The Science Behind Type Match-Ups

[TheFatPanda]

When I look at type advantages in the series, some of them make sense from a scientific standpoint:

Water beats fire: water puts out fire
Electric beats water: water conducts electricity
Fire beats grass: plant life can burn
Fire beats steel: steel can overheat becoming scolding hot
Fire beats ice: ice melts
Ice beats grass: plant life die off in the cold
Grass beats water: plant life live off water

But there are some I look at and I can't help but wonder why they work the way they do.

For instance, just what is it about flying types that makes them particularly vulnerable to electricity? Why are fairy types weak to poison? Why is dark super effective against ghost and psychic? Why are ghost and psychic super effective on eachother? Why are dragons vulnerable to fairy, ice, and itself? Why aren't ice types super effective against steel types?

 

[Verdite]

I can answer the psychic question. The Psychic type disadvantages are based off of common fears of people, such as the dark, bugs, and ghosts.

I'm guessing they made flying weak to electric because things higher in elevation have a higher chance of getting struck. That would not always work out, but I can see why they made it like that.

 

[Pinball Wizard]

Ice strong against Dragon: Dragons are reptiles. Reptiles are cold-blooded. They can't function well in extreme temperatures. Ice is extreme cold.

Of course, that raises the question of why Fire isn't very effective against Dragon...

 

[DasManiac]

Fairy being weak to Poison and Steel are traits of mythological Fairies. Poison being weak to Psychic is perhaps because Psychic type moves cleanse the body? Poison being weak to Ground is something I can not explain. Perhaps Earth is a natural counterpart to Poison? Dark is immune to Psychic because Dark type's minds are clouded/highly shielded and therefore Psychics can not penetrate them.

 

[Verdite]

Poison being weak to Psychic is perhaps because Psychic type moves cleanse the body? Poison being weak to Ground is something I can not explain.

I think that's true with Psychics. I figured poison is weak to ground because landfills usually hold some toxic waste, but that's a stretch.

 

[TheFatPanda]

I've always thought shouldn't ice really be super effective against steel?

Cold makes metals shrink in size, not to mention the frost makes them stiffer.

 

[CrystaI]

Then oppositely, steel shouldn't be vulnerable to fighting, as it is just...... hard to be break by bare hands.

It also doesn't make much sense that steel beat ice. What? Is it just because you can break the ice with any hard object?

 

[garrison-san]

I can answer the psychic question. The Psychic type disadvantages are based off of common fears of people, such as the dark, bugs, and ghosts.

I've never put any stock in that theory myself. For one thing, the "Dark" in Dark type does not refer to an absence of light.

 

[Steel_Justice]

Of course, that raises the question of why Fire isn't very effective against Dragon...

Well, there are quite a few reptiles that live in hot, dry areas like horned lizards, rattlesnakes, the gila monster and desert tortoise to name a few.

Now here are my theories:

Grass resists Electric because plant matter like wood is a poor insulator
Water beats Rock and Ground through erosion and those types are likely to be very hypotonic because of their typical habitats
Dark beats Ghost because Ghosts are pranksters and spooks but Dark types are more experienced with trickery and deceptions thus being able to beat Ghosts at their own game.
Poison beats Grass because plants generally don't handle poison and disease as well as other organisms
Electric beats Flying because a target in the air would take a harsher impact from a lightning strike since they aren't grounded.
Fighting beats Dark because a trained warrior is more skilled at combat than one who relies on cheating and trickery. A trained warrior also prepares and trains to prepare for opponents who don't play by the rules like Dark types.
Fairy beats Fighting because fairies look frail/innocent which would make an honorable fighter hold back and lower their guard which the deceptive and not so harmless fairy takes advantage of.
Fighting beats Rock and Steel because they train to break hard objects and when they attack Rock and Steel types they use their skills to turn their opponent's armor into shrapnel and drive it into their flesh.
Psychic beats Poison because a telekinetic can locate the poison containing organ and rupture it robbing the creature of its primary weapon and exposing it to its own toxins. In the case of living toxins like Muk a psychic could destabilize their molecular structure with less effort due to their amorphous bodies.
Fairy is weak to Poison and Steel because a bowl of poisoned milk and honey was a legendary trick to rid your property of unwanted fae and Iron was said to be poisonous and hot for fae to touch. Since Steel is an alloy made from Iron it applies to them too.

 

[FullMoon]

I can answer the psychic question. The Psychic type disadvantages are based off of common fears of people, such as the dark, bugs, and ghosts.

I've never put any stock in that theory myself. For one thing, the "Dark" in Dark type does not refer to an absence of light.

Keep in mind that the Dark type is called "Evil" in Japan, it being super-effective on Psychic and immune to it is likely because A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Read considering how Dark types likely have pretty nasty thoughts, making Psychics unable to do much against them. Besides, people do fear Evil.

 

[ArvAl]

What I don't understand is why Water types aren't at advantage to Steel? Shouldn't the water quickly rusting the metal objects if it was being putted for so long?

 

[garrison-san]

Besides, people do fear Evil.

People fear fire (traditionally more so than bugs, I would say) and yet Fire has no advantage over Psychic. In fact, every pokemon type has a fear factor somewhere, given that, by their very nature, they all evoke things and forces that can cause harm.

As for Evil specifically, the Dark type is called the "Aku" type in Japanese, which translates into the "Evil" type, although there's frequently a cultural mismatch in how people interpret that. Aku is not the Big E evil, as you seem to be implying, but sneaky, underhanded, deceitful crook kind of evil. You might argue that that's still something to be afraid of, but again, I would argue no more so than anything else in the pokemon world.

 

[Osprey]

Flying types are strong against Grass because birds tend to eat the fruit or use the leaves and branches for their nests... I guess.

Bugs, Dark types, and Ghosts are strong against Psychics because their creepy-crawly aspects prevent a Psychic type to focus their mind effectively.

Psychic is strong against poison because mind powers can expel toxins from a body (if I remember things correctly...)

Rock types are strong against fire because rocks are used to line something like a campfire, effectively preventing its spread.

Ground types have advantage over Fire because sand irl can be used to effectively put out small fires (even chemical ones in science lab)

Ice is NOT effective against Water because... well, have you ever seen what happens to an ice cube when you put it in a glass of room-temperature water? It usually melts...

Normal can't harm Ghosts because an ordinary corporeal body can't physically interact with a spiritual essence, and vice versa.

Dragons are strong against themselves because their own power is one of the few things that can match them.

Steel is supereffective on Ice because it's easy to picture a metal icepick being used to shatter ice.

Ice is NOT supereffective vs. Steel because the whole "brittle when cold" isn't as obvious to see compared to most other type matchups.

Not too sure why Fairy's weak to Poison, but the Steel weakness has its roots in fairies themselves; iron was said to be burning-painful for them to touch.

 

[Stoutlandia]

The fact that ice isn't super effective against rock doesn't make sense to me. I get that rock can't have too many weaknesses for balance purposes but glacial erosion should be reason enough that ice is super effective, i'm assuming ground and water are super effective for the same reason ice should be.

 

[Twinkles the Marvel Horse]

If I'm not mistaken, in common fairy tales and folklore, fairies will often die out with the poisoning of that which they live for and/or protect (such as a forest). So that may explain the logic behind Poison being good against fairies.

As for steel being good against fairies, there have probably been better explanations above, but I'd like to think of it more principally and out of the box. With the introduction of the age of technology and industry, culture and folklore has become something of a thing of the past; as such, the steel of more mechanized pokemon shuts out the fairies' powers.

 

[GhostFingers]

Flying types are strong against Grass because birds tend to eat the fruit or use the leaves and branches for their nests... I guess.

Psychic is strong against poison because mind powers can expel toxins from a body (if I remember things correctly...)

Same for bugs eating fruit and using leaves for nests.

I believe in the theory that Psychic > Poison is a reflection of a thing called spiritual healing. (I think i mentioned this in a similar thread)

 

[LordSeliph]

Bug>Dark, Psychic-Insects, being primitive creatures, have small brains, and thus, are likely incapable of sensing fear
Ground>Elec=The solid earth does not conduct electricity
Steel/=/Elec-Metal used for industrial purposes are not good conductors
Elec>Water=Water, on the other hand, is a good conductor, you do the math

 

[GhostFingers]

What I don't understand is why Water types aren't at advantage to Steel? Shouldn't the water quickly rusting the metal objects if it was being putted for so long?

Oxidation (rusting) is not a particularly quick process. But then, nor is wearing away stone. Sometimes you get stainless steel, etc. It's not a simple match-up with many variables. I don't think Steel should deal not very effective damage though, because although it might seem futile to stab a river with a sword, a steel bowl could scoop up water. Also think about aquatic fauna (fish, amphibians) that can be damaged by a blade just as easily as any other creature or person.

 

[Steel_Justice]

Been trying to make a theory of why Dark is weak to Bug but deals normal damage to it. My theory is that the movements used by a Bug and their attacks strange are difficult to read compared to other types and when the deceptive Dark type tries to predict their movements (because it would be essential to predict your opponent when your main weapon is trickery) they are caught off guard because their opponent moves in ways they are not used too. On the other hand a giant insect is just as susceptible to biting and ambush attacks as anything else. In real life it can be pretty difficult to predict what an insect will do, anyone who's tried to swat a fly can tell you that.