Poison-type Pokemon: Weaknesses & Strengths explained

Poison-type Pokemon are a great addition to any team, threatening opponents with toxic strategies and venomous attacks. Here’s what you need to know about their weaknesses, strengths, counters, and more.

Poison-type Pokemon have been around since the very beginning of the franchise. In fact, the Gen 1 games introduced more Poison Pokemon than any other type. Though Poison has since been surpassed by other types like Water and Bug, it’s still the eighth most common with 87 Pokemon species.

Here’s everything a trainer needs to know about Poison-type Pokemon, including their weaknesses, strengths, and counters.

Poison-type Pokemon weaknesses

Poison-type Pokemon are weak to the following types:

• Ground
• Psychic

When facing off against Poison-types, Ground is a slightly better option than Psychic. This is because Ground-type Pokemon resist Poison-type moves while Psychic-types take normal damage from them.

Of course, that doesn’t account for dual types, which impact a Pokemon’s weaknesses and resistances, so keep that in mind.

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Poison-type Pokemon strengths & resistances

When adding Poison-type Pokemon to your team, you should keep in mind that the best scenarios to use them are when going against either Grass or Fairy-type creatures, as Poison moves are super effective against them. However, never put them in front of Poison, Ground, Rock, or Ghost types.

In case you’re facing a Poison-type ‘mon, you should avoid using Grass, Fighting, Poison, Bug, and Fairy-type moves, as they won’t deal much damage. Instead, focus on targeting the weaknesses mentioned above: Ground and Psychic.

It’s also important to remember that Steel-type Pokemon are completely immune to Poison-type moves. More so, Steel and Poison-type creatures can only be poisoned if the user has the Corrosion ability, which is exclusive to the Salandit line.

Best counters for Poison-type Pokemon

The following Pokemon are great for countering Poison types:

• Claydol (Ground/Psychic)
• Clodsire (Poison/Ground)
• Espeon (Psychic)
• Garchomp (Dragon/Ground)
• Hippowdon (Ground)

The best options are Ground or Psychic-type Pokemon that also have the Steel-type, as they’ll have access to super effective STAB moves while being completely immune to the opponent’s STAB Poison attacks.

Best Tera Types for Poison-type Pokemon

In addition, those playing Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will need to keep Tera types in mind when building a team. The following are good Tera-type options for Poison-type Pokemon:

• Poison: You get an extra boost of power on top of the STAB and remove any weaknesses from a secondary type.
• Dark: Counters Psychic types and grants immunity to Psychic-type moves
• Ghost: Counters Psychic types and grants immunity to Normal and Fighting-type moves
• Water: Counters for Ground-types with few weaknesses

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Best Poison moves in Pokemon

There are 36 Poison-type moves in total, and we’ve picked the most powerful special, physical, and status attacks you can use in battle:

MOVE	CATEGORY	POWER	ACCURACY	PP	EFFECT	GEN
Belch	Special	120	90%	10	User must eat a berry to use the move	Gen VI
Malignant Chain	Special	100	100%	5	May poison the opponent	Gen IX
Sludge Wave	Special	95	100%	10	May poison the opponent	Gen V
Sludge Bomb	Special	90	100%	10	May poison the opponent	Gen II
Gunk Shot	Physical	120	80%	5	May poison the opponent	Gen IV
Noxious Torque	Physical	100	100%	10	May poison the opponent	Gen IX
Poison Jab	Physical	80	100%	20	May poison the opponent	Gen IV
Dire Claw	Physical	80	100%	15	May poison, paralyze, or put the opponent to sleep	Gen VIII
Toxic	Status	X	90%	10	Badly poisons the opponent	Gen I
Toxic Spikes	Status	X	X	20	Poisons opponents when they are summoned into battle	Gen IV

Best Poison-type Pokemon of all time

The Pokemon franchise has a total of 96 Poison-type creatures (up to Gen 9), and here are the 10 best of the ranking:

• Eternatus
• Naganadel
• Sneasler
• Clodsire
• Venusaur
• Salazzle
• Alolan Muk
• Toxapex
• Toxicroak
• Gengar

That’s everything you need to know about Poison-type Pokemon. Check some of our other guides, including all the Cat or Dog Pokemon in the franchise, and learn more about types like  Ghost and Grass.