Poison Type Pokémon: Weaknesses and Strengths
Poison type Pokémon have a clear set of weaknesses, resistances and attacking strengths that determine how the Poison type behaves in battle. The basic chart is simple once you separate what a Poison move hits from what a Poison-type Pokémon takes damage from.
This page covers the full matchup for Poison type Pokémon, including what they are weak to, what they resist, what Poison attacks hit super effectively and the dual-type interactions that can turn an ordinary weakness into a four-times weakness or cancel it entirely.
Poison type Pokémon weaknesses and resistances
Poison type Pokémon Image The Pokémon Company International.
Poison type Pokémon are weak to Ground and Psychic. They resist Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug and Fairy. Poison gained an important offensive job when Fairy entered the series. It now has a clear role as a Fairy answer while retaining useful resistances to Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug and Fairy.
| Matchup | Types |
|---|---|
| Weak to | Ground and Psychic |
| Resists | Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug and Fairy |
| Immune to | None |
| Super effective against | Grass and Fairy |
| Attacks resisted by | Poison, Ground, Rock and Ghost |
| Attacks with no effect | Steel |
The defensive side of the Poison type is easiest to remember by separating weaknesses, resistances and immunities. A weakness means an ordinary move of that type deals double damage before other modifiers. A resistance normally halves damage. An immunity means the attack deals no damage through the standard type interaction.
What Poison type Pokémon are strong against
Attacks used by Poison type Pokémon are super effective against Grass and Fairy. That describes the move type, not automatically every move the Pokémon knows. A Poison-type Pokémon using a move from another type follows that other move’s effectiveness instead, which is why coverage moves matter.
Poison type Pokémon attacks are resisted by Poison, Ground, Rock and Ghost, and they have no effect on Steel. Knowing the resisted targets is just as useful as memorising strengths because it tells you when to switch moves instead of throwing a powerful attack into a bad matchup.
How dual typing changes Poison type Pokémon
Secondary typing can dramatically change the normal answer for Poison type Pokémon. If both types share a weakness, the incoming attack becomes four-times effective. If one type is weak while the other resists, the modifiers cancel to neutral damage. An immunity normally overrides the ordinary weakness or resistance calculation because multiplying the damage by zero leaves nothing to deal.
Steel is the hard stop for ordinary Poison attacks. Poison moves do zero damage to Steel Pokémon, so a Poison-focused attacker needs another answer. This is why checking the complete typing is safer than seeing Poison and immediately choosing the textbook counter.
Using Poison type Pokémon in a team
The best way to use the Poison type is to think in terms of jobs rather than simply matching colours on the type chart. A team may want the type for an immunity, for a resistance that creates a safe switch, or because its attacks cover an opponent the rest of the team struggles to damage.
Coverage matters in the other direction too. If your Poison Pokémon repeatedly attract one of their standard counters, a teammate that punishes Ground and Psychic attacks or Pokémon can make the whole group easier to use. Building around predictable interactions is more reliable than expecting one Pokémon to answer every matchup.
Common mistakes with Poison type Pokémon matchups
A common mistake is treating a Pokémon’s own type as if every move it uses shares that type. These Pokémon can learn attacks from many other types, and those moves use their own offensive effectiveness. The Pokémon’s typing still matters defensively, and same-type moves normally receive STAB, but the two ideas should not be mixed together.
Another mistake is forgetting that abilities and special mechanics can change a matchup. Levitate can provide a Ground immunity, abilities such as Flash Fire can alter Fire interactions, and game-specific mechanics can temporarily change a Pokémon’s type. The standard chart remains the starting point, but the battle state gets the final word.
One final point about the Poison type is that type effectiveness and STAB are separate. A Poison-type move used by a Poison-type attacker normally receives STAB, while super-effective or resisted damage is determined by the target. That is why a neutral STAB move can sometimes be stronger than a weaker coverage move even when the coverage move is super effective.
The official Pokémon battling guide covers weaknesses, resistances and dual-type modifiers. The official Pokédex entry for Ekans shows a Poison-type example and its listed weaknesses.
