Types and effectiveness
The eighteen types, how multipliers stack, and the immunities that no level overcomes.
In short
- Every move has one type, every Pokemon has one or two. The matchup multiplies damage by 2, 1, ½ or 0.
- Against a dual type the two multipliers multiply: ×4, ×¼, or nothing at all.
- An immunity is absolute. No level, no stat, no item changes a 0.
- STAB: a Pokemon using a move of its own type deals 1.5× damage.
The chart
The type chart is the whole system on one page, and each type's page lists what it hits hard, what resists it and what it cannot touch. The chart is the Generation 9 chart, with Fairy, Steel resisting nothing from Ghost and Dark any more, and the rest as the games have them.
A matchup is one of four numbers:
| Effect | Multiplier | The log says |
|---|---|---|
| Super effective | ×2 | It's super effective! |
| Neutral | ×1 | nothing |
| Not very effective | ×½ | It's not very effective… |
| Immune | ×0 | It doesn't affect… |
Dual types stack
The multipliers for the defender's two types multiply together. Rock into a Fire/Flying Pokemon is ×2 × ×2 = ×4. Fighting into a Psychic/Flying Pokemon is ×½ × ×½ = ×¼. Ground into a Water/Flying Pokemon is ×2 × ×0 = ×0: the immunity wins.
Fighting into Ghost is nothing. Electric into Ground is nothing. Normal into Ghost is nothing, and Ghost into Normal is nothing in return. Dragon into Fairy, Poison into Steel, Ground into a Flying type: all zero.
When the chart bends
A few things change the answer without changing the chart.
Levitate, Air Balloon and Magnet Rise make a Pokemon immune to Ground moves. Iron Ball and Gravity bring a Flying type down so Ground hits it again.
Scrappy and Foresight let Normal and Fighting moves hit a Ghost; only the Ghost immunity is lifted, the other type still multiplies.
Freeze-Dry is Ice but hits Water for ×2. Flying Press is Fighting and also applies Flying's multiplier on top.
Terastallizing, once it arrives, will replace a Pokemon's defensive types with its Tera type for the rest of the battle, so a Water/Ground Pokemon that Teras to Steel stops fearing Grass. It is not playable yet; see Mega Evolution, Z-Moves and Terastallization.
Tinted Lens doubles damage that was not very effective. Wonder Guard blocks everything that is not super effective.
STAB
Same-type attack bonus: a move whose type matches one of the user's types deals 1.5× damage. Adaptability makes it 2×. It is one of the largest free multipliers in the game, and the reason a Fire type's Flamethrower outdamages a borrowed one.
What to do with this
Build a party whose types answer each other. Two Pokemon who both lose to Ground will both lose to the same Ground type. Before a gym, read the leader's type page, pick a Pokemon that resists it and hits back into its weakness, and check that the leader's own moves cannot cover that weakness.
