User:Zappernapper/Pokémon types

Pokémon types are special attributes based partly on, and expanded from, the classical elements which determine the strengths along with the weaknesses of different Pokémon species. They lay the foundation of a complex rock, paper, scissors system that applies to every Pokémon and their respective moves. Some advantages and disadvantages are based on common sense (e.g. Fire-type Pokémon being weak to Water-type attacks), while others are not as obvious (e.g. Bug-type attacks being strong against Psychic-type Pokémon). The mechanics of this system underwent an overhaul after the first generation of games. Consequently, some points of discussion are only true for Pokémon Red, Blue, Yellow, and Stadium, while others are only true for all later generations.

Types and Pokémon moves

Most Pokémon learn moves of the specific type(s) they have traits of, as well as basic physical attacks. For example, the Electric-type Pikachu can learn basic Normal-type moves such as Growl and Quick Attack, but also Electric-type moves like Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave. When a Pokémon uses a damaging move whose type matches one of its own types, the move does 1.5 times the normal damage. This is known as STAB, which is short for Same Type Attack Bonus. For instance, a Pikachu will do more damage with Thunderbolt than a Normal-type like Raticate with the same stats. Dual types do in fact receive the 1.5x Same Type Attack Bonus when the attack matches one of their types.

Also taken into consideration is the target Pokémon's type or types. A move may be declared "Super effective," "Not very effective," or "No effect." In most circumstances, "Super effective" moves will do twice the normal amount of damage to their target, while "Not very effective" moves will only do half. Some Pokémon are two types, and damage results are affected by each; as a result, "Super effective" and "Not very effective" can also refer to a move doing quadruple or one quarter of the normal amount. For example, Electric-type attacks will do quadruple damage to Gyarados because they are "super effective" against both of its types; Water and Flying. For the opposite reason, Beedrill, a Bug/Poison type, only takes one quarter damage from Fighting-type attacks. Moves that have "No effect" are of a type to which the target Pokémon is immune.

These type effects are cumulative with other effects, like STAB, allowing moves to become much stronger or weaker depending on the circumstance. A Pokémon or Pokémon type is often said to have "weakness" against types whose attacks do "super effective" damage, and "resistance" against those types which do "not very effective" damage; these terms were popularized by the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Physical and Special attack

Each Pokémon move can be described as either a Physical or Special attack. When attacking an opponent with a Physical attack, the attacker's Attack stat pushes the direct damage higher, while the target's Defense stat drives the damage lower. When attacking an opponent with a Special attack, the attacker's Sp. Attack stat and the target's Sp. Defense stat influence the direct-damage amount.

The move's type determines whether the move is classified as a Physical attack or a Special attack in the first three generations of games.

Physical attack types	Bug	Fighting	Flying	Ghost	Ground	Normal	Poison	Rock	Steel
Special attack types	Dark	Dragon	Electric	Fire	Grass	Ice	Water	Psychic

However, in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl each move is individually classified as Physical, Special, or Status (for moves that cause no immediate damage.) For example; Thunderbolt, a move where the Pokémon attacks a target with a directed bolt of electricity, is a Special attack; Thunder Punch, which is an attack with an electrically-charged fist (or similar appendage), is considered a Physical attack; Thunder Wave, which does no damage but paralyzes the opponent, is classified as Status. All three attacks are of the Electric type, however, and are subject to the same type bonuses or penalties.

Pokémon types in the anime

The Pokémon anime treats Pokémon types in much the same way as the video games, but also has a number of differences. For example, Pokémon were often shown to be physically weakened by exposure to a classical element associated with their type weaknesses, often to the point where a Pokémon would lose any type advantages it normally held. This often extended psychologically as well. Ground- and Rock-type Pokémon, for example, were often depicted as being afraid of water, but a determined Pokémon or trainer could overcome this fear. For example, in episode 206, "Right On, Rhydon," a Rhydon teaches itself to swim across a lake in order to reach food. This is also in the video games as Rhydon can be taught Surf.

Numerous times in the anime, Pokémon have been able to overcome even total type immunities through sheer power or toughness, to the great shock of the opponent and any onlookers. Ash's Pikachu, for example, has defeated many Ground-type Pokemon this way. Other Pokémon and trainers have resorted to unconventional moves and tactics to avoid or resist attacks they were weak against.

Electric vs. Grass

In some episodes, such as episode 74, "The Fourth Round Rumble," when Ash's Pikachu battles a Bellsprout, it is said that when a Grass-type is connected to the ground, it cannot be harmed by Electric-type attacks. In the games, Grass-types merely have resistance to Electric-type attacks.

Electric vs. Ground

Ground-type Pokémon are completely immune to Electric-type attacks in the Pokémon games; however, in the anime, it is possible for Ground-type Pokémon to take damage from Electric-type attacks. This is often performed by Ash, or another protagonist, taking advantage of "an exception to the rule." For example, there are several instances where Ash's Pikachu has succeeded in attacking, damaging, and/or knocking out Ground-type Pokémon using Electric-type attacks, the very first case being when Ash was facing Brock; Pikachu broke the sprinkler system, dousing Onix in water and making it vulnerable to Electric-type attacks. In episode 58, "Riddle Me This," Pikachu is able to injure a Rhydon by aiming a Thunderbolt directly at its horn. In episode 73, "Bad to the Bone," Pikachu managed to defeat Otoshi's Marowak with Thunderbolt. In episode 89, "In the Pink", when Pikachu struck Team Rocket with its Thunderbolt attack, the shock accidentally hit the Pink Nidoking.

Electric vs. Rock

In the first generation games, almost all Rock-types were Rock/Ground dual-type, and therefore immune to Electric-type attacks. The only other Rock-types were the fossil Pokémon Omanyte, Omastar, Kabuto, Kabutops and Aerodactyl.

Ghost vs. Normal

In the Pokémon games, Ghost-type moves usually have no effect on Normal-type Pokémon and vice versa. However, in one episode during the Pokémon: Advanced Generation season, the Ghost-type Shadow Ball attack is able to damage Meowth, a Normal-type Pokémon. Additionally, in several episodes featuring Pokémon contests, May's Skitty is hit by a Shadow Ball attack. In Pokémon Chronicles, Misty's Corsola successfully uses Spike Cannon, a Normal-type move, on the Dark- and Ghost-type Sableye.

Ground vs. Flying

Flying-type Pokémon are immune to Ground-type attacks in the games, but not in the anime. This is demonstrated in the episode "Playing with Fire," in which a trainer Harrison's Steelix is able to use a Dig attack on Ash's Noctowl, and again during the Advanced Generation episode "From Brags to Riches" in which a Marowak is able to use Bone Club on a Gligar. This is because in the anime, Ground-type attacks are not directly affiliated with the earth, with the exception of Earthquake: all Pokémon merely jump to avoid the shock waves of Earthquake, regardless of type.

Poison vs. Steel

In the games, Steel-types are unaffected by Poison-type moves. However, in the Diamond and Pearl episode "Gymbaliar!", a Croagunk was able to damage the Bug/Steel-type Scizor with various Poison-type moves, such as Poison Jab.

Psychic vs. Dark

In one episode of Pokémon Chronicles, Misty's Psyduck used the Psychic-type move Confusion on the Dark-type Poochyena, which should have been immune to it.

Type balance throughout gameplay

The original type match-ups in Pokémon Red, Blue, and Yellow created a powerful force with the Psychic type. Ghost-type and Bug-type Pokémon were effective against Psychic-type Pokémon, but in theory only. In practice, the only Ghost-type attacks that caused damage were the low powered Lick move, which, in Red and Blue, but not Yellow, had no effect on Psychic-types, and Night Shade, which causes damage equivalent to the user's level, regardless of the defending Pokémon's type. In addition, during this period there were very few significantly damaging Bug-type attacks. Furthermore, Psychic-type attacks were actually super-effective against many of the Bug-type Pokémon (like Beedrill) as well as the only three Ghost-type Pokémon (Gastly, Haunter and Gengar) that existed at the time, since these Pokémon have a secondary Poison-type, which is weak to Psychic-type attacks.

In Pokémon Gold and Silver, the situation was fixed with the creation of stronger Ghost-type attacks (such as Shadow Ball) and the pure Ghost-type Pokémon Misdreavus, as well as stronger Bug-type attacks (such as Megahorn) and Pokémon. Two new types were also added: the Dark type, which is super-effective against Psychic-types and immune to Psychic-type attacks; and the Steel type, which is resistant to Psychic-type attacks.

Table of Pokémon types

Note that a Pokémon type's immunities may be removed under certain battling conditions. For example, the move Foresight ignores the Ghost-type's immunity to Normal-type and Fighting-type attacks.

Normal damage	"Super effective"	"Not very effective"	"No effect"

Defending Pokémon type
Attack type
	Normal Fire Water Grass Electric Ice Fighting Poison Ground Flying Psychic Bug Rock Ghost Dragon Dark Steel Fairy Normal Fire Water Grass Electric Ice Fighting Poison Ground Flying Psychic Bug Rock Ghost Dragon Dark Steel Fairy

List of Pokémon types

Bug-type

Bug-type (むしタイプ, Mushi-taipu) Pokémon are generally arthropod-like Pokémon, mostly insectoids and arachnids. These Pokémon commonly evolve at low levels, and often have high speed and fast attack moves such as Quick Attack and Fury Cutter. Examples of Bug-type Pokémon include Scyther, Heracross, Wurmple, and Vespiquen.

Dark-type

Dark-type Pokémon tend to be associated with darkness or night. Examples of Dark-type Pokémon include Umbreon, Cacturne, Darkrai and Weavile. No first-generation Pokémon have this type.

Dragon-type

Dragon-type (ドラゴンタイプ, Doragon-taipu) Pokémon are dragon-like in appearance, however, not all dragon-like Pokémon are Dragon-type. For example, Charizard is a Fire/Flying-type, Gyarados is a Water/Flying-type, and Milotic is a pure Water-type; these Pokémon are instead included in the Dragon egg group. Dragon-types have few weaknesses, but their weakness to Ice is often magnified by a secondary Flying or Ground type. Their above-average stats allow them to easily overpower most other Pokémon. Dragon-type Pokémon are scarce; in the first generation, there existed only one evolutionary line of Dragon-types. Most Dragon-types that do evolve have three evolutionary stages, and reach their final stage at an uncommonly high level. Dragon-type moves involve the use of claws and breath. Examples of Dragon-type Pokémon include Dragonite, Kingdra, Salamence, and Giratina.

Electric-type

Electric-type (でんきタイプ, Denki-taipu) Pokémon have the natural ability to generate large amounts of electricity. They often have a high Speed stat, a respectable Special Attack, and a decent Special Defense. In addition, Electric-type attacks may cause paralysis. Electric-types are noted for having very few weaknesses, although they usually have low physical Defense. Examples of Electric-type Pokémon include Pikachu, Pichu, Manectric, and Magnezone.

Fighting-type

Fighting-type (かくとうタイプ, Kakutō-taipu) Pokémon learn specifically labeled unarmed martial arts attacks, such as punches, throws, submissions, and kicks. They generally have a high attack, and are notable for being the only type that can inflict super-effective damage on Normal-Type Pokémon. Examples of Fighting-type Pokémon include Machop, Tyrogue, Blaziken, and Infernape.

Fire-type

Fire-type (ほのおタイプ, Honō-taipu) Pokémon are aligned with heat, often in the form of flames or lava, and are usually capable of breathing fire. They are immune to the Burn status effect and will defrost on the next turn from the Frozen status effect. Fire-type Pokémon tend to have high attacking stats balanced by lower hit points and defensive stats. Because of this, Fire-type Pokémon tend to make poor defensive fighters in spite of the fact that Fire resists several common attacking types. Examples of Fire-type Pokémon include Charizard, Entei, Torkoal, and Infernape.

Flying-type

Flying-type (ひこうタイプ, Hikō-taipu) Pokémon can fly or resemble birds and use aerial techniques like Wing Attack and Drill Peck. They are normally bird-like, bug-like, or dragon-like in appearance, but there are exceptions, such as the sea serpent-like Water-and-Flying-type Gyarados. The Flying-type has never been any species' sole type; a partial exception to this is the fourth generation Pokémon Arceus. Arceus has the ability to become any type by holding a special item, and so can potentially become a pure Flying-type Pokémon. In addition, some moves and abilities exist which can temporarily cause a Pokémon to be considered a Flying-type while in battle, such as Kecleon's Color Change ability. Flying-type has been combined with every type, except Fighting, at least once. The most common combination is the Normal/Flying dual-type. Flying-type Pokémon should not be confused with the glitch related Bird-type Pokémon, Missingno. and 'M. Examples of Flying-type Pokémon include Pidgeot, Hoothoot, Beautifly, and Staraptor.

Ghost-type

Ghost-type (ゴーストタイプ, Gōsuto-taipu) Pokémon relate to the supernatural, specifically the realm of the dead and use odd, ghostly moves like Lick and Confuse Ray. The move Curse works differently for Ghost-types than it does for other types. In the Red, Blue, Yellow, FireRed, and LeafGreen games, all wild Ghost-type Pokémon require the Silph Scope to see them clearly in order to battle or capture them. In Red and Blue, Ghost-types were said to be effective against Psychic-types, but in fact Ghost-type moves were completely unable to damage them. This problem was fixed in later generations, which also added more variation in Ghost-types and Ghost-type moves. Ghost Pokémon generally have decent Attack and Special Attack and low HP, most notably seen on Shedinja, which can only have 1 HP. Examples of Ghost-type Pokémon include Haunter, Misdreavus, Shedinja, and Spiritomb.

Grass-type

Grass-type (くさタイプ, Kusa-taipu, sometimes さいタイプ Sai-taipu in spoken dialogue) Pokémon have abilities and appearances associated with plant life and nature. However, Sudowoodo, a Rock-type, gives the false appearance of a Grass-type by resembling a tree. They use many HP-recovery and HP-draining techniques, as well as moves which cause various status effects; poison, paralysis, and sleep, to their advantage. Grass-type Pokémon are immune to the move Leech Seed. Until the second generation versions, over half of the Grass-type Pokémon were Grass/Poison dual-types, negating the Grass-type's resistance to Ground-type attacks. In fact, in the first generation of Pokémon, just one Pokémon was purely Grass-type; Tangela. Even in later games, many Grass-type Pokémon have a second type. Examples of Grass-type Pokémon include Bulbasaur, Bayleef, Ludicolo, and Shaymin.

Ground-type

Ground-type (じめんタイプ, Jimen-taipu) Pokémon are either creatures that interact with the ground, creatures that are made of boulders or metals that one would find in the ground, or creatures whose bodies are powerful enough to affect the ground. They have moves which generally cause damage by ground movement and with rare exceptions, sacrifice Special Attack and Special Defense for higher Attack and Defense. Ground-type Pokémon, along with Steel and Rock-type Pokémon, do not take damage from the weather condition Sandstorm. Examples of Ground-type Pokémon include Diglett, Phanpy, Groudon, and Torterra.

Ice-type

Ice-type (こおりタイプ, Kōri-taipu) Pokémon are often in forms of snow and ice, and are usually capable of breathing ice. They are immune to the freeze status, and Ice attacks may freeze other Pokémon. Ice-type Pokémon are also the only type of Pokémon that do not take damage from the weather condition Hail. Defensively, all Ice-type battle moves are ineffective against Fire and Steel-type Pokémon. Examples of Ice-type Pokémon include Dewgong, Swinub, Glalie, and Glaceon.

Normal-type

Normal-type (ノーマルタイプ, Nōmaru-taipu) Pokémon do not generally have any of the characteristics assigned to the other types, except in the case of dual-typed Normal-type Pokémon. As such, the Normal-type could be considered "default," encompassing the Pokémon which do not fit into the other types. Normal-types are usually mammals or fairy-like creatures. Unusual Pokémon, such as Eevee, Porygon, and Arceus, are also usually Normal-type. Normal-type moves are based on standard attacks, such as tackles and scratches, but most Normal-types can also learn moves of other types, such as Fire Blast and Thunder. Normal-type attacks are not particularly effective against any type, but as a counter, only a few types have resistance to the Normal-type, and only Fighting type attacks are super effective against it. Examples of Normal-type Pokémon include Chansey, Noctowl, Skitty, and Munchlax.

Poison-type

Poison-type (どくタイプ, Doku-taipu) Pokémon have some poisonous quality about them, and use poison-based moves to make the foe sick. Some take after reptiles or insects that produce venom, others are resemble poisonous plants, while a few are even composed of, or emit toxic chemicals. Many Poison-type moves can inflict the poison status effect, of which Steel-types are immune to, as well as other Poison-types. However, the Bug-type attack "Twinneedle" can bypass Poison immunities and inflict the Poison status affliction. There are nearly twice the amount of Poison-types in the first generation than in all other generations put together. Examples of Poison-type Pokémon include Weezing, Ariados, Seviper, and Croagunk.

Psychic-type

Psychic-type (エスパータイプ, Esupā-taipu, lit.) Pokémon, or Esper-type in original Japanese language versions, generally have mental abilities associated with psychic, such as telekinesis, telepathy, or prescience. They generally have high Special or Special Attack statistics. Psychic-types are also among the smartest Pokémon, often capable of speaking in human languages either directly or through telepathy. They are favored by the fandom, as Psychic-types generally can learn an incredibly wide variety of moves. In the first generation, they were considered to be unfairly powerful and it is assumed that Dark-types, which are immune to Psychic-types, were introduced to balance the gameplay. Examples of Psychic-type Pokémon include Mewtwo, Lugia, Kirlia, and Bronzong. It is also noteworthy that the most difficult to acquire of the legendary Pokémon from the first three generations - Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, and Deoxys - are all Psychic or partially Psychic-types.

Rock-type

Rock-type (いわタイプ, Iwa-taipu) Pokémon are affiliated with rocks and mountains, and often have bodies made of stone. They should not be confused with Ground-type Pokémon; Rock-types attack by throwing rocks, while Ground-type attacks deal specifically with the ground itself, particularly soil. However, many Rock-type Pokémon are dual Rock and Ground-types, giving some the false impression that Electric-types are not effective against Rock-types. They generally have high Defense at the cost of Speed. Rock-type Pokémon, along with Ground and Steel-type Pokémon, do not take damage from the weather condition Sandstorm. Examples of Rock-type Pokémon include Onix, Tyranitar, Nosepass, and Bonsly.

Steel-type

Steel-type (はがねタイプ, Hagane-taipu) Pokémon, a newer type introduced in the second generation, are made of, or coated with a type of metal, such as steel or iron. They usually possess high Defense and sport a very large amount of resistances, but have low Speed and average Special Defense. Steel-type Pokémon, along with Rock and Ground-type Pokémon, do not take damage from the weather condition Sandstorm. Examples of Steel-type Pokémon include Magneton (one of only two first generation Pokémon which gained a second generation type), Skarmory, Mawile, and Dialga.

Water-type

Water-type (みずタイプ, Mizu-taipu) Pokémon are based on aquatic or amphibious creatures, and their powers are directly related to water, such as the ability to spit water at high pressure. Of all the types, this one has the most species attributed to it. Examples of Water-type Pokémon include Wartortle, Corsola, Mudkip, and Empoleon.

Other types

The types below are unofficial types for Pokémon. Some are glitches, others have Pokémon moves of their type but no Pokémon.

Glitch types

The glitch ’M Pokémon has several unusual characteristics, one of which is that it can belong to the nonexistent Bird-type.

The Bird-type was supposedly the original name for Flying-type Pokémon. Early screenshots of Pokémon Red and Blue show various Flying-type Pokémon listed as Bird-type. Bird-type remained in the games as a result of the 'M, Missingno. and 3trainerpoké glitch Pokémon. They are the only Pokémon who are of the Bird-type. Other unusual groups, such as the Pokémaniac-type, the 9-type, and the B-type, can be found among the varieties of glitch Pokémon.

???-type

The ???-type (or Unknown-type) is the type of the move Curse (a Normal-type move in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon), whose effect depends on the type of the Pokémon using it. Usually the move raises Attack and Defense while lowering Speed, but if a Ghost-type Pokémon uses it, half of the user's HP is sacrificed and it haunts the opponent instead.

The move Hidden Power is given as Normal-type in most games, and is unusual because it actually damages the opponent as if it were of any type, depending on the Pokémon using the move. However, in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, it has no type, much like the moves Wide Slash, Vacuum-Cut, Spin Slash, and Excavate.

The ???-type is also the type given for Shadow Attacks used by Shadow Pokémon in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, until they are fully purified.

Due to the move Struggle's lack of a type, many people categorize it as a ???-type move, though this is unofficial. Struggle is listed in the Official Nintendo Power Players' Guides as a Normal-type move. If Struggle is sketched by a Smeargle or learned as a regular move by a cheating device such as Action Replay, it says that Struggle is of the Normal type. However, a Pokémon immune to Normal-type attacks is still damaged by Struggle.

Pokémon eggs are listed as ???-type, until they hatch and are given the type of the Pokémon born.

Interestingly, one of the sprites of the Nintendo Event only Arceus shows it as a ???-type (since it can alter its type wearing different plates). However, Arceus is a Normal-type. There are no plates that change Arceus into a Normal-type or ???-type.

References

• The following games and their instruction manuals: Pokémon Red, Blue and Pokémon Yellow; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Pokémon Crystal; Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness; Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

See also

• Pokémon
• List of Pokémon
• Pokémon game mechanics