After several decades, eight mainline games, and dozens of spin-offs, most long-time fans of the Pokémon franchise have the mechanics and lore down pretty well, but things can sometimes get a bit confusing.
Creature and attack typings are the center of both combat and character design in Pokémon. While their representations and interactions normally make sense, some Redditors have spoken up about misconceptions that they still find themselves getting wrong once in a while.
Pokémon Types Don't Always Resist Themselves
Though weaknesses and resistances are sometimes (but not always) logical, there's one part of it that Downtown-Command-295 just can't seem to . They "always think that every type resists itself," which is close, but not entirely, true.
Half (nine of the total eighteen) resist themselves, with Normal, Fighting, Ground, Flying, Bug, Rock, and Fairy hitting their opponents of the same type for neutral damage, while Dragon and Ghost actually do double damage against other Dragons and Ghost, respectively.
Wind Doesn't Put Out Fires
It seems to be a popular issue that some long-time players get confused about attack relationships due to popular monsters that have two types. For hyppoqueenv, the issue was that they "thought flying beat fire, like blowing out a candle, because i grew up with gen 3, 4 and 5, and i always used the fighting starter, which were coincidentally fighting type."
Indeed, many of the best Fire-type starters in Pokémon are also Fighting, so it makes sense that a player would see Hurricane land as super-effective against their Infernape and think that Fire is weak to Flying.
Confusion Over Rock And Ground
Most Pokémon types are suitably distinct to avoid confusion, but Rock and Ground do indeed seem strangely similar in of classification. Due to how similar they seem, it makes sense that Redditors like Mimikyu-Overlord "never how Rock and Ground work" in of weakness and resistance.
Luckily, thepriceoflentils replied with a charmingly easy way to which is strong against which, saying "big rock [Ground/the Earth] beats small rock [Rock]." Thankfully, the types added since gen 1 (Dark, Steel, and Fairy) have avoided any confusing similarities with other types.
Bugs Don't Freeze
Most weaknesses and resistances make logical sense: Water puts out Fire, Bugs eat Grass, and Dragons are always slain in Fairy(tales). However, other type relationships can be harder to .
In particular, Bsause7 says, "No idea why but I keep thinking Bug is weak to ice." It's easy to see why, as bugs don't tend to do well with cold temperatures in real life. It's a misconception that is likely shared by many based on the number of affirming replies they got on Reddit.
What Are Psychics Afraid Of?
There are several incredibly powerful Psychic-Type Pokémon, but it can be more difficult to the typing advantages and disadvantages for the more abstract types. It makes sense that fire burns grass, but what is the mind strong and weak against?
Luckily, Oceanbirb160 has an easy way to that Psychic is weak to Dark, Bug, and Ghost-types, saying, "bugs, being in the dark, and ghosts are all very common phobias people have!" Indeed, the designers did a great job representing fear as a weakness for this powerful class of monsters.
Why Is Gyarados Flying Type?
There are several Pokémon that seem like they should have a different type combination than they do, and one of the original 150 monsters that continues to confuse players is the mighty Gyarados.
Redditor Pokémon inspired by mythology. In this case, it's an homage to a carp that climbed high up a mountain and became a dragon that flew over mountains.
Dragon Misconceptions
While there are some weaknesses and resistances in the games that don't seem to follow logic, there are others that are missing that seem like no-brainers. Nu_clear_skin mentions one such missing weakness when they say, "I always think that dragon is weak to steel because of the whole "knight slays dragon" thing..."
It would make sense for dragons to be weak to steel given the above logic and their weakness to Fairy (seemingly hinting at fairytales), but, for some reason, the opposite is true. Instead of Dragon being weak to Steel, Steel resists Dragon.
Gengar Doesn't Represent All Ghosts
While there are quite a few now, there was only one evolutionary line of Ghost-types in the first Pokémon games: Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar. Given this, some long-time players had their perception of Ghost-types shaped by them, even though those thoughts aren't always accurate.
Gengar is weak to Psychic-type attacks, which has led players like Sea-Outside9028 to "always think Ghost is weak to psychic…" However, this is actually because of Gengars often-forgotten secondary typing, Poison, which is always weak to Psychic.
Sudowoodo's Name Is Important
Most Pokémon have a name and design that matches their typing, but Sudowoodo's look and name are actually intentional misdirections. While it looks and sounds like they should be at least partially grass-type, they aren't.
The reason, as Ryanzzy points out, is quite clever: " I forgot he's fake." The name is meant to sound like "Pseudo-wood," indicating that this is a monster that only pretends to be a tree to avoid being attacked by potential enemies in the wild.
Ice Doesn't Resist Much
It's both a blessing and a curse that not all types are balanced in of having the same number of weaknesses and resistances. However, it does seem that some types get the short end of the competitive stick.
Redditor SapphireLime mentions one, saying, "i constantly forget ice resists nothing but itself." Indeed, it makes it difficult to use defensively-oriented ice types when they're weaker to far more than they resist. Fortunately, combing them with a complementary type can help shore up this potential downfall.