Type Match-Ups

Learn how Pokémon type match-ups work in Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Understand dual-types, super effective moves, and abilities like Levitate and Scrappy.

After defeating a particular Pokémon species, the game will helpfully inform you how your moves fare against the same Pokémon species. “Effective” means it works, “Not very effective” means it deals half the damage (or less), while “Super effective” means it deals twice the damage (or more).

When facing a new and unidentified species, you won’t have this luxury though. In addition, it’s honestly a lot more satisfying if you learn the Type Match-Ups yourself. Which is where Our Handy Type Match-Up Table (TM) comes in!

Dual-Type Pokemon

When battling against a Pokémon that has two Types, things get a bit more complicated, but not by much. All that happens is that the damage multipliers for both Types are multiplied together.

For example, say, you’re facing off against Mantine, which is a Water and Flying type Pokémon. Grass moves normally do 2 times damage to Water-types, but Pelipper is also a Flying type and Grass moves do 0.5 times damage against those. 2 times 0.5 is 1, which means Grass moves do neutral damage.

Likewise with Ice moves. They’re good against Flying, but sub-par against Water. Rock moves still do 2 times damage though, since they’re good against Flying and neutral against Water. The kicker is that Electric moves do 4 times damage since they’re super-effective against both Types!

Other Factors

For the majority of situations, you need only consult the Type Match-Up chart to plan your way to success. However, be warned that it’s not completely full-proof. You also need to pay attention to other things such as the Pokémon’s Abilities or held items.

The biggest thing to watch out for, especially if you love using Ground-type moves is the Levitate Ability, which confers full immunity to Ground-type moves. If a Pokémon doesn’t have wings, but seems to be floating, it may have Levitate, so watch out.

On the flip side, Normal and Fighting moves are normally useless against the sinister Ghost-type. But if a Pokémon has the Scrappy Ability, their Normal and Fighting types will successfully connect. The moves Foresight and Odour Sleuth have a similar effect as well.