Favorite Pokemon by Type

Just to prove that not everything I post on here is inspired by negativity, I think it'll be fun for me to list off my favorite Pokemon. I don't just want to rattle off a bunch of my favorites willy-nilly though, they'd be pretty similar and mostly just consist of my saying how awesome I think they are (and that may end up still being the case here, but I'll try to limit it). Instead, I'm going to list which Pokemon of each type is my favorite and try to give a somewhat detailed explanation of why I like it. The reasons can range from aesthetics to nostalgia to usability in general (though not competitively, I am strictly not a competitive player), and in the case of dual typed Pokemon, I'll try to keep to ones whose second typing isn't a big factor as to why I like it, but sometimes that will happen so sorry if you think another is more deserving. At the very least, I won't list one Pokemon for two different types because that is just cheating. I'll also being avoiding Mega forms because that could just be its own list.

So let's get started with:

Bug - Heracross

I really really hate bugs in real life. So, as a result, I rarely use bug type Pokemon. Though honestly it's not just my real life aversion to them, but just the fact that for a while, bug Pokemon were pretty terrible to use. They tended to get outclassed very early on, leaving them almost not even worth training (except Butterfree in Yellow because how the heck else were you supposed to get past Brock?). Or they were hard to come by, Pinsir and Scyther being later game mons who you either had to frustrate yourself with in the Safari Zone or try winning from the Casino.

Gen 2 was where my favorite bug mon came from though, and I'll be honest, nostalgia is pretty much why he's on the list. Heracross was on my original Gold team and I had caught him pretty early on. I remember using him a lot and he was just a beast. Strong and durable, he didn't fold like a lot of other bug mons in those games, and wasn't ridiculously hard to find like stronger bugs in RBY. He was cool enough that I got over my aversion to bugs, at least in his case, and made him part of my main team, and he's still the best bug in my ever so humble opinion.

Dark - Zoroark

I like the dark type more as a concept than in practice, but I've used my fair share of them over the years. Mightyena was a contender for this spot since, even though it gets outclassed late in the game, I still love that dark canine mon. But White 2 gave me the opportunity to use one mon in particular that stole my heart, and Zoroark is definitely my favorite dark type. With its illusion ability, I had a blast trolling many a trainer into using a weak or ineffective move on my Zoroark, only to then crush them after the disguise dissipated. It looks cool, it has an awesome ability and a pretty good move-pool,  It is the coolest dark type pokemon.

Dragon - Salamence

Salamence. I don't need to say more but I will. The dragon type kind of got gypped in terms of cool looking Pokemon for about two generations. Yeah Dragonair looked graceful and I can see why people would like it, but Dragonite just looks kind of odd, all things considered, and for such a powerful type like dragon it just feels off. Gen 3 introduced us to quite a few new dragons though, and Salamence was the best of them. Quadrupedal, big wings, nice fangs and some cool crests on its head, Salamence is an effing dragon in every sense of the word and it's awesome.

Electric - Zebstrika

I'm one of those people who loves Pikachu. It doesn't matter if it's not particularly strong or great, it's cute and its the mascot. I grew up with Pikachu! That said, my favorite electric type is Zebstrika, a Gen 5 pokemon. In my White team, Zebstrika was a boss. It knew electric moves and flame charge, which while not only a different type move I could use in different situations, increased its speed! Zebstrika was a lightning bruiser in a more literal sense of the word. It impressed me so much during my playthrough that it managed to dethrone Pikachu as my favorite electric type. Plus, it's a ZEBRA!

Fairy - Gardevoir

I'll be honest, this one feels like I'm cheating. Since Fairy is a new type I don't have much experience with it. And since this Pokemon I've chosen lost on another type, it just feels like I'm putting it here to give it something instead of a more deserving Fairy. Anyway, Gardevoir has been one of my favorites since it was introduced in Gen 3. I caught a Ralts thinking I'd like a Psychic type during my first playthrough of Ruby and by Thor I did. Fairy type definitely improved Gardevoir though, something I wasn't sure it would. Using both Psychic and Fairy type moves, there was little aside from Steel that can stand in the way of a good Gardevoir and I love having one on my team.

Fighting - Blaziken

Speaking of feeling guilty, my choice for this category also lost out in another typing, but I have more experience with fighting types than fairy so I can safely say that this choice is my favorite of the fighting type. Blaziken is an awesomely designed Pokemon, it hits hard and it hits fast. It's another Gen 3 favorite of mine, there so many good ones introduced back then! It's one of those starters whose second typing is actually a little better than the first, and using Blaziken as a fighter is often a better choice than loading it up with fire type moves, although you keep one or two in case you need them. Blaziken just hits hard and looks awesome while doing it. No other fighting type even comes close.

Fire - Charizard

Now, some might view this choice as unoriginal or overrated. I don't care. Charizard is the coolest Fire type Pokemon ever created. It's a Fire breathing dragon! It has flames coming out of its tail! Its shiny form is black! You will never convince me that Charizard is not the coolest! Now honestly, yes this comes from nostalgia and I'm aware that competitively it doesn't hold up but like I said, I don't care about that stuff. Fire types are my favorite type of Pokemon and Charizard is definitely one of my top three favorite Pokemon in general. I mean... I just don't have the logic to accurately say why I love this big freaking lizard.

Flying - Braviary

Flying is a tough type to choose a favorite for because it gets tacked onto a lot of other types. It's hard to think of a type it hasn't been paired up with, and there may not be one. So choosing for this type means that I have to choose something that I like as a flying mon first and not as another type. That leaves me with a smaller pool, and ultimately my choice is one I'm not very familiar with. Braviary is a Gen 5 mon and my main reason for choosing it is because it looks really really tough. As far as birds go, eagles are pretty scary and coming up against one this big and fierce would make me think twice. I don't really have much more on this one, I just really like the way it looks.

Ghost - Gengar

This type is one I don't use often because shadow ball can be learned by a lot of Pokemon and I have a limited number for my team. That aside, I also don't have much use for this type is because Gengar, my favorite, was pretty much impossible for me to get as a kid, since I didn't have friends to trade with. My affection for Gengar stems from both the anime, where I liked the one episode where Gengar trolled Ash and his friends, and the theory about it and Clefable. Short version, they were created close to the same time, and have similar appearances, so it's theorized the Gengar is Clefable's shadow. Their typing leaves them unable to really hurt one another either, so they're locked in an eternal battle (or something like that). I just think it's a really cool Pokemon and I wish I'd gotten to use it as a kid.

Grass - Grovyle

I am not particularly fond of Grass (it's weak to my favorite type after all), partly because most of its moves are status-affecting moves and I am more of a attack attack attack guy. Gen 3 introduced the move Leaf Blade though, and I really like using it and my favorite Grass type was the first Pokemon I had that used it. Grovyle is on this list mostly because it is super sleek and cool looking. Sceptile, while more powerful I guess, just looks more awkward and goofy. Grovyle's cool though, he's the kind of Pokemon that would wear sunglasses. All this said, it only just beats out Seperior in this spot mainly due to Nostalgia. I've been a fan of Grovyle a lot longer than Serperior, and it remains one of my top favorite Pokemon.

Ground - Groudon

It had to happen sometime. It was unavoidable, but you just gotta play the cards your dealt. Groudon is my favorite ground type Pokemon. Legendary Pokemon just feel sort of cheap to put on one of these. "Oh, you're one of those people, who mindlessly like the Legendaries. You just like whatever's flashiest or powerful. Snob snob condescend ppbbbtthh." So yeah, ground isn't the most exciting of types, and for me I guess it took one with some flash and power to really grab me. Groudon just happens to be the first ground type Pokemon I really liked. This type is another one that gets tacked on to other types, mainly rock, so a lot of those mons embody another type more than ground as well, but Groudon works it. I guess when it comes to the ground type, there's no beating the mon responsible for creating the ground.

Ice - Lapras

Hey look, another type that gets tacked on as a second type. Like grass, ice is weak to my favorite type and so I don't like it much. That's ridiculous, but really my dislike comes from the fact that it's weak to fire, fighting and rock, and the moves can be learned by a lot of other mons. A dedicated ice type mon is not usually going to be on my team unless it's also water. So it's fitting that Lapras takes this spot. Though I haven't used it much, Lapras looks particularly graceful and serene. I loved taking pictures of is in Pokemon Snap, and its ice type moves would be much more effective with its same type bonus than on other mons. Ice Beam and Blizzard, Surf and another move would be enough to make Lapras an addition I'd like to have. Plus it's the surfing animation for the early games, so it's like you've been using it even without using it!

Normal - Lopunny

Like flying, normal gets tacked on with so many other types that for this one I gotta choose a mon that embodies the normal type first and foremost, which once again sort of reduces the pool of candidates, mostly from flying types on the list. My pick for this type is Lopunny. I have to be honest, Lopunny is only on this list because I like it aesthetically. It looks interesting as a big rabbit, neither intimidating of cutesy and has that sort of grace like Gardevoir. I'm not fond of the Normal type because it just rarely produces Pokemon that are worth using. You get some move diversity but at the cost of STAB bonuses and moves that almost all other Pokemon learn. Lopunny is the best of this kind of mediocre type.

Poison - Crobat

Yet another type I don't use often because, like grass, it's based around status affecting moves. Unlike the last choice though I do legitimately like using my pick this time. Crobat is super fast and I remember my time using one it was super reliable. I could always count on it to take down certain types of Pokemon quickly, and you gotta get its friendship high anyway so it's not too surprising that I would grow some legitimate affection for it. If there weren't so many other cool or unique flying type mons out there Crobat would be one Pokemon I'd be using more often.

Psychic - Mewtwo

Fire may be my favorite type, but psychic is definitely the runner up. Gen 1 psychic types were unstoppable and since being nerfed they are still super useful. And there's only one psychic type that illustrates the unstoppable power they can unleash. Mewtwo! Let's face it, at one time or another everyone loved Mewtwo. If you deny it, you're lying to yourself. Mewtwo was, and sometimes still is, the baddest of the bad. Back in the day he was the ultimate challenge for a Pokemon trainer, and would allow you unleash chaos upon your opponents. Even now with all the Pokemon at my fingertips it's so tempting to just put Mewtwo in my party and just go wreck the Elite Four. And yes, I am biased since I loved the first Pokemon movie.

Rock - Tyrantrum

Here we have about the only case where the dual type informs my decision, but that's only part of the reason. Tyrantrum, a Gen 6 TYRANNOSAURUS REX! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH LOVE I HAVE FOR THIS?!?! My favorite dinosaur is a Pokemon! A rock/dragon type! My dinosaur is a dragon!

...Ahem. So yes, that's my favorite rock type. But to be fair, rock types kind of suck. Chances are you're probably going to be taking full advantage of the other type your rock mon is because Rock is so weak. One of my least favorite pokemon is a rock type so that might have made me a little more biased. Moving on.

Steel - Metagross

Steel is a great type for defense, but since I'm almost always more interested in attack I am not particularly good at using steel types. The moves rarely do much damage and it just seems to be a typing that strengthens defense and little else (plus it's weak to fire). I do like Metagross a lot though, and I think it's because it's so rare and powerful. Steven uses one and it's a monster! In OR I liked to duke it out with my Mega Blaziken against his Mega Metagross and just see who would fall first. It was my Blaziken. Anyway, Metagross is one steel Pokemon I would use more... if it wasn't so difficult to obtain and level up. I still like it but yeah, hard to get to use it through most of the game.

Water - Greninja

The last type. This one's tough because there are tons of water types to choose from! It's pretty much mandatory to have one in your party, they have so many strengths and you need to surf in every game so you're gonna have one or a good strategy to get around it. Anyway, Gyarados has been my favorite for a good long while, mainly because again it's a huge frickin' dragon. Even it's vulnerability to electricity couldn't bring me down. However, Gen 6 came around and introduced me to the coolest water type around, cool enough to knock down the epic rage machine that is Gyarados. Greninja is literally a ninja! He is so cool, and I loved using him in my X team.  Initially I was pretty disappointed with the Kalos starters because they seemed pretty lame all around, even Froakie wasn't impressing me. But when I saw Greninja I knew that I would be its trainer and it was just so cool! What can I say, sometimes being cool is just better than being awesome.



So that's it for my favorite Pokemon by type. Some of my all time favorites are on this list, but some couldn't make it onto the list so maybe sometime I'll come back to this subject and just spill out what my favorites are in general. I also may make a list of my least favorite Pokemon by type. That'll be harder to do, since some types are filled with terrible Pokemon.

Divided up by Gens, Gen 1 has four on this list, Gen 2 has two, Gen 3 has six, Gen 4 has one, Gen 5 has three and Gen 6 has two. The trend of dragon-like or dinosaur-like Pokemon being ones I really enjoy should be apparent, but surprisingly I've also found I have a great appreciation for Pokemon that have some grace. I don't go for cutesy much, but yeah a nice graceful Pokemon is one I end up admiring. A couple even managed to end up on this list from my using them in the games and finding out just how cool they are. And yes, some of them I like just for the sheer power,

My favorites tend to be based on visuals, but I'm interested in hearing about other peoples' favorites and how they decide them. Whether it's based on appearance, moves, availability, stats or whatever, I find it interesting how people choose which of the hundreds upon hundreds of Pokemon as their favorites.

-Subtle