Characters / Pokémon - Later Types

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Pokémon come in 18 different types, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. When the franchise began, these types were little more than gameplay elements, but over the years, Game Freak and the fandom have added more than enough depth to the types to make them characters in their own right. This page is for the types that were not present from the beginning and were instead added in later games.

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Dark

Dark-Type / Evil-Type (あくタイプ Aku Taipu)

One of two types introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver. In the original Japanese, they are known as the Aku type, which can translate into "Evil" or "Scum" (as well as other, more nuanced terms), though how true of a descriptor that is varies on the Pokémon. Regardless, they usually have a very intimidating or even a brutal presence or are based on doom, trickery, crime, destruction, and below-the-belt fighting tactics. All Dark-type moves were Special before Generation IV.

They are largely a group of pragmatists, both tactically and otherwise. They can be found almost everywhere, as they are not united by an element of nature, but by the consistent traits of pragmatism and brutality. They are immune to Psychics and will wreck Ghost-types, but are weak against Fighting-types, Bug-types, and Fairy-types. As of Generation VII, they're immune to an opponent's status moves that get Action Initiative from Prankster.

In the Trading Card Game, Dark-type Pokémon are part of the Darkness energy type.

As of Gen IX, Dark has been paired with every other type at least once.

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• Action Initiative:
  • Sucker Punch was, until Gen VII (in which its power was reduced to 70), tied with Extreme Speed as the most powerful priority attack in the game (with Super Effective coverage, to boot!), but only works if the opponent uses a damaging move the same turn.
  • Pursuit strikes first when the opponent tries to switch, gaining the highest Priority value in the game in this situation.
  • Quash causes the target to always go last, but will only succeed if the user goes before the target.
  • As of Gen VII, Dark-types themselves can defy it on the opponent's side: the ability Prankster boosts the priority of the user's status moves by +1, but if said move is used on a Dark-type, they will No-Sell it entirely.
• Always Accurate Attack:
  • Feint Attack is described as the user approaching disarmingly, then throwing a sucker punch (not to be confused with another Dark-type move of the same name) when the target doesn't expect it. With no chance to react or dodge, the attack ignores Accuracy and Evasion effects.
  • Likewise, False Surrender is described as the user bowing their head in submission to let the opponent's guard down, then using their hair to stab the opponent.
• Always Chaotic Evil: Zig-Zagged, despite the Japanese name potentially implying they are a group of Card Carrying Villains. It really depends on the species in question. Some, like Spiritomb and Malamar, are potentially just as evil as the typing describes. Others, like Absol and Pangoro, are downright noble in comparison, while some, like Greninja, represent pragmatic tactics and sneakiness more than blatant villainy (and the same can be said of their attacks in general). There are also more aggressive and predatory Dark-types like Mega Gyarados, Tyranitar, Hydreigon, and Krookodile. Even Incineroar, the closest thing to a Pokémon directly based on a villain archetype, plays up its jerkassery as part of its Heel motif.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Fling during the story mode of the games. Using Fling consumes the item that the user was holding, and the only items that have above average power are either impossible to get before the post-game or hard/expensive to reacquire due to their rarity (or in some cases, only one of that item exists per save file). In Player Versus Player matches and the battle facilities like the Battle Tower, it's less of an issue, as consumed items are given back after each match, but you can still only use it once per match.
  • Using Fling with an Iron Ball gives it a Power of 130 with no accuracy downside. However, holding an Iron Ball cuts the user's Speed in half and negates any Ground immunity they might have (which also makes them susceptible to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Sticky Web). All for a move that's single-use, unless the user also knows Recycle (and alternating between Fling and Recycle effectively "upgrades" Fling into working like Hyper Beam).
  • Power Trip is a variation of the Psychic-type's Stored Power; it increases in power the more status buffs the user has, but getting to that point takes a long time, and it starts out with a measly base power of 20.
• Balance Buff: Most Dark-types have higher Attack than Special Attack, but previously all Dark-type attacks were classified as Special moves. Gen IV's move split gave them physical Dark moves to put their best stats to proper use.
• The Brute: When they're not Combat Pragmatists, they tend to be this, with Tyranitar and Guzzlord being prime examples.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Subverted. While they're literally called the Evil-type in Japan, they aren't actually evil for the most part, just pragmatic or Jerkasses.
• Casting a Shadow: Downplayed, contrary to their English name. They mostly focus on pragmatic tactics and characterization, not actual dark powers. However, there are certainly Dark-type moves and Pokémon who fall into this, which is most prominently shown with their Z-Move and Max Move, Black Hole Eclipse and Max Darkness. There are also moves like Night Daze, Dark Void, and Fiery Wrath, which definitely have the user weaponizing dark energy, but even then those kinds of moves tend to be Secret Arts only usable by Pokémon specifically adept in that kind of power.
• Color-Coded Elements: The Dark-type icon is a very dark, grayish brown.
• Combat Pragmatist: This is their main gimmick, not dark powers; Dark-types rely on trickery, sneakiness, and general dirty fighting to win. Their moves involve taunting the opponent to make them angry or confuse them, using a Wounded Gazelle Gambit to attack when the opponent isn't ready, literal Back Stabbing, biting the enemy, chopping them in the throat to prevent them from making any noise, feigning surrender to get a cheap shot, feigning a Pose of Supplication to get a cheap shot, manipulating the enemy's held item, and using the whole party to jump the opponent. Generation VI's Greninja is a very good example, in that its Dark typing simply comes from its being a Ninja and using sneaky techniques rather than using dark powers or having a vicious/cruel nature. Incineroar is based on a heel wrestler and fights dirty in any way possible, but any wickedness is subverted in that it actually is all just the act of a performer.
• Combination Attack: Beat Up is an attack where the Pokémon calls on the player's entire team ^note K.O.'d and Pokémon with a status ailment sit out to gang up on the opposing Pokémon. When it was first introduced, the game would roll call the team as they made their attack.
• Dark Is Evil: Zigzagged. It's called the Evil-type in Japanese versions and, in general, Dark-types aren't nice guys (there are exceptions, such as Absol); however, see below.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The type can be translated as "Evil" in Japanese, but many of them are portrayed as simply being misunderstood, or enjoying harmless mischief; Greninja, one of the most famous Dark-types, is neither, as it's usually depicted as a heroic Combat Pragmatist ninja. Incineroar, meanwhile, plays up its jerkassery as part of its Heel motif. Mabosstiff is said to be gentle and protective of its Family. This plays into how the type name in Japanese, "Aku", has more nuanced meanings than just plain "evil".
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Most Dark types won't care for you at all when you first catch them. They can still bond with you through the usual methods (winning battles with them, pampering or playing with them, and even just keeping them in your party long enough).
• Difficult, but Awesome: Sucker Punch. This move has the user hit first with a respectable base power 70 move, but only if the opponent attacks back (and only if the user actually moves before the target, so other Action Initiative moves might thwart it). This results in several mind-games where you need knowledge of the attacking moves of the opposing Pokémon, whether or not they are going to use said attacking moves (as for instance, they may be a Support Party Member who uses status moves, or a Pokémon who would rather flee from the match-up), and the opponent's playstyle and own knowledge. Guessing wrong effectively gives the opponent a free turn or switch-in, but Sucker Punch has the potential to allow its user to blindside the enemy.
• Double Tap: Assurance deals double damage if the target has already been hurt during the same turn. Its Japanese name translates to "Make Sure", which, given the Dark-type preference for underhanded tactics, implies that the doubled damage comes from hitting the target exactly where they were hit the first time.
• The Drag-Along: There's a small subset of Pokémon that begin with 35 base friendship rather than 70 when you capture them in the wild — in other words, they're significantly less happy to join up with you than ordinary Pokémon (though you'll still win them over through dedication and care). Dark- and Ghost-types jointly make up a major chunk of this group.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors
  • Offense
    • Strong: Ghost, Psychic
    • Weak: Dark, Fairy, Fighting, Steel (Gen II-V)
  • Defense
    • Strong: Dark, Ghost
    • Weak: Bug, Fairy, Fighting
    • Immune: Psychic
• Evil Makes You Ugly: In contrast to their Fairy-type foils, many Dark-types aren't exactly pretty-looking, perhaps to add to their intimidating appearance. Quite a few Dark-types in particular possess the Intimidate ability, which lowers the attack of the opponent when they enter battle.
• Evil Wears Black: Well, they are the Evil-type in Japanese, and most of them are black in color.
• Game-Breaking Bug:
  • In Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver, if Pursuit KOed a Pokémon that switched out while certain battle conditions were in effect, a bizarre glitch occurred that caused all weather to take effect at once. This also caused every Pokémon except Swinub, Piloswine, and Mamoswine^note as Ice/Ground dual-types, they were immune to all weather damage, something no other Pokémon could claim in Generation IV to take damage at the end of every turn four times, with the damage apparently caused by their Ability. Bothersome enough, but if Cherrim or Castform was sent into battle, they kept switching between forms indefinitely until the game was turned off.
  • Early in the life of Sun and Moon, the moves Parting Shot and Memento could cause crashes on Battle Spot if the Z-Move versions of them were used. These moves were temporarily banned until some time after the issue was fixed.
• Glass Cannon: Somewhere between this and Fragile Speedsters, as they are good at "sweeping" teams, but rarely have good defense, with a few Mighty Glaciers (most famously Tyranitar) and Stone Walls in there.
• Healing Shiv: Using Fling with a Mental Herb or White Herb will cure the target of infatuation and stat debuffs, respectively. You can also fling Berries to apply their restorative effects. The Z-Move variations of Memento and Parting Shot will heal the next Pokémon swapped in.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: The user of Brutal Swing swings its body violently around the field, hitting all adjacent Pokémon.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Foul Play uses the target's attack stat (and any boosts they have) to deal damage, while Punishment does more damage the more Status Buffs the target has.
• Impossible Thief: Snatch can steal opponents' Status Buffs and healing, but only if used on the same turn the opponent buffs/heals themself.
• Impromptu Tracheotomy: Throat Chop deals pretty heavy damage for a Dark-type move and prevents the opponent from using sound-based attacks for 2 turns.
• Improvised Weapon: Fling has the user throw their currently held item at the foe to deal damage (and possibly inflict a secondary effect depending on the item). Flinging an Iron Ball has the highest Power of all Dark-type attacks (130), but It Only Works Once as the item is lost after that, unless you also know the move Recycle (and alternating Fling and Recycle is about as practical as Hyper Beam).
• I Shall Taunt You: Almost all moves that could be classified as Practical Taunts (i.e. Taunt, Torment, and Flatter) are of the Dark type. (Swagger is the exception — it's a Normal-type move.)
• I Surrender, Suckers: False Surrender is a move where the user pretends to bow its head in surrender, then stabs the enemy with its Prehensile Hair. Kowtow Cleave is a move where the user performs a Pose of Supplication, then stabs the enemy with the giant blade on its head.
• Jerkass: Evil or not, practically every member of this type is a jerk in some fashion or another.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Some of them fit this too. Umbreon evolves with high friendship, Pangoro hunts down and fights bullies, and Absol goes out of its way to warn people of disasters. Incineroar is based on a Heel Wrestler and fights dirty in any way possible in the ring, but it's all part of the act and it actually enjoys admiration from children.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Assurance will do double damage if the target was hurt earlier in the turn. This includes recoil and entry hazard damage.
• Killing Intent: Dark Pulse is described as the user projecting an aura imbued with horrible thoughts at the target that has a chance of making them flinch. Nasty Plot is described as the user stimulating its brain by thinking bad thoughts.
• Limit Break:
  • The Dark-type Z-Move is Black Hole Eclipse, in which the user creates a black hole and sucks the target into it.
  • The Dark-type Max Move is Max Darkness, in which the user creates two streams of pure darkness which swirl around the opponent and explode, decreasing the Special Defense of the opponent.
  • Gigantamax Grimmsnarl's exclusive G-Max Move is G-Max Snooze, which causes two streams of Grimmsnarl's hair to appear and swallow the opponent, causing them to become drowsy and fall asleep the next turn.
• Like Cannot Cut Like:
  • Dark-type Pokémon resist Dark attacks.
  • On a similar level, the pragmatic and wary Dark-type Pokémon are immune to status moves affected by the Prankster ability.
• Lost in Translation:
  • The type's name itself is originally called the "Evil"-type, hence why they mostly lack darkness-related powers outside a few moves like Dark Pulse and Dark Void.
  • The move "Sucker Punch" is not buffed by the ability Iron Fist (buffs punch-based moves) because its original Japanese name means "Surprise Attack" (which is what a sucker punch is in American slang: an unexpected, often underhanded move^note not necessarily someone punching you in the face or stomach when you don't expect it, but some people do take that literally).
  • Somewhat of an example with Night Slash; its Japanese name, Tsujigiri (sometimes translated as "crossroad killing"), refers to an old samurai practice of testing out a new weapon or fighting style by hiding at a crossroads at night and attacking the first defenseless passerby they saw. While its English name and description are still true to the spirit of the original, the reference to feudal Japan was removed, and most international players would probably interpret it as "Sucker Punch with a blade" or a "dark energy-infused Slash" (which could be interpreted as such in certain animations).
• Magically Inept Fighter: Not to the same extent as the Fighting type, and certain offensively-inclined Dark-types like Hydreigon and Zoroark, as well as Dark Legendaries, are just as effective on the special side if not more so. However, most Dark-types tend to favor Attack over Special Attack. The list of Dark-type attacks supports this, as only three are Special attacks, with one being Zoroark's Night Daze.
• Man Bites Man: Bite and Crunch are both Dark-type attacks. The former was a Normal-type move until it was retconned into the Dark-type.
• Manipulative Bastard: The more cunning Dark-types are good at using psychological warfare, incorporating it into their fighting style, with such attacks as Flatter, Torment, Taunt, and Fake Tears. As of Generation VII, they're immune to Prankster-boosted priority, most probably because they're used to such trickery.
• Mechanically Unusual Class: Many of their attacks have unique effects, often fitting their pragmatic nature. Sucker Punch is an attack that moves first, but only if the opponent uses an attacking move, Parting Shot lowers the opponent's Attack and Special Attack then switches your Pokémon, Foul Play deals damage calculating the opponent's Attack stat instead of the user's, and so forth.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Dark-type attacks don't do much damage offensively due to low power. However, they have a ton of status attacks, including Parting Shot, Torment, Snatch, and Quash. Even their damaging attacks tend to work oddly; Sucker Punch only hits if the opponent is using a damaging attack, Foul Play calculates damage using the opponent's Attack instead of the user's, Payback doubles in power if the user moves second, and so forth.
• Mooks: Alongside the Poison-type, they're the favored Mons of low-level henchmen for the various villainous teams, essentially making them the Mooks' Mooks.
• Nature Is Not Nice: One of the many facets to the Dark-type is that it also represents some of the darker aspects of nature, with their Pokédex entries tending to be on the mean if not outright macabre side. For instance, Liepard is known to attack prey by stalking it before attacking from behind while also being cruel and vicious in temperament, while Bisharp is known for being pitiless while hunting prey with its pack of Pawniard.
• Nocturnal Mooks: In Gen II, most Dark-types could only be obtained at night, never appearing in the wild in the day.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The Dark-type move Beat Up has the user's entire party come out to beat up the opponent.
• No Item Use for You: The Dark type is known for having a number of moves that interfere with an opponent's Held Item usage.
  • Thief steals the opponent's Held Item if the user doesn't have one.
  • Knock Off disables the opponent's Held Item for the rest of the battle.
  • Switcheroo swaps the user's Held Item with the opponent's, meaning that a user without a Held Item will effectively steal their opponent's when used.
  • Embargo prevents the opponent from using Held Items for five turns.
• No-Sell:
  • They're immune to Psychic type attacks, potentially due to their minds simply being too twisted or different for a Psychic type to be willing/able to effect.
  • Moves that have been boosted in priority by the Prankster ability will fail on a Dark type, likely due to Dark types being able to see through the opponent trying to trick/prank them to get the drop on them. The Japanese name for the Prankster ability translates as "Mischievous Heart," and a Dark type may be able to read such a heart.
• Obvious Rule Patch:
  • They were introduced in Gold and Silver as a direct response to the then-powerful Psychic-type.
  • The Physical/Special split made almost every Dark-type move Physical so that the type (which predominately consists of Physical Attackers) could actually use their own STAB.
• Power Up Letdown: The above Obvious Rule Patch ended up not working as well as intended because this trope also came into effect. On their introduction, Dark-type attacks were all classified as Special Attacks, but most early Dark-type Pokémon had higher physical Attack than Special Attack. Not only did their STAB moves run off their weaker offense, many Psychic-types take special attacks better than physical ones. Gen IV's split reclassified all previously existing Dark-type moves as Physical, further suggesting that Dark should have been considered a Physical type in the first place.
• Predators Are Mean: Kind of. Despite being the Evil-type in the original language, Dark-types can be just as heroic as any other type the trainer chooses. However, many Dark-types are jerks, or at least more aggressive than other types, to varying degrees, and the majority of them are predators. The exceptions are scavengers (Honchkrow, Mandibuzz, and Mightyena lines), herbivores (Pangoro line, although Pancham’s Sword Dex entry mentions it hunting for prey), and the Dark/Ghost dual-types (Sableye eats gemstones, and Spiritomb doesn't technically need food to begin with).
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: As said before, though they are classified as "Dark" or "Evil" for exhibiting behaviors that are malevolent and destructive, Dark-types can be taught to be obedient and civil, while their instinctual and ingrained behavior can be accepted as necessary behavior developed in their environment to adapt and survive. It also helps that even before the coming of Dark-types, cruelty by wild Pokémon was not restricted to any particular types, especially in Generation I. Despite their massive representation within the assorted villainous Team syndicates and criminals, it is ultimately up to the trainer and their behavior that influences how their Pokémon acts.
• Resistant to Magic: Zigzagged; they're immune to Psychic-type moves (more or less the first generation's equivalent of magic) but weak to the much more overtly magical Fairy-type.
• Retcon:
  • The move Bite was retconned from a Normal-type move into a Dark-type move in Generation II.
  • When the Physical/Special split happened, every Dark-type attack that existed beforehand was changed to be Physical.
• Rouge Angles of Satin: Feint Attack is named Faint Attack prior to Gen VI, which didn't make sense since the latter implies a Wounded Gazelle Gambit, an "I'm Taking You with Me" attack, a One-Hit Kill (since Pokémon that are unable to battle are said to have fainted), or just an attack that's indistinct and hard to see. Feint Attack is none of those things.
• Scavengers Are Scum: Several Pokémon based off real life scavengers are Dark-typed. At this moment we have the vultures Vullaby and Mandibuzz, the crows Murkrow and Honchkrow, and the hyenas Poochyena and Mightyena.
• Situational Damage Attack: Attacks that are relatively weak but increase in power under certain situations tend to be one of the Dark-type's gimmicks:
  • Pursuit is normally weak with a Power of 40, but it deals double damage if the target tries to switch out manually or is using the moves U-turn, Volt Switch, or Parting Shot (the latter only if the user of Pursuit moves after the user of those moves, however).
  • Payback's Power of 50 will double if the user goes after the target. In the Generation IV games, switching out counted as going first for this purpose.
  • Assurance has a mediocre Power of 60, but that will double if the target has already taken damage that turn.
  • The Power of Punishment starts off at 60, but increases by 20 for every stage of Status Buff the target has, reaching a max power of 200.
  • From X and Y onward, Knock Off's Power of 65 increases by 50% if the target was holding an item that can be removed.
  • Power Trip's Base Power starts off at a measly 20, but its power is increased by 20 the more positive stat increases the user has. With everything at the maximum (six stat increases for all seven stats that can be increased), the move's base power becomes 860, the highest of all physical moves.
  • Lash Out has 75 power, but doubles if any of the user's stats have been lowered that turn.
• Situational Sword: Many of their attacks will fail completely or do weak damage unless certain conditions are met. For example, Sucker Punch will only deal damage if the target uses a damaging attack on the same turn and doesn't go before the user.
• Sneak Attack: Sucker Punch is called "Surprise Attack" in Japan. Feint Attack, Night Slash and False Surrender are described as hitting the opponent when their guard is down.
• Status Buff:
  • Nasty Plot boosts the user's Special Attack by two stages.
  • Hone Claws increases the user's Attack and Accuracy by one stage each.
• Status Effects: Using Fling with certain items can inflict status aliments with a 100% success rate, with the status inflicted being dependent on what item is thrown. A Flame Orb will inflict Burn, a Poison Barb will inflict normal Poison, a Toxic Orb will inflict Toxic Poison, a Light Ball will inflict Paralysis, and a King's Rock or Razor Fang will cause the target to flinch.
• Super Mode: Houndoom, Tyranitar, Sableye, Sharpedo, and Absol are capable of Mega Evolution, and the Water/Flying-type Gyarados becomes Water/Dark-type when it Mega Evolves. Greninja can also transform into Ash-Greninja if it has the Battle Bond ability. Grimmsnarl and Urshifu (in its Fighting/Dark single strike style) are also capable of Gigantamax.
• Super-Scream: The move Snarl deals damage by having the user "[yell] as if it is ranting about something."
• Switch-Out Move: Parting Shot gives a parting threat, lowering the target's Attack and Special Attack before the user switches out.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: As described under The Drag-Along above, many Dark types won't like you when you first catch them. That said, they'll still obey your commands if you're a skilled enough trainer, usually as measured by your number of badges.
• Toxic Friend Influence: If a Pancham is in a team with a Dark-type when it levels up, then the latter's bad behavior will rub off on it and it'll evolve into Pangoro, who is a Dark-type itself.
• Underground Monkey: Alolan Rattata, Alolan Grimer, Galarian Zigzagoon, and their evolved forms are part Dark-types, while Alolan Meowth and Alolan Persian are pure Dark-types.
• Useless Useful Spell: Prior to the Physical/Special split in Diamond and Pearl, all Dark-type moves were Special while almost every Dark-type was a Physical attacker.
• Video Game Stealing:
  • Thief deals damage and steals any item an opponent is holding if the user is not holding one.
  • Knock Off removes items that can be removed and (as of X and Y) gets a 50% damage boost when the item is successfully removed. It will not gain a power boost if the item cannot be removed (such as a Pokémon holding a Mega Stone, Z-Crystal, or an Arceus/Silvally holding a Plate/Memory).
  • Snatch steals and uses any Status moves the opponent tried to use that turn and prevents them from using it.
  • Switcheroo is exactly like Trick, swapping the target's and user's items.
• Weak, but Skilled:
  • In terms of damaging moves, the Dark type's strongest attacks (barring signature moves) are Darkest Lariat and Night Daze, which rest at 85 base power and, while no longer restricted to one Pokémon each as they were originally, can only be learned by a relative few. For most Dark-types, the strongest Dark-type moves available to them are Dark Pulse and Crunch, both at 80 base power. Regular moves that go above that mark are invariably situational damage attacks when used to their full Combat Pragmatist potential, so as a result, the Dark type's hardest-hitting moves are ones that seem initially weak but provide increased power when used smartly. In comparison, most other Pokémon types have multiple moves that a wide range of that type can learn that inherently have a power of 90 or more.
  • Even its status moves fall under this category, as many of them don't seem immediately helpful, but can turn a match around when used skillfully. Most Dark-type status moves are geared toward shutting down specific tactics (for example, Torment prevents repeated use of the same move, while Taunt, Snatch, and Topsy-Turvy address an opponent's use of non-damaging moves), but those mechanics also tend to make them ineffective when used without strategy.
  • Hone Claws boosts Attack by one stage, making it a poor choice for aggressive play, but it also provides a hard-to-find boost to Accuracy, which can allow users to reliably incorporate inaccurate moves into their strategy, such as Stone Edge. It's also a good choice for any Pokémon with the ability Hustle, which decreases the accuracy of their physical moves by 20%.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Pursuit deals double damage to opponents attempting to switch out and hits them before they can switch. Handy for punishing fragile Psychic- and Ghost-Types that may try to get away.
• Zerg Rush: Beat Up has the user attack once for each conscious party member that is not afflicted by a status condition, up to 6 times.

Steel

Steel-Type (はがねタイプ Hagane Taipu)

The second of two types added with Pokémon Gold and Silver, they are the most defensive type in the game. The strong metal that covers the bodies of Steel-type Pokémon grants them high defenses and a great number of resistances. While weak to Fighting, Fire, and Ground, they resist everything else (except Water and Electric and Ghost and Dark as of Gen VI) and are immune to one type (Poison). Offensively, they hit Ice-, Rock-, and Fairy-Types hard but are resisted by other Steel-, Water-, Electric-, and Fire-Types. All Steel-type moves were Physical prior to Generation IV. Most Pokémon of this type have the theme of armoring or being a creature of living metal, though there are some that don't really fit the bill beyond possessing thick hides. Steel-types can be found in caves, mountain regions, and urban areas.

When a sandstorm is in effect, Steel-type Pokémon do not take residual damage from it.

In the Trading Card Game, the Steel type is referred to as the Metal energy type.

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• Action Initiative: Bullet Punch has increased priority. Notably, more Fighting-types learn this move than Steel-types.
• Always Accurate Attack:
  • Magnet Bomb, an attack that uses homing metal chunks, never misses regardless of accuracy or evasion. Magnet-based Pokémon like the Magnemite line and Probopass get this move.
  • Smart Strike, a TM where the user stabs the opponent with an accurate horn.
  • Tachyon Cutter hits twice with each strike always hitting.
• Anchors Away: The move Anchor Shot, exclusive to Dhelmise, deals Steel-type damage and traps the foe under an anchor.
• Animate Inanimate Object: Quite a few Steel-types are based on objects, such as the Magnemite, Beldum, Bronzor, Klink, and Honedge lines.
• Armored But Frail: Several Steel-types have high defenses, but have below-average health to balance it out.
• Armor-Piercing Attack: Doom Desire ignores the moves Protect, Detect, and Endure, and it hits through the Ability Wonder Guard.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • Doom Desire takes two turns before the attack actually hits, which is more than enough time to switch out to something that can tank the hit.
  • Iron Tail has great power (100, which is on par with Earthquake), can be taught to a wide variety of Pokémon, and can lower the opponent's Defense as a bonus. However, it also has a less than perfect accuracy of 75% and many of the Pokémon that learn it have other moves with better coverage and accuracy.
  • Steel Beam is the most powerful Steel-type attack at 140 power, but the user loses a massive half of their maximum health upon usage. Several Steel-types also lack the Special Attack needed to utilize this move.
• Balance Buff: Steel-types weren't very useful for attacking prior to Gen VI; they only did super-effective damage to Ice and Rock, which had plenty of other type weaknesses to exploit (including both being weak to Fighting). Gen VI added Fairies to give Steel-types more use offensively.
• Cast from Hit Points: The very powerful Steel Beam deals incredible damage but also causes the user to lose half their hit points thanks to using their own body's metal in the attack.
• Chrome Champion: Many Steel-types are made of metal; even if they aren't, they often look like they're covered in gleaming silver metal. Several physical Steel-type moves, such as Metal Claw and Iron Head, cause the user to glow silver metallic for a brief second regardless of their actual type and/or appearance.
• Cold Iron: Likely the reason Steel-types are super-effective against Fairies is to invoke this trope.
• Color-Coded Elements: The Steel-type color is silver, as is the metal armor of many of its members.
• Combining Mecha: The basic principle of the robot-like Magnemite, Beldum, Klink, and Meltan lines; the basic concept of their evolutions is "the starter form, but there's more of them together". There's also the non-evolving Stakataka which is constructed by hundreds of individual lifeforms, and Doublade, which is a subversion (the Honedge it evolves from divides into two instead).
• Counter-Attack: Metal Burst will deal damage to the opponent equal to 1.5 times the amount the user took that turn, regardless of whether the foe's move is physical or special. Unlike Counter and Mirror Coat, it doesn't have negative priority, so make sure that the user is slower than the opponent before using it.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Steel Beam is almost as strong as Hyper Beam and doesn't have the recharge turn, but it causes the user to lose half of its health each time it's used.
• Death from Above: Doom Desire calls down a strong blast of light from the sky on the target two rounds after it is used.
• Discard and Draw: In Generation VI, they became super-effective against Fairy-types and resist their moves, but lost their resistances to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks.
• Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Meteor Mash is boosted by Iron Fist (which boosts the power of "punch" moves by 20%, though no Pokémon with Iron Fist can learn Meteor Mash) because its Japanese name is "Comet Punch" (not to be confused with the move called "Comet Punch" in the English versions, which is named "Consecutive Punch" in Japanese).
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors
  • Offense
    • Strong: Fairy, Ice, Rock
    • Weak: Electric, Fire, Steel, Water
  • Defense
    • Strong: Bug, Dark (Gen II-V), Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Ghost (Gen II-V), Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Rock, Steel
    • Weak: Fighting, Fire, Ground
    • Immune: Poison
• Extra-ore-dinary: The type doesn't use ferrokinesis so much as it goes for "hit the target with a protrusion covered in metal". They tend to prefer relying on their defenses, as until the Fairy-type was introduced, the only types they were good against had easier-to-exploit weaknesses.
• Goomba Stomp: Heavy Slam deals Steel-type damage depending on how heavy the target is compared to the user; the heavier the user is, the more damage dealt. Considering that most Pokémon who get this are on the heavy side, it tends to hurt a lot.
• Heavily Armored Mook: Quite a number of Pokémon that gain the Steel-type on evolving also gain a good increase in defenses. Steelix is a notable example.
• Horn Attack: Smart Strike, an Always Accurate Attack where the user stabs its opponent with a sharp horn. It's a TM that can appropriately be taught to most Pokémon with horns.
• Infinity +1 Element: While not as well-known as the Dragon type in that regard, Steel is — on the defensive side at least — one of the best types in the game, with a whopping 10 resistances, 1 immunity, and only 3 weaknesses (though all of these weaknesses are pretty common and crippling).
• Kill It with Fire: One of their weaknesses is to the Fire-type, representing metal softening and melting at high temperatures.
• Kryptonite Is Everywhere: In the context of competitive battling, at least. The Steel type has 10 resistances and one immunity to only 3 weaknesses... but a lot of the types it resists, like Bug, Flying, Normal and Steel itself, are not very widely used, while the types it is weak to, Fire, Fighting and Ground, are omnipresent. In a roundabout way, a major reason why said types are common is because they are super-effective against Steel, which would otherwise be difficult to take down via several other types.
• Light 'em Up: Three of the four Special Steel-type moves (Doom Desire, Flash Cannon, and Mirror Shot) involve firing out light energy.
• Like Cannot Cut Like: One of the many types Steel is resistant to is itself.
• Limit Break:
  • The Steel-type Z-Move is Corkscrew Crash, in which the user spins really fast like a steel drill and rams into the target.
  • The Steel-type Max Move, Max Steelspike, causes huge metal projections to burst from the ground and skewer the opponent. The Steel type energy flowing from this metal also raises the Defense of the user and their allies.
  • Gigantamax Copperajah's exclusive G-Max Move is G-Max Steelsurge, in which Copperajah causes huge green spikes of copper to emerge from the ground and tear into the opponent. This move also sets an entry hazard similar to Stealth Rock in that its damage is dependent on the foe's weakness/resistance to Steel-type moves.
  • Gigantamax Melmetal's exclusive G-Max Move is G-Max Meltdown, in which Melmetal sends spikes of its body material at the opponent, preventing the target and its allies from using the same move twice in a row.
• Mechanical Lifeforms: While most Steel-types simply resemble regular animals with metallic growths or plating, those that put the extra emphasis on Steel, like Magnemite, Metagross, and Klinklang, edge fully into this trope. Magearna embraces it to the point that only its core, the Soul Heart, is not completely mechanical.
• Mighty Glacier:
  • If a Steel-type is not purely defensive, it will often be slow and quite strong.
  • The move Gyro Ball exploits this; the slower the user is than the foe, the more damage it will do. The Ultra Beast Stakataka — with its Rock/Steel-typing, high Attack, and painfully slow Speed — can dish out some very devastating Gyro Balls. And Trick Room (which inverts the normal turn order) doesn't cut into the move's power, either.
• Nerf: In Pokémon X and Y, they lost their resistances to Dark and Ghost.
• Non-Indicative Name: Steel-types don't necessarily have to be made of iron; non-ferrous metals also fall under the Steel-type, such as the Cufant line with their copper skin, or Duraludon which is implied to have a casing made out of aluminum alloy.
• No-Sell: They're immune to Poison-type attacks.
• Resistant to Magic: The type resists Psychic and Fairy-type moves, both of which have a magical theme to them (the latter especially).
• Retcon: Magnemite and Magneton were given a secondary Steel-type in Generation II.
• Secret Art:
  • Doom Desire, a move which inflicts extreme damage two turns after use, is only known by Jirachi.
  • Steel Beam, a special attack with an incredibly high power of 140, but deals half the user's health on use. It can only be taught by a special tutor to Steel-types (and Silvally).
  • The abilities Light Metal and Heavy Metal halve and double the user's weight, respectively.
  • Magnet Pull increases the encounter rate of Steel-types in the wild and prevents them from switching or fleeing.
  • Despite not being used by a Steel-type, the ability Steelworker essentially provides a STAB bonus to Steel-type attacks.
• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Autotomize causes the user to shed part of their armored body in order to lighten themself and sharply increase speed.
• Silicon-Based Life: Quite a number of Steel-types fall into this category, especially the ones who are part Rock or Ground.
• Situational Damage Attack:
  • Gyro Ball's damage depends on how slow the user is compared to the opponent, going up to a massive 150 power if the opponent is at least 6x as fast as the user.
  • Heavy Slam's power depends on the user's weight compared to the target's weight. It's a paltry 40 power if the target is over 50% of the user's weight, but a whopping 120 if the target is below 20% of the user's weight.
• Situational Sword: Steel Roller has a huge 130 base power and removes any terrain on the battlefield, but can only be used if there is a terrain in effect.
• Spectacular Spinning:
  • Gyro Ball, a move where the user spins into the enemy. It gets stronger the slower the user is compared to the opponent.
  • During the Steel-type Spectacular Talent, the Pokémon spins so fast it turns into a silver tornado, while smashing into various spherical objects like a pinball.
• Status Buff:
  • Iron Defense raises the user's defense by two stages.
  • Autotomize raises the user's speed by 2 stages while reducing their weight by 100 kg.
  • Shift Gear raises the user's speed by two levels while raising attack by one.
  • Metal Claw, Steel Wing, and Meteor Mash all have a chance of raising the user's stats in addition to dealing damage. This is notable because outside of the Jirachi-exclusive Doom Desire, these three moves constituted 75% of the type's attacking moves as of Generation III.
• Stone Wall: There are outliers, like Excadrill, but the Steel-type's many resistances and few uses as an attacking type compliment this strategy. To counteract the type's high defenses and resistances, Steel-type Pokémon tend to have average or below-average HP.
• Strong Flesh, Weak Steel: The inorganic and sometimes mechanical Steel-types are weak to the mostly organic physical-brawling Fighting-types.
• Super Mode: Steelix, Scizor, Mawile, Aggron, Metagross, and Lucario are capable of Mega Evolution, with Aggron notably becoming a pure Steel-type upon doing so, while Melmetal, Corviknight, Copperajah, and Duraludon are capable of Gigantamax (but only Melmetal and Copperajah have Steel-type G-Max Moves).
• Super-Toughness: Steel-types resist over half the types in the game and have strong enough defenses to easily shrug them off.
• This Is a Drill: The Steel-type Z-move, Corkscrew Crash, involves the user slamming into the target while spinning like a drill.
• Thunderbolt Iron: Some Steel-types such as Registeel and Jirachi are heavily implied to be made out of metal that's not of this world.
• Underground Monkey: The Alolan Diglett, Alolan Sandshrew, Galarian Meowth, and Galarian Stunfisk families are part Steel-Type.
• Use Your Head: Iron Head works by having the user ram the foe with its steel-hard head.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The powerful but self-damaging Steel Beam is a huge laser made of the user's steel, causing half the user's health in recoil damage.
• Weak to Fire: One of Steel's three weaknesses is Fire. This allowed a lot of Dragons to use Fire-type moves to burn through Steels. This was a contributing factor in the creation of the last type, Fairy.
• Weak to Magic: Steel-types tend to have very high Defense but poorer Special Defense.
• You Will Not Evade Me:
  • The Ability Magnet Pull can trap Pokémon and prevent them from fleeing or switching, but only if they're Steel-type. The Steel/Ghost-type Honedge line and Gholdengo are immune to this due to Ghosts being immune to trapping effects.
  • The move Anchor Shot prevents the target it hits from switching.

Fairy

Fairy-Type (フェアリータイプ Fearī Taipu)

The newest type that doesn't require Terastalization, introduced in Pokémon X and Y. Introduced to combat the growing power of the Dragon-type and to boost the offensively-weak Poison- and Steel-types, Fairy-type Pokémon represent practically every culture's interpretation of fairies (whether it's the cute, harmless, benevolent sprites or the more mischievous, often meaner tricksters). Sprites, cute critters, and mystical otherworldly beings often represent the type. Despite their adorable appearances, they're effective against the more "hardcore" Pokémon.

Fairy is a highly effective type, both offensively and defensively. It resists Dark, Fighting, and Bug and is immune to Dragon, and is only weak to Steel and Poison. Offensively it's just as good, hitting Fighting-, Dragon-, and Dark-Types super-effectively while being resisted by Poison, Steel, and Fire. The things holding them back are their relative scarcity, lack of heavy hitters compared to other types, lack of physical moves^note Play Rough and Spirit Break are the only physical Fairy-type moves that aren't Z-Moves, and the latter is only accessible to Grimmsnarl and Iron Valiant and the fact that they are commonly slow and can't take physical hits very well.

In the Trading Card Game, Fairy-type Pokémon are currently part of the Psychic energy type. However, in sets starting with XY and prior to Sword & Shield, they were their own type.

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• Action Bomb: The move Misty Explosion knocks out the user in exchange for inflicting high damage on the opponent, and its power is increased by 50% on Misty Terrain.
• Always Accurate Attack: Disarming Voice bypasses accuracy and evasion modifiers when used.
• Anthropomorphic Food: The Swirlix, Milcery, and Fidough lines are all based on sweets.
• Badass Adorable: Their proclivity for cute designs only belies their true power as fighters, particularly against Dragon-types.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: Fairy-Types are generally very charming and attractive, like Gardevoir, Florges, and Primarina, and they have the appropriate benevolence to associate with their beauty/cuteness. On the opposite end of this are the Not-Good Fairy-types such as Mimikyu (a borderline Eldritch Abomination who just wants to be loved), Shiinotic (freakish and alien-looking mushrooms that sap the vitality of their slumbering prey), the Dark/Fairy Grimmsnarl (hideous and intimidating imp-ogre beings that thrive on negative energy), and Tinkaton (adorable but sadistically and gratuitously violent dwarven humanoids that bludgeon passerbys with giant hammers).
• Beauty Is Bad: While there are a handful of cute and friendly Fairy-types, there are some cutesy Fairy-types that are quite dangerous. The Hatenna line, for example, is notoriously violent, contrary to their pastel colors and appearance. While Hatenna flees from emotions, Hattrem will beat the living daylights out of strongly emotional beings, and Hatterene will rip into anyone being "too loud" near it. The Tinkatink line, who look like cute little sprites, are scrappy and hostile and are known to attack others unprovoked with their brutish-looking hammers. Tinkaton is responsible for threatening the likes of Corviknight out of the sky, necessitating a different bird to run the Flying Taxi services in Paldea out of safety.
• Big Ball of Violence: Play Rough is depicted as this, with hearts and stars coming out of a cloud obscuring the beatdown. It's also the only widely distributed Physical Fairy-type move.^note The only other Physical Fairy-type move, Spirit Break, is Grimmsnarl's Secret Art.
• Blow You Away: The move Fairy Wind deals damage by hitting the target with a fairy wind.
• Cast from Hit Points: The Dummied Out Light of Ruin, exclusive to the unreleased Eternal Flower Floette, deals damage to the user equal to 1/2 of the damage dealt to the target.
• Cold Iron: They are weak to Steel-type attacks, reflecting mythical fairies' aversion to iron.
• Color-Coded Elements: The Fairy-type coloring is light pink, and several Fairies are also pink.
• Comedic Sociopathy:
  • Invoked by the standard Fairy-type Z-Move, Twinkle Tackle. The user doesn't even care about the target being kicked away, let alone them exploding.
  • Mimikyu's exclusive Z-Move, "Let's Snuggle Forever"; Mimikyu packs and crushes the target before throwing them away. Even the user's trainer gives a thumbs up and smiles.
• The Dragonslayer: Every single one of them, owing to their tremendous advantage over the Dragon-type. This is even specifically noted in one of Zacian's Pokédex entries.
• Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors:
  • Offense
    • Strong: Dark, Dragon, Fighting
    • Weak: Fire, Poison, Steel
  • Defense
    • Strong: Bug, Dark, Fighting
    • Weak: Poison, Steel
    • Immune: Dragon
• The Fair Folk: While the Fairy-type overall leans towards the more positive interpretation and myths of fairies as benevolent nature spirits or harmless pranksters (such as Mawile and Klefki), there are some particularly amoral Fairy-types that trainers should be wary of.
  • The Tapus (island guardians) of Alola are depicted as tiki-like guardian deities, but have morality that doesn't fall within human standards, and are notoriously fickle and capricious and tend to regard humans as playthings or pets.
  • Shiinotic lures travelers into the woods with its glowing lights so it can put them to sleep and feed on their energy.
  • Mimikyu is not malicious and just wants to have friends, but it has a unspeakably horrific true form that it has to hide, and it is clingy and possessive and tends to lash out violently when it is rejected.
  • The Dark/Fairy type Impidimp line from Sword and Shield are vile creatures who literally feed on the negative emotions of their unfortunate targets. The line culminates in the monstrous troll-like Grimmsnarl, whose signature Fairy-type move shatters the target's spirit (lowering its Special Attack). From the same game, Hatterene is equally disturbing, as it will violently react to strong emotions, creates crippling headaches around itself and will tear a person apart for being "too loud" around it.
  • The Fairy/Steel Tinkatink line are hostile hammer-swinging sprites dreaded for their inclination to attack others unprovoked. In fact, Tinkaton is single-handedly responsible for endangering Corviknight, rendering them unsafe carriers for Flying Taxis in Paldea.
• Fairy Trickster: Some of them:
  • Klefki, a Fairy-type that has the Prankster or possibly Magician abilities and is a living keyring that steals keys.
  • Impidimp, Morgrem, and Grimmsnarl, a line of Dark/Fairy types. Impidimp is known for breaking into people's homes to steal items so that it can feast off their annoyed emotions.
• Field Power Effect: They learn several moves meant to manipulate the environment, including Misty Terrain, Flower Shield, and Xerneas's signature Geomancy.
• Healing Shiv: Floral Healing, which becomes even more effective at healing in Grassy Terrain.
• Heart Beat-Down: Some of the moves, most notably Sweet Kiss and Disarming Voice.
• Killer Rabbit: Most Fairy-types are both very cute-looking and surprisingly powerful battlers. Azumarill is a literal example, being a deceptively powerful rabbit thanks to Huge Power.
• Kiss of Death: Draining Kiss involves the user kissing the target, causing damage and stealing some HP.
• Life Drain: Draining Kiss heals the user for 75% of the damage it dealt.
• Light 'em Up: The Fairy-type is as close to a Light-type as the Pokémon series gets — along with being associated with bright pink, their moves tend to have a light motif, especially Dazzling Gleam, Fleur Cannon, Moonblast, Moonlight, and the aforementioned Light of Ruin.
• Light Is Good: Most Fairy-types are almost universally bright and colorful in design, and on the whole are quite benevolent with few exceptions. They also oppose the Dark-type, being both super-effective and resistant to Dark-type attacks, and are outright immune to the Dragon-type's Black Magic (while also being super-effective against the Dragon-type Black Mages).
• Light Is Not Good: However, the Fairy-type includes Shiinotic and the Tapus, who are more malicious and have morality beyond human and Pokémon understanding, respectively. The Hatenna line also play this straight, being brightly colored but dangerous Pokémon. The Impidimp line subvert this by also being half Dark-type, to match their malicious nature. Also worth noting is that in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the extremely sinister Big Bad Volo's Signature Mon is the Fairy/Flying Togekiss.
• Limit Break:
  • The Fairy-type Z-Move is Twinkle Tackle, in which the user creates a charming space and toys with the target.
  • The Fairy-type Max Move is Max Starfall, in which the user drops stars on the opponent, creating a Misty Terrain for five turns.
  • Gigantamax Alcremie's exclusive G-Max Move is G-Max Finale, in which Alcremie drops gigantic drops of cream on the opponent, healing itself and its allies by a sixth of their max HP.
  • Gigantamax Hatterene's exclusive G-Max Move is G-Max Smite, in which Hatterene drops stars on the opponent, confusing all opponents on the field.
• Lunacy: They have a lunar motif in their moves Moonblast and Moonlight, the latter of which was Retconned in as a Fairy-type move. The lunar motif may have been influenced by the Clefable line, an evolutionary line that was the original fairy-themed Pokémon and had a strong association with the moon. The line became Fairy-type upon the new type's introduction.
• Mighty Glacier: Most Fairy-Types are slow, but can usually take a hit and hit back hard, especially on the special side.
• Obvious Rule Patch: They were introduced to curb the Dragon-type, as Game Freak thought they had made it too powerful. They also give Poison and Steel more offensive uses, as both of them were pretty much only used for their defensive capabilities beforehand.
• Our Fairies Are Different: The basis for Fairy-types can include all kinds of spirits, sprites, deities, cute critters and intimidating beasts alike.
• Percent Damage Attack: Nature's Madness cuts the target's current HP in half, like Super Fang. The Z-move Guardian of Alola cuts the target's current HP by 75%.
• Pink Means Feminine: Fairy's elemental color is light pink, and has a lot of cute and feminine Pokémon in its ranks, many of whom have Pink in their color schemes. Quite a few of them are female-only or have gender ratios that favor females. There are also a lot of Fairy-Types who are also Psychic-Type, another element associated with pink, and further emphasizing their femininity.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: The Baby-Doll Eyes move, which lowers the opponent's Attack and is a first-strike move.
• Ramming Always Works: The anime changed Dazzling Gleam into a ramming attack for the Sun & Moon series. This blatant Gameplay and Story Segregation was reverted in Journeys where it acts as an energy attack.
• Real Men Wear Pink: The Impidimp line stands out among Fairy-types for being male-only, and the final evolution, Grimmsnarl, is an intimidating ogre-like monster. Doesn't stop them from using the Super Cute Superpowers used by other Pokémon of the type.
• Resistant to Magic: Fairy-types tend to have high Special Defense, with the average Special Defense of all Fairy-types being the highest among all types.
• Retcon: When the type was introduced, a fair number of older Pokémon were changed to be at least part Fairy. In the case of the Togepi, Clefairy, and Snubbull families, they're now pure Fairy-Types (they were Normal-Types before). Compared to the Dark- and Steel-types, no Pokémon gained the Dark-type and only two (Magnemite and Magneton) gained a Steel-type in Generation II. The moves Charm, Sweet Kiss, and Moonlight were also retconned to be Fairy, but none of these are affected by Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: A lot of Pokémon of this type fit this trope, especially if unevolved.
• Secret Art:
  • Pixilate turns Normal-type moves into Fairy-type and boosts them by 20% (30% in Gen VI).
  • Misty Terrain protects all Pokémon on the ground from Status Effects. It also reduces damage taken from Dragon-type attacks by 50%.
• Status Buff:
  • The move Geomancy sharply raises the user's Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, but takes two turns to activate.
  • The move Aromatic Mist raises the Special Defense of an ally by 1 stage.
  • The ability Flower Shield raises the Defense of all Grass-type Pokémon in the battle.
• Super-Cute Superpowers: Quite a few Fairy-type moves are based on cuteness, such as Charm, Sweet Kiss, Baby-doll Eyes, and Disarming Voice.
• Super Mode: Gardevoir, Mawile, and Diancie are capable of Mega Evolution, while Altaria and Audino become part Fairy-type when they Mega Evolve. Alcremie, Hatterene, and Grimmsnarl are capable of Gigantamax, but only Alcremie and Hatterene have Fairy-type G-Max Moves.
• Super-Scream:
  • Disarming Voice is a sound-based attack, though its damage-dealing ability is more due to inflicting "emotional damage" than the power of the sound itself.
  • Every Pokémon that can have the Pixilate Ability is capable of learning Hyper Voice, which can deal serious damage thanks to Pixilate's power boost and the STAB bonus from it.
• Taking You with Me: Misty Explosion deals damage to all targets around the user but faints the user, and its base power is increased on Misty Terrain.
• A Twinkle in the Sky: The Fairy-type Z-Move Twinkle Tackle rams the opponent into the sky, wherein it disappears, leaving only an audible twinkle behind.
• Underground Monkey: Alolan Ninetales, Galarian Weezing, and Galarian Rapidash are part Fairy-type.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Being a type that No Sells Dragon attacks and has a lot of other resistances, Fairy-type Pokémon are weak against Poison and Steel, known for having weak offensive presence; the former being the weakest Pokémon type since Gen I.
• White Mage: As observed by Lockstin, the Fairy-type essentially works by channeling the power of nature to achieve its desired effects, similar to a druid in Dungeons & Dragons. This tends to take the form of light magic that is excellent at doing defensive stuff like healing, buffing oneself and allies, and debuffing opponents. The Black Mage counterpart to the Fairy-type is the Dragon-type, whose moves tend to focus on controlling mana for offensive purposes; see that folder for more details.
• White Magic: Over half of all Fairy-type moves are status moves. Buff one's own stats? Debuff an opponent? Buff an ally's stats? Heal oneself? Heal an ally? Block all status moves used against your team? Block all Status Effects from the entire field? Fairies can do all of this. Even offensive Fairy-type moves lean towards White Magic; while no non-Secret Art Fairy-type moves have more than 100 Base Power, the widely-spread Fairy-type attacks tend to have extra effects that help their users to survive for longer on the battlefield^note Moonblast can lower the target's Special Attack by 1 stage, Play Rough can lower the target's Attack by 1 stage, Draining Kiss is a Life Drain attack, and so on. While the Psychic-type also has a lack of non-Secret Art moves with over 100 Base Power^note aside from Synchronoise, which can only affect targets that share a type with the user; needless to say, it proved to be extremely unpopular, and when it got Dummied Out in Sword and Shield, nobody really missed it and also has an extremely large and diverse array of status moves, the Psychic-type tends to be more of a Red Mage; Fairy-type Pokémon have generally better defensive type matchups than Psychic-type Pokémon, the Psychic-type has a more balanced mixture of effects with offensive and defensive uses across both its status and damaging moves, and Psychic-type Pokémon generally have better offensive stats but weaker defensive stats than Fairy-type Pokémon.

Stellar

"In this cavern, I have witnessed the Terastal phenomenon occurring in a way I've never seen aboveground—Terastallization that appears to hold the power of every known type. I have dubbed this Tera Type the Stellar type for now. Could Terapagos's influence be at play?"

— Professor Sada/Turo's journal entry

Stellar-Type (ステラタイプ Stella Taipu)

"This is the Hidden Treasure of Area Zero!"

A Type introduced in Generation IX, the Stellar Type is unique amongst Types in that it only exists as a Tera-Type, with no Pokémon naturally having it as their regular typing.

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• All Your Powers Combined: "Stellar" basically harnesses the power of all regular types to boost the power of the first move the transformed Pokémon uses.
• Infinity +1 Element: Intended as such for Terastallization, as it always deals super effective damage against Terastallized opponents and has the added benefit of giving you more freedom in how to boost your moves.
• Later-Installment Weirdness: Unlike every other type, Stellar Type isn't an actual type of a specific Pokémon, nor is it actually introducing a new type, it's simply a Tera-Type that harnesses the power of all regular types.
• Super Mode: Terapagos, the only Pokémon that has this Tera Type in the wild, gains a Mega Evolution-like power boost while transformed.

Spin-Off Types

Shadow

Shadow-Type / Dark-Type (ダークタイプ Dāku Taipu)

Exclusive to spin-off titles Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, and Pokémon GO, Shadow Pokémon are the end product of a scientific and magical process that's created by the top scientists of Cipher and GO Rocket to remove all emotions from Pokémon. These Pokémon have no compunction about attacking Pokémon and people, which makes them the perfect weapons to commit crime.

Much to the displeasure of the denizens of Orre, Shadow Pokémon became popular among the criminal underground. Some trainers who own Shadow Pokémon don't even know they have them. Only people with certain tools and psychic abilities can identify a Shadow Pokémon by its shadowy aura. Shadow Pokémon can be reverted back into normal Pokémon by bonding with its trainer, which is one of the main objectives of the Colosseum series. Cipher and the threat of Shadow Pokémon were stopped thanks to the protagonists of the two games, but it's hinted that Cipher is planning a comeback.

In Colosseum, Shadow isn't so much a type as it is a classification. It doesn't change a Pokémon's strengths or weaknesses in the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, and its only move at the time (Shadow Rush) is a physical move that deals neutral damage to everything.

XD: Gale of Darkness revamps Shadow to be an actual type and provides it with more moves, though it is unique in that it acts as a third type (or second if a Shadow Pokémon only has one type normally) and doesn't provide a Same-Type Attack Bonus to its attacks. All Shadow-type attacks are also now super-effective on all normal Pokémon, but they are resisted by other Shadow Pokémon.

Unlike other types at the time, whose moves were fixed as Physical or Special, Shadow-type moves in XD: Gale of Darkness can be either. This predates the Physical/Special split of moves introduced into the main series games in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

Shadow Pokémon reappear in Pokémon GO, where Team GO Rocket employs them exclusively. Once again, they are reduced to a classification like in Colosseum rather than a type in XD, but in the jump between games they picked up a new trait: Shadow Pokémon in GO deal and receive more damage than their non-Shadow equivalents.

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• Aura Vision: Without specialized technology, the only way to tell most Shadow Pokémon from normal members of their species is through the ability to see auras, as showcased by Rui in Colosseum.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: Shadow Pokémon tend to lack defensive or healing moves.
• Ax-Crazy: In Hyper Mode, a Shadow Pokémon may attack its teammate, its own Trainer, or the opposing Trainer.
• Bad Powers, Good People: In the hands of the player, these Pokémon are still dangerous, but their power is focused on the forces of Cipher.
• Battle Aura: In GO, Shadow Pokémon have an aura of purple flames shrouding them.
• Blow You Away: Shadow Blast, the Shadow version of Lugia's Aeroblast and Shadow Lugia's signature move.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Pokémon are normally friendly creatures who enjoy spending time with their Trainers as well as a good fight. Shadow Pokémon have become artificially corrupted into mindless attack drones whose only purpose is to do nothing but fight.
• Can't Catch Up: When caught, a Shadow Pokémon cannot level up, evolve, or learn new moves until it's purified, at which point it'll automatically gain the experience back. Try training one early in the game, and the Shadow Pokémon you caught in the last town will stop being useful quickly and become dead weight in a major battle until you gain the ability to fully purify them.
• Cast from Hit Points: Shadow Rush (Colosseum only) and Shadow End cause recoil damage to the user. Rush has 1/4 recoil while End has 1/2.
• The Corruption: They are created by robbing emotions from Pokémon to turn them into soulless fighting machines.
• Dark Is Evil: Shadow Pokémon are corrupted beings that need to be restored to their true selves.
• Demoted to Extra: Shadow Pokémon reappear in Pokémon GO with a number of similarities to their original appearances in Colosseum and XD: they're used exclusively by that game's evil team, having a dark purple aura around them, the lore being that they're subject to Traumatic Superpower Awakening, and there being a purification process to restore them to normal. Players only being able to catch them after beating GO Rocket members reduces their prominence in the gameplay, Shadow as a type doesn't exist, and the Secret Art exclusive to most Shadow Pokémon is instead the Normal-type Frustration.
• Dub Name Change: They're called "Dark Pokémon" in the Japanese version, but were changed to "Shadow Pokémon" to avoid confusion with the Dark-type (which is called the Evil-type in Japan). Retrospectively, the Japanese translations of GO use the English term "Shadow Pokémon" instead of "Dark Pokémon" the source material use.
• Empty Shell: The creation of Shadow Pokémon involves removing their emotions.
• Evil Knockoff: Shadow Chill, Shadow Bolt, Shadow Fire, and Shadow Blast are corrupted versions of Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, and Aeroblast, respectively.
  • Many Shadow moves are knockoffs of some other move. Shadow Blitz is an evil Tackle, Shadow Down is basically just a more accurate Screech, Shadow End is a Powerful, but Inaccurate move Cast from Hit Points reminiscent of Head Smash, Shadow Hold is a worse Mean Look, Shadow Mist is based on Sweet Scent, Shadow Panic is a very slightly better Supersonic, and Shadow Sky is a weather move similar to Hail in the way it damages all but Shadow Pokémon.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Shadow Bolt, Shadow Chill, and Shadow Fire. Respectively the signature moves of the corrupted Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres.
• Glass Cannon: Shadow Pokémon in Pokémon GO deal and receive 20% more damage than their non-Shadow counterparts.
• Heel–Face Turn: A Shadow Pokémon experiences one after being purified.
• Herd-Hitting Attack: Shadow Down, Shadow Hold, Shadow Mist, Shadow Panic, Shadow Rave, Shadow Storm, and Shadow Wave hit all enemies while Shadow Half and Shadow Shed hit everyone on the field.
• Infinity +1 Element: In an Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors sense. Shadow is super effective against every other type in XD and only resisted by itself.
• Invisible to Normals: The shadowy aura surrounding a Shadow Pokémon can only be seen by very few people or those with special technology.
• Like Cannot Cut Like: In Gale of Darkness, Shadow moves are super-effective against non-Shadow Pokémon, but ineffective against other Shadow Pokémon.
• Mind Rape: In the words of Ein, Cipher's head scientist, Shadow Pokémon are born by "closing the door to a Pokémon's heart." The fact that they are willing to attack anyone only adds to this.
• No Cure for Evil: There are no "positive support" Shadow moves.
• Non-Damaging Status Infliction Attack: Some of their Secret Arts are these:
  • Shadow Shed: Removes Safeguard, Reflect, and Light Screen from both allies and foes.
  • Shadow Down: lowers opponents' defense by 2 stages.
  • Shadow Mist: lowers opponents' evasion by 2 stages.
  • Shadow Hold: Prevents both foes from switching out.
  • Shadow Panic: Confuse all foes.
  • Shadow Sky: Damage Over Time for non-Shadow Pokémon for 5 turns.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: In Colosseum and XD, Shadow Pokémon can't evolve until they're purified. However, this isn't the case in Pokémon GO.
• Olympus Mons: Not even legendaries are safe from becoming Shadow Pokémon, as players will eventually encounter Shadow Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. However, there's one special Shadow legendary Pokémon: Shadow Lugia. Considered the ultimate Shadow Pokémon, Shadow Lugia looks very different compared to normal Lugia with its reversed color scheme and other details. It's also nearly immune to purification, as normal methods of purification don't work on it. Only the Purify Chamber at max power can truly purify Shadow Lugia.
• Permanently Missable Content: Averted. If you fail to snag a Shadow Pokémon in a one-time battle, there'll be a trainer somewhere who will still have it. In Colosseum the trainer can be found somewhere else, while in XD Miror B. will roam Orre and battle you until you snag all the Shadow Pokémon.
• Power at a Price: Shadow attacks hit everything but other Shadow Pokémon super effectively, but Shadow Pokémon cannot level up, evolve, or learn new moves.
• The Power of Friendship: Before a Shadow Pokémon can be purified into a normal Pokémon, it must let its heart open towards the trainer. In the original console games, this meant typical friendship-related activities (like walking or battling with them), and successfully purifying a Pokémon will enable you to level it up and evolve it.
• Purple Is the New Black: The aura of darkness that surrounds a Shadow Pokémon is dark purple.
• Ramming Always Works: Shadow Blitz, Shadow Break, Shadow End, and Shadow Rush.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: A Shadow Pokémon's aura goes red and black when it enters Hyper/Reverse Mode.
• Redemption Demotion:
  • In the hands of an NPC trainer in Colosseum, Shadow Pokémon have a normal moveset with Shadow Rush included. When snagged, however, they only know Shadow Rush.
  • After being purified in GO, they trade out their Glass Cannon trait in exchange for a +2 to all their IVs. Being a Glass Cannon is very powerful and relevant for the Raid Battles the game features, where beating the boss as fast as possible gives better chances to catch them, and having a small IV boost won't make up for the DPS loss. The only situation where you don't want to keep them as a Shadow is if you plan on Mega Evolving them, as Mega Evolved Pokémon are almost always stronger and Shadow Pokémon can't Mega Evolve.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Shadow Lugia's defining trait is its glowing red eyes. This extends to all Shadow Pokémon in Pokémon GO, which all have dark scarlet eyes and look very angry.
• Riddle for the Ages: The exact process of creating Shadow Pokémon, which involves "closing the door to their hearts", is never disclosed. This is probably for the best, though.
• Secret Art:
  • Enforced. Shadow attacks can only be used by Shadow Pokémon, and purified ones will immediately forget them.
  • In Pokémon GO, Frustration is a move exclusive to Shadow Pokémon, and they'll forget it if they become purified (learning the move Return in the process). Also, Apex Shadow Pokémon have exclusive and slightly stronger versions of their normal version's secret art (ex. Apex Shadow Lugia has Aeroblast+), which become stronger after being purified.
• Theme Naming: Every one of the type's attacks has "Shadow" in its name.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: They are visually indistinct from normal Pokémon to the average human. The only way to identify them is by having an innate ability to sense them like Rui or using special equipment like Michael's Aura Reader. The only exception is Shadow Lugia/XD001, which has become so thoroughly corrupted that even its outward appearance has been changed.
• You Will Not Evade Me: Shadow Hold prevents switching.

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