(Top 10) Competitive Pokemon by Type

It is hard to say there is a Top 10 Pokemon for competitive play simply because there are so many of them. The way the meta of competitive play goes you can have several different kinds of Pokemon that each fills the same roles for different reasons.

But for this list, we’re going to narrow it down to 10 of the best Competitive Pokemon. But we’re going to limit it to type so only one Fire, one Water, One Grass, Etc. However, this does not count when dealing with double typing.

This is also not going by any OU, UU, or any other main tier standards. More of an overall free competitive view.

This list is also by no means hard fact and is based on opinion. So there will be some difference of opinion on some of these entries.

Number 10. Alolan Muk

Since the usage of Fairy-Types has skyrocketed since the 6th generation Poison-Types have finally found a way to be more useful. And no better Poison Pokemon to throw in here than Muk. (Except maybe Wheezing but again, Limited to one per type)

Muk is a great Special Tank having a high base Sp.Def stat. It takes a lot to bring down Muk and is very unlikely he’ll be one shot unless hit by a Stab Earthquake, but that one shots anything most of the time anyway.

What makes Muk so viable for competitive play is countering Fairy-Types. There have been a lot of Fairy Pokemon in competitive scenes especially in the likes of Wigglytuff and Clefable which are just damage sponges.

Muk is a great counter for those heavy hitting and tanky Fairy-Types. Though he’s kind of useless against one of the best competitive Fairy-Types out there due to its Steel double typing. (We’ll get to that one).

A go-to competitive build is laying down Toxic and just stalling with moves like Protect and Acid Armor to boost his defense. If Muk stays alive he becomes a major pain when throwing around Toxic.

Number 9. Arcanine

Arcanine is an old-school fan favorite that didn’t get to much love in the competitive scene until Gen 7 came around. Arcanine is a good attacker in both physical and special attacks.

He also has the Intimidate skill which lowers opponents Pokemon attack when he comes out. Arcanine is also a pretty fast Pokemon giving him a bit more usability than other fire types.

When it comes to stats he’s well rounded in almost all areas. Not having any one stat to low compared to the others.

And he’s a Mono Fire-Type meaning his only real weaknesses are going to be Water and Ground. And being Fire gives him a high advantage in the competitive scene due to so many people using Steel-Type Pokemon.

Give him a good combination of Extreme Speed and Flamethrower and you’re looking at a pretty decent hitter for a competitive team. Will-O-Wisp is another great move to inflict Burn and further decrease the attack of your opponent.

Number 8. Scolipede

Scolipede is a Bug/Poison Pokemon but we’re not really choosing this one because of it’s typing. Scolipede is a very fast Pokemon with a very helpful strategy that runs with it.

In most competitive scenes the ability Speed Boost is banned but where it isn’t Scolipede is probably the best Baton Pass Pokemon there is. The Baton Pass strategy is where you boost the stats of one Pokemon then use Baton Pass to switch out to another one and they keep all the stat changes.

So setting up Scolipede with Speed Boost and using Sword Dance to boost Attack gives a major Speed/Attack boost for Baton Pass. The only issue is keeping Scolipede alive cause once you start it it’s very easy to catch on and counter.

Scolipede having Protect gives a free turn to keep it alive while Speed Boost keeps buffing speed. And having one offensive attack is helpful, typically Earthquake or Megahorn.

Overall, Scolipede is nothing more than a great support utility Pokemon. If you can pull off high stat changes and get the Baton Pass off you can easily set up a full team wipe with whatever Pokemon you switch to.

Number 7. Hawlucha

A Flying/Fighting Pokemon is a great typing, especially with this heavy hitter. Hawlucha is a fast Pokemon with good attack making him a quick damage Pokemon.

What makes him better is that he’s immune to Ground moves because he’s a Flying-Type. So Earthquake is completely useless against him and that’s a big plus in comp play.

He can also have the Unburden ability which doubles speed when an item is used or lost. So giving him a simple berry or an item that is made to be lost in battle will double his speed making him faster than he already is.

He’s going to be a full-on STAB attacker going for moves like Acrobatics and Hi-Jump Kick. These will hit hard and more often then not one shot a Pokemon if they aren’t a physical tank.

Number 6. Greninja

One of the best starter Pokemon for competitive play, Greninja is a Water/Dark-type that has one of the most versatile abilities in the game.

It can learn Protean which changes its type completely based on the type of attack it uses. This pretty much sets up Greninja to avoiding heavy weaknesses depending on what moves it uses.

Give it Gunk Shot, it becomes Poison and is no longer weak to Grass-Types. Give it Ice Beam, you now have a good Dragon or Flying-Type attacker because Greninja is fast with good Sp. Atk.

Protean sets up Greninja with his very own unique game meta that changes every match depending on move set. He makes things unexpected and can definitely switch the course of a battle on the fly.

A good thing to note on Greninja, always give him Spikes or Toxic Spikes. It’s a great opening move and having three other moves that change its Type the extra bit of damage on each switched Pokemon will start to add up fast.

Number 5. Jolteon

If I could put most of the Eevee evolutions on this list I would. Vaporeon is a great tank Pokemon in both Defense and Special defense. Umbreon is a great Defense Pokemon. Espeon is an amazing fast Special attacker. And Sylveon just kind hybrids all the uses together into one Fairy-Type bow.

But Jolteon is the most effective in most cases out of the lot because he is an Electric-Type. And outside of Pokemon like Megnezone and Electivire we really don’t have a lot of competitive viable Electric Pokemon.

Speed is Jolteons game with one of the highest speeds if not the highest speed of all Electric-Types and in the game. And his special attack comes in a close second making him a massive special cannon.

On that same note, he’s a glass cannon and can easily be taken down by heavy attackers. Ground types are murder to Jolteon and one shot almost every time even without Earthquake.

Air Balloons are your friend for that. It’s a freebie Levitate to avoid one Ground move and it then it pops. Giving just enough time for Jolteon to Shadow Ball anything that’s attacking it and most likely one shot it.

Jolteon is overlooked a lot because of how fragile it is. But in terms of damage and the Electric typing, with the right build, he is far more viable than given credit for.

Number 4. Garchomp

Garchomp has some pretty decent speed and attack. This is where he shines both in and out of his Mega form.

He’s a Dragon/Ground-Type so right off the bat Fairy and Ice-types are bad no matter what. But being a Dragon-Type gives him resistance to most of the base types like Fire, Water, Grass, etc.

He is however not the fastest Pokemon and can easily be outrun by something like Greninja. But his ability for damage output keeps him useful enough to stay in the fray.

He works best on offensive teams, Pokemon that set up spikes or stealth rock then Garchomp comes in dealing with most of the major damage. He’s a heavy hitter where it counts and he’s a tough one to bring down.

Number 3. Alakazam

On the topic of speed, we have the fastest Psychic-Type. Following the same pros and cons as Jolteon, Alakazam has crazy speed and Special attack but will crumble if the wind blows just a little too hard.

What makes Alakazam so great is his open move set. He can learn a lot of different type moves to give him some crazy coverage.

Really though just giving him Psychic and Shadow Ball is enough to sweep most teams. Especially if he goes into his Mega form where his special attack just becomes ridiculous.

The biggest threat to Alakazam is Dark-Type Pokemon. His Psychic attacks are completely useless and he will most likely be taken down in one hit by one.

But because of his speed, he’ll typically outrun anything on the field. So given the right move set, he can even sweep Dark-Types if you’re lucky.

Number 2. Snorlax

Two words, Belly Drum. Seriously, Snorlax is well known as one of the tankiest Pokemon in the series and his attack and HP are just as high.

Throw him on any competitive team and he’ll be a great physical or special wall depending on how you build him. Defense is a given in almost all builds, but Belly Drum makes a massive difference with Snorlax.

Belly Drum cuts his HP attack in half but raises his Attack to the max level it can be. Even a half HP Snorlax will be difficult for one shot for most Pokemon but the fact that he can learn Rest remedies the lack of HP quickly.

Use Belly Drum, go into Rest, then instead of Leftovers like most would use give him a berry that immediately removes sleep. The next turn all you need is a physical attack like Body Slam and a majority of Pokemon will be wiped out.

Say for maybe Steel-Types and Rock-Types, Belly Drum with Snorlax’s physical attack creates an almost unstoppable physical sweeper. He’s a classic Pokemon and still one of the most viable in competitive play.

Number 1. Klefki

Anyone who’s played against a competitive Klefki knows why this little keychain is top of this list. Being a Fairy/Steel-Type is one of the most infuriating typings you can have.

It removes the Poison and Steel weakness from Fairy, makes it stronger against Dragons, and really the only thing that’ll be super helpful against it is Fire and Ground because Fairy also weakens Fighting.

So typing alone, Klefki is covered in several different areas making it hard to bring down. But it also has one of the best utility move pools in the game making it a crazy good support Pokemon.

It can have the ability Prankster which gives priority to non-damaging moves which basically means any of its support moves are gonna go first. And it can learn a lot of different moves.

Spikes, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Magnet Rise, Play Rough, and Dazzling Gleam are probably some of the better moves for it to know. Spikes and Thunder Wave are a definitely whereas Toxic/Magnet Rise and Play Rough/Dazzling Gleam can be interchanged with one another.

But overall, Klefki is a nightmare to fight competitively especially if you use any Dragon or Fighting-types in your team. It is a great utility Pokemon with an annoyingly good typing and the fact that its design is pretty much laughed at by most players just makes the fact that this pokemon is so useful so much better.