Steel Type Pokémon Weakness

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Steel type Pokemon take double damage from Fighting, Fire and Ground moves. Nothing else hits them for extra damage. Steel resists more attacking types than any other defensive typing and ignores Poison entirely, which keeps walls like Corviknight and Ferrothorn in team slots year after year. A second type can push one of those three weaknesses to 4x. The multipliers below cover both sides of the matchup.

Which moves hurt steel type Pokemon most

Three attacking types break through. Each one carries a different set of problems once you pick the Pokemon that will use it.

Fire attackers

Fire moves land for 2x and burn away Steel’s usual bulk. Chandelure, Volcarona and Heatran all run Flamethrower or Fire Blast off high Special Attack.

Rain and Sun swing this matchup hard, so check what fire types struggle against before locking one into a slot.

Steel type Pokemon

Ground attackers

Earthquake reaches 2x and hits most Steel walls on their weaker defensive stat. Garchomp, Landorus and Great Tusk are the common picks.

Flying types and Levitate holders sit outside this range, which is the usual reason a Ground move misses its mark.

Fighting attackers

Close Combat and Drain Punch reach 2x on pure Steel. Physical walls with high Defense still soak the hit, so raw power matters more here than coverage.

Machamp and Iron Hands do the job. Their own defensive gaps show up fast against Psychic and Fairy attacks.

What steel type moves are strong against

Steel attacks pair narrow super effective coverage with heavy resistance from the four types below. No Pokemon is immune to Steel, so every hit registers something.

Defending typeSteel move damage
Ice2x
Rock2x
Fairy2x
Fire0.5x
Water0.5x
Electric0.5x
Steel0.5x
All other types1x

Ice, Rock and Fairy make up a small slice of the competitive pool, so Steel rarely works as a lone attacking type. Most builds pair it with Ground or Fighting coverage.

Iron Head and Gyro Ball carry that spread on physical sets. Meteor Mash gives Metagross an attack boost chance on top. A Rock type on the other side rarely survives two of them.

Steel type weakness and resistance chart

Ten resistances and one immunity sit in a single row of the type chart. Read it against the complete matchup grid when you plan a team.

Attacking typeDamage taken by Steel
Fighting2x
Fire2x
Ground2x
Normal0.5x
Grass0.5x
Ice0.5x
Flying0.5x
Psychic0.5x
Bug0.5x
Rock0.5x
Dragon0.5x
Steel0.5x
Fairy0.5x
Poison0x
All other types1x

The immunity runs deeper than damage. Steel Pokemon cannot be poisoned, which shuts down Toxic stalling and most Poison type strategies outright. Sandstorm chip damage skips them too.

Dual type steel Pokemon and their weaknesses

A second type rewrites that row. Some pairings erase a weakness, others stack multipliers into a hit no defensive Pokemon absorbs.

PokemonTypingWeak toWorst multiplier
SteelixSteel / GroundFire, Fighting, Water4x Fire
ProbopassSteel / RockFighting, Ground, Water4x Fighting, 4x Ground
SkarmorySteel / FlyingFire, Electric2x
AegislashSteel / GhostFire, Ground, Ghost, Dark2x
MawileSteel / FairyFire, Ground2x
DialgaSteel / DragonFighting, Ground2x

Skarmory loses its Ground weakness completely and picks up an Electric one instead. Aegislash trades three immunities for a pair of extra weaknesses, so check how Ghost typing behaves before you build around it.

Steel type Pokemon

Corviknight follows the same pattern as Skarmory and drops to a well placed Electric attack. Thunderbolt from a faster sweeper ends it before Roost recovers anything.

How Generation 6 changed steel defence

Steel resisted Ghost and Dark until Pokemon X and Y. Game Freak removed both to make Steel less dominant after Fairy arrived.

Dark and Ghost attackers gained real value that generation. Bisharp and Gengar started appearing on teams built to break Steel walls that had ignored them for years.

The trade worked out. Steel gained a resistance to Fairy and a super effective attack against it, which is why Dragon types slipped down the tier lists that generation while Steel held its spot.

FAQs

What is super effective against steel type Pokemon?

Fighting, Fire and Ground moves deal 2x damage to Steel type Pokemon. No other attacking type scores a super effective hit against pure Steel.

Are steel type Pokemon immune to poison?

Yes. Poison moves deal no damage to Steel types, and Steel types cannot be poisoned by any status move. Pokemon with the Corrosion ability bypass this.

What is the best counter to a steel type Pokemon?

A Fire type with high Special Attack. Chandelure, Heatran and Volcarona hit for 2x and resist most of what Steel walls throw back.

Which steel Pokemon has a 4x weakness?

Steelix takes 4x from Fire. Probopass takes 4x from both Fighting and Ground. Both stack a Steel weakness with a second type that shares it.

Do steel types still resist dark and ghost moves?

No. Steel lost both resistances in Generation 6. Dark and Ghost moves now deal normal damage to Steel type Pokemon in every later game.

Bryan

Bryan is a passionate gaming writer who covers everything from the latest releases to in-depth strategy guides and industry trends. With a sharp eye for detail and a love for immersive gameplay, he creates content that helps players get more out of every game—whether they’re casual gamers or hardcore enthusiasts.