Dark (type)

The Dark type is one of the eighteen types.

Battle properties
As of Generation VII, Dark-type Pokémon are immune to opposing Pokémon's moves that gain priority due to the Ability.

Defense
The Dark type, along with the Steel type, was introduced in Generation II in order to balance the previously overpowered Psychic type, and the Ghost type, who had no type resistant to it. As such, Dark is designed to have a resistance to Ghost, a key immunity to Psychic moves and a resistance to itself. However, most Dark-type Pokémon have poor, , and stats, though there are others with high defensive stats, such as , , , and.

Prior to Generation VI, Dark/ Pokémon had no weaknesses (excluding Fighting under immunity-negating conditions such as or ), as the resistances of the Dark type cover the weaknesses of Ghost, and vice-versa. Introduced in Generation VI, the Fairy type is against Dark and not resisted by Ghost. As of Generation VII, Dark-types are also unaffected to any opposing priority status moves caused by the Ability.

Weaknesses to Fighting and Bug types results in the Dark-type alone offering little defensive utility outside of it's aforementioned characteristics, due to it's vulnerability to common Fighting coverage and U-turn coupled with usually poor defensive stats among Pokémon of this type, therefore it performs better defensively if paired with types such as Poison - the latter nullifies all of the former's weaknesses, while Dark removes Poison's weakness to Psychic, leaving a single Ground weakness.

Offense
Dark-type moves are especially useful when combating Psychic and Ghost types. Many of them involve the possession of an opponent's attributes, such as and. Dark had little use as neutral coverage until Steel lost its resistance to it in Generation VI. Despite not being very effective against Fairy, several Dark-type Pokémon have access to Steel and Poison-type moves to pose a threat. Dark-type attacks work very well with Fairy-type attacks since the rare Steel/Fairy is the only combination that resists both.

Despite being a special type prior to Generation IV, all previous Dark-type attacks became physical, which is helpful since most Dark-type Pokémon are physical attackers due to their typically high. Nevertheless, some Dark types have notably higher, such as , , and.

With a neutral hit on Steel and no immunity against it, Dark is considered to be one of the best offensive types available as of Generation VI.

Contest properties
In s, Dark-type moves are typically categorized as moves.

Pure Dark-type Pokémon
There are no Pure Dark-type Pokémon in Generation 1.

Secondary Dark-type Pokémon
There are no Secondary Dark-type Pokémon in Generation 1.

Interacting with the Dark type
A Pokémon with, , , , or will become a Dark-type Pokémon if (respectively) it is hit with a Dark-type move, uses a Dark-type move, is sent out against a Dark-type opponent, is holding a , or is holding a  or.

Since Generation VII, Dark-type Pokémon are also immune to opposing Pokémon's moves that gain priority due to.

Exclusive Abilities
Currently, no Abilities are exclusive to Dark types. This does not include signature Abilities.