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.
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.