A team of six is not the six Pokémon you like most. A good one covers each member's weak spots and has an answer for most types. This guide gives six beginner rules, then checks a real team with numbers from the pokee.si data. It is for playing through the games, not for tournaments, and it makes no claims about which Pokémon are best.
The official Pokémon GO team tips and a community answer on PokéBase say much the same thing. Teams work best when members cover each other's weaknesses and when the team can answer many kinds of opponent. The rest of this page puts numbers on that.
Six rules
- Start with Pokémon you like. You will play better with a team you care about.
- Mix the types. Six of one type is the worst start (see below).
- Count shared weaknesses. Use the type chart to see which types hit more than one member.
- Watch the 4× hits. A dual type can take four times damage from one type. Read dual type weaknesses and Pokémon with 4× weaknesses first.
- Cover with moves. A Pokémon's own types are not the only types it can attack with.
- Mix the stats. Have some fast Pokémon, some that take hits, and some that hit hard.
Pokémon.com also suggests starting with a core pair, two Pokémon whose strengths cover each other's weaknesses, and building outward.
Why not six of one type?
Take a team made of Arcanine, Ninetales, Rapidash, Flareon, Charizard, Magmar. Together they have only 2 types, Fire and Flying. Water hits 6 of the six for extra damage, and Rock hits 6. Between them, the types of those six Pokémon hit only 5 of the 18 types for extra damage. One Water-type opponent can beat the whole team.
A worked example
Here is a team from the first Pokédex region. All six are in the data, and each has Scarlet and Violet move lists there. Check your own game to see which of them you can use.
| Pokémon | Type | HP | Attack | Defense | Sp. Atk | Sp. Def | Speed | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venusaur | Grass/Poison | 80 | 82 | 83 | 100 | 100 | 80 | 525 |
| Charizard | Fire/Flying | 78 | 84 | 78 | 109 | 85 | 100 | 534 |
| Blastoise | Water | 79 | 83 | 100 | 85 | 105 | 78 | 530 |
| Pikachu | Electric | 35 | 55 | 40 | 50 | 50 | 90 | 320 |
| Gengar | Ghost/Poison | 60 | 65 | 60 | 130 | 75 | 110 | 500 |
| Snorlax | Normal | 160 | 110 | 65 | 65 | 110 | 30 | 540 |
Every total is at least 500 except Pikachu's, which is 320. Pikachu can still evolve, and the others are final forms.
Speed and roles
From fastest to slowest: Gengar 110, Charizard 100, Pikachu 90, Venusaur 80, Blastoise 78, Snorlax 30. Of the six, 2 have a Speed of 100 or more. The slowest member, Snorlax, has a Speed of 30 and also the most HP by far, 160. It is the tank that can take hits while the faster ones act. That is a sensible spread. Base stats are a guide, and a Pokémon's real numbers also depend on its level and Nature. What each stat does explains them.
Shared weaknesses
In total, 12 of the 18 types hit at least one member for extra damage, and no type hits more than 2. These are the types that hit two:
| Attacking type | Members weak to it | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Electric | 2 | Charizard, Blastoise |
| Ground | 2 | Pikachu, Gengar |
| Psychic | 2 | Venusaur, Gengar |
The team's 4× weakness: Charizard to Rock. That is fine as long as you know it. If a Rock-type opponent appears, bring in someone else.
Type coverage
The team's types are Grass, Poison, Fire, Flying, Water, Electric, Ghost, Normal. Moves of those types hit 13 of the 18 types for extra damage. That leaves 5 types with no super effective answer from the team's own types: Normal, Electric, Poison, Dragon, Dark.
Moves fill the gaps. This table uses the Scarlet and Violet move lists in our data, counting only damaging moves.
| Type with no super effective attacker | Move types that hit it for 2× | Members who learn a damaging move of that type |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Fighting | Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Gengar, Snorlax |
| Electric | Ground | Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Snorlax |
| Poison | Ground, Psychic | Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Gengar, Snorlax |
| Dragon | Ice, Dragon, Fairy | Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Gengar, Snorlax |
| Dark | Fighting, Bug, Fairy | Charizard, Blastoise, Pikachu, Gengar, Snorlax |
Every gap has at least one member who can learn a move to answer it. The number of different damaging move types each member can learn in our data is Venusaur 5, Charizard 12, Blastoise 10, Pikachu 9, Gengar 12, Snorlax 15. A Pokémon only holds four moves, so choose them with care. What STAB means explains why a move of the user's own type hits harder.
Build it yourself
Open the team builder to try your own six. It shows a heat map of how many members are weak to each type and how many resist it. Practise the matchups in the Dojo, and keep the type chart for kids open while you pick.