Master all 18 Pokémon types with detailed breakdowns of strengths, weaknesses, resistances, and the best Pokémon picks for competitive play and casual fun.
Every Pokémon belongs to one or two of 18 elemental types. A Pokémon's type determines what moves it can learn and, crucially, how it interacts with other types in battle. Understanding type matchups is the single most important skill in competitive Pokémon — a well-chosen type-advantage can let a weaker Pokémon defeat a much stronger one.
When a move is "super effective" against a target type, it deals 2× damage. If a Pokémon has two types, both are combined — so a move can deal 4× damage (super effective against both types) or just 0.25× damage (resisted by both types). Some types are completely immune to certain moves, reducing damage to 0×.
The 18 types were introduced gradually across generations. The original Red/Blue games featured 15 types. Dark and Steel were added in Generation 2 (Gold/Silver) to balance the overpowered Psychic type. Fairy was the most recent addition, introduced in Generation 6 (X/Y) specifically to counter the dominant Dragon type in competitive play.
Fire-type Pokémon are among the most iconic in the franchise. Fiercely offensive, they excel at dealing heavy special damage and burning opponents. The Starter Pokémon of nearly every region includes a Fire-type, from Charmander in Kanto to Fuecoco in Paldea, making Fire the most recognizable type for new players.
Fire is the go-to counter for Grass, Ice, Bug, and Steel types. This makes Fire essential for taking down defensive Steel-type walls commonly seen in competitive play.
Water-types are the classic counter to Fire. Rock-type moves deal 2× damage to Fire Pokémon, making Water/Rock a dangerous combination for Fire users.
Water is the most populated type in all of Pokémon, with over 130 species. This is a reflection of the real world, where oceans cover over 70% of Earth's surface. Water-types are versatile, capable of playing offensive or defensive roles, and the Water Starter is considered the "easy mode" pick by many veteran players due to fewer weaknesses.
Water beats Fire, Ground, and Rock, making it effective against many common defensive types. Water is especially good at shutting down sand teams built around Rock-types.
Only two types resist Water: Grass and Dragon. This makes Water one of the best types for neutral damage coverage across the board.
Grass-types are the most strategically complex type to use. They have the most weaknesses of any type (5), making them tricky in competitive play. However, they compensate with a wide array of unique utility moves: Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, Spore, and Synthesis give Grass-types incredible staying power in battles of attrition.
Electric is one of the best offensive types in the game, with only one weakness (Ground) and the ability to paralyze opponents — a crippling status that cuts Speed by 50% and has a 25% chance to prevent action each turn. Electric-types are typically fast and powerful, fitting the archetype of a lightning bolt.
Electric has the narrowest offensive coverage, only hitting Water and Flying super effectively. Pair it with a wide-coverage second type for best results.
Ground-types are completely immune to all Electric-type moves, making them the go-to switch-in against Electric attackers.
Psychic was the most dominant type in Generation 1, where it had almost no counters due to a programming bug that made Psychic immune to Ghost. The introduction of Dark and Steel types in Gen 2 was a direct response to nerf this overpowered type. Today, Psychic remains strong offensively but is properly balanced with three weaknesses.
Dark-types are completely immune to Psychic moves, making them the perfect check to Psychic sweepers.
Ice is often considered the weakest defensive type in the game — it only resists itself, and is weak to Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel. Despite this, Ice is one of the best offensive types, as Dragon, Flying, Ground, and Grass are four of the most common types in competitive play. Freeze is also a powerful status condition unique to Ice-type moves.
Dragon is the prestige type of Pokémon. Dragon moves hit nearly all types neutrally, Dragon-types have excellent stat distributions, and many Legendary Pokémon are Dragon-type. However, Dragon was so dominant in Gen 5's competitive scene that Game Freak introduced the Fairy type specifically to counter it, by making Fairy completely immune to Dragon moves.
Dragon is only super effective against other Dragon-types. However, Dragon moves hit almost everything for neutral damage, making coverage excellent.
Fairy is completely immune to Dragon. This is the sole reason Fairy was added — to dethrone Dragon dominance in Gen 5 OU.
Added in Generation 2 along with Steel, Dark was designed specifically to nerf the overpowered Psychic type. Dark-types are immune to Psychic moves and resist Ghost and Dark itself, making them natural checks to the two offensive juggernauts of Gen 1. Dark Pokémon often have sinister designs inspired by shadows, night, and deception.
The newest of all 18 types, Fairy was added in Generation 6 (Pokémon X and Y, 2013). Its introduction dramatically changed competitive Pokémon by making Dragon types — which had dominated play for years — suddenly much less viable. Fairy also resists Fighting and Dark, two other dominant offensive types, giving it unparalleled defensive value.
Crucially, Fairy is completely immune to Dragon moves. No Dragon-type move can touch a Fairy-type Pokémon, making Fairies perfect safe switch-ins.
Fighting is arguably the most offensively powerful type in terms of what it hits super effectively. Close Combat, the signature coverage move, hits Ice, Dark, Rock, Normal, and Steel — five different types. Fighting is the only type that hits Normal super effectively, making it the only way to finish off Normal-type walls that rely on high HP and defense.
Flying is the most common secondary type in the game, as many bird and airborne Pokémon have Normal/Flying or other Type/Flying combinations. Flying is completely immune to Ground-type moves, making Flying-types safe switch-ins against Earthquake — arguably the most common competitive move. Flying is also immune to Spikes entry hazards.
Poison was mediocre for many generations, but it gained immense competitive value with the introduction of Fairy in Gen 6. Poison is one of only two types super effective against Fairy (the other being Steel), making Poison-types essential for checking the Fairy meta. Toxic, the signature move, is one of the most-used competitive moves ever.
Ground is arguably the best offensive type in the game. Earthquake is one of the most powerful, accurate, and widely-distributed moves in competitive Pokémon. Ground hits Fire, Electric, Poison, Rock, and Steel super effectively — some of the most common types. Ground is the only type that can hit Electric for super effective damage, making it the universal Electric counter.
Rock types are known for setting up weather — Tyranitar sets Sandstorm and many others thrive in it. Stealth Rock, the single most impactful entry hazard in competitive play, is a Rock-type move. Rock has excellent physical Defense and is super effective against Fire, Flying, Ice, and Bug, but has many weaknesses to common types including Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, and Steel.
Bug is widely considered one of the weakest types offensively, only hitting Grass, Psychic, and Dark super effectively. However, Bug-types evolve early and excel in the early game. Competitively, Bug has hidden gems: Volcarona and Scizor are staple threats in high-level play. Quiver Dance, a Bug-only stat-boosting move, is among the most powerful setup moves in the game.
Ghost is the only type that is immune to two different types (Normal and Fighting). This means Ghost-types can never be hit by Fake Out, Rapid Spin, or any of the powerful Fighting moves that plague the metagame. Ghost is also the only type that can hit Normal-types for super effective damage — wait, no, it can't. Ghost washes out on Normal. But Ghost hits Ghost and Psychic for super effective damage.
Ghost and Normal types have a mutual immunity: neither can hit the other for damage. Ghost is completely immune to Normal and Fighting moves.
Steel is the premier defensive type in all of Pokémon. It has an incredible 12 resistances (more than any other type) and one immunity (Poison), meaning Steel resists or is immune to more types than it is weak to. Steel-type Pokémon are almost always used defensively or as defensive pivots. The addition of Steel in Gen 2 helped balance the game enormously.
Plus immunity to Poison. Steel is the most resistant type in the game.
Normal is the most "plain" type — it doesn't hit any type super effectively, but has only one weakness (Fighting) and is immune to Ghost. Normal-types often have wide move-pools, learning moves from many different types. Many Normal-type Pokémon are known for having staggering stats balanced by limited coverage. Normalium Z transforms Normal moves into devastating Z-Moves with unique effects.
Normal has no super-effective matchups. It's immune to Ghost and weak only to Fighting. Normal-type moves don't hit Ghost-types at all — a mutual immunity between Normal and Ghost exists in both directions.
Now that you've mastered all 18 Pokémon types, put your knowledge to the test! Can you identify a mystery Pokémon just by its type, generation, and stats?