‘Pokemon Go’ is available now for iOS and Android devices. (Nintendo)
Before heading into battle in Pokemon Go, it’s vital that players understand which Pokemon types are effective and ineffective against others. This can be rather complicated, especially if you’re a relatively new Pokemon trainer. But luckily, some hardcore fans around the world have put together helpful charts that lay out exactly what you need to know.
The first chart you can make use of specifically focuses on what types are super effective against other types. These super effective attacks will deal an incredible amount of damage. Reddit user shaggorama put together a nifty chart illustrating these matchups, and the chart was later modified by another user named starlightmica in order to make it just a bit clearer.
What’s important to note is that this chart only shows instances where a Pokemon type is super effective against another type, and that second type is also not very effective against the original type. Confused? Basically, as an example, Dark is “super effective” against Ghost. But Ghost is also “not very effective” against Dark. Both of those factors add up to mean that Dark is an absolutely ideal type to use against Dark, and so that matchup makes it way onto the chart. There are plenty of other types that are effective against Dark too, but in not all of those cases is Dark also ineffective against them.
In this chart, then, just follow the arrows to determine what types are super effective against others:
Looking for some more information? The following Pokemon weakness chart breaks down what each type of Pokemon is strong against and vulnerable to.
| Type | Strong Against | Weakness |
| Normal | N/A | Fighting |
| Electric | Water, Flying | Ground |
| Fairy | Fighting, Dragon, Dark | Poison, Steel |
| Water | Fire, Ground, Rock | Electric, Grass |
| Poison | Grass, Fairy | Ground, Psychic |
| Ghost | Psychic, Ghost | Ghost, Dark |
| Ground | Fire, Electric, Poison, Rock, Steel | Water, Grass, Ice |
| Fighting | Normal, Ice, Rock, Dark, Steel | Flying, Psychic, Fairy |
| Fire | Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel | Water, Ground, Rock |
| Steel | Ice, Rock, Fairy | Fire, Fighting, Ground |
| Flying | Grass, Fighting, Bug | Electric, Ice, Rock |
| Bug | Grass, Psychic, Dark | Fire, Flying, Rock |
| Psychic | Fighting, Poison | Bug, Ghost, Dark |
| Dark | Psychic, Ghost | Fighting, Bug, Fairy |
| Dragon | Dragon | Ice, Dragon, Fairy |
| Ice | Grass, Ground, Flying, Dragon | Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel |
| Rock | Fire, Ice, Flying, Bug | Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel |
| Grass | Water, Ground, Rock | Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug |
And if you want to get even more detailed before you head out to the gym, you can make use of an awesome service called Win the Gym. On this website, you enter the Pokemon you want to defeat, and you will be given a complete list of every Pokemon in the game that will be effective against that type. Enter Squirtle, for example, and you’ll see that some of the effective attackers are Jolteon, Electrode, Exeggcute and Pikachu among many others.
Finally, to make sure you’re using a Pokemon with the best possible moveset, check out our guide to the best combination of moves for each and every Pokemon in Pokemon Go: