This list explores the top 10 best Pokemon type combos in the world of Pokemon which now includes over 900 known species and 18 different types.
With so many unique Pokemon, there are nearly endless type combinations — some of which are VERY useful when it comes to battling, and some that are not.
10. Dark / Ghost
There are only two Pokemon that sport the defensively-useful Dark/Ghost typing: Sableye and Spiritomb. It's unfortunate, because this dual type combination only has one weakness — fairy type — and sports some nifty immunities. It deserves more love!
Neither Sableye nor Spiritomb have good enough stats to really take advantage of their special typing, although Sableye has a trick up its sleeve in the form of it's ability, 'Prankster', which allows status moves to take priority in battle. Sableye also has the added benefit of being able to mega-evolve, giving it some use competitively.
Defensive weaknesses: 1
Fairy
Defensive advantages: 4
Immune to fighting type, normal type and psychic type. Resists poison type.
Offensive advantages: 2
Super-effective against psychic type and ghost type.
Notable Dark/Ghost type Pokemon: Sableye
9. Water / Flying
Water and flying types have good defensive synergy because they each negate some of the others weaknesses. Water negates flying's debilitating ice type weakness and flying negates water's (less prominent) grass type weakness.
Overall, water/flying dual typing has only two weaknesses: rock type and electric type. The rock type weakness is painful in competitive battling due to the ever-prominent stealth rock entry hazard. The electric type weakness is actually 4x effective, and electric type moves are popular on many Pokemon for coverage.
Defensive weaknesses: 2
Electric (4x), Rock
Defensive advantages: 6
Immune to ground type. Resists fire, water, fighting, bug and steel types.
Offensive advantages: 6
Super-effective against fire, ground, rock, grass, fighting and bug types.
Notable Water/Flying Type Pokemon: Gyarados, Pelipper, Mantine
Read more: The TOP 5 Best Pokemon of each type - ranked
8. Poison / Dark
Poison and Dark dual typing is another combination with great defensive synergy. These two types do a great job of masking each other's weaknesses so they're left with just one: ground type. Unfortunately, ground type is a very common and powerful offensive type in the competitive battling metagame due to the prevalence of earthquake and earth power as coverage moves.
Defensive weaknesses: 1
Ground
Defensive advantages: 5
Immune to psychic type. Resists grass, poison, ghost and dark types.
Offensive advantages: 4
Super-effective against grass, fairy, psychic and ghost types.
Notable Poison/Dark Type Pokemon: Alolan Muk, Drapion
7. Flying / Steel
The steel typing in the flying and steel type dual combination negates flying type's serious weakness to rock type. This is incredibly important due to the ever popular entry hazard, stealth rock, which seriously wears down most flying type Pokemon over time.
The flying typing in the flying and steel type dual combination negates steel's weaknesses to fighting and ground. Flying type is completely immune to ground type which is a great boon to the defensive prowess of this combination.
Defensive weaknesses: 2
Fire, electric
Defensive advantages: 10
Immune to ground and poison. Resists normal, grass, flying, psychic, bug, dragon, steel and fairy types.
Offensive advantages: 6
Super-effective against ice, rock, fairy, grass, fighting and bug types.
Notable Flying/Steel Type Pokemon: Skarmory, Corviknight
6. Electric / Flying
The electric and flying dual type is blessed with some really useful defensive and offensive advantages. Defensively, its immunity to ground type and resistances to fighting and flying types make switching in and taking hits easy. Offensively, its effectiveness against water, flying and fighiting types are key to KO-ing popular threats.
Unlike some of the other good type combinations, electric/flying actually has some powerful Pokemon stat-wise at its disposal, which makes it even easier to add to your team, and one of the reasons it out-ranks some of the other combinations.
Defensive weaknesses: 2
Ice, rock
Defensive advantages: 6
Immune to ground type. Resists grass, fighting, flying, bug and steel types.
Offensive advantages: 5
Super-effective against water, flying, grass, bug and fighting types.
Notable Electric/Flying Type Pokemon: Zapdos, Thundurus
5. Fairy / Steel
Fairy and steel dual typing is one of the best defensive combinations on this list with a whopping 11 total immunities and resistances. Some of the really useful defensive advantages include its immunity to dragon type and resistances to ice, flying, rock and fairy types. This is because of the high number of dragon and flying type in the competitive battling metagame and the popularity of moves such as ice beam and stealth rock.
Aside from its defensive abilities, fairy/steel type boasts important offensive advantages over popular fighting, dragon and fairy types.
Defensive weaknesses: 2
Fire, ground
Defensive advantages: 11
Immune to dragon and poison types. Resists normal, grass, ice, flying, psychic, bug, rock, dark and fairy types.
Offensive advantages: 6
Fighting, dragon, dark, ice, rock, fairy
Notable Fairy/Steel Type Pokemon: Klefki, Magearna, Mawile
4. Bug / Steel
In my opinion, bug/steel type is one of the most unique and surprising of all the best Pokemon type combinations because you don't traditionally think of bug typing as very useful. But, it works really well with steel typing because they balance out each other's weaknesses. In fact, it's one of the best defensive type combinations in the game!
Its one main drawback is its compounded 4x weakness to fire type, which is problematic due to popular coverage moves like flamethrower and fire blast.
Defensive weaknesses: 1
Fire (4x)
Defensive advantages: 9
Immune to poison type. Resists normal, grass, ice, psychic, bug, dragon, steel and fairy types.
Offensive advantages: 6
Super-effective against grass, psychic, dark, ice, rock and fairy types.
Notable Bug/Steel Type Pokemon: Scizor, Genesect, Durant, Forretress, Escavalier
3. Grass / Steel
Much like bug/steel typing, the grass and steel type combination is equally surprising and useful. Ironically, it has a compounded 4x weakness to fire types, too.
Its greatest defensive advantages lie in its resistance to popular and powerful offensive types like water, electric, dragon and fairy. With the right stats, grass/steel type Pokemon like Ferrothorn can easily tank moves like hydro pump, thunderbolt, outrage and moonblast. Switch-in and setup opportunities are easy to come by!
But, grass/steel isn't a slouch on offense either! Its attacking advantages over the ever-popular fairy, water and ground types are equally useful.
Defensive weaknesses: 1
Fire (4x)
Defensive advantages: 10
Immune to poison type. Resists normal, water, electric, grass, psychic, rock, dragon, steel, and fairy types.
Offensive advantages: 5
Super-effective against ice, rock, fairy, water and ground types.
Notable Grass/Steel Type Pokemon: Ferrothorn, Kartana
2. Water / Ground
One of my favorite type combinations is water/ground because it has amazing offensive and defensive type synergy.
Defensively, it only has one weakness to grass type. Although it's a 4x weakness, grass type is one of the least-prevalent types offensively which makes it a little easier to stomach than some of the other 4x weaknesses we've seen on this list.
Offensively, both water and ground types are two of the most popular and useful in the game due to their effectiveness over other common types.
Defensive weaknesses: 1
Grass (4x)
Defensive advantages: 5
Immune to electric type. Resists fire, poison, rock and steel types.
Offensive advantages: 6
Super-effective against fire, ground, rock, electric, poison and steel types.
Notable Water/Ground Type Pokemon: Swampert, Gastrodon, Seismitoad
1. Water / Fairy
Overall, water and fairy's dual type combination has nice offensive and defensive balance and its advantages are against some of the (other) best types in the game.
It boasts an amazing immunity to dragon type and useful resistances to fire, water, ice and fighting types. This is important due to the popularity of dragon type Pokemon in the competitive metagame and popular moves like flamethrower, hydro pump, ice beam and close combat.
On offense, water and fairy are two of the absolute best types because they're super effective against other popular and powerful types like fire, ground, fighting and dragon types.
Defensive weaknesses: 3
Electric, grass, poison
Defensive advantages: 7
Immune to dragon type. Resists fire, water, ice, fighting, bug and dark types.
Offensive advantages: 6
Super-effective against fire, ground, rock, fighting, dragon and dark types.
Notable Water/Fairy Type Pokemon: Azumarill, Primarina, Tapu Fini