Dark (type)

The Dark type was introduced in the second generation of Pokemon games as a measure to balance the types. In particular, its resistance to Psychic cut down Psychic's advantage by a long way. When paired with the Ghost type it is the only type combination to have no weaknesses.

Attack pros & cons

Dark moves are super-effective against:

Psychic Ghost

Dark moves are not very effective against:

Fighting Dark Steel

Defense pros & cons

These types have no effect on Dark pokemon:

Psychic

These types are not very effective against Dark pokemon:

Ghost Dark

These types are super-effective against Dark pokemon:

Fighting Bug

Dual-type attack pros & cons

The chart below shows the strength of the Dark type against every type combination. The numbers in the squares show the fraction damage the move will do (i.e. ½ means 50% damage and not very effective, while 4 means 400% - super-effective).

For example, look where the Grass and Poison types intersect to see how good a Dark-type move would be against a pokemon like Venusaur. You will see that it is 100%.

	nor	fir	wat	ele	gra	ice	fig	poi	gro	fly	psy	bug	roc	gho	dra	dar
Fire
Water
Electric
Grass
Ice
Fighting	½	½	½	½	½	½
Poison							½
Ground							½
Flying							½
Psychic	2	2	2	2	2	2		2	2	2
Bug							½				2
Rock							½				2
Ghost	2	2	2	2	2	2		2	2	2	4	2	2
Dragon							½				2			2
Dark	½	½	½	½	½	½	¼	½	½	½		½	½		½
Steel	½	½	½	½	½	½	¼	½	½	½		½	½		½	¼

Notable Dark-type trainers

Karen
Elite Four
HeartGold/SoulSilver
Grimsley
Elite Four
Black/White

Dark Pokemon

There are currently 39 Dark-type pokemon.
See also: