If you’ve played Final Fantasy VIII and wondered why the great fiery behemoth that is Ifrit is afraid of Shiva and her icy attacks (they have Shiva!?), you’ll know that the Final Fantasy franchise likes to play it fast and loose with the logic of elemental attacks sometimes. In the Pokémon world, things tend to make a little more sense on that score.
The starter trio’s traditional typings interact perfectly, for instance. Ice is weak to Fire, too, as it should be if you’re not living in Bizarro World. Things are a little more complex elsewhere on Pokémon’s type chart, though, as we’re about to see. All Pokémon have their weaknesses (barring Eelektross and its line), but here are the easiest and most difficult to exploit.
10 EASIEST: Fire
Some of the best defensive/tankiest Pokémon in the game can withstand resisted and neutral hits for days. Certain ones will be whittled down eventually, but those with reliable recovery can just sit there and sit there.
The best typings for this sort of Pokémon, naturally, are those that have few weaknesses. The Water/Ground Gastrodon, for instance, is only weak to Grass, though it’s 4x weak to it. Ferrothorn, meanwhile, is Grass- and Steel-type, which leaves it weak only to Fighting and (4x) to Fire. It may have thought it was safe now that Hidden Power Fire isn’t a thing in Pokémon Sword and Shield (Hidden Power is gone entirely), but the advent of Technical Records has given lots of Pokémon access to Mystical Fire, including those that Ferrothorn would otherwise take nothing from (like Sylveon). It’s not a good time to have a 4x Fire weakness, friends.
9 HARDEST: Ice
Now, this one’s going to be a little controversial. Is an Ice weakness super easy to exploit, or super difficult? That really depends on your stance. On the one hand, Ice is a fantastic offensive typing, super effective on four common types: Grass, Flying, Dragon, and Ground. It has excellent coverage; a swift Ice Beam to the delicate fleshy bits has eradicated many a foe. There’s no denying that.
The trouble is, in the current climate, that’s harder to take advantage of than it used to be. Without Hidden Power Ice, Pokémon like Jolteon are missing out on a very valuable weapon. Ground-types are huge issues for Electric Pokémon without it. There’s not really a viable Mystical Fire counterpart in this case to pick up the slack.
8 EASIEST: Rock
Along with Ice, Rock is probably the best offensive typing in the game. It’s plagued by unfortunate weaknesses to… everything under the sun, but in exchange for that, it’s super effective against a lot of types in return. Rock coverage is very common, then, which is one thing that makes a weakness to the type so easy to exploit.
Then, of course, there’s the ever-present Stealth Rock. This move has singlehandedly made Pokémon almost unusable in the past. It sets a hazard that deals damage to Pokémon that switch into battle, dealing a percentage of their HP according to their Rock weakness. Those that resist it take very little, but those with a 4x weakness lose an absurd half of their max HP just switching in. Good luck with that, Charizard, if you aren’t wearing your swanky new Heavy-Duty Boots.
7 HARDEST: Ghost
Ghost Pokémon, like all types, can be a real mixed bag. Depending on the situation, they can be huge assets or complete sitting ducks. One issue they face is the classic ‘weakness to themselves’ problem. Often, you’ll be dealing with an opponent’s Ghost-type with one of your own (Ghost-type STAB is much more common than a Ghost-type coverage move), which is always a dicey position to be in.
The other issue with a Ghost weakness is that there’s often a Normal-type lurking on a team. You never know when your attack will be effortlessly absorbed and your momentum disappears down the nearest u-bend. If you predict that and fire off a Fighting move at the suspected switch, the Ghost staring you down will absorb that instead.
6 EASIEST: Ground
Ground is another typing that can absolutely tear through teams from an offensive standpoint. Though Flying-types and opponents with Levitate are immune to Ground, Only Grass resists it. A lot of the time, then, Ground-types are free to spam one of the most devastating weapons in the game: Earthquake.
Almost every physical Pokémon with access to the move will commonly carry it. It’s just that good. You’ll have to watch out for your ally in doubles battles, but otherwise, it’s super scary to have a Ground weakness (Air Balloon notwithstanding).
5 HARDEST: Dragon
Now, we’re all familiar with the carnage that Dragon-types can cause. A casual click of Outrage was often enough to sweep through teams, with Dragon moves only being resisted by Steel-types. A boosted Dragon-type was one of the scariest sights in the series. The addition of the Fairy type has dented their effectiveness a little, but they can still be nightmares to deal with.
Like Ghost-types, however, Dragons have a bit of a problem. This typing is also weak to itself, leading to a lot of messy fastest Dragon wins situations. Dragon is also only super effective against itself, making things even more difficult on that score.
4 EASIEST: Fighting
Fighting-types, as you’d expect, are some of the biggest physical powerhouses in the series. The typing also boasts some popular moves with huge base power, such as Close Combat and High Jump Kick. Only Ghost-types are immune, which means that something is usually being hurt a heck of a lot when a Fighting-type gets some momentum behind it.
To make things even scarier, Fighting is super effective against five different types (Dark, Normal, Rock, Ice, and Steel), tied with Ground as the most in the series.
3 HARDEST: Bug
Oh, Bug. What does Game Freak have against you? Back in Generation I, there were very few good Bug Pokémon (Pinsir and Scyther were the cream of the crop) and precisely zero good Bug moves. Where was the feeble Twineedle going to get you? Nowhere, that’s where.
Bug-types have come on in leaps and bounds since, granted, with the release of Heracross, Volcarona, and other Bug-type powerhouses. Sadly, though, Bug moves are resisted by a whopping 7 types, the most of all. Plus, the types they’re super effective against (Dark, Psychic and Grass) are usually covered by something more generally effective.
2 EASIEST: Electric
On paper, Electric may not seem to be a very effective offensive type. As we’ve seen, Ground is completely immune to it, it’s resisted by 3 other types and super effective on only Water and Flying. The numbers don’t look good, but Electric Pokémon tends to be speedy and powerful by nature, meaning that those with a weakness to these moves are always in danger of being out-sped and taken out of the game.
Both Flying-and Water-types are crucial targets to hit for a lot of teams, usually being solid supporters or defensive backbones for their teams. With a quick jolt of Electricity, they can be removed from the equation for team-mates to finish the job. On the flipside though, an Electric weakness can also be exploited by those Pokémon with the weakness, by means of a Ground-type switch or Ability like Volt Absorb or Lightning Rod.
1 HARDEST: Poison
Prior to Pokémon X and Y, you really didn’t see many Poison-types. Offensively, this typing was awful, not hitting anything that other types didn’t also handle. The release of the Fairy-type gave Poison Pokémon a huge buff, making them a force to be reckoned with at last.
However, Poison is only super effective against Fairy and Grass, while being resisted by 4 different types and having no effect at all on Steel-types. Weaknesses to Poison can be key, but they’re very situational.