Pokemon Sword & Shield type chart: Strengths and weaknesses

In Pokemon Sword & Shield, a Pokemon’s ‘type effectiveness’ is one of the most important parts of the battle system. It’s been a core piece of the games since the franchise’s beginnings, and the Gen 8 type chart is no exception.

The Pokemon series is all about mastering its elemental match-up system. Most players will quickly work out that Water is strong against Fire, and that’s enough to muddle your way through the early hours of the game, but it will get trickier as you move on and find dual-type opponents.

The winner of a Pokemon battle can often be determined by whether you correctly employ type effectiveness strategies. However, knowing what to use in battle can be confusing. Some strategies are obvious, but how are you supposed to know if Fire or Ice is effective against a Ghost or Fairy Pokemon?

The chart below will tell you everything there is to know about type effectiveness in Pokemon Sword & Shield.

Pokemon Sword & Shield type chart

A table listing each type’s particular strengths and weaknesses in Pokemon Sword & Shield can be seen below:

How many Pokemon types are there?

As of Pokemon Sword & Shield, there are a total of 18 types of Pokemon throughout the series. Every type is at a natural advantage against some in battle, but vulnerable against others.

Successful players build a solid team of Pokemon made of different elemental types. This way, no matter what opponent appears, they will have a Pokemon in their squad ready to beat it. Although it’s hard to incorporate all elemental types of Pokemon in a single team of 6. This is why some players use multiple teams, depending on the circumstances.

Pokemon-type weaknesses & strengths chart explained

Despite the table above, there is actually much more to type effectiveness than meets the eye. For example:

• Super effective moves will deal double the damage, whereas ‘weak’ moves will only deal half. There are also a few moves that will deal no damage at all, such as Normal-type attacks against Ghost types.
• Dual types also play an important role. Dual-type Pokemon, as the name suggests, have two types. If the move you are using is effective against both the opposing Pokemon, it will deal 4x the damage. Conversely, if the move is weak against both, then it will be just one-quarter of the overall damage.

The best example of a super-effective type attack is using a Water attack against a Rock and/or Ground type. In this instance, Geodude (a dual Rock/Ground) would be 4x more susceptible against any Water-type Pokemon attacks directed at it.

This chart displays all of the damage output based on attacking and defending types.

The opposite of this would occur when a Fairy-type move is used by a Pokemon like Heatran, which is a dual Steel/Fire creature. This would result in only one-quarter of the damage it may do to other Pokemon.

Learning all of these strengths and weaknesses will undoubtedly take time, but utilizing our guide will help you get the hang of it. In time, you’ll be well on your way to becoming Galar’s Pokemon Champion!

Best Pokemon types to have on your team

Out of the 18 Pokemon types, there are a few that excel as the most well-rounded due to how their strengths give them more coverage against opponents.

Steel, Fairy, and Fire are some types you should definitely have on your 6 Pokemon roster most of the time. Steel-type creatures are immune to Poison and can resist Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Psychic, Bug, Rock, Dragon, Steel, and Fairy attacks. While Fairy gives you coverage against Fighting, Bug, and Dark, Fire-type Pokemon do the same with Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel, Fairy, and fellow Fire ‘mons.

That means that with these three types, you get coverage against 14 types in total. You can counter the remaining Water, Electric, and Ground types with a Grass Pokemon and then add a Psychic creature to stand against Ghosts.

The Pokemon Company

Metagross is one of the best Steel-type Pokemon in the franchise.

Best type combinations

Choosing a type over another will always depend on your opponent’s team. However, some type combinations can be very powerful defensively as they can offer wide coverage against unknown enemies.

As obvious, some of the most useful type combinations include Steel-type Pokemon, such as Steel/Fairy or Steel/Flying, both with two immunities, only two weaknesses, and plenty of useful resistances.

Other good combos include Water/Ground or Water/Fairy. In Water/Ground’s case, the immunity against Electric – a main weakness for Water types – is a huge advantage. While in Water/Fairy’s scenario, you get immunity against the infamous Dragon Pokemon and a good defense against fan-favorite Fire, Fighting and Dark types among others.

Other standouts include Electric/Flying – which takes off the Ground weakness every Electric-type has – and Ghost/Normal, with three immunities, two resistances, and only one weakness to Dark creatures.

That’s everything you need to know about the Pokemon Sword & Shield weaknesses and strengths type chart. For more on the game, check how to get all three starters, all the trade codes, and the proper way to claim Mystery Gifts for cool surprises.