Water Pokémon are a popular type to use in Pokémon Go because they only have two weaknesses and twice the resistances. Their attacks are boosted by rainy weather, so expect to see plenty of other trainers using them if the weather predicts! This guide will help you get through the toughest battles against any type of Water Pokémon, including some of the strongest combinations!
counters-in-pokemon-go">Water Pokemon Weaknesses and Counters in Pokemon Go
One of the first things you need to know about choosing the right counters in Pokémon Go is that not all Pokémon are created equal. There is no universal solution against them. With each subtype, moveset, and specialty comes the suggestion of a different technique to counter it. That being said, we are going to cover a couple of things in this guide.
Weaknesses and strengths
The dynamics of Water Pokémon make sense when compared to real-life science. They are weak against Grass and Electric Pokémon, and strong against Fire, Ground, and Rock. Still, there are additional stats to know about Water-type Pokemon and Attacks. The list below provides the base damage effectiveness against their respective types. If something is not listed, it can be assumed to apply standard damage/defenses.
- Attack
- Super Effective Against (160% Damage): Fire, Rock, Ground
- Not very effective against (62,5% damage): Water, Grass, Dragon
- Defend
- Weak against (160% damage): Grass, Electric
- Strong Against (62,5% Damage): Fire, Water, Ice, Steel
Related: Best Water-type Pokémon in Pokémon Go - Pro Game Guides
Combination of weaknesses and strengths
Sometimes when Pokémon have secondary types, the weaknesses and strengths of that type can negate, magnify, or add to the weaknesses and strengths of the Pokémon's primary type. In this list, we'll specifically cover subtypes that modify the original weaknesses and strengths.
- Amplify
- Amplifies Electric Weakness: Steal
- Amplifies Grass Weakness: Ground, Rock
- Negation
- Nullifies Electric Weakness: Grass, Electric, Dragon, Earth
- Nullifies Grass Weakness: Grass, Fire, Poison, Flying, Bug, Dragon, Steel
- Nullifies Fire Resistance: Grass, Ice, Bug, Steel
- Nullifies Ice Resistance: Grass, Ground, Ice, Dragon
- Nullifies Steel Resistance: Ice, Rock, Steel
- Nullifies water resistance: fire, earth, rock
counters
The best way to counter a Pokémon is to know its weaknesses and strengths, which are listed in the previous two sections of the guide. However, as mentioned earlier, some of these weaknesses and resistances can be modded with subtypes. So the question is, what do you do if the Pokemon has multiple types? Well, find another counter, of course!
We will cover a few points with the lists below. First, we'll cover how to counter basic Water Pokemon. Next, we'll list the best counters for all Water Pokémon subtypes.
Best Water Meters
For Water Pokémon with no additional subtypes, you'll be looking to use Electric and Grass attacks and avoid Fire, Ice, Steel, and Water attacks. Note that these advantages do not mean that you must counter or avoid countering with these types of Pokémon, but with these types of attacks in particular.
Grass Pokémon are the best to use against Water Pokémon. While Electric attacks do decent damage to them, Electric Pokémon don't resist Water attacks like Grass Pokémon. This means that if you are looking for good attack and good defense, Grass Pokémon will be the best. If you want to find the best of each of these types, you can follow these links: Best Grass Pokemon and Best Electric Pokemon.
Best Subtype Counters
Since Water Pokémon have two weaknesses, trainers can use counters that negate them. While this might be an advanced technique to use against other unsuspecting trainers, we must remember that each type has their own weaknesses and strengths. This means that if certain subtypes can negate a weakness, it could amplify other weaknesses or add new ones. The list below explains all the best counters for each Water Pokémon subtype.
Related: Best Normal Type Pokemon In Pokemon Go - Pro Game Guides
- Water + Electric: Ground Pokemon are strong against Electric, but Water Attacks are strong against Ground. This means that Grass Pokémon are your best option against Water + Electric Pokémon because they are strong against Water and resistant to both.
- Water + Dragon: Dragon Pokemon are weak against their own type, but resistant to Water attacks. Water resists ice attacks. This means it's best to use Fairy attacks against Water + Dragon Pokémon.
- Water + Grass: Weaknesses against Ice and Fire attacks for the Grass subtype are negated by Water's resistance to them. Your best options against Water + Grass Pokémon are Poison, Flying, Bug, or a combination of the three.
- Water + Ice: Ice is weak against Fire and Steel, but Water negates those weaknesses. Rock is also effective against ice, but is extremely vulnerable to water attacks. Therefore, the best type to use against Water + Ice is Fighting type, as it is strong against Ice and not weak against Water.
- Water + Fighting: There is no weakness for the Fighting type which has an advantage over Water Pokémon. You can use any weakness of the fighting type as long as it doesn't have a subtype weak against water.
- Water + Poison: Water and Poison cancel each other out from Grass and Ground Pokemon. Ground is strong against Poison but weak against Water. Your best option in this circumstance is Electric Pokemon.
- Water + Ground: Grass Pokemon are strong against both Water and Ground. Grass attacks are therefore massively effective against them, even more so than usual.
- Water + Normal: Adding Normal type to a Water Pokémon only adds to their weaknesses. In addition to Electric and Grass Pokémon, you now have the option of using Fighting or Ghost Pokémon.
- Water + Fire: Your best option against the Water and Fire Pokémon (at the moment there is only one) is the Electric Pokémon.
- Water + Flying: Both Flying and Water are vulnerable to Electric attacks. Using them will cause huge damage to Water and Flying Pokémon.
- Water + Psychic: Adding Psychic to a Water Pokemon doesn't negate any of its weaknesses, so you can use any Water Weaknesses. However, Grass and Dark Pokémon are both resilient and effective against these Water + Psychic Pokémon.
- Water + Bug: Adding the Bug type negates the Water weakness for Grass Pokémon. Rock is strong against insects, but weak against water. Your best bet in this situation is an Electric or Flying Pokémon.
- Water + Rock: Grass is super effective against Water and Rock. If you face a Water + Rock Pokémon, inflict only Grass Attacks and you will quickly delete it.
- Water + Ghost: Adding the Ghost type doesn't negate any of Water's weaknesses, so you can use the standard Electric or Grass range against Water + Ghost Pokemon. Alternatively, you can also use dark-type Pokémon.
- Water + Dark: Adding the Dark type does not negate any of Water's weaknesses. We recommend sticking with Electric or Grass Pokémon, or Fairies and Fighting if you notice they use a lot of Dark-type attacks.
- Water + Steel: Steel and Water types negate strength against ground and weakness against grass. We recommend using Electric Pokémon against Water + Steel Pokémon, as they are tough and effective against them.
- Water + Fairy: Adding the Fairy type does not negate any of Water's weaknesses. We recommend using the normal range of Grass or Electric Pokémon against these types.
With this guide, you should be ready to defeat any Water-type opponent! In summary, you have probably realized that the best Pokémon and Attacks to use will probably be Electric or Grass. Keep them ready and you should be able to handle your opponent, no problem!
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