Fairy Types: OP

[ted]

This is my opinion. Feel free to disagree with me, but please do so respectfully. Thanks.

I think fairy types are OP (overpowered). I know that some people may love fairy types and some people may hate fairy types. I don't love nor hate fairy types, I simply think that they're OP. I don't use fairy types on my team, but I have used a fairy type move for a while when my Ralts was young and it was a good move. But when it comes to battling fairy types, that's when things start to go downhill.

I understand that dragon types were OP in the first five generations. I love dragon type Pokemon, and would always use one in my team. They are kind of OP. I went against the dragon type Elite Four member in Pokemon Alpha Sapphire (forgot what the guy's name was) and I literally one shot his entire team with a mega evolved Latias' Dragon Pulse. Plus, dragon types have high defense against the elemental types (fire, water, grass) and only have two weaknesses (ice and dragon). So I can see why fairy types were needed. FAIRy enough (haha... ha... ok sorry)

My reason why fairy types are OP is most likely biased, so it's not the best reason. But honestly, fairy types ruined my Pokemon experience. First of all, it was a new type, and I didn't play Pokemon X or Y, so when I got Pokemon Alpha Sapphire I was inexperienced with all these pretty pink Pokemon. It also threw me off that some older Pokemon had fairy type as a primary or secondary type. My personal reason why fairy types are OP is mainly because they make dragon types useless and they only have two weaknesses: poison and steel. There aren't that many powerful poison or steel type moves. I don't use poison type Pokemon at all, and I only use steel Pokemon for the defense, not for the offense.

But like all things, there are cons for fairy types. Bulbapedia says in its article about Fairy types:

"Despite having numerous advantages, the Fairy type is a balanced one due to the lack of particularly powerful Fairy-type moves, being somewhat weak statistically and having a disadvantageous match-up against the Poison and Steel-type, two of the best defensive types in the series. Also, since Fairy types typically have high Special Attack and Special Defense, but relatively low Defense and Speed stats, they have advantageous match-ups against most special attackers, but poor ones against physical attackers, overall."

So I'm not angry that fairy types were created because at least they're still a somewhat balanced type.

Overall, though, I'm not very happy with fairy types. Every time my Gallade gets Dazzling Gleamed I scream.

On the bright side, they're pretty.

Sorry if this entire post made no sense at all. I'm usually not very good with words. Both in real life and on the Internet.

 

[Norzan]

Only issue have with Fairy is that it resists Bug. Did Bug really needed another type resisting it? The answer is no. Remove the Bug resistance and give it another weakness and all will be golden.

The lack of good fairy type moves will most likely be rectified in gen 7. And no, Dragon type is still one of the best types in the game and it's far, far from useless, still only has 3 weaknesses and only one type resists and another is immune to it, so that's 15 types being hit for neutral damage and one being hit for super effective damage which is itself. Also the dragon type pokemon have moves with high power (Outrage and Draco Meteor) and they have high base stats (with some very few exceptions).

 

[Bolt Strike]

Only issue have with Fairy is that it resists Bug. Did Bug really needed another type resisting it? The answer is no. Remove the Bug resistance and give it another weakness and all will be golden.

You lost me right here.

The whole point of making Fairy weak to Poison and Steel is to give those types an offensive niche, adding another would reduce the incentive to use them in the first place.

 

[Norzan]

Only issue have with Fairy is that it resists Bug. Did Bug really needed another type resisting it? The answer is no. Remove the Bug resistance and give it another weakness and all will be golden.

You lost me right here.

The whole point of making Fairy weak to Poison and Steel is to give those types an offensive niche, adding another would reduce the incentive to use them in the first place.

Give it a weakness to another crappy offensive typing like Bug, Psychic or Grass. I feel two weaknesses is a little low (except for Normal because it hits nothing for SE damage and three weaknesses would be too much).

 

[Bolt Strike]

I feel two weaknesses is a little low (except for Normal because it hits nothing for SE damage and three weaknesses would be too much).

Fairy is far from the only type with two weaknesses (Water, Electric, Poison, and Ghost would also need more weaknesses by that logic), and they can get by with two weaknesses as long as those two types are useful enough. I think it'd be better to balance Fairy with stronger Poison and Steel type moves and Pokemon as opposed to adding another weakness.

 

[ted]

And no, Dragon type is still one of the best types in the game and it's far, far from useless, still only has 3 weaknesses and only one type resists and another is immune to it, so that's 15 types being hit for neutral damage and one being hit for super effective damage which is itself. Also the dragon type pokemon have moves with high power (Outrage and Draco Meteor) and they have high base stats (with some very few exceptions).

That is a valid point. I guess not all hope is lost yet for Dragon types.

I think it'd be better to balance Fairy with stronger Poison and Steel type moves and Pokemon as opposed to adding another weakness.

I agree. Balance between the offense and the defense is the key, in my opinion.

 

[BlackButterfree]

Only issue have with Fairy is that it resists Bug. Did Bug really needed another type resisting it? The answer is no. Remove the Bug resistance and give it another weakness and all will be golden.

Well, it doesn't fit the Fairy theme. Fairies are all about nature, and the closest types to that are Grass and Bug, so it makes sense that nature (AKA Bug and Grass) would never harm a fairy. In fact, I'm kind of shocked that fairies aren't super-effective against grass or that grass isn't resisted by fairy. Either one would fit.

 

[Geodude]

There aren't that many powerful poison or steel type moves.

Gunk Shot, Poison Jab, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Belch, Metal Burst, Iron Head, Iron Tail, Meteor Mash, and Flash Cannon would disagree with you. They're all roughly equivalent in power to many of the most commonly used moves of other types.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Fairy types aren't over powered but I have an issue with it being super effective on Dragons. It doesn't make sense to me and the only decent fairy pokemon is Xerneas and Arceus with pixie plate. In my opinion, Fairy should never have been stronger than Dragons and I'll make sure my dragons have moves to counter them.

 

[Zeb]

My problem with Fairy is that it combines the best of both worlds in that it's super good offensively and super good defensively. There's no real weakness to it in that sense. You have types like Steel (good defensively, not that good offensively), Ice (good offensively, not good defensively), Fire (good offensively, not that bad defensively - has a lot of resists but really common weaknesses) while Fairy just has it made easy with both.

I don't think it's overpowered necessarily, but I think it could use another weakness to balance it out a little.

the only decent fairy pokemon is Xerneas and Arceus with pixie plate.

Mega Mawile is a beast. You take that back

 

[Matleo]

I think that they are ok, look at the stats for types in bulbapedia: Fairy (type) - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Fairies have weaker stat(Statistical averages) than most dragons and other types of pokemon, and steel and poison got a great buff.

Other types also get something when united with fairy in dualtyping, in good and bad way.

 

[Krash]

The only reason people claim Fairy types to be OP is because they FINALLY balanced out Dragon types. Remember Dragons in Gen 1? They wrecked EVERYTHING. How about the hate for Dark and Steel types when they first came out in Gen 2? No matter what Gamefreak does to try and add something new to the franchise, people bitch and moan because they don't like change.

Fairies are weak to steel and poison because they fit so well within the lore of magical creatures. You know who has access to Steel types? Bisharp. Ferrothorn. Mawile. Metagross. Aegislash. Klefki. Scizor. Lucario. Heatran. Excadrill.

And Poison? Nidoking. Nidoqueen. Crobat. Venusaur. Gengar. Roserade. Scolipede. Amoongus.

These pokemon all see their fair share of competitive play, and at least one can be found on most teams, or have been used on a prominent VGC team. Not to mention the attention these types get from Smogon.

The point is, there is nothing at all overpowered about fairy types. They took an otherwise stale metagame and added something new to shake it up, and in doing so made a heap of previously non-competitive pokemon viable for use in tournament play.

 

[Lufenium]

I don't see how they're 'OP' at all. Complaining that Fairy types are OP but not saying the same about dragons is foolish.

Fairy types alone are hardly OP. It's only the immunity to Dragon type moves that makes them stand out so much. I think the fact that a a single immunity is being called 'OP' says a lot about the way the metagame was before the Fairy type was introduced.

 

[LordGarcholf]

First it looked like adding Fairy-type made things more messy but practically they're not as bad as they seem by-the-book, how I see it.

In my opinion, Fairy should never have been stronger than Dragons and I'll make sure my dragons have moves to counter them.

Imho every type needs strong Pokemon to keep things interesting and it's also about how you use your Pokemon, but you have a point there - many Dragons (if not all?) can learn something to counter fairies! Fairies are slow and they're specially offensive and defensive, Dragons are fast, physically offensive and some even physically defensive - an Iron Head or Poison Jab can finish off a fairy usually. They're far from invincible but sure they can be frustrating.

Also, I think fairy type is a good addition (even as I like dragons more than fairies generally!) as you can't have perfect coverage for every possible team anymore and you'll have to do team-planning more than just having a dragon or two in your team! However fairies can learn moves to counter their common threats, which can be a problem but also an improvement to the past.
The sad fact is, every game which is constantly developed and people play against one another on the internet, there will always be inbalances and (people preferring certain things affects it too) - it's not only a mmorpg thing anymore - and even when one problem is fixed, another appears, maybe two, then they'll need to be fixed and eventually there's always another. Would we rather be stuck with the system that doesn't develop or develop our techniques with the changes?

Only issue have with Fairy is that it resists Bug. Did Bug really needed another type resisting it? The answer is no. Remove the Bug resistance

I agree. Bug type itself is a fragile one, offensively poor as you said and many Bug Pokemon are like mosquitos; slap and fainted unless they have a secondary type which wouldn't be Flying. So yeah, Fairies wouldn't have needed that Bug-resistance; only Gardevoir and Mr Mime would have an additional threat if they didn't resist bugs.

 

[BigBadButterfree]

I don't think fairy affected itself to be overpowered, it just affected everything else making them worse. As mentioned above, bug should have been shafted in its matchup against fairy. If anything, bug should have resisted fairy and done normal damage to fairy. I also think ice should have resisted fairy, but I guess they have no love for ice and bug types at all.

 

[Bolt Strike]

My problem with Fairy is that it combines the best of both worlds in that it's super good offensively and super good defensively. There's no real weakness to it in that sense. You have types like Steel (good defensively, not that good offensively), Ice (good offensively, not good defensively), Fire (good offensively, not that bad defensively - has a lot of resists but really common weaknesses) while Fairy just has it made easy with both.

I don't think it's overpowered necessarily, but I think it could use another weakness to balance it out a little.

Again, there's other types that have similar issues. Water is a good example, it only has 2 weaknesses to Electric and Grass and is good against some pretty common types.

Imho every type needs strong Pokemon to keep things interesting and it's also about how you use your Pokemon, but you have a point there - many Dragons (if not all?) can learn something to counter fairies! Fairies are slow and they're specially offensive and defensive, Dragons are fast, physically offensive and some even physically defensive - an Iron Head or Poison Jab can finish off a fairy usually. They're far from invincible but sure they can be frustrating.

I don't think there's a single type out there that Dragon couldn't learn something to counter. Some of these Dragons get very diverse movepools.

 

[Krash]

Every type has access to moves that can counter its weakness. It's just a matter of knowing how and when to use said move. Dragons desperately needed a nerf. The community has been saying it for years. Now that it's finally happened, a fair amount hate it. Because it's different.

And the designs...Well, if you don't like some of the designs for the Gen 6 fairies, tough luck. I think Reshiram looks like a fat fuzzy fox that's desperate for a hug, and Zekrom looks like a cereal mascot, yet here they are, both Dragon types. Give it a generation or two, and I'm sure we will see some wicked looking Fairy types.

Also keep in mind that the term "fairy" refers to any magical creature, including:

Elves
Banshees
Nymphs
Trolls
Valkyries
Gnomes
Sylphs
Elementals
Nephylim
Leprechauns
Orcs
Oni
Kijimuna
Wendigo


The list goes on. See the possibilities?

 

[ted]

I guess sometimes some people are okay with fairy types and some people aren't because of personal tastes. I use one dragon type on a team every game, and I find dragon types to be very useful. Poison and steel type Pokemon just do not seem very interesting to me, and there are many other Pokemon that are more interesting than the poison and steel type Pokemon (except for Skarmory; I enjoy having Skarmory on my team). That's just my personal taste. And so because I prefer to use Dragon types, Fairy type Pokemon are my enemy especially because Dragon type moves have zero effect on Fairy types. Additionally, I don't use Dragon types that know any steel or poison type moves because, again, of my personal preference, so that's a con in my Pokemon gameplay.

In no way am I saying that fairy types should be removed from the game. It's just that the way I see it, the Fairy type is now dominant over one of the most powerful types. Even though it may not have as high stats as the Dragon type, I see it as a type with notable power because the Fairy type is advantageous over the strong Dragon type type-wise.

 

[PaulTheProtist]

Woah, a BMGf topic that is like a GameFAQs topic.

Again, there's other types that have similar issues. Water is a good example, it only has 2 weaknesses to Electric and Grass and is good against some pretty common types.

So, there's another OP type. Doesn't give Fairy the excuse to be OP as well.

 

[Bolt Strike]

So, there's another OP type. Doesn't give Fairy the excuse to be OP as well.

And what about Ghost and Electric? This isn't something particularly uncommon, so it's not really a good argument for whether or not something is OP.