Pokemon has always had a mechanics of advantages and disadvantages when it comes to battles. In this Pokemon VGC for Dummies: Type Match-ups, we will give you a refresher course on what is super effective and not very effective in Pokemon VGC battle.
If you were intrigued by the Pokemon VGC scene and would like to start your journey, you will find this version of Pokemon VGC for dummies very useful. We are here to remind you that the basic premise of Pokemon battles is the effectiveness of your actions against the enemy. Back in the first generation of games, it was easy to remember all types of matches, as they were as simple as water beats fire, fire beats grass, and grass beats water. As the franchise expanded to new generations of games, these types changed as we got to know new types like fairy, steel, dragon, etc. Let’s try to take a step back and refresh our memory of what type mappings are.
Type matches
As already mentioned, there are triangles of matching types that we should familiarize ourselves with. In fact, it will help you remember which Pokemon is effective against the other. Terrastalizing Pokemon is now part of meta due to the fact that it is featured in the Pokemon Scarlet and Violet series, which makes it more important to know all this. Of course, a good knowledge of who Pokemon are and what types they belong to is one thing, but knowing what is super effective against them is the key to winning Pokemon battles.
Currently there are 15 matching triangles of types in the game:
- Electric is super effective against water, water is super effective against earth, and earth is super effective against electricity.
- Earth is super effective against poison, poison is super effective against grass, and grass is super effective against earth.
- Grass is super effective against stone, stone is super effective against beetle, and beetle is super effective against grass.
- Fire is super effective against Ice, Ice is super effective against Earth, and Earth is super effective against Fire.
- Ice is super effective against Earth, Earth is super effective against Steel, and Steel is super effective against Ice.
- Flying is super effective against fighting, fighting is super effective against stone, and stone is super effective against flying.
- Flying is super effective against fighting, fighting is super effective against ice, and ice is super effective against flying.
- Stone is super effective against Fire, Fire is super effective against Steel, and Steel is super effective against Stone.
- Ice is super effective against Earth, Earth is super effective against Stone, and Stone is super effective against Ice.
- Ice is super effective against grass, grass is super effective against stone, and stone is super effective against ice.
- Stone is super effective against Fire, Fire is super effective against Grass, and Grass is super effective against Stone.
- Stone is super effective against Flying, Flight is super effective against Grass, and Grass is super effective against Stone.
- Earth is effective against Fire, Fire is super effective against Grass, and Grass is super effective against Earth.
There are other types of matches that you should remember, such as resistance. This means that these particular types receive about half of the damage dealt by the attack:
- Stone and steel are resistant to normal attacks.
- Fire, Water, Stone and Dragon are resistant to Fire attacks.
- Water, Grass and Dragon are resistant to water attacks.
- Fire, grass, poison, flying, beetle, dragon and steel are resistant to grass attacks.
- Grass, Electric and Dragon are resistant to electric attacks.
- Fire, water, ice and steel are resistant to ice attacks.
- Poison, Flying, Psychic, Bug and Fairy are resistant to combat attacks.
- Poison, Earth, Stone and Ghost are resistant to poisonous attacks.
- Grass and Beetle are resistant to ground attacks.
- Electric and Rock are resistant to flying attacks.
- Psyche and steel are resistant to psychic attacks.
- Fire, Battle, Poison, Flight, Ghost, Steel and Fairy are resistant to beetle attacks.
- Fighting, Ground and Steel are resistant to stone attacks.
- Dark is resistant to ghost attacks
- Steel is resistant to dragon attacks
- Combat, Dark and Fairy are resistant to attacks of Darkness.
- Fire, water, electricity and steel are resistant to steel attacks.
- Fire, poison and steel are resistant to fairy attacks.
While there are some types that resist damage, there are other types that don’t hit at all:
- Ghost-type Pokemon are not subject to normal attacks.
- Ground-type Pokemon are not susceptible to electric attacks.
- Ghost-type Pokemon are not subject to combat attacks.
- Steel-type Pokemon are not susceptible to poisonous attacks.
- Flying-type Pokemon are not susceptible to ground attacks.
- Dark type Pokemon are not subject to psychic attacks.
- Normal-type Pokemon are not subject to ghost attacks.
- Fairy-tale type Pokemon are not susceptible to dragon attacks.
It is important to take note of all these technical features in order to gain an advantage over the enemy. It is extremely important that your team has a variety of Pokemon types that complete the matching type triangle, which can make a huge difference to your team’s success. I hope this Pokemon MPS for Dummies: MatchUps Tour was able to help you on the way to becoming the best. Good luck, Coaches!
