Pokemon Black and White spotlight: The ghosts of Isshu

In honor of Halloween, we're breaking our numerical run through the Isshu Pokedex to bring you every single Ghost-type in Pokemon Black and White. These are some of the coolest Ghost-types the series has ever seen, with one pure Ghost family and three families with unique dual-typing. Let's take a closer look.

Desumasu
#068 Isshu / #562 National
Type: Ghost
Species classification: Spirit Pokemon
Ability: Mummy – If user makes contact with opponent or vice versa, the opponent's ability will change to Mummy for the duration of the battle
Dream World ability: Same
Location found (Black/White): Ancient Castle (in Resort Desert area)
Wild hold items: Spell Tag (rare)
Egg groups: Mineral, Indeterminate
Capture rate: 190
Gender ratio: 50/50
Effort values: 1 Defense
Evolution family: To Desukaan at level 34

Desukaan
#069 Isshu / #563 National
Type: Ghost
Species classification: Coffin Pokemon
Ability: Mummy – If user makes contact with opponent or vice versa, the opponent's ability will change to Mummy for the duration of the battle
Dream World ability: Same
Location found (Black/White): Ancient Castle (in Resort Desert area)
Wild hold items: Spell Tag (rare)
Egg groups: Mineral, Indeterminate
Capture rate: 90
Gender ratio: 50/50
Experience at lvl 100: 1,000,000
Base stats: 58 HP / 50 Atk / 145 Def / 95 SAtk / 105 SDef / 30 Spd / 483 Total
Effort values: 2 Defense
Evolution family: From Desumasu at level 34

Desumasu (aka Deathmask) and Desukaan (aka Deathcoffin) are the only two pure Ghost types introduced in Black and White, and they're also the only two Pokemon with the new Mummy ability. Any time the user makes contact with an opponent either by hitting or being hit with a contact move, the opponent's Ability changes to Mummy for the duration of the battle, effectively neutralizing its own ability. Also worth noting, Desukaan not only has the highest defense of any Ghost-type to date, but it has the highest defense of any Isshu Pokemon. Its speed is dismal though, so it might be worth considering a Trick Room (TM92) moveset to turn that to your advantage.

Design-wise, Desumasu and Desukaan are two of our absolute favorites this generation. Both have two faces – which one are you supposed to look at? Desukaan looks like an Egyptian sarcophagus, and he's the perfect mix of creepy and cute. His favorite snack is humans.

Next page: Jellyfish-inspired dual Water/Ghost types Pururiru and Burungeru