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super effective or normal??
Least resisted

7 Answers

1 vote
 
Best answer

Instead of looking at the Pokemon actually in the games, or the individual 17/18 types in the game, I decided to tackle the most coverage against the 171 possible type combinations, with no effective weighting. I also made a distinction between whether or not Freeze-Dry and/or Flying Press are available, and whether maximizing supereffective or 4x effective is preferred, all combos with these maximized have full neutral+ coverage. Everything was brute-forced via Python.

The numbers are total super effective targets, 4x effective, 2x effective, 1x effective, 0.5x effective, 0.25x effective, and 0x effective.

Freeze-Dry and Flying Press, super eff. prio.:
Freeze-Dry Ground Rock Fairy - 157, 29 128 14 0 0 0
Here are the 14 types this combination is not super effective against: Grass Steel, Ice Ground, Flying Steel, Bug Steel, Normal, Psychic, Ghost, Fairy, and any of the 6 combinations of those 4 basic types.

Freeze-Dry and Flying Press, 4x prio.:
Freeze-Dry Flying Press Ground Rock - 154, 36 118 17 0 0 0

Freeze-Dry, 4x prio.:
Freeze-Dry Fighting Ground Rock - 152, 35 117 19 0 0 0

Flying Press, 4x prio.:
Ice Flying Press Ground Rock - 148, 32 116 23 0 0 0

Neither, super eff. prio.:
Ice Ground Rock Fairy - 150, 25 125 21 0 0 0

Neither, 4x prio.:
Ice Fighting Ground Rock - 144, 31 113 27 0 0 0

Pre-Fairy, super eff. prio.:
Freeze-Dry Flying Press Ground Rock - 142, 36 106 11 0 0 0
Ice Fighting Ground Rock - 133, 31 102 20 0 0 0

In contrast, here are some of the worst 4-type combos:
Normal Flying Press Poison Bug - 77, 13 64 74 18 2 0
Grass Poison Bug Fairy - 91, 10 81 61 17 2 0
Normal Fighting Poison Bug - 84, 14 70 73 12 2 0

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3 votes

Electric
Flying
Fighting
Ground

0 - No Effect

0 - Not Very Effective

126 - Normal Effectiveness

543 - Super Effective


They might be a better one, but this is the best I found.


Source: Type-coverage checker

2017 (Gen 7) edit: this combination hits 717 Pokemon for super effective damage and 191 for normal damage as of Sun/Moon. Note, this question was originally posted in 2013.

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edited by
Earthquake
Thunderpunch
Close combat
Acrobats

Infernape
Fire, Electric, Fighting, and Ground
0 - No Effect
0 - Not Very Effective
179 - Normal Effectiveness
595 - Super Effective
This is the best, I believe, and Infernape also has this movepool. Just use Flare Blitz instead of Acrobatics
Source: http://pokemondb.net/tools/type-coverage
This was posted before new pokemon came out
Ground
Fighting
Electric
Flying
0- No Effect
0- Not Very Effective
172- Normal
628- Super Effective
Now it hit 524 pokemon supereffectively I think.Anyone should update this.
Uhm... and what about Volt Absorb Thundurus then ?
When playing around with my boy Mamoswine, i discovered this:

Earthquake
Ice Shard
Knock Off
Iron Head

325 Normal Effective
703 Super Effective
@smashmellow there are over 1000 Pokémon?

Nvm: I think the site is beoken
3 votes

No effect-0
Not very effective-0
Normal effectiveness-136
Super effective-909

Kyurem-White
Freeze-Dry
Focus Blast
Shadow Ball
Earth Power

Source: https://pokemondb.net/tools/type-coverage

The numbers might be slightly off because the website doesn’t account for freeze dry being super-effective against water so I added it myself. Also turboblaze ignores abilities.

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1 vote

Fighting
Dark
Ground
Ice

14/17 types (all but water, bug, and fighting)

I recommend Scrafty's Brick Break, Crunch, Dig, Ice punch.

The other one may be better because added up are a lot more water, bug and fighting type pokémon than dragon, ground, psychic, ghost and flying electric pokémon.

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edited by
You could make the ice move freeze dry to add coverage against water
1 vote

Fire
Electric
Ground
Fairy

No Effect 0
Not Very Effective 0
Normal Effectiveness 205
Super Effective 703

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Why would you answer if there already is a better answer?
This was before the introduction of Fairy-types?

So, it's fine, I guess. Old question, but new answers relevant in this case, imo.

Other answer says 14/17 types, so this was before the advent of the Fairies :)
No they're not, the first answer from 5th of November is still the best answer. I checked myself using the Gen 7 checker.
0 votes

No Effect 0
Not Very Effective 0
Normal Effectiveness 238
Super Effective 562

Fire Electric Ground Dragon

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Why would you answer if there already is a better answer?
Go for fairy instead of dragon.
0 votes

I was trying to find a good type coverage for Dunsparce and I found a really amazing one
Fire+electric+ice+ground
0 no effect
232 regular
676 super effective
Fire+ground+ice+ghost has 640 super effective
There was also a combo with 674 super effective but unfortunately I can't remember what it was

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He asked for the very best four types, not a good one. This answer is wrong.