly in RB
Gastly is where the line starts, caught through walking encounters at Lv. 18-24. The chain covers 2 catchable stages before reaching the final form.
- Step 2Catch or Evolve into HaunterPokémon Tower - 7FLv.28-30FloorRate 15%Not catchablePokémon Tower - 6FLv.26-28FloorRate 6%Not catchablePokémon Tower - 4FLv.25FloorRate 5%Not catchablePokémon Tower - 5FLv.25FloorRate 5%Not catchableor evolve from Gastly (Step 1)
- Step 3Evolve into Gengar
Not landing the catch? Calculate Gastly catch rates for Red & Blue by ball, status, and HP.
Gastly Weakness
Gastly is weak to Ground, Psychic, and Ghost. On the flip side, it's immune to Normal and Fighting-type moves entirely. Gastly's special bulk (base 100 Special) helps absorb special-type weaknesses, though physical moves exploit the lower Defense.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Ground, Psychic, Ghost |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Grass |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Poison |
| 0x (Immune) | Normal, Fighting |
- Only 15 types exist — Dark, Steel, and Fairy are absent
- Ghost has no effect on Psychic (a known bug, fixed in Gen II)
- Special stat governs both offense and defense — no Sp.Atk / Sp.Def split
What is Gastly Weak Against
GoodBest Pokemon Against Gastly
 Hypno Psychic | C | |
 Kadabra Psychic | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Gastly View Kadabra builds →Psybeam 2x82-97% Dig 2x78-92% | ||
Haunter GhostPoison | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Gastly View Haunter builds →Dream Eater 2x80-95% Lick 2x34-42% | ||
Gastly Evolutions
Gastly evolves into Gengar, but can't breed. At 375 stats as a Ghost/Poison type, evolution is the only path. Evolving adds up to 125 stat points total. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
RB Gastly Best Moveset
100 Special and 80 Speed on a Ghost/Poison frame, surprisingly competitive for a pre-evolution. MoveHypnosis puts threats to sleep, and Normal immunity blocks MoveBody Slam and MoveHyper Beam. Genuinely usable without needing to evolve into Gengar.
Best Build
Support Moveset
- Explosion
- Hypnosis
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
Most of Gastly's flexibility comes from TMs. Same-type output runs through Lick and Night Shade, but Psychic and Normal and the rest of the TM pool push it from predictable to genuinely threatening.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Tutor
- NPC tutor (cost: items, BP, money).
- Reminder
- An NPC reteaches any move this Pokemon could have learned by leveling up.
- Transfer
- Carried over from an older game using Pokemon HOME.
- Event
- Given out through Mystery Gift events.
Visual Signals
CAT (Category)
How the move deals damage and which stats it uses.
A small dot on the icon's corner marks the move as contact.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM and Tutor sort by tier by default (best first). On Level-Up, click the Tier header to do the same.
PWR (Power)
Base damage. Numbers shown in a type color include STAB (base × 1.5). Hover any colored number to see the math.
— means no power (status moves) or variable power.
Sorting & Filter
Click any column header to sort. Level-Up opens with Lv 1 at the top. TM and Tutor open with the highest-tier moves at the top.
Search filters by move name or type. The Filter button limits the list to STAB, Physical, Special, or Status moves.
Level-Up Moves
TM Moves
All 15 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
Almost invisible, this gaseous POKéMON cloaks the target and puts it to sleep without notice.
Gastly Red & Blue Guide
In Red & Blue, for a casual playthrough, Gastly works as a placeholder. Ghost/Poison coverage is useful early. The real payoff is Haunter. That's where the stats start mattering.
In Red & Blue, Gastly plays as a attacker. Speed is middling, so pick your spots carefully.
Game Availability
Present since Red & Blue, Gastly appears in 22 games spanning 9 generations. Gen 1 originals like Gastly have the longest track record of availability in the series.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RBDebut
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DP
Diamond & Pearl - Gen 4Pt
Platinum - Gen 4HGSS
HeartGold & SoulSilver - Gen 5BW
Black & White - Gen 5B2W2
Black 2 & White 2 - Gen 6XY
X & Y - Gen 6ORAS
Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire - Gen 7SM
Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7Let's Go
Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwSh
Sword & Shield - Gen 8BDSP
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - Gen 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV
Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW
Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Gastly.
Keep playing · Red & BlueRed & Blue Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Red & Blue Tier List