Best Offensive Typing?

Orik

Orik

Almost every competitive battler knows (Or well, thinks) that Ice & Thunder offer the best type coverage offensively, and thus usually people put in their STAB attacks, and then Ice beam & Thunder if they have room.

But, if you have room for 4 attack slots, is Ice and Thunder really the best option? I'm sure there are 2 types out there that together do Ice's job better than Ice can, and I'm sure there are 2 types out there that together do thunder's job better than it can, I'm just not sure what they are. And, not only 4 types to maximize your neutral hits, but maybe there are 4 types that, together, can maximize your super effective hits.

So, I was wondering If anyone has any clue what the best 4, or maybe even 3 type attack combo is?
 
dragon/ground/fire is nice, it appears on lots of salamence and (in suspect) garchomp

fighting/ghost is great for universal coverage (til they come out with a ghost/normal)

rock/ground (quake-slide/edge) still has pretty good coverage, not too many things resist it but ice/ground is also very nice
 
boredomisbliss said:
dragon/ground/fire is nice, it appears on lots of salamence and (in suspect) garchomp

fighting/ghost is great for universal coverage (til they come out with a ghost/normal)

rock/ground (quake-slide/edge) still has pretty good coverage, not too many things resist it but ice/ground is also very nice
Click to expand...

Aside from these three, I also find Ground/Ice to be pretty good coverage. With only Bronzong and Shedinja resisting or being immune to them, iirc.
 
Fighting is a great type, despite being useless against Ghosts. It hits 5 types super effectively, and gets the massive amount of Steels running around.
 
I'm not sure if it's the best, but Water gets great neutral type coverage. I would say that if I had Pokemon that could only have one attack I would chose a Water-type.
 
Can anyone think of a better combination than:
Fighting
Ghost
Ground
Ice

It hits everything except Water, Fighting, and Bug for Super effective.
Also, do you guys think having something to hit Bulky Waters & Steels is more important than overall average coverage?
 
FerrariCUBU said:
I'm not sure if it's the best, but Water gets great neutral type coverage. I would say that if I had Pokemon that could only have one attack I would chose a Water-type.
Click to expand...

Dragon gets the best neutral coverage, for obvious reasons. And there is nothing with water absorb or a 4x resist either.

If you can only have 1 attack, Dragon is it.
 
Hmm, let's see, the most effective two-type attack combos(keep in mind Shedinja, thanks to Wonder Guard, is neglected, as it should be obvious only SE attacks hurt it):

Bug/Rock: Resisted by most fighting types, ground or rock/steels, ground/poisons, and that's about it. EQ rounds out the coverage easily. Seen on Armaldo, Pinsir, and Heracross.

Dark/Fighting: Only resisted by Toxicroak and Heracross(IIrc). Seen on TyraniBoah and Darkrai. A fire move rounds out coverage.

Dragon/Fighting: No resistance. Seen on CB/Mix Dragonite.

Dragon/Fire: Unresisted type-wise. Heatran resists(and Bronzong if Heat Proof), due to Flash Fire. Seen commonly on just about every dragon that can get its hands on it, as well as on Heatran(Dragon Pulse). A ground move rounds out coverage.

Dragon/Ground: Only Skarmory resists type-wise, with Bronzong if it has Levitate. Seen commonly on Garchomp and Flygon, although every physical dragon typically packs the combo. A fire move rounds out coverage.

Dragon/Water: Only Empoleon resists. Commonly seen on Kingdra, but also Latias(Surf). CBers like Salamence and Dragonite also use it(Aqua Tail). An electric, fighting, or ground move rounds out coverage.

Electric/Ice: Only Magnezone and Lanturn resist(IIrc). Commonly seen with electric types, with HP Ice, Ice Punch, or Ice Beam. A fighting or ground move rounds out coverage.

Fighting/Ghost: Unresisted. Seen on Gengar.

Fighting/Rock: Only ground or fighting/poison types resist. Commonly seen on Toxicroak to provide additional coverage, as well as Hariyama and sometimes Lucario. A ground or ice move rounds out coverage.

Flying/Fighting: Only resisted by Rotom and Zapdos. Commonly seen on Staraptor and Honchkrow. An ice move rounds out coverage(or for the examples above, a dark/normal).

Electric/Fire: Only resisted by Lanturn(ability), some dragons, and ground/waters. Commonly used by Zapdos(Heat Wave). HP Ice/Grass rounds out coverage.

Ground/Ice: Only resisted by Bronzong(Levitate). Commonly seen on Mamoswine. A fighting or fire move rounds out coverage.

Normal/Water: Only resisted by Empoleon. Commonly seen on Gyarados or Kingdra(to provide coverage without drawbacks of Outrage). A ground, electric, or fighting move rounds out coverage.

Water/Rock: Only resisted by Toxicroak(Dry Skin), Empoleon, Quagsire(Water Absorb), and Breloom. Seen on Rhyperior, Relicanth, and Aggron. Can be rounded out by a fire or ground move.

I might have forgotten some combinations/resists, but for the most part, these are the most important. The "rounded out by x move" section aren't the only possibilities, but typically the most effective in terms of coverage.

Seeing this list, I'm sure dragon is the best attacking type. Move away from its typically amazing BST pokemon and movepools/moves(Outrage/Draco Meteor), but it also can easily be paired with other types of moves for great coverage. On top of this, many dragons have access to atleast one of those types of moves, furthering the types dominance.
 
Perusing a type chart reveals the combo of Fighting, Ice, Flying, and Ground. You hit 15 of the 17 types super effectively, missing out only on Ghost and Water. Though Water in particular being a common defensive type you'd probably prefer to hit harder, and this doesn't take into account dual-types. Also I have checked if anyone can actually USE all those types effectively!

Can anyone find a better quartet?

EDIT: For a pairing, Fighting/Psychic hasn't been mentioned. Completely walled by Spiritomb and Sableye unfortunately, and resisted by Psychics (but not Metagross and Bronzong). Mainly relevant as the STAB attacks of Medicham and Gallade, I'm not sure you'd use it anywhere else.
 
Neutral coverage means you can either hit everything with at least a neutral STAB attack or a super effectig coverage one.

Best Single Stab coverage is Dragob/Ground/Fire as nothing evades its coverage.

Double STAB the best is Ghost/Fighting but that doesn't come up outside of CAP.
 
The best ou boltbeamer is starmie and I find it pretty tough to switch into, especially since it's so fast. Kyogre of course is the best boltbeamer around. Ghost/fighting is an excellent typing, mismagius and gengar have this going for them.
 
Some good combos that aren't used much:

Psychic/Bug: Resisted only by steel types and most of their variations.

Water/Poison: The only good type coverage of poison. Resisted by Water/Poison pokes itself, Empoleon, Toxicroak(Dry Skin) and Quagsire.

Fire/Grass: Resisted by most fire tpyes and dragon types. The basis of Sunnybeaming.

Steel/Electric: The only good coverage for steel. Resisted by Water/ground pokes, Lanturn, Magnezone, Camerupt, Steelix and electrics in general. Good for OU.

Normal/Fighting: Ghosts are immune to both. Other than ghosts, it gets perfect coverage. Miltank and Kangaskhan(ability) can use this combination to its full extent.
 
I think something that should be taken into account when talking about coverage is bulkiness. For example, Swampert may run Ice Beam+Earthquake, but he is not blowing his way through Gyarados anytime in the near future. Likewise, Swampert for all practical purposes resists everything not super effective / overpowered STAB. Also, I like to say there are 4 resistances to boltbeam- Magnezone, Lanturn, Shedinja, and BLISSEY.

Anyhow, my vote for 2 types is: Dragon+Fire, resisted only by Heatran, and if your Dragon move is Draco Meteor...
My vote for 3 types is Dragon+Fire+Ground, for reasons people have already mentioned.
My vote for 4 types is Dragon+Fire+Ground+Rock.
 
ARandomDude said:
I think something that should be taken into account when talking about coverage is bulkiness. For example, Swampert may run Ice Beam+Earthquake, but he is not blowing his way through Gyarados anytime in the near future. Likewise, Swampert for all practical purposes resists everything not super effective / overpowered STAB. Also, I like to say there are 4 resistances to boltbeam- Magnezone, Lanturn, Shedinja, and BLISSEY.

Anyhow, my vote for 2 types is: Dragon+Fire, resisted only by Heatran, and if your Dragon move is Draco Meteor...
My vote for 3 types is Dragon+Fire+Ground, for reasons people have already mentioned.
My vote for 4 types is Dragon+Fire+Ground+Rock.
Click to expand...

True, however that would take a very long time to find out targets/resistances/immunities/attack power/etc.

I don't think people understand how good Dragon + Fighting is as a two-type combination. Nothing resists it, and both moves by themselves get fantastic type coverage.
 
Dragon/Fire/Fighting/Electric

would be the best

Didn't the smog just cover an article about this and statistically fire is the best attacking move. Also, if you're going to count blissey as a resistance to boltbeam, then you should count blissey as a resistance to every special attack. (she is)
 
Dragon/Fire/Fighting/Electric may be good if you want neutral coverage, but for hitting super effectives, Fighting/Ghost/Ground/Ice is better. It is super effective on all except Bug, Fighting, and Water.

Edit: Also, Gallade is one of the few Pokemon that can use all of these move types (With Shadow Sneak, Ice Punch, EQ, and Close Combat) It also has a priority Shadow Sneak, meaning it could be a useful recipient of a baton passed Belly Drum...
 
Move sets that hit super effective on 14 different types (All But 3):

Fighting/Flying/Ice/Ground,
Fighting/Ghost/Ice/Ground.

Move Sets that hit super effective on 13 different types (All but 4):
Fighting/Ghost/Ice/Rock,
Fighting/Ghost/Ice/Flying,
Fighting/Ghost/Ice/Psychic,
Fighting/Electric/Ice/Ground,

(You can use Dark instead of Ghost. The only diffrence is that Dark is weak against Fighting, and ghost cannot hit Normal. )

And there are probably a couple more, I just cannot think of them...
 
Fighting, Ice, Flying, and Ground is the best for hitting supereffective. it hits 15 types SE. Ground, Ghost, Fighting, and Ice only hit 14.
 
Bogmire said:
Fighting, Ice, Flying, and Ground is the best for hitting supereffective. it hits 15 types SE.
Click to expand...

Misses out on water, psychic, ghost. 14.


Anyways, Ice+Fighting+Ground, besides hitting pretty exclusive types (Ice hits Dragon (Dragon itself hits much less), Fighting hits Normal, Ground hits Electric), cover 12 of the 17 types, leaving out:
Bug Fighting Ghost Psychic Water.
Of note that is that if you choose to hit water, you can't hit anything else on that list. Waters are common in OU though.
No type hits 3 of them. Dark and Flying both hit two. However, Psychic types are barely used anymore, and there are few viable flying-attacking sweepers, so both aren't that great.
 
Edit: You weren't talking to me, never mind...

Also, I see your point about waters... Ice+Fighting+Ground+Electric(Or Grass) Works Really Well together. (I just relised that this combo is used on Electives Physical set...)
 
People have talked about offensive type comboes, but if I were to design say, the ultimate Specs User, it would be Water + Ground.

With that you can get STAB Water Spout combined with Ice Beam + Earth Power (since all water types get Ice Beam), with only 1 (rare) weakness on top of SR resistance, T-Wave Immunity and Sand Immunity. Throw on Magic Guard as the ability, and you'd have something pretty damn insane . . .

Realistically speaking, I'd say Dragon + (Fire/Fighting/Ground/Water), because the Dragon attacks (Outrage/Draco Meteor) are just some of the most insane STAB moves a poke could ask for.
 
Fire and Fighting, no doubt. Most pokemon who have access to moves with those types have high base attack/special attack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top