CAP 10 CAP 10 - Main Typing Discussion

[Dominion]

Yes, excellent chart. I am agianst making another dual-type pokemon but that will most likely be shot down.

I would like to point out that alot of us are theorymoning about abilities already. This is perfectly fine as ability will play a key role here. I'm not whining that you're off topic. I have simply found a very interesting trend; We're focusing on defense in regards to typing and ability. This confuses me, Do we want a defensively oriented utlity counter, or do we want a balanced utility counter, capable of being offensive if necessary (or perhaps if made to be via EV distribution, moves etc)?

This is why I suggested Water in the first place. It's not only a strong defensive candidate, it sports strong offensive attributes as well. Also considering we are most likely going to be pairing a second type onto this CAP, as well as giving it a multipurpose ability or two, we will need a type that meshes well with others. Unlike other types, such as Poison, who have very little offensive strength, or ground, who's only niche is really STAB Earthquake, Water can be played on both sides of the spectrum.

So I propose a question that I feel people should consider while this CAP is going on; Are we being bias towards a more defensive, stallish pokemon? If so, should we simply determine that this pokemon cannot do it's assigned task (Broad Utility Counter) without being bulky, or tankish?

 

[P_K]

Not sure if anyone has brought either of these up... so I might as well be the one bashed for the ideas... but what about the ??? type or making a new type altogether? I can understand the reasoning in not wanting to do either, but... I mean, it's an option... need we resort to it. We don't have to create any new moves should we make a new type, and we could keep it 120% exclusive to this one Pokemon- Dragonite's family and Gengar's family were the only of their types in RGBY, need I remind you...

On a completely unrelated note... for some reason I feel as though that paragraph is unintentionally filled with puns, even though I don't recognize any... am I going nuts or something?

 

[Zystral]

??? isn't actually an existent type. Nobody knows how it performs against other types in terms of weaknesses and resistances.
Making a new type would be a LOT of hassle, plus I'm not sure if Shoddy Battle supports that.

@ Dominion; in terms of what we want it to do, we want it to be able to soft counter as much as possible. This means being able to switch into as much as possible and retaliate.
Fighting looks brilliant as it provides a usable offensive force while still providing good resistances in key areas to allow for switching in often.
Take a look at the likes of Heracross and Gallade; they're prime examples of sweepers, yet they are always finding opportunity to switch in because of their typing which has nice resistances in certain areas.

Defensive prowess, resistance and being able to switch into many attacks without taking a large amount of damage I would say takes precedence over things such as offensive ability.

 

[pastel]

I think Ghost would be a very good idea. It's already immunity to normal and fighting makes ghost a great type. It only has 2 weaknesses, and his atacks offer a good coverage.

 

[Mr Plow]

Type- Normal
The reason I say this is because normal has only one weakness, fighting and if the pokemon is going to be normal, it should adress the the offense of it's opponnet.

Also, normals get alot of attacks that can counter other types, like a Blissey learning Thunder, Flamethrower, Ice beam and Pychic. (I know that Blissey is a major HP pokemon and should be utilized by that, but this is just an example.)

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Instead of just saying "it needs to be able to switch into threats," let's actually quantify which threats it needs to be able to switch into. I think a reasonable assertion for this would be the top 20 most commonly used Pokemon in OU - offensive and defensive. Typically, a Pokemon being used a lot suggests that it's efficient and reliable at what it does, so CAP10 needs to be able to beat it in some way. Furthermore, at the very least, CAP10 should resist the primary STAB options of as many of these Pokemon as possible. It should also have some sort of weakness that it can adjust for in other ways (ability/secondary typing/stats), so it not beating a single Pokemon isn't a problem necessarily.

1. Scizor Bug / Steel (Fighting, Dark)
2. Tyranitar Rock / Dark (Ground)
3. Salamence Dragon (Fire, Ground)
4. Heatran Fire (Ground, Dragon, Grass)
5. Latias Dragon (Water, Electric)
6. Gyarados Water / Flying (Ground, Ice)
7. Jirachi Steel (Fire, Ice, Electric)
8. Metagross Steel (Ground, Ice, Electric)
9. Gengar Ghost (Fighting, Fire)
10. Swampert Water / Ground (Ice)
11. Lucario Fighting (Normal, Dark, Ice)
12. Infernape Fire / Fighting (Grass, Ice, Rock)
13. Rotom-H Electric / Ghost (Fire)
14. Starmie Water (Ice, Electric)
15. Blissey (N/A) (Ice, Fighting, Fire, Poison)
16. Gliscor Ground (Bug, Rock)
17. Azelf Psychic (Normal, Fire)
18. Magnezone Electric (Normal, Fire, Grass, Ice)
19. Skarmory Flying (N/A)
20. Vaporeon Water (Electric, Ice, Poison)

This just lists the top 20 Pokemon and their commonly used STAB types in bold next to them and their common coverage move types unbolded in parenthesis next to those. These are the types that CAP10 is going to face down more often than not, and these are the types that need to be addressed.
​

STAB Handling:
Just looking at the top 3, for starters, only one type in the game resists all of those STAB options at once, Steel. As you get further down, you encounter Fighting, Fire, and Ground, the big killers of Steel mons. Water does great as well, being neutral or better to every one of the common STABs in the top 20 except for Magnezone and Rotom-H. Fighting fares great as well, being neutral to virtually everything in the list while resisting Dark and Rock; its Flying and Psychic weaknesses are virtually never exploited due to the nature of the metagame. These three types arguably fare the best against all of the STAB options of the top 20 list.

Coverage-Moves Handling
Popular coverage types that these Pokemon carry to deal with their enemies are Water, Normal (Explosion), Electric, Grass, Fire, Ground, Fighting, and Ice. That's a wide spectrum, but most of these can be beaten in chunks. Water, for instance, beats Ice and Water, whereas its Grass and Electric issues can be dealt with elsewhere. Fighting covers none of these coverage moves, so it will need as much help as possible in its second type and abilities. Steel has the worst of it here, beating nothing but Normal and Grass in the list and losing to Fire, Ground, and Fighting. It would need support in the form of abilities or second typing as well.

Conclusion(s):
Factoring in these things, I think Steel and Water come out basically tied for the best for CAP10. Water takes most of the coverage moves well, but lacks raw resistances across the board to just take assorted hits. Meanwhile, Steel takes virtually every STAB type great and is the only one boasting a resistance to the murderous Dragon-type, but loses against some of the most common coverage moves in the game in the form of Fire Blast, Earthquake, and assorted Fighting-type attacks. Fighting does decently, but just loses out on the resistances necessary to really switch in on as many threats as is necessary - even a secondary typing won't offer enough help in that regard.

My Opinion:
I tried my hardest to be as objective as possible in the above paragraphs, so bear with me. I still think Steel is the best option, but that's more personal opinion than anything. I don't want another bulky-water-with-options Pokemon in the metagame, whereas I find the idea of a dynamic Steel Pokemon intriguing and something that we could learn a lot from.

 

[TEA_DEMON]

• Good resistances.
• No weakness to Stealth Rock.
• No Pursuit weakness.
• At least one good attacking STAB.

I have something to add to this list: inability to be trapped. I'm not suggesting Flying or anything, but I'm putting a point across to people who support Steel. Even if we give this thing Earthquake, Magnezone can Magnet Rise in your face and do whatever it wants. Even if we make CAP10 bulky enough to survive a Thunderbolt/Hidden Power Fire from Magnezone, it has other options (Magnet Rise+Charge Beam). I really do think being trapped by Magnezone would be a big issue for CAP10, and if people don't want CAP10 to be Pursuit weak then I can't fathom why people would want it to be trapped so easily.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

Even if we give this thing Earthquake, Magnezone can Magnet Rise in your face and do whatever it wants.

Not if CAP10 is faster. (Not difficult to manage, and ScarfZone won't use Magnet Rise) Furthermore, because of the likelihood for defensive stats and good coverage, nothing Magnezone can do should really put the hurt on CAP10. It can then retaliate against Magnezone in some way, killing it for having the audacity to switch into CAP10 in the first place. I wouldn't worry about it at all.

Anyways, if you're so worried about trapping, that makes Levitate or Flying-type mandatory, as then you'd also have to deal with Dugtrio. I feel that as long as CAP10 is bulky enough and has the proper resistances and neutralities, these trapping threats will be of no concern. If Levitate is an option for an ability and the user forgoes it, then I presume the weakness to Dugtrio will be a healthy thing to keep the CAP10 in line.

 

[Zystral]

My Opinion:
I tried my hardest to be as objective as possible in the above paragraphs, so bear with me. I still think Steel is the best option, but that's more personal opinion than anything. I don't want another bulky-water-with-options Pokémon in the metagame, whereas I find the idea of a dynamic Steel Pokémon intriguing and something that we could learn a lot from.

I like the way you've gone about listing what exactly should be countered; this should have been done a lot earlier.

However, the problem with Steel typing is - useful as it is, it comes with so many downsides and common weaknesses that it'll be difficult to work around.
I mean, out of those 20, how many have their STAB resisted by Steel, yet pack an extra attack that hits Steel for Super Effective?
I'll answer that for you: 15.
You would need a very specified secondary typing AND ability that makes up for these shortcomings, such as /Flying AND Flash Fire.
I'm not denying Steel is a great typing, but for something that needs to be as stable and bulky as it is, I think Steel is the wrong way to go, as it has too many exploitable weaknesses as a primary base.

 

[ShravanP]

My Opinion:
I tried my hardest to be as objective as possible in the above paragraphs, so bear with me. I still think Steel is the best option, but that's more personal opinion than anything. I don't want another bulky-water-with-options Pokemon in the metagame, whereas I find the idea of a dynamic Steel Pokemon intriguing and something that we could learn a lot from.

Another amazingly useful analysis. Thanks, BMB. But going by what you have, I'd say the opposite holds true. The metagame is full of steels as it is--7 out of those top 20 are steels, whereas only 4 are water, with Vaporeon being the only one to fit the 'bulky water' label. Of all the bulky waters around right now (Suicune, Vaporeon, Milotic, Lapras, and if u wanna count them, Swampert, Empoleon, Blastoise, Gyarados, and a few other minor ones), not a single one of them offers much versatility and coverage. And with the exception of Swampert, all of them are limited to being purely physical or purely special. There are definitely a lot of bulky waters around, but none like what we are trying to create here. Steels, on the other hand, already boast a lot of variety. And Jirachi, especially, is one of the most versatile Pokemon around.

So of the two types listed, I feel that Water is the more interesting and lesser explored option.

 

[Midou]

Dominion asks a great question concerning CAP10, and that is the approach we're looking for in our utility counter. Get back to that in a minute. Creativity was also addressed, and let's make something clear; choosing a common or less common type in the metagame to use as a primary type has very little ground in the arguments here. The only reason this was addressed at all is because the specific 'Overused' types have been experimented and explored further. This matters because the mission behind CAP is to learn more about the metagame. Choosing these types as primaries might just lead us to discover less than with another type. This is especially detrimental when considering that abilities/nature will be forced in order to compensate for weaknesses.

Now going back to the initial question, what approach should we take? Regardless of the final result, it's prudent at this stage that we allow for flexibility, and arguments for water are valid in this regard. Steel does not allow flexibility for a myriad of already listed reasons, most notably that it requires specific adjustments in secondary typing/ability. This is where the lack of creativity stems from that I was addressing. We are effectively limiting ourselves in later stages when we don't have to.

Going a different way, typing is not the sole factor regarding bulkiness. Normal has been addressed as a poor type due to its lack of resistances, yet through sheer stats alone she is able to nearly cover an entire attacking spectrum (I hate her, too). The point is that just having a high HP stat (slight poll-jumping) makes many pokemon reasonably bulky. Look at the list of pokemon with 100 or greater base hp, or ever 90+. Many of them you can consider bulky, without having stupendous typing. Though Hariyama is not a prime example for what we're trying to build, it shows that though it has limited resists and poor defensive stats, that singular HP stat makes up for it to a large degree. Having an hp stat above 90 will go a long way to making up for for the loss resistances (among things) for the fighting type as a base.

Water and fighting are really the most enabling types at this stage to create a mold, provide important resistances, minimize weaknesses, and at the same type provide strong offensive stab. Electric also is able to do some of this, but lacks important resistances aside from electric and steel, while possibly giving a very crippling weakness.

A little off topic and a little side venture; though we're far from the artistic part, imaginatively its also easier to visualize water or fighting (especially water though) to be mutable and easy to change.

 

[Gothic Togekiss]

After reading through this thread and with much thinking over, I can finally say that I greatly support Steel, Water, Electric, and Poison in that order.

Steel takes first place in my heart due to it's large resistance pool which would allow it to switch into potential threats more often and without need to have a huge defensive spread. While Steel is weak to some common attack types that can be easily alleviated with either a secondary typing and/or abilities. Electric and Water provides CAP10 with some reliable stab moves as well as a nice selections of resistances (Fire, Water, Ice, Steel for Water and Electric, Flying, Steel for Electric). Water has the slight upper hand over Electric though by have more resistances to more common attacking types used within OU. Poison lacks the great stab Electric and Water have, but it's key resistances to Fighting and Bug, which is common in OU more than makes up for it. Poison can also go decently well with the former three types with little to no problem.

 

[viol and bass]

I have something to add to this list: inability to be trapped. I'm not suggesting Flying or anything, but I'm putting a point across to people who support Steel. Even if we give this thing Earthquake, Magnezone can Magnet Rise in your face and do whatever it wants. Even if we make CAP10 bulky enough to survive a Thunderbolt/Hidden Power Fire from Magnezone, it has other options (Magnet Rise+Charge Beam). I really do think being trapped by Magnezone would be a big issue for CAP10, and if people don't want CAP10 to be Pursuit weak then I can't fathom why people would want it to be trapped so easily.

This isn't much of an issue. Magnezone was on less than 10% of teams in January. And also if this is going to be a utility counter it's probably going to need to run a decent amount of speed. Magnezone's rather slow, and since it will always be switching in on you, rather than the other way around (assuming it's even a little bit of an issue), you'll probably be able to quake it before it gets off magnet rise. Assuming CAP10 gets EQ.

Edit: Oops. Somebody already responded.

 

[reyscarface]

For me, the main typing should be none other than Steel. Steel gives you insane resistances in order to check a good amount of things, plus having no SR weakness nor a Pursuit one. Steel is definitely the best main typing due to the ability of working so well with a secondary ability. As Gothic Togekiss said, even though Steel is a poor STAB to have, the defensive capabilities given by this typing are too good, and the offensive matter of the equation can be fixed by adding a secondary typing (the best being Water in my opinion).

 

[petrie911]

Fighting
Weaknesses: Flying, Psychic
Resistances: Bug, Rock, Dark
Pairs well with: Electric, Psychic, Dark
Comments: Some of the best resistances of the bunch, although it pairs poorly and its weaknesses are difficult to remove, not to mention a VERY significant lack of a good STAB for a defensive Pokemon (Close Combat has low PP and lowers defences, Cross Chop has low PP and accuracy, Brick Break has poor power and Low Kick is best forgotten about).

That's hardly an exhaustive list of Fighting's STAB options. The most notable is STAB SubPunch, which is nothing to scoff at, and CaP10 will almost certainly have the defenses to pull it off. Not to mention that your opponent will likely be switching out the Pokemon you just countered, allowing CaP10 to set up the Sub. Hammer Arm is a perfectly good option, as Revenankh has shown. Force Palm is a bit weak, but 30% Para is a bitch. CaP10's bulk would make Revenge very usable, too. Lastly, since Fighting doesn't actually limit us to physical attacks, Aura Sphere is an excellent move, with good power, perfect accuracy, and high PP.

Really, Fighting's STAB options for a defensive Pokemon are great.

 

[Sezja]

First an foremost: Hail Beej! I am SO glad that Multitype was banned.

I am not really going to toss in a whole lot of support for any one type since there have been plenty of good ones thrown out, but I probably should throw in my two cents about what I am looking for in the typing for CAP 10.

Since the idea behind the concept seems to be that we need a Pokemon that can be tailored to the needs of an individual in order to fill any gaps that need to be filled in a person's team, the typing should reflect that. A CAP 10 Pokemon with a type that will allow for a varied movepool, therefore, is a must. The reason why I say this is because the Pokemon should be able to attack using a wide variety of different moves to supplement its STAB attacks for extra coverage that can be chosen based on what a team needs. Being able to switch between using physical and special attacks effectively is also a must, as some Pokemon take physical hits better and some Pokemon take special hits better. If something that has stronger physical defenses threatens your team, you should be able to hit it with special attacks and vice versa.

A second thing I am looking for is a type that can use attacks that will cover its weaknesses. If you have a CAP that is weak to ice type attacks, for example, wouldn't you want to have a fire or rock type attack that would make that ice type Pokemon think twice before switching in? This essentially is a little piece that goes along with the previous statement that we would be well-off deciding on a type that can use a wide movepool.

Plenty of types of Pokemon can do both, so that shouldn't be much of a problem.

But, here's another key thing that is even more important: a type that can have its weaknesses covered by a secondary type or a type that can cover for a secondary type's weakness. We also might want a typing that boasts many resistances.

A lot of other good things such as not having to worry about being trapped, not being weak to Stealth Rock, having a good STAB, and not being vulnerable to Pursuit (the latter two since our CAP 10 might well have to switch out oftem) were mentioned, and I really like those points too. I just thought that I point out what I would like to see with our main typing.

Just something I am seeing, though: while being resistant to a given attack is good and being immune to an attack is even better, neutralities should be considered, also.

 

[v]

Because of overall defensive prowess, I'd have to say that my first choice for a Primary typing would be Steel. All three of its weaknesses can theoretically be removed via pre-existing typings and abilities, though not all three at once, which would tie into the idea of being able to counter some things at once, but not all. If Steel weren't picked, I'd be open to Water or Poison because they are also good defensive types. Poison also has the added benefit of absorbing Toxic Spikes. Water, unlike the other two options, is also quite a powerful offensive type with a good selection of moves on both ends of the attacking spectrum as well as a few useful resists and only two weaknesses.

While Dragon would seem like a useful typing due to its numerous resists and powerful STAB options, I feel like the weakness to Dragon-type moves would make this CaP incapable of countering Dragon-types, which are arguably the best in the game. Fighting fails to net any useful resistances that Steel does not. Its merits are primarily offensive but Fighting-type isn't needed to use Fighting-type moves. While its weaknesses are certainly different from Steel, I don't see any real reason to use it over Steel barring "can't be trapped." If we select Steel as the primary typing, there are a number of existing abilities that can neutralize its weaknesses. I wouldn't be completely disappointed with Fighting-type, as it does get phenomonal STAB options and is above average defensively, but I feel that better options exist.

I don't see why people are supporting Normal. It has no resists at all. Its STAB moves can't hit anything super effectively. Virtually its only redeeming qualities are its immunity to Ghost-type moves and having only one weakness. However, Ghost-type moves do not have especially high Base Power and are often paired with Fighting-type moves, making Normal's immunity worthless. Water has only two weaknesses, only one of which is especially common in OU. Fighting is far more prevalent in OU and a good bit stronger, as OU is a primarily physical-based metagame as we all know. Additionally, Fighting-type moves such as Close Combat, Superpower, Focus Punch and Focus Blast have much higher Base Power than Electric-type moves, which are limited to Thunderbolt and ThunderPunch.

So, to reiterate: I like Steel, Water and Poison. I'm not the biggest fan of Fighting. I downright dislike Normal and Dragon.

 

[T-major]

Fighting is a top-choice in terms of what we're aiming to achieve as it has many characteristics we're looking for.
+Resistance to stealth rock
+Resistance to u-turn
+Resistance to pursuit
+Powerful offensive stab: Hits 5 types SE, tied only with ground, and why immune pokemon were designed for these types
+Weaknesses are easily dealt with, and don't necessarily even have to be dealt with

These points help reinforce my support for a Fighting type. the only other type that resists said moves is Steel (which also adds a Toxic immunity), which is hindered by weaknesses to other common types. that could be fixed using abilities/secondary type/stats, but that offers less flexibility then we want; forcing us to use specific abilities and typing to make up for the weaknesses. Fighting is neutral to 12/17 types, which isn't a problem if it's stats are good enough. resistant to common attacking types, as well as getting SE hits on common threats (Steel types, X4 on TTar), Fighting types generally have wide move pools too, allowing it to hit other types if need be. (though typing shouldn't effect that, since technically we can give CAP10 whatever moves we want, regardless of typing) It's 2 weaknesses are uncommon, and can easily be taken care of. I've compared and considered everything other have said, and Fighting, to me, seems like the best bet.

 

[Anachronism]

I recognize the problems and limitations of normal, but I think that this CAP should have an emphasis on ability, and Normal allows us to go into the ability poll with a blank slate. I think that the ability can be much more interesting if we start with normal. Steel and water may be good defensive types, but I feel that they have so many limitations too. Steel's three weaknesses are very unattractive, since all existing abilities will only be able to remove 1 of those weaknesses at a time. Water's 2 weakness are much less problematic I suppose, and we _could_ make custom abilities that remove one of these weaks at a time I suppose, but with normal you can instead have one ability that augments weaknesses and one that instead can improve CAP 10's offensive abilities or defensive abilities against certain pokemon. I have already talked about some fairly good ability ideas but I will keep them out of this poll because I don't want to be called a poll jumper.

tl;dr: normal's one weakness means we have more room for cool abilities

People are also talking about the importance of good stabs, but I feel that it is more important to emphasize the size of the movepool and relatively poor STAB options to encourage the use of specific moves to hit things super-effective, as this will make CAP 10 more hit or miss. In general people are talking about the need for this hit-or-miss aspect that I find very important and intrinsic to the concept.

EDIT: Everyone with multiple things bolded should pick their favorite and bold it. It is really hard to make a count this way.

Regarding Rising Dusk's post below mine, the ability(or ies) could fix that potentially.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

tl;dr: normal's one weakness means we have more room for cool abilities

And all I have in response to that is that Normal has zero resistances and a single immunity to a relatively rare attacking type. This Pokemon needs resistances to switch in on. It just does. There's no escaping that.

 

[Aura Guardian]

The possibilities

Fire - Earthquake, Earth Power, Surf, Hydro Pump, Waterfall. Need I say more?
Water - This type has potential, I'll grant that. It has enough neutral STAB and usually is bulky enough that it should work well enough. However, is this the best choice?
Grass - Fire/Ice attacks and Dragon/Steel typing are common enough that I don't think so.
Poison - Ground is common enough that despite the uncommon Psychic attacks moderating its other weakness that I don't think this would work. It could, of course, but I don't think so.
Bug - Many Salamence/some Blissey/Infernape/Fire Punch Jirachi seem too much for this to work.
Electric - Earthquake is common enough, and this is commonly enough affected by any attack, really, that I doubt it's ability to come through.
Normal - This has few weaknesses, which is a plus, and can come in on Ghost attacks easily with the right moveset. Porygon2 is something to consider, here. It does well with Normal, so CAP 10 could echo Porygon2, only it counters different Pokemon.
Ground - Too many common weakenesses, too few common resists
Rock - Too many common weakenesses, too few common resists
Dragon - While it has key resistances, Dragon and Ice are common enough that I don't think so for this.
Steel - With many key resistances, this is one of the few types I'd consider. Ability/secondary typing would lessen those weaknesses, but do we want to centralize even more around Steel Types?
Ghost - Rotom/Gengar/Dusknoir limit the capabilities of this type.
Dark - Fighting is common enough, and this doesn't work well enough overall that I don't think this one will work.
Fighting - Two weaknesses, both not very common (Psychic on what, Azelf (suicide lead), Alakazam (not common), and a few others? And what has Flying attacks? Bounce Gyara? Not many), so I think this shows promise. Fighting can often use the Elemental Punches, so that would be some customization right there.
Psychic - Dark and ghost type attacks are common enough that I doubt this would work
Ice - Fire from Infernape, as well as Fighting from Ape, Luke, Machamp, etc. means not this.
Flying - Weak to Stone Edge, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt, all common enough to hint that this type is not to be chosen, barring a Skarmory or Gliscor typing.

Anyway, I advocate Fighting as the typing right now. The Elemental Punches allow customization to get rid of specific threats. Fighting types can have bulk (RestTalk Machamp) and can counter various threats. If this get a wide variety of attacks, but only via egg moves, then it could be customizable, but the truly all-countering versions would be impossible. Meanwhile, it could hold it's own, even against Ghosts provided it has Payback or some other Dark attack.

 

[Lucario_Skywalker]

First of all, a Pokemon that can be tailored to counter anything must have as many resistances as possible, while having a minimum number of weaknesses.

The top 10 Pokemon are Scizor, Salamence, Tyranitar, Gyarados, Heatran, Latias, Jirachi, Metagross, Gengar, and Swampert (and Rotom-a). Notice that 4 of them are Steel, 2 are Dragon, 2 are Water, and 2 Ghosts. These should be counted as the major types to cover. You also need to cover Ground, Fire, Electric, and Ice, due to them being common attacking types.

Steel, Dragon, Water, Ghost, Ground, Fire, Electric, and Ice. Now, what can cover or resist most of them? Steel resists half of those, with an added bonus of resisting Bug (U-Turn), but is weak to Ground, Fire, and Fighting (Lucario, Machamp, I'm looking at you two). Water also resists half of those, with the only weakness being Electric. Also, Water types can be very bulky (where do you think we got the term "Bulky Water?") or offensive. Example: Gyarados vs Swampert. Furthermore, most Water-types learn Ice Beam, which covers Dragons. The only problematic type would be Electric, which hits Water super-effectively, but a secondary typing can just fix that. Gengar can just go into a corner and move onto the afterlife, because he cannot take a hit.

So, I'm supporting Water.

 

[Serp]

I vote for poison, it gives immunity to poison type moves which may cripple CAP10 in pursuit of its objective. Also its a good tool to bring down fighting types. If walling up Toxic and other poison attacks can be a good tool to bring down the offensive threat without having to break defense As well as other reasons that have been brought up in this thread. Poison with a secondary type with more offensive style moves for example fire/water would be a good mix for CAP10 in my eyes.

Other possibility is Steel as pointed out by others but I have no reasons of my own to add as to why it is a good choice.

 

[Mr Plow]

I rethink the statement. Normal sucks. Its attacks are not as good as other types like steel and water. I think a good type would be steel. It is resitent to poisen, as great defences, and sometimes steel attacks can be actully good and damage others. Unfortunitly, I think a good defencive pokemon needs to know both light sceen and reflect. Just my opinion. And if Steel is paired with ghost, flying, or dark, it wold have even more restients to more attacks.

 

[Maci12]

I support Water for the main type of CAP 10. Many people believe that the CAP should be balanced to achieve the concept's task, and water types give great room for that; it is generally a balanced type. Defensively, they have key resistances to Ice, Water, Fire, and Steel, while only being weak to Grass (uncommon) and Electric (easily taken away through secondary typing). Besides that, Water is a great STAB type as well with moves such as the reliable Surf and powerful Hydro Pump at most Water typed pokemon's command.