How do we feel about dual type attacks?

[Bolt Strike]

And imagine that water/grass attack being used by a Ludicolo... x16 x1.5 for water stab, that's x24, and then another x1.5 for the grass stab, that's x36! and not to mention if it were raining, or something else to multiply the hell out of it. That poor Golem!

I forgot about STAB and everything else. Yeah, that would suck even more, but it's just an example to illustrate the concept (because I can't think of a more realistic one). Fortunately for Golem, most people that use one would give it Sturdy, so it'd be able to take that massive hit. Other Pokemon may not be so lucky, though.

And I just thought of one. What about Fire/Flying against Grass/Bug? Pokemon like Leavanny and Parasect would be screwed.

 

[みさあき]

no no, it would things more complicated than they really are. plus it would mess up the game. for example, let's use fighting spirit bullet. that is a fighting type move, but it's a special attack. but because it's special attack, they could easily also make a a psychic type move. so FSB is now a fighting/psychic type move. great! except it won't do anything against dark types now because of the extra element and i will only deal normal damage on rock, poison and steel types. it won't do anything against ghosts either.

see what i mean?

 

[Bolt Strike]

no no, it would things more complicated than they really are. plus it would mess up the game. for example, let's use fighting spirit bullet. that is a fighting type move, but it's a special attack. but because it's special attack, they could easily also make a a psychic type move. so FSB is now a fighting/psychic type move. great! except it won't do anything against dark types now because of the extra element and i will only deal normal damage on rock, poison and steel types. it won't do anything against ghosts either.

Spirit Bullet? WTF?

Are you talking about Aura Sphere?

 

[みさあき]

^^ was talking about focus blast.

 

[Cuddy]

Another part of it is how can we defeat a Gastly with a ice punch, can not if it is a part fighting type, that is fighting moves are ineffective against ghost Pokemon.

 

[Bolt Strike]

^^ was talking about focus blast.

They'd probably both be Fighting/Psychic anyway.

 

[Peppermint Phoenix]

If they made multi hit moves where each hit was a different typ it could work. Otherwise hell no

 

[Sakuraa]

You mean like a Golem being hit with a dual type water/grass attack. That wouldn't be nice. Let's just stick to single type attacks.

 

[ShadowDRGN]

Oh jesus, Dual type attacks would BREAK the damage calculator, it would have to add, like, 3 or 4 more modifiers to the already over-complicated system.

 

[AceTogeTrainer]

I feel like if this ever happened only a very select few moves will ever actually become dual typed. Like how for a little while it seemed like fire/water/grass pledge would be game altering but it just wasn't. It will at most be a novelty. Perhaps the final evolutions will each get a water/dark move, grass/fighting move and fire psychic move. and that will be it. nothing game changing, just a novelty

 

[KaiserLugia]

Some types could be two-typed, but that'll make matters even more complex and make some moves OP. I think it should remain as is, though not a bad idea, but a flawed one.

 

[Isaac Gravity]

Depending on what moves get dual typed this can be one hell of a ground leveler...or another mass monster genocide situation that yet again, compromises Pokemon who can't take it and won't receive any compensation for it.

I'm interested if true to say the least but this more leans on ending very, very badly when looking back and seeing how the series initially implements their game-changer stuff. That, and in my head, while all for the idea, one side of me keeps saying: hasn't Grass, Ice & Poison types suffered enough?

 

[Meophist]

Thinking about it, there's two primary ways dual-typed attacks can work:
First(A) is to apply the type effectiveness of each type of the attack onto the target Pokémon and multiply the results with the power of the move together.
Second(B) is to split the move into two, that is to say, treat the move as two half-power moves, each with its own type, and resolve the type effectiveness separately.

Under A, a Electric/Fighting Thunderpunch would deal no damage against the Rock/Ground Golem, 2x damage against the Water/Flying Gyarados, 4x damage against the Water/Rock Carracosta, normal damage against the Grass/Rock Cradily, and half damage against the Grass Tangrowth.

Under B, the same move will deal normal damage against the Rock/Ground Golem, 2 1/4x damage against the Water/Flying Gyarados, 2x damage against the Water/Rock Carracosta, 1 1/4x damage against the Grass/Rock Cradily, and 3/4 damage against the Grass Tangrowth.

A will generally allow for more extremes, while B will simply be more reliable. When thinking of how the attacks could logically work, B makes a bit more sense to me(a Ground-type, for example, could negate the Electric-type effects of a Thunderpunch easily, but still gets hit by the force of the punch itself). Calculating the effects will be more difficult either way. A would allow for situations such as a theoretical Fire/Flying attack hitting Leavanny for 16x damage, which feels a bit absurd.

 

[Almonds]

Maybe a few more moves similar to the Pledges but not dual-typed.

 

[Isaac Gravity]

@Meophist; Exactly. Your Type B is the most plausible approach in-terms of not only balancing out damage spread but also changing the tide of battles (as your example of a Thunderpunch vs. Ground-Type went). If Dual-type damage worked in this matter I'd be all for it.

But I have the sinking feeling they'll take the easy way out and go for the Type A approach. Which means another mass monster genocide for not supremely stat heavy dudes that simply need a little "oomph" here and there.

 

[Johnny Boy]

I really hate the idea of dual type attacks. It would just make things way to damn complicated than they need to be.

 

[Rithirh]

Duel-type moves is implausible for a game targeted towards children the age of 10. Honestly, I'm amazed GF was willing to split types by Atk and Sp.Atk.

 

[Stratelier]

Splitting physical and special attacks was a necessarily gameplay improvement. It changed the utility of a lot of Pokemon and (mostly) for the better -- e.g. it literally tripled the damage output of Hitmonchan's elemental punches, which were laughably weak in G2 and G3 as they were Special typed.

I'd say that whether a dual-type attack is plausible depends on whether its constituent elements overlap. For example, if Heat Wave is Fire+Flying then what happens if you use it on a Parasect? Fire+Flying vs. Grass+Bug = 16x damage? That would be obviously broken.

If you have a dual-typed attack whose elemental interactions don't overlap (like the aforementioned ThunderPunch, Electric+Fighting), then it's not so much an issue because against any single type the most you will see is a 2x modifier. It effectively acts like a new element.

Or perhaps dual-typed attacks would have different modifiers compared to the usual (single-typed) attacks.

 

[Rainbow]

Someone pointed this out...

How will a dual type fit?

 

[Stratelier]

Yeah, that's a good point.