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Since the very beginning the Pokémon series has depended on a delicate Rock-Paper-Scissors-style balance to its Pokémon battles. Type effectiveness is a key part of building an effective team in Pokémon GO or Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, or Pokémon Sword and Shield — or any of the other Pokémon games. Once you know the basic strengths and weaknesses of the different types, you'll easily triumph against any Pokémon type you come across in battle.

Every Pokémon belongs to at least one Type and will be strong (super effective) or weak (not very effective) against other types. Some are pretty obvious - it's no surprise that Water-type Pokémon will be strong against Fire types, but new players coming to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (or Pokémon Sword and Shield and the Galar Pokédex) may have trouble committing the strengths and weaknesses of the 18 main types to memory. Therefore, we've produced the following Pokémon type chart to help you quickly suss out what's what when it comes to Pokémon battles.

In this guide, we’ll help you understand how Pokémon types relate to each other, how the mobile game calculates attack strength and key ways in which this differs from the console game series.


Pokémon Type Effectiveness and Weakness Chart

Our type chart presents the 18 Pokémon types in attack and defence scenarios. To use it, simply find your Pokémon’s type to see what its attacks are strong and weak against, and what it is resistant and vulnerable to when defending. This chart is designed for use with Pokémon GO, but the general strength/weakness information holds true for most every Pokémon game.

  • Types bolded in square brackets (“[Type]”) are subject to a further cut in effectiveness – in the mainline games these are outright immunities
  • If a type is not listed, damage is neutral (1x)
  • The strength of an attack is increased if the attack type is strong against both types of a dual type Pokémon
  • Type resistance and vulnerability effectively cancel each other out on dual type Pokémon (resulting in a neutral attack)
Attack Attack Defence Defence
Super Effective Against Not Very Effective Against (or IMMUNE TO*) Resistant To (or IMMUNE TO*) Vulnerable To

Effect →

Type


Deal 1.6x damage

(2.56x if two types)

Deal 0.625x [0.39x] damage

Take 0.625x [0.39x] damage

Take 1.6x damage

Grass

Ground, Rock, Water

Bug, Dragon, Fire, Flying, Grass, Poison, Steel

Electric, Grass, Ground, Water

Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison

Fire

Bug, Grass, Ice, Steel

Dragon, Fire, Rock, Water

Bug, Fire, Grass, Ice, Steel

Ground, Rock, Water

Water

Fire, Ground, Rock

Dragon, Grass, Water

Fire, Ice, Steel, Water

Electric, Grass

Normal

[GHOST], Rock, Steel

[GHOST]

Fighting

Bug

Dark, Grass, Psychic

Fairy, Fire, Flying, Fighting, Ghost, Poison, Steel

Fighting, Grass, Ground

Fire, Flying, Rock

Poison

Fairy, Grass

Ghost, Ground, Poison, Rock, [STEEL]

Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Poison

Ground, Psychic

Flying

Bug, Fighting, Grass

Electric, Rock, Steel

Bug, Fighting, Grass, [GROUND]

Electric, Ice, Rock

Electric

Flying, Water

Dragon, Electric, Grass, [GROUND]

Electric, Flying, Steel

Ground

Ground

Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel

Bug, [FLYING], Grass

[ELECTRIC], Poison, Rock

Grass, Ice, Water

Rock

Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice

Fighting, Ground, Steel

Fire, Flying, Normal, Poison

Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, Water

Ice

Dragon, Flying, Ground, Grass

Fire, Ice, Steel, Water

Ice

Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel

Steel

Fairy, Ice, Rock

Electric, Fire, Steel, Water

Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Ice, Normal, [POISON], Psychic, Rock, Steel

Fighting, Fire, Ground

Fighting

Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, Steel

Bug, Fairy, Flying, [GHOST], Poison, Psychic

Bug, Dark, Rock

Fairy, Flying, Psychic

Dark

Ghost, Psychic

Dark, Fairy, Fighting

Dark, Ghost, [PSYCHIC]

Bug, Fairy, Fighting

Ghost

Ghost, Psychic

Dark, [NORMAL]

Bug, [FIGHTING], [NORMAL], Poison

Dark, Ghost

Psychic

Fighting, Poison

[DARK], Psychic, Steel

Fighting, Psychic

Bug, Dark, Ghost

Dragon

Dragon

[FAIRY], Steel

Electric, Fire, Grass, Water

Dragon, Fairy, Ice

Fairy

Dark, Dragon, Fighting

Fire, Poison, Steel

Bug, Dark, [DRAGON], Fighting

Poison, Steel

Note that attack and defence type relationships are not identical – e.g. types may be resistant to types when defending that they are not super effective against when attacking.

Remember, things get even more interesting when Pokémon of dual types crop up and you have to factor in additional strengths and weaknesses.

Types

Pokémon GO Type Chart: How To Remember Pokémon types

For anyone who has invested years (or quite possibly decades) of play into this series, the type system becomes second nature. While in time your memory too will retain most of, if not the full set of relationships (probably in space previously reserved for less important things such as the periodic table of elements, or correct operation of a scientific calculator) it is worth learning the logical relationships that do exist.

The classic example taught at the beginning of every Pokémon game is that fire is super effective against grass, which is in turn super effective against water, which is in turn super effective against fire. This is easy enough to follow – fire burns grass, grass thrives with water, water puts out fire – but finding similar relationships in the other 18 types is will help you remember the system.

Here are some other ideas to get you started:

  • Rock’s effectiveness against flying is reminiscent of the phrase “kill two birds with one stone”
  • Similarly, psychic is effective against fighting because “brains are better than brawn” – but psychic is vulnerable to dark and ghost because the mind cannot cope with the unknown and supernatural
  • Ground types are immune to electric attacks because being grounded is an important principle in electric circuits – but ground can be swept away be water, cracked by ice and exploited by grass.

How does Pokémon GO type effectiveness differ to other Pokémon games?

Good news - our type chart above works for mainline Pokémon games too, with each type sharing the same effectiveness and resistances. There are, however, subtle changes made to the amount of damage involved in each grouping, and type differences in earlier games that need to be taken into account:

No concept of immunities/no effect

Every attack in Pokémon GO damages an opposing monster – in the mainline games, a small number of type matchups actually result in no damage i.e. immunity, usually with the message “X has no effect”. These matchups are:

  • Normal and Fighting immune to Ghost
  • Flying immune to Ground
  • Ground immune to Electric
  • Steel immune to Poison
  • Dark immune to Psychic
  • Ghost immune to Normal and Fighting
  • Fairy immune to Dragon

These special cases still exist in Pokémon GO, however, they do around a third normal damage [0.39x] rather than doing no damage at all. In our type chart, these type ‘immunities’ are bolded and placed in square brackets. REMEMBER - in the mainline games like Pokémon Sword and Shield, these attacks will have no effect whatsoever!

Different multipliers explained

Pokémon GO operates with similar principles to the mainline games, however type advantages and disadvantages are generally toned down (making things less punishing for newcomers who are yet to get down the complexities of the system).

Pokémon GO Damage Multiplier

Mainline Pokémon Damage Multiplier

Strong against
(‘Super effective’)

1.6x

2x

Weak against
(‘Not very effective’)

0.625x

0.5x

“Immunity”
([Type] above)

0.39x

0x

Two type vulnerability

2.56x

4x

Historical changes to Pokémon types in mainline Pokémon games

When using the type chart for older (Gameboy, GBA, DS) mainline Pokémon games bear in mind that the following changes were made to the type system. These changes applied to all subsequent games, including remake titles (i.e. Pokémon Let’s GO Pikachu and Eevee use the Pokémon X and Y rules)

Generation 6 (Pokémon X and Y)

  • Fairy type added (Fairy typing was added to legacy Pokémon such as Jigglypuff, Marill and Cottonee)
  • Ghost and Dark-type moves made neutral against Steel (formerly ‘not very effective’)

Generation 2 (Pokémon Gold, Silver and Crystal)

  • Dark and Steel types added (Steel typing was added to Magnemite going forward)
  • Bug-type moves made ineffective against Poison (formerly super-effective)
  • Poison-type moves made neutral against Bug (formerly super-effective)
  • Ice types made not very effective against Fire (formerly neutral)
  • A programming bug that made the Ghost-type move ‘Lick’ ineffective against Psychic Pokémon was fixed (should have been super-effective)

With the addition of new types over the years, the Pokémon type system has got a little more complicated than Rock-Paper-Scissors, but once you've committed the above to memory (or — shh — just left this page open on your phone as you play), you'll have no problem finding the right Pokémon for the right job.

If you're eager for a full list of the 400 Pokémon available in the Galar Pokédex, check out our snazzy Galar Pokédex database tool. You can also find out more about the three Pokémon Sword and Shield starters and their evolutions, hunt out Easter Eggs in Pokémon Sword and Shield, and find out how to find and evolve Galar region Pokémon from Sirfetch'd to Frosmoth, Alcremie and many more.


This article is part of our Pokémon GO walkthrough and guide series. We have articles that take you through the basics, covering How To Catch Pokémon: Throwing Tips, Poké Balls, & Capture Rates, How To Redeem Pokémon GO Promo Codes, How To Check A Pokémon's IVs Using An IV Calculator, How Trading Works, How To Track Pokémon Using Maps And Trackers, What Star Pieces And Stardust Do And How To Get Them, How Player Vs. Player Trainer Battles Work, and How To Complete Field Research And Research Breakthroughs And All Rewards.

We cover regular weekly and monthly Pokémon GO events, such as Spotlight Hour Times And Bonus Hour Times, and Community Days. We also have charts, including a Type Chart With Effectiveness And Weakness For All Types, an Egg Chart Explaining 2km, 5km, 7km, & 10km Eggs, and a Buddy Chart Explaining How To Earn Candy.

Elsewhere we cover Friend Code And Sharing Them For Easy XP and Which Pokémon GO 'Auto Catch' Companion Device Is The Best, plus more advanced tactics and info such as All Fast Moves And Charge Moves, How To Get TMs, And How It All Works, Shiny Pokémon And How To Catch Them, Glacial Lures, Magnetic Lures, Mossy Lures in Pokémon GO (And Their Exclusive Evolutions), How To Get Lots Of Candy Fast, How Lucky Pokémon Work & How To Catch Them, How To Catch All 27 Regional Pokémon, the Best Attackers And Best Defenders, All Raid Bosses And Best Counters Listed By Tier, What EX Raids Are And How To Get EX Raid Passes, What A Super Incubators Does And How To Get One, and How Get Mega Energy.

Pocket Monster-wise, we have specific guides for How To Get Pangoro, Sylveon, Glaceon, Aromatisse, Slurpuff, Sirfetch’d, Galarian Cofagrigus And More, How To Get Sylveon, Leafeon, Glaceon, Umbreon, Espeon, Vaporeon, Jolteon And Flareon, How To Evolve Wurmple Into Silcoon Or Cascoon, How To Get Tyrogue, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan And Hitmontop, How To Use The Weather To Get Each Castform Form, How To Catch And Evolve Into Galarian Slowbro, How To Catch Smeargle, How To Find And Evolve Burmy, How To Catch Spinda, Where To Find Unown, How To Catch Ditto, and The Rarest Pokémon Including Wild, Shiny, Mythical And Regional Catches.

We also cover timed research and special events, including Mew's 'A Mythical Discovery', Jirachi's 'A Thousand-Year Slumber', Celebi's 'A Ripple In Time', and Regigigas' 'A Colossal Discovery'. Other (past) event guides include Twitch Codes List - Pokémon World Championship 2022, How To Battle A Challenger (World Championships 2022), How To Battle Fashion Challengers, 'A Spooky Message' Spiritomb Quest, Kanto Event FAQ, and the Summer Tour 2018 Chicago GO Fest And Dortmund And Yokosuka Safari Zones.

Finally, there's our WIP Pokémon GO Pokédex, which currently goes up to 400 Pokémon: #1-50 | #51-100 | #101-150 | #151-200 | #201-250 | #251-300 | #301-350 | #351-400.