Skip to main content

Pokemon TCG Pocket Weaknesses and Resistances explained

Weaknesses and Resistances work a little differently in Pokemon TCG Pocket compared to other Pokemon games. Here’s how.

Three phones showing Pokemon TCG Pocket cards or booster packs are shown in the game's official gameplay trailer
Image credit: The Pokemon Company

Pokemon TCG Pocket offers fans of monster collecting and card games a way to do both without eating up too much of your time or money. Allowing players to open two booster packs a day and comprise 20-card decks to battle with from them, Pocket is a much swifter, casual way of enjoying the Pokemon TCG.

Given that the card games in Pokemon TCG Pocket play out a lot quicker than your usual game, with smaller decks and less knock-outs needed to win, there are a few quirks that players should note when it comes to Weaknesses and Resistances, and how they work during a battle. Here’s exactly how Weaknesses and Resistances work in Pokemon TCG Pocket.


Pokemon TCG Pocket Weaknesses and Resistances explained

In Pokemon TCG Pocket, your Pokemon have no resistances. In other Pokemon games, for example, Ghost type Pokemon are resistant to Normal and Fighting type Pokemon. This is not the case in TCG Pocket.

Weaknesses are still present, however, and in the below table, we list each Pokemon type’s weaknesses based on the types available in Pokemon TCG Pocket right now. It’s super important that you check your cards, however, as you’ll notice that the same Pokemon types can have different weaknesses in Pokemon TCG Pocket.

You’ll notice that these weaknesses differ from the Pokemon video games too, and largely, don’t make the most sense. That’s Pokemon TCG for you!

Pokemon Type Common Weaknesses
Water Electric, Steel
Fire Water
Grass Fire
Normal Electric, Fighting,
Fighting Psychic, Grass
Dark Psychic, Fighting
Psychic Dark
Electric Fighting
Steel Fire

Usually when a Pokemon is attacked by a Pokemon it is weak to, it would take double the damage. In Pokemon TCG Pocket, however, the Pokemon being attacked will instead take 20 points of additional damage.

This also applies to attacks that hit multiple times; rather than dealing double the damage, the opposing Pokemon will take 20 additional points of damage. They’ll only take the additional damage once, rather than for each individual attack too.

It’s also worth noting that some specific Pokemon are exempt from weaknesses, and this will be noted on their card. Read your Pokemon cards, and their movesets and abilities, carefully when building your deck and going into battle.


For more on Pokemon, take a look at our list of the best Pokemon spin-off games, as well as some tips and tricks to help you get started with Pokemon TCG Pocket.

Read this next