Pokemon Go Countering Less Common Gym Defenders

Pokemon Go Countering Less Common Gym Defenders by chatchan

Flying: Pidgeot (166/170/166), Fearow (130/168/146), and Dodrio (120/182/150)

Countertypes: Electric, Rock

To start things off, we’ve got three different (non-legendary) birds with mostly below-average stats. Each of these three share the exact same Normal/Flying typing, and as such, they are all weak to Electric, Rock, and Ice (and only Ice isn’t a countertype). Some of the usable Pokemon of these types require some extra effort to get, but typically once you have them, you should be fine.

As far as moves to watch out for, it should be noted that Pidgeot and Dodrio can both have Steel Wing as a Basic Attack (edit: and so can Fearow!), which is resisted by Electric but does well against Rock and Ice types (that aren’t half Water). Fearow learns Drill Run, a Ground type Charge move that can be troublesome for most Electric and most Rock types to handle. Finally, Pidgeot can learn Hurricane, a powerful Flying type move that you should probably be dodging regardless of whether or not you have a counter.

Electric: Jolteon (130/192/174) and Electabuzz (130/198/160)

Countertypes: Ground

As I’ve mentioned before, Electric types have pretty bad longevity in battle. But one thing they do have going for them is that their STAB moves aren’t resisted by a large number of easy-to-get Pokemon that are worth using. Many of the usable Pokemon that resist Electric (Grass, Ground, and Dragon types; Electric itself as well but it’s not worth using here) are found at the end of three-stage families, making them harder to get and thus harder to have multiples of just in case one faints.

Still, beating Electric types is pretty simple. You’ll want to get a good Ground type, since Ground counters Electric, but even if you can’t get one, you could really just pick anything that isn’t weak to Electric and that has good Attack and go to town. Of course, other Pokemon that resist Electric like Grass and Dragon types get a special nod. Still, I recommend you use a fully-evolved Ground type with STAB moves (except Dugtrio because it’s quite weak) if you can manage it.

Psychic: Hypno (170/162/196)

Countertypes: Dark

Hypno is unique because it’s essentially the only usable pure Psychic type in Gen 1 – every other Psychic is either just not that strong (Alakazam) or has a double typing that gives you more weaknesses to choose from (Slowbro, Exeggutor). In addition to having a good typing which affords it no countertype representatives in Gen 1, Hypno also has good Stamina and Defense, and a pretty good movepool by nature of STAB options, though severely limited in terms of coverage (its only non-Psychic move is Shadow Ball, which is only good against Pokemon that are disadvantaged against Hypno anyways).

Since Dark types aren’t here yet and every Ghost type in Gen 1 is weak to Psychic, the best way to handle Hypno is to use powerful Bug Pokemon like Scyther and Pinsir; Venomoth can also work, though you may need to spend a lot of time dodging since it’s weak to Psychic. All of these Pokemon are best at taking out Psychics like Hypno when armed with double-Bug movesets. These movesets aren’t always the easiest to come by though, so you can also use Pokemon who aren’t weak to Psychic and whose attacks aren’t resisted by Psychic (so no Fighting or Psychic moves). There are also good Pokemon like Arcanine and Gyarados who learn the Bug, Dark, or Ghost type moves that are good against Psychic.

Poison/Ground: Nidoking (162/204/170) and Nidoqueen (180/184/190)

Countertypes: None

These two have a very good typing offensively speaking; nothing that resists Ground also resists Poison, and likewise, a huge number of the types that resist Poison are weak to Ground. So there aren’t any real countertypes for these two, but the king and queen are ironically weak to Ground, and Ground types also resist their Poison attacks, so they’re your best bet here.

Water, Ice, and Psychic type attacks are also super effective choices here. While Psychic is effective against the duo, I’d be careful about using actual Psychic types since Nidoking learns two different Bug moves and Nidoqueen can have Bite as a Basic move, which may make the battle more difficult than it should be.

As a final note of caution, be warned that Earthquake can be an incredibly serious attack due to its very high base power and the STAB boost these two will get with it if they have it.

Ground/Rock: Rhydon (210/166/160) and Golem (160/176/198)

Countertypes: None

Similar to Nidoking and Nidoqueen, these are Ground types with good stats and a secondary type that blesses them with no true countertypes. However, these two are also cursed with having double weaknesses to two types: Water and Grass. Non-Poison Grass types get an extra nod here for resisting the powerful Ground moves you’re likely to face when battling Rhydon and Golem, but they also need to watch out for Rhydon’s Charge move Megahorn, especially Exeggutor.

Beyond Water and Grass types, you can also use Ground, Fighting, Ice, and Steel attacks (but probably not Ice or Steel type Pokemon, as they are weak to Rock and Ground respectively) to do boosted damage. However, it’s obviously better to focus on the double weaknesses.

Poison: Muk (210/180/188)

Countertypes: Ground

Muk is pretty good and has few weaknesses, but luckily there are a few strong Pokemon in Gen 1 who have a double resistance to its Poison STAB moves: Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Rhydon, and Golem. Gengar also sports this useful super resistance, but the aforementioned four Pokemon are especially good since they can deal great damage to Muk with STAB-boosted Earthquakes and other Ground type moves. Muk is also weak to Psychic, but since it learns Lick and Dark Pulse, using Psychic types can be a bit tedious since you may need to dodge often.

Fairy: Clefable (190/178/178) and Fairy/Normal: Wigglytuff (280/168/108)

Countertypes: Steel, Poison

The game’s only two usable Fairies are actually not bad thanks to their mostly good stats and movepools. But since there are so many Poison types to choose from in Gen 1, you might not have too much trouble with them. The five best Poison types in terms of maximum potential CP are Muk, Venusaur, Victreebel, Vileplume, and Nidoqueen – each of these except Muk are at the end of three-stage families, but really any Poison type that has decent CP in relation to your opponent and knows good Poison moves should work. A special nod goes out to Gengar since it also resists the Normal type moves both Clefable and Wigglytuff have access to, although Wigglytuff may have the Dark-type Feint Attack as its Basic move instead.

The only thing Poisons really have to worry about is if Clefable knows Zen Headbutt or Psychic (or both), but even if it does, you can always either dodge a ton, use Magneton (who is the only usable Steel type in Gen 1, resists Psychic, and is a decent choice against Fairies anyways), or just pick strong Pokemon who aren’t weak to Fairy or Psychic and whose attacks aren’t resisted by Fairies. Also, try to keep an eye out for whether or not Wigglytuff knows Hyper Beam, because it’s a pretty serious attack.