Psychic (type)

Template:ElementalTypes Template:TypeNotice Some notable Trainers of the Psychic-type include Sabrina of Saffron City, Will of the Indigo Plateau Elite Four, Tate and Liza of Mossdeep City, and Lucian of the Sinnoh Elite Four.

Statistical averages

Overall

Stat
HP: 69
Attack: 65
Defense: 68
Sp.Atk: 86
Sp.Def: 81
Speed: 74
Total: 0

Fully evolved

Stat
HP: 74.68
Attack: 84.00
Defense: 82.95
Sp.Atk: 98.84
Sp.Def: 94.76
Speed: 88.89
Total: 0

Battle properties

Generation I

Psychic-type moves:

• Are super effective against: Fighting, Poison
• Are not very effective against: Psychic (Steel wasn't introduced until Generation II)
• Have no effect against: None (Dark wasn't introduced until Generation II)

Psychic-type Pokémon:

• Resist: Fighting, Psychic
• Are weak to: Bug (Dark wasn't introduced until Generation II)
• Have immunity to: Ghost

Generation II-onward

Psychic-type moves:

• Are super effective against: Fighting, Poison
• Are not very effective against: Psychic, Steel
• Have no effect against: Dark

Psychic-type Pokémon:

• Resist: Fighting, Psychic
• Are weak to: Bug, Dark, Ghost
• Have immunity to: None

Characteristics

Psychic-types have been a fairly popular type since Generation I. Offensively speaking, they often have great Special Attack meaning they can deal damage quickly using STAB moves. Furthermore, Psychic-type Pokémon can often learn moves of other elemental types, to deal with a multitude of types, most especially their weaknesses of Dark, Ghost, and Bug. As a special sweeper, they are one of the best types in the game as a Psychic Pokémon's speed is also typically quite high.

Their defensive capabilities are often weak, however, in spite of some Psychic-types featuring moves such as Recover (Alakazam, Mewtwo, Deoxys, Latios, Latias, Starmie, Celebi, Chimecho, Medicham, Lugia). Psychic-types often have excellent Special Defense, but very low Defense and HP. Because of this, they can often only survive Special-based hits, and can easily be defeated by one or two high-powered moves from a Pokémon with an average or above-average Attack stat. Psychic Pokémon also often fall to a single Crunch. There are exceptions to this, such as Bronzong or Metagross, who have high defense due to their second type, Steel, and their lack of weakness to Dark-type moves.

When used in contests, Psychic-type moves typically become Smart moves, but can also be of the other four Contest types, excluding Tough.

In total, there are 53 Pokémon with the Psychic-type.

Pokémon

Pure Psychic-type Pokémon

# Name 063 Abra 064 Kadabra 065 Alakazam 096 Drowzee 097 Hypno 122 Mr. Mime 150 Mewtwo 151 Mew 196 Espeon 201 Unown 202 Wobbuffet 280 Ralts 281 Kirlia 282 Gardevoir 325 Spoink 326 Grumpig 358 Chimecho 360 Wynaut 386 Deoxys 433 Chingling 439 Mime Jr. 480 Uxie 481 Mesprit 482 Azelf 488 Cresselia

Half Psychic-type Pokémon

Primary Psychic-type Pokémon

# Name Type 1 Type 2 177 Natu Psychic Flying 178 Xatu Psychic Flying 249 Lugia Psychic Flying 251 Celebi Psychic Grass 475 Gallade Psychic Fighting

Secondary Psychic-type Pokémon

# Name Type 1 Type 2 079 Slowpoke Water Psychic 080 Slowbro Water Psychic 102 Exeggcute Grass Psychic 103 Exeggutor Grass Psychic 121 Starmie Water Psychic 124 Jynx Ice Psychic 199 Slowking Water Psychic 203 Girafarig Normal Psychic 238 Smoochum Ice Psychic 307 Meditite Fighting Psychic 308 Medicham Fighting Psychic 337 Lunatone Rock Psychic 338 Solrock Rock Psychic 343 Baltoy Ground Psychic 344 Claydol Ground Psychic 374 Beldum Steel Psychic 375 Metang Steel Psychic 376 Metagross Steel Psychic 380 Latias Dragon Psychic 381 Latios Dragon Psychic 385 Jirachi Steel Psychic 436 Bronzor Steel Psychic 437 Bronzong Steel Psychic

Moves

Damage-dealing moves

Name Category Contest Power Accuracy PP Target Notes Confusion Special Smart 50 100% 25 One foe Has a 10% chance of confusing the opponent. Dream Eater Special Smart 100 100% 15 One foe Only does damage to sleeping foes. 50% of the damage done to the opponent is restored to the user. Extrasensory Special Cool 80 100% 30 One foe Has a 10% chance of making the opponent flinch. Future Sight Special Smart 80 90% 15 One foe Does damage 2 turns later. Luster Purge Special Smart 70 100% 5 One foe Has a 50% chance of reducing the target's Special Defense stat. Mirror Coat Special Beauty Varies 100% 20 Reaction Counters any Special Attack, inflicting double the damage. Mist Ball Special Smart 70 100% 5 One foe Has a 50% chance of reducing the target's Special Attack stat. Psybeam Special Beauty 65 100% 20 One foe Has a 10% chance of confusing the opponent. Psychic Special Smart 90 100% 10 One foe Has a 10% chance of lowering the opponent's Special Defense. Psycho Boost Special Smart 140 90% 5 One foe Sharply reduces the user's Special Attack stat. Psycho Cut Physical Cool 70 100% 20 One foe It has a high critical hit ratio. Psywave Special Smart Varies 80% 15 One foe Causes damage equal to or greater than the user's level. Zen Headbutt Physical Beauty 80 90% 15 One foe Has a 10% chance of making the opponent flinch.

Non-damaging moves

Name Category Contest Power Accuracy PP Target Notes Agility Status Cool — —% 30 User Increases the user's Speed by 2 levels. Amnesia Status Cute — —% 20 User Increases the user's Special Defense by 2 levels. Barrier Status Cool — —% 30 User Increases the user's Defense by 2 levels. Calm Mind Status Smart — —% 20 User Increases the user's Special Attack and Special Defense. Cosmic Power Status Cool — —% 20 User Increases the user's Defense and Special Defense. Gravity Status Beauty — —% 5 All Negates moves that levitate and fly for 5 turns. Guard Swap Status Cute — —% 10 User/One Foe Switch changes to its Defense and Special Defense with the foe. Heal Block Status Cute — 100% 15 All Prevents the opponent from restoring HP for five turns. Healing Wish Status Cute — —% 10 User The user faints. In return, the Pokémon taking its place will have its HP restored and its status cured. Heart Swap Status Cool — —% 10 User/One Foe Switch stat changes with the foe. Hypnosis Status Smart — 70% 20 One Foe Puts the opponent to sleep. Imprison Status Smart — —% 10 User Prevents foes from using any move that is also known by the user. Kinesis Status Smart — 80% 15 One Foe Lowers the target's accuracy. Light Screen Status Beauty — —% 30 User Halves damage taken from Special Attacks for 5 turns. Lunar Dance Status Beauty — —% 10 User The user faints. In return, the Pokémon taking its place will have its HP restored and its status cured. Magic Coat Status Beauty — —% 15 User Reflects moves that inflict a Status ailment. Meditate Status Beauty — —% 40 User Increases the user's attack by 1 level. Miracle Eye Status Cute — —% 40 One Foe Removes Dark-type's immunity to Psychic attacks and restores the evasiveness of the foe to normal. Power Swap Status Beauty — —% 10 User/One Foe Switch changes to its Attack and Special Attack with the foe. Psycho Shift Status Cool — 90% 10 User/One Foe User transfers its status problems to the target. Reflect Status Smart — —% 20 User Halves damage taken from Physical Attacks for 5 turns. Rest Status Cute — —% 10 User The user goes to sleep for two turns. It fully restores the user's HP and heals any status problem. Role Play Status Cute — —% 10 User Copies the foe's ability. Skill Swap Status Smart — —% 10 User/One Foe Exchanges abilities with the foe. Teleport Status Cool — —% 20 User Run away from wild Pokémon battles. Trick Status Smart — —% 10 User/One Foe Swaps items with the foe. Trick Room Status Smart — —% 20 All Slower Pokémon move first for five turns.

Balance Issues

Psychic-type Pokémon are at the center of a balance issue in the Generation I games. The issue arose from the lack of an effective countermeasure against Psychic-types caused by the absence of any powerful Template:Type2 moves (at the time the only elemental weaknesses of Psychic-types). Additionally, Psychic-types were not affected by Template:Type2 moves in Generation I, causing further imbalance, although there were no powerful damaging moves that were of the Ghost-type anyway, except for Night Shade, which does fixed damage. Additionally, the only Ghost-type Pokémon (the Gastly evolution line) were all part Poison, which is weak to Psychic moves.

The issue was rectified in later generations with the addition of more powerful Ghost and Bug-type moves, pure Ghost-type Pokémon, the addition of the Template:Type2 (which are resistant to Psychic moves) and the Template:Type2 (which are both immune to Psychic moves and powerful against Psychic Pokémon themselves).

Trivia

• Currently, Psycho Cut and Zen Headbutt are the only Physical Psychic-type moves.
• Psychic is the most common type for legendary Pokémon. In fact, Psychic is the only type where every single Generation so far has at least one legendary representing that type.
  • As of Generation IV, all but three legendary Pokémon learn at least one Psychic move by leveling up; they are Regirock, Heatran, and Phione.
• Psychic is the only type that shares its name with a move.
• Despite often being known as the most powerful type, due to the balance issue during Generation I, it was not until Generation IV that a Pokémon and its evolution that have a double weakness to Psychic moves were introduced.
• All Psychic-type Pokémon from Generations I and II are weak to Dark-type moves, as there were no dual type Psychic-Fighting or Psychic-Steel to counter the weakness.

In other languages

• Dutch: Psychisch
• French: Psy
• German: Psycho
• Italian: Psico
• Japanese: エスパー esper
• Korean: 에스퍼 esper
• Spanish: Psíquico