Type Chart & Effectiveness

Introduction

Type effectiveness forms the foundation of Pokémon battle strategy. The type chart establishes damage multipliers based on the attacking move's type versus the defending Pokémon's type(s). Pokémon Polished Crystal implements all 18 types from the modern series, including Fairy from Generation VI.

Note: The Faithful build preserves canonical type assignments, while the Polished build introduces type changes to numerous Pokémon and moves. This guide covers mechanics shared across both builds unless otherwise noted.

Type Effectiveness Chart

The chart below displays damage multipliers for attacking type (rows) versus defending type (columns). Desktop view presents the full 18×18 matrix; mobile view enables targeted type selection.

Green (2×): Super Effective — Double damage

Red (0.5×): Resisted — Half damage

Gray (0×): Immune — No damage

White (1×): Neutral — Standard damage

Dual-type Pokémon multiply effectiveness values. A Ground-type move against Flying/Water calculates as 2× (Water) × 0× (Flying immunity) = 0× total. Conversely, Ice versus Dragon/Ground yields 2× × 2× = 4× damage.

STAB Bonus

STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) applies a 1.5× multiplier when a Pokémon uses a move matching one of its own types. This bonus calculates before type effectiveness.

Calculation examples:

• Charizard (Fire/Flying in Polished) using Flamethrower (Fire): 90 base power × 1.5 STAB = 135 effective power
• That Flamethrower against Grass-type: 135 × 2× (super effective) = 270 effective power
• Charizard using Earthquake (Ground): No STAB—Ground doesn't match Fire or Flying

Prioritize STAB moves in offensive movesets. Water-types should carry Surf or Hydro Pump; Fighting-types benefit from Close Combat or Cross Chop.

Type-Based Immunities

Polished Crystal implements several type-based status immunities beyond the standard type chart:

• Electric-types: Immune to paralysis (including from Tri Attack)
• Ice-types: Immune to freezing (including from Tri Attack)
• Fire-types: Immune to burns (including from Tri Attack)
• Steel-types: Immune to poisoning
• Grass-types: Immune to powder moves (PoisonPowder, Stun Spore, Sleep Powder, Spore)
• Poison-types: Toxic cannot miss when used by a Poison-type Pokémon

These immunities apply in both Faithful and Polished builds. Factor them into status-spreading strategies—Thunder Wave fails against Electric-types, Will-O-Wisp cannot burn Fire-types.

Offensive Type Coverage

Optimal offensive coverage enables super effective damage across the widest possible type spectrum. Certain type combinations achieve near-complete coverage:

High-Coverage Combinations

• Fighting + Ground: Hits Normal, Ice, Rock, Steel, Dark, Electric, Fire, Poison. Minimal overlap, broad neutral coverage.
• Dragon + Ground: Dragon strikes Dragon; Ground covers Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel. Strong neutral coverage baseline.
• Fire + Fighting: Fire handles Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel; Fighting addresses Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, Steel. Effective against defensive cores.
• Water + Electric (BoltBeam variant): Near-universal neutral coverage. Electric hits Water/Flying; Water covers Fire, Ground, Rock.
• Ghost + Fighting: Mutual immunity coverage. Ghost targets Psychic/Ghost; Fighting targets Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, Steel.

Coverage Priorities

Target these commonly resistant types when constructing movesets:

• Steel: Fire, Fighting, or Ground coverage
• Water: Electric or Grass coverage
• Dragon: Ice, Dragon, or Fairy coverage
• Flying: Electric, Ice, or Rock coverage

Defensive Typing

Defensive typing determines resistance profiles and vulnerability windows. Optimal dual-type combinations maximize resistances while minimizing exploitable weaknesses:

Strong Defensive Typings

• Steel/Flying: 10 resistances, Ground immunity. Weaknesses limited to Fire and Electric. Example: Skarmory
• Water/Ground: Sole weakness to Grass (4×). Resists Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel; immune to Electric. Example: Quagsire
• Steel/Fairy: 9 resistances, Dragon and Poison immunity. Weaknesses: Fire, Ground only.
• Ghost/Dark: Immune to Normal, Fighting, Psychic. Single weakness: Fairy.
• Electric/Flying: Neutralizes Electric's Ground weakness via Flying immunity. Weak to Ice, Rock. Example: Zapdos

Team Composition Guidelines

Defensive synergy requires covering teammates' vulnerabilities:

• Fire-type (weak to Water, Ground, Rock) pairs with Water or Grass-type for coverage
• Dragon-type (weak to Ice, Dragon, Fairy) pairs with Steel-type to resist Ice and Fairy
• Avoid weakness stacking—multiple team members sharing vulnerabilities (e.g., triple Ice weakness) creates exploitable team composition flaws

Polished Mode Type Changes

The Polished build introduces significant type reassignments to improve balance and thematic consistency. These changes do not apply to the Faithful build, which preserves canonical typings.

Pokémon Type Changes (Polished Only)

• Blastoise: Water → Water/Steel
• Butterfree: Bug/Flying → Bug/Psychic
• Meowth/Persian: Normal → Dark
• Grimer/Muk: Poison → Poison/Dark
• Farfetch'd: Normal/Flying → Fighting/Flying
• Ninetales: Fire → Fire/Ghost
• Golduck: Water → Water/Psychic
• Meganium: Grass → Grass/Fairy
• Typhlosion: Fire → Fire/Ground
• Feraligatr: Water → Water/Dark
• Noctowl: Normal/Flying → Flying/Psychic
• Ledian: Bug/Flying → Bug/Fighting
• Sunflora: Grass → Grass/Fire
• Politoed: Water → Water/Grass
• Dunsparce: Normal → Normal/Ground
• Electivire: Electric → Electric/Fighting
• Magmortar: Fire → Fire/Fighting
• Rhyperior: Ground/Rock → Steel/Rock
• Mismagius: Ghost → Ghost/Fairy

Move Type Changes (Polished Only)

• Cut: Normal → Steel
• Strength: Normal → Fighting
• Hidden Power: Can generate as Fairy-type

These changes affect STAB calculations and coverage requirements. For example, Polished Blastoise gains STAB on Steel moves and resists Fairy, while Typhlosion can leverage Ground STAB for Electric coverage.

Fairy Type

Fairy type, introduced in Generation VI, is fully implemented in Polished Crystal. It was designed to counter the dominant Dragon typing that defined previous metagames.

Type Matchups

• Super Effective Against: Dragon, Dark, Fighting
• Resisted By: Fire, Poison, Steel
• Resists: Fighting, Bug, Dark
• Weak To: Poison, Steel
• Immune To: Dragon

Metagame Impact

• Dragon-types can no longer spam Dragon moves for universal coverage—Fairy walls them completely
• Fairy provides checks to Fighting-types (Machamp) and Dark-types (Tyranitar)
• Poison and Steel gained value as Fairy counters
• Several Pokémon received Fairy as secondary typing, altering their strategic utility (e.g., Clefable, Azumarill, Togekiss)

Notable Fairy Pokémon

• Clefable: Pure Fairy with bulk and utility moves (Soft-Boiled, Stealth Rock)
• Azumarill (Water/Fairy): Huge Power enables physical sweeping with Aqua Jet and Play Rough
• Togekiss (Fairy/Flying): Serene Grace doubles secondary effect rates for flinch strategies with Air Slash
• Granbull: Pure Fairy physical attacker with Intimidate

Counter Fairy-types with Steel or Poison coverage: Iron Head, Flash Cannon, Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb.

Related Guides

• What Makes Pokémon Polished Crystal Different From Vanilla Crystal?

  • Learn about the Fairy type addition and other modern type mechanics

• Beginner's Guide to Pokémon Polished Crystal

  • Understand battle basics and type matchups in your playthrough