Pokemon Sword and Shield type chart: Strengths and weaknesses

Sam Smith

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 part 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.

The winner of a Pokemon battle can often be determined by whether you correctly employ type effectiveness strategies. 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 and Shield.


Contents


Sword and Shield Starters
You’ll need to know your type effectiveness to become the very best.

Pokemon Sword & Shield type chart

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

Type Strengths Weaknesses
Bug  Grass / Dark / Psychic Fire /Flying / Rock
Dark Ghost / Psychic Bug / Fairy / Fighting
Dragon Dragon Dragon / Fairy / Ice
Electric Flying / Water Ground
Fairy  Fighting / Dark / Dragon Poison / Steel
Fighting Dark / Ice / Normal / Rock / Steel Fairy / Flying/ Psychic
Fire Bug / Grass / Steel / Ice Ground / Rock /  Water
Flying Bug / Fighting / Grass Electric / Ice / Rock
Ghost Ghost / Psychic Dark / Ghost
Grass Ground / Rock / Water Bug /Fire/ Flying / Ice / Poison
Ground Electric / Fire / Poison / Rock / Steel Grass / Ice / Water
Ice Dragon / Flying / Grass / Ground Fighting / Fire / Rock / Steel
Normal Fighting
Poison Fairy / Grass Ground / Psychic
Psychic Fighting / Poison Bug / Dark / Ghost
Rock Bug / Fire / Flying / Ice Fighting / Grass / Ground / Steel / Water
Steel Fairy / Ice / Rock Fighting / Fire / Ground
Water Fire / Ground / Rock Electric / Grass

How many Pokemon types are there?

As of Pokemon Sword & Sheidl, 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 Sword & Shield
Pokemon Sword & Shield’s Wild Area receives regular updates from the developers.

Pokemon type weaknesses and 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 Pokemon attacks directed at it.

Pokemon Sword shield type weakness chartThis 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 a Pokemon like Heatran, which is a dual steel/fire-type. 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 here will help you get the hang of it. In time, you’ll be well on your way to becoming Galar’s Pokemon Champion!


So, that’s everything you need to know about Pokemon Sword and Shield’s weaknesses and strengths type chart. Want some more tips on your way to becoming the very best? Check out our lists and guides:

How to claim Mystery Gifts | How to get all three starters without trading | Every missing Pokemon in Sword & Shield | All cutest Pokemon | Every cat ‘mon on the Pokedex | All dog Pokemon in the Pokedex | Changing the weather in Crown Tundra | Sword and Shield trade codes | Remote Raid Passes in Pokemon Go | Promo codes Pokemon Go

About The Author

Sam is a Senior Games Writer for Dexerto specializing in Survival Horror, Diablo, Final Fantasy, and Soulslikes. An NCTJ accredited journalist, Sam also holds a degree in journalism from the University of Central Lancashire and has many years of experience as a professional writer. Being able to marry his love of writing with his addiction to video games was always one of his life goals. He also loves all things PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo in equal measure. Contact at sam.smith@dexerto.com