Houndstone and Last Respects: How the Move Works and How to Counter It

Houndstone is the reason Last Respects got banned from standard singles play. The move’s power scales with the number of fainted party members, and Houndstone is the fastest user of it. This guide explains exactly how the move works, how to build around it, and how to stop it.

What Last Respects Does

Last Respects starts at 50 base power and gains 50 power for every fainted Pokémon in your party. In a full six-Pokémon team with five fainted, the move hits 300 base power — with no drawbacks, no charge turn, and no accuracy penalty. That is stronger than most restricted legendary moves.

Fainted Party Members	Base Power
0	50
1	100
2	150
3	200
4	250
5	300

Why Houndstone Specifically

Several Pokémon learn Last Respects, including Basculegion. Houndstone stands out because of its Speed and its Ghost typing. A Ghost-type Last Respects is only resisted by Dark and Normal, giving it near-perfect neutral coverage in the late game when the move is at maximum power.

Stat	Value	Notes
HP	72	Fragile but workable
Attack	101	Solid without investment
Defense	100	Better than it looks
Sp. Atk	50	Irrelevant
Sp. Def	97	Survives some special hits
Speed	68	Slow — needs Tailwind or Choice Scarf

The Standard Last Respects Set

• Houndstone @ Choice Scarf or Life Orb
• Ability: Sand Rush (in sand teams) or Fluffy
• Tera Type: Ghost to maximize damage
• Last Respects / Play Rough / Body Press / Shadow Sneak
• EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP — Jolly nature

Sand Rush doubles Houndstone’s Speed in a sandstorm, which fixes the 68 base Speed problem without spending your item slot on a Choice Scarf. Fluffy is the alternative on non-sand teams, halving contact damage taken.

How to Beat It

• Keep the battle short: Last Respects only becomes broken when your team is nearly wiped
• Normal-types are immune entirely — a healthy Normal wall blanks the move
• Priority users: Houndstone is slow and frail enough to be revenge-killed
• Dark-types resist it and can switch in comfortably

Ban Status by Format

Last Respects was banned in Generation 9 OU singles because the snowballing power was unanswerable in long games. It remains legal in VGC doubles, where the faster pace and the four-Pokémon format keep it in check. If you play doubles, Houndstone is a legitimate late-game cleaner rather than an automatic win button.

Related Guides

For more Ghost-type strategy, see our Roaring Moon ex darkness deck and the Dragapult spread deck guide for how Ghost-type strategies work in TCG Pocket.

Verdict

Houndstone is a high-risk, high-reward cleaner that rewards players who can keep one or two sweepers in reserve while the rest of the team does its job. Build it as a late-game finisher, not an early-game lead, and it will win games that looked lost.