Psychic Type Pokemon
Psychic type Pokemon strike with immense special power, using moves like Psyshock to crack open physical Defense. They resist Fighting and Psychic moves, while Psychic Terrain completely protects grounded allies from opposing priority attacks.
How Psychic Performs in Battle
See which attacks hit Psychic super effectively, what Psychic resists, and how Psychic moves hit opposing targets.
Psychic Type Pokemon Weakness
- Dark Immunity & Knock Off: Dark types completely ignore Psychic STAB moves and retaliate with powerful item removal via Knock Off.
- Ghost Special Breakers: Fast Ghost sweepers like Gengar, Dragapult, and Flutter Mane target Psychic's physical or special bulk with Shadow Ball.
- Bug U-turn Momentum: Physical Bug attacks and momentum moves like U-turn exploit Psychic's lower physical Defense while forcing clean pivots.
Defensive Resistances
- Fighting Attack Absorption: Key resistance to Fighting allows bulky Psychics like Slowbro and Reuniclus to switch into Close Combat with ease.
- Mirror Resistance: Psychic types halve damage from opposing Psychic attacks, forcing mirror matches into coverage moves like Shadow Ball.
- Psychic Terrain Priority Shield: Under Psychic Terrain, grounded Pokemon cannot be struck by priority attacks like Bullet Punch or Extreme Speed.
Offensive Coverage
- Fighting Wallbreaker: Hits Fighting types super effectively, knocking out aggressive physical sweepers like Great Tusk, Urshifu, and Machamp.
- Poison Hazard Elimination: Deals super effective damage against Poison types, punishing bulky hazard setters like Toxapex, Glimmora, and Clodsire.
- Physical Targeting via Psyshock: Psyshock calculates damage against the target's physical Defense, enabling special sweepers to break Blissey.
Key Psychic Type Battle Mechanics
Priority move denial under Psychic Terrain, Gen 1 historical dominance, and special stat mechanics.
Psychic Terrain Priority Block
Activated by Tapu Lele or Indeedee's Psychic Surge, Psychic Terrain boosts grounded Psychic attacks by 30% and makes grounded allies completely immune to opposing priority moves like Sucker Punch, Mach Punch, and Prankster status moves.
Gen 1 Dominance & Rebalancing
In Generation 1, Psychic had zero real counters due to unified Special stats, a ghost glitch, and absence of Dark and Steel types. Game Freak introduced Dark (immune) and Steel (resistant) in Gen 2 to rebalance the entire competitive meta.
Psyshock & Setup Movepool
Psyshock famously bypasses traditional special walls by targeting physical Defense with Special Attack. Paired with Calm Mind, Trick, and dual screens (Reflect and Light Screen), Psychic types excel at both offensive setup and team support.
All 17 Psychic Dual Type Combinations
Explore defensive strengths, quad weaknesses, and key species for every Psychic type pairing.
Metagross, Beldum, Metang
Mr. Mime, Ralts, Gardevoir
Girafarig, Meloetta Aria, Oranguru
Medicham, Meditite, Gallade
Natu, Xatu, Lugia
Slowpoke, Slowbro, Starmie
Munkidori, Slowbro Galar, Slowking Galar
Latias, Latios, Latias Mega
Victini, Delphox, Armarouge
Inkay, Malamar, Hoopa Unbound
Raichu Alola
Exeggcute, Exeggutor, Celebi
Jynx, Smoochum, Mr. Rime
Hoopa, Lunala, Necrozma Dawn
Baltoy, Claydol
Lunatone, Solrock, Iron Boulder
Orbeetle, Dottler, Rabsca
Top 10 Strongest Psychic Pokemon
Ranked by Base Stat Total (BST). Mega Mewtwo X and Y lead at 780 BST, followed by Ultra Necrozma at 754 BST and classic 680 BST box legendaries.
All Psychic Type Pokemon List
Filter all 142 Psychic Pokemon forms by name, generation, battle role, and competitive stat tiers.
Key Psychic Type Battle Moves
Essential special, physical, and status moves that define competitive Psychic type Pokemon in singles and doubles.
| Move | Category | Power | Accuracy | Strategic Combat Impact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Psychic | Special | 90 | 100% | The benchmark special STAB attack. 10% chance to lower target's Special Defense by one stage, enabling progressive wallbreaking on defensive switch-ins. |
| Psyshock | Special | 80 | 100% | Calculates damage against target's physical Defense while using user's Special Attack. Allows special sweepers to break Blissey, Chansey, and Clodsire. |
| Expanding Force | Special | 80 / 120 | 100% | Under Psychic Terrain, power multiplies to 120 base power and hits both opposing targets in doubles. Staple on Armarouge, Indeedee, and Hatterene. |
| Calm Mind | Status | - | - | Boosts user's Special Attack and Special Defense by one stage each. The premier setup tool for special sweepers like Latios, Hatterene, and Mewtwo. |
| Trick | Status | - | 100% | Swaps held item with target. Frequently used with Choice Specs or Choice Scarf to lock opposing defensive walls into a single useless support move. |
| Teleport | Status | - | - | Negative priority (-6) pivot move. Absorbs incoming attacks before switching out, allowing frail offensive sweepers to enter the field safely without taking chip damage. |
| Agility | Status | - | - | Boosts user's Speed by two full stages (+100%). Transforms heavy wallbreakers like Metagross and Mewtwo into impossible-to-revenge-kill late game sweepers. |
| Zen Headbutt | Physical | 80 | 90% | Physical Psychic STAB attack with a 20% chance to cause the target to flinch. Core offensive move for physical Psychic attackers like Metagross and Gallade. |
Psychic Type Battle Questions
Common questions about battle matchups, counters, and mechanics.
Psychic type Pokemon are weak to Bug, Ghost, and Dark moves, each dealing 2x super effective damage. In dual type pairings, these vulnerabilities can become 4x quad weaknesses: Psychic/Ghost (such as Lunala and Calyrex Shadow) takes 4x damage from both Dark and Ghost attacks, while Psychic/Grass (Celebi and Exeggutor) and Psychic/Dark (Malamar) take 4x quad damage from Bug attacks.
Psychic type attacks deal 2x super effective damage against Fighting and Poison type Pokemon. Powerful STAB attacks like Psychic, Psyshock, and Expanding Force easily eliminate physically defensive Fighting walls and bulky Poison hazard setters like Toxapex and Glimmora.
Pure Psychic type Pokemon resist Fighting and Psychic type attacks, taking only 0.5x half damage. In addition, when paired with secondary types, they gain notable immunities: Psychic/Normal is completely immune to Ghost, Psychic/Flying is immune to Ground, Psychic/Steel is immune to Poison, and Psychic/Fairy is immune to Dragon.
Psychic Terrain boosts the power of Psychic type moves used by grounded Pokemon by 30% (50% in Generation 7). Crucially, grounded Pokemon are completely protected from opposing priority moves, including Sucker Punch, Bullet Punch, Extreme Speed, Mach Punch, and status moves amplified by the Prankster ability.
Psyshock is a Special attack with 80 base power that calculates damage using the user's Special Attack stat against the target's physical Defense stat, rather than their Special Defense. This allows special sweepers like Alakazam and Mewtwo to break through premier special walls like Blissey and Chansey without needing physical attack investment.
By Base Stat Total, Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y share the top spot at 780 BST, followed by Ultra Necrozma at 754 BST, and box legendaries Mewtwo, Lugia, Solgaleo, Lunala, and Calyrex Shadow Rider at 680 BST. In standard competitive tournament play, Metagross (600 BST), Gardevoir (518 BST), Hatterene (510 BST), and Alakazam (500 BST) rank among the most impactful Psychic Pokemon across singles and doubles formats.
In Generation 1 (Red, Blue, and Yellow), Psychic had no practical weaknesses. Special Attack and Special Defense were combined into a single Special stat, giving Psychics massive offense and defense simultaneously. In addition, a coding glitch made Ghost moves deal 0x damage instead of super effective damage, Bug moves were extremely weak (like Twineedle and Leech Life), and neither Dark nor Steel types existed yet.
Psychic type damage-dealing attacks deal 0x zero damage to Dark type Pokemon due to their natural type immunity. However, Psychic Pokemon can still affect Dark types using status moves like Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, or Trick, and can hit them for super effective damage using Fighting or Fairy coverage moves like Focus Blast, Aura Sphere, and Dazzling Gleam.