Pokemon Scarlet & Violet has been out for several months now, leaving time for the meta game of Gen 9 to take form. Some surprising Pokemon have made waves among competitive players, while mechanics like Terastallization have also switched up the viability of Pokemon and threaten to turn easy matchups on their head.
Now that the franchise has over 1000 Pokemon to catch and battle with, the monotype meta has become more popular than ever. In this particular competitive meta, players must make all their party members have the same type, excusing varying secondary typings. These six types contain the most useful choices in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet's available Pokemon.
6 Fire
Pokemon Scarlet & Violet benefits from having a strong Fire-type starter in Skeledirge, a Fire/Ghost-type Pokemon. Additionally, the available Fire-types in the game allow for a diverse party that's completely covered in terms of type match-ups, with choices like Talonflame, Volcarona, Tauros, and Salazzle available to be caught in the game.
Additionally, Pokemon like Torkoal have already made quite the impression in Gen 9's competitive meta, disrupting battles with its defensive play style. Furthermore, access to Pokemon like Ceruledge and Armarouge make for solid special attackers that will benefit greatly from Terastallizing into the Fire-type for additional STAB damage.
5 Fighting
There are plenty of great Fighting-type Pokemon in the series, with Scarlet & Violet containing strong options for a monotype team. There's of course the fully-evolved Water-type starter Quaquaval, whose signature move Aqua Step can make him a speedy threat on the battlefield. However, Fighting-type also benefits from strong secondary-typings.
Options like the Fighting/Flying Hawlucha, Electric/Fighting Pawmot, and Ghost/Fighting Annihilape make for powerful physical attackers to round out a monotype team. There's even options with Paradox Pokemon like Iron Valiant and Great Tusk for additional Fighting-type threats. Finally, you can't go wrong with adding Koraidon to any Fighting monotype roster.
4 Psychic
Once upon a time, Psychic-type was one of the strongest types in the series prior to the addition of Dark-type. In Scarlet & Violet, it still possesses many strong options for both physical attackers and special attackers, including Gallade, Gardevoir, Espathra, and Hatterene. However, Psychic-type monotype teams also get access to strong support mons.
Take, for instance, Indeedee, whose possession of Psychic Surge will greatly benefit offensive Psychic-types like Armarouge, who possesses the move Expanding Force, which deals additional damage in Psychic Terrain. Additionally, Farigarif can get good damage by boosting its stats and taking advantage of the move Stored Power.
3 Ghost
Gen 9 has perhaps one of the strongest rosters of Ghost-types in the Pokemon franchise thus far. Fan-favorites like Mimikyu, Dragapult, and Gengar join powerful new mons like Houndstone, Gholdengo, and Skeledirge. Additionally, there are Pokemon like Ceruledge, who is exclusive to Scarlet, and the Ghost/Fighting-type Annihilape.
Now, thanks to the addition of Hisuian Zoroark via DLC, players can access one of the strongest typings in the game: Normal/Ghost. Even Pokemon like Polteageist, who debuted in Sword & Shield, can benefit from increasing its stats with Shell Smash and utilizing the power-ups it gains to deal serious damage with Stored Power like Farigarif.
2 Dark
While Hisuian Zoroark makes a good option for Ghost monotypes, regular Zoroark is still usable for Dark-type teams as well. This is especially helpful when there are plenty other popular competitive Pokemon available in Scarlet & Violet, such as Grimmsnarl, Umbreon, and Hydreigon. However, there are many more special Pokemon to choose from.
For instance, the four Legendary Treasures of Ruin are Dark-types: the Dark/Grass Wo-Chien, Dark/Ice Chien-Pao, Dark/Ground Ting-Lu, and Dark/Fire Chi-Yu. Greninja has also recently become available via a special event, giving players a popular Dark-type attacker. New Pokemon like Meowscarada, Kingambit, and Mabostiff also make solid team members.
1 Steel
The Steel-type is an incredibly popular type for Monotype playstyles, given its super-effectiveness against Fairy-types and immunity to Poison. It helps that many of the best competitive Pokemon are also Steel-types, such as new Pokemon like Gholdengo, Kingambit, Tinkaton, and Revavroom.
Some of the series' best Steel-types also appear in Scarlet & Violet, such as Lucario and Corviknight. Players can even take advantage of the Paradox Pokemon Iron Treads, whose Ground/Steel-typing covers a lot of Steel-type weaknesses. Odds are, players can make many incredibly viable teams out of the available Steel-types in the Gen 9 games.