Psychic-type Pokémon have, historically, been able to lock horns with many of the strongest Pokémon around. Boasting rather obscure weaknesses, the likes of Wyrdeer, Alakazam, Gardevoir, and Cresselia can all be formidable.
So, to make sure that you know how to play to Psychic weaknesses, what’s strong against Psychic types, and in turn, what is Psychic strong against, the weaknesses of dual-type Psychic Pokémon, and what moves aren’t very effective against Psychic, check out the guide below.
What is Psychic types weak to in Pokémon?
Psychic-type Pokémon are weak to all attacks of these types:
- Bug
- Ghost
- Dark
Against pure Psychic Pokémon, the only moves that are super effective are the Bug, Ghost, and Dark-type attacks. Attacks that are super effective are twice as powerful as usual. However, Pokémon that have a type alongside its Psychic typing – known as a ‘dual-type’ Pokémon – have different weaknesses.
A good example of this is the new-look Braviary, which is a Psychic-Flying Pokémon. The Braviary is weak against Electric, Ice, Rock, Ghost, and Dark, but is immune to Ground-type attacks.
What are dual-type Psychic Pokémon weak against?
Psychic weaknesses can be built upon or reduced when combined with another type, blending the weaknesses and strengths of the two. So, here’s what the dual-type Psychic weaknesses are:
| Psychic Dual-Type | Weak Against |
| Normal-Psychic Type | Bug, Dark |
| Fire-Psychic Type | Water, Ground, Rock, Ghost, Dark |
| Water-Psychic Type | Electric, Grass, Bug, Ghost, Dark |
| Electric-Psychic Type | Ground, Bug, Ghost, Dark |
| Grass-Psychic Type | Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug (x4), Ghost, Dark |
| Ice-Psychic Type | Fire, Bug, Rock, Ghost, Dark, Steel |
| Fighting-Psychic Type | Flying, Ghost, Fairy |
| Poison-Psychic Type | Ground, Ghost, Dark |
| Ground-Psychic Type | Water, Grass, Ice, Bug, Ghost, Dark |
| Flying-Psychic Type | Electric, Ice, Rock, Ghost, Dark |
| Bug-Psychic Type | Fire, Flying, Bug, Rock, Ghost, Dark |
| Rock-Psychic Type | Water, Ice, Ground, Bug, Ghost, Dark, Steel |
| Ghost-Psychic Type | Ghost (x4), Dark (x4) |
| Dragon-Psychic Type | Ice, Bug, Ghost, Dragon, Dark, Fairy |
| Dark-Psychic Type | Bug (x4), Fairy |
| Steel-Psychic Type | Fire, Ground, Ghost, Dark |
| Fairy-Psychic Type | Poison, Ghost, Steel |
Some dual-type Psychic weaknesses become better than pure Psychic, such as with Normal-Psychic Pokémon like Wyrdeer only being weak to Bug and Dark moves.
Why is Psychic weak against Steel?
When attacking, Psychic is weak against Steel, with the thinking behind this likely being that things of Steel don’t have much of a mind for Psychic abilities to play with. Defensively, Psychic isn’t weak against Steel unless it’s a Psychic-Ice or Psychic-Rock Pokémon.
What’s strong against Psychic types of Pokémon?
With its Ghost-Dark typing, Spiritomb is the best Pokémon to use against Psychic. The Forbidden Pokémon won’t take damage from Normal or Psychic moves used against it and all but two of its learned moves are Ghost or Dark – which are both super effective against Psychic.
Spiritomb isn’t the only Pokémon that’s immune to Psychic attacks while having Psychic weaknesses in its arsenal. These Pokémon are also what’s strong against Psychic types; they are great to use against a mighty Psychic Pokémon:
- Umbreon (Dark)
- Hisuian Samurott (Dark-Water)
- Overqwil (Dark-Poison)
- Skuntank (Dark-Poison)
- Honchkrow (Dark-Flying)
- Drapion (Dark-Poison)
- Weavile (Dark-Ice)
- Darkrai (Dark)
- Scizor (Bug-Steel)
Of those above, only Scizor isn’t immune to Psychic attacks, with them instead being not very effective.
What is Psychic strong against?
Now we are going to explore another question: what is Psychic strong against? For starters, Psychic Pokémon are strong against Fighting and Psychic moves, with attacks of these two types coming up as ‘not very effective’ when they strike a Psychic-type. However, with dual-type Psychic Pokémon, more strengths are added and, in some cases, complete immunity to move types.
Here are the moves that aren’t very effective (½ damage) and won’t work at all (0x) against Psychic Pokémon.
| Psychic Dual-Type | Strong Against |
| Normal-Psychic Type | Psychic, Ghost (x0) |
| Fire-Psychic Type | Fire, Grass, Ice, Fighting, Psychic, Steel, Fairy |
| Water-Psychic Type | Fire, Water, Ice, Fighting, Psychic, Steel |
| Electric-Psychic Type | Electric, Fighting, Flying, Psychic, Steel |
| Grass-Psychic Type | Water, Electric, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Psychic |
| Ice-Psychic Type | Ice, Psychic |
| Fighting-Psychic Type | Fighting, Rock |
| Poison-Psychic Type | Grass, Fighting (¼), Poison, Fairy |
| Ground-Psychic Type | Fighting, Poison, Psychic, Rock |
| Flying-Psychic Type | Grass, Fighting (¼), Psychic, Ground (x0) |
| Bug-Psychic Type | Grass, Fighting (¼), Ground, Psychic |
| Rock-Psychic Type | Normal, Fire, Poison, Flying, Psychic |
| Ghost-Psychic Type | Poison, Psychic, Fighting (x0), Normal (x0) |
| Dragon-Psychic Type | Water, Electric, Grass, Ice, Fighting, Psychic |
| Dark-Psychic Type | Psychic (x0) |
| Steel-Psychic Type | Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Psychic (¼), Bug, Dragon, Steel, Fairy, Poison (x0) |
| Fairy-Psychic Type | Fighting (¼), Psychic, Dragon (x0) |
Pure Psychic weaknesses only include Bug, Ghost, and Dark-type moves, which aren’t always readily available or particularly strong by the time that you encounter Psychic-type Pokémon in the games. Luckily, if you’re trying to catch a Psychic Pokémon, they have a fair few strengths.
