With over 1000Pokemonhaving been introduced since Gen 1, players have plenty of type combinations to choose from when building their teams. Some are incredibly strong, but not all of them are stellar. When aPokemontakes on two types, it carries the resistances and weaknesses for both. Sometimes, they can cancel each other out — but if the types have weaknesses in common, the Pokemon will take4x the damage from those moves.
This leads to some dual-types being incredibly fragile. Some of these Pokemon can still be useful in battle, but others don’t even have good offensive coverage to make up for it. Regardless, players who use these combinations need to keep healing items on hand.
Updated February, 2024 by Demaris Oxman:The Pokemon franchise is constantly evolving, as almost every game brings new ‘mons for players to try out. Sometimes, a Pokemon fan will see a design that blows them away — only for that ‘mon to be lackluster in battle, often due to a weak type combination. Of course, it’s still possible to add these Pokemon to a team and train them up to be strong. But whether players are returning to an old favorite game, or adventuring into theHidden Treasures of Area ZeroDLC for the first time, there’s no question that these type combinations are at a disadvantage.
9Rock/Fighting
The Best Of The Worst
Among the most fragile Pokemon type combinations, Rock/Fighting has the most potential to still be useful in battle. While it does have seven weaknesses (the most that any Pokemon currently has), none of those weaknesses are 4x super effective, since the Rock and Fighting types have no weaknesses in common. What’s more, the combination of Rock and Fighting-type moves allow the legendary Terrakion — theonly Pokemon with this typing— to deal super-effective damage to eight different types.
Despite its decent offensive power, those who choose to use Terrakion must be wary in battle. Among its many weaknesses are three out of the five most common Pokemon types:Water, Grass, and Psychic.Trainers should be very careful when choosing what opponents to fight with a Rock/Fighting type.
Type Matchups
Pokemon With This Typing
As of Gen 9, Rock/Fighting is a unique typing, with only the Gen 5 legendaryTerrakionboasting this combo.
Battle Tips
Terrakion stands poised to take super-effective damage from some very common attacks. As such, players might want to equip it with an HP-restoring item such as aShell BellorLeftovers, which can help it last long enough to dish out its strong moves. Send it up against Rock or Normal-types, and it’s likely to wipe the floor with them — just watch out for any sneaky Fighting-type moves.
8Rock/Dark
Intimidating Looks Can Be Deceiving
Tyranitar definitely looks dangerous, and its attacking power isn’t to be underestimated. However, like Rock/Fighting, its weaknesses are numbered and very common.Fighting-type attacksspell doom for this typing, with 4x effectiveness. It’s weak to six other types as well, including some of the most common in the Pokemon world, such as Water and Grass.
As an advantage, the Dark typing gives this Pokemon an immunity to Psychic-type attacks. It also has good type coverage, making it a decent offensive choice.Defensively, though, Rock/Dark’s weaknesses outnumber its strengths.Considering the frequency of types that can annihilate this Pokemon compared to ones it resists (such as Ghost and Dark), if it weren’t for Tyranitar’s massive stats, it would be easy to wipe out.
Like Rock/Fighting, Rock/Dark is also unique, belonging only to the Gen 2 PokemonTyranitar and its Mega-Evolved form. No new Pokemon with this combination have been seen since the introduction of the Dark type itself.
Although this type combination is weak in theory, the only Pokemon who currently has it — Tyranitar — is incredibly strong. A Rock/Dark type with weaker stats would be easy to destroy, but this pseudo-legendary is worthy of the title. Its Attack is huge, and its defensive stats mean that it can tank even 2x effective hits easily. Players should still verify to watch out for Fighting-type attacks, though. Consider giving Tyranitar aChople Berryto lessen the damage from these moves.
7Ice/Psychic
The Ultimate Glass Cannon
Like the Wizard in most RPGs, this combination is powerful but extremely fragile. Though they can be effective if used strategically, Ice/Psychic types’long list of weaknesses and measly two resistancesmean that they’re easy to take out in one or two hits. They can have some strong attacks, but even their most powerful moves aren’t very effective against the types that can do serious damage to an Ice/Psychic Pokemon.
Strong dual-types can often negate each other’s weaknesses; that is, its primary type may resist a damage type that the secondary type is weak to, or vice versa. For Ice/Psychic, however, this doesn’t apply to any of the Psychic-type’s weaknesses; only to Ice-type’s weakness to Fighting-type moves.
Unique until Gen 8, a few Pokemon joined the ranks of Ice/Psychic types inSword & Shield:
Jynx and Mr. Rime (the two non-legendaries of this type) are both capable of learning a few Ghost- and Dark-type moves, which can help offset their weaknesses. They also have high Special Attack, a common trait of both Psychic and Ice-types. Trainers working with these two can raise theirSpeedthrough EV training or the Carbos vitamin. If they can outspeed their opponents, Ice/Psychic types can be decent Special sweepers.
6Grass/Dark
Fragile, With Little Offensive Advantage
With a4x weakness to Bug-types and six other weaknesses to boot, Pokemon like Nuzleaf and Cacturne have a lot of opponents to watch out for. What’s more, some of these weaknesses are very common, such as Flying-type. Thankfully, other weaknesses are rarer, such as Ice and Fairy.
Grass/Dark does have a fair number of resistances going for it, including the very common Water type, and is completelyimmune to Psychic attacks. Unfortunately, neither typing in this combo offers very much offensive advantage; Grass-type attacks are resisted by many types, and few types are weak to either Grass or Dark attacks.
A fair handful of Pokemon populate this type, including a mythical and a legendary Pokemon. Interestingly, almost half of these Pokemon were introduced in Gen 9 alone.
Grass/Dark types can be useful in niche situations: namely, against Ghost and Psychic types. Ghost-types in particular have few weaknesses, so Dark-types tend to be the best option to use against them. Still, considering the paltry defensive stats that many of these Pokemon have, it’s best if players canraise them with EV training, or give them an HP-restoring held item in battle.
5Psychic/Grass
More Weaknesses Than Resistances
Psychic-types are offensively powerful, but when combined with the most fragile types, they can become quite frail as their weaknesses are only compounded. The Grass/Psychic combination, like Ice/Psychic, is a perfect example of a weak type combo. Exeggutor knows some powerful moves, but there’s no doubt that this combination leaves it (and other Pokemon of this type) with certain disadvantages. For example, the Psychic/Grass combo has seven weaknesses, including a 4xweakness to Bug-types.Its weaknesses outnumber its resistances, and even outnumber the types that deal normal damage to this Pokemon.
On the plus side, Psychic-type attacks easily can take care of Poison-types that threaten it. Other than that, though, this typing doesn’t have much offensive advantage and can’t easily counter its other weaknesses.
A handful of Pokemon are Grass/Psychic. Among them, only Exeggcute and its evolution are neither legendary, mythical, nor a Paradox Pokemon.
This type combination can hold its own against Water and Fighting-types. Players who want to train up theirExeggutorcan put it out front while traveling near lakes and oceans to deal with the local Pokemon. Mons with this type combination also tend to have high Special Attack, making them decent sweepers with the right moves, as long as players avoid their weaknesses.
4Ice/Grass
The World’s Most Flammable Pokemon
As powerful as Abomasnow can be in the right hands, there’s no denying that it and its pre-evolved form areincredibly fragile.Like Ice/Psychic types, they’re glass cannons, hitting hard but easily destroyed. With a 4x Fire-type weakness and six regular weaknesses (including the common Flying and Bug types), it’s easy to take these Pokemon out.
Though Ice/Grass resists a few fairly common types (Water, Ground, Electric, and Grass), four resistances isn’t a lot for a dual-type — consider the examples above. What’s more, the combination of Ice and Grass-type attacksonly offers super-effective damage against four types.It’s not enough of a trade-off for the vast number of weaknesses.
As of Gen 9, the Grass/Ice typing is unique to Gen 4’sSnoverand its evolutionAbomasnow.The latter’s Mega Evolution maintains its typing.
As mentioned above, Abomasnow can be powerful with the right trainer. Its ability, Snow Warning, sets up hail upon its entry, which does useful chip damage to non-Ice-type Pokemon. As long as players avoid Fire-type attacks and teach it some strong moves, Abomasnow can be a glass cannon.
3Rock/Ground
Tough-Looking, But Deceptively Fragile
As common as this typing is (and as tough as these Pokemon can look), they’re actually very easy to take down. Though Onix and its ilk offer decent offensive coverage through its attacks, they unfortunately has just as many defensive weaknesses. Rock/Ground Pokemon have not one buttwo 4x weaknesses,both of which are incredibly commonthroughout the games. It’s also weak to four other types to boot.
Rock/Ground’s immunity to Electric is one defensive plus, and it has a fair number of resistances — including a double resistance to Poison. Pokemon like Geodude might be handy when battlinga Poison-type Gymor Electric-type Pokemon, but they can be easily taken out with a single Water Pulse or Mega Drain.
Among the type combinations on this list, Rock/Ground is the most frequently seen. Not only are there a fair few Pokemon of this type, but they tend to be common in games where they appear. Notably, no new evolutionary families involving this typing have been introduced since Generation 2; and no new Rock/Ground types have been added at all since Gen 4.
Despite the weaknesses of this type combo, any Ground-type Pokemon will do wonders against an Electric-type trainer. And since Electric-types tend to be found pretty frequently throughout the games, having one on the team is almost always recommended. For players who want to turn theirRhyperiororGoleminto a tank, grinding it up against Electric-types will do the trick.
2Ice/Rock
No Counters Against Their Biggest Threats
Appearing several times on this list already, Ice types are amongthe most fragile in the series, and Rock-types have plenty of weaknesses of their own. Withtwo overlapping weaknesses, Fighting and Steel,this is another type combo with not one but two types that are 4x effective against it, and four more weaknesses as well. What’s more, it only hasfour resistances.
Thankfully, the combination of Ice and Rock-type moves allow Amaura and its evolution (the only Ice/Rock types) to take out a variety of opponents, including the Grass and Ground types that can spell their doom. However, they generally can’t do much to counter their two biggest threats, Fighting and Steel.
The Ice/Rock typing went unused until Gen 6, which introduced a Fossil Pokemon of this type. Even as of Gen 9, it’s rarely seen in the games:
Like many others on this list, Rock/Ice does best in niche situations. Its Rock-type moves let Aurorus easily take out fellow Ice-types. Additionally, it does well against the extremely common Flying-type. Aurorus also has high HP, allowing it to tank even a few 2x hits before going down. Players can give it a Chople or Babiri berry to lessen the damage from its 4x weaknesses.
1Bug/Grass
Overlapping Weaknesses & Little Offensive Coverage
Neither of these types are considered all that strong, and when they’re combined, their failings only compound each other. Bug/Grass types have a 4x weakness to both Fire and Flying, and five regular weaknesses as well.
Their offensive type coverage is also poor.Bug and Grass each have seven different types that resist their attacks,and neither offers up any moves that can help counter any of this typing’s weaknesses.Pokemon like Parasectmight fare okay against a Water or Grass type, but in most situations, the Bug/Grass pairing is incredibly flimsy and has little advantage.
Perhaps due to its weakness in battle, not many Pokemon inhabit the Bug/Grass type:
This is one of the hardest types to use in battle. Not only does it have a number of weaknesses, but Grass- and Bug-type attacks don’t do much to damage most other Pokemon. Players who want to use Grass/Bug types are best taking on Water, Ground, or Psychic-type opponents. When raising stats through EVs,Speed is key. These Pokemon have decent Attack, so if they’re faster than the opponent and exploit type advantages, they just might manage to win.
