Games that balance their types differently

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Pokemon has Physical and Special attacks, especially after 4th gen split the moves instead of types into physical or special you'd think they'd just have parity with Surf/Flamethrower/Thunderbolt but Physical and call it a day but it's interesting how it seems there is a different way in how they are ultimately balanced.

Physical moves tends to have more options, are stronger, has almost a monopoly in priority, and physical mons tend to be faster and can boost their most important stats (Attack and Speed or can just boost attack and rely on priority moves). However this comes at the cost of having more counterplay (Intimidate, Burn, Abilities and Items that penalize contact, more physical walls) and the moves having draw backs like lowering stats, accuracy and recoil. Special moves tend to have lower power, but are more consistent, but you have less options (Dragon Special moves are between Draco Meteor which has a draw back and Dragon Pulse since Dragon Breath is too weak), counterplay tends to be Pokemon like Blissey and the more Niche Assault Vest Item, and the higher power moves tend to have lower accuracy as a draw back (Hurricane and Focus Blast being Prime Examples). Special Pokemon also tend to be slower.

In the metas across the generations you do see a nice mix of both Physical and Special attackers. Still what are other examples of games that balance this way?

Posted Mar 18, 2026, 5:43 PM UTC

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