Type Triangles in Pokémon

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In Pokémon, a Type Triangle is a trio of typings where each type hits the next one for super effective damage. While Grass/Fire/Water is the main example of this in game, there are actually 16 different type triangles as of Generation 9! In this video, we'll be going over EVERY type triangle that exists in the franchise!

[@shepskydad]

In true _me_ fashion, I missed type triangles 😭 Ice, Ground, Rock Fire, Grass, Ground I’m really killing it🙃

[@TheShadow1347]

I hope Gen 10 has a unique type triangle for the starters, but it's probably just going to be Fire, Water, Grass again 😅

[@NoteGames380]

Rock, Ice, and Grass don’t have advantages over each other because while grass isn’t resistant to rock, ice isn’t resistant to grass and rock isn’t resistant to ice, which balances them out. It’s not exactly a “perfect trio,” but they are perfectly balanced, at least against each other.

[@reneernesto5748]

ice > ground > steel > rock

[@Accrovideogames]

You also screwed up with the Bug > Psychic > Poison triangle from Gen 1 because it's _not_ a triangle. Bug and Poison are super effective against each other.

[@mesplin3]

I found 40 type triangles but I use a different definition than you. Otherwise 15 type triangles.

[@TheMCcreepermen]

No one ever talks about bug vs fighting, the eternal stalemate.

[@babygrill01]

heracross and buzzwole moment

[@jhfh3112]

I always had the Fighting-Psychic-Dark triangle in my head as linking to traditional RPGs as well, it's fighter-mage-rogue trio.

[@shepskydad]

As a Dark type fan, AND a rogue class fan, I approve this message 👏🏼

[@hello_i_exist_uwu]

well, the gen 6 starters were based on those RPG classes

[@tonberry2670]

​@@hello_i_exist_uwu And it's also the type of the first three Pokemon you have access to in Pokemon Colosseum

[@peperoni_pepino]

What should we add to the first and third to make Fighting/? - Psychic/Fairy - Dark/? work, while being lore relevant? Like Dark/Poison would be too strong versus the Psychic/Fairy, but would be really interesting lore-wise. Yeah the double element triangle is without doubt much less trivial.

[@incredibleturnip5875]

I really thought he was going to say "Steel for rogue/thief"....

[@kayleighlehrman9566]

In my fakemon region, the starters are fighting, flying, and rock, and their final evolutions are fighting//grass, flying//fire, and rock//water

[@Roman_the_black_cat]

Coolio my water starter is dead...its a ghost type

[@michaelkowal3230]

The flying type will always end up with a 4x weakness no matter which of the main starter types it's paired with due to grass being weak to ice, fire being weak to rock, and water being weak to electric

[@Mikescool444]

@@michaelkowal3230 uhh just remove the weakness. Problem solved and will not have debilitating effects on the rest of the game.

[@lermajerms]

thats pretty funny

[@Galavantman]

Wait now I'm confused. At the duel type level there will be 4 times attack, but what about resistances.

[@shitsalad429]

Actually, the Ice, rock, grass triangle IS a perfect triangle, because none of the types resist the type they beat

[@shinymainespoon]

Imperfectly perfect. I love it

[@countclackula7390]

I agree

[@dorbenyamin-bar8660]

Semi-perfect

[@durk5331]

Was actually gonna post this when I saw your post XD

[@countclackula7390]

@@dorbenyamin-bar8660 i mean it IS actually perfect just a different type of perfect

[@EpicRandomness555]

One thing people always forget is that the original trio types also resist themselves. Because annoyingly, not every type that isn’t super effective against itself resists itself. Fighting doesn’t resist itself for example. With this in mind I’m not sure if there’s any perfect trios besides Grass, Fire, Water

[@SinNun-tx5jp]

Sure, but them resisting themselves doesn't impact any relationship in the triangle

[@Oneiroclast]

They also all have to be neutral to Normal to be starters, otherwise the Normal resistant starter would be basically invincible in the early game.

[@kitsuaria4859]

@@SinNun-tx5jpOne thing that matters too outside of the relation they have with themselves is the relation they have with other types in the context of a regular playthrough. Which is typically showcased through the first 3 Gyms in Kanto.

[@breadeater1194]

Those are just commonalities though, it's not like Fire Water and Grass are the only self resisting types. If anything, the fact that none of Rock, Flying, and Fighting are self-resisting makes it extra perfect because at least it's equal.

[@Skullhawk13]

@@breadeater1194except a rock starter is just busted. Resisting 90% of early game moves

[@BabusGameRoom]

5:14 the balance of this Water/Ground/Electric triangle is actually making sense now. Electric has the biggest disadvantage, but fully evolves first. Ground has the biggest advantage, and evolves last. Water is in the middle, and evolves in the middle! It's actually ingenious!

[@johndinner4418]

It's interesting that the Trapinch, Wartortle and Ampharos all kind of align inversely to how the type would fare. Considering Ground is the best type, it takes longer to evolve, and considering electric is the worst off, you get the final evolution early. It makes the choice slightly more balanced this way and that's what that may have been going in their mind when they chose that. It could also make sense if you think starters as difficulty options. Ground is the better type reward, but it takes longer to level, making it potentially more difficult to advance in the game. Not sure how that would go in the particular instance you mention, maybe it could've been the easy mode with an easy reward instead, but it could be a factor as to the why.

[@lucadivine3862]

I've always wanted a pokemon game where the starters all gain a secondary typing and signature move of that typing on their final evolution, and, crucially... the advantage would go in the opposite direction. It'd be perfect for these modern "rivals" who pick the type that's weak to you by turning that on it's head later in the game.

[@vb8133]

That is sort of the case in Scarlet and Violet, except Skeledirge's Ghost is immune to Quaquaval's Fighting rather than being super effective against it, but otherwise it works as Quaquaval's Fighting counters Meowscarada's Dark, which counters Skeledirge's Ghost

[@weedwhackeraccident]

...Don't they do this in several modern games already?

[@animejerk05]

They did it in gen 4 torterra beats infernape infernape beats empleon and empleon beats torterra

[@fulgenzio89]

I would love to see a classic grass fire water trio with all three final evolutions receiving a secondary Dragon type. Perfectly balanced

[@okaminokuro]

as all things should be.

[@BeastLid14]

I mean, the Grass/Dragon type is weak to a lot more compared to the other two, quadly (?) so with Ice. Although, it's kinda crazy how well the other two would balance out, especially considering how much worse the Fire type is defensively compared to Water.

[@charginginprogresss]

@@BeastLid14 The fire dragon has the best stab coverage though, very few stuff resists both fire and dragon (heatran, tapu fini come to mind, idk if there's more water fairy I'm missing)

[@IM4plebz]

@@charginginprogresssthere’s the gen 7 water starter (forgot the name)

[@Qu1chu]

@@IM4plebzPoplio

[@josephcirrincone9596]

In gen 1 bug poison and psychic is actually an imperfect type triangle because bug and poison were super effective against each other

[@shepskydad]

This triangle also only works if you have Paras/Parasect as the Bug type, giving them a 4x poison weakness off the bat. Ahhh good old Gen 1 🙃

[@josephcirrincone9596]

@@shepskydad yep

[@cassandramaccarthy3337]

to be fair to the flying rock grass triangle, the Gen 4 starters play SUPER fast and loose with the rules when it comes to secondary types. Empoleon is no longer weak to Grass when it gains the steel type too, tho it DOES gain a weakness to Torterra's new type. Solution: Make the Rock starter gain either a Fire or Electric type when it reaches it's final stage; so like, Alolan Geodude?

[@theargawalathing]

On a similar note, this is sort of how Kalos and Alola's starters work. And then Paldea did the opposite...huh.

[@PedroHenrique-vs3mf]

I found the trapinch, mareep squirtle one really balanced! Since ground is the best one (and is immune to eletric), it makes sense it evolves the latest, while mareep has the unluckiest type and thus evolves earlier

[@PIKMINROCK1]

I wouldn't say really balanced unless you change up Mareep learnset. I guess it gets Dragon Pulse and eventually Dazzling Gleam but absolutely nothing but Tackle or Take Down to hurt Trapinch until you get Ampharos is pretty bad. Meanwhile Trapinch with its 100 base attack can wreck Squirtle with some speed investment

[@PedroHenrique-vs3mf]

@@PIKMINROCK1 just include mega evolutions. Whats trapinch gonna do? Cry?

[@PIKMINROCK1]

@@PedroHenrique-vs3mf The issue is starting battles. At level 30, Wartortle and Ampharos handily beat Trapinch (assuming you keep Take Down or go to the move relearner for Dragon Pulse) but before any evolutions, Trapinch will overwhelm them and Trapinch probably takes equal level Flaaffy. But if you are choosing at the start of the game then, it's pretty likely that trapinch will beat you regardless of the your choice unless it only does Sand Attack.

[@TastyKenter]

We made our starter triangle Grass/Flying, Fire/Rock, and Water/Fairy. It's sortve imbalanced because fire resists fairy, and rock is weak to grass, but it should work pretty okay 😂😂 Amazing video!

[@tyrantneptune3202]

so, Tropius, Hisuian Arcanine, and Primarina. That sounds awesome fr!

[@arch3223]

The water/fairy is by far the best starter. You made the fire starter even weaker to water and the grass really weak to ice, which a lot of water types get coverage for. Water/fairy is the only one of those starters that doesn't have a 4x weakness. The fire starter will have two 4x weaknesses.

[@TastyKenter]

@@arch3223 Lol I was aware while making the starter. We balanced it out in the BSTs and learn stats. For example, fire starter is a glass cannon, water starter is slow and defensively fragile, but only decent special defense. Grass starter has high attack, decent speed and bulk

[@rordongamsay8478]

In my case, I made them Grass/Fairy, Fire/Ice and Water/Electric. I wanted the primary type of every starter to be resistant to both types of the starter they are good against.

[@godoftwinkies574]

Should have made starter be a eevee holding an evolution stone of your chosing.

[@iRazenrak]

Water has always had an inherent advantage over Grass due to every Water-type being able to learn Ice-type moves. IMO, there needs to be more dual-type moves like Flying Press.

[@shepskydad]

I know they don’t want to flood the game with dual-type moves, but at least a few more would be appreciated 🙏🏼

[@jhfh3112]

Water has an advantage over grass due to water being good. Why yes game, I'd love to pick the grass starter and spend half my time in the early game getting owned by early route bugs, birds and poison stings, thanks very much...

[@AznYunHou]

Every water type learns a super effective move, not just being ice type. Since Magikarp can have Bounce, which is Flying.

[@thisisthewroten]

Finally someone who agrees with me. 😊

[@1stCallipostle]

​@@jhfh3112In Gens 1/3, grass stays relevant against early gyms the longest

[@Jorpda]

Ah yes the perfect starter type triangle, Charizard, Chesnaught and Blastoise cosplaying as Carracosta

[@amyramm9394]

What

[@conlon4332]

As a lover of the Poison type, my favourite is automatically the type trio with the Poison type, and I love that it's perfect too! I would love to see some Poison starter designs!

[@celty5858]

Poison/bug/psychic?

[@conlon4332]

@@celty5858 I was meaning Poison/Ground/Grass.

[@chairmanhiro7401]

There's also Electric, Flying, Ground as an imperfect triangle. Flying isn't supereffective to ground but is immune to it instead.

[@arch3223]

That one's interesting because electric is the only one of those that doesn't have an immunity but it also only has one weakness. As long as the electric type doesn't get the usual electric learn set, mainly just electric and normal moves with little other type coverage, it sounds really fun.

[@varenemerald]

Fire still shouldn’t resist Ice. Yeah fire can melt ice but ice puts out fire. If anything, ice should be buffed by making it super effective against fire.

[@Leeann-ys1jk]

I actually did drew Fakemon starters and posted it on Reddit 2 years ago. I decided to go with a Grass/Flying butterfly, a Fire/Fighting bull and Water/Rock narwhal and I am thinking about giving them hidden abilities that are similar to Overgrown, Blaze and Torrent but it boosts Flying, Rock and Fighting moves when HP is low

[@pixel3042]

i would like grass/rock, fire/flying and water/fighting instead, cus we've already had 3 fire fighting starters

[@xlx4248]

The Water-Ground-Electric to Ice-Ground-Fire transition was creatively hilarious!

[@voydcat8089]

What I’ve always wanted is a traditional starter trio but their secondary types let them Uno-reverse

[@neodica5967]

You can actually accomplish this in a relatively balanced way with grass/ground, fire/electric, water/ice! None of the secondary types resist the starter types so all of them are super effective against the other two in some way.

[@chrayez]

@@neodica5967water/ice would have a minor advantage, as the only starter not 4x weak to one of the others.

[@neodica5967]

@@chrayez True. I guess it would have to be frail or slow to compensate. I just thought it was interesting cuz I feel like GF has been using fight psy dark and ghost for a while. I think it's because they're the only types without an advantage/disadvantage against the starter types (along with normal) so they're pretty balanced, but it'd be cool to see a bit more variation, especially since ground ele and ice are way less abstract.

[@theedwardian]

Wasn't that the case already? Alternatively it would be funny if abilities negated the type advantage.

[@kSazu.]

@voydcat8089 so u mean, u've always wanted gen9? Grass/dark, Fire/Ghost and Water/fighting

[@danielmacdonald5703]

For fighting/flying/rock, I think that Machop, Rookidee, and Rolycoly make for perfect starters. While Corviknight loses it's rock weakness, Coalossal can still hit it for super effective with STAB fire moves. Plus, they can all Gigantamax. A Sw/Sh mod with these guys would be great.

[@onmas909]

To make it all Galar, you could swap Machop with Clobbopus!

[@danielmacdonald5703]

@@onmas909 The only issue for me there is that it's not 3 stage like the other two, and it doesn't have a Gigantamax form either. Totally love the Pokemon though.

[@onmas909]

@@danielmacdonald5703 Oh that is true!

[@yukiizura]

Great video as always! I had no idea there were so many triangles that actually worked. I *need* to see that region with Fire/Steel/Rock starters. With so many triangles to choose from to add as secondary Types, I never want to see a pure-type starter trio again, you hear me Gamefreak?!

[@shepskydad]

Quick salute to our fallen brothers in Johto and Galar for being single-typed normie trios 🫡

[@aliabbasi7497]

I love the fact that you made the perfect and imperfect categories(love the video just mainly cz of this reason). Like people really be thinking psychic/fighting/dark is the same as fire/water/grass.😤

[@Shinetime23]

This video rocks you did such a good job explaining the triangles independently, but also accounting for the defense and offensive relationships. I tried to explain this to my partner a few months ago and she loved to see it in this explainer :) nice work

[@Pikpikcarrot]

“The only type to have an immunity” Ghost type:

[@Nako3]

Grass/Rock type has to be the best dual type Rock can have

[@jammington24]

It’s almost as if they were meant to be together, right? Like in nature, when plants grow from rocks.

[@ronnieketchum1241]

Pokémon's Type triangle is never offensive only. They also form a Defensive type triangle. And the types resist themselves. Fire water Grass is only example of that

[@JunohNebula]

8:01 Glad to hear this Triangle mentioned, it's a secondary typing for a batch of fakemon starters I'm developing, with Fire/Steel, Water/Fighting, and Grass/Fairy as the final Evo typings.

[@goffreyhardaway2718]

Great video and the breakdown of type triangles by perfect, imperfect, and monotype was really smart.

[@storminajar]

I actually once made a challenge run on the Pokecommunity forums with this concept in mind! You would just select the type triangle and use one Pokemon of each type in the run!

[@shepskydad]

Do you still have a link to said forum? 👀

[@storminajar]

@@shepskydad So yes I do and apparently KZbin didn't appreciate the link? As my reply was deleted I suppose? >_> (Deleted twice now. Is there another way I can get the link to you?)

[@macaroniii03]

great vid! I always used to think about type triangles when I'm bored lol. you showed off some ones I haven't realized before. I've been getting your videos recommended to me recently and they're great! you're earned a sub from me man. keep it up!

[@SP1T1TOUT56]

I really like the idea of different type triangle starters, well overdue

[@shepskydad]

I’m crossing my fingers some new Game Freak employee gets hired and promotes this 🤞🏼

[@herowither12354]

My favorite alternate triangle is Flying/Ground/Electric. My choice of existing Pokemon to use as starters for this triangle are Rookidee, Trapinch (with altered evolution levels), and Shinx.

[@CorporealNatural1]

9:01 Charizard, Chestnaught and samurot as a water rock type. Boom

[@KingNidoYT]

I love the type triangle concept. Fantastic breakdown of them.

[@Absbor]

I love this video. I've been trying to make starters while thinking of the reverse fighting from gen 6 in mind. it's hard come up about the perfect triangles if I'm dumb. thankfully not everyone is me. thank you for your hard video!

[@fieratheproud]

Personally, I find starters the most interesting when their secondary typing helps defend them against their initial weakness. That's to say, a pure grass type is weak to fire, but if you give it the rock type as a secondary, fire now does neutral damage. Or maybe, if you take a triangle that doesn’t interact with the classic starter types at all, a *reverse* triangle with the secondaries. As in, a grass/dark type, a fire/psychic type and a water/fighting type, or something like that. It gives the grass type something to do against the fire type, but still leaves them at risk of taking a fire type attack to the face. But conversely, the fire type is now at risk of taking a stab dark type attack to the face, with it's new psychic secondary typing.

[@4180terri]

I think you describe it all and make it easy to follow! Great job! Cool dog too😊

[@warpstarrogue3554]

7:07 Immediately gets an idea into my skull. If the region is industrial, then the team could be a bunch of extremists trying to bring nature back to the region by any means necessary.

[@mastermuffles7097]

The issue with any Steel or Rock type starter type triangles is that the pokemon would resist basically all of the early game moves that are just bug, normal, or flying type, making a particularly easy early game for that starter

[@Lobster_Dance]

I also like the final type triangle you showed. I like the idea that the game would get a little harder near the mid point when you think your new evolution is going to make things easier

[@bb_blocks_yt9910]

omg i love your doggo and the little doodle you use in the vids!

[@jeffreygao3956]

8:24 Weird, I did implement that in my fanfic Pokémon: Champion of the Rings and had the conventional types appear as secondary types in the final forms so that they were Fairy/Fire, Steel/Water, and Fighting/Grass. What a coincidence!

[@rachelahern2780]

In my fakemon region, I made the starter trio grass, ground and poison - a perfect type triangle - without even noticing.

[@Jelly_shy_guy_man]

I always think the best triangle trio is obviously psychic fighting and dark

[@Lupinemancer87]

Speaking of Types, if you are the type of person that likes a particular type, such as Dark or Fighting, you can actually use all three starters. As of Gen 9, there is a Grass, Fire and Water Starter that is also dual-typed Dark and Fighting, meaning you can use all three even as a Dark or Figthing specialist. Blaziken/Infernape/Emboar are all Fire/Fighting. Chestnaught is Grass/Fighting, and you can even include Hisuian Decidueye if you want. Quaquawel is Water/Fighting. Meaning you can use these for an All-Figther team while still covering the Grass/Fire/Water triad. For Dark, you have Greninja as Water/Dark, Incineroar as a Fire/Dark, and Meowscarada, as a Grass/Dark. I'd actually like to see more combos like this, that is so dope :D

[@Bluhbear]

Interesting that your favorite one is the one I stumbled on when thinking about what I'd do for my own game. I was planning on having them as secondary types along with the usual three, but in the other order.

[@afro025]

FINALLY!! SOMEONE WHO ACKNOWLEDGES FLYING-FIGHTING-ROCK AS THE PERFECT TYPE TRIANGLE THAT DOESN'T USE ANY TRADITIONAL STARTER TYPES!!! God I'm so annoyed of people saying "Dark-Psychic-Fighting is actually the best trio!!" because it's *not* 😭 great video man!!! I really loved it :)

[@silvergrace8702]

unironically such an interesting video, had fun watching it

[@VIXXlight_VIXXComeBack]

When you said your ideas about a fire-steel-rock starter trio region I was ecstatic because that's what I was thinking :'D

[@bubblesdoodles]

Not to mention resistant type lines, such as: Bug Fighting

[@75395186240]

Before the physical special split of gen 4, grass/fire/water were all considered special. While rock/flying/fighting were all considered physical. I think the contrast between the two is a very cool detail.

[@TheShadowofevolution]

I've been wanting that last combo for a while. An arid or industrial region where grass and water types are hard to find (at least in early game), so the local starters have to reflect that.

[@GengarLover1342]

I had the seeds for a fanregion planted where the starters used the Steel/Fairy/Fighting triangle, and then evolved into Steel/Poison, Fairy/Grass, and Fighting/Ground. The only one I really remember much about is the Steel/Poison one being a skunk based on tetanus and rusty metal.

[@dogemaster9676]

i think it makes sense for fire to not resist ice. when ice hits fire, it melts and becomes water, which puts out fire.

[@anominon]

Fighting, Flying, and Ice are also an imperfect type triangle but I like that they represent the three threat reactions: fight flight and freeze.

[@TrapeZoid_-117]

I’ve always thought that the coolest idea for a starter trio would be one where their secondary types have a type triangle that goes in the opposite direction. That way, they are all balanced since they all have an option against the starter they would otherwise be weak to. A hypothetical Grass/Flying//Water/Fighting//Fire/Rock trio would accomplish this without repeating a combination they’ve already used for starters (Though it would have to be new pokemon; the only existing trios would be Jumpluff, Macargo/Coalossal, and Quaquaval/Urshifu-Rapid strike which isn’t exactly fair).

[@PerfectlyGenericUser]

I've always really liked this idea too. Although, you've got the triangle in the wrong direction, giving the starters a bonus against both of their countered pokemon's types. And unfortunately, Rock is really difficult to fit into a traditional triangle, since it's weak to both Water and Grass but resists Fire, so trying to make a reverse triangle with it ruins the existing starter triangle balance. ALL perfect triangles have this issue, in fact: all of them either already include one of the regular starter types or have too many weaknesses/resistances to them to fit cleanly. The cleanest solution to the problem I've found is the unfortunately imperfect psychic-fighting-dark triangle, which succeeds in giving every member of the trio a super-effective way to attack every other no matter which secondary typing ends up paired with which primary.

[@ricardoludwig4787]

I'm a big fan of when the secondary typings work the opposite way of the conventional one or otherwise give your starter a way to counteract the triangle. It's great for the rival to start with a massive advantage but later in the game you're now on equal footing

[@Toxic_Gamer347]

7:07 I’m jumping straight on this triangle. It fits almost perfectly with the game I’m creating. One starter to represent each of the three regions. Now I just have to figure out how to get said starters… and design them.

[@user-xi6ku6kp7g]

some more imperfect: Flying, Electric, Ground Ghost, Dark, Fighting Dragon, Ice, Fire Bug, Rock, Grass

[@Kmn483]

Unfortunately there is no dual-type perfect triangle without including triple dragon or ghost. Even Rock/Water, Fire/Flying, & Grass/Fighting is slightly imbalanced since Fire/Flying double resists Grass. Ignoring the secondary typings, you can get some really solid dual-type triangles though. Rock/Dragon, Flying/Electric, & Fighting/Poison is my favorite. Ro/Dr resist Electric too, so Fly/El is slightly weaker of the 3, but I'd consider that an okay sacrifice since R/D has the most weaknesses anyways.

[@KawsMeCal]

Wild that the game you said you wanted was the one i was making as a kid and gave up on. Maybe I'll get back to it now that I'm not so lost.

[@Dragonecro0987]

Thanks to the triangle of Rock-Fighting-Flying, I was reminded of Pokémon Clover and how midway through the game, you would be able to pick a 2nd starter Pokémon from a different selection than the first batch. This set had, by their final evos, Fighting/Dragon, Rock/Fairy, and Flying/Dark as their final types so while the secondary types somewhat also break the triangle since the Rock/Fairy would have advantage on the other two, it is a neat concept that also would be adapted at around end game/post game with a third set of starters that were the classic type triangle of Grass, Fire, and Water but their final evos would gain the other triangle's main types (Grass/Rock, Fire/Flying, and Water/Fighting) Stuff like this is always fun to consider when crafting one's own Pokémon world or campaign.

[@arandomguy77]

Thank you so much for letting us know about this cool guy at the end of the video ❤❤

[@TomKwonDo]

An interesting thing to consider with triangles containing Rock and Steel is that they resist Normal. This would make them exceptionally strong at early stages of the games, where mons often have very limited coverage outside of Scratch, Tackle etc. Something to consider when making a game

[@jessc5493]

The most interesting thing with learning about these type triangles was that, before even knowing about the triangles, I designed my Fakemon starters to have the following typings: Grass/Flying, Fire/Rock, and Water/Fighting. When designing the Fakemon, I realized the pattern of being 4x strong against each other. It was really nice learning about the triangles because now I know the Flying-Rock-Fighting triangle can be just as iconic as the Grass-Fire-Water triangle. On another note, I'd really like to see a starter concept where their secondary types move in an opposite sequence than their main typing, sort of like a yin-yang thing. Maybe something like Grass/Psychic, Water/Dark, and Fire/Fighting (and I'm aware Fire/Fighting starters are way overdone, but I'm mentioning it just for the sake of the concept). I think that would make for a pretty interesting dynamic, although it might get rid of the extra effort you would do to give your team more coverage to deal with those types.

[@TaLeng2023]

That poor Rock/Fire is gonna get x4 Water damage.

[@bubbykins4864]

I did the math, and the percentage of starters that are Fire/Fighting in the mainline games are 37.5% (only mid and final stages, repeats included; only final stages, repeats included; they have the same percentage), ~31.6% (only mid and final stages, debut only), 30% (only final stages, debut only), 25% (all stages, repeats included), and ~21.4% (all stages, debut only), in descending order of ratio. Assuming the next games keep the current starter set-up (likely) and do not introduce a Fire/Fighting starter to any of these numbers (also likely), those numbers go to ~35.3%, ~28.6%, ~27.3%, ~23.5%, and ~19.4% respectively.

[@jessc5493]

@@bubbykins4864 That's actually really interesting to know! I only assumed the Fire/Fighting thing was overused most likely because we saw it three generations in a row (3-5). That's on me for assuming, haha. Thanks for sharing!

[@benjaminoechsli1941]

3:26 Yeah, when it took five generations to get a pure Flying type, despite Flying existing since Gen 1, Flying feels underutilized, period. I remember being shocked, and thrilled, to discover Tornadus was a pure Flying type when I caught him the first time.

[@antant9523]

about grass fire water, it works so well because not only they work on both direction like you mentioned, they also resist themselves. so grass is not effective against grass, fire not effective against fire, water not effective against water. cant say the same for the other triangle

[@theprinceofawesomeness]

Worth to mention, Bulbasaur is Grass/Poison, so in gen 1 we did have a poison starter and the trianle could be seen as Water, Fire, Poison

[@Mr.Sax.]

Fire-Grass-Water is the only true perfect triangle because those types are not effective against themselves either. Fighting, Rock, Ground and Flying don't resist themselves.

[@md0717]

Dude that pokemon-style drawing of your husky is the exact depiction of my husky as well. I made up a pokedex description for my pup (Dexter) based on that drawing 😂: New pokemon named Wreckster. Husky type pokemon, part fighting type, part dark type. Eyes are so bright and mesmerizing, he can hypnotize opponents with a quick glare, then use his speed to mow them down. Can't hit hard with special moves, but his bark and his bite can leave nasty damage on his opponent. Secondary moves are physical ice type to match his glassy blue eyes.

[@castironpan7967]

Now this is the Pokemon content I was looking for!

[@REDscar9000]

9:01 that pretty much perfect. flying decimates grass/fighting. grass decimates water/rock. and rock decimates fire/flying

[@roastingnerd8545]

Hear me out, Ive always thought as a kid that electric

[@shepskydad]

This makes a lot of sense! But poor ice type doesn’t need another weakness 😭

[@roastingnerd8545]

@@shepskydad lol as a kid I didnt care, but it would make sense if it also resisted the ground type to balance it out

[@LateNightTableCo]

Years ago, I started designing my own Pokemon game based around the gimmick of the gym leaders specializing in two types instead of just one and the Elite 4 members using different battle styles instead of types. I think I accidenly ending up basing all of the gyms around the concept of type triangles before I was aware of this term/saw this video.

[@FlamingZelda3]

The other really nice thing about fighting rock flying is they were all originally physical types (like how the grass water fire trio were special types) and while physical/special isn't tied to type anymore, it still has had a lasting impact on the design of each type.

[@osento]

Amazing vid, everything everyone asked for!

[@gizmoegamer4487]

to me the perfect trio is where the secondary type reverse the triangle. by doing this you allow the player to choose the one that simply like the best without a loss is advantage. grass/rock vs water/fighting vs fire/flying is something I have wanted as starter type for a long time. Also I think that making the starters evolve at the same levels would be a nice touch to again make no advantage to picking each one.

[@ozaruspersona1631]

I can't believe you mentioned claydol. You're amazing for that! Claydol needs more love

[@empereurloutre]

It seems actually quite easy to algorithmicly list every dual type triangle, even every m-uplet (mono, duo or trio) type n-cycle (triangle or square or anything), and calculate weither or not those are perfect. I would even be surprised that this doesn't already exists somewhere.

[@DrRank]

There's a reason all non-Yellow games use the Water/Fire/Grass triangle. The starters are designed to be the first thing a new player will see, so they need to have types that make immediate sense for a Rock-Paper-Scissors relationship. A player will intuitively understand why Fire is effective against Grass, but has to jump through a few more hoops to justify Ground against Poison.

[@Oneiroclast]

There's also the fact that early game moves are disproportionately Normal type, making it an implicit center. All the perfect triangles other than Fire/Water/Grass include a Normal resistant type, which is a massive advantage when the majority of early game trainers can't even hit you for neutral damage.

[@zizitaylor2912]

What's funny about your love for the flying fighting rock is that my starter trio for my fan region. It's specifically based on the Legends of King Arthur but with modern day and time travel. 😅

[@jammington24]

The appeal of the Grass/Water/Fire trio is the color spectrum (fire being warm colors, water being cold colors, and green being neutral). With the Rock/Flying/Fighting trio, the appeal could be the body type; rock is the heavy and bulky one, flying is the light and skinny one, and fighting is the middle point.

[@armorbearer9702]

(7:26) I have to say that I am loving the old school art style.

[@acecommanderjoker3926]

earned a sub from me lol, love this sorta in-depth pokemon knowledge

[@dragonmaster613]

If one notices, the Final Evolution of the Paldea Starters secondary Typing is a reverse Type Triangle to their Primary Typing.

[@gingergingey8271]

The reason why in gen 1 fire didn't resist ice is cause the very low temperatures, so, make ice super effective against fire, but fire super effective against ice, or make certain ice type moves hit fire for super effective damage, like, icy wind, blizzard, icicle crash, and a few others, icy wind and blizzard due to extremely cold winds, and icicle crash cause certain animations of the move show it being a bunch of big icicles falling, so smothering the flames, also ice beam, due to it being a beam of extreme coldness.

[@xaius4348]

If you want to use one of these to make a type triangle, just give an imperfect triangle an ability that grants a resistance. (maybe the other 2 also get a bonus resistance, but not within the triangle.)

[@tangerinepaint3643]

Pokemon Clover does have a Fighting-Rock-Flying trio you can get after fighting your rival on the Ruse Cruise/S.S. Anne, but not only is Clover laced with enough 4chan essence to kill a man, but the final form starters of Batterex, Oburonyxo, and Deathorus have secondary typings that mess up the balance with Fighting/Dragon, Rock/Fairy, and Flying/Dark respectively. Still would be cool to see Gamefreak do it.

[@GrizbyK72]

Rock-Fighting-Flying would be dope as well because you could have a starter who specializes in Defence, Offence, and Speed/movement.

[@shade4759]

An interesting thing about Rock/Flying/Fighting vs Water/Grass/Fire, is that the first types doesn't resist themselves, so if you combine the three types in all the possible ways, ([Fighting/Flying],[Flying/Rock] and [Rock/Fighting]) and ([Water/Grass],[Grass/Fire] and [Fire/Water]) instead of being neutral to two types and have a double resistance to one of the trio types, they are weak against one of their own types, resist the other one, and are hitted neutral by the last one, as an example, Rock/Flying is weak to Rock, resists Flying, but is neutral against Fighting, Ironically the exact oposite to the pure Fighting tipe, weak to Flying, Resistant to Rock, and Neutral to Fighting

[@Bevon81W]

When I was younger I used Flying, Grass/Electric, Water/Ground, Fire for fakemon starters. I didn't realize it at the time but now looking at it this wouldn't be the best.

[@kralik394]

I remember the gen 6 rumor that the secondary triangle was going to go in the other direction: rather than fire/psychic-water/dark-grass/fighting, where the grass type gets completely shafted, the rumor was fire/psychic-water/fighting-grass/dark.

[@thewerdna]

A imperfect triangle I like is Ground, Flying, Rock. Ground lacks a weakness to flying, but Flying gains the extra benefit of a immunity. I could actually see this as a possible secondary type triangle for a starter trio.

[@harry.t9523]

In a future “Pokémon Legends” game, I think a good starter trio could consist of regional variants of all the evolutions of Chespin, Tepig and Quaxley and they should have secondary types that could make them have an even chance against each other. They could also all look like crew mates on a pirate ship. Chesnaught could be the first mate. Emboar could be the cartographer and treasurer hunter and Quaquaval could be the captain and navigator. It can also all be in an older version of the Hoenn region, dominated by sailors, voyagers and pirates.

[@Mex_Luigi]

I've been thinking this for so long

[@ferrankina6989]

Many years ago i came up with Basic triangle if new pokemon that evolved into groundGrass electricFire flyingWater. And for the final stage back to roginsl typings plus dragon. Using the middle stage as an excuse to learn coverage moves.

[@cliffwarden5934]

I'd make them water flying, fire rock, and grass fighting (not the only combo, but this works) to have the Pokemon gain an advantage against their previous counter when they get their secondary typing. That way they can all hit each other for super effective stab damage.