Pokemon Type Chart Explained

How to Read the Chart

The type chart is a grid. Rows are the type of the attacking move, columns are the type of the defending Pokemon. Each cell holds one of four multipliers: 2x (super effective), 1x (normal damage), 0.5x (not very effective), or 0x (immune, no damage at all). The chart is not symmetric: Water hits Fire for 2x, but Fire hits Water for only 0.5x. Always check the row for the move you are using, not the Pokemon using it. You can browse the full interactive grid on our type chart page, and click any type like Fairy to see its complete matchup profile.

STAB: Why Move Type and Pokemon Type Both Matter

A Pokemon can learn moves of many types, but it gets a bonus for using moves that match its own type. This is called STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus), and it multiplies damage by 1.5x. A Water move used by a Water Pokemon does 50 percent more damage than the same move used by anything else. This is why competitive sets are usually built around one or two strong STAB moves, with other move slots used for coverage against threats the STAB types cannot touch. Our type coverage tool shows exactly which types your chosen moves fail to hit.

Dual Types: Multipliers Multiply

Most Pokemon have two types, and the defending multipliers simply multiply together. This creates outcomes beyond the basic 2x and 0.5x:

Note the last two rows. A resistance can cancel a weakness back to neutral, and an immunity overrides everything: Electric would hit Water for 2x, but Ground's immunity makes the total zero. This is why Garchomp shrugs off Electric moves entirely while folding to Ice. Run any specific matchup through the damage calculator to see real numbers.

The Big Defensive Types

Not all types are equal on defense. Steel is the standout: it resists 10 types (Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Psychic, Bug, Rock, Dragon, Steel, Fairy) and is immune to Poison, with only Fire, Fighting, and Ground hitting it super effectively. Fairy is another defensive pillar, immune to Dragon and resistant to Fighting, Bug, and Dark. Water is quietly excellent too, with only two weaknesses (Grass and Electric). When you assemble a squad in the team builder, having one solid Steel or Fairy backbone usually patches several weaknesses at once. See our team building guide for how to layer these defensive cores.

Era Differences to Know

The chart has changed over the generations. Fairy did not exist before Generation 6, so older games have no answer to Dragon spam beyond Dragon itself and Ice. Generation 1 had its own quirks: Ghost moves did nothing to Psychic due to a bug, Steel and Dark did not exist, and Bug was super effective against Poison. If you play modern formats such as VGC, use the current 18-type chart and ignore the old rules. Our VGC beginners guide covers the current ruleset in detail.

How to Memorize It

Do not memorize the grid cell by cell. Most matchups follow elemental logic you already know. Fire burns Grass, Bug, Ice, and Steel. Water douses Fire and erodes Rock and Ground. Electricity travels through Water and Flying targets but grounds out against Ground. Ground is the counterplay to Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, and Steel. Fighting beats hard, brittle things (Normal, Rock, Steel, Ice, Dark) but cannot land a punch on Ghost. The genuinely arbitrary ones worth flashcarding are few: Bug beats Psychic and Dark, Ghost beats Psychic, Fairy beats Dragon, Fighting, and Dark. Learn the immunities cold since they decide games: Ground ignores Electric, Flying ignores Ground, Ghost and Normal ignore each other, Steel ignores Poison, Dark ignores Psychic, Fairy ignores Dragon.

Put It Into Practice

Reading the chart is step one; building around it is where wins come from. Open the team builder, add your six Pokemon, and it will flag stacked weaknesses automatically, like three teammates all folding to Ground. From there, check your offensive spread with the coverage tool, then move on to EV training and natures to sharpen each set.