So you’re trying to come up with six Pokémon for your team in order to pummel friends and conquer the online scene? Then one important thing to think about are the types of the Pokémon you’re putting in your team. Picking your Pokemon’s type isn’t always easy though.
Especially as you have to consider all the Type Match-Up possibilities. Obviously, a full team of Fire-type Pokemon (for example) is fun, but not really recommended since you’ll come a cropper against teams with many Water-, Ground- or Rock-types.
In addition to Type Match-Ups, there are some other reasons for picking one type over another.
Type | Property |
---|---|
Fire | Cannot be burned |
Grass | Unaffected by Leech Seed |
Ice | Cannot be frozen, unaffected by Hail |
Poison | Cannot be poisoned, disables Toxic Spikes |
Ground | Unaffected by Sandstorm |
Flying | Unaffected by Spikes or Toxic Spikes |
Rock | No damage from Sandstorm, boosted Sp. Def instead |
Steel | Cannot be poisoned, unaffected by Sandstorm |
Where dual-typed Pokemon are involved, you’ll need to be extra careful with your considerations. Having dual-typed Pokemon can be a boon, as you gain double the type coverage. However, with the extra type, you may often find yourself with additional weaknesses.
Swanna , for example, is a Pokemon you may want to avoid. Forget its stats for a moment; its dual type of Flying and Water makes it unbelievably weak to Electric attacks, and while Flying cancels out the weakness to Grass it’s now weak to Rock which is normally an easy strength for Water type.
On the other hand, the second type can be extremely beneficial by covering the first type’s weakness (or the first type covers the second’s; either way works). A good Pokémon to consider would be Galvantula . Being a Bug & Electric Type its only weaknesses are Fire and Rock.
While many players may try and use a Flying Pokémon against it; its Electricity cancels out this weakness. Also being a Bug means it’s great against pesky Psychic or Dark-types. Then there’s Spiritomb who has no weaknesses due to being a Dark and Ghost…
Regardless of anything, you’d be wise to consider dual-types, as they can sometimes throw opponents off and lend themselves to sneaky tactics. However, do try and avoid those with shared weakness’ as they can be hit extremely hard. Like OHKO hard…
Exceptions to the rule are Pokemon that are so insanely strong that having a 4x weakness isn’t actually that bad. For example, Volcarona , who’s Bug/Fire is 4x weak to Rock, but is a killer with Quiver Dance and insane Special Attack. Also Garchomp who’s 4x weak to Ice, but super-speedy and powerful.
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