Polteageist Movesets & Competitive Sets

Polteageist stalls out most physical attackers with Strength Sap and can disable their moves with Cursed Body. Giga Drain hits common Water-types like Milotic and Gastrodon and provides useful recovery. Alternatively, Stored Power beats Normal-type Pokemon such as Bewear, Porygon2, and Snorlax and gives a stronger neutral hit. White Herb eases setting up and crucially lowers Knock Off damage after it's been used. Pokemon commonly found on hyper offense such as Mimikyu, Sharpedo, and Lucario complement Polteageist well, either helping break down its checks like Registeel or taking advantage of it weakening its checks itself like Swords Dance Incineroar to clean. Fighting-types like Lucario and Heracross can deal with Normal- and Dark-types like Umbreon and Snorlax. Offensive support can greatly facilitate a Polteageist sweep. For example, Indeedee's Psychic Terrain can block priority and strengthen Polteageist's Stored Power. Alternatively, Misty Terrain from Galarian Weezing neutralizes Pokemon like Toxic Incineroar, Klefki, and Noivern. Spikes from Froslass or Focus Sash Heracross can help to weaken checks like Pangoro.

Shell Smash gives Polteageist the opportunity to set up and sweep. Stored Power has 140 Base Power after one Shell Smash and hits Toxapex, which otherwise can remove Polteageist's boosts with Haze. Giga Drain does more damage to Water-, Ground-, and Rock-types and lets Polteageist heal some HP. White Herb gets rid of the Defense drops from Shell Smash to give Polteageist a better chance of surviving an attack while setting up. Focus Sash is another option; however, Ghost teams don't tend to run entry hazard removal, making it inconsistent. Even at +2 Speed, Polteageist doesn't outspeed Choice Scarf Gengar and some weather sweepers such as Sand Rush Excadrill and Swift Swim Barraskewda, making Weak Armor is the preferred ability for the additional +2 boost in Speed if Polteageist gets hit with a physical attack. However, even though it has good Special Defense, Polteageist's low HP and Defense mean it can't set up so easily in front of powerful attackers. It's also susceptible to priority moves such as Sucker Punch, Shadow Sneak, and Aqua Jet. Polteageist should be used as a late-game sweeper or to dent teams early-game. Dragapult is a great teammate because it can set up Reflect and Light Screen to let Polteageist set up much more easily. Mimikyu can threaten Dark-types, which otherwise take on Polteageist pretty easily due to its poor coverage. Froslass can set up Spikes to weaken teams for Polteageist's sweep, and it can also shut down opposing entry hazard setters with Taunt to avoid getting Polteageist's Focus Sash broken. Galarian Corsola and Runerigus can set up Stealth Rock for even more damage to the opposing team, supporting Polteageist's late-game sweep. Runerigus can also use Memento to give Polteageist easy setup opportunities. Galarian Corsola can check faster threats such as Sand Rush Excadrill and Swift Swim Barraskewda thanks to its natural bulk combined with Eviolite. Jellicent can also check Swift Swim sweepers thanks to Water Absorb.

Queenly Majesty Polteageist is a niche but dangerous setup sweeper: After a Shell Smash, it outspeeds the entire unboosted metagame and avoids being revenge killed by the metagame's common priority users such as Barraskewda, Dhelmise, and Triage Tapu Lele. Stored Power is its strongest attack after Shell Smash, powering through neutral foes like Tapu Fini and defensive Garchomp. Shadow Ball is the STAB move of choice and complements Stored Power to hit common Psychic-types such as Mew, Tapu Lele, and RegenVest Jirachi. Self-Destruct severely weakens Polteageist's specially defensive and Dark-type checks like Blissey and Zarude to open up a sweep for a fellow teammate and give them free entry into the field afterwards, which is crucial to keep up offensive momentum. Strength Sap can be used to reinstate Polteageist's Focus Sash or defeat weak physical attackers like Ferrothorn and defensive Landorus-T one-on-one. Giga Drain is its strongest option against Tapu Fini and RegenVest Swampert and can, in rare cases, restore it to full health for Focus Sash, but otherwise has limited use. Focus Sash allows for safe setup at full health, even against powerful attackers like Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko. Polteageist generally fits on hyper offense teams, so Pokemon commonly seen on these archetypes also make great teammates. Dedicated leads like Aerodactyl and Azelf can reliably set up Stealth Rock to chip down foes into Polteageist's KO range and deny opposing entry hazards with Taunt to preserve Polteageist's Focus Sash. Polteageist also appreciates further entry hazard control from teammates such as Regieleki and Choice Scarf Latios with their Rapid Spin and Defog, respectively. Volcarona enjoys Polteageist weakening common specially defensive Pokemon like Garchomp, Blissey, and RegenVest Swampert with boosted Stored Power + Self-Destruct. Polteagiest is utterly unable to make progress against Prankster Toxapex and Unaware Mandibuzz, even if they are heavily damaged; dedicated lures like Galvanize Kommo-o and teammates that can overwhelm them like Swords Dance Garchomp are necessary teammates. Wallbreakers like Sheer Force Tapu Lele, Swords Dance Garchomp, and Belly Drum or Galvanize Kommo-o can open up holes early-game for Polteageist to sweep more easily; they also either overwhelm or threaten all of Polteageist's checks in Blissey, Steel-types like Heatran and Ferrothorn, and Dark-types like Hydreigon. Polteagiest can also still be outsped by fast Choice Scarf users such as Azelf, so careful scouting is required before setting up.