Discussion: Type reviews

In this thread, I will be reviewing each of the types of pokemon; going into detail about what they are and their relationships with other types, as well as briefly going over how they play out in the competitive metagame.

What each review will cover:

• The type's general flavour and attributes.
• The type's matchups and its ability to mix with other types.
• The moves associated with the type.
• The pokemon that represent the type.
• How the type stacks up against the other types in effectiviness.

Disclaimers:

• This will not cover Ultra Sun/ Ultra Moon and I have no plans on covering them in the immediate future because I am not interested in playing them.
• I am not familiar with the Gen VII metagame, as I stopped following the pokemon metagame since the beginning of ORAS. If players who are more familiar with the metagame are interested in providing more information on the type's performance in the current metagame, please by all means do so.

Without a further ado, here's the first review to kick this series off:


What a better way to kick off the series than to begin covering the most generic and ordinary type in the game; Normal. The second-most common Pokemon type and the most common move type, Normal is renowned for being... average everywhere - Normal's attributes all make it feel and play like a generic type. Near Neutral type matchups across the board, representatives mostly being generic animals, etc. Normal has no real strengths or attributes, but it doesn't really have any major weaknesses... well when not playing in competitive where the generic nature of the type hurts the type's performance.
Normal is primarily given to pokemon based off ordinary mammals, birds and reptiles that have no connection with other types and is given to moves that have no special characteristics to them. More recently, it's been increasingly been given out as a "filler" type to mammalian or reptile pokemon who would otherwise have only one type for the better or worse. It is also the general catch-all type; the type that is decided to be given to a pokemon or a move when no other type can be given. I will be covering more on that later.

The Normal type has neutral matchups against all types; except Fighting, Rock, Steel and Ghost. It is weak to Fighting, Rock and Steel both resist Normal and Normal and Ghost are immune to each other.
Theory behind matchups:

• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Normal can't do much to Rock
• 
  vs
  
  (No Effect) - Normal can't sense Ghost
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Normal struggles to break Steel.
• 
  vs
  
  (Super Effective) - Disciplined Fighting beats Normal defenses.
• 
  vs
  
  (No Effect) - Ghost does not affect Normal.

Being a catch-all type, I can't really see Normal meshing with other types (with the one exception of Flying, as Normal/Flying is the type of ordinary birds) well from a flavour perspective in most cases. Most often it is added to a pokemon of another type to give it an additional STAB and an immunity to Ghost at the expense of taking up a weakness to Fighting. This has mixed results on the pokemon and best results come from it being used defensively - that immunity to Ghost when combined with types normally weak to it like Psychic is valuable. But then there are pokemon it harms more than helps, by either exaggerating an already long line of common weaknesses (eg. Normal/Dark) or the type being near-useless in granting coverage while gaining a bad weakness or trading off a valuable resistance (eg. Normal/Flying).
Note: I would love to see Gamefreak make a Normal/Ghost Pokemon and see where they go with it. It's completely immune to the currently unresisted Ghost/Fighting combo, has wide Neutral coverage (losing out only to Ghost/Normal and a select few pokemon like Tyranitar and Bisharp) and is weak to only Dark. The two types just synergism so well... at least on paper.

As there is such a large pool of Normal type moves, there are a lot of options to choose from for Normal types. Outside the status moves, there are however a clear pattern for what Normal type moves are.
Physical moves: Very common and widespread. Generic physical attacks with no special attributes, mostly being able to be done with just physical force. Generic slashes, pounding, kicking, etc.
Special moves: Uncommon and the good ones are restricted to certain pokemon. Mostly sound-based attacks like Hyper Voice.
Normal offensive moves rarely come with worthwhile effects but the ones that do are commonly used by Normal pokemon, particularly Body Slam for it's high chance of causing paralysis. Because of Normal's poor Super Effective coverage, it is rarely used for coverage. Non-Normal types may use Boomburst for sheer power with no nasty drawbacks, Explosion to kamikaze into their enemy for heavy damage and when the Pokemon has no options for coverage other than Normal but otherwise Normal-typed coverage is not used.
Normal Type moves are also subject to type conversion through various means, particularly through the abilities Refrigerate, Aerialate and Pixiliate. Pokemon with these abilities using Normal type moves find that those moves become the type corresponding to the ability and gain a boost in power on top of it.

As mentioned before; Normal is the type associated with standard mammals, birds and reptiles - most representatives are either the above with no special characteristics or are pokemon who can't be placed in any particular type. It is sometimes paired with mammals or reptiles who are of other types to give them a "filler" secondary typing so they won't just have one type.
Normal also consists of pokemon that do not fit into any other type; namely pokemon who revolve around changing types like Keckleon and for weird pokemon who can't be any other type like Lickitung or Chansey.
It is due to these normal traits that most Normal types don't function very well in the metagame in general and end up in the low tiers. They can't hit anything for Super Effective damage with their Normal STAB and they have little to no resists - traits which are not desired in the metagame. The only Normal types that are effective at the top level of the metagame bring something else to the table, like Mega Lopunny's Normal/Fighting STABs paired with Scrappy or Chansey's obscene Special bulk. Normal types are common in the lower tiers, where Dragons barely see any use due to either being used too much to be low tier or are outright banned from the tier. There, they fufil a similar niche to what Dragons do in the higher tiers in being offensive threats without many pokemon resisting their coverage.

Notable representatives:
Chansey and Blissey - Highly effective Special Attack sponges. Are known for killing any momentum the battle has when deployed in Singles. Chansey can use Evolite to become become much bulkier while Blissey has a usable Special Attack stat for catching opposing pokemon off guard with a surprise Blizzard or Fire Blast to the face.
Ditto - Can morph into other pokemon, can do so instantaneously when sent in thanks to it's hidden ability in Imposter.
Eevee - A fan favourite pokemon. Has many possible evolutions.
Smeargle - For it's gimmick in being able to learn every move in the game... even if it can't attack to save its life.
Porygon 2 - Annoyingly bulky Evolite user with good defensive and offensive abilities.
Keckleon - Notable for it's only gimmick in Colour Change.
Porygon Z - Insane Special Attack, powerful offensive abilities, wide offensive movepool.
Arceus - Highest Base Stat Total of any Pokemon in the game; at 720. Can change to any type depending on the plate it holds.
Furfrou - Possesses Fur Coat, giving it one of the highest Defense stats of any pokemon in the game.
Silvally - Being an attempt to replicate Arceus by man.

Compared to other types, Normal stacks up rather poorly. Despite its wide movepool especially for status moves; their middling attributes and very often often weak represntatives don't lend the type any strengths, which are desired more than a lack of weaknesses in the metagame.

Offensive rating: 5/10

• 
  Criteria: Based off what the type covers for Neutral and Super Effective Damage and how viable the type is for non-STAB coverage

Defensive rating: 5/10

• 
  Criteria: Based off what weaknesses and resistances the type comes with and how they impact on the type's ability to stall or play defensively

Supportive rating: 8/10

• 
  Criteria: Based off what support options the type has and how effective they are. This includes both Status Moves and support options granted through Attacking Moves

Overall: 5/10

Fascinating idea! I like the effort that went into that detailed writeup, interested in seeing the next one :)

Continuing on from the Normal type we have the most common pokemon type in the game: Water. The type most known for being annoying to both encounter due to how often you encounter pokemon in the numerous surfing portions of the games and for being one of the most annoying types to fight thanks to how bulky they often are. Well, aside from that, Water Pokemon are generally known for being balanced or bulky; the latter of which is generally more effective in the metagame. Given out to every pokemon that lives in the water and to nearly every pokemon that has a strong connection with water, it is no surprise that it is the most common type in the game.

The Water type deals Super Effective damage against the Fire, Rock and Ground types and is resisted by itself, Grass and Dragon. Water takes Super Effective damage from Grass and Electric attacks and it resists itself, Fire, Ice and Steel. All other matchups are neutral.
Theory behind matchups:

• 
  vs
  
  (Super Effective) - Water douses Fire
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Water does not really affect itself.
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Grass absorbs Water
• 
  vs
  
  (Super Effective) - Water washes Ground away
• 
  vs
  
  (Super Effective) - Water erodes Rock.
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Dragons are resistant to most elemental powers
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - It takes a lot of heat to boil water.
• 
  vs
  
  (Super Effective) - Grass absorbs Water.
• 
  vs
  
  (Super Effective) - Water conducts Electric, adversely affecting those living within.
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Ice does little to freeze beyond the surface of Water.
• 
  vs
  
  (Resisted) - Steel has difficulty cutting through Water.

Simply being a type that is attached to any pokemon with a strong connection with Water, the Water type can pair up with any other type and do so in a way that makes perfect sense. Water/Ice for water animals living in icy regions, Water/Poison for the numerous poisonous animals living in the water, Water/Psychic for water animals possessing high intelligence, etc. Even the apparently most contradictory combination; Water/Fire, can be perfectly explained if the pokemon is themed around steam, geysers or hot springs. In regards to overall performance, Water's few weaknesses and strong resistances make it a prime defensive type to combine with other things. Water/Ground, Water/Dragon, Water/Steel and Water/Fairy are potent defensive type combinations while Water much appreciates types appreciate having Ice, Fighting, Steel or Fairy offensively. However, defensive Water types really do not appreciate being part Ice or Rock; which hamper the pokemon's defensive abilities while offensive Water types don't really need Grass or Bug STABs for the amount of overlap in coverage it produces.

There is a very sizeable pool of Water type moves present in the game, many of which are powerful or useful moves. However, there are very few good support moves available from the type.
Physical moves: Overall uncommon and most are restricted to physical Water types, but a majority of Water types can learn Waterfall. This side of the type's moveset have to deal with physical attacks that use water as part of the attack.
Special moves: Very common and widespread among Water types; almost all water types learning the basic Special Water STABs like Water Gun, Surf and Hydro Pump. This side of the type's moves are mostly moves that deal with the movement of Water.
Water doesn't have a special effect most commonly associated with the type, but Scald is very commonly used for its high chance of burning the target. Water is commonly used as Special coverage on non-Water types that have access to that type of move for scoring Super Effective damage against common offensive types. It is not common as physical coverage because Ground also hits Fire and Rock, among other types, for Super Effective damage.

As mentioned above, the Water type corresponds to pokemon that are either aquatic or are heavily tied with water in some way. This includes pokemon of all shapes and sizes and equally as varied stat lines. Though, they tend to lean onto the bulkier side of things; showing the defensive highlights of the type.
These balanced traits that the type has makes it a fairly common type used in the high metagame. The resistances the Water type has combined with the strong offensive coverage makes it a desirable type for offensive and defensive pokemon alike makes it one of the better types to have. However, due to the sheer quantity of Water types, most of the weak ones wallow in the depths of the low tiers where they can do little to set themselves apart from each other. That said, most of them are quite useful ingame despite how low they are in the metagame.

Notable representatives:
Starmie - Top-class offensive and supportive pokemon.
Magikarp - For being so weak that it is regarded as a meme.
Marill, Azumarill - Marill for effectively being Generation II's mascot, taking the role of Pikachu in the generation. Azumarill for being a bulky threat and hits extremely hard.
Swampert - Strong defensive typing, good bulk, reliable offenses.
Rotom (Wash) - Fantastic defensive typing, powerful support movepool, annoyingly bulky.
Manaphy - Good bulk, powerful setup moves, Hydration to keep it healthy under rain.
Jellicent - Strong bulky water; reliable recovery, strong support movepool, good defensive typing.
Volcanion - Strong offenses, decent bulk, powerful offensive and defensive typing.
Toxapex - Insane bulk, great defensive typing, powerful stall moves.

In comparison to the other types in the metagame, Water stacks up quite well. It has a nice mix of offensive traits and defensive traits despite it lacking badly in support moves. A number of strong threats are of the Water type or have Water type offensive coverage.

Offensive rating: 7/10

• 
  Criteria: Based off what the type covers for Neutral and Super Effective Damage and how viable the type is for non-STAB coverage

Defensive rating: 9/10

• 
  Criteria: Based off what weaknesses and resistances the type comes with and how they impact on the type's ability to stall or play defensively

Supportive rating: 4/10

• 
  Criteria: Based off what support options the type has and how effective they are. This includes both Status Moves and support options granted through Attacking Moves

Overall: 7/10