Picking the correct types for a team is a big part of the strategy in Pokémon games. A team made up of a single type can be vulnerable to attacks that type is weak against, leading to a total-party knockout. Because of this, having a wide variety of Pokémon types can provide stability and allow players to better create battle strategies. This is especially important when preparing to go up against type-focused Gyms. To help create a well-balanced team, it's best to know each Pokémon type's weaknesses.
Pokémon types come into play in several ways. Each species has a type attached, like Charmander being a Fire-Type Pokémon, but there are also types attached to Pokémon moves, like Earthquake being an Earth-type move. Moves that match a Pokémon's species type deal bonus damage (called Same-Type Attack Bonus), but most Pokémon also have the ability to learn moves outside of their species type. For example, Charmander can learn the Flying-type move Acrobatics, and Pikachu can learn the Steel-type move Iron Tail. While Electric-type moves don't affect Ground-type Pokémon, Steel-type moves do, and Electric-type moves are super effective against Water-types, which resist Steel. By balancing movesets out with a wide range of different types, players can take advantage of a Pokémon's species type and stand up against moves it's weak against.
Pokémon who possess a dual typing, like Charizard's Fire and Flying, get more STAB moves, but they also gain the weaknesses of both types, making defense more difficult. Charizard is weak to not only Water and Ground-type moves but also Electric-type moves. While having a dual-type Pokémon can provide interesting offensive options, it is important to know the weaknesses for both of the types to ensure a surprise one-hit K.O. doesn't happen.
Every Pokémon Type Weakness For Battle Strategy
Below is a list of every Pokémon type, what it is weak against, and the potential logic behind each weakness. Most of the weaknesses in the Pokémon games are based on theoretical interactions between each element in real life. However, there are some types added in later games which are less concrete, like the Fairy-type or Dark-type, so how they work in gameplay can be less straightforward. Despite this, the majority of types are fairly easy to remember after some practice.
- Normal-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Fighting-type moves. This weakness could be based on the idea that Normal-type Pokémon aren't obvious fighters, or that a normal person would be weak to one trained in combat.
- Fire-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Water, Ground, and Rock-type moves. Fire is put out by the water, smothered by earth, and snuffed out by rocks.
- Water-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Electric and Grass-type moves. Water conducts electricity, and grass (plants) drinks up water to thrive.
- Grass-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug-type moves. Plants are burned by fire, killed by ice or frost, killed by poisons, and eaten by bugs.
- Electric-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Ground-type moves. Earth insulates against electricity (in certain situations).
- Ice-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel-type moves. Ice is melted by fire, cracked by force from physical blows or rock impacts, and can be shattered by steel.
- Fighting-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy-type moves. Physical fighting moves are limited to the ground, making them vulnerable to attacks from above. The physical body can be weak to the mind, or to magic.
- Poison-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Ground and Psychic-type moves. The ground can absorb poison, and the mind can be greater than the effects of poison on the body.
- Ground-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Water, Grass, and Ice-Type moves. The ground can be eroded by water, broken up by plant growth, and frozen by ice.
- Flying-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Electric, Ice, and Rock-type moves. Being higher up makes things more vulnerable lighting strikes. Ice can freeze over wings, and rocks can be thrown to knock things out of the sky.
- Psychic-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Bug, Ghost, and Dark-type moves. The mind can be penetrated by things that cause fear, like bugs, ghosts, and darkness.
- Bug-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Fire, Flying, and Rock-type moves. Bugs can be easily burned or smashed by rocks and are often eaten by birds and other things that fly.
- Rock-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, and Steel-type moves. Rocks can be eroded by water, overgrown with or broken apart by plants, shaken apart by earthquakes or eroded by sand, and destroyed by steel items like drills.
- Ghost-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Ghost and Dark-type moves. Ghosts are weak only to ethereal forces, like other ghosts and the darkness. This is a more vague type whose weaknesses were likely decided to balance other types.
- Dragon-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Ice, Dragon, and Fairy-type moves. Dragons are weak to ice because they need to remain heated in order to breathe fire, are weak to other dragons because they are powerful enough to fight each other, and are weak to magic. This is another, more obscure type, as it is based on myth and fantasy instead of reality.
- Dark-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Fighting, Bug, and Fairy-type moves. The darkness can't stand up to honed physical constitution or the purity of magic. Its weakness to bugs is possibly due to people not being able to see them in the dark.
- Steel-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Fire, Fighting, and Ground-type moves. Steel can be melted by hot flames, destroyed over time by physical damage, and eroded by earth. It's surprising water isn't a weakness for steel, as water can cause rust and erode many metals.
- Fairy-Type Weaknesses: x2 weakness to Poison and Steel-type moves. The Fairy type symbolizes magic or purity, as a contrast to the Dark type. Poison can taint pure things, making them evil or sick. Fairy-type Pokémon could be weak against Steel-type moves simply because most Fairy-type Pokémon are shown as soft, cute, and small, which doesn't hold up well against the weight and strength of steel. It could also be to help balance the Fairy-type, which has been known to be overpowered in the Pokémon games.