What is the best elemental type Pokemon? Ranking from worst to best

The elemental typing of Pokemon plays a considerable role when it comes to battles in any version of the game. A wide variety of calculations go into determining how much damage one Pokemon's attacks will do on the other, a majority of which are determined by the elemental type of the user, target, and the type of moves.

For these reasons, knowing the elemental typing of Pokemon is very important. With 18 elemental types in the game, you might wonder which is the best among the lot and which is the worst. This article ranks all of them from worst to best based on their offensive and defensive prowess and the average base stat total of Pokemon that fall under them.

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Ranking all elemental types of Pokemon

18) Bug Type

• Overall base stat total: 384.50
• Fully evolved base total: 471.72
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Dark, Grass, Psychic
• 1/2x: Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Flying, Ghost, Poison, Steel
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fire, Flying, Rock
• 1/2x: Fighting, Grass, Ground
• 0x: N/A

This is the worst elemental type in Pokemon, owing to its abysmal stats and poor type match-ups.

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17) Grass Type

• Overall base stat total: 418.53
• Fully evolved base total: 507.22
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ground, Rock, Water
• 1/2x: Bug, Dragon, Fire, Flying, Poison, Grass, Steel
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison
• 1/2x: Electric, Grass, Ground, Water
• 0x: N/A

Being only slightly better than Bug-types is nothing to brag about. The Grass-types are doomed both offensively and defensively. They have poor coverage and are vulnerable to many other Pokemon.

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16) Rock Type

• Overall base stat total: 449.47
• Fully evolved base total: 525.90
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Bug, Fire, Ice, Flying
• 1/2x: Fighting, Ground, Steel
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Water, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Steel
• 1/2x: Fire, Flying, Normal, Poison
• 0x: N/A

Rock types might look sturdy, but they have the best defensive typing in the Pokemon Franchise. While their stats somewhat make up for it, it's not good enough to get them a higher rank.

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13) Electric Type

• Overall base stat total: 446.97
• Fully evolved base total: 506.13
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Flying, Water
• 1/2x: Dragon, Electric, Grass
• 0x: Ground
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ground
• 1/2x: Electric, Flying, Steel
• 0x: N/A

The only thing going for Electric-type Pokemon is that they have solid defensive match-ups, taking super effective damage only from Ground-types.

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14) Water Type

• Overall base stat total: 426.99
• Fully evolved base total: 513.75
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fire, Ground, Rock
• 1/2x: Dragon, Grass, Water
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Electric, Grass
• 1/2x: Fire, Ice, Steel, Water
• 0x: N/A

Water is one of the better ones among the weak types in the game. They deal super effective damage to two of the strongest types, which helps their cause. Moreover, having only two weaknesses helps them overcome their poor average stats.

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13) Poison Type

• Overall base stat total: 416
• Fully evolved base total: 512.84
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fairy, Grass
• 1/2x: Poison, Ground, Rock, Ghost
• 0x: Steel
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ground, Psychic
• 1/2x: Bug, Fighting, Grass, Poison, Fairy
• 0x: N//A

Poison is an excellent elemental type in Pokemon, with decent offensive and defensive coverage. However, their sub-par stats hold them back regarding Pokemon battles.

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12) Flying Type

• Overall base stat total: 452.47
• Fully evolved base total: 517.95
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Bug, Fighting, Grass
• 1/2x: Electric, Rock, Steel
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Electric, Ice, Rock
• 1/2x: Bug, Fighting, Grass
• 0x: Ground

Flying types are an overall suitable elemental type in Pokemon. The fact that they are immune to Ground-type attacks makes them stand out.

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11) Psychic Type

• Overall base stat total: 473
• Fully evolved base total: 558
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fighting, Poison
• 1/2x: Psychic, Steel
• 0x: Dark
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Dark, Bug, Ghost
• 1/2x: Fighting, Psychic
• 0x: N/A

Considering their offensive and defensive effectiveness, psychic types deserve a middle spot on this list. They are reliable utility users who can also tank damage and dish it out.

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10) Normal Type

• Overall base stat total: 404.84
• Fully evolved base total: 486.27
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: N/A
• 1/2x: Rock, Steel
• 0x: Ghost
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fighting
• 1/2x: N/A
• 0x: Ghost

Normal is the vanilla of Pokemon types. It's simple and reliable. It has only one weakness and neutralizes 15 out of 18 other varieties.

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9) Ice Type

• Overall base stat total: 457.82
• Fully evolved base total: 518.41
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Dragon, Flying, Grass, Ground
• 1/2x: Fire, Ice, Steel, Water
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fighting, Fire, Rock, Steel
• 1/2x: Ice
• 0x: N/A

An Ice-type might not resist anything but itself, but it can take down two of the strongest types in the game: Dragon and Ground.

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8) Fire Type

• Overall base stat total: 451.33
• Fully evolved base total: 539.92
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Bug, Grass, Steel, Ice
• 1/2x: Dragon, Water, Rock, Water
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Water, Rock, Ground
• 1/2x: Bug, Ice, Grass, Steel, Fire, Fairy
• 0x: N/A

Fire types are one of the basic elemental typings in Pokemon and the strongest among the starter category. They have excellent resistances and great stats to back them up.

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7) Ground Type

• Overall base stat total: 436.13
• Fully evolved base total: 516.29
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel
• 1/2x: Bug, Grass
• 0x: Flying
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Grass, Ice, Water
• 1/2x: Poison, Rock
• 0x: Electric

Ground types can indeed hold their ground. They hit some of the most common types in the game for super effective damage while having a few weaknesses.

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6) Ghost Type

• Overall base stat total: 445.21
• Fully evolved base total: 513.65
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ghost, Psychic
• 1/2x: Dark
• 0x: Normal
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ghost, Dark
• 1/2x: Bug, Poison
• 0x: Normal, Fighting

Ghost-type Pokemon are similar to Normal-types but better. They do neutral damage to 14 out of 18 types. Additionally, they also do super effective damage to other Ghost and Psychic-types.

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5) Dark Type

• Overall base stat total: 451.79
• Fully evolved base total: 533.15
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ghost, Psychic
• 1/2x: Dark, Fairy, Fighting
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Bug, Fairy, Fighting
• 1/2x: Dark, Ghost
• 0x: Psychic

Dark is one of the most relaxed elemental types in Pokemon. They are strong hitters and can deal massive damage to the enemy team.

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4) Fighting Type

• Overall base stat total: 475.92
• Fully evolved base total: 535.70
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Dark, Ice, Normal, Rock, Steel
• 1/2x: Bug, Fairy, Flying, Poison, Psychic
• 0x: Ghost
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fairy, Flying, Psychic
• 1/2x: Bug, Dark, Rock
• 0x: N/A

Although many Pokemon resist Fighting Pokemon, the fact that they hit Dark and Steel types for super effective damage makes them an excellent pick in many situations. Moreover, they have one of the highest average base stat totals when fully evolved.

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3) Fairy Type

• Overall base stat total: 442.56
• Fully evolved base total: 525.27
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Dark, Dragon, Fighting
• 1/2x: Fire, Poison, Steel
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Poison, Steel
• 1/2x: Bug, Dark, Steel
• 0x: Dragon

Fairy types entered the Pokemon Franchise with Generation VI, changing the game forever. The long-needed counter to Dragon-types, they have the offenses and defenses to be top 3 in this list.

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2) Dragon Type

• Overall base stat total: 546.98
• Fully evolved base total: 625.04
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Dragon
• 1/2x: Steel
• 0x: Fairy
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Ice, Fairy, Dragon
• 1/2x: Fire, Water, Electric, Grass
• 0x: N/A

Dragon has to be one of the most over-powered elemental types in the Pokemon franchise. The over-the-top stats are due to the number of Legendaries with this typing. Overall it is a reliable category no matter who you are up against.

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1) Steel Type

• Overall base stat total: 442.56
• Fully evolved base total: 525.27
• Offensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fairy, Ice, Rock
• 1/2x: Electric, Fire, Steel, Water
• 0x: N/A
• Defensive type effectiveness
• 2x: Fighting, Fire, Ground
• 1/2x: Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock, Steel
• 0x: Poison

Steel takes the award for the best type in Pokemon. 10 resistances is too good to ignore, mainly when it contains two of the best offensive types in the game. With decent attacking options, Steel is just as durable and reliable as it sounds.