Let’s be honest! No one ever picks grass because of Bulbasaur! Nah, really it’s the most disadvantaged since the start in my opinion. In all games we are given the option to get this type of starter Pokémon but they are always the most lame looking 3rd stage evolutions. Not to talk about the disadvantages! Since the fancy mix of types was introduced, grass seems to be left out being almost always mixed as a grass/poison, like.. seriously? Poison was always kind of a grassy move. One super let down is that it’s weak to around 7 other types! Geez, talk about bad luck, their best defense is against other leafy foes! Tic-Toc! Time is something you always consider when you use the grass type because the best attacks like Solar Beam, Frenzy Plant and Petal Dance take SO MUCH time, and there’s always a penalty in some form or another. The pros of grass types lies in damage over time and special statuses like sleep, poison-enhanced attacks or HP absorbing moves. My initial thought was to leave this classic type out! But I have to give it to them, there are SOME good points. These Pokémon learn moves that could be really annoying if you know how to use their weather advantages and exploit their special attack stat to no end.

The fighting type couldn't be more of a cliché, as obviously it can’t touch ghosts and it’s weak to psychic abilities as well as flying! But it does get interesting when you mix this type with others, resulting in epic Pokémon like Blaziken, Lucario and Mewtwo (Mega Mewtwo X, of course). Of course Pokémon using this type are very high in the attack stat - if they lay a hit on you, it will hurt. It beats the heck out of the insane HP wielders - usually normal type Pokémon like Blissey or defensive steel Pokémon like Aggron. The type has many good-to-have moves such as Close Combat, High Jump Kick or Superpower, all of them with excellent damage and very high accuracy. Not to mention, the Gen V legendary Pokémon signature move, Sacred Sword, is fighting type! It’s very strange to find a pure fighting type so it’s better to just pick another type that has a fair balance with your fighting moves. Fighting doesn't stand out so much in game but it’s surely a favorite in other games where fights are involved like Super Smash Bros or the newest Pokkén fighting game.

Flying is personally my favorite type! I have to admit it's not THAT great but I think winged Pokémon look the coolest! And maybe the fastest. Everyone is bound to have a flying type Pokémon in their party, regardless of their nasty weakness to rock, ice, electric and shamelessly creating more double weaknesses that i’d like to admit when mixed with other types. BUT! the ability to use FLY! Ahh yes, who would want to miss that unknown black bird’s flying animation? Haha. The flying type gang is where the coolest kids hang out; we got Yveltal, Rayquaza, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Charizard, Tornadus and even the Pokémon god Arceus is in here! Come join the bird trainer club because even in the anime, flying Pokémon are the most useful. We even make craziest wingless things fly like Doduo, Gyarados and Rotom! Not convinced yet? Flying types even includes a UFO in Pokéstar Studio. Ah, remember how we all wanted that rumored flying Pikachu since Yellow Version? Then they teased us with that cute-as-a-button flying Pikachu card in Pokémon trading card games until they finally released flying Pikachu for real… yes, yes.. flying is the best! Let’s fly on to the next type.

Oh I’m glad we were just talking about Pikachu! Next up is the electric type. Probably the most outstanding of types thanks to Pikachu in the anime, who defines OP with his electric moves through all the series. Sadly, Ash didn't become the hero with a Pikachu like trainer Yellow did in the oldie manga version. In the manga Pokémon Adventures, Yellow’s saga, it is explained that Red’s pro Pikachu companion winded up all messed up and alone in Prof. Oak's lab after his trainer went missing. This would explain why Prof. Oak had a Pikachu among his selections in the first place! Could this be the real reason behind Ash’s Pikachu seeming like level 400 at times? Okay back to the types, this one is a real mess when you’re dealing with it. It’s either you have a ground type Pokémon to deal with it or.. you have a ground type ability, hehe. Ground type is it’s only weakness. The fun part is when you mix this type with the ability levitate that makes all ground moves unable to lay a finger on you. Yes, I’m talking about you Eelektross! You evil creature!

Earthquake all the things! Okay, let’s not say that too loud or Japan may ban Pokémon like they banned Pokémon episode 377 from the world because it said Whiscash made earthquakes. On top of this, they go add an attack called Magnitude that deals ground damage depending on the magnitude potency, that is measured up to 10… just like earthquakes. That’s a sick joke, Game Freak! The ground’s kind of shaky even when no one is talking about Earthquake, because ground types have possibly the lowest special defense stat of all; and many Pokémon use special attacks very often. They sometimes have high defense as with Steelix and Regirock but they are very, very slow or are combined with double crit bug types like defence king Shuckle. Is there such thing as ground/fighting Pokémon? I don't think so, it would be super OP since ground is super effective to fire, poison, electric, steel and rock and the rest of the types are mostly weak to fighting. Ground can also learn a wide range of rock attacks which can be great against the flying Pokémon who are not affected by ground based moves.

Out of the original 151 Pokémon, most of them were water types! Surf is one of the vital moves that you need in every game. Water stage in Pokémon also means that you’re half way through the game, woo! It’s a pretty balanced type; it’s weak to electric and grass but it’s super effective against fire, ground and rock. It’s resistant to 4 types but 3 types are resistant to it so it’s a very round type to always have. Most water moves have an accuracy above 85 and deal damage anywhere between 70 and above 100. If you’ve never played Pokémon, I’d advise a water starter. Water types are really nifty too, they can learn ice moves and ground moves and if you have a Pokémon that is water plus either grass, dragon or ground they basically have no weakness to electricity. Oh! A cool thing about water moves is that when it’s raining, their power is doubled! One of the best water Pokémon to have around besides Eelektross are egg-raised Wailord and Whiscash. Wailord has massive HP and attacks that vary from rock, psychic to even flying. Whiscash doesn't have so much HP but it’s really high on special attack and defense and it can learn ground, psychic and electric moves!

Psychic types are linked to a strong image of intelligence in the Pokémon world. Usually psychic Pokémon can use telekinesis and telepathy in the anime/manga. In the game, it’s not so good since it’s weak against bug (I wonder why) dark and ghost. If psychic types are not faced against Crunch, they might stand a chance with the powerful attack Psychic that never misses and has a whopping 90 damage. Psychic is a more-than-common combination with other types and it also has the most legendaries on its stead. It’s a good thing to remember what psychic is weak to and have Pokémon who are effective against psychic types and at least one other type that can learn Crunch. In every game so far, you’ll have to deal with a psychic gym leader and, later on, a psychic elite four member, too. Another reason to want to keep those psychic-resistant and effective type Pokémon close by is that if you look for online matches, the legendaries Cresselia, Mew and Mewtwo together with Gardevoir and Gothitelle are the most used.

Fairy is the hype of the moment. It is the most recently added Pokémon type, introduced in Gen 6. I honestly believed this type’s creation was just an excuse to group together all the cute pink normal types until I learned it has surpassed dragon type in being ridiculously over powered. In fact, it’s even untouchable by the mighty dragon types and on top of that, it's also x2 effectiveness on the poor dragon guys. It’s sturdy to every other type, only being weak to poison and steel, the rarest and least used types. It’s possibly the type with the highest special defense but the crappiest defense. Not that it matters much, because it’s resistant to fighting. In other news, Pokémon like Togetic or Mawile completely laugh at low defense stats. Since the fairy type is really new, it’s easy to spot who is a fairy type user. Any Pokémon that is cute, pink, and adorable is fairy… oh, and Xerneas, that too. It’s the new guy in terms of types, so it doesn't have many attacks yet, but to balance this out, they have an ability called Pixilate, that turns normal moves into fairy type moves. Yes, this means you can see your Rayquaza dying rapidly to cute little Tackles from Sylveon. This explains why some fairy attacks are described with “deals emotional damage”.

Considered to be the best Pokémon type for many reasons, it’s resistant to the main types: water, grass, fire and electric. Most dragon type Pokémon are legendaries. It’s only weak to itself and ice. There’re also many items that boost dragon abilities. They have excellent attack, special attack and speed. Dragon is hands-down the best Pokémon type… until Gen 6 where it got owned by the new fairy type. In beauty contests, dragon moves are very versatile so if you’re into that, then save those 13 dragon moves for your win. Dragon Pokémon have one of the coolest designs too; Salamence, Haxorus and Hydreigon rock the best dragon-ish looks in my opinion. No! Druddigon is not cool, he looks like an exploded Crayola. For now, if you’re a skilled dragon type user, there’re many ways to counter-attack fairy moves and Pokémon but this is only for now, who knows if in Gen 7 they’ll release 20 fairy types with 20 attacks making it the fall of the Pokémon dragon era. For now let’s submit all the Pokémon to Draco Meteor’s mighty wrath!

Yes I know what you guys are thinking, fire is not nearly close to being the strongest Pokémon type. I picked this one to be the ‘best’ partly because of its popularity! Everyone who thinks fire, thinks Charizard and we all know the feeling of having owned a new Charizard card as kids, getting a shiny Charizard Mega evolution etc. This type is almost always among the top pick by trainers and I'm sure it’s the top pick in terms of starter Pokémon type. In the anime, one of the best pokemon Ash has ever had (besides Pikachu) has been Charizard and other than that, possibly Infernape. Fire is very OP in the anime, for example, in the episode “Can’t Beat The Fire” Ash beats Gary’s skilled Blastoise with Charizard by burning the arena and getting into close-hand combat. What? How is this even allowed? Later on in the episode “Working On A Right Move!” Ash beats his buddy Brock’s Sudowoodo (a rock type) with Infernape’s Flare Blitz. Again… what? This is only a glimpse of the many strange things that happen with fire types in the anime. Needless to say, fire is weak to whatever extinguishes fire in real life: water, rock and ground. Same deal with whatever is weak to fire in real life like bug, grass, ice, and steel are weak to it. The best part is, it’s resistant to the over powered fairy type. Fire Pokémon can also learn Solar Beam which is super cool to defeat that water type terror. Fire can go down easily because of it’s often low stats, but to compensate, many of the best fire moves pack a damage value of above 85, with many of them being learned at very early levels.