When you really look at it, Pokémon is just a more complicated rock-paper-scissors.
Just swap those 3 choices with 18 different types, and combine some of those types together!
This dual typing is part of what makes Pokémon battles so interesting. But what type combo is the best?
For this list, we’ll be judging the different type combos based on how effective they are offensively and defensively, plus the best Pokémon that represents them.
So despite being a good typing combo, you may not have the Pokémon to take advantage of it (Fighting/Ice) and vice versa (Celebi).
So let’s find out: what are the best dual-type Pokémon?
15. Sableye (Ghost/Dark)
The Ghost and Dark types work incredibly well together.
Combined, they only have one type that’s super effective against them. And they’re immune to 3 other types.
Add on an extra resistance to Poison and you have what is arguably the best defensive type in all of Pokémon.
Then why is it at the very end of this list?
Two reasons.
One: there’s no offensive synergy. Ghost and Dark types cover a lot of the same types, hitting only 17% of Pokémon for super effective damage.
Two: the Pokémon that are Ghost/Dark are not that great. Between the two Pokémon that share this typing, Sableye is easily the best.
With its Prankster ability, it’s able to pass around statuses and irritate your opponents with moves like Encore and Taunt.
Plus its mega evolution is a defensive powerhouse with 125 defense and 115 special defense. However, both of them are usually handled with a taunt of your own, or any strong neutral attack against them.
Here’s hoping we get more Pokémon with this spooky combo in the future!
14. Magnezone (Electric/Steel)
When I was doing my research, I almost completely missed the combo of Electric/Steel.
Boy was I surprised to learn that it has the most resistances out of every type combo in the game.
Electric + Steel resists 11 different attacking types, and is immune to Poison-type attacks. Not to mention that it can hit 34% of all Pokémon for super effective damage!
Magnezone exemplifies this perfectly, since it’s a defensive and special attacking powerhouse.
With moves like Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, and Body Press, it can take advantage of both those stats and trap fellow steel-types with Magnet Pull.
So why isn’t this typing higher?
One word: Earthquake.
Ground is one of the most prevalent attacking types in the game. And Earthquake is its best move.
It hits Magnezone for 4x super effective damage, and is all but guaranteed to KO.
Which honestly doesn’t make sense here. Aren’t Magnezone and all its pre-evolutions floating in the air? Should they even be hit by an earthquake?
13. Gyarados (Water/Flying)
Water/Flying might seem like an odd choice.
I mean, all you have to do is hit a Pokémon with this combo with an electric attack.
Problem solved, right?
Well, it’s not that simple.
Water/Flying may get obliterated by electric type attacks. But the only other type that’s super effective against it is Rock, which is weak to Water.
And this isn’t even bringing up the 5 resistances and immunity to Ground attacks.
Top this all off with 39% super effective coverage, and you have a typing that is much more threatening than you think.
While there are a bunch of Pokémon with this dual-typing, none are more threatening than Gyarados.
It has access to a great boosting move in Dragon Dance, and has incredible coverage with moves like Waterfall, Bounce, Power Whip, and Earthquake.
Combine these with the awesome abilities Moxie and Intimidate, and you’ll understand why Gyarados will probably be a threat for as long as Pokémon exists.
12. Zapdos (Electric/Flying)
Flying and Electric have a beautiful synergy creating an immunity to Electric’s only weakness, Ground.
It also gives you 5 resistances with only 2 weaknesses.
This is an awesome defensive typing.
And it’s also an awesome offensive typing!
Electric and flying combine to hit 42% of Pokémon for super effective damage. And with moves like Thunderbolt and Thunder, there’s a great chance of getting paralysis.
Zapdos is perfectly able to take advantage of both strategies by being able to be a threat with offensive or defensive sets. Zapdos gets great coverage with Hurricane, Thunderbolt, and Heat Wave.
Plus, you can Roost for more health.
Or use Toxic to drain your opponent’s health.
With all of these different strategies, it’s no wonder why the original Zapdos is the best legendary bird.
11. Lucario (Steel/Fighting)
The best single typing defensively is Steel.
And one of the best offensive typings is Fighting.
Combined, they easily make for one of the best dual types in the game.
Defensively you get 3 weaknesses, but also 8 resistances and an immunity.
Offensively, nothing resists you. And you can hit 33% of Pokémon for super effective damage.
Add in some of the best offensive moves in the game and you have a Pokémon that is always terrifying.
While there are two legendary Steel/Fighting Pokémon, the best option is not the legendary.
Lucario is a versatile offensive threat that can be physical or special.
Aura Sphere, Coles Combat, Meteor Mash, and Aura Sphere are all incredible.
Add in some great priority with Extreme Speed and Bullet Punch, and you can see why Lucario was put in Smash Bros.
10. Mamoswine (Ice/Ground)
Defensively, an Ice/Ground typing isn’t too impressive.
It has 5 types that are super effective against it (3 of which are really common) and only one resistance and immunity.
However, this is the best offensive combo in the game.
Combined, Ice and Ground hit 52% of Pokémon for super effective damage, and have perfect neutral coverage.
Nothing out there can resist this combo. And there are plenty of powerful moves to take advantage of like Earthquake, Blizzard, Ice Beam, Earth Power, Ice Shard, and Icicle Crash.
Mamoswine pulls this off perfectly.
Which is good, because it’s the only fully evolved Ice/Ground type.
Its whopping 130 Attack stat, plus additional coverage moves with Superpower, Stone Edge, and Knock Off, means that Mamo can hit 75% of all Pokémon for super effective damage.
Plus, its ability Thick Fat causes fire-type moves to deal half damage. So that’s one weakness taken away.
9. Tapu Fini (Water/Fairy)
The newest typing, Fairy, has been a godsend when it comes to balancing the meta.
Finally, Dragon-types have to think before they attack!
And as it turns out, it works really well with the most common type in the game: Water.
Water is great for Fairy since it neutralizes Steel type moves. And while this combination still has three weaknesses, it resists 6 types while hitting 33% of Pokémon for super effective damage.
It’s a great combo!
And the Pokémon with that typing are just as good.
While Primarina and Azumarill are great, Tapu Fini is easily the best.
It has great versatility as a utility player, and a specially offensive threat. Also, its ability Misty Surge is great since it weakens Dragon-type moves and prevents status ailments.
Plus it looks like the Venus de Milo. Nice.
8. Alolan Muk (Poison/Dark)
Sometimes the effectiveness of a type by itself is less important than how well it works with another type.
For example, Steel and Ice are great by themselves, but awful together. And Poison/Dark is just the opposite.
These two typings work beautifully together.
Poison covers Dark’s weaknesses to Fairy and Fighting, while Dark grants a Psychic-type immunity.
And with 4 resistances, the only type you need to worry about is Ground.
All of this is best exemplified with Alolan Muk.
Alolan Muk is in all ways better than the original Muk.
While the stats remain the same, its new typing and abilities make for a real menace of a Pokémon. It’s fully able to take advantage of Knock Off and Poison Jab with Poison Touch, an ability that increases the chance to poison your opponent.
It can also take full advantage of Curse by boosting its weaker defense and already high attack.
Not to mention that Alolan Muk is a freaking rainbow.
From appearance to effectiveness, Alolan Muk is better than the original in every single way.
7. Corviknight (Steel/Flying)
Steel/Flying is one of the best defensive typings around:
2 immunities, 8 resistances, and only 2 weaknesses.
Each Pokémon that has these typings is incredible, and are usually the defensive core of a team.
But for this list, I’d like to talk about Corviknight.
I’m mentioning Corviknight not just because of its incredible defensive prowess, but because of how it turns that into offensive prowess as well.
With Bulk Up, Corviknight is able to take advantage of its decent attack and awesome defense, powering up moves like Brave Bird and Body Press at the same time.
This isn’t even mentioning Power Trip, which gets stronger with each stat boost you have.
Corviknight has great abilities as well, giving you the options of Pressure for PP stalling or Mirror Armor to punish your opponents for trying to drop your stats.
Corviknight is awesome. And is easily one of the best Pokémon introduced in Sword and Shield.
6. Landorus (Ground/Flying)
Ground/Flying is an interesting typing.
Ground covers Flying’s electric weakness, but makes Ice-type moves 4x super effective.
Flying makes you immune to ground-type attacks, but makes Rock-type moves neutral again.
But while it only has 3 resistances, its offensive capabilities are immeasurable.
Ground/Flying can hit almost half of all Pokémon for super effective damage.
And no Pokémon takes advantage of this better than Landorus.
With its high attacking stats and speed, Landorus will destroy your opponents. And even though it doesn’t have any truly useful Flying-type moves, it doesn’t need them because of the ability Sheer Force.
Sheer Force makes attacks with a secondary effect hit harder, at the cost of the secondary effect not taking place.
Combine this with a life orb and you have a Pokémon that can rip through teams with just Earth Power and Sludge Wave.
Landorus is an absolute beast and will always be a threat that teams need to prepare for.
5. Scizor (Bug/Steel)
Bug is easily one of the weakest types in the game.
However, when it combines with Steel, it becomes one of the best.
Bug/Steel has only one weakness to Fire, and sports 8 resistances and one immunity. And while there are a few Pokémon that use this typing effectively, one is leaps and bounds better than the rest.
Scizor is an offensive beast even though its typing is better for defenses.
While it has a good base 100 defense, its best attribute is its 130 base attack and its ability, Technician.
Technician makes moves with less than 60 base power deal 50% more damage.
That means a STAB Bullet Punch is going to be at 80 instead of 40.
Scizor is able to combine this ability with a plethora of weaker moves like Dual Wing Beat and Bug Bite, as well as set up moves like Swords Dance.
This makes Scizor one of the most dangerous offensive threats in the whole franchise. Just don’t let it get near any flames.
4. Gastrodon (Water/Ground)
I love the Water/Ground-typing.
It has only one weakness to Grass-types, resists 4 other types, and has an immunity. Plus, it can hit 32% of Pokémon for super effective damage.
The only difficult question is: which Water/Ground-type do I choose?
Seismitoad is a great defensive Pokémon, and Swampert is one of my all-time favorites.
But if we’re looking at how useful a Pokémon is, you have got to go with Gastrodon.
Gastrodon is a great defensive Pokémon due to its great 111 base HP.
It can heal itself with Recover, put the pressure on opponents with Toxic and Scald, and has an extra immunity due to its ability Storm Drain.
This ability not only makes Water-type attacks ineffective against Gastrodon, but also ineffective against your teammates as well.
I may like other Water/Ground-type Pokémon more. But Gastrodon easily has the most utility.
3. Ferrothorn (Grass/Steel)
You thought that Bug was weak?
Wait ‘til you see grass types.
Sure, it has more resistances. But it also has 5 weaknesses, including Bug!
But this when it becomes obvious that synergy is more important than just being the best by yourself.
Grass and Steel are a powerful combo with 9 resistances, an immunity, and only 2 weaknesses.
Sure, it’s not that great offensively. But it doesn’t have to be. This is easily up there as the best defensive typing in the game.
But what makes this typing really shine is one Pokémon: Ferrothorn.
Ferrothorn is arguably the greatest defensive Pokémon of all time.
It has insane defenses and can take hits like nobody’s business. It’s defensive moveset is vast with moves like Spikes, Stealth Rock, Leech Seed, Thunder Wave, and Knock Off.
Add on its ability Iron Barbs, and you have a Pokémon that you wouldn’t want to hit even if you could.
Yes, Kartana is an incredibly fast and deadly offensive Pokémon with the same typing.
But only Ferrothorn makes opponents groan in disappointment and quit the whole match.
2. Zacian-Crowned Sword (Fairy/Steel)
Two of the newest typings make for one of the best combos in the entire game.
Sure, you can’t hit that many types for super effective damage.
But Steel/Fairy can’t be ignored defensively.
Fairy/Steel resists 9 types and is immune to two of them.
Steel covers both of Fairy’s weaknesses while Fairy neutralizes all fighting type moves. This leaves you only worrying about Fire and Ground-type moves.
So the best Pokémon for this must be a defensive behemoth, right?
No. Not by a long shot.
Zacian-Crowned Sword may be the most broken offensive Pokémon of all time.
Its speed is 148. Its attack is 170.
Its ability gives it an automatic attack boost. It can destroy just about every Pokémon in a single hit. Even Ferrothorn, who I just said is the best defensive Pokémon of all time, can get taken out in a single hit.
Zacian-Crowned Sword is the definition of a legendary Pokémon.
And a lot of that is because of its fantastic defensive typing.
But even though this thing is broken, there is one Pokémon that I think is much better.
1. Primal Groudon (Ground/Fire)
Fire/Ground doesn’t seem that impressive at first.
It only has 5 resistances and an immunity. Its two weaknesses are incredibly common, including a 4x weakness to Water-type moves.
Sure, it can hit 47% of Pokémon for super effective damage with no resists… but is it worth the massive defensive weaknesses?
For Camerupt? No.
For Primal Groudon? Yes.
Primal Groudon is one of the strongest Pokémon, full stop.
It has massive base stats with 180 attack, 160 defense, and 150 special attack.
It can take advantage of all of these stats with mixed offenses and bulky defenses.
But what about that 4x Water weakness?
Primal Gorudon’s ability Desolate Land summons harsh sunlight that not only boosts Fire-type moves, but makes Water-type attacks disappear completely.
This thing even beats Primal Kyogre, the Pokémon meant to counteract it.
Primal Groudon isn’t just the greatest dual-type Pokémon. It may just be the greatest Pokémon of all time.
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