Pokémon Psychic Guide, Types, Strategies, Hints

Psychic Pokémon Guide with Tips, FAQ, Moves, Strengths, Weaknesses

Sep 2, 2009

Psychic Pokémon learn powerful attacks and helpful support moves. Learn why Psychic is one of the most powerful Pokémon types with hints, strategies, an FAQ and more.

Psychic Pokémon have high Special Attack and Special Defense, and learn a wide variety of powerful attacks and helpful support moves. Psychic is super-effective against Fighting and Poison Pokémon, but they work effectively against almost any other type. Bug, Dark, and Ghost are the natural counters to Psychic Pokémon.

Psychic Pokémon FAQ

General Pokémon Strategies Tips and Hints for Psychic Pokémon

In the original Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue games, Psychic Pokémon dominated, with almost no weaknesses, no clear counter, and huge stats. Perhaps the most deadly of all, the stat "Special" in Red and Blue accounted for both Special Attack and Special Defense, meaning that when a Psychic Pokémon raised the Special stat (such as Amnesia), both attack and defense were raised, which is one of the (many) reasons Mewtwo destroyed every Pokémon and had to be banned from tournament play.

The Dark Pokémon type was created as a counter to Psychic types. With that also came the separation of the Special stat into Special Attack and Special Defense, turning Psychic into a more balanced type. The type is still powerful, but these two important changes significantly reduced Psychic Pokémon's power.

Psychic's clearest advantages come as counters to Fighting and Poison Pokémon, since their attacks are super-effective. Fighting's only chance against a Psychic type is a OHKO from boosted attack and speed using a non-Fighting attack. But if the Psychic type survives, the Fighting type's typically low special defense will result in a quick KO from a strong Psychic attack.

Aside from the type itself, Psychic learns a wide variety of bizarre moves, such as Trick Room which reverses the order the Pokémon take their turns (slowest goes first), Skill Swap which switches abilities, and many more.

For the most part, the Psychic type is divided into two different strategies: Assist, and Special Sweeper. An Assist Pokémon utilizes unique moves to benefit other Pokémon in the team, or the team as a whole. Special Sweeper on the other hand, is an all-out offensive type that focuses on Psychic and elemental attacks such as Psychic, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower.

Dual Type Psychic Pokémon

Psychic is one of those types that doesn't mix very frequently, but works pretty well when it does. The following are all the dual types associated with Psychic: Psychic/Normal, Psychic/Water, Psychic/Grass, Psychic/Ice, Psychic/Fighting, Psychic/Ground, Psychic/Flying, Psychic/Rock, Psychic/Dragon, Psychic/Steel.

The best combination is Psychic/Steel, with only 2 weaknesses (Fire, Ground), and a large assortment of resistances, this dual combo is a difficult one to take down.

Psychic/Normal, unique to Girafarig, is immune to Ghost attacks, reducing the weaknesses to only Bug and Dark. However, this comes at the cost of a resistance to Fighting, so when countering Fighting Pokémon, Girafarig needs to keep in mind that their attacks do normal damage.

Psychic/Flying offers one of the most deadly counters to Fighting, as the resistances stack up to make Fighting attacks deal 1/4 the damage. However, Rock deals x2 damage and Fighting Pokémon typically carry a strong Rock attack.

All the other type combos work well. The only two to really watch out for are Psychic/Ice and Psychic/Rock, and only because both type combos have numerous weaknesses.

Strong Psychic Pokémon

Psychic is just one of those Pokémon types that's difficult to go wrong with; even the more mediocre Psychic Pokémon such as Girafarig and Grumpig are pretty good. But truly powerful Psychic Pokémon abound, and include the most devastating Legendary Pokémon in all of the Pokémon games: Mewtwo.

Alakazam, Espeon, Gardevoir, Medicham, and Metigross all make for excellent offensive types with numerous powerful attacks and high offensive stats.

Bronzong and Wobbuffet are both superb, defensively-oriented Psychic Pokémon. Bronzong's Psychic/Steel combo makes for a wide variety of resistances, while Wobbuffet's enormous HP allows it to Counter and Mirror Coat immense damage back at the opponent.

Mr. Mime and Xatu deserve mention for their diverse movepools. With a wide variety of moves at their disposal, Mr. Mime and Xatu can make for excellent support Pokémon.

Psychic Pokémon Advanced Strategies

Offensively speaking, most Psychic Pokémon can learn a powerful Psychic attack, and many can learn Calm Mind (which raises Special Attack and Special Defense) either naturally or through a TM. In addition, most Psychic Pokémon can learn a variety of elemental-based moves, such as Flamethrower and Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt and Psychic is an excellent combination of attack moves for just about any Psychic Pokémon. Electric and Psychic covers a huge spread of Pokémon, and very few can resist both. After using Calm Mind a few times, this combo is difficult to stop.

Agility is another good boost move which raises speed by two stages, and makes for a great alternative to Calm Mind.

A move that raises HP, such as Recover or Wish, can help when boosting stats. Care should be taken, however, as many Psychic Pokémon have low defense stats (particularly physical defense), and can go down surprisingly fast.

As for Support-oriented Psychic Pokémon, most only carry one or two powerful moves, such as Psychic, while the other two or three slots are reserved for moves that help the team.

Wish is a great support move learned my many Psychic Pokémon. It gives 50% of a Pokémon's HP back, but it doesn't activate the turn it is used, allowing a switch-out to heal another Pokémon.

Reflect and Light Screen create "Walls" that add Defense or Special Defense for a few turns. Creating a wall of defense and switching out to a more powerful Pokémon is a good strategy.

Psychic Pokémon Conclusion

Psychic is one of the most powerful Pokémon types in the game, and most Psychic Pokémon (excluding those endless Unowns) will make a worthy addition to any team.

The copyright of the article Pokémon Psychic Guide, Types, Strategies, Hints in Role-Playing Video Games is owned by Bradley Kairis. Permission to republish Pokémon Psychic Guide, Types, Strategies, Hints in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.