Much of Pokemon's battle system boils down to type matchups. You can have all the powerful moves you want, but if they're not very effective on your opponent, you're not going to get very far. Knowing how all 18 types interact with one another is a difficult task, but it's necessary to be the best there ever was.
Some types have many more weaknesses than others, so be sure to avoid their counter-types if you want to survive. Note that most Pokemon are dual-types, meaning they will interact with other types differently than these types will on their own, but knowing the basics should provide a soli♉d foundation for you to discern dual-type wea☂knesses.
Updated on March 9, 2023 by Andrew Scariati: While the latest Pokemon frequently push the envelope with new and unusual type combinations, the base set of types rarely sees an addition. After over a decade since Fairy-type's introduction in Pokemon X and Y, it's clear that The Pokemon Company doesn't often add to their roster of diverse types, instead focusing on crafting new combinations with the ones they already have to work with. While Paradox Pokemon show a willin♓gness to revisit old designs, it's unclear when the next time we'll need to add another box to our type matchup charts will be. For now, the Pokemon monotypes with the most weaknesses may surprise you.
10 Steel And Dark 😼
If you know your Pokemon type match-ups, you might be surprised to see Steel so🐠 soon, but it actually ties Dark-type in their number of weaknesses. Despite having a whopping ten resistances (11 i🐻n Generation Five and earlier), the most of any type, and an immunity, Steel actually has three weaknesses, each of which is fairly common.
Steel is weak to Fighting, Fire, and Ground, three types that are very commonly used in the competitive scene. Dark, on the other hand, also has three weak♓nesses, b๊eing Bug, Fairy, and Fighting, but also immunity to Psychic.
9 Dragon And Psychic ꦛ
Like Dark and Steel, Psychic and Dragon also have three weaknesses. However, Dark and Steel have an immunity each, making them ever-so-slightly more resistant whereas Dragon and Psychic-type Pokemon aren't afforded such an important luxury.
Psychic is weak to Dark, Bug, and Ghost, while Dragon is weak to itself, Fairy, and Ice. Dragon and Psychic are both countered offensively, with Dark being immune to Psychic and Fairy being immune to Dragon. Both Psychic and Dragon are typically some of the m﷽ost offens♐ively potent types, so don't worry too much about adding them to your team.
8 Fire
Fire is a mostly-offensive type, despite being second to Steel 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:for the most resistances. Many Fire-type attacks are focused on pure of🐼fense and attack power, and Fire-types typically have high Attack and Special Attack stats.
Fire's disadvantage is that it's weak to a few common types that are used offensively quite often in Water, Ground, and Rock. As three of the most commonly used types, Fire-types are extremely vulnerable and should be deployed carefully. Luckily, Fire-types cannot be burned, so they have protection against having their Attack lowered.
7 Bug
Despite so꧟me excellent diamonds in the rough for Bug-types, they are usually terrible offensively, being 🉐resisted by seven types, putting them at a serious disadvantage in that regard. They also tie with Fire, Psychic, and Dark for their three weaknesses. Bug-types are weak to Fire, Rock, and ꦐFlying.
In Generation One, Bug-types were also weak to Poison, so they, fortunately, received a slight buff when that weakness was removed. Unfortunately, Bug is also resisted by Fairy. On average, Bug-types also have the lowest base HP stats out of the eighte꧑en types, struggling to survive for very long in battle.
6 Ground
Given how powerful Ground-type Pokemon can be, particularly defensively, it's a surprise how many weaknesses the type actually has. Like previous types, Ground also has three weaknesses: Water, Grass, and Ice. Abomasnow would be an absolute nightmare for any Ground-type.
Interestingly, R🐓ock is also weak to Water and Grass. With Rock and Ground often being paired together, this exposes those Pokemon to a plethora of double weaknesses they need to stay wary of to survive. On the flip side, Ground Pokemon will take Fire-types down easily.
5 Flying
It's rarely worth examining which weaknesses a pure Flying-type would have since only three of them exist across all eight generations: Tornadus, Rookidee, and Corvisquire. Flying is very frequently paired with the Normal-type, which, in fairness, has the same weaknesses as pure Flying.
Ice, Rock, and Electric are the three types that will take down a Flying-type. With three resistances and an immunity to Ground-types, Flying doesn't have much to worry about. However, there are a lot of strategies that look to make Flying-types vulnerable to Ground attacks, including using Smack Down and Gravity.
4 Fighting
The last type to be tied with three weaknesses is the Fighting-type. Fighting is weak to Flying, Psychic, and Fairy. Fighting-types are used more offensively in competitive battles, much like Fire-types, meaning that you'll have to watch out for their vulnerabilities.
In the first five Pokemon Generations, Fighting had one less weakness, as 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the powerful and versatile Fairy-type did not exist yet. Offensively, Fighting has the honor of being the only weakness of Normal-types. However, Ghost-types are immune to Fighting attacks, so make sure to avoid them whenever possible, es♕pecially since Ghost-types often learn Psychic-type attacks.
3 Ice
Often considered the worst type defensively, Ice surprisingly doesn't take the top spot among Pokemon's most vulnerable typings. Ice-types are weak to an unfortunate four types, but that still isn't enough to make them the worst defensively. Ice is weak to Fighting, Fire, Rock, and Steel, and it resists only itself.
One perk is that Ice-types cannot be frozen or knocked out by Sheer Cold, and they're also immune to Hail. Ice is often used as an offensive type, especially to take down the common Dragon and Ground-types of the world. Watch out, Garchomp, your Ice nightmare is coming.
2 Rock
Based on appearances alone, it's clear that Rock-types look to be among the sturdiest Pokemon out there, and they are. To put it bluntly, these types are rock-solid, with a high average Defense stat — one of the highest of any type. Unfortunately, Rock is tied for first place for the most weaknesses, with a staggering five.
These weaknesses include Grass, Water, Fighting, Steel, and Ground. To make matters worse, Rock is often paired with Ground or Wa♉ter, giving it a series of crushing double weaknesses. Luckily, Rock-types are immune to Sandstorm, and their Special Defense increases during a sandstorm.
1 Grass
Poor Grass-types. This foliage-based type ties in the most weaknesses of any Pokemon type, making it one of the riskiest choices to start out using. Grass-types are weak to an incredible five types: Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, and Poison. Just to add insult to injury, it's also not very effective offensively, being resisted by Bug, Dragon, Fire, Flying, Poison, Steel, and itself.
It's difficult to make good use of the Grass-type in the competitive scene, but if done right, it can be as powerful as any other type. Just be sure to watch out for 168꧅澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon with powerful type-comb🎀inations that threaten Grass in multiple ways.