Water is one of the three basic elemental types along with Fire and Grass, which constitute the three starter Pokemon. This creates a simple triangle to explain the type concept easily to new players. It is the most common type with over 100 Pokemon, which are based on a wide variety of fish and other sea-dwelling creatures.
The type is also notable for having the only worthwhile HMs: Surf (for special attack) and to a lesser extent, Waterfall (for physical attack). Black & White introduced notoriously few new Water Pokemon.
Water moves are super-effective against:
Water moves are not very effective against:
These types are not very effective against Water pokemon:
These types are super-effective against Water pokemon:
The chart below shows the strength of the Water 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 Water-type move would be against a pokemon like Venusaur. You will see that it is 50%.
| nor | fir | wat | ele | gra | ice | fig | poi | gro | fly | psy | bug | roc | gho | dra | dar | ste | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire | 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| Water | ½ | ||||||||||||||||
| Electric | 2 | ½ | |||||||||||||||
| Grass | ½ | ¼ | ½ | ||||||||||||||
| Ice | 2 | ½ | ½ | ||||||||||||||
| Fighting | 2 | ½ | ½ | ||||||||||||||
| Poison | 2 | ½ | ½ | ||||||||||||||
| Ground | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||||||
| Flying | 2 | ½ | ½ | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Psychic | 2 | ½ | ½ | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Bug | 2 | ½ | ½ | 2 | |||||||||||||
| Rock | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Ghost | 2 | ½ | ½ | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||||
| Dragon | ½ | ¼ | ½ | ¼ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ||||||
| Dark | 2 | ½ | ½ | 2 | 2 | ½ | |||||||||||
| Steel | 2 | ½ | ½ | 2 | 2 | ½ |
There are 111 Water-type pokemon.
See also: