Pokemon: The 11 Most Useful Type Combinations

Pokemon types are arguably one of the most interesting aspects of the games. The type you take into a match-up can dictate your chances of winning, making you a dominant powerhouse or leaving you susceptible to easy attacks. Many Pokemon have two types, which can often shake things up in big ways.

Even after the introduction of dozens of dual types, there's still an argument to be made about which is the best Pokemon type combo. Many secondary typings can give a Pokemon surprising resistances and access to great moves, but there are a few that stand above the rest.

Updated on July 7, 2024 by Gabrielle Castania: Pokemon never goes out of style, especially when we've seen some wild DLC since the last time we updated this list! Today, we're refreshing our list to provide you with some extra info to help you decide on the best Pokemon type combination.

11 Grass/Water Type

The Ludicolo evolution line was quite a prominent source of fear back in its debut generation, as well as Gen Four, and this is in part due to its phenomenal typing. These two types already have a ton of defensive potential, and this is amplified even further when combined.

This typing boasts a quadruple resistance to Water-types in addition to Steel and Ground-type resistances, which are heavily used in competitive play; it is only weak to Flying, Poison, and Bug-types. Ground Pokemon especially have a hard time against this typing, but it's unfortunately been left to this evolution line alone.

10 Dark/Psychic Type

This spooky combination is a defensive goldmine and remains among the best type combos in Pokemon. It only possesses two weaknesses, one of which is the rarely used Bug-type (although it is double-weak to it). Offensively, both Psychic and Dark have great moves available to them and are good against commonly-used types like Fighting and Ghost.

Psychic and Dark are already good types separately, but pairing them together removes several of their respective weaknesses. It removes the terrifying Dark-type weakness that Psychic has, and eliminates the all-too-common Fighting-type from Dark's fears. The downside to this type is that it is only available on the Inkay/Malamar family, and on Hoopa Unbound.

9 Ghost/Fighting Type

Having access to moves that grant STAB (same-type attack bonus) is an important part of battling. Attaching a move with the same type as the Pokemon will grant this bonus, so you want to do it as much as possible. A Ghost/Fighting-type combo is the only time a Pokemon will have STAB against nearly every other type.

What makes this type even more versatile are its useful immunities. Ghost is immune to both Fighting and Normal-type moves. Furthermore, those STAB moves are super-effective against a whopping seven other types, making it one of the best offensive Pokemon type combos.

8 Ice/Dragon Type

This dual type is rarely seen, but luckily received an additional member via the Baxcalibur evolutionary line. Many Dragon-types avoid Ice-type attacks at all costs, but Baxcalibur received it as a secondary typing, placing it firmly among the best Dragon-type Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet.

All-time great pseudo-legendary dragons usually receive types that give them a quadruple weakness, but this dual-type only suffers from five double-damage weaknesses. While it only resists Electric, Grass, and Water attacks, Ice/Dragon Pokemon like Kyurem rarely have to worry about being decimated with a single move. If only Garchomp could say the same.

7 Steel/Flying Type

Sometimes it can feel like the Steel-type is truly broken, with how many types it seems to resist. It resists an unprecedented ten, which is about half of all the types. Among these are the powerful and common Fairy, Dragon, and Rock-types, the latter of which boasts an array of powerful moves.

Once it's paired with Flying, Steel gets even better. That Skarmory of yours will now be immune to one of Steel's weaknesses (Ground), and ditches weakness to another (Fighting). Factor in Steel's immunity to Poison moves, and you've got a defensive wall on your hands.

6 Steel/Fire Type

While its defensive capabilities are sometimes forgotten, the Fire-type excels when paired properly, as Skeledirge, a Fire/Ghost Pokemon, can attest. There is a painful reality check waiting for anyone up against a Steel/Fire Pokemon, like Heatran. The two types take first and second place for their total number of resistances, so putting them together is a deadly proposition for your opponent.

This combo resists nine types with a whopping five double-resistances and complete immunity to Poison. The double weakness against Ground-type moves can be concerning, but the unstoppable defenses of both these types more than compensate for it.

5 Steel/Fairy Type

This typing is absolutely incredible when it comes to defensive potential, as it resists nine types, with Bug having an unfortunate time against its quadruple resistance. This turned defensive Pokemon like Klefki into a nightmare to deal with, but it also makes short work of opponents when used on offensive Pokemon.

Pokemon Sword's Zacian has the Steel/Fairy typing, and its unreal offensive capabilities with 170 base Attack pairs so well with its typing that it was a no-brainer to instantly ban it into the Uber tier of competitive play.

Mawile's typing was changed from Gen 6 onward, so if you're playing in an older generation, strike that one off your list.

4 Dark/Ghost Type

Dark/Ghost was once considered the best Pokemon type combo that, when paired together, had no weaknesses before Generation Six. Sableye and Spiritomb were already terrifying Ghost-types that were made even more dangerous due to their lack of weaknesses, three immunities (Psychic, Fighting, and Normal), and access to a wealth of great moves.

However, the Fairy-type decided to come and knock that crown off their heads. This unusual dual type is now weak to Fairy due to Dark's vulnerability to it. However, the combination is still great, and having only a single weakness is nothing to shake a stick at. As far as standard playthroughs go, this could still be considered the best dual-type combination in existence. Just don't let the Fairy-type know that anyone thinks that.

3 Bug/Ghost Type

It's impossible to ignore the contributions Shedinja has made to competitive Pokemon, as this Bug and Ghost-type Pokemon forced players to rethink their entire teams. Bug/Ghost is an extremely tricky type to deal with, especially when you consider the power of Shedinja's Wonder Guard ability.

On its own, Bug/Ghost is immune to Normal and Fighting-types, and also resists Grass, Poison, Ground, and Bug-type moves. Shedinja has remained the sole Pokemon of this type through Generation Nine, making the typing more cunning than meets the eye. Despite a single point in HP, Shedinja is still a force to be reckoned with and has become the standard by which any future Pokemon who share its Ghost/Bug typing will be measured.

Shedinja can be a bit tricky to learn to use, but once you've got the rhythm down, it's a menace in battles. It can only be hit by attacks of five types, making it immune to more types than potentially any other Pokemon.

2 Bug/Steel Type

Another Steel pairing. The Bug typing will negate it's weakness to both Fighting and Ground types. This grants it eight resistances (Grass being 4x as resistant) and only one single weakness: fire. The downside is that it is 4x weak to fire. So you're better avoiding such types with this particular combo.

There aren't a ton of Bug/Steel types out there. But the ones that exist are all powerful, like Genesect, Escavalier, and Scizor. If you can get a hold of one of them, they're sure to make for a powerful defensive member of the team.

Trash Cloak form is the only Wormadam form that has this type. Plant Cloak gets the Bug/Grass typing, while Sand Cloak instead has a Bug/Ground typing.

1 Ghost/Normal Type

Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark became the very first pair of Ghost/Normal Pokemon in the series when they were released in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. This unlikely pair jumps off the page due to this wonderful typing, and a stunning shiny design befitting such a regal introduction to the Pokemon world.

Ghost/Normal-types are only weak to Dark-type moves, and offset this single vulnerability with complete immunities to Normal, Fighting, and Ghost attacks. Poison and Bug-type moves are resisted, further bolstering the defensive viability of these Pokemon, even if their defensive stats don't do them many favors. For now, it's hard to argue there's a better type combo in Pokemon than this powerful dual-typing.