Pokémon Grass Type Strategy Guide and Analysis

Hints, Tips, Strategies, FAQ, and Info on the Grass Pokémon Type

Aug 5, 2009 Bradley Kairis

Grass is a Pokémon type of extreme strengths and extreme weaknesses. Learn more about Grass Pokémon in this comprehensive Pokémon Type Guide.

Even though Grass type Pokémon suffer from numerous type weaknesses, Grass moves vary from powerful attacks to strategic disabling and support moves, allowing Grass Pokémon the versatility to fit with almost any team.

Read this Pokémon beginners guide to learn more about Grass Pokémon.

Grass Pokémon FAQ

What are Grass attacks strong against?

Super-effective (x2): Ground, Rock, Water
Weak (x0.5): Bug, Dragon, Fire, Flying, Grass, Poison, Steel

What attacks are strong against Grass Pokémon?

Super-Effective (x2): Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, Poison
Resistances (x0.5): Electric, Grass, Ground, Water

What are some common characteristics of Grass Pokémon?

Grass moves vary from useful disabling moves to powerful attacks
Grass Pokémon are one of the most common types
Common dual type is Grass/Poison

General Strategies for Grass Pokémon

Strictly speaking from type strengths and weaknesses, Grass's weaknesses, unfortunately, greatly outweigh its strengths. Grass attacks are only strong against three types, while grass attacks are weak against seven. Defensively speaking, there are five types super-effective against grass, while grass only resists four types.

However, Grass Pokémon typically learn a wide variety of moves, ranging from the immensely powerful Solar Beam and Wood Hammer, to disabling moves like Sleep Powder and Worry Seed, and even recovery moves like Synthesis and Aromatherapy.

Grass type's move variety means the right Grass Pokémon can fill in any piece of a team. Strong Grass Pokémon range from heavy-hitting physical sweepers like Victreebel, to tanks like Venusaur, to support Pokémon like Celebi. This means finding a good Grass type to fit into a team is much easier than most other types.

Leech Seed is the best move in the game. It acts like Poison, except it drains HP and gives it to the user. Tanks benefit immensely from this excellent move, and since only Grass types can learn Leech Seed, this move is a huge incentive to use a Grass type. The Leech Seed / Sleep Powder combo, in particular, can slowly drain a Pokémon dry while it sleeps defenselessly.

Even though Grass type's numerous weaknesses can sometimes relegate it to the "weakest link" of the team, a good moveset and strategy can also make it one of the strongest.

Grass Pokémon - Dual Types

As one of the more common types in the game, Grass benefits from numerous type combos, giving the type even more versatility to fit into a team. Unfortunately, many dual types with Grass in it have unfortunate x4 weaknesses, but some Grass dual types truly shine.

The following are all the dual types associated with Grass: Grass/Water, Grass/Ice, Grass/Fighting, Grass/Poison, Grass/Ground, Grass/Flying, Grass/Psychic, Grass/Bug, Grass/Rock, Grass/Dark.

By far, the best of all the type combos is Grass/Water, with only weaknesses to Bug, Flying, and Poison, but it's only utilized by Ludicolo. Still, it's a great Pokémon with a great type, and a very rare x4 resistance to Water.

Grass/Poison is another good type. Poison takes away Grass's Poison weakness, and gives it a x4 Grass resistance and a x2 Fighting resistance. The added Psychic weakness can be a pain, but this type works well as a counters to other Grass types, and to Fighting types.

As for type combos to avoid, the worst of the worst are Grass/Bug and Grass/Ice. Grass/Bug has two x4 weaknesses in Fire and Flying, while Grass/Ice has a x4 Fire weakness. Grass/Ground and Grass/Flying both unfortunately carry a x4 weakness as well, in Ice.

Powerful Grass Pokémon

Due to Grass being one of the three starter types, strong Grass Pokémon abound. Really, any of the Grass starters is worth noting as a powerful Pokémon.

Some other powerful Grass type Pokémon include: Breloom, Cradily, Roserade, Carnivine, Tangrowth, Vileplume, Victreebel, Celebi, Shiftry, Cacturne, and more.

The multitude of strategies involving all of the aforementioned Grass Pokémon makes it impossible to go into much detail about individual Pokémon strategies in this article. Instead, refer to the Advanced Strategies section for more detail.

Advanced Grass Pokémon Strategies

Pokémon strategies are often broken down by three types of Pokémon: Tank, Offensive, and Support. Most Pokémon types are strong at only one type. For example, the Fighting type works well offensively, while the Steel type works well as a Tank. Grass's versatility, however, allows for all three.

Grass Pokémon with huge HP and defensive stats work best as Tanks. One of the prime examples, Venusaur, can take heavy hits from even super-effective attacks. Grass Tanks should always carry Leech Seed if possible, along with two attacks (one grass, one not), and a support or disabling move. A good moveset for Venusaur would be: Leech Seed / Energy Ball / Sludge Bomb / Sleep Powder.

Offensive Grass types should have huge attack and / or special attack, and typically work best as a dual type to take advantage of two STAB (same type attack damage) moves. Breloom, for instance, has enormous attack and is a Grass / Fighting type.

A simple, but strong moveset for Breloom is as easy as this: Seed Bomb / Sky Uppercut / Rock Slide / Sword's Dance. Sword's Dance to raise attack, and then use whatever move is best against the opponent. However, since Breloom learns Spore (100% sleep), a more unique moveset would be: Spore / Focus Punch / Seed Bomb / Sword's Dance.

And finally, support Grass types should have good defenses and HP similar to Tanks, except their focus is on supporting the team in an indirect way. Aromatherapy, for example, cures status conditions in the entire party. But supporting can also include using status effect moves on the opponent team, such as Sleep Powder, Spore, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed. Inflicting a status condition can setup a stronger Pokémon to finish the job.

Grass Pokémon Conclusion

While the Grass type may have its naysayers due to the numerous bad type matchups, Grass's versatility makes it adaptable and unpredictable in battle. A good Grass Pokémon can fit well with almost any team.

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Grass/Poison type Pokémon Venusaur	Grass/Fighting type Pokémon Breloom	Grass/Water type Pokémon Ludicolo
Grass type Pokémon Tangrowth	Grass/Poison type Pokémon Victreebel