Despite being quite new, Fairy-type Pokemon have quickly become one of the most dominant species in the more intense battles of the Pokemon series. They normally have two native weaknesses of Steel and Poison-type, but many end up receiving subtypes that give them extremely unpredictable resistances.
Updated September 26, 2021, by Kyle Laurel: With the franchise having some new creatures on the way, the Pokemon roster will undergo some changes. Here’s a final obiter dictum on Fairy-type weaknesses before the type potentially switches things up.
15 Magearna — Two Weaknesses
Simply put, the Steel/Fairy-typing is incredible. Not only does Magearna, for example, have a great offensive arsenal, but it matches up great defensively, only having two weaknesses to complement its nine resistances and two immunities.
Those weaknesses are to the Fire-type and Ground-type, which happen to be two very strong offensive types.
There are a ton of offensively potent Fire- and Ground-type Pokemon and Ground-type coverage, in particular, isn’t hard to come by thanks to moves like Earthquake. It’s a good thing for others, then, that arguably the best type combination in the game isn’t totally unbeatable.
14 Tapu Koko — Two Weaknesses
Not only is this Alolan Guardian particularly powerful from a base stats perspective, but it has an unexpectedly good typing in Electric/Fairy. It’s on par with Steel/Fairy in terms of weaknesses, simply replacing Fire with Poison, but it gets way less resistances at five and one less immunity.
It’s an arguably more deadly offensive combination, though, having put two spectacular attacking types together. Tapu Koko takes advantage of that with moves like Thunderbolt and Dazzling Gleam, while also benefitting greatly from its Electric Surge ability that brings on Electric Terrain.
13 Mimikyu — Two Weaknesses
Mimikyu, a Fairy/Ghost-type, has almost no resistances, only keeping one solitary advantage against Bug-types defensively. However, it trades its Poison-type weakness and Dark-type resistance for two extra immunities. All-in-all, it’s immune to Normal and Fighting, along with Dragon.
That leaves it weak to Steel and itself, Ghost. That’s part of the reason why it’s so good at battling, apart from its Disguise ability that allows it to take a free hit. Despite its power, Steel-type offense is hard to come by, and Mimikyu usually has the Speed stat to hit fellow Ghost-types first.
12 Mega Audino — Two Weaknesses
Normal/Fairy-types and pure Fairy-types are essentially the same, other than trading a Fighting-type resistance for a Ghost-type immunity. Do with that what you will, but the currently out-of-commission Mega Audino had excellent defensive and bulk stats to complement that.
It doesn’t help, though, that the additional Normal-type is resisted by the Steel-type. When it comes to type matchups, Mega Audino might be marginally better than a pure Fairy-type defensively, but it’s hardly better on offense at all.
11 Clefable — Two Weaknesses
As mentioned before, the Fairy-type by itself is weak to Poison-type and Steel-type moves. There were a lot of older Pokemon retconned to become pure Fairy-types, and Clefable is arguably the best of that bunch, having the defensive chops to only really have to avoid those two types.
Poison-types won’t have as easy a time with Clefable as you’d expect, though, if it has the Magic Guard ability causing it to only take direct damage. If you rely on chip damage from badly poisoning your opponents, you’ll have your hands full dealing with this Generation I Fairy.
10 Azumarill — Three Weaknesses
Azumarill gets off fairly easy, as its flavorful addition of the Fairy-type simply adds one new weakness to its round and hefty body. That would be Poison-type, a common weakness among most Fairy-types, but its real vulnerabilities come from its original Water-typing.
These weaknesses are Grass and Electric-type — two extremely strong sources of offense and much more likely to take down an Azumarill. It can at least resist the earlier type with a Sap Sipper ability, but this, unfortunately, gets in the way of having Huge Power instead, another ability that gives Azumarill double its normal attack stat.
9 Galarian Weezing — Three Weaknesses
The Sword and Shield games introduced a Galarian regional variant of Weezing, who received a beautiful smokestack and a gorgeous smoggy beard to match the British industrial aesthetic of its new home. This Poison- and Fairy-type combination is one-of-a-kind, and with it comes some fairly unusual weaknesses.
Galarian Weezing is extremely fearful of Ground, Psychic, and Steel-type Moves, all of which tend to have fairly intense attacks, like Earthquake and Meteor Mash. The Levitate ability is a must-have on this powerful pile of orbs, at least for Singles battles, as it at least eliminates the Ground-type weakness.
8 Grimmsnarl — Three Weaknesses
Another new potential team member in Galar is Grimmsnarl, a powerful hairy goblin with the equally rare combination of Fairy/Dark. This actually ends up cancelling out a lot of concerns for Dark-type Pokemon like Bug- and Fighting-type moves, but it comes at a severe cost of an increased weakness to Fairy-type moves itself.
Otherwise, its prime weaknesses are the Fairy-type standards of Poison and Steel. Since this Pokemon can also use its Prankster ability to set up walls like Reflect and Light Screen, though, it’ll hardly feel the effect of these strong strikes against its potentially weaker body.
7 Gardevoir — Three Weaknesses
Gardevoir has a much more common type combination in the Pokemon series, sharing the Psychic-type and Fairy-type combination with the Mr. Mime, Hatterene, and Galarian Rapidash families. This gives all these Pokemon some remarkable offensive moves, but it also causes them to have a wide set of weaknesses against many Special Attack sweepers.
This combination does neutralize the common Psychic-type weakness of Dark-type moves but unfortunately adds on a Ghost-type weakness without eliminating any of the common Fairy-type weaknesses of Steel or Poison. Gardevoir and Hatterene’s defenses can help them take a Super Effective hit, but it’s almost always going to be a close call.
6 Alolan Ninetales — Four Weaknesses
Most veteran Pokemon players are very aware of how disappointing Ice-type Pokemon tend to be, having four natural weaknesses of Fire-, Fighting-, Rock-, and Steel-type moves despite having hardly any resistances. This makes any dual-type Pokemon with Ice-type in its description quite weak, and Alolan Ninetales has always struggled because of it.
This regional variant takes some strong damage from Poison-, Rock-, and Fire-type moves, while also taking quadruple damage from Steel-type moves in the process. The Fairy-typing gives some benefits like a resistance to Dark-type moves, but you’ll likely need an Aurora Veil wall to help this Pokemon able to stand up in battle.
5 Diancie — Four Weaknesses
Diancie, the legendary queen of her identical Rock/Fairy-type Carbink, are one of many Rock-type Pokemon with some disappointments in their power. Much like Alolan Ninetales, the serious weakness to Steel-type moves is extremely concerning, but its other common weaknesses hold it back much further.
These include Water, Grass, and Ground moves, which each harm its Rock-type body while doing nothing special against Fairy-type Pokemon. It can usually survive better in its Mega Evolution, but still remains one of the most fragile Mythicals in the series.
4 Mega Altaria — Four Weaknesses
Altaria is one of the more ironic and unfortunate cases of high-weakness Pokemon. Its four weaknesses to Rock-, Dragon-, Fairy-, and Ice-type moves in its standard form are pretty rough, but when it Mega Evolves into its unique Dragon and Fairy-type form, it remains just as disappointing and vulnerable.
Mega Altaria has weaknesses to Ice, Poison, Steel, and Fairy moves, with the invincibility to Dragon-type moves being the only real benefit to this retired alternate form. It may be gorgeous with its fluffy wings but certainly doesn’t hit as effectively as you’d want it to.
3 Togekiss — Five Weaknesses
Togekiss is the fundamental Fairy-type Pokemon for a lot of people, as it never fit in very well with many Normal-type Pokemon when it first debuted in Pokemon Diamond & Pearl. With this new typing, though, comes some new weaknesses that make it uniquely risky to use without good defensive stats.
These include Poison- and Steel-type moves as usual but adds on Ice and Electric-type moves alongside the Rock-type weakness. These five are all fairly difficult to come back from, particularly since Togekiss doesn’t learn many moves that are super-effective against all of these types, making it extremely risky in all sorts of battles.
2 Ribombee — Five Weaknesses
Bug-types are quite similar to Ice-type Pokemon, but it’s much rarer that a Bug-type Pokemon has the stats or moves to make it noteworthy compared to Ice-types. Funnily enough, they actually cover many of the same weaknesses, but they’re far more spread out thanks to a lack of Steel-type resistance.
Ribombee can easily be taken down with a Poison, Steel, Rock, Flying, or Fire move. Its defensive stats are especially disappointing, but there’s still something satisfying about a bug this small and frail being just as weak in battle as you’d expect.
1 Whimsicott — Five Weaknesses
With the addition of the Fairy-type, Whimsicott had everything to lose and nothing to gain, as this simply gave it more weaknesses. For all we know, this could have been a balancing attempt, since its Prankster ability makes it so efficient as a support Pokemon, but either way, it’ll take all sorts of damage you wouldn’t expect of it.
The poor cotton puff takes four times the damage as normal from Poison-type moves, as well as regular weaknesses to Steel-, Ice-, Fire-, and Flying-type moves. It’s only just more weak than Ribombee and considering it’s a thick ball of fluff instead of a tiny insect, it’s just a little bit sadder to see.
NEXT: Types That Need More Pokemon
