Pokémon: 10 Ways Normal Is The Worst Type | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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The fantastic world of Pokémon is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of unique creatures. Each Pokémon is categorized by its typing, having one or two that give these Pokémon their strengths and weaknesses. Not all Pokémon types are made equal, there are plenty within the eighteen types that currently exist that aren't as good as others. Normal-Type is a good example of a weaker type.

While this is not to say that Normal-Type Pokémon are all cons without pros, there are more than a couple of ways that Normal-Types end up getting a raw deal, especially in comparison to some of the more popular Pokémon types.

10 They End Up Being The Weakest of the Early Route Pokémon

It doesn't take long for trainers before they meet their first Normal-Type Pokémon, since a lot of them tend to hang out on the early routes of whatever region they live in, a lot of which end up being rodents and birds, like Rattata and Pidgey. Unfortunately, they also tend to be the Pokémon trainers swap out of their party early on too.

While these Pokémon might be decent for trainers that are just starting out, they tend to be on the weak side and don't last in the long run against tougher opponents, making them easily replaceable. In the case of the aforementioned rodent Pokémon, they also tend to fully evolve rather quickly too.

9 Their Designs Can Be Lackluster

Pokémon come in all shapes and sizes, some are cuddly and cute while others are cool and intimidating. Sadly, some Pokémon designs fall a little short, and it seems that Normal-Types tend to get more than a handful of lackluster designs even for the fully-evolved forms.

It's not to say that Normal-Types only have poor design choices for Pokémon, but they got a good number of designs that just aren't very memorable or lack something that could've made them stand out. Ironically for many Normal-Type Pokémon, they end up looking too normal.

8 A Lot of Them Have Painfully Average Stats

In some cases, stats are the deciding factor in whether or not a trainer will keep a Pokémon on their team or swap them out for another. Sadly for Normal-Types, a large portion of them tend to be limited when it comes to stats. It's not necessarily that they're bad, it'd be more accurate to call their stats "average."

Thankfully, this isn't the case for every single Normal-Type. Some like Snorlax and Blissey are known to have core strengths, but there are many Pokémon, like Spinda for example, who just don't excel at anything. Not exactly weak, but not exactly strong either.

7 Their Usefulness For HMs is Pointless Now

Every Pokémon has its talents, and Normal-Types are no exception. Normal-Types' biggest strength would have to be their large movepool, allowing many of these Pokémon to learn tons of different moves from across the type spectrum. For a long time, this also made them useful for taking on multiple HM moves to push past obstacles, though nowadays this isn't the case.

HMs have more or less been retired, and as such, the usefulness of Pokémon like Bibarel who were incredibly versatile for HM usage has mostly dwindled away. Without HMs, there just isn't much reason to keep certain Normal-Types as party members.

6 They're Really Weak to Fighting-Types

For the most part, Normal-Type Pokémon are without a type weakness, taking neutral damage to almost all other types. However, Normal-Type has one big type disadvantage against Fighting-Types. Fighting-Types are one of the two Pokémon types that actually have the most amount of advantages, and it seems that Normal-Types fall into that category.

To make matters worse for Normal-Type, Fighting-Type Pokémon are usually known for having high stats when it comes to offense, meaning that without specific special abilities or moves like "Protect," one super-effective hit could lead to an instant KO. The chances of a Normal-Type beating a Fighting-Type are slim, to say the least.

5 A Good Handful of Them Ended Up Being Better Off as Fairy-Type

The sixth generation of Pokémon was the first to introduce "Fairy-Type" to mix things up and balance out some type matchups too. Twenty-two Pokémon ended up adding or completely changing their typing to fairy, twelve of which used to be Normal-Type.

With this new typing, the Normal-Types that became Fairy-Types got access to even more moves and a huge advantage against Dark-Types, Dragon-Types, and their old Fighting-Type foes. Granted, this also added a few weaknesses, but simply put, these Pokémon ended up being better off with their new typing compared to the old one.

4 Dual-Typing Either Makes or Breaks Them

Normal, like any other Pokémon type, can mix together with any other type to make certain dual-typing combinations. Each combination has its advantages and the right one can even negate certain weaknesses (like how Swampert is immune to electric moves). For Normal-Type, dual-typing can either make or break the Pokémon.

Now there are a handful of matchups that make normal dual-typing excel in, but a lot of the type combinations that come out of it end up not giving a whole lot of advantages and sometimes even make certain Pokémon take more damage to types they normally would've been resistant against (like normal/flying or normal/fairy taking neutral damage to fighting).

3 They're Resistant to Ghost-Type, But Also Can't Hurt Them

Normal-Type is neutral and doesn't have a lot in the way of resistance, but they do have one against Ghost-Types. Ghost-Type moves have zero effect on Normal-Type Pokémon, which gives them the edge especially if they have attacks in their arsenal that they're weak to. Sadly though, this advantage can be a two-way street in certain scenarios.

Ghost Pokémon can't hurt Normal-Types, but at the same time, Normal-Type moves can't touch Ghost Pokémon either. Without dark or ghost moves, normal Pokémon have to rely on neutral damage or some other type advantage (depending on dual-typing) to win, whereas ghost Pokémon end up in the same boat. By that point, it's less of an advantage and more about who has the stronger attacks.

2 They're Super Effective Against Nothing

Along with few resistances to almost every other type, Normal-Type isn't "super effective" against any other type either. Against most, Normal-Type moves end up doing a regular amount of damage, not significant but not minor either, but things get worse when you count the Pokémon that are resistant to Normal-Type.

On top of the aforementioned ghosts, rock and steel Pokémon are notoriously sturdy and take very little damage from Normal-Type. Normal-Type moves basically only come in two forms, they either do neutral damage or little to no damage at all.

1 What Does "Normal" Mean Anyway?

Pretty much every Pokémon type is straightforward and easy to understand, just from their name alone, however, Normal-Type kind of sticks out for just how plain it sounds. Every other type has these special attributes and powers like water, fire, or grass, and then there's normal which has none of that, which leads to the question of just what is "normal" in the context of the Pokémon world?

Since electric mice, sea serpents, and ghosts being caught in tiny metal balls by ten-year-olds is what's average here, it'd be more accurate to call normal the "neutral-type." In a way, it's almost like the typing is even being insulted by the Pokémon world, by essentially being called the mediocre one.

NEXT: 10 Pokémon That Should Be Different Types

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Ethan Supovitz (174 Articles Published)

Ethan Supovitz is a long time fan of comics, anime, and video games, which inspired him to write about them. Formerly, he was a writer for The Source, a now defunct comic book/superhero news site that was owned by the website Superherostuff. Currently Ethan is an Anime List Writer for Valnet Inc. over at Comic Book Resources. He considers himself a "well rounded nerd" who has an interest in many different kinds of media.