Why do most players seem to have a bias against certain types?

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

I noticed something - most people seem to dislike some types such as Normal, Rock, Ground, Flying, Poison and Bug, despite every single one of them having their own pluses - Normal has only one weakness and the fact that only 3 types resist it is a weird form of blessing; Rock has the best move in the game, Stealth Rock, as well as great super-effective coverage; Ground has even better super-effective coverage plus Earthquake; Flying is probably the best offensive type competitively and Brave Bird is a great move; Poison got heavily improved this gen and is a great type defensively (because it resists Grass, Fairy and Bug); and lastly, Bug has some great abusers, such as Scizor and Mega Beedrill, but most of all great moves in U-turn, Megahorn and Quiver Dance.

Honestly these types are pretty cool eh?

 

[Embernight]

I used to hate Fighting, Rock, and Ground-types. I guess I just wasn't too fond of most of their designs at the time, and, not using many of these Pokemon, I was unfamiliar with their advantages and weaknesses. I would go into a battle against a Machop and not know how to counter it. Many of these are also found in caves, which I still hate to go through in the games, and then there's those times where I have to use Rock Smash, and I'm just thinking, "Please don't be a Geodude. Please don't be -Battle sequence starts- Darn. It's a Geodude..."
Now that I've started playing Pokemon again (stopped playing during Gen V), I'm trying to better acquaint myself with the other types I avoided as a kid by using them on my team.

 

[Frozen Lotus]

I don't really dislike any types, but when I'm specifically asked what my LEAST favorite types are there's a few that always come to mind, like...

Rock: Honestly, it's just the fact that Ground and Steel exist. Between the two of them, Rock feels like it stands out a little less. I still like that it exists, I KNOW it's good competitively, and there's a lot of Rock types I really like... but as a type it really just doesn't stand out to me and feels sort of... meh.

Flying: Love the concept, but there's a few problems here. For starters, it just doesn't feel like its own type. Only ONE Pokemon in the entire series is PURE Flying-type, and only one dual-type line is Flying primarily. Everything else has it added on as a secondary typing, like it's just an extra 'trait' or ability, rather than its own thing. There's also the name... I just find it silly. Why is it Flying? There are several Flying types that don't know how to fly at all. "Sky" type would make a lot more sense, or "Wind" type... since it really seems to be based on wind.

Ice: Most people who know me would expect this to be my FAVORITE type... but sadly it's not, entirely due to the potential it has. The problem is... Ice-types have very few uses because as a type itself it's awful defensively. Sure, it's nice to have STAB on an Ice move since Ice is so good offensively, but... it's usually just not worth it. What's worse is most decent Water-types learn the best Ice moves, and Water is an amazing defensive typing. I love Winter, snow, ice, and the cold as concepts and real world things... but in Pokemon it's just too under-utilized and at too big a disadvantage. I also dislike a large number of Ice-types' designs. There are some I really like, but... most of them just don't work for me or even irritate me a bit.

Normal: Plain and simple? It's boring. I like the idea behind it, and technically it's a really good type... but it's just kind of dull. It's like "Original" flavored potato chips. They're serviceable, there's nothing honestly terrible about them and they CAN be really good... but even when they are they're just so... ordinary. This, paired with the fact that their one weakness, the types that resist them, and the type that's immune to them are all VERY common, and since Normal has no resistances, that ONE immunity to a fairly uncommon offensive type doesn't really come in handy that often... especially when most Ghost types learn a lot of moves of other types to entirely compensate. I also don't care for most Normal-types' designs. There are a few I love, but most of them are just extremely forgettable to me... especially after a lot of them went Fairy.

 

[Meng Jiaxin]

Alright, I'll cover the types brought up in OP first, then move on to the typings I personally dislike.

Normal
I don't dislike it, especially since I use its moves quite often (Strength, False Swipe, Fake Out, Slash, Hyper Voice) , and it being neutral makes it quite safe to play with (as long as the Pokemon's basic stats are high enough). It just doesn't stand out enough for me to like it (although I love Eevee and Arceus, both which are normal type Pokemon).

Rock
As Frozen Lotus has mentioned, it feels very redundant as compared to Ground and Steel. That said, I do love Onix, Aerodactyl and Diancie, and fossils are a totally cool way of getting Pokemon.

Ground
I love ground typing. Especially since Earthquake is the safest defense my Gyarados has against its 4x Electric weakness. And Cubone has always been one of my favourites.

Flying
I love flying too. Other than the fact that my favourite Pokemon is Water/Flying, it is also very useful in triple battles and also gave rise to the amusing if gimmicky Sky Battles.

Poison
It is fairly useful I guess, but in battles I tend to go straight for the jugular and not try to wear the opponent down. Therefore, I really rarely use the Poison types, since it isn't all that good for OHKO and sweeping teams. However, I do love plenty of Poison type Pokemon, especially the snakes and flora.

Bug
I don't like bugs. It is just a real-life dislike and so it naturally translates into the game. Scyther is cool and Volcarona is awesome, but no.

Personally, I dislike:
Fighting
It is a very do-or-die typing and I personally like playing safe. It doesn't help that most of the Pokemon are too macho for me (I probably only care for Gallade and the Swords of Justice).

Steel
It is far too defensive for my taste, and once again very few metallic Pokemon appeal to me.

 

[Sun]

Biased is just a personal preference, it's like you like that food and the others don't.
I have my own favorite types as well as types that I like, but seriously there's no Pokémon type that I hate or dislike. I admit I didn't like the concept of Fairy-types upon introducing, though. :P

 

[esperance]

Yeah, it really comes down to personal preference for me. I've got nothing against the types and more against the designs of the Pokémon that have those types. Pokémon like Muk and Weezing just make me hate the Poison type. There's also the fact that some of the more popular types have some really strong Pokémon in them, and I like me the strong Pokémon.

 

[Lycanthropy]

It's all opinions. I'm personally a fan of magic and therefore like special attacking more than physical. Types that are just physically oriented are seem less interesting to me compared to the others.
Also, you mention pluses like Stealth Rock being a rock type move. That's totally true, but how often is it actually a rock type Pokémon that's the one that's laying those rocks? Rarely.

 

[Return]

Opinions are opinions, like i said everyone has it's own opinions some people dislike bug and some others are even hate legendary.I like every type, i don't hate or dislike any particular type but sometimes i differentiate between types like bug i don't considered them strong don't know why?

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

It's all opinions. I'm personally a fan of magic and therefore like special attacking more than physical. Types that are just physically oriented are seem less interesting to me compared to the others.
Also, you mention pluses like Stealth Rock being a rock type move. That's totally true, but how often is it actually a rock type Pokémon that's the one that's laying those rocks? Rarely.

Stealth Rock is a Rock-type move. Not only Rock-type mons count. And even then Tyranitar is very common in competitive play.

I don't really dislike any types, but when I'm specifically asked what my LEAST favorite types are there's a few that always come to mind, like...

Rock: Honestly, it's just the fact that Ground and Steel exist. Between the two of them, Rock feels like it stands out a little less. I still like that it exists, I KNOW it's good competitively, and there's a lot of Rock types I really like... but as a type it really just doesn't stand out to me and feels sort of... meh.

Flying: Love the concept, but there's a few problems here. For starters, it just doesn't feel like its own type. Only ONE Pokemon in the entire series is PURE Flying-type, and only one dual-type line is Flying primarily. Everything else has it added on as a secondary typing, like it's just an extra 'trait' or ability, rather than its own thing. There's also the name... I just find it silly. Why is it Flying? There are several Flying types that don't know how to fly at all. "Sky" type would make a lot more sense, or "Wind" type... since it really seems to be based on wind.

Ice: Most people who know me would expect this to be my FAVORITE type... but sadly it's not, entirely due to the potential it has. The problem is... Ice-types have very few uses because as a type itself it's awful defensively. Sure, it's nice to have STAB on an Ice move since Ice is so good offensively, but... it's usually just not worth it. What's worse is most decent Water-types learn the best Ice moves, and Water is an amazing defensive typing. I love Winter, snow, ice, and the cold as concepts and real world things... but in Pokemon it's just too under-utilized and at too big a disadvantage. I also dislike a large number of Ice-types' designs. There are some I really like, but... most of them just don't work for me or even irritate me a bit.

Normal: Plain and simple? It's boring. I like the idea behind it, and technically it's a really good type... but it's just kind of dull. It's like "Original" flavored potato chips. They're serviceable, there's nothing honestly terrible about them and they CAN be really good... but even when they are they're just so... ordinary. This, paired with the fact that their one weakness, the types that resist them, and the type that's immune to them are all VERY common, and since Normal has no resistances, that ONE immunity to a fairly uncommon offensive type doesn't really come in handy that often... especially when most Ghost types learn a lot of moves of other types to entirely compensate. I also don't care for most Normal-types' designs. There are a few I love, but most of them are just extremely forgettable to me... especially after a lot of them went Fairy.

1. Idk about you, but to me resisting both Fire AND Flying is invaluable. Yeah, Steel is definitely the best type defensively, but Rock does have its pluses here. Tyranitar and Rhyperior, for example, are ridiculously bulky on both sides (yes even rhyperior can take special hits!)

2. Yeah it bothers me that Tornadus is the only pure flying-type out there, since imo it is better than Normal/Flying due to it resisting fighting-type attacks. And yup Sky is a better name imo but I'm OK with Flying as well.

3. Ice-types (well, mostly Weavile, Mamoswine and Kyurem-Black) are what you see on very offensive teams, not water-types. Why? Having STAB on Ice-type moves is awesome, because most water-types will not OHKO the opposing grass-type and will be OHKOed in return. Even a Manaphy that uses Tail Glow can have problems. As for in-game, Weavile is still very good, and Mamoswine has STAB Earthquake which means you probably won't NEED a water-type.

4. The problem with normal-types is indeed the fact that they are boring, but they are good both offensively and defensively due to very few types actually being good against them.

 

[Hikamaru]

Opinions are opinions, like i said everyone has it's own opinions some people dislike bug and some others are even hate legendary.I like every type, i don't hate or dislike any particular type but sometimes i differentiate between types like bug i don't considered them strong don't know why?

He's pretty much summed up what I was about to say here. I do personally like to try out everything and while there are some types I use more than others, and each one does have its unique purposes in battle. As Unapologetic said, bias is just nothing more than your personal opinion.

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

Opinions are opinions, like i said everyone has it's own opinions some people dislike bug and some others are even hate legendary.I like every type, i don't hate or dislike any particular type but sometimes i differentiate between types like bug i don't considered them strong don't know why?

The thing is, from what I saw, that very few people like Rock-, Ground- or Poison-types compared to Water or Fire. That's what bothers me.

 

[Hiatus]

There's no single type that I particularly dislike, but there definitely are some combinations that I find myself staying away from every now and again, at least in-game. One example of this is grass-ice. Although it might seem like a unique match-up to some of us, it has around four to seven weakness in total, making Pokémon (within this type-group) more likely to be taken down by a single blow while battling. Not many players would consider this to be a good thing, haha.

 

[Frozen Lotus]

Stealth Rock is a Rock-type move. Not only Rock-type mons count. And even then Tyranitar is very common in competitive play.



1. Idk about you, but to me resisting both Fire AND Flying is invaluable. Yeah, Steel is definitely the best type defensively, but Rock does have its pluses here. Tyranitar and Rhyperior, for example, are ridiculously bulky on both sides (yes even rhyperior can take special hits!)

2. Yeah it bothers me that Tornadus is the only pure flying-type out there, since imo it is better than Normal/Flying due to it resisting fighting-type attacks. And yup Sky is a better name imo but I'm OK with Flying as well.

3. Ice-types (well, mostly Weavile, Mamoswine and Kyurem-Black) are what you see on very offensive teams, not water-types. Why? Having STAB on Ice-type moves is awesome, because most water-types will not OHKO the opposing grass-type and will be OHKOed in return. Even a Manaphy that uses Tail Glow can have problems. As for in-game, Weavile is still very good, and Mamoswine has STAB Earthquake which means you probably won't NEED a water-type.

4. The problem with normal-types is indeed the fact that they are boring, but they are good both offensively and defensively due to very few types actually being good against them.

Thing is, outside of Ice, the reasons I dislike these types more than other types largely have NOTHING to do with competitive usefulness. I'm well aware Rock-types can be very, very good, and in fact have enjoyed using them from time to time... the type simply doesn't suit me, and fails to keep my interest when Ground and Steel exist. And I do know Ice CAN be good, if used correctly, but I simply don't like the risks it carries, I almost always have Ice moves on my Water types, and I... don't like many of the designs of USEFUL Ice types.

However, if we ARE to speak of competitive use... Rock types still rarely benefit my teams because of how I play. Water is my favorite typing. It has a huge advantage over Fire-types and it commonly learns Ice moves, meaning I don't really need Rock's resistance to Fire or Flying types. I do, however, have some disadvantages against FIGHTING types as nothing I like to commonly run has a major advantage towards it, so Rock, Ice, and Normal would only add to that.

 

[Itcheeee]

I've always found those types (and Psychic even, but that got popular quickly) to be awesome and actually pretty powerful in reality. Especially Rock or Ground - Rhydon line is a great exsample.
Always wished Game Freak did more with Bug, Venipede was a step in the right direction though. Bug just seemed like a type to create an awesome Pokemon. Think Zygarde, if it was Bug type. Poison is also way under used in terms of existing Pokemon, and moves.
Then again, some of my first Pokemon had 'uncommon' types thanks to Collosseum :P

 

[Bounsweet]

I don't like Rock or Ground types at all except for a very, very select few like Gliscor. Fighting isn't my favorite but I like a fair amount of Fighting-types like Medicham, Blaziken, Mienshao, and now Mega-Lopunny. Normal is one of my favorite types too.

My least favorite types are Rock, Ground, and Poison. Although Poison is at least more useful now since it's super effective against Fairy.