In Pokemon, there’s more to battling than simply throwing out your lead monster and commanding it to obliterate the opponent. Granted, that strategy may work from time to time, but the battle system is much deeper than that. There are types to take into consideration, weaknesses and strengths each Pokemon possesses that make it more or less effective given the situation.
There are a total of 18 types in the Pokemon universe. Each pocket monster has an affinity for one or two different types, which makes putting together a team of six an exercise in variety. You want to make sure all of your bases are covered, and that you’re prepared for whatever your adventure may throw at you. To help you strategize, we’ve put together a chart that lists how strong or weak each type is versus the others.
Pokemon Type Chart
As a reminder, a Super effective attack does double the amount of damage (200%). If you manage to stack two weaknesses at once you can actually do 4x damage.
| Attacking Type | Super Effective Against | Weak To |
| Normal Type | N/A | Fighting |
| Fire Type | Bug, Grass, Ice, Steel | Ground, Rock, Water |
| Water Type | Fire, Ground, Rock | Electric, Grass |
| Grass Type | Ground, Rock, Water | Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison |
| Flying Type | Bug, Fighting, Grass | Electric, Ice, Rock |
| Fighting Type | Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, Steel | Fairy, Flying, Psychic |
| Poison Type | Fairy, Grass | Ground, Psychic |
| Electric Type | Flying, Water | Ground |
| Ground Type | Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel | Grass, Ice, Water |
| Rock Type | Fire, Flying, Ice, Bug | Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, Water |
| Ice Type | Dragon, Flying, Grass, Ground | Fighting, Fire, Rock, Steel |
| Bug Type | Dark, Grass, Psychic | Fire, Flying, Rock |
| Dragon Type | Dragon | Dragon, Fairy, Ice |
| Ghost Type | Ghost, Psychic | Dark, Ghost |
| Dark Type | Ghost, Psychic | Bug, Fairy, Fighting |
| Steel Type | Fairy, Ice, Rock | Fighting, Fire, Ground |
| Fairy Type | Dark, Dragon, Fighting | Poison, Steel |
| Psychic Type | Fighting, Poison | Bug, Dark, Ghost |
Looking at the chart, simple logic can inform how many of the types might behave. For example, it makes sense that fire types are weak to water types, or that fighting types can handle rock types with ease. Other interactions in this vein include flying versus bug, ground versus electric, ice versus rock, and bug versus grass.
Even some of the more fantastical types can be deduced this way. Take the fairy type, for example. It’s strong against the dark type, which makes sense if you consider the traditional fairy archetype in fantasy literature and film. By that same token, ghost types are effective against psychic types, and dragon types are weak to fairy attacks.
There are several interactions, however, that may not be obvious at first. For instance, ice types are weak to steel attacks, for some reason, and bug attacks are super effective against psychic types. Similarly, ground attacks are strong against poison types.
There are a few instances of a type being weak against itself, as well: dragon types take extra damage from dragon attacks, and ghost attacks are super effective against ghost types. This is particularly useful to know in Pokemon Sword and Shield, as there are both dragon and ghost type gym challenges.
And there you have it—a quick rundown of type effectiveness in Pokemon. Hopefully this chart helps trainers conquer the Pokemon League and become the new champion!
