From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
- If you were looking for the property of a Pokémon called type in The Official Pokémon Handbook, see species.
Types (Japanese: タイプ Type) are a property for Pokémon and their moves. Each type has three properties: which types of Pokémon it is super effective against, which types of Pokémon it is not very effective against, and which types of Pokémon it is completely ineffective against. There are 18 types, each of which is listed to the right. During Generation I, types were occasionally referred to as elements.
A Pokémon may have either one or two types. For instance, Charmander is a Fire type, while Bulbasaur is both a Grass type and a Poison type. With the current 18-type system, there are 324 possible ways to assign types to Pokémon, with 171 unique combinations. As of Generation VI, 131 different type combinations have been used. Pokéstar Studios opponents can also have types.
All moves have only one assigned type. However, the moves Flying Press and Freeze-Dry have custom interactions with defending types that do not strictly match their assigned types.
Within the anime and the games, most Gym Leaders and members of the Elite Four are designed to have a type-specific theme.
- Main article: Type chart
If the type of a move used by a Pokémon is strong against the opponent's type, then the damage done is twice the normal amount. However, if a move's type is not very effective against the opponent's type, the damage done is half the normal amount.
For Pokémon that have two types, the overall damage is calculated against both types combined. This means that if a move's type is strong against both of the opponent's types (such as Dig, a Ground-type move, used against an Aggron, a Steel/Rock Pokémon), then the move does 4 times the damage. On the other hand, if a move's type is weak against both of the opponent's types (such as Wake-Up Slap, a Fighting-type move, used against a Sigilyph, a Psychic/Flying Pokémon), then the move does ¼ of the damage. Similarly, if the move is strong against one of the opponent's types but weak against the other (such as Razor Leaf, a Grass-type move, used against a Gyarados, a Water/Flying Pokémon), the move deals normal damage.
If a move's type is completely ineffective due to one of the opponent's types, then the move does zero damage, even if the opponent has a second type that would be vulnerable to it (as in Thunderbolt, an Electric-type move, used against a Quagsire, a Water/Ground Pokémon). Otherwise, before Generation V, a move will always do at least one HP of damage. In Generation V, it became possible to deal zero damage since certain damage modifiers (such as Reflect) are applied after the damage is ensured to be at least 1.
Type-affected game mechanics
All games before Generation IV also made a distinction between physical and special moves based on their type. From Generation IV onward, this is dictated by the move itself.
When the type of an attack corresponds with one of the types of the Pokémon using it, the attack power will be increased by 50%. This type advantage is referred to as same-type attack bonus, or STAB for short. A good example is an Aron that knows Metal Claw and Cut. Both attacks are physical attacks and both have a base power of 50. However because Aron is a Steel/Rock Pokémon, the power of its Metal Claw move will effectively be 75.
Some weather conditions, Abilities, and held items affect moves of a certain type. Sunny Day, for example, causes Fire-type moves to increase in power, while Levitate causes Ground-type moves to not work on the Pokémon with this Ability. Likewise, each type has a specific item that can be given to a Pokémon to hold that will power up one of the specific types, such as the Metal Coat, which powers up Steel-type moves by 20% (10% prior to Generation IV).
Some moves can change the Type of a Pokémon. For example, Camouflage changes the Pokémon's type to a type corresponding to the battlefield terrain. A full list of these moves can be seen at Moves that change a Pokémon's type. Abilities can also change the Type of a Pokémon. So far only Color Change, Multitype and Protean have been revealed to do so.
- Main article: ??? (type)
The ??? type is the only type to have been removed from the core series games. The ??? type only existed from Generation II to Generation IV, and was primarily used as the type of the move Curse. It was removed in Generation V, and Curse became a Ghost-type move.
While not generally regarded as a type, Shadow moves have their type listed as "------". Shadow Pokémon can be considered to be of this type, but they still retain their regular typing as well. In Pokémon XD, Shadow moves are not very effective against Shadow Pokémon and super effective against non-Shadow Pokémon.
- Main article: List of glitch types
There are several glitch types, such as the Bird type, which only appear through the use of glitches. Other than the Bird type, glitch types are the result of the game reading other data as if it were types. The Bird type was programmed into the code of the Generation I and II games, but was not given to any real Pokémon; however, several glitch Pokémon use this type.
In the TCG
- Main article: Type (TCG)