Type

Types (Japanese: タイプ Type) are properties for and their moves. As of Generation VI, there are 18 types, as listed to the right. Most of these were introduced during Generation I, but the Dark and Steel types were introduced in Generation II and the Fairy type was introduced in Generation VI. A unique ??? type also existed from Generations II through. During Generation I, types were occasionally referred to as elements.

A Pokémon may have either one or two types: For instance, is a Fire type, while  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 VII, 146 different type combinations have been used. Similar to Pokémon, Pokéstar Studios opponents also have types.

A move has exactly one type. The type of a damaging move typically defines 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.

Most Gym Leaders and members of the Elite Four are designed to have a type-specific theme.

Type effectiveness

 * "Super effective" redirects here. For the webcomic, see Super Effective (webcomic).
 * "It's super effective" redirects here. For the podcast, see It's Super Effective (podcast).
 * "Weakness" and "Resistance" redirect here. For the TCG mechanics, see Appendix:Glossary (TCG) → Weakness and Appendix:Glossary (TCG) → Resistance.

Damaging moves typically vary in effectiveness (Japanese:  effectiveness) depending on the move's type and the type(s) of its target.

Type effectiveness greatly influences how much damage moves deal:
 * If the type of a move is super effective (Japanese:  super effective) against a type of its target, the damage done is double the normal amount;
 * If the type of a move is not very effective (Japanese:  not very effective) against a type of its target, the damage done is half the normal amount;
 * If the type of a move is not effective (Japanese:  not effective) against a type of its target, the target is completely immune to it, and the move will deal no damage.

For targets that have two types, overall type effectiveness is the combined effectiveness against each of its types:
 * If the type of a move is super effective against both of the opponent's types (such as, a move, used against an , a  Pokémon), then the move does 4 times the damage;
 * If the type of a move is not very effective against both of the opponent's types (such as, a move, used against a , a  Pokémon), then the move only does ¼ of the damage;
 * If the type of a move is super effective against one of the opponent's types but not very effective against the other (such as, a move, used against a , a  Pokémon), then the move deals normal damage;
 * If the type of move is completely ineffective against one of the opponent's types, then the move does no damage, even if the opponent has a second type that would be vulnerable to it (as in, an move, used against a , a  Pokémon).

The moves, , and have custom interactions with defending types that do not strictly match their assigned types. (including one-hit knockout moves) do not employ effectiveness, although Pokémon may still be immune to them based on type interactions. Certain, held items, or types of weather (such as , the Ring Target, or a , respectively) may modify the effectiveness of specific moves against types.

Status moves typically do not employ type effectiveness; however, Pokémon are immune to  based on type interactions, and  Pokémon are immune to  based on type interactions in Generation II and III only. Furthermore, status moves may be unable to affect Pokémon based on type-related interactions other than effectiveness; for example, Pokémon cannot be afflicted with  and are thus unaffected by.

Type chart

 * For type charts from previous generations, see Type/Type chart

A type chart, also known as type matchup chart, shows which modifiers are applied to move types when attacking of each type. If the defending Pokémon is dual-typed, the modifier is calculated as the product of the modifiers for both of its types: a move would hit for 4× damage on a  Pokémon, while a  move used against the same would do only a quarter of the normal damage. (A complete ineffectiveness against either type will make the move deal no damage, since 0 multiplied by any number is 0.)

The type chart differs depending on the generation of it is from. The type chart for Generations VI and VII (the current generation) is shown below.

In Inverse Battles, a different type chart is used that essentially inverts the normal type chart, turning immunities and resistances into weaknesses, and weaknesses into resistances.

Dual-type damage misinformation glitch
In Generation I only, if a damaging move is used on a Pokémon with two types such that one of its types is weak to the move and the other type resists the move, it will correctly receive neutral damage, but the incorrect message will be displayed on-screen(for example:If Vine Whip was used on a Tentacool,it would deal neutral damage,but the "It's not very effective"message would still appear). This does not occur in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿.

Type-affected game mechanics
Prior to Generation IV, the category of damaging moves only depends on the move's type (except for Shadow moves); for example, all damaging moves are physical moves and all  damaging moves are special moves. From Generation IV onward, each individual move has a damage category that is independent of its type.

When the type of a move matches one of the types of the Pokémon using it, the attack power will be increased by 50%. This is referred to as same-type attack bonus, or STAB for short. As an example, an that knows the  move  will have the move's power increased by 50% because one of Aron's types is Steel; the power of  would not be increased (because none of Aron's types is Normal).

Some types of field effects,, and held items affect moves of a certain type. , for example, causes moves to increase in power, while  causes  moves to not work on the Pokémon with this Ability. Likewise, each type has a specific held item that can be given to a Pokémon that will power up one of the specific types by 20% (10% prior to Generation IV), such as the Metal Coat, which powers up moves.

can change the type of a Pokémon. For example, changes the user's type to a type corresponding to the battlefield terrain. Abilities can also change the type of a Pokémon. So far, the only such Abilities are, , , and.

Additionally, the type of may depend on the circumstances they are used in; for example,  may be Fire-, Water-, Ice-, Rock-, or Normal-type depending on the weather it is used in. Additionally, there are, as well as three moves (, , and ).

??? 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 in the core series as the type of the move. It was removed in Generation V, and Curse became a move. Any damaging moves given the ??? type deal regular damage against all types, and any Pokémon given the ??? type takes regular damage from all moves.

Shadow
While not generally regarded as an actual type, in, 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, all Shadow moves are not very effective against Shadow Pokémon and super effective against non-Shadow Pokémon.

Typeless
There are situations where Pokémon or moves behave as if they were typeless, unable to receive and boosts from type-enhancing items or. Typeless Pokémon take regular damage from all moves, and typeless moves deal regular damage against all Pokémon.

acts typelessly from Generation II onward. A pure Pokémon that uses  becomes typeless. The move acts typelessly if used by a typeless user (in which case it does not receive ).

A typeless Pokémon has no types displayed on its battle summary.

Glitch types
There are several types which only appear through the use of glitches, such as on the types of glitch Pokémon. Most famously this includes the Bird type, which was intentionally programmed into the code of the Generation I and II games but was not given to any real Pokémon. Other glitch types are the result of the game reading other data as if it were types. Like the ??? type, all glitch types have no special effectiveness (they both inflict normal damage against all types and take normal damage from all types).

In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series
In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, the type effectiveness chart differs from contemporaneous core series games. Type effectiveness also differs among the series, as does whether effectiveness multipliers stack against dual-typed Pokémon. For example, in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, moves that are ineffective in the core series deal ½× damage instead, not very effective moves deal 0.7× damage instead, and multipliers stack against dual-typed Pokémon. In Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, moves that are ineffective in the core series deal ¼× damage, and multipliers typically do not stack. In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, moves that are ineffective in the core series are ineffective as well (0× damage).

In the Pokémon Ranger series
In the Pokémon Ranger series, each Pokémon has a group, equivalent to a type in the core series. The effectiveness of Poké Assists on wild Pokémon is dependent on the Pokémon's group.

In the Pokémon Rumble series
In the Pokémon Rumble series, the type effectiveness chart differs from the equivalent type chart in contemporaneous core series games. Moves that are ineffective in the core series deal 0.6× damage instead, moves that would be not very effective against one or both of the target's types deal ~0.8× or ~0.7× damage, respectively, and moves that would be super effective against one or both of the target's types deal ~1.2× and ~1.4× damage, respectively.

In Pokémon Battrio
Pokémon in Pokémon Battrio all have one type in line with one of their types in the core games. Battrio also includes two unique types exclusively for, the Full Plate and Eleven-Plate types.

Pokémon Battrio's type effectiveness chart is also unique, with different possible strengths for weaknesses or resistances. For example, while Grass-type Pokémon are weak to both Ice- and Fire-type moves, they are weaker to Fire-type moves than to Ice-type moves.

Players with a Memory Key can also gain experience towards different types that will level up their, granting Pokémon of that type a bonus in Attack or HP.

In Pokémon Shuffle
Pokémon in Pokémon Shuffle each only have one type. Pokémon Shuffle's type effectiveness chart is also slightly different than the contemporaneous Generation VI chart, with 0× effectivenesses turned into ½× effectiveness.

In Pokémon GO
In the Pokémon GO, the type effectiveness chart differs from the equivalent type chart in contemporaneous core series games. Moves that are ineffective in the core series deal 0.51× damage instead (0.8× prior to June 21, 2017), not very effective moves deal 0.714× damage (0.8× prior to June 21, 2017), and super effective moves deal 1.4× damage (1.25× prior to June 21, 2017). If the defending Pokémon is dual-typed, the modifier is calculated as the product of the modifiers for both of its types.

In the TCG
In the Pokémon Trading Card Game, there were initially only seven types, although it has since been extended to eleven types. Because of this reduction, there are many Pokémon that share a type with one another, despite not normally sharing one in the core video game. Furthermore, in the TCG it's the Pokémon's type itself, not the type of energy used to power its attack, that determines whether more or less damage is done due to Type; generally speaking weakness to a Pokémon's type doubles damage, while resistance reduces damage by 20 points. So while type mechanics are generally different than in the core games, they do try to preserve a similar spirit.

For example, Machamp, Gigalith, and Hippowdon are all TCG Fighting type Pokémon in the TCG, despite being Fighting-, Rock- and Pokémon, respectively, in the video game. However, Machamp cards may be weak to TCG Psychic type Pokémon, while Gigalith may be weak to TCG Water type Pokémon, and Hippowdon would be weak to TCG Grass type Pokémon, just as those Pokémon would be in the core games. Likewise, when these Pokémon attack, they may be able to do extra damage to a TCG Lightning type Pokémon in the TCG, despite Pokémon in the video game not being normally weak to Fighting- and  Pokémon.