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The 18 Pokémon types interact in unique ways to create a battling system that is at once intuitive to learn and extremely dynamic. Pokémon battles are a matter of carefully crafting a balanced team, then keeping a constant eye on an opponent's moves and team to capitalize on type strengths and weaknesses. The type system has been integral in the games' success, but it also has spread to the Pokémon brand as a whole.
Pokémon that share a type often also share design space and personality traits. The types are a useful way to categorize Pokémon even beyond their usefulness and traits in battle, and every type is unique in many ways. The Steel type is no exception, and there are som interesting facts about Steel types that even seasoned fans might have missed over the years.
9 They Could Once Be Poisoned
It is well known that Steel types are immune to Poison type moves and cannot get the poisoned status condition. Most fans see this as a reflection of the fact that Steel types are non-living creatures, though this doesn't really hold up when one remembers that Rock types can be poisoned. In any case, there was a brief window when Steel types were actually susceptible to being poisoned.
Generation II featured the introduction of Steel types, and while they were immune to Poison type moves, they could be poisoned by the Bug type move Twineedle. This was fixed in Generation III, and now only Pokémon with Corrosion can inflict the poisoned condition on a Steel type.
8 They Were Created To Balance Normal and Psychic
Generation I's balancing needed some work. In particular, the Normal and Psychic types. Pokémon like Alakazam, Snorlax, Tauros, and Starmie were nearly unbeatable, which led to several type interactions being altered in Generation II as well as the debut of two brand new types. While the Dark type helped take Psychic down a peg, Steel managed to handle both threats at once. Psychic is still a powerful type, but giving Normal types another difficult opponent helped to take it down a peg.
7 Steel Is The Most Resistant Type
Steel is the most resistant type, resisting a total of ten different types. In this way, it replaced the Rock type as the main defensive type, in no small part because it has only three weaknesses compared to Rock's five. It is also the only type to resist Dragon, not counting Fairy which is immune.
The Normal/Steel, Electric/Steel, and Ghost/Steel types are tied as the combinations with the most possible resistances and immunities at 12 each. The Magnemite line has this powerful typing, as it was the only Pokémon to gain the Steel type in Generation II. The Honedge line also has this typing, but there has not been a Normal/Steel type as of yet.
6 They Are Relatively Uncommon
As of Generation VIII, there are a total of 66 Steel type Pokémon. This makes up 7.27% of all Pokémon, making Steel a relatively rare type. Of the 66 Steel types, just 13 of them are pure Steel types with no secondary type. This is the lowest proportion of pure types with the exception of the outlier Flying type, which has only four pure types. Steel is also similar to the Flying type in that they are tied as the most common type to be added to a Pokémon as it evolves.
5 They Have Been Very Popular Recently
Steel types debuted back in Generation II, but they've been receiving a lot of support in the last few Generations. Generation VII introduced the most new Steel types with a total of 13, while the previous generation had only four. The high amount of Steel types in Generation VII is helped, in part, by the fact that it is tied with Poison as the most common type for Ultra Beasts. Generation VIII had the most new Steel type moves with eight, while Generation VI had only a single new one in King's Shield.
4 There Was A Glitch Type Copy Of Steel In Generation II
The Generation I and II Pokémon games had some glitches in the code that resulted in several anomalous extra types. One of these, found in Generation II, was 'I) m) ZM, functionally a copy of the Steel type.
There was only one 'I m) ZM type Pokémon, the extremely glitchy ????? Hex FF, which was also part Normal type. Though these Pokémon are not quite as well known as the famous and now-iconic MissingNo, they arise from the same fundamental place.
3 For A Long Time They Had No Neutral Type Relationship
Upon its evolution and until Generation VI, Steel was the only type that had no neutral relationships with other types. It either resisted, was resisted by, was weak to, or hit super effectively every single other type in the games. Generation VI, however, made a change that nerfed Steel significantly. Steel lost its resistance to Ghost and Dark in Generation VI, so these two types became its only neutral relationships. This also meant that Steel lost two of its resistances, but it gained one with the addition of the Fairy type.
2 They Have A Variable Relationship With The Starter Types
The steel type has a unique relationship to the Fire, Water, and Grass types almost universally used as the starter Pokémon in any given generation. Steel resists Grass, is hit neutrally by Water, and takes extra damage from Fire types.
This means that Steel type specialists will present a drastically different challenge to trainers depending on which starter they choose. Interestingly, the Bug type shares the exact same relationship with the starter types.
1 Every Generation Has Had A Steel Type Specialist
Steel has been a prominent type since it was introduced, most notably in specialists like gym leaders and Elite Four members. Every single generation since Generation II has included a Steel type specialist. Some of the most iconic Pokémon characters to date are Steel type trainers, including Hoenn's Steven Stone, Kalos's Wikstrom, and Galar's Rose and Peony. Steel type trainers make great late-game adversaries, as the Steel type's defensive nature means that players will need to work hard to overcome them.