What Level Does Gastly Evolve?

Gastly To Haunter

Being such an old character in this beloved RPG series, Gastly has many fans.

However, when it comes to picking Pokémon for your team, one of the first things that people will consider is when exactly their Pokémon of choice will evolve to their next stage, if at all.

And considering that the evolved forms of Gastly are pretty OP, you’re probably going to want to get that power boost by evolving this little guy.

So, what level exactly does Gastly evolve into its more powerful middle stage, Haunter?

What Level Does Gastly Evolve At?

Well, generally speaking, Gastly evolves into Haunter at level 25 on its own.

This is considered quite a late point for a Pokémon to evolve, especially for a three-stage evolution Pokémon, as most would likely have entered their second form somewhere between level 14 to 20 (outside of bug-type Pokémon, who generally evolve much earlier than many other types).

This also means that you may feel the pinch of being a first-stage Pokémon a little longer than you would with other staple Pokémon on your team, such as your starter Pokémon.

However, that also means that the stat boost you receive when evolving from Gastly to Haunter will also be that much more noticeably, making Haunter an excellent -mid-game addition to your team.

Evolving Haunter To Gengar

So, you now have a powerful second-stage Pokémon on your team, and it’s a pretty tough one at that.

However, you may not be content with just this middle-stage Pokémon, especially when the Elite Four rolls around and you need a little extra power on your side.

So, at what level does Haunter evolve?

Well… it doesn’t.

Not by leveling up, anyway.

Gengar is one of a select few Pokémon that are only involved during a trade, where Pokémon trainers exchange pokemon with each other.

In these contexts, the Haunter will start to evolve once the trade has been completed, unless otherwise interrupted.

This means you cannot obtain a Gengar on your own and will need a buddy.

Unless, however, you are playing Pokémon Legends Arceus.

Obtaining Gengar In Pokémon Legends Arceus

In this most recent Pokémon game, trading Pokémon with other trainers is impossible.

This has also meant that it is impossible to obtain trade evolution Pokemon, such as Gengar and Alakazam, through this method that has been used since the beginning of the series.

Instead, a new evolution item known as the linking cord has been used in place of this.

(OG Pokémon Mystery Dungeons fans will know that this isn’t the first game to do this, as you needed to find a similar item in those older games, but it is still the first time that this item has appeared in a mainline Pokémon game.)

You simply need to give this item to your Haunter, and your little ghost Pokemon will rhea their final form!

How Powerful Are Gastly, Haunter, And Gengar In Competitive Matches?

So, that is how you get your favorite OG Ghost-type Pokémon up to their greatest strength.

But how good exactly is that strength in the first place? How much do you want one of these Pokémon in your game or a competitive match?

How Good Is Gastly?

So, how good is Gastly to have as a part of your team?

Generally speaking, Gastly is the first-stage Pokémon of a three-stage line, so it will not be breaking any limits or boundaries anytime soon.

However, the base 100 Special Attack stat is quite impressive for a first-stage pokemon, especially when coupled with its relatively high speed

The Ghost and Poison typing mean that Gastly is resistant to both Grass and Fairy typing and quad-resistant to Poison and Bug typing, AS WELL AS being immune to most Normal and Ground moves.

This gives them plenty of resistance to work with, and is great at avoiding many poison-status afflicting moves.

The Poison type does give them vulnerability to Ground and Psychic moves. However, on top of the Ghost and Dark vulnerability that Ghost types have.

(Interestingly enough, this meant that, in the original Red, Green, and Blue games, Gastly’s line, which was supposed to counter Psychic types, was also famously weak to them.)

This combination is good early stats and great type resistance is why Gastlys are always popular for early-game teams and first-stage pokemon tournaments competitively.

How Good Is Haunter?

How Good Is Gengar?

Gengar has many of the same great qualities as Haunter, dialed up to eleven, meaning high Special Attack, combined with even higher Speed and plenty of resistances.

Combine that with either its mega form or a Ghostium Z-held item, and you have a potential sweeper Pokémon here!

Final Thoughts

So, not only is Gastly great, but its evolutions are top-notch too!