Other Psychic Typing

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Since Gen 2, the Psychic typing has never really been outstanding. Pursuit was a crippling weakness, and it had little outside of a Fighting resistance to stand out defensively.

However this gen seems to have made things worse than they ever have been. Two of Psychic's weaknesses, Dark and Ghost, received large offensive buffs by not being resisted by Steel. Knock Off has become a staple on nearly every team with it's massive buff. And worst, the Fairy type also resists Fighting while also sporting a Dark resist, in a way outclassing Psychic.

Even Offensively, Psychic seems to have taken a hit. For hitting Fighting types, Flying has become a very common STAB, and most things that learn Psychic type moves also learn Dazzling Gleam allowing Fairy to further outclass it.

So this brings up some interesting questions about the typing this gen.

So what niches does Psychic have? Does the typing fit well in any types of cores? Is Psychic typing an asset or a liability for the Psychic types that are in OU. Is there a potential role a Psychic type would fill well, but we don't have a pokemon that fills it yet?

I feel Psychic has 2 main offensive niches. 1 is hitting Poison types, being one of only 2 types to do so (Ground is a very different typing from Psychic, so they don't overlap much). The other is Psyshock, allowing Special Attackers to have pseudo-mixed coverage.
 
The way I see it, the Psychic-type is kind of like the Ice-type in Gen V: Ice-type moves are cool, but they don't make it worth being an Ice-type. Psychic-type moves actually got a nice little buff in that they can muscle past Mega Venusaur and... well, yeah, just that, but it's a valuable niche nevertheless. A few Pokemon, like Thundurus, Manaphy, Sylveon and even some variants of Clefable can use Psychic-type moves to muscle past one of their best counters.

As far as actually being a Psychic-type goes, though, yeah, being a Psychic-type sucks. The highest ranked Psychic-types in the viability thread are the Lati's, whom I'm pretty sure weep over their Psychic-typings daily. Beyond that, the next one is Alakazam in B-, which I would honestly say is too high for him (I'd say C+ for him). Tyranitar is everywhere, Knock Off is everywhere, Bisharp is everywhere spamming Knock Off... yeah, being a Psychic-type Pokemon is terrible right now.
 

Aragorn the King

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Since Gen 2, the Psychic typing has never really been outstanding. Pursuit was a crippling weakness, and it had little outside of a Fighting resistance to stand out defensively.

However this gen seems to have made things worse than they ever have been. Two of Psychic's weaknesses, Dark and Ghost, received large offensive buffs by not being resisted by Steel. Knock Off has become a staple on nearly every team with it's massive buff. And worst, the Fairy type also resists Fighting while also sporting a Dark resist, in a way outclassing Psychic.

Even Offensively, Psychic seems to have taken a hit. For hitting Fighting types, Flying has become a very common STAB, and most things that learn Psychic type moves also learn Dazzling Gleam allowing Fairy to further outclass it.

So this brings up some interesting questions about the typing this gen.

So what niches does Psychic have? Does the typing fit well in any types of cores? Is Psychic typing an asset or a liability for the Psychic types that are in OU. Is there a potential role a Psychic type would fill well, but we don't have a pokemon that fills it yet?

I feel Psychic has 2 main offensive niches. 1 is hitting Poison types, being one of only 2 types to do so (Ground is a very different typing from Psychic, so they don't overlap much). The other is Psyshock, allowing Special Attackers to have pseudo-mixed coverage.
I always feel like the Psychic type gets a bad rap. It's honestly not a bad typing; I just made a very balanced team with 3 Psychic Types. What's really integral for a good Psychic type is a good dual typing, a good ability, and a good movepool. This makes the following all pretty good this generation, in my opinion:Alakazam, Mega Alakazam, Gardevoir, Mega Gardevoir, Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, Victini, Meloetta, Reuniclus, Gothitelle, Latios, Latias, Mega Medicham, Deoxys-S, Azelf, and Espeon. Note that these are just the pokemon that appreciate the typing. There are other good Psychic types, like Wobbuffet, that don't use Psychic moves.

I like the typing this gen, mainly because of how common Conkeldurr and Mega Venusaur are. You even see previously unseen moves, like Extrasensory, being used for coverage on Raikou and Greninja and Psychic and Psyshock actually being used as coverage options on Pokemon like Landorus, Manaphy, and Thundurus.

The Psychic type is not inherently good or bad; it has pros and cons. However, the environment now is not that kind to them. Nevertheless, Psychic pokemon, or Psychic moves at least, are still an important part of the game.
The way I see it, the Psychic-type is kind of like the Ice-type in Gen V: Ice-type moves are cool, but they don't make it worth being an Ice-type. Psychic-type moves actually got a nice little buff in that they can muscle past Mega Venusaur and... well, yeah, just that, but it's a valuable niche nevertheless. A few Pokemon, like Thundurus, Manaphy, Sylveon and even some variants of Clefable can use Psychic-type moves to muscle past one of their best counters.

As far as actually being a Psychic-type goes, though, yeah, being a Psychic-type sucks. The highest ranked Psychic-types in the viability thread are the Lati's, whom I'm pretty sure weep over their Psychic-typings daily. Beyond that, the next one is Alakazam in B-, which I would honestly say is too high for him (I'd say C+ for him). Tyranitar is everywhere, Knock Off is everywhere, Bisharp is everywhere spamming Knock Off... yeah, being a Psychic-type Pokemon is terrible right now.
I definitely don't agree with your assessment of Zam, but let's save that for another thread. Also, your rankings aren't accurate. Deoxys-S and Deoxys-D are both A+ Psychic types, Latios and Latias are A, Mega Gardevoir and Mega Medicham are B+, Mew and Victini are B, and then Jirachi and Alakazam are B-. Otherwise, I do agree with your comparison with the Ice and Psychic types. Both provide invaluable coverage, while Ice provides more of it and Psychic is better defensively.
 

Rotosect

Banned deucer.
The way I see it, the Psychic-type is kind of like the Ice-type in Gen V: Ice-type moves are cool, but they don't make it worth being an Ice-type.
Ice STAB was extremely important in Gen 5 since it introduced Ferrothorn and Multiscale Dragonite, two pokemon water types with Ice Beam couldn't reliably beat.

Even now Ice STAB still holds a very important niche as it allows Kyurem-B to beat Mega Venusaur without effort and it makes a huge difference with Ice Shard, since Donphan can't even OHKO Landorus-I with it, while Mamoswine and Weavile can make great use of that move.

Psychic lacks key offensive moves that make the STAB worth it with the possible exception of Stored Power.
 
I definitely don't agree with your assessment of Zam, but let's save that for another thread. Also, your rankings aren't accurate. Deoxys-S and Deoxys-D are both A+ Psychic types, Latios and Latias are A, Mega Gardevoir and Mega Medicham are B+, Mew and Victini are B, and then Jirachi and Alakazam are B-. Otherwise, I do agree with your comparison with the Ice and Psychic types. Both provide invaluable coverage, while Ice provides more of it and Psychic is better defensively.
Shit, how did I forget about them. I guess next time I'll double check.

Although, aside from Mega Gardevoir and maybe Medicham, all of those Pokemon would rather not be Psychic-types as well. Deoxys hates his lack of resistances and bland STAB coverage (though Psycho Boost is so powerful that it matters less) and Victini and Jirachi hate being weak to Knock Off/Pursuit/common priority moves. Medicham's typing is shit defensively, but he can use STAB Zen Headbutt to break Megasaur, so that's a plus.
 
Weakness Policy allows you to take advantage of Psychic's arguably "weak" typing, getting a boost off the ubiquitous U-Turn or Knock Off so long as they can survive the hit. Stick Weakness Policy on something fast with high Sp Def and Wonder Room (or just a decent Defense - e.g. Slowbro, Mew and Reuinclus) - there's an interesting thought (only made more damaging by the fact it lets them hit through special walls).

Other than that, Poison also got a buff, so Psychic works well to balance that out - getting a slightly rawer deal than Dark and Ghost.
 

Aragorn the King

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Shit, how did I forget about them. I guess next time I'll double check.

Although, aside from Mega Gardevoir and maybe Medicham, all of those Pokemon would rather not be Psychic-types as well. Deoxys hates his lack of resistances and bland STAB coverage (though Psycho Boost is so powerful that it matters less) and Victini and Jirachi hate being weak to Knock Off/Pursuit/common priority moves. Medicham's typing is shit defensively, but he can use STAB Zen Headbutt to break Megasaur, so that's a plus.
I guess I agree; if any Psychic type could choose to change its type and STAB moves it receives, it probably would. But given each Pokemon current status as Psychic, they have no choice. Gardevoir, Medicham, Deoxys-S, Azelf, Celebi, and Alakazam all love being able to use extremely powerful STAB moves to kill Venusaur. Sure, they'd rather be water type, and get water STAB, but they work with what they get. But I totally agree on Victini, Jirachi, and defensive Psychic's dislike of the type, as they very infrequently use Psychic moves.

EDIT: OMG I forgot Slowbro at B rank too! Oops.
 
I like the typing this gen, mainly because of how common Conkeldurr and Mega Venusaur are. You even see previously unseen moves, like Extrasensory, being used for coverage on Raikou and Greninja and Psychic and Psyshock actually being used as coverage options on Pokemon like Landorus, Manaphy, and Thundurus.

The Psychic type is not inherently good or bad; it has pros and cons. However, the environment now is not that kind to them. Nevertheless, Psychic pokemon, or Psychic moves at least, are still an important part of the game./quote]
The issue is that Conkeldurr sports insane attack, great bulk and Knock Off, so physically frail Psychic types can't get by it without Specs.

252 SpA Life Orb Latios Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Conkeldurr: 354-421 (85.5 - 101.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Conkeldurr Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Latios: 294-348 (97.3 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO.

I'd say Psychic is probably the 11th best attacking type after Fire, Ice, Water, Electric, Fighting, Ground, Rock, Ghost, Dragon and Fairy. Maybe 12th after Dark. Not horrible, but it doesn't make up for being on par with Rock and Ice defensively.
 
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Poor, poor Psychic. How the great have fallen. Psychic is easily the worst type in the game--worse than Ice. It only resists Fighting, a job better done by Fairy, and itself, a useless resistance since Psychic isn't a great attacking type, either; with only being strong against Poison and Fighting, there is no incentive for Psychic STAB when a Ground and Fairy type do the job and cover way more than those two types. At least Ice utility as an attacking type, one of the best in the game.

Unless GameFreak fixes the type chart again--which is very unlikely to happen soon--, Psychic types are doomed unless they have a secondary typing, in whose case the Psychic typing is still a severe liability. Pokémon like Slowbro and Gardevoir aren't really used for their Psychic typings; they're used for their Water and Fairy typings. Otherwise, they'd be dead-weight, and we know this due to Gardevoir's tiering without the Fairy type in previous generations.
 
The thing about psychic-types,

Psychic-types are practically a special version of normal-types. If one takes the time to look at all their attacks and utility, Psychic types carry a wide arrange of moves based on support and wide-range.

Take for instance, Espeon:



Espeon is known for her high speed, special attack. While her offensive move pool is shallow, I want you to take a look at the stuff she can provide:

Excellent Dual-Screen Set Up
One of the few pokemon with access to Magic Bounce
Can have Dazzling Gleam as a back-up move outside of Psyshock
Wish Pass

Honestly, when was the last time you saw someone use a psychic-type pokemon as a main offensive pokemon (Outside of Alakazam, Latios/Latias). Psychic has changed from offensive core (Generation 1-2) to now being a support based type. Psychic has changed roles as a primary typing, not changed it's usefulness.
 
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Latios does get Psyshock from being Psychic, so there is that.

And yeah, just like the indirect buff grass moves get due to Rotom-W, Psychic became important coverage because it's one of the only ways to put a dent in M-Venu.
 
The thing about psychic-types,

Psychic-types are practically a special version of normal-types. If one takes the time to look at all their attacks and utility, Psychic types carry a wide arrange of moves based on support and wide-range.

Take for instance, Espeon:



Espeon is known for her high speed, special attack. While her offensive move pool is shallow, I want you to take a look at the stuff she can provide:

Excellent Dual-Screen Set Up
One of the few pokemon with access to Magic Bounce
Can have Dazzling Gleam as a back-up move outside of Psyshock
Wish Pass

Honestly, when was the last time you saw someone use a psychic-type pokemon as a main offensive pokemon (Outside of Alakazam). Psychic has changed from offensive core (Generation 1-2) to now being a support based type. Psychic has changed roles as a primary typing, not changed it's usefulness.
The Psychic type is something I like to refer to as a "trick type" along with Dark and Ghost. Most of the types moves have unique effects outside of doing damage. From a move perspective, I agree with you. Psychic is a support type.

However, from a type chart perspective Psychic is weak to what have become two very common types in Dark and Ghost, and the former is able to trap it with Pursuit. So using Psychic types in a supportive role is difficult because of the typings horrible defensive typings.

(As a massive disclaimer to what I'm about to say, Espeon is my second favorite Pokemon in existence. I used one in every single one of my Gen 5 teams)

This bad typing with strong support moves is the crux of Espeon's problem, and thus why it's one of the least used pokemon in OU. Heal Bell, Dual Screens, Wish Pass, And Magic Bounce are great, but it has 65/60/95 Defenses and is weak to Knock Off and Pursuit. Base 130 attacking stats with 110 speed is amazing, but what on earth is Psychic STAB good for outside of hitting Mega Venusaur and Tentacruel?
 
The Psychic type is something I like to refer to as a "trick type" along with Dark and Ghost. Most of the types moves have unique effects outside of doing damage. From a move perspective, I agree with you. Psychic is a support type.

However, from a type chart perspective Psychic is weak to what have become two very common types in Dark and Ghost, and the former is able to trap it with Pursuit. So using Psychic types in a supportive role is difficult because of the typings horrible defensive typings.

(As a massive disclaimer to what I'm about to say, Espeon is my second favorite Pokemon in existence. I used one in every single one of my Gen 5 teams)

This bad typing with strong support moves is the crux of Espeon's problem, and thus why it's one of the least used pokemon in OU. Heal Bell, Dual Screens, Wish Pass, And Magic Bounce are great, but it has 65/60/95 Defenses and is weak to Knock Off and Pursuit. Base 130 attacking stats with 110 speed is amazing, but what on earth is Psychic STAB good for outside of hitting Mega Venusaur and Tentacruel?
I honestly believe it also comes to the "saving grace" in the form of Psyshock.

Now you're gonna have to bear with me on this one, as Psychic and Psyshock are capable of generating the "trick" sense that you did mention.

While I do agree that Psychic is indeed a horrible defensive type, I do feel that it isn't a terrible type to utilize. Latios loves having Psyshock, being able to hit hard on Goodra/Blissey when Draco meteor doesn't cut it.

Now onto Espeon,

Espeon's psychic typing isn't ferpect, in fact, it's not even great (She's my favorite Eeveelution too). Espeon fits a role that helps her, while I do agree that knock-off and ghost-types will hurt Espeon, why bother keeping her in on them? Psychics can make great bait if anything, and other pokemon outside of Espeon have access to a wide-support move pool. Ironically enough, I run Xatu with a Trick Room Team and the Psychic-typing he bears allows me to fit him well with tanking priority Mach Punches that would kill my Steel-types.

What Espeon provides is something no-one else can, so I utilize her well enough, but lets look at what Psychic hits neutrally, everything but:

Dark (Immune)
Psychic (duh)
Steel

Those three types are increasingly common (aside from psychic itself), but the idea isn't to be hitting them, it's to hit everything else, most psychics still carry back-up moves for those three in the form of:
Ghost
Fighting
Fairy
Fire

But if we were to go purely support based, look no further than Gardevoir, her whole entire existence is based on being a special tank capable of generating, good support similar to Espeon.

As a type, it functions differently, that is for sure, Psychic-types are meant to be unpredictable, and support based, but not as a primary offensive use outside of Alakazam, Latios, and Latias
 
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Probably the only good thing psychic moves can do nowadays is get past Mega Venusaur.
Thats it, and even then flying gets past mega venu as well and thats a much better offensive typing. The only things that need psychic moves nowadays are things like Alakazam or Latios.

Poor psychic ;-;

Defensively, Psychic is horrible, only resisting fighting is bad, but offensively the mons are alright, with espeon, latios, medicham, etc, however most psychic types are very underwhelming.
 
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Rotosect

Banned deucer.
Another problem about Psychic types is that, while Fighting resistance is amazing and shouldn't be discounted, almost every single one of them happens to have horrible HP and/or Defense, and almost every single fighting type is a physical attacker. To make things worse most physically-oriented fighting types have access to Knock Off or some other dark-type attack.
At least most ice types do have decent defenses so they can make good use of their ice resistance.

I mean, look at this:
252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Alakazam: 331-390 (131.3 - 154.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

It's an extreme example I know, but seriously...
 
Another problem about Psychic types is that, while Fighting resistance is amazing and shouldn't be discounted, almost every single one of them happens to have horrible HP and/or Defense, and almost every single fighting type is a physical attacker. To make things worse most physically-oriented fighting types have access to Knock Off or some other dark-type attack.
At least most ice types do have decent defenses so they can make good use of their ice resistance.

I mean, look at this:
252 Atk Pure Power Mega Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Alakazam: 331-390 (131.3 - 154.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

It's an extreme example I know, but seriously...
Alakazam holds on to it's focus sash and proceeds do swiftly ko it with shadow ball.

Your comment is like calling defensive water types crap because Sharpedo can't take a rain boosted choice specs hydro pump from a Keldeo.
 
Guys really...?
Every single typing has some flaws one way or another, that does not mean that they do not have a purpose or can't do well in a metagame where such checks are common enough for them to experience.

Yes, Psychic is weak to ghost and dark, does that mean that I'm going to stop using a useful mon just because of its typing? NO, because they provide some sort of role that is really valuable to me on such team that I make, or they provide a good amount of power to eliminate a lot of mons that I have trouble with.
Yes fighting types have dark coverage to take psychics on, but I can apply the same argument to any other situation, example:

1.
OH sunflora, lol easy Imma send heatran and burn this thing with a lava plume- BAM it used earth power and your heatran took a butt-ton of damage in the process (almost killing it).

2. Durant? Imma send charizard and kill this thing lolololol when you find out it OUTSPEEDS YOU and used rock slide/stone edge, your megazard is now dead and durant proceeds to kill the rest of your team.

3. Swampert? Easy I can send in ferro- OH WAIT, its banded and it just used superpower on you, leaving your ferrothorn in the red. Your ferrothorn is basically dead at this point.

The majority of mons in this game have a decent enough moveset that carry coverage moves for any checks that such a random x mon may face. Sharpedo gets zen headbutt for most fighting types/ weakened venusaur and ice fang for most dragons, azelf gets dazzling gleam/fireblast/grass knot to catch every single dark type in the game off guard, hell vanilluxe gets weather ball for whatever weather you choose to have (rain for tran most likely). Pangoro gets poison jab/earthquake for fairy coverage. IT APPLIES TO EVERY TYPE. Does that mean that all of these types are bad just because coverage for them is commonly run? The answer is a big fat NO.

I'm going to run omastar because its a really good special sweeper in rain, I'm going to run bouffalant because cb reckless head charge is damn strong, I'm going to run stunfisk because I hate hurricane spam.
I'm going to run a psychic type named slowking because he can live strong special hits like from Mega Venusaur and hit back with a strong, super effective psychic stab.

That is how I choose pokemon, not only because of their typing, but of their capabilities.
 
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Psychic, bad? I don't believe so. Psychic has the advantage of resisting the two types that has more attacker with higher base STABs from the physical and special part apart of Dragon type.

The other big boom is the high amount of Psychic pokemon in the metagame.

It's a type that has neutral to the introduction of Fairy. The main problems of Psychic this gen are Knock Off (with a lot of controversy in UU because how "overpowered" is) and Aegislash.

Flying is an spammable STAb move because Mega Pinsir with 155 Bas Attack and 133 BP STAB move with 100% accuracy and no drawbacks, which is ridiculous. After the Gen VI nerf to spcial attacks, the only 100% accuracy moves outside cover kegndaries and evnt pokemon without drawbacks with more than 90 poer are Return Frustration, Sludge Wave, Earthquake and Moonblast. I'm convincd that the 30% boost is a "glitch".

And Gale Wings: what he do to Talonflame (a pokemon with only 81 bas Attack and already 126 base Speed) means that if Talonflame is a top OU thrat, imagine for example, Gale Wings Honchkrow.
 
I still think it sucks psychic type did not get the rumored resistance to fairy. Would've made Pokemon like the latis, and to a lesser extent, Pokemon like gallade, more viable.

As an offensive typing, psychic isn't so bad, especially since the majority of psychic type attackers are extremely fast and boast high special attack, along with just enough coverage to compensate for their resistances. Many carry shadow ball and focus blast.

It's defensively where things come crashing down. Weaknesses to dark, ghost, and bug and resisting nothing but psychic and poison (whose moves have a high chance to inflict poison or toxic making the resistance pretty crappy).

Also, most psychic types don't have high defenses. I wouldn't rush to argue against that via slowbro/king and latias because their psychic typing is a liability. Pure psychic type, or defensive Pokemon like xatu are held back by really low defensive stats and low HP making them easy to take out.

Do I think the psychic type is bad.....no. But do I think it's good? Definitely not.
 
I still think it sucks psychic type did not get the rumored resistance to fairy. Would've made Pokemon like the latis, and to a lesser extent, Pokemon like gallade, more viable.

As an offensive typing, psychic isn't so bad, especially since the majority of psychic type attackers are extremely fast and boast high special attack, along with just enough coverage to compensate for their resistances. Many carry shadow ball and focus blast.

It's defensively where things come crashing down. Weaknesses to dark, ghost, and bug and resisting nothing but psychic and poison (whose moves have a high chance to inflict poison or toxic making the resistance pretty crappy).

Also, most psychic types don't have high defenses. I wouldn't rush to argue against that via slowbro/king and latias because their psychic typing is a liability. Pure psychic type, or defensive Pokemon like xatu are held back by really low defensive stats and low HP making them easy to take out.

Do I think the psychic type is bad.....no. But do I think it's good? Definitely not.
Psychic doesn't resist Poison, it resists Fighting.

Anyways, some people are confused about the thread. It's the Psychic type, not Psychic pokemon, that is being criticized. You think Deoxys-D wouldn't have been banned to Ubers from the beginning if it wasn't a pure Fairy, Ghost, Dragon or Steel type with those stats? The fact is Psychic typing IS a liability. It sports weaknesses to two staples in OU, U-Turn and Knock Off. Psychic used to be an OK dual typing, like on Jirachi, since it got rid of a Fighting weakness, but now that Steel doesn't resist either of those moves anymore, Jirachi gained two entire weaknesses this gen, and look at how much his usage has dropped.

And again, that's not to say that being a Psychic type means you are automatically a horrible pokemon and can't function in OU. But pokemon like the Latis, Mega Gardevoir and Slowbro manage in OU not becauce of their Psychic typing, but in spite of it. All the usable Psychics have a dual typing that offers enough resistances or dual STAB and the raw stats and/or ability and movepool to be a pokemon worth considering. I mean, one of the best arguments for Psychic types is that it's one of two super effective types against Mega Venusaur. A great wall but one that isn't even as common as it would be because it takes a mega slot.

Being a Psychic type isn't a death sentence, but it currently is a detrimental typing more often than it is a beneficial one. Remember, relevant to all the other types Psychic has to sit somewhere on the hierarchical ladder. Defensively I'd probably put it third from the bottom after Ice and Rock. Because at least Normal has an immunity in Ghost, and hell even Rock resists Fire and Flying. Offensively it's a bit better, but still in the bottom half that's for sure.

alexwolf EDIT: Removed the last paragraph, no wishful thinking pls.
 
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Amazing post above mine
This.

Also, to those who say Psychic has turned into a support type, while that may be true, relatively speaking, it's a crappy support type at that compared to other types which do that job so much better, and one needs to look no further than the Normal type, whose members--like Chansey and Blissey--can offer the team clerical support and can hit back with Seismic Toss, and the Fairy type, which can arguably set up dual screens, like Klefki, better than any Psychic type could ever dream of. Psychic, quite frankly, in its only useful niche is completely outclassed in that regard, and with all those fatal weaknesses the support Psychic types can give is short-lived.
 
Also, the typing of support moves is largely irrelevant. There's no damage calculations so there's no STAB or resistance to speak of. Moves like Reflect, Light Screen and Trick Room being Psychic-type is entirely inconsequential. If ONLY Psychic pokemon could use Psychic support moves, then you'd have one hell of an argument for Psychic's usefulness. But that's not the case.
 
Kinda decent neutral coverage imo because no one is going out of their way to get psychic resist on their team in the same way that everyone wants a ground immunity and paralysis immunity on their team. Deo-S's LO psycho boost hits like a truck. Alakazam is more powerful and almost as fast. Obviously most teams always end up with at least one steel or one dark type on their team, and Aegislash is doing no favors to psychic types. They're here though. Latios, Latios, Deo-D, Deo-S, Alakazam. OU is 10% psychic.
 
You don't HAVE to go out of your way for a Psychic resistance when the omnipresent Steel resists it. And if you happen to have a Dark type then you have an immunity on top of that. Any team with a Scizor, Skarmory, Aegeslash, Heatran, Latias, etc. does not fear Psychic types. The most powerful Psychic move you're likely to see is Deo-S's Psycho Boost but again, it's a type that is often haphazardly covered by numerous viable OU pokemon for other reasons.
 
But exactly how much of that 10% is used for their Psychic typing or because Psychic is their only typing? You have the Deoxys formes and (Mega) Alakazam; that's about it. Offensively, Psychic types need way too much support to be effective, even the Lati twins, who need Steel types and Tyrannitar to be eliminated.
 
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