Grass Type Pokemon: Strengths, Weaknesses, Attacks, and Fighting Strategy
Grass type Pokemon have super-effective hits against Water, Ground, and Rock and are resistant to Water, Electric, Grass, and Ground. If pure Grass, the Grass type is vulnerable to Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug. The trade-off makes Grass all about good type matchup, good moveset, and secondary typing.
Grass type Pokemon appear to be straightforward. Actually, they’re not.
The Grass type is one of the original Pokemon types, which made its appearance together with other starter types – Fire and Water – in Generation 1. Grass is also one of the most misunderstood Pokemon types.
What is immediately noticeable about the Grass type is that it has five weaknesses.
However, what you might miss if you take a quick look at the type matchup chart is that Grass attacks are super effective against Water, Ground, and Rock, three very common types of Pokemon.
And that’s why Grass isn’t either an offensive type or a defensive type. It’s something in between. An effective Grass Pokemon can hit Water type, tank a Ground move, heal itself, spread statuses or support his team.
And that’s why this type requires more respect than the basic “weak to Fire” table implies.
How do you know if a Pokemon is Grass type?
A Pokemon is a Grass type if Grass is one of his official types. Some are pure Grass types, others have a combination of Grass and other types.
Bulbasaur is Grass/Poison. Turtwig is a pure Grass type at first and evolves into Torterra, which is Grass/Ground. Meowscarada is Grass/Dark, while Ogerpon has a few evolution stages that differ in their secondary typing. All the typings affect the weaknesses of the corresponding Pokemon directly.
This secondary typing plays a huge role.
An exclusively Grass-typed Pokemon has an ordinary Grass matchup. An exclusively Grass/Poison Pokemon doesn’t get hurt by moves in exactly the same manner. Similarly, an exclusively Grass/Ground Pokemon possesses a unique set of weaknesses.
Don’t settle for the leaf symbol when examining your Pokedex entries. Make sure to look at the whole typing.
Against what type is the Grass type powerful?
Moves classified as belonging to the Grass type are highly effective against:
- Water
- Ground
- Rock
This is the attacking power of Grass Pokemon.
Of course, everyone is familiar with the Water type matchup right off the bat. An attack that belongs to the Grass type will always inflict double the damage on a Pokemon that has been classified as belonging to the Water type in any game in the main series of titles.
It is also true for the Ground and Rock types.
With an opposing Water-type Pokemon on the field and you having a Grass attacker with the necessary move, the matchup is quite clear. The challenge here is guessing what moves in next.
What types does the Grass Pokemon type have trouble with?
A pure Grass Pokemon is susceptible to five attack types:
Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, and Bug.
They all deal damage that is super-effective on pure Grass-type Pokemon.
This is the greatest weakness for a Grass type.
Fire seems like an obvious choice, but the other four should be considered as well. What might seem like a safe choice against one opponent will quickly become a vulnerable spot if said opponent has an Ice, Flying, Bug, or Poison attack.
One more thing about this type of Pokemon – they do not resist everything evenly. Pure Grass is resistant to Water, Electric, Grass, and Ground types of attacks while taking normal damage from others.
Thus, Grass is not a universal answer, but it still depends on the matchup.
The Grass type chart explained
| Situation | Grass matchup |
|---|---|
| Grass move vs Water | 2× |
| Grass move vs Ground | 2× |
| Grass move vs Rock | 2× |
| Grass move vs Fire | ½× |
| Grass move vs Grass | ½× |
| Grass move vs Poison | ½× |
| Grass move vs Flying | ½× |
| Grass move vs Bug | ½× |
| Grass move vs Dragon | ½× |
| Grass move vs Steel | ½× |
| Pure Grass vs Water | ½× damage taken |
| Pure Grass vs Electric | ½× damage taken |
| Pure Grass vs Grass | ½× damage taken |
| Pure Grass vs Ground | ½× damage taken |
The above chart provides an overview of how a Grass-type Pokemon attacks and defends itself in the main series.
However, what most people overlook is the fact that seven different types resist the attacks of a Grass Pokemon – Fire, Grass, Poison, Flying, Bug, Dragon, and Steel. In other words, there is no type that is completely resistant to a standard Grass move.
That is precisely why it might not be enough to equip a Grass Pokemon with a Grass move.
The importance of dual typing
Here’s where things start to get interesting.
Let us take Torterra, for instance. It is not just Grass-type but also Ground-type. As per the official Pokedex, its weaknesses include Fire, Bug, Flying, and Ice.
Compare it with Meowscarada which is Grass/Dark. Its official Pokédex entry states that Meowscarada has seven weaknesses – Fire, Bug, Flying, Poison, Ice, Fighting and Fairy.
Same primary type? Very different defense capabilities.
Type combination can make a weakness weaker by adding a second type, or make the weakness stronger. This is the reason why the type charts become a lot more effective if you think not about “Grass Pokémon” as one category.
The case is the same for a Grass/Water Pokémon and a Grass/Steel Pokémon. They do not have the same matchup profiles.
When selecting a Pokémon, take both types into account and only then decide if its weaknesses are an issue or not.
Grass Pokémon are more than attack
This is possibly the most important thing to keep in mind regarding the type.
Grass has a huge amount of moves designed for purposes other than inflicting harm to the enemy.
Currently, Dittobase lists 156 Grass Pokémon, alternate forms included, and 59 Grass moves in its main series Grass-type database.
A number of Grass moves are designed with wearing down the opponent in mind.
Leech Seed leaches off the target’s HP over time, healing the user’s HP. Giga Drain deals damage and heals HP. Synthesis heals HP, while Strength Sap heals the user’s HP based off of the target’s Attack stat while lowering that Attack.
Some moves involve controlling status or the battlefield.
Sleep Powder and Spore allow for putting targets to sleep, while Stun Spore may paralyze the target. Another unique characteristic of Grass-type Pokemon is that they are immune to Leech Seed in the modern main series and, since Generation VI, powder and spore moves.
These moves give Grass-type Pokemon a unique identity, rather than just being a type which aims to deal as much damage as possible.
Some Grass moves hit surprisingly hard
Grass attacks do not have to be mere leaf attacks.
In Dittobase’s current Grass move database, there are some powerful Grass moves, including Chloroblast at 150, Frenzy Plant at 150, Leaf Storm at 130, Solar Blade at 125, and several 120 moves.
Of course, power isn’t everything in a move.
Accuracy, recoil, stat effects, turns, PP, and the Pokemon itself become important aspects. High number in the box does not mean that you should use this move in your team.
It is even more true if we speak about Grass type because there are plenty of types resistant to attacks of Grass type Pokemon.
The question you have to ask yourself is not:
“What is the most powerful Grass move?”
But:
“What do I want my Pokemon to achieve with this move?”
Fast attacker would benefit from a move causing damage. For a defensive Pokemon, recovery or status moves may be more useful. A Pokemon designed for playing with terrain needs something different.
How important it is to use abilities of your Grass Pokemon
There are plenty of abilities for Grass-type Pokemon which influence their behavior.
Overgrow increases the power of Grass-type moves if the HP of the Pokemon is low. Chlorophyll increases the Speed in the harsh sunlight. Sap Sipper makes your Pokemon immune to the Grass attacks and increases its Attack if it is hit by one. Grassy Surge creates the Grassy Terrain on the battlefield. It is very important since Grass type is connected with terrain.
If Grass Terrain is active in the main games, then Grass moves get a 30% increase in power for any Grass moves that hit on the ground. Grass Terrain also confers extra battlefield bonuses, meaning that Grass terrain is not just a damage buff for the type. So two Grass Pokemon can serve entirely different roles despite having the exact same typing.
A couple of Grass type Pokemon you should know
There is no need to know all Grass Pokemon in order to understand the typing.
Instead, focus on a few Pokemon that show off how different Grass can be.
Bulbasaur is the iconic Grass/Poison starter Pokemon from the original games. This is an example of Grass being used in combination with abilities such as Overgrow.
Torterra is an example of a second type changing the defense. This Grass/Ground combo shows how its weaknesses differ from a pure Grass type.
Meowscarada is an example of how a modern Grass type can be offensive. Its Grass/Dark typing makes it an offensive threat, while giving it more weaknesses to consider.
Ogerpon is yet another good example whose different forms allow us to observe how one single Pokémon can have various combinations of Grass. Its Teal Mask form is solely Grass, while others incorporate elements such as Water, Fire, or Rock.
This provides evidence for the following simple fact: there is no such thing as one Grass playstyle.
Therefore, is the Grass type good?
The answer to this question is not going to be a simple one-word response either.
From the viewpoint of defensive vulnerabilities, the Grass type is rather problematic, having five weak spots.
However, it also boasts four resistances, has great synergy with Water, Ground, and Rock types, allows recovery and status moves and provides a wide range of abilities which can be utilized in different ways. Therefore, the type will prove its worth when all the above-mentioned features will be used consciously.
Do not just throw a Grass Pokémon into battle because there is an opposing Water type. Instead, consider the opponent’s secondary typing, its potential coverage moves and the capabilities of your Pokémon.
Do not think that any Grass type must be a slow defensive wall. Grass Pokémon can be built in various ways.
Use Grass for the matchup, not the label
Grass type Pokemon become more clear once you quit questioning whether Grass is “strong” or “weak”.
Ask yourself what the individual Pokemon actually does.
Do you have a weakness you need to beat? Grass offers a good offensive answer against Water, Ground, and Rock. Do you need a defensive pivot into some moves? Grass gives a number of useful resistances against Water, Electric, Grass, and Ground. Need support? The pool of moves becomes much more interesting when that enters the equation.
To build teams, consider the entire typing and ability set for a Pokemon choice, and use the type chart and dual types/moves for learning about the type itself.
And if you want to know what kind of moves Grass can throw at you without having to manually choose the individual species, use a Random Pokemon Generator by Type and choose a Grass type Pokemon.
That is a much more effective way to understand the type than a matchup chart of symbols.