Poor Predictable Rock / Pokémon

Each of the main Pokémon games play with this trope in various ways:

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• In Generation I, almost every Pokémon's natural moveset consists entirely of moves of their type(s) and Normal-type moves, leaving little in the way of variety or coverage. While most are capable of using TMs to have more varied movesets, said TMs are single-use items and are often only attainable once per game. Later generations would let more Pokémon naturally learn moves of different types, however.
• Generation III introduced the Wonder Guard ability, which takes this trope to its logical extreme by making the Pokémon that has it completely immune to any attack that does not do super-effective damage^note Though non-standard types of damage, such as damage caused by weather effects, do not count as "attacks" and will still work. However, the only Pokémon with this ability is a One Hitpoint Wonder with five elemental weaknesses^note Fire, Flying, Rock, Dark and Ghost, including Flying type, which almost every team is guaranteed to have at least one of. It's possible, though only in double battles, to use the move Skill Swap to move Wonder Guard onto a creature which has less weaknesses - most notably, the very same generation that introduced the ability also introduced Sableye, a Pokémon which, under normal circumstances, has no weaknesses^note although the player can use Odor Sleuth or Foresight to negate its immunity to Fighting-type moves, thereby revealing its weakness to them. Later generations nerfed this, though.
• Generation IV subverts this trope with the introduction of the Solid Rock and Filter abilities, which reduce the power of super-effective attacks by 25%. The Solid Rock ability, however, plays with this trope even further and double-subverts it as the only Pokémon that can naturally have this ability are dual-type Pokémon with a 4x weakness to another type; reducing a 4x weakness to a 3x weakness is unlikely to stop the Fire/Ground-type Camerupt or Rock/Ground-type Rhyperior from fainting when they are hit by a strong Water-type attack, such as the ubiquitous Surf, used by a Pokémon of comparable level.
  • While it is entirely logical to attack the Water-type Goldeen or Seaking with an Electric-type move, the attacker might get a nasty surprise from Generation V onwards if said Goldeen/Seaking has the Lightning Rod ability, which averts this trope by not only making the Goldeen/Seaking immune to Electric-type attacks but also drawing single-target Electric-type moves to it and increasing its Special Attack by 1 stage each time it is hit by an Electric-type move.
  • From Generation V onwards, Marill and Azumarill, both with the Water-type as their primary type, may avert this trope by having the Sap Sipper ability. Grass-type moves will increase their Attack stat instead of doing super-effective damage.
  • The Ice-type move Freeze-Dry, introduced in Generation VI, inverts this trope. Every other Ice-type attack does half damage against Water-type Pokémon; Freeze-Dry is super-effective against Water-types instead.
• The signature abilities of Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquaza in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire avert this trope in two different ways. Primal Groudon's ability, Desolate Land, completely shuts down all Water-type attacks, which would otherwise have 4x effectiveness against it and be a highly obvious choice of attack if the ability was not in effect. Mega Rayquaza's ability, Delta Stream, negates the effectiveness of moves that do super-effective damage to Flying-type Pokémon, causing them to do normal damage instead.
• Gym leaders from the earlier generations provide better examples of this trope being played straight. In particular, all the gym leaders in Generation I (like Blaine and his Fire-type Pokémon) play this trope straight by focusing almost exclusively on one type; the strategy to beating them is simply to raise Pokémon that can learn moves capable of hitting theirs for super-effective damage (such as Water-type attacks against Blaine's Pokémon). Sabrina then subverts this trope, however, since neither of her Psychic-type Pokémon's weaknesses are actually that helpful against her - Bug-type moves are pathetic in Generation I, and Ghost was actually ineffective against Psychic in those games due to a programming error. (Not that it would've helped; in this generation the only Ghost attack that wasn't a Fixed Damage Attack was Lick with 20 base power.) Koga's gym in Pokémon Yellow, meanwhile, is supposed to specialize in Poison, but his Pokémon use Psychic as their attack of choice instead of the weaker Poison moves (Smog and Sludge) he had used in Red and Blue.
  • The Gym Leaders in Galar actually justify this: the Gym Challenge involves trainers facing off against them to prove their talent and skill, and the early Leaders have to lower their Pokemon's performances because of this. When you rematch them at the end instead of the expected Elite Four challenge, their movepool has expanded to compensate for weaknesses.
  • The Elite Four in all generations, as well as the gym leaders in later generations, play with this trope to the point of confusion. Some examples:
    • Lorelei from Generation I subverts this trope, as she runs a predominantly Ice-type team, except for her Slowbro, which is a dual Water/Psychic-type Pokémon, so an attempt to sweep her with a Fighting-type Pokémon might actually end quite badly. Alternatively, attempting to sweep her team with Fire-type attacks will also go badly because all of her Pokemon are partly Water-typed except Jinx.
    • Agatha from Generation I theoretically specializes in Ghost but actually specializes in Poison (to the point of having an Arbok, which is pure Poison), and further averts this trope with her Golbat, which is the only Pokémon on her team that is also a Flying-type. Good luck trying to knock it out with Earthquake or Dig.
    • Whitney is the Wake-Up Call Boss in Generation II for only one reason: her Miltank. It's a Normal-type Pokémon, so it may initially look like Fighting-type bait. However, this trope gets subverted since the only Fighting-type Pokémon available at the point when the player has to defeat her is a Machop that is obtained from an in-game trade, and even with said Machop, Miltank's impressive Speed and bulk, coupled with its Stomp and Milk Drink moves, means that it can easily hold out against the Machop if the player is unlucky enough or unprepared^note Stomp has a 30% chance of causing the Pokémon that was hit to flinch and not do anything for one turn—it is also stronger because it is a Normal-type move, so Miltank gets a same type attack bonus—which gives Miltank one extra turn to use Milk Drink, which restores up to 50% of its HP. It's even worse in the remakes, where Miltank comes packing the Scrappy ability, which allows it to hit Ghost-types. Thought you were being smart by catching a Gastly in Bellsprout Tower? Nope.
    • Jasmine from Generation II provides an example of this trope being slightly subverted with her Steelix. Her two Magnemite will get one-shotted by a strong enough Fighting- or Ground-type attack, but because Steelix has one of the highest Defense stats in the games, even the strongest physical super-effective attacks are unlikely to knock Steelix out in one hit unless the attacking Pokémon is significantly overleveled.
    • Winona from Generation III averts this trope by having a Flying-type team^note weak to Electric-type moves that includes an Altaria which knows Earthquake^note super-effective against Electric-type Pokémon.
    • Juan averts this trope twice in Pokémon Emerald by having, in his Water-type lineup, the dual Water/Ground-type Whiscash^note so it No Sells Electric-type attacks and dual Water/Dragon-type Kingdra^note which not only negates the effectiveness of any Grass-type attack that can otherwise sweep through all of Juan's other Pokémon, including the aforementioned Whiscash, but also negates the Water-type's weakness to Electric-type attacks.
    • Thinking of using a Fighting-type Pokémon against Elite Four Sidney in Generation III? Watch out—aversions of this trope on his team are his Shiftry, which knows Extrasensory^note does super-effective damage against Fighting-type Pokémon, and, in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, his Cacturne, which knows Spiky Shield^note blocks any physical attack, of which most Fighting-type attacks are, and damages the attacker a little if Spiky Shield blocked a physical attack; also causes moves like High Jump Kick to miss, resulting in the attacker taking both crash damage and damage from Spiky Shield.
    • Crasher Wake, the Water-type gym leader in Generation IV, averts this trope with all of his three Pokémon, each with varying secondary types and/or movepools to handle both Electric- and Grass-type Pokémon—Gyarados to weaken physical attackers with its Intimidate ability and slow down Grass-types due to its Water/Flying-type making Grass-type moves do normal, instead of super-effective, damage; Quagsire to wall Electric-types with its dual Water/Ground-typing; and Floatzel, a fast and powerful Water-type Pokémon packing a moveset that includes Crunch^note a relatively powerful Dark-type attack that may also reduce the target's Defense and Ice Fang^note to deal immense damage to Grass-type Pokémon, especially the Turtwig line.
    • Burgh from Generation V has a Dwebble on his Bug-type team. Dwebble averts this trope as it is a dual Bug/Rock-type, which negates the effectiveness of Fire- and Flying-type attacks on it.
    • Yahtzee was screwed by an aversion of this trope when he reviewed White; specifically, when he went up against Elesa, who has an Emolga that has no Electric-type weaknesses.
    Yahtzee: There was a Gym fairly early on that might as well had a giant sign saying "We use Electric types!" Every guy in the city asked me non too subtly how I was for Ground type Pokémon, and the whole area was lousy with Ground random encounters. So after grinding my newly captured Groundie lads for an hour I challenge the Gym Leader and what does she pull out? A fucking Flying Electric type! And guess what Flying types are immune to. I'll give you a hint: It rhymes with pound-ing nails into my eyesocket.
    • Roxie provides an interesting subversion with her Poison-type gym in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. Although both her Pokémon are weak to Psychic- and Ground-type attacks, none of the Pokémon the player has met so far will learn such attacks within their immediate level range. The player can use Lucario or Magnemite to be immune to her attacks but if you're on Challenge Mode, she's got a Grimer that knows Mud Slap to get the jump on the two Steel-types (especially Magnemite who takes a whopping 4x damage, meaning she's no longer a pushover on this difficulty)
    • Marlon from Black 2 and White 2 plays this trope straight with his Water-type Pokémon. Although his Carracosta has Sturdy, his entire team is still easy prey for Grass- and Electric-type attacks.
    • Shauntal and Caitlin, the Ghost- and Psychic-type Unova Elite Four respectively in Generation V, play this trope straight, with all their Pokémon sharing a common weakness to Dark-type attacks. A single Krookodile can Crunch both their teams into dust.
    • Viola from Generation VI averts this trope by running the dual Bug/Water-type Surskit in her Bug-type team, which can counter Fire-type Pokémon (such as Fennekin, the Fire-type starter) with Water Sport^note halves the power of Fire-type moves and Bubble^note super-effective against Fire-types and may also lower their Speed stat. Her other Pokémon, Vivillon, plays this trope straight as it doesn't know its signature move, Powder, which blows Fire-type attacks up in the attacker's face. Nevertheless, there's a whole ton of Pokémon such as Chespin, Pikachu and even Farfetch'd and Dunsparce that can easily squash both Bug-types.
    • There's also Grant, the Generation VI Rock-type gym leader, whose two Fossil Pokémon avert this trope with their respective counters—Amaura has a secondary Ice-type as well as the Refrigerate ability, which turns its Take Down attack into an Ice-type move that can easily annihilate any Grass-type Pokémon it is pitted against; Tyrunt is a dual Rock/Dragon-type Pokémon, which on its own negates the super-effectiveness of Water- and Grass-type moves against it.
    • Generation VI's Grass-type gym leader, Ramos, plays this trope nearly dead straight. Apart from his Gogoat knowing Bulldoze, which can do a number on non-flying Fire-type Pokémon, his entire team is pure fodder for Flying- and Fire-type attacks.
    • Got those Steel- and Poison-type attacks to take on Valerie's Fairy-type Pokémon in Generation VI? Her first one is the dual Steel/Fairy-type Mawile, which averts this trope as it takes regular damage from Steel-type attacks and is completely damn immune to Poison-type moves! What's more is that its Fairy type negates Steel's weakness to Fighting.
    • Wulfric's Ice-type team in Generation VI plays with this trope in at least two ways on their own (and he even lampshades it). Abomasnow plays it straight with its 4x weakness to Fire-type moves and average defences, but his Cryogonal and Avalugg have very high special defense and physical defense stats respectively, letting them endure even super-effective hits and ensuring they're not a complete pushover.
    • Wikstrom, the Kalos Elite Four who specialises in Steel-type Pokémon, does a grand job averting this trope with three of his four Pokémon—Klefki, a part Fairy-type, takes neutral damage from Fighting-type moves, Probopass takes neutral damage from Fire-type moves due to its secondary Rock-type and has Sturdy as its ability, and Aegislash, being a part Ghost-type, is immune to Fighting-type moves and has King's Shield, a move that nullifies damage taken for one turn in addition to reducing the attacking Pokémon's Attack stat if they used a physical attack against it.
    • Due to a lack of dragon variety, Raihan plays things a little differently and engages the player in Double battles during the Gym Challenge. He will always open with Gigalith and Flygon to exploit the hell out of Sandstorm, and Gigalith can crush any Ice-types that challenge Flygon. Thought to bring a Fairy with you? His ace is Duraludon, who is part Steel and will exploit that to Max Steelstrike your fairies into next week without the slightest hesitation. Just to further discourage Ice-type abuse, in the rematch tournament he opens with a Drought Torkoal, which will power his Lava Plume to melt your Ice-types and allow Solar Beam spam to destroy anything that could typecast it. And yet, he can never beat Melony whenever they face off in exhibition matches due to the fact that her team counters his in every single way.
  • Pokémon Diamond and Pearl ended up featuring quite a few subversions, not because the developers were trying to make things more challenging, but because the Sinnoh Dex's lack of diversity forced them into a corner. The most blatant example is Elite 4 member Flint, a Fire-type specialist who only had two Fire-types on his five-member team because the only Fire evolution lines in the Sinnoh Dex were the obligatory Fire starter and the Ponyta line. When Platinum expanded the Sinnoh Dex significantly, the Gym Leaders and Elite 4 members got updated teams to better match their specialties. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl has them using their DP teams in their first match, then their second rematches give them their Platinum teams and then after you clear Stark Mountain, they get even stronger teams such as Lucian's Mr. Mime, Espeon and Alakazam knowing Dazzling Gleam (a Fairy-type move) for Dark-types.
  • All the games have trainer classes like Swimmer and Bug Catcher that openly broadcast their type specialty. But there's at least one Fisherman per game who takes it to a whole new level, by having an entire team of Magikarp, a pathetically weak Pokémon that can only learn 3 attacks, one of which does nothing whatsoever... and these Magikarp specialists are often strict devotees of the do-nothing move. Inexplicably, they are just as eager to fight you as trainers with non-useless mons. Some of them, however, will have a few Magikarps and a Gyarados, which can catch you off-guard if you're expecting another pushover opponent. Most trainers in general will either use the same Pokémon in their lineup or use Pokémon based on the same or similar types. Certain trainers like Ace Trainers will use a more varied team, which makes battling them more tricky.
• Averted almost entirely in Pokémon Colosseum and its sequel. Only a handful of Trainers in Colosseum (and most are effectively tutorial fights, the only other being Miror B., a noted eccentric character) and almost none in XD (only 2 Trainers, both carrying it over from Colosseum, plus a series of Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain characters), stick to a single type/species. Even the enemy Grunts have far more variety than typical.
  • Speaking of enemy Grunts, the only enemy teams whose Grunts aren't armed with the same old Pokémon happen to be Team Snagem and Cipher. You can expect Zubat and Rattata on any Rocket Grunt you find (replace Zubat with any old Poison-type if you want variety), and Team Galactic is similarly armed. You can also ALWAYS expect a Poochyena or Mightyena on both Teams Magma and Aqua, as well as a Fire- or Water-type, respectively. Even Team Plasma is not immune, though they're a bit closer to the Orre villains in terms of variety, but when a disturbingly large number pack Watchog...
• In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the Aether Foundation follows in the footsteps of Cipher by having its Employees use a wide variety of evolved Pokémon, making them far more of a threat than the Team Skull Grunts faced prior.
• Pokémon Sword and Shield:
  • The Macro Cosmos corporation contracts workers utilize Steel-type Pokemon to shut out any threats, and have a decent variety thereof to help contain the Poison-type Eternatus... except many of them are critically weak to Fire, and Eternatus turns out to know Flamethrower. Most damning is that Chairman Rose is victim to this trope and can be flushed with just a Cinderace and a Bewear. The exception is Oleana, who has a more diverse team that leans towards Poison.
  • Averted with Leon. As the Champion he has a varied team but going into the fight his ace and Dynamax is obviously going to be his Charizard. The obvious counter is a Rock- or Water-type which are both resistant to Fire-type attacks and have moves that are Super Effective on Charizard. However Leon's Charizard has the Max Knuckle and Max Lightning moves which are a hard counter to Rock or Water.
• Pokémon Scarlet and Violet do something really weird with this. With the new Terastal gimmick allowing you to change a Pokémon's type on the fly, every Gym Leader has an ace that's completely unrelated to their usual type (but still matches with their aesthetics), that they then bring back to their signature type via Terastallization. It does mean they get more varied coverage moves than your average Gym ace, however, often only having one move of the Gym's type.
  • If you have Pokémon with type-negating ability (such as the aforementioned Lightning Rod and Sap Sipper, among others such as Storm Drain and Flash Fire), you can terastallize said Pokémon into a type normally weak against that type and let the ability negate said weakness.
  • Brassius subverts this by having his ace be a Sudowoodo. While it is still weak to Fire-, Flying-, Bug- and Ice-types once it becomes a Grass-type, it can counter all of them with Rock Throw. Poison-types still do the trick, however.
  • Iono takes advantage of this to avert the trope: her ace is a Mismagius with Levitate, meaning that, once it becomes Electric-type, it has no weakness to Ground unless you have a move that can knock it down.
  • And then, there's the case of Larry. He doubles as both a Gym Leader and an Elite Four member, and for the first time in the franchise his two teams are of completely different types, meaning that a seasoned player might walk in expecting an updated version of his Normal team only to run into his Flying team. The utter unusualness of this is directly lampshaded: getting a second specialty was a direct mandate from his boss... and he hates it, much preferring his usual Normal-type team that he relates to so much more.
  • The Blueberry Elite Four from The Indigo Disk DLC all avert this. In general, their teams all include at least one Pokemon that breaks from their preferred type.
    • Crispin uses an Exeggutor with Solar Beam, which is super effective against all the types strong against Fire, and is potentially sped up if Sunny Day is used. He also opens with Rotom Heat-Form, who's part Electric-type, and can thus deal with Water-types sent out early.
    • Amarys uses a Reuniclus and a Metagross to handle Steel's weekness to Fighting-types, and an Empoleon to handle its Ground and Fire-type weaknesses.
    • Lacey uses a Galarian Slowbro, which aside from being a tanky wall, also checks Poison-type Pokemon sent to take advantage of Fairy-type's weakness to it. Her ace is also a Tera Fairy Excadrill, which makes running either Steel or Poison a double-edged sword thanks to Excadrill having the Ground-type High Horsepower.
    • Drayton uses a Sceptile, in order to throw off those attempting to sweep through his team with their own Dragon-type. Also, his ace Archaludon is part Steel-Type, which is super effective against Dragon's other weaknesses against Ice and Fairy.
• Averted in the crossover Pokémon Conquest, Where most Warlords have a junior Warrior whose Pokemon is strong against the Kingdom's common weakness. For example, Ginchiyo's Electric types are weak to Ground, but Muneshige uses Flying Pokemon which are immune. On the other hand, each Pokemon only uses one attack, and you can see the list of enemy Pokemon beforehand, so there's no chance of them whipping out a surprise super-effective move.
• The Pokémon Stadium games turn the trope completely on its head in Round 2, especially in Gym Leader Castle. Pretty much every Gym Leader has a team including several Mons that make no sense except to counter the player. For instance, in the first game, Blaine has two Grass-types (a Parasect and a Tangela) on his team, while in the second game, Morty, whose Gym specializes in Ghost-types, has two Normal-types, a dual Grass/Psychic-type (Exeggutor) and a Water/Ice-type (Lapras). And if a Pokémon is capable of learning attacks strong against types it's weak to, you can fully expect them to know these moves should they show up on the CPU team.