Learn Type Weaknesses in Pokémon
Pokémon types significantly affect the battles you use them in. Their strengths and weaknesses can make one Pokémon totally useless or another one a sure hit. If you're having trouble remember which is which, get some help below for memorizing the strengths and weaknesses, as well as getting an understanding of them to help solidify them in your mind.
Contents
Steps
Pokémon Weaknesses Chart
Doc:Pokemon Weaknesses Chart
Memorizing the Strengths
- Use this mnemonic. This poem will help you remember all of the strengths and weaknesses if you memorize it. If you get assigned to memorize a poem in school, you can even use this one! This poem is accurate through Pokémon X/Y.
- Normal attacks as normal, no matter who you fight.
- Grass, Ice, Bug, and Steel will burn in Fire’s blazing light.
- Water drowns out Fire, Rock and even solid Ground.
- Those who fly and those who swim, weak to Electric’s sound.
- Flying pecks at Grass and Bug, and brings Fighting to yield,
- While Grass, Psychic and Dark are quite sure to be Bug’s field!
- Grass soaks up the Water type and breaks up Ground and Rock.
- Fire, Ice, Flying, and Bug are weak to Rock’s hard knock.
- Ice freezes the earth and air, and snaps shut Dragon’s fangs,
- While Dragon takes on Dragon, with a fiery, loud bang.
- Fighting takes out Normal, Ice, smashes Rock, Dark and Steel.
- Poison comes and causes Fairy, Grass and Bugs to keel.
- The Ghost will spook the Psychic, sometimes even himself.
- Steel brings Fairy, Ice and Rock to go up on the shelf.
- Ground shakes up Electric, Rock, Poison Fire and Steel.
- Psychic shall cause Fighting and Poison to always kneel.
- Dark will scare the Psychic and bring terror to Ghost’s grin.
- Against Fighting, Dragon, and Dark, Fairy’s sure to win.
- You’ve memorized weaknesses for all Pokémon types.
- So now you can do battle without having to gripe!
Understanding the Weaknesses and Strengths
- Understand Fire’s weaknesses: water, ground, rock, dragon and fire.
- Fire cannot burn water, ground or rock, which is why it is weak to those types.
- It is weak to other Fire-type Pokémon and dragons (remember, dragons breathe fire, so they are more immune!)
- Understand Water’s weaknesses: electric, grass and dragon.
- Electricity seeks out water and grass absorbs water, which is why water is weak to those types.
- Water is ineffective to dragon types.
- Understand Electric’s weaknesses: electric, grass and dragon.
- Electric types are weak against themselves (like many types, but not all).
- They are weak to Grass types as well. This seems hard to believe, but picture a plant that is very hardy. Nothing bothers it, and a little bit of voltage certainly won't harm this mighty plant.
- Finally, Electric types are weak to dragon types.
- Understand Grass’ weaknesses: fire, grass, poison, flying, bug and dragon.
- What are some things that plants can't defend themselves against? They are burnt by fire, die in poison and are eaten by bugs. Just remember a plant's natural enemies and you're over halfway there.
- It is weak to Flying, Bug and Dragon because Flying, Bug and some dragons types have the entire domain of the sky, but plants must stay firmly rooted in place.
- Grass types are bad at fighting each other. To remember this, picture two trees attempting to force the other out. However, they have similar bark and cannot tell whether they are fighting themselves or the other tree, and end up just wrapping around each other, hindering themselves in the process.
- Understand Ice’s weaknesses: fire, water, ice and steel.
- Ice is melted easily by fire, and although water isn't as hot as fire, it's warmer than ice and will melt it too. Think of how in the summer, ice cubes melt in your drink and make it taste weaker.
- Ice may be hard, but it's easily broken. Remember the beginning of Frozen, where the men are chopping away at the ice? Ice is no match for steel tools.
- Ice is ineffective against other ice types because it can't really do anything. It can't freeze the ice, because it's already frozen, and it can't melt the ice either.
- Understand Fighting’s weaknesses: poison, flying, psychic and bug.
- Picture fighting types as big weenies- really strong, but easily frightened. This is why they are weak to ghost types- they get scared!
- Fighting types are really fit, so their blood circulates faster. This is helpful for fighting, but if they are poisoned, the poison will disperse through their body really quickly. So they have to pull their punches around Poison types- otherwise they might get stung!
- If another Pokémon is too small to hit or too fast, then they won't receive much damage. This is why Fighting types are ineffective against Flying and Bug types- these types are too light, small or fast to be hit easily.
- In a battle of brains versus brawn, who wins? Brawn could beat up brains, sure, but in the end brains will come up with a clever strategy to win. This is why Fighting types are weak against Psychic types- they are easily outsmarted because they rely on their brute strength.
- Understand Poison’s weaknesses: Poison, Ground, Rock and Ghost.
- Poison is ineffective against Ground and Rock, because Poison cannot penetrate rocks and the hard ground.
- Did you know that snakes are resistant to the venom of other snakes? This is why Poison types are ineffective against other Poison types- they have to be, otherwise their own venom would injure them.
- Poison works by seeping into a Pokemon's body. But if the Pokémon has no physical body, how can the poison work? This is why Poison types are ineffective against Ghost types- there's nothing to poison.
- Understand Ground’s weaknesses: Grass and Bug.
- Grass types are firmly rooted in the ground, so things like earthquakes can't do as much damage as they would to other Pokemon.
- Bug types spend a lot of time on the ground, so they're used to it. This is why Ground types aren't as effective to them.
- Grass
- Understand Flying’s weaknesses: Electric, Rock and Steel.
- Flying is weak to things that cause injuries to flying creatures. Lightnings (Electric), a blizzard (Ice) or a rockslide (Rock) can all hit really bad a bird for example, which is why Flying is weak to those three types.
- Understand Psychic’s weaknesses. Psychic is weak to things that you would be afraid of (Bugs, Dark, and Ghosts). This is one of the easier to remember weaknesses in the games.
- Understand Bug’s weaknesses. Bug is weak to things that you can kill bugs with in real life (Birds, Fire, and Rocks).
- Understand Rock’s weaknesses. Rock is weak to the things that break it up in real life too (Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, and Steel).
- Understand Ghost’s weaknesses. Ghosts use tricks which are not known by the most living creatures. However, evil forces (Dark) and ghosts themselves know these tricks. This is why Ghost is weak to Dark and itself.
- Understand Dragon’s weaknesses. Dragons are so powerful that they are weak only to themselves and the natural forces (represented by Fairy). The latter is to show that even the most powerful creatures are dependent on nature. Dragons are usually seen as reptiles and most reptiles cannot deal with cold (Ice), which is why Dragon is weak to Ice.
- Understand Steel’s weaknesses. Steel is weak to fire and physical force (fighting), which molds it to begin with. It is also weak to Ground, which contains the metal when it is raw.
- Understand Dark’s weaknesses. Dark is weak to fighting because dark represents underhanded, dirty tricks while Fighting represents noble, disciplined technique. Essentially good vs. evil. This is the same reason why it’s weak against Fairy. Dark is also weak to Bug type because bugs generally thrive in the darkness.
- Understand Fairy’s weaknesses. Fairies represent natural forces. However, Steel is an unnatural creation of humans which is why it is weak to it. Fairy is also weak to Poison because toxins can pollute the nature.
Using Other Factors
- Don't neglect non-effectiveness. There are types of Pokémon which are completely ineffective against other types of Pokémon. There are only a few and they are fairly easy to understand (Normal and Ghost just can't fight each other, Ground simply can't reach Flying, etc.), but you should still be sure to keep them in mind. You don't want to get surprised when your attack doesn't work!
- Take advantage of Same Type Attack Bonuses. In the games, when a Pokémon uses an attack that is the same as at least one of it’s types, then it will get a 50% boost to the attack’s power. For example, a Steel Pokémon like Aron using an attack like Metal Claw.You should consider taking advantage of this bonus when you can, since it can make a big difference in your battles.
- Notice the weather conditions. Weather can also affect your Pokémon's effectiveness in a battle. For example, Intense Sunlight will boost your Fire-type Pokémon, while hurting your Water-Type Pokémon's attack power.
- Get special abilities. Certain abilities can also help or hurt your Pokémon in battle, according to their type. Levitate, for example, will weaken Ground-type attacks. Get abilities that will help your Pokémon and watch out for other Pokémon using their abilities against you. If your Pokémon type is weak to their ability, get it out of there!
- Get special items. There are held items which can boost an attack's power, but each Pokémon type also has an item which can increase the power of their attacks when held or used. For example, the Black Belt can increase the effectiveness of Fighting types.
Tips
- The more you play, the easier it will be for you to memorize the strengths and weaknesses of the types. With time, you'll get there!
- If you want to memorize something, it really helps to have a visual scenario to recall. Words are easy to forget, but if you realize that, say, dragons breathe fire and that's why fire doesn't hurt them as much, you will have no problem remembering each type's weaknesses and strengths.
Warnings
- Be careful about using super effective Pokémon against Pokémon you want to catch. You might get a KO in one hit!
- If something seems to be going wrong in a battle, pause and look it up! You might be using an incorrect type.
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