• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

Type Strengths and Weakness Explanations

Reinhardt

You! Me! Rivals! Yes?
Electric > Water - water conducts electricity
Completely pure water doesn't actually conduct electricity funnily enough, it's the mineral particles in the water that do the conducting. On that note, it would make sense for Electric and Water to be super-effectve against Steel, Electric because most metals conduct electricity, and Water because of rusting.
I've said this before in other similar threads, but Poison should be super-effective against more types than it is. I'm mostly thinking against Water because poisonous chemicals getting into water can be very, VERY bad.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
RedBlastoise said:
Always figured it was weird how Dragons are strong against other Dragons and how Ghost moves are super effective against other Ghosts. What's the lore behind that logic?

I think that since in old fairy tales and legends dragons are powerful creatures with few weaknesses, Game Freak decided to make them weak to themselves since theoretically a dragon should be able to overpower another dragon. That's my take on it, anyway.
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
I always figured Dragon being weak against itself was purely a gameplay thing; in the early gens Dragon was the "endgame" type, that's why it resists the starter types and is weak against itself, but hardly anything else.

What I don't get is why Dragon is weak against ice. The best I can figure is that dragons are usually reptilian and reptiles don't like the cold, but we do have some dragons based on warm blooded creatures, like Altaria, which is clearly a bird.
 

TwilightBlade

Well-Known Member
Normal and Ghost types cancel each other out because ghosts are intangible. They go right through you and you can't touch them, which is also why the very physical-oriented Fighting types do nothing against Ghosts.

But if Ghost Pokemon are intangible then why can they get hit by other attacks that aren't Normal or Fighting? I could understand if they were immune to all physical attacks but that isn't the case. :[
 

NovaBrunswick

Canada Connoisseur
On that note, it would make sense for Electric and Water to be super-effectve against Steel, Electric because most metals conduct electricity, and Water because of rusting.
I've said this before in other similar threads, but Poison should be super-effective against more types than it is. I'm mostly thinking against Water because poisonous chemicals getting into water can be very, VERY bad.

When I used Surf against Jasmine's Steelix in my SoulSilver playthrough, it said it was super-effective, and from there, I thought that Water was SE against Steel. I often forget that Steelix is Steel/Ground and not pure Steel, which is probably why it was SE, and Magnemite (another of Jasmine's Pokémon) is actually strong against Water.

And on the subject of the Poison type, I've always thought it should be SE against Bug, because chemicals are used to kill bugs that feed on crops. This actually was the case in Gen 1, but because of the glitchy programming, Poison was also weak against Bug, which is the only time that two different types were both strong and weak against each other.

But if Ghost Pokemon are intangible then why can they get hit by other attacks that aren't Normal or Fighting? I could understand if they were immune to all physical attacks but that isn't the case. :[

Because you can't touch or kick a ghost. :p

Or maybe because GF didn't want the Ghost-type to be almost invincible, so they have to get hit... somehow.

What I don't get is why Dragon is weak against ice. The best I can figure is that dragons are usually reptilian and reptiles don't like the cold, but we do have some dragons based on warm blooded creatures, like Altaria, which is clearly a bird.

But then Altaria is a Flying-type... which is also weak to Ice.
 
Last edited:

TwilightBlade

Well-Known Member
Because you can't touch or kick a ghost. :p

But that doesn't really explain why Grass, Fire, Water, Electric and every other type that isn't Normal or Fighting can touch Ghosts. I mean Fire Punch is a physical attack that involves punching and that can harm Ghosts meanwhile something like Drain Punch that's also a punching move can't just because its type is different? :[
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
But that doesn't really explain why Grass, Fire, Water, Electric and every other type that isn't Normal or Fighting can touch Ghosts. I mean Fire Punch is a physical attack that involves punching and that can harm Ghosts meanwhile something like Drain Punch that's also a punching move can't just because its type is different? :[

But again, they couldn't very well make ghost immune to every form of physical attack, that would leave the type beyond broken.
So making ghost and normal immune towards each other is a good way to include the idea that the "mortal and spectral relam can't touch each other" without making Ghost the most OP type in the whole franchise.

And if we go a completely realistic route then a lot of the ways attacks work wouldn't make sense, like yes Grass is super effective against Water because plants absorb water, great, but that still wouldn't mean that hitting a fish Pokemon with razor sharp leaves would somehow be "more effective" than hitting a rat Pokemon with them. For it to make complete sense, all Grass moves would have to be draining moves working through the roots and such.
The type chart is abstract to some degree, and it has to be for the game to work.
 

RedJirachi

Veteran member
Fairy types are super-effective against Dark types because villains usually lose in fairy tales
 

NovaBrunswick

Canada Connoisseur
Fairy types are super-effective against Dark types because villains usually lose in fairy tales

I always thought it was a "light vs. darkness" thing, since I tend to associate Fairy types with light for some reason. This was probably around the same time that there was fan speculation that a new "Light" type would be introduced in Gen 6 to counter the Dark type.
 

RedJirachi

Veteran member
Dark Types are Evil Type in Japan/underhanded, though literal darkness is sometimes factored in(after all, what do we associate with evil/underhanded-ness?). Fairy seems more like Magic type than Light, but I can understand where you came from that. Related; Fighting types are often positioned as the hero type, or at least they are straightforward and honorable fighters. And a trained, honorable fighter will always win over the underhanded cheater if movies have taught us anything

Another interpretation of Fairy types is them being a nature-based type, which may be why the rather destructive towards nature Fire and especially Poison types resist them
 

NovaBrunswick

Canada Connoisseur
Another interpretation of Fairy types is them being a nature-based type, which may be why the rather destructive towards nature Fire and especially Poison types resist them

And why are Fairies weak to Poison? Because of the poisoned apple that the evil witch gave to Snow White in the fairy tale?
 

RedJirachi

Veteran member
And why are Fairies weak to Poison? Because of the poisoned apple that the evil witch gave to Snow White in the fairy tale?
That'd be a very niche explanation.

Steel types resist Psychic types, probably because it references tinfoil hat conspiracists blocking out government mind control or something. Though really, most resistances of Steel types seem to be there because steel is hardy and defensive. However Electric and Water types do neutral damage because metal conducts electricity and water causes rust, however the latter is something that happens over a long time and the former doesn't damage metal so they remain neutral
 

NovaBrunswick

Canada Connoisseur
For me it looks more like technology (science) VS magic thing.

Also, Fairy is weak to Steel because in old fairy tales, iron was said to protect against malevolent fairies.
 
Top