What this Pokémon team builder does
Whether you call it a team maker, a team planner or a team weakness calculator, the job is the same: show you where a team of six is exposed before you commit to it. You choose a game so the list only contains Pokémon you can actually catch or transfer in, you add members one at a time, and three tables update with every change.
- Defensive matchups count, for each of the 18 attacking types, how many of your members take super-effective damage, how many resist it and how many are immune. Cells outlined in red are types that hit more members than you can answer.
- Offensive coverage takes the types of your members (the attacks they get a same-type bonus on) and shows which defending types none of them hit for double damage.
- Team averages show the mean base stats, the average base stat total, and your fastest and slowest member, which matters for deciding who leads and who needs to outspeed what.
Under the tables, the suggested teammates list is generated from your current holes: it looks through the selected game's Pokédex for Pokémon that resist the types currently threatening you without opening new weaknesses, and ranks them so fully evolved options come first. Click one to drop it into the next free slot.
How to build a balanced team in five steps
- Pick the game first. The Pokédex filter is the difference between planning a team you can really use and a wish list. Choose All Pokémon only when you are planning for Pokémon HOME transfers or a format that allows everything.
- Place your core. Add your starter and the one or two Pokémon you already know you want. Don't optimise yet; the point is to see what those choices cost you.
- Read the red cells. Any attacking type that hits two or more members with nobody resisting it is your priority. The verdict line above the table names the worst one.
- Fill holes with resists, not with more attackers. The suggestions list already does the filtering. Prefer a Pokémon that resists two of your problem types over one that resists a single type.
- Check coverage last. With five or six members placed, look at the struck-through types in the coverage row. Four or fewer uncovered types is comfortable for a playthrough; competitive players usually want every type covered by at least one STAB or a strong coverage move.
If you want the long version of this method, with examples for story runs and for battle formats, read the guide to building a Pokémon team.
Reading the weakness and coverage tables
Each defensive cell shows three numbers separated by dots: weak · resist · immune. A cell reading 3·0·0 for Ice means three members take at least double damage from Ice attacks and none of them resist or ignore it. A cell reading 0·3·1 for Electric means nobody is weak to Electric, three members resist it and one, probably a Ground type, is immune.
Open Show per-member multipliers to see the full grid. Multipliers of ×4 appear when both of a Pokémon's types are weak to the same attack: a Dragon/Flying type takes quadruple damage from Ice, a Grass/Steel type takes quadruple from Fire. Those are the weaknesses that end runs, so the builder counts a ×4 as a weakness like any other but shows it explicitly in the grid.
Coverage is intentionally simple. It uses only your members' own types, because a Pokémon almost always learns strong attacks of its own types and those attacks get the 50% same-type bonus. Real movesets add coverage moves, so a struck-through type in the coverage row is a prompt to check your movepools, not a hard failure. The type coverage calculator lets you test an actual set of four attacking types against every type combination that exists in the games.
Type synergy basics: cores that cover each other
A good team is built from pairs and triples whose weaknesses and resistances interlock. These are the classic cores that almost always show up in balanced teams:
| Core | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Fire / Water / Grass | Each resists the type that beats the next one. The starter trio is a core for a reason. |
| Fairy / Dragon / Steel | Steel resists both Fairy and Dragon, Fairy is immune to Dragon and resists Fighting (which beats Steel), and Dragon resists Fire (which also beats Steel). The backbone of many competitive teams. |
| Fighting / Psychic / Dark | Each of the three is super-effective on one of the others and resists or is immune to another, so together they cover each other's problem types. |
| Water / Ground / Flying | Ground gives an Electric immunity, Flying gives a Ground immunity, Water covers Rock and Ice threats. |
| Steel + anything | Steel resists ten types. One Steel type on a team removes most of the small leaks from the table at once. |
You don't need every member to belong to a core. Two cores plus two flexible picks is a common shape for a six-member team. If a core leaves a gap, such as Fairy / Dragon / Steel having nobody who resists Ground, the suggestions list will point at the fix.
Tools for every part of team building
The builder on this page is the overview. Each of the pages below goes deep on one step:
- The Pokémon type calculator shows every weakness and resistance of a single Pokémon or any one or two types.
- The interactive Pokémon type chart is the full 18×18 matrix with Gen 1 and Gen 2–5 variants.
- The random Pokémon generator rolls a Pokémon or a full team, filtered by game and type, and sends it straight into the builder.
- The Pokémon stat calculator turns base stats, IVs, EVs, nature and level into the numbers you see in-game.
- Game-specific builders are preloaded with the right Pokédex and type rules: Scarlet and Violet, FireRed and LeafGreen, and Red, Blue and Yellow.