In Pokemon, Fire burns Grass, Water washes Fire away, and Grass gives Water a leafy smack. Psychic beats Fighting, Fighting beats Normal… you’re likely familiar with the fundamentals.
From the beginner-friendly Fire-Water-Grass triangle sprang an elemental system far more complicated. As of 2013’s Pokemon X & Y introduction of the Fairy type, there are 18 different types, and many, many dual-type Pokemon. It’s a jungle out there.
Is there, in truth, one type that rises above the rest? Of course not. But can voice their thoughts on how all 18 types perform, based on personal experience and overall discourse? Absolutely. So, that’s precisely what we’ll set about doing, as impartially as possible and with the most modern data available.
18 Rock
Rock Slide has long been one of the best moves in the main games. It’s a mainstay on so many teams competitively that you can be assured it will stomp almost everybody you come across throughout the story. And that’s kind of Rock-types in a nutshell — Rock Slide and a couple of other moves are fantastic. The end.
Wait, then why did we rank it last? Because, again, that’s all there is to it. The Rock-type roster often sabotages its best traits in favor of lesser ones. Here’s the thing. Rock is designed first and foremost around the notion of a sky-high physical defense. But its range of elemental weaknesses runs the gamut of some of the most popular types in the series. Oftentimes, these attacks will be Special-based as well, and not many Rock-type Pokemon have high Special Defense. It’s like the poor things are custom-tailored to rack up points on the other side.
Raise Rock Pokemon to your heart’s content, but know that it may be the worst type around. On the other hand, giving Pokemon of other types Rock Slide and Stealth Rock? Golden.
17 Bug
We sang Rock’s attack-oriented praises, but Bug earns no such joy. We’re hard-pressed to think of one that’s as offensively shoddy as Bug. It’s not necessarily the type’s fault, though it’s hardly a winner going to win awards for hitting twice as hard against Grass, Psychic, and Dark when the base stats of its species-specific breadwinners are so paltry.
Out of every competitively viable Pokemon, Scizor is the only one with a high enough Attack stat to inflict head-tilting damage with Bug’s best moves. We recommend fixing one of your other Pokemon with Megahorn instead to benefit from Bug’s coverage without sacrificing a slot. That said, there is one saving grace here, and that’s Bug’s resistance to Fighting and Ground. Hint: you won’t see them for a while here.
16 Ice
Now, this really bums many people out. Ice is arguably the favorite type of many people, but it’s sadly very bad in the competitive scene. They could make it better with some slight tweaks, but as of now, it has a reputation of being mostly avoided.
The issue here is just the same as with Rock. These are two of the strongest attacking types in Pokemon, but they’re incredibly vulnerable; their weaknesses are designed to balance out their power, but they’re such common and versatile types that your chilly friends will be toast in seconds. Fire, Fighting, and Rock moves are so prevalent online, and even Steel is a threat given how many defensive bulwarks it sports.
Just not a good time for Dewgongs, is what we’re saying here. Get yourself an Ice Beam, teach it to something else (Water Pokemon work well for it) at the expense of no STAB, and carry on. Unless, of course, you really love Ice-types. In that case, follow your heart… but bring plenty of Full Restores against any regional Elite Four.
15 Psychic
Psychic has had quite a rollercoaster ride of a journey through the generations. In the Red & Blue era, it was weak only to Bug, which boasted all the offensive prowess of an actual insect. At that stage, Ghost moves had no effect on Psychic-type, which was all kinds of messed up and ensured the typing’s total dominance.
Psychic was so overpowered that its nemesis, Dark-type, was created just to foil its schemes for world domination. Since this change was made in Gen 2, Psychic-type Pokemon have taken a huge fall from grace. Offensively, it’s very lackluster, being super effective on two types and resisted by two types. It’s one of those middle-of-the-road types, not broken in either sense of the word and so often overlooked.
Everybody loves Mew, everybody fears Mewtwo, and some people view Gardevoir with, uh, distinct intrigue. But popularity does not a powerful type create.
14 Poison
For much of its existence, Poison, too, has also been a little overlooked and unappreciated. In another example of the Rock/Ice situation, good Poison-type team members are usually chosen in spite of said typing. In and of itself, Poison doesn’t really offer much. On the offensive, it is awful, super-effective only on Grass and Fairy, and resisted by four types in return.
When Poison is utilized, it’s in a defensive role, owing to its dual weakness (Psychic and Ground) trade-off for five resistances. You’d see the occasional physical tank Weezing and the like, but competitive showings from Poison-types have historically been slim. Fortunately for them, though,
Still, that strength against Fairy-types shouldn’t go entirely ignored. If you think you’ll be up against lots of those, your friend Crobat and its cohorts are suddenly worthy of consideration.
13 Grass
Grass is strange. The best way to summarize it is to say that Grass-type moves often lend themselves to status inflictions rather than raw damage, and if your team will thrive with such a devious little devil, you can think about saving a slot for one. It also hits for twice as much damage against Water, Ground, and Rock; Rock-type Pokemon might not be terribly common online, but those other two surely are.
The kicker is as follows. Grass is resisted by seven types. That’s not good. Bug, Dragon, Fire, Flying, Poison, Steel, and even Grass itself all shrug off Giga Drain and Solar Beam with indifference. It’s also weak to Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, and Poison moves — and that’s something most serious players will be considering when crafting their teams.
At least Grass can be great on the single-player side since so many NPCs seem to love Drednaws and Dugtrios.
12 Ghost
Ghost is a curious typing indeed. It’s one that is often overlooked while building teams, whether as a potential member or as a potential threat. Much of this is due to the fact that it’s such a run-of-the-mill neutral type, neither resisted nor super effective on very much.
Ghost-types themselves are usually restricted to truly excellent Pokemon that just happen to be Ghost, such as Aegislash and the ever-present Gengar. Unless your team has a significant Fighting weakness, the typing alone will do nothing in terms of ‘plugging holes,’ but a powerful Ghost can be difficult to stop due to the lack of resistance to its STAB. There are definitely some great and commonly-used Ghost types, but the typing alone will do little for you.
11 Normal
Where else to rank Normal but squarely in the middle? These Pokemon are, by definition, the jack-of-all-trades.. Since Red & Blue, they’ve been defined by their diverse movepool potential (why in the name of everything that’s good and pure can Tauros use Solar Beam?) and varied stats that allow them to do a bit of everything.
Normal has great special attackers like Porygon-Z, the best Special Wall in the entire franchise in Blissey, physical powerhouses… everything you could ever want. The issue with Normal is that it isn’t super effective on anything by itself, often relying on powerful neutral hits to get the job done. Additionally, Steel and Rock resist Normal, and Ghost is immune, meaning that these friends will often find themselves stonewalled.
10 Flying
Yet again, we’ve got quite the mixed bag on our hands here. Flying is, admittedly, a cool type. Remember the Bird Keeper trainer class? The sprite of the spiky-haired little dude with the bird cage?
The fact is, though, this is one of the most versatile and balanced types in the series. Flying has three weaknesses and three resistances. It is super effective on three types and is resisted by three types. That’s the kind of neat symmetry one can get behind. Flying is powerful offensively, able to cover the types that resist it well, but its weaknesses are some of the most common types in the game (Ice, Rock, Electric).
On the flip side, Flying sort of shares Ghost’s caveat insofar as few Pokemon are actually defined by it, because gaining STAB on Bug, Fighting, and Grass is just not worth bragging about.
9 Dark
Here’s another elemental type that has risen, fallen, and risen again over the years. As we’ve seen, Dark was introduced with Pokemon Gold & Silver, after Game Freak realized they’d goofed and created a monster with the rampant Psychic-type. Along with Ghost, after they’d fixed that, Dark was intended as Psychic’s greatest weakness, and did much to curtail its utter domination.
As Psychic became less of a threat, so did Dark itself, and the lacking base power of most Dark moves didn’t do much to help their cause. Then there was the huge buff to Knock Off, which was carried by everything. Then, Fairy-types appeared, and Dark-types were reduced to cowering in their bedrooms and muttering that they hate everyone, like the edgy teenagers they are. There are still the super popular likes of Bisharp and Zarude to fly the flag, though. What a wild ride it’s been.
8 Ground
Ground is a tough one to categorize. If you’ve ever seen an Excadrill tear your team apart in a sandstorm, you’ll know what a fearsome type this can be. On the other hand, that really is the exception to the rule.
Generally speaking, Ground-types are hulking, slow, defensive beasts — think Hippowdon, for instance. They’re super tanky, and have access to possibly the strongest and most popular STAB move in the series: Earthquake. Offensively, this is excellent, super effective on five different types, and resisted only by two (Flying-types are also immune, obviously).
The trade-off is that Ground-types are weak to the common Water, Ice, and Grass attacks; these are usually Special-based, and Ground’s typically high Defense won’t save it when the… water… hits the fan.
7 Fighting
Next up, we have Normal’s only weakness: Fighting. Fighting is usually characterized by strong physical threats; the Heracrosses, Terrakions, and Machamps of the world. A fair few are tanky, but they tend to favor speed over survivability.
There have been some real highs and lows for Fighting recently. A few years back, they were prized as one of a select band of Pokemon able to swiftly end Mega Kangaskhan, sending it shooting down from the ever-present dominance it exerted over the meta. But the age of the Megas is over, and in a post-Dynamax world, it’s lost some luster.
6 Fire
Granted, Fire doesn’t struggle as much as its buddies Ice and Rock. It isn’t like that meme of the dog sitting in its burning living room insisting that everything’s fine. That doesn’t mean these guys have it easy, though. The struggle can be real.
Things are a little more balanced for our fiery friends. They have some very common weaknesses in Ground and Rock, the latter being particularly annoying because of Stealth Rock. With Water being the most common type in Pokemon, too, there’ll almost always be something on a team tailored to end your reign.
Yet Fire has some key advantages. It can scare away the ever-present Steel-types, and it also has a highly important (and rather rare!) resistance to Fairy. There’s always a danger for a Fire-type on a team, but there’s almost always a place for one as well. And when that place lands it in good shape against some of the best elemental types in Pokemon, Fire will go far in life.
5 Electric
Electric types don’t have it as easy as one might think from watching the anime. This is real life, Ash Ketchum. There’s no aiming for the horn here. Ground-types are immune to your Pikachu’s attacks.
As we’ll soon see, Water-types are a hugely popular part of the meta. Grass-types being rare and a little less powerful, it follows that Electric-types also feature prominently as a way of sending these popular picks down to Davy Jones’s Locker. Like Fighting-types, Electric Pokemon usually want to hit hard and fast, so they can struggle with anything that resists their STAB. Many of them carry Ice-type Hidden Power to try and deal with those Ground ‘mons, but that’s really the best they can do in many cases.
4 Water
Water is the most common type in Pokemon. There are more Water-types than any other type, and that’s a neat little metaphor for their place in competitive battling. From Barraskewda to Volcanion, and so many species in-between, Water can frequently make a huge difference in competitive matches.
Water has only two weaknesses, Electric and Grass, the latter of which is rarely a factor. In return, it boasts four resistances, all of which are quite commonly seen. As such, Water is one of the best defensive types, arguably the best. It shines in a walling/tanking role but can be just as terrifying on the offensive.
3 Dragon
Throughout this list, we’ve taken a look at a lot of types that have risen and fallen in favor. That’s the way a metagame works; top threats appear, are countered and so fall in use, as do their counters. For example: once Fairy-types were added, Poison STAB became a thing! What a time to be alive.
Dragon, however, doesn’t have much to care about during any of this. Since the type was first introduced, it’s been hugely powerful. It’s only weak to itself and Ice, and it has some key resistances. Some of the best Pokemon, in general, are Dragon-type… they’ve just been unstoppable. X & Y added the Fairy-type specifically to counter these overpowered Pokemon, which highlights the kind of second-coming-of-first-generation-Psychic situation we were in.
2 Fairy
Speaking of Fairy, here comes that newest band of cutesy little pixies now. The Fairy-type, as mentioned, was created for the sixth generation of Pokemon, partly in response to player backlash about those darn Dragons.
Fairy not only gave those scaly Dragon-types another weakness to worry about, but they are also completely immune to Dragon-type attacks. Granted, you still see Garchomp, Salamence, and their top-tier buddies lurking around, but they’re not as prevalent or as safe as they once were. The addition of Fairy was a neat, necessary paradigm shift for the meta. Weak only to Poison and Steel, and boasting great neutral coverage, they are now one of the top threats to contend with as well. The fact that the Legendary Tapus and Zacian are all part-Fairy just adds to the type’s great popularity.
1 Steel
And so, we arrive at Steel. Since their introduction, Steel-types have been known as an unbreakable defensive force. Notorious for resisting almost everything, sometimes for seemingly no reason at all, Steel was another type that was absolutely nerfed when Gen 6 arrived.
Previously, Steel resisted an absurd 11 different types. Dark and Ghost were removed from that tally, and Fairy added, giving them a total of ten resistances. But, and pardon the basic math, 11 minus one is not exactly a significantly smaller number. Until and unless an upcoming generation of Pokemon games revises the rules, Steel will continue to dominate the realm.
NEXT: All Unused Pokemon Type Combinations So Far, Ranked
