What are the most balanced types?

[winstein]

It is often that we talk about less useful types that are in need of a change to make it better, such as the Grass-type and the Ice-type. It is easy to see why: the types as presented are at an unbalanced disadvantage in the Type Chart, among other factors. On the other hand, there are certain types that are instead at an unbalanced advantage, and the most popular types under this category are the Water- and Dragon-type. There's even a recent thread about how Fairy-types are powerful and in need of toning down its advantage (though it's something I disagreed with).

Now let's take the opposite direction, and figure out which types are currently the most balanced, since that's something that's not being talked about quite often. Here are my opinions:

1) Dark-type - The Dark-type was created as a counter to the Psychic-type, as evidenced by its immunity to them. Even then, it didn't feel like the type itself is overbearing. Its creation certainly controlled the Psychic-type usage, but it is also to encourage Fighting-types by (at that time) having a type advantage over them. It essentially created another elemental triangle between them. Another type that the Dark-type had an advantage over is the Ghost-type, which is more significant now since it is one of two types to resist Ghost, and the only one with a type advantage. The Dark-type also contained a weakness to Bug-types, which contained few super-effective targets. With the Fairy-type being introduced, it is granted an advantage over Dark-types, which is a good thing since overall Dark-types are more powerful now that they are not resisted by Steel.

2) Fire-type - Certainly, Fire-types are weak to Rock, so they are weak to the most common hazard ever: Stealth Rock. However, it's not common for somebody to fault the Fire-type for being useless (just the move Stealth Rock, but that's not the discussion here). Looking at the big picture, Fire is a balanced type. They host some of the most powerful attacks on the Physical and Special front, but there are enough types to keep them in check. They resist some useful types like Ice, Fairy and Fire itself, but are also weak to some common types like Ground and, as mentioned earlier, Rock. The Fire-type shares the Grass attack Solar Beam that hits Water, Rock and Ground super-effectively, but since it's best used in Sun (Fire-types' preferred weather), it's doesn't pressure its weaknesses all the time due to the temporary nature of the weather.

3) Ghost-type - Although on paper, this type has a lot of advantages, including two immunities and having the best coverage offensively (14 neutral + 2 super-effective), and also trapping immunity, it never felt like it is a very overbearing type, unlike Dragon. On the offence, their attacks are not quite powerful, where the universal ones Shadow Ball and Shadow Claw hitting a modest power range. Hex is the most powerful attack in this regard, but that requires status (so it's not always powerful). As a result, they may hit neutrally but they don't always hit hard. On the defence, their only resistances are shared among other types, making them best used for the immunities instead. Even then, there's an ability and moves that bypasses the immunity entirely. Trapping immunity is certainly useful, but it is also a prime target for Pursuit, which hits them super-effectively and will still hit them.

What are the more balanced types among the current 18 types?

Thanks for reading.

 

[Matleo]

balanced?hmmm?
nice done.

I would say fighting and flying seem balanced enough or not?

 

[winstein]

balanced?hmmm?

nice done.

I would say fighting and flying seem balanced enough or not?

What I mean by balanced in this case is the type that doesn't require as much of a fix as certain unbalanced ones, either making them stronger or weaker overall.

In my opinion (my opinion), Fighting seems to be reasonably balanced. They have some of the most powerful attacks and can hit a fair number of types super-effectively. If that's not all, they have access to coverage options to hit the would-be counters super-effectively. That might sound like they aren't very balanced at all, but we have three different types that can counter them now (Psychic, Flying and Fairy), and they ave different weaknesses, so Fighting cannot target them all at once. Not only that, its main STAB is resisted by 5 types and 1 immunity, so it's not short of answers either. Basically their main STAB is powerful and they are sure to come with coverage, but they also cannot cover for the 6 types that resist them. On the defensive side, they have good resistances similar to Ground, and they resist a couple of key types, especially Dark which is powerful offensively. This makes them decent defensively since they are not useless defensively, but have enough types to keep them in check. If you ask me this in Generation 5, I am not entirely sure, but I imagine it's not as balanced as now.

Flying is difficult for me to say. Unlike Fighting, I actually think Flying is not balanced, at an unbalanced advantage. The main thing stemming from this is its favourable match-up in the type chart, along with having powerful attacks, so they can even pressure their checks very badly. Heat Wave is also one of the common coverage for bird Pokemon that have high Special attack (but otherwise, they aren't known for their coverage). I feel that either Flying lose one super-effective coverage, or more type(s) resist them. On the defence they don't seem to be as bad. But overall they are at an advantage offensively.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Matleo]

I would rather try to think if it is posibble even to balanced all types out so that there are in perfect balance type wise?
I think not, thats why we have movesets and abilities to make that out.

we have ofensive types, defensive types, speed types but think that evey type has its diffrent representatnts that always willl break that rule and change also the role and balance of each type...

and how dual type pokemon effect that balance?

 

[winstein]

I would rather try to think if it is posibble even to balanced all types out so that there are in perfect balance type wise?
I think not, thats why we have movesets and abilities to make that out.

we have ofensive types, defensive types, speed types but think that evey type has its diffrent representatnts that always willl break that rule and change also the role and balance of each type...

and how dual type pokemon effect that balance?

It would be very difficult to balance all types, I can say for sure, since having 18 types is difficult to properly balance, as opposed to having like 3 or 4. I thought that there are types that have closer advantages and disadvantages that they appear balanced.

One thing you have a point about is that a Pokemon have movesets and abilities to make up for their disadvantage (not to mention their statistics). Tangrowth is one example: it is a Grass-type, which is weak to several types and its STAB is resisted by a lot, but it has a wonderful ability and a flexible selection of moves, making it into one of the best Pokemon in Singles at least.

I guess it's easier to talk about fixing a type than to determine if a certain type requires the least fixing.

Dual types is another matter since they make things complex, but in my opinion, dual types tend to be better than single types because they have the benefit of two types instead of one. The sum of two types are more than its parts, as while it shares the weakness of two types, it has hidden advantages like not being weak to a certain type (Grass/Poison losing weakness to Ground, Bug and Poison, for example).

Thanks for reading.

 

[Almonds]

I think Electric and Ghost are the most balanced types.

 

[Sana]

I think Ground type is a pretty good balance in itself for an "offense-centered" type. It is everywhere, but that's not necessarialy a bad thing.
Ground is considered an important type due to its interactions with Steel, Electric, and (after Fairy was introduced) Poison. Anything good against Steel speaks for itself, while with the other two I get the impression that a lot of its point is "countering", and kind of closing type cycles, more so than with other types. Steel is popular for walls, Electric is mostly used for taking down a strong type, and Poison is a bit of both. It's also why you can see Ground just about anywhere, it pairs really well with generally good types.
Despite being very good at key moments it also has some key drawbacks, namely Water and a Flying immunity. The Flying immunity to it hits pretty hard since Ground is primarily an offensive type. While it almost assuredly will hit back with Rock coverage, an immunity still wastes your turn... But then that there are many other ways to gain this immunity too and that they won't fall to its coverage ultimately makes up more than enough for how good otherwise it would be, not to mention it puts a stop to the ever-present Ground coverage.

The problems I see though is that a lot of its potential seems wasted. It'd be really good if its interactions with Grass and Ice were a bigger deal, while it also got more ways to get around the multiple immunities. An ability that counters Levitate would be interesting, for example.
(Although with all that then it might start feeling a little underpowered without buffing Electric, too...)

 

[Isaac the Investigator]

Despite being considered unfairly broken in Gen I, I'd say the Psychic type is a pretty good contender for most balanced. It has pretty good neutral coverage with Psychic Terrain being a good way of boosting its power. It's resisted by Steel, but many Psychic types are built in such a way that they can wear down Steel walls over time, and most of them have good coverage to hit their weaknesses. However, the presence of the Dark type prevents clicking Psychic moves from being safe and means that effective use of Psychic types requires prediction. Defensively, their Ghost and Bug weaknesses seem to be uncommon while they get a nice Fighting resistance. However, they are weak to common moves like Knock Off, Pursuit, Sucker Punch, and U-turn, which gives them an Achilles Heel. Many Psychic types get good support movepools, but these weaknesses prevent them from being overbearing as walls. Overall, the Psychic type has well defined strengths and weaknesses that allow it to always be useful but never be overbearing and I would not change any of its interactions on the typechart.

I'd say Electric is another well balanced type. It is one of the few answers to bulky Waters, and can also hit Flying types for super effective damage. They are one of the few types to resist Flying, and their Steel resistance gives them a decent advantage in wallbreaking. It only has one weakness, which may seem broken, but that weakness is Ground, a very common type, and Ground is also immune to them. Thus, Electric types have a lot of advantages both offensively and defensively, but the sheer presence of the Ground type means that there is always a lot of risk to using them. This does give Electric an important role in the metagame, with the interactions between Electric/Ground/Flying being an important dynamic and Electric types giving Grass another defensive niche, which also helps weaken Water and Ground.

 

[GhostLucario]

For me Water is very balanced and not overpowered. It is weak to just two types (Electric and Grass) and super effective agaisnt three (Fire, Ground and Rock) and despite having a good variety of offensive moves, abilities that interact with the type and the rain weather to get advantage from, it never feels broken.

 

[Isaac the Investigator]

For me Water is very balanced and not overpowered. It is weak to just two types (Electric and Grass) and super effective agaisnt three (Fire, Ground and Rock) and despite having a good variety of offensive moves, abilities that interact with the type and the rain weather to get advantage from, it never feels broken.

I disagree on this one. Both Electric and Grass, especially the latter, have offensive flaws and many bulky Waters are only weak to one. Also, most Water types have Ice coverage, and Water/Ice is only resisted by... other bulky Waters. Plus, Scald is distributed to every Water type that isn't an Ice type, and that move prevents nearly any physical Pokémon from ever wanting to switch in. Overall, Water has many advantages both offensively and defensively and is probably the most overpowered type right now.