Type Analysis & Frequency

[SupaChinChin]

You hear a lot these days about how BW is the "fighting generation" and how important it is to have a Dragon resist in the form of the ubiquitous Steel type. This got me wondering; how popular are these types, really? In addition to that, how does the actual data compare to people's expectations? Well, before looking at the usage stats whatsoever, I first thought about what I found the most widespread in the current metagame. What came to mind, of course, was that Fightings, Steels, and Water types would be the most common, and that Ice and Normal would be the least. Well, looking at the OU tier, here are how many Pokemon there are for each type:

Number of Pokemon in OU per Type

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1. Steel (9)
1. Water (9)
1. Psychic (9)
1. Fighting (9)
4. Flying (7)
5. Dragon (6)
5. Ground (6)
7. Grass (5)
8. Fire (4) 
8. Poison (4)
10. Bug (3)
10. Electric (3)
10. Dark (3)
14. Rock (2)
14. Ghost (2)
14. Ice (2)
14. Normal (2)

The three types I expected hit the top of the list, but I didn't realize that Psychic was so popular. It makes sense, considering the apparent ubiquity of Fighting types in the tier, and the fact that there are 9 Fightings in OU. However, Psychic is a terrible offensive type, resisted by Steel, another top contender. The rest of the list makes sense, except for Rock being at the bottom. I realized at this point that it would take a bit more to actually rank the defensive types in the metagame. Thus, I delved into the usage statistics.

Here are the percentages that any given Pokemon encountered in OU is of a specific type. This list is a bit different from before.

Actual Frequency of Pokemon Types in OU

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1.  13.84% - Steel
2.  10.42% - Flying
3.  10.21% - Water
4.  8.74%  - Psychic
5.  8.00%  - Dragon
6.  7.07%  - Fighting
7.  6.01%  - Ground
7.  6.01%  - Grass
9.  5.24%  - Bug
10. 5.23%  - Fire
11. 4.48%  - Rock
12. 4.19%  - Electric
13. 3.55%  - Dark
14. 3.45%  - Poison
15. 2.03%  - Ghost
16. 1.32%  - Ice
17. 1.13%  - Normal

This tells me a far different story than the one I was getting before. First of all, Steel is, by a significant margin, the most common type in BW OU. This is probably due to its ability to take Psychic (#4) and more importantly, Dragon (#5) attacks. Speaking of Dragon, despite it only being #5, the type is so devastatingly powerful that it shape the metagame (looking at you, Outrages and Draco Meteors). In addition to a resistance to those moves, Steels tend to have great movepools, versatility, and secondary typing. Also, as expected, Ice and Normal are almost nonexistent these days, as Snorlax and Blissey can no longer handle the power creep while Ice is a wholly terrible defensive type. Water remains, of course, an incredibly common type to look out for, hanging in at the #3 spot.

Now, what is surprising? Its definitely strange to see Flying so extremely high up on the list, due to its weakness to Stealth Rocks and the common absence of good STAB moves. However, the type has a useful resistance (Fighting) and immunity (Ground), two common offensive types. It did, however, seem out of place for it to be above Water or Fighting. Speaking of Fighting, you may notice that the type had a fall from grace, being at only #6. This calls into question the notion that BW is the "fighting generation", doesn't it? Now, the massive power of Terrakion alone allows one to argue that, but the data certainly opens room for discussion here.

Other unexpected things I noticed were the very low frequency of Ghosts at #15 (which probably has to do with Rotom-A losing its Ghost type) and Grass being more than decent at #7. After I saw these results, I was still wondering; of common Pokemon in OU, how good is each type on average? Here are my findings on the matter:

Average Frequency of Each Type in OU

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1.  18.13% - Rock
2.  14.13%  - Bug
3.  12.44% - Steel
4.  12.03% - Flying
5.  11.30% - Electric
6.  10.78% - Dragon
7.  10.57% - Fire
8.  9.58%  - Dark
9.  9.17%  - Water
10. 8.23%  - Grass
11. 8.19%  - Ghost
12. 8.10%  - Ground
13. 7.86%  - Psychic
14. 7.07%  - Fighting
15. 6.97%  - Poison
16. 5.35%  - Ice
17. 4.57%  - Normal

Let's briefly go over the major things we can learn from this, ultimately. First of all, Psychic and Fighting are only ever high up in OU due to the sheer number of "usable" Pokemon in each type (exceptions is Terrakion, maybe Jirachi and Latios). In addition, Rock is probably the most exclusive, only containing the metagame juggernauts of Tyranitar and Terrakion, two massive forces in the tier. This makes it far and away the "best" typing on OU by this standard. The Bug team (#2) is basically held by Scizor, while Steel remains a powerful overall type, but drops for the first time from the top. Its also worth noting that there are few Electric types, but Rotom-W is important enough to boost it up to #5. Finally, once again, Flying proves itself a common type despite the fact that it can be a liability at times.

Alright guys, I'm going to let you go now. Go ahead and let everyone know what you think of each type, and how that view may have been influenced by all of the actual data. If I'm not lazy, and especially if people show interest, I'll calculate how good each offensive type is according to the above. Lastly, if you give me your own statistical analyses, I'll add it to the main post!

 

[doughboy]

I would assume much in the same way that Scizor holds up the Bug-types of the tier, Dragonite, Gliscor, and Landorus holds up the flying types of the tier. I would note that even though Flying is a popular type, it isn't really "used" per say. What I mean is that those Pokemon who are Flying types don't involve it in the use of STAB attacks, bar Tornadus and Acrobatics Gliscor.

I think the reason why I think the reason why Psychic is so prominent in OU is has more to do with Psychic having such large BST's, getting unique abilities, and getting niche moves. Magic Guard, Magic Bounce, Psyshock,Trick/Sceens/niche moves, 600's base stat totals, and of course the increase relevance of Psychic STAB have all made it an OU viable type. Essentially the Psychic-type got buffed this Gen in every aspect (power, ability, and moves).

 

[iamdanielcruces]

I was doing a similar analysis, but then I thought that one has to consider movesets, and the frequency of each type from the attacking side (while it's true that Fighting mons aren't the most popular, many other types use Fighting moves for coverage), and then consider the relative defensive value of each type in OU. I gave up out of pure laziness, and lack of statistical data.

This generation is currently being defined by several factors, but one of the most important is the quality of the Fighting mons present in OU (just think of Terrakion, who's responsible in part for the rise of Scizor, and has had a great impact on the metagame as a whole).

 

[SupaChinChin]

I was doing a similar analysis, but then I thought that one has to consider movesets, and the frequency of each type from the attacking side (while it's true that Fighting mons aren't the most popular, many other types use Fighting moves for coverage), and then consider the relative defensive value of each type in OU. I gave up out of pure laziness, and lack of statistical data.

This generation is currently being defined by several factors, but one of the most important is the quality of the Fighting mons present in OU (just think of Terrakion, who's responsible in part for the rise of Scizor, and has had a great impact on the metagame as a whole).

Of course, which is why I only intended to evaluate the frequency of Pokemon types, not move types. It would be difficult to impossible to actually count up how common every coverage move type is, so I wouldn't advise that anyone try it themselves. It is, however, possible to judge how effective each offensive type is, just not how common they are.

As for Fighting types, while the moves are popular, that in itself isn't enough of a reason to warrant labeling the metagame after them. Its really just Terrakion and everything that wishes it was Terrakion.

 

[Princess Bubblegum]

Uh, Im probably just having a brain fart, but what is the actual difference in how you found average and actual frequencies.

 

[capefeather]

People called it the Fighting Generation because of all the new Fighting-types in general. Plain and simple, really. That and I guess Conkeldurr's early dominance before Poison Heal Gliscor came into play.

 

[iamdanielcruces]

Well, in theory you could use Antar's movesets stats to calculate the Average Power (for the moves), as well as the Average [Special] Attack (for the mons) of each type. If I remember correctly, X-Act was doing something similar to calculate type defense ratings, and he had several articles/posts on site.

As for the "fighting generation", I remember the buzz before the game's release, supposedly because they were going to be centered on the Fighting-Dark-Psychic core, but after checking, in the current OU there's only two 5th Gen Dark mons (Hydreigon & Scrafty), and one Psychic (Reuniclus), versus five new Fighting representatives, headed (by far) by Terrakion. So in a way this generation did bring Fighting types up. Perhaps you should compare typing frequencies with 4th Gen stats.

 

[Ossy]

It should be noted that there is a high chance of two more fighting 'mons entering OU as well, in the form of Keldeo and to a lesser extent, Meloetta.

 

[ZandgaiaX]

The reason rock-typings are so low in comparison to, well pretty much any other type, is the weak defensive typing. Along with that only Terrakion and Tyranitar are Rock. And both have their own merits why they are this high: Tyranitar with it's all around power and sandstorm inducing-boost, whilst Terrakion simply has the fighting typing working in his favor along with great speed and attack ratings.

What I personally find interesting is that both Bug (Scizor) and Electric (Rotom-W and what else?) are so high up due to a relatively low amount of pokemon actually valiable for said type.

 

[dragonuser]

Similarly to Rock-Type, Dark-Type is getting almost all of its usage from Tyranitar. The only other common Dark-Type in OU is Hydreigon, and even he is a fairly rare sight. These stat's really show how widely Tyranitar is used, as it boosts both Dark- and Rock-Types usage to high levels(8th and 1st). It's really interesting how Tyranitar's usage itself(albeit a few hydreigon) overtakes the usage of 9 types in the metagame.

 

[Master of the Six Kings]

It's interesting to see the ottom 4 remain Ice, Normal and Poison and Ghost except for int he "actual frequency" where ghost pole vaults higher up.

It'dd also be interesting to compare this to older generations and see how things have really shooken up.

 

[Meru]

This chart takes into account the assumption that pokemon make it to OU solely because of their typing.

I highly doubt Lati@s would be any less effective if they were pure Dragon-types. I'd go as far as to say they'd be better and that the Psychic-typing is actually a hindrance for them

 

[iamdanielcruces]

Some stats:

Average HP per type:

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01. Normal - 252.5
02. Rock - 95.5
03. Dragon - 85.7
04. Dark - 85.7
05. Water - 85.1
06. Ground - 85.0
07. Flying - 84.1
08. Fire - 81.3
09. Psychic - 81.1
AVERAGE - 87.7 (for the whole tier)
10. Grass - 81.0
11. Ghost - 80.0
12. Ice - 80.0
13. Fighting - 78.4
14. Steel - 77.2
15. Bug - 76.7
16. Poison - 75.8
17. Electric - 61.7

Average Attack per type:

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01. Rock - 131.5
02. Flying - 115.6
03. Dragon - 115.2
04. Fighting - 113.8
05. Ice - 112.5
06. Dark - 109.7
07. Ground - 105.5
08. Steel - 99.9
09. Grass - 99.2
10. Bug - 93.3
AVERAGE - 93.2 (for the whole tier)
11. Psychic - 84.4
12. Fire - 82.5
13. Poison - 80.8
14. Water - 79.2
15. Electric - 66.7
16. Ghost - 62.5
17. Normal - 7.5

Average Defense per type:

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01. Ice - 130.0
02. Steel - 114.7
03. Dark - 105.0
04. Bug - 101.7
05. Rock - 100.0
06. Flying - 97.0
07. Electric - 94.0
08. Grass - 93.2
09. Ground - 88.8
10. Water - 87.7
11. Dragon - 87.5
AVERAGE - 85.5 (for the whole tier)
12. Psychic - 85.0
13. Fighting - 79.8
14. Fire - 79.3
15. Poison - 68.3
16. Ghost - 65.0
17. Normal - 7.5

Average Special Attack per type:

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01. Electric - 115.0
02. Psychic - 113.9
03. Fire - 112.5
04. Ghost - 107.5
05. Dragon - 105.8
06. Poison - 99.0
AVERAGE - 90.6 (for the whole tier)
07. Dark - 88.3
08. Water - 88.0
09. Steel - 86.6
10. Flying - 85.0
11. Rock - 83.5
12. Bug - 83.3
13. Grass - 80.8
14. Fighting - 80.2
15. Ice - 77.5
16. Ground - 72.0
17. Normal - 55.0

Average Special Defense per type:

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01. Normal - 120.0
02. Grass - 101.7
03. Dark - 101.0
04. Psychic - 97.8
05. Electric - 97.3
06. Dragon - 96.7
07. Fire - 95.5
08. Rock - 95.0
09. Water - 94.9
10. Poison - 90.0
11. Ghost - 90.0
AVERAGE - 89.5 (for the whole tier)
12. Steel - 86.9
13. Flying - 83.6
14. Bug - 81.7
15. Fighting - 80.6
16. Ground - 71.2
17. Ice - 52.5

Average Speed per type:

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01. Dragon - 99.2
02. Fire - 96.3
03. Psychic - 96.1
04. Poison - 93.8
05. Electric - 92.0
06. Flying - 91.1
07. Fighting - 86.3
08. Ghost - 85.0
09. Rock - 84.5
AVERAGE - 83.3 (for the whole tier)
10. Ground - 80.8
11. Water - 76.2
12. Grass - 75.6
13. Ice - 75.0
14. Dark - 72.3
15. Bug - 68.3
16. Steel - 65.8
17. Normal - 52.5

No wonder Rock and Dragon (and Steel, subsequently) are dominating the tier. Statwise they are the archetype for bulky offense, which more or less defines this generation.

@Meru - I believe this is more of a "what to prepare for" in OU, rather than a "why they are here" analysis. But it is true that there are many more sides to a mon than its typing (the single mono-Fire and mono-Water in the tier are used only for their abilities). Regarding the Latis, yes, their Psychic typing is only useful at times (STAB Psyshock?).

 

[EndlessSKy]

To an extent there is no Steel mon that can handle a Dragon since most carry a Fire/Ground coverage move and usually have Stat boosting abilities and moves. Granite choiced ones are easier to handle, tho Adamant banded Dnite does a chunk load regardless and can 2 hit Steels. Especially if switched into a move. I don't really see much use of having a Steel type tho carrying 2-3 is eases the job, but brings common weaknesses.

 

[SupaChinChin]

This chart takes into account the assumption that pokemon make it to OU solely because of their typing.

I highly doubt Lati@s would be any less effective if they were pure Dragon-types. I'd go as far as to say they'd be better and that the Psychic-typing is actually a hindrance for them

Excuse me? I never made any such assumption, or anything close to it.

If you want to argue that types have no value in analysis or usage, then go right ahead. This topic is simply made to demonstrate the popularity of the various types and attempt to find correlations between usage and typing. Just to prove my point, I am positive that Lati@s would be used differently without a psychic typing; thus, its definitely worth reading into.

 

[Challenger]

This chart takes into account the assumption that pokemon make it to OU solely because of their typing.

I highly doubt Lati@s would be any less effective if they were pure Dragon-types. I'd go as far as to say they'd be better and that the Psychic-typing is actually a hindrance for them

I'm glad someone realizes this. Psychic is being heavily weighed in this list because it's a secondary typing for a couple OU powerhouses.

Latios
Latias
--The value for these guys is their dragon typing, and I agree that the psychic typing isn't doing much for them.

Celebi
--Versatility over its psychic typing, imo, although this is one case where having psychic doesn't really cripple it defensively.

Jirachi
Starmie
Metagross

What we're talking about here is the offensive merits of the psychic typings, which means the STABs of Psychic/Psyshock. Metagross occasionally runs Zen Headbutt, and the Latias/Latios twins run Psyshock but even then it's so they attack on the physical spectrum moreso than the coverage).



The same really goes for the surprise of the popularity of flying types, although to a lesser extent. Lots of mons are being used in spite of their flying type, much less so than the fighting resistances. Dragonite, Salamence, and even Gyarados..... all these guys would still get used if they were pure dragon, or pure water type.

Also, would like to point out: It's been called the "fighting gen" or whatever mainly because fighting type MOVES are so common, I think.

 

[pezz]

Might flying be as high up as it is for the plethora of good pokes who have it as a secondary typing? I'm thinking of Salamence, Gyarados, Dragonite, Skarmory, etc. I'm not saying anyone is actually using these pokes because aww yeah flying type*, but all of them are good enough to either muscle through their SR weakness, aren't actually SR weak, or are worth providing Rapid Spin support for.

*Although everything loves an EQ immunity, especially while switching in and especially if your name is Skarmory. It's tough being a physical wall with a weakness to both ground and fighting.

 

[darthscyther123]

Flying is as popular of a type because this has been called the Fighting Generation. Many sweepers, even if they're not Fighting type, are packing Superpower or Focus Blast. The bulky flyers get easy switch ins on those sweepers (not to forget all the Earthquake users). Then the secondary typing on these flyers either compliments their defensive position (like Gliscor/Skarmory) or gives them a powerful STAB attack (Gyarados/Dragonite).

 

[Pippy]

Just my 2 cents:

I'm surprised Rock and Ghost types aren't higher. For rock, Tyranitar and Terrakion are the only common ones sure, but iirc they're both in the top 10 as far as usae. As for ghost, I'd honk they'd be a bit more common because they can spin-block. Considering the popularity and power of hazards, I'd think more people would want to keep them up. It's not like we don't have good ghosts either, as Gengar, Jellicent, and to an extent Dusclops are all great Pokemon. I'm not surprised by Flying and Psychic though. Like others have said, hose Pokemon are probably used in spite of their typing. There are plenty of excellent Pokemon who's pros outweigh the cons of their poor typing, like Dragonite, Salamence, Skarmory, and Tornadus for flying and Reunius, Lati@s, and Jirachi for Psychic to name a few.

 

[purple crobatchop]

Just my 2 cents:

I'm surprised Rock and Ghost types aren't higher. For rock, Tyranitar and Terrakion are the only common ones sure, but iirc they're both in the top 10 as far as usae. As for ghost, I'd honk they'd be a bit more common because they can spin-block. Considering the popularity and power of hazards, I'd think more people would want to keep them up. It's not like we don't have good ghosts either, as Gengar, Jellicent, and to an extent Dusclops are all great Pokemon. I'm not surprised by Flying and Psychic though. Like others have said, hose Pokemon are probably used in spite of their typing. There are plenty of excellent Pokemon who's pros outweigh the cons of their poor typing, like Dragonite, Salamence, Skarmory, and Tornadus for flying and Reunius, Lati@s, and Jirachi for Psychic to name a few.

I'll have to agree with the psychic bit and disagree with the flying bit.

The reason why Lati@s is still used very frequently is because of their stats and the ability levitate, which far outweighs the cons of being a psychic type. Even then psyshock isn't that bad if you have specific purposes for it. As for Jirachi (and Metagross for that matter) Steel/Psychic is actually a really viable defensive typing (except for the earthquakes), plus Jirachi is versatile. And for our beloved Reuniclus, the weak defnesive typing of psychic is perhaps more apparent. Do remember that Lati@s and Starmie only counter Infernape because of being part Psychic, and Reuniclus countering Conkeldurr for the same reason, as well as Celebi countering Breloom.

Flying types are in no way used in spite of their typing. They are used because of their typing. Gliscor is consistently more frequently used that Hippowdon because of it. Dragonite/Salamence is being used more than Hydreigon because of it. Gyarados is better than Fearligatr because of it (and stats and intimidate too). Zapdos is better than Elecktross because of it (Elecktross even has levitate).

And, of course, with the addition of drizzle in OU water types remain to be the most consistent one.

 

[Pippy]

Flying types are in no way used in spite of their typing. They are used because of their typing. Gliscor is consistently more frequently used that Hippowdon because of it. Dragonite/Salamence is being used more than Hydreigon because of it. Gyarados is better than Fearligatr because of it (and stats and intimidate too). Zapdos is better than Elecktross because of it (Elecktross even has levitate).

That's not really true. Not sure if you can compare Dragonite/Salamemce with Hydreigon, as they serve fairly different roles, but going with that, Nite/Mence are chosen for their better abilities, attack stats (and ability to go mixed in Mence's case), Dragon Dance, and better speed for Mence. In fact, one of their few flaws is there flying typing that gives them a SR weakness. As for Gyarados, he used because of what you said: better stats and Intimidate. Sure, that fighting resistance and ground immunity flying grants is nice, but it also gives Gyarados his major weaknesses: a weakness to SR and 4x weakness to electric. Zapdos is used over Eelectross because of his superior bulk, special attack, and speed. Gliscor and Skarmory are the only cases I can think of where having that flying type is good, as it is needed for those fighting and ground resists/immunities. Fortunately, their secondary typing cancels out the SR and electric or ice weaknesses.

Now, don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that flying typing is all bad, it does have its perks. However, those are usually outweighed by the cons of being SR weak and possibly 4x ice or electric weak. Most Flying types are used despite these setbacks because they're really goo.