Evergreen
Pokémon GO Battle Rules: Type Effectiveness, Fast and Charged Moves
How battling works in Pokémon GO: type effectiveness, the difference between fast and charged moves, and how energy and timing fit together.
Gym battles, raids, and GO Battle League matches all run on the same underlying rules. Two ideas matter more than anything else: type effectiveness and the fast-move/charged-move system.
Type effectiveness, the short version
Every Pokémon has one or two types, and every move has a type as well. When an attacking move's type is strong against the defending Pokémon's type, it deals extra damage; when it's weak against it, damage is reduced. This is the same general idea long-time Pokémon fans know from the core series games, applied to Pokémon GO's real-time battle system.
In practice, this means the single biggest lever you have in any battle, before movesets or CP even come into play, is bringing Pokémon whose types are effective against what you're facing. A well-typed but otherwise average Pokémon will often outperform a stronger, badly-typed one.
Fast moves
Fast moves are the moves you trigger by tapping the screen repeatedly during battle. They deal relatively small amounts of damage per use but come with a second, equally important job: they generate the energy that pays for your charged moves. Fast moves vary in both their damage and how much energy they generate per second, which is why two Pokémon that look similar on paper can feel very different to actually battle with.
Charged moves
Charged moves are the more powerful attacks, available once you've built up enough energy from fast moves. In Gym and raid battles you press and hold to fire one; in Trainer Battles you tap the move's button and then tap rapidly to charge it up. Most Pokémon can know two charged moves at once (the second slot is unlocked by spending Stardust and candy), and many players run both so they have options against different opponents. Charged moves generally cost more energy for stronger effects, and in Trainer Battles some also carry a chance of a secondary effect, such as lowering the opponent's stats or raising your own, on top of raw damage.
Putting fast and charged moves together
A battle typically plays out as a rhythm: tap for fast-move damage and energy, then unleash a charged move once you have enough energy, while also managing dodges to reduce incoming damage from the opponent's charged moves. Because energy generation and move damage vary a lot between different fast and charged moves, the specific combination a Pokémon has learned meaningfully changes how it should be played, not just how hard it hits.
Where this applies
| Battle type | What matters most |
|---|---|
| Gym battles | Type effectiveness and raw damage output against the Gym's defenders |
| Raids | Type effectiveness against the raid boss, plus enough total damage from the group before time runs out |
| GO Battle League | Type coverage across your team, energy-efficient movesets, and reading the opponent's likely charged moves |
Same-type move bonus
A move that shares its type with the Pokémon using it generally deals extra damage compared to the same move used by a Pokémon of a different type, a long-standing concept across the wider Pokémon franchise usually shorthanded as a same-type attack bonus. In practice, this means a Pokémon using a move that matches its own typing tends to hit noticeably harder than the raw move stats alone would suggest, which is worth factoring in alongside type effectiveness against the opponent when comparing two attackers.
Stacking weaknesses
Type effectiveness can compound: a Pokémon with two types can be doubly weak to a move type that's super effective against both of its types at once, taking considerably more damage than a single-type Pokémon would from the same move. Recognizing dual-type weaknesses, both in your own Pokémon and in what you're facing, is a simple habit that improves both raid attacker choices and defensive picks.
Checking type matchups without memorizing a full chart
New trainers don't need to memorize an entire type effectiveness chart to benefit from it — the in-game encounter and battle screens generally indicate super-effective and weak matchups directly, so leaning on those in-game cues while you gradually build familiarity is a perfectly reasonable way to learn.
Why we don't list exact numbers
Exact damage multipliers, move energy costs, and specific move stats are periodically adjusted through game balance updates, so listing precise figures here risks going stale. The concepts above (type effectiveness, same-type bonuses, fast moves for damage and energy, charged moves for bigger hits) stay true regardless of the current numbers, and a Pokémon's in-game move details always reflect the current values.
Going deeper
For the fundamentals behind CP and catching, see our core mechanics guide. Ready to apply battle mechanics competitively? Our advanced mechanics guide covers experienced-trainer strategy, and our events hub has a full page on team building for the GO Battle League.
The rest of our guides, including the beginner walkthroughs, are on the Trainer Hub homepage.