Pokémon Top 5: My Favourite Steel Types

Rock gets beaten by steel! While Ice and Rock are arguably the worst typings in the game, Fairy , Steel and Dragon are commonly seen as the best . Mostly Fairy and Steel, where an  argument made for steel to be the absolute winner. So this must be an amazing list of pokémon right?! Well.. I don’t really like the steel type! It’s my least favorite type in the entire game..with some margin. So for the first time I had a hard time selecting Pokémon I actually like.

Now same rules as all my others lists apply but this one has one additional rule, but before we get there let’s discuss what we already know. Pokémon that were on a list before already can not be on this list before. Otherwise Magnemite and Lucario would be on this list.

I identify them by the type I most identify them with. Lucario I don’t find that steel like, and Magnezone’s evolution line was introduced in Gen I as a pure electric type.. hence I came to see it as electric. There is a pokémon on this list though that would have made the Rock Type list, if I did not see it more as a steel type as well so it can work both ways. If A pokémon doesn’t feel like a steel type to me at all it will not make this list either. Example and otherwise number 1 for this list Mawile! I love the Pokémon and I have used it as a steel type before.. I just don’t feel it is. Reading it’s lore I can get it but ask a random person to look at it’s picture and say what typing is that.. I bet you almost no one would ever call it a steel type. Jirachi for me is the same.

Another rule is that there is only one entry per evolution line, while i am free to pick my favorite of a line.. if the pokémon at one point becomes not fun for me to use or I find it ugly or stupid in terms of lore or whatever I have to deduct points. While I love Bulbasaur more than Venusaur I do not mind the big boy either.  Cufant however is an adorable cute elephant pokémon that really makes me go n’awww! I love how cute it is for a steel type and the typing really needed a cutie!  However it’s evolution and even worse it’s gigantamax are just square blocks of green metal with the trunk being a digging tool. It isn’t all that bad but a big missed opportunity to warm me up to the type a bit.

Temporary forms do not count as separate entries so was a pure rock type that only upon mega became steel it would not be allowed. However the steel type has no qualifiers as for that! It does have one extra rule though that no other type had before! I have to exclude pokémon I haven’t played a lot with yet. Perseker for example  is a pokémon I can really get behind, however I have no real grasp of its abilities or moves.. as opposed to Copperajah who is used by some major characters in the game. I have also dabbled with it in Pokémon Showdown.. Perserker however is a big unknown to me and I know it has gotten some love in the community and it does appeal to me.. so at best I can give it a mention.

The first time I nominate a basic pokémon while it possesses a stage 2 evolution, but not the last time. Aron and me go way back!  Way back when I was a kid that tried to fit in at school and never really did!  Pokémon no longer was hype and after Gen 2 it became a only for geeks kinda thing. So under pressure I did not buy the game. One day though trough my dad mentioning it..before I remembered I could emulate! I wasn’t allowed to buy Pokémon Ruby in stores because I should play more grown up games or do things with my friends in person so I wasn’t allowed to own an official version. On a day a school kid made me trip into lockers than threw his sandwhich meat on me I got at home feeling sad and misunderstood when I found a rom of Sapphire.. I could play the game…. but it was illegal. I decided that my mental health was more important to me then the legality issue and since I would have bought it if I could I figured let’s do this. I picked up a Torchick as my starter and decided not to capture anything else before the second gym.. and there I found Aron. Which I named Hummel. It was the first steel type I liked it was so cute!  It was pretty good and when it evolved at level 32 that was it.. Okay I still like Hummel.. but then it evolved again and it was actually really good!  Yay Hummel!

Lorewise it is pretty interesting as well..Aron to me is like a tiny steel dog, not bigger than the size of a poodle being about 40 centimeters tall  which is like 1 foot 4 or something and not that much longer. However it weighs about 60 kilograms and with the right ability even double. Double these weights is you measure in pounds and you know this is one heavy metal poodle.  Aron’s body is made by Iron and it sustains itself by eating metals and extracting stuff from it to grow/maintain its body! Aron is not very able to recognize what it eats though so at times it causes trouble for everyone by eating train tracks or tackling dump trucks , which it is able to take down.. before eating those as well. I like my pokémon clumsy or clunky and this sort of thing is my jam when it  comes to pokémon lore. Unfortunately my beloved steel baby has not been getting lore in Sun and Moon or we would have learned something about the horrible accidents it causes when eating cars or train tracks.. then again it does keep my baby innocent.

In the competitive scene Aron is a Little Cup Pokémon, one of the very first featured on here.. with the exception of Cubone being in there as well. Little cup is format where you duke it out with unevolved pokémon (that still can evolve)  with the exception of a handful of them for balancing reasons. There is also a catchable at level 5 rule but I am not sure how that work because  you can get later stuff as well. It excludes some evolving legendaries and such I am sure. Regardless Aron has two major uses in battle. You can use it to set up hazards like stealth rock and sand storm or it can be used as a physical sweeper. The physical sweeper set can be super fun since Aron has some serious power in that department when it comes to little cup. Using It’s ability Rock Head, Head Smash becomes an amazing move that allows it to trash anything weak to rock or even neutral to rock! Earthquake  is that move that you always put on a any ground type unless you do double battles and you add Iron Head for Same type attack bonus moves and flinch chances.  Aerial Ace for Weakness covery as Little cup fighting type pokémon prefer to set up using Belly Drum or Sword Dance and you got a solid set and a very useful and lovely Aron. Top it with A Choice Band a voila! A steel wrecking ball that is super cute!

I am one of those girls that really takes a shine to a pokémon when it gets hate. I want to show the little creatures that someone cares for them even if the world is being mean and cruel to them, and so I adopted a Klefki from a friend which was calling it stupid. I asked them to rename it Sesame for me before they send it over. Sesame and I quickly became great friends. I did not run fairy type moves on it as I had my sylveon! No Sesame was there to save my other guys! I really like it’s cry and it has some pink elements! I imagined Sesame was like Ash Charmander.. with its original trainer leaving it out to die.. not caring for it at all. It became a sort of thing for me to adopt people’s Klefki after that.  Due to the excellent friend system Pokémon X and Y had as well as some communities. I became a Klefki Mamma and it was fun..it did not help me with the game as I mostly kept an almost full  box of Klefki which I had to play with in Amie so they would at least get some love..but it was a fun side activity. Sesame eventually got replaced right before the pokémon league so I could focus a bit more on offence but it was the pokémon that made me like using defensive strategies.

Lorewise I am also very charmed by this pokémon too because it has gotten of of the silliest pokédex entries among this list. Klefki is a ring pokémon that uses the “horn” on it’s head to suck the ions out of metals. For no reason whatsoever it adores keys. It likes them so much that giving it one.. is like giving it the greatest gift in the world. It will be super happy, and while you can still use said key it will do everything it its might to keep those keys safe. Never will you have to worry anymore when you go inside a rollercoaster,  that you would lose the key, never will you lose a key anymore because it will never ever lose one!  You just ask it to lock something up for you or if it can help you open it and tadaa! Such a  pure an innocent little thing. It’s beyond beautiful. But that is not even the silly part what I love about it so much.. in Pokémon shield it was revealed that this pokémon likes keys SO much that it’s head had to look like a key as well! In other words it likes something so much, it became that in a way.. talk about mind over matter! I see a symbol of hope in it that people can be what they want to be if it truly makes them happy!

Klefki in competitive was pretty amazing for a while. Mostly as a Hazard of Barrier setter, but a particularly fun set I like to use is a Prankster set with Thunder Wave, Foul Play Torment and Flash Canon. It makes Klefi into a pesky little sweeper. Foul Play allows you to use your opponents physical stats instead of Klefki’s for damage calculation, Torment prevents opponents from using the same attack two times in a row and Thunder Wave paralyze your opponent and halves their speed.  This can result in a little mind game on when to swap out when to t-wave, when to foul play and so on that can make this set of keys give you a lot of battle field momentum. This is exactly my kind of pokémon! People get annoyed if they are being destroyed by a set of keys! Since Foul Play is a dark type move and not a lot of typings are resistant to that.. it really is fun to see Sesame and it’s friends take revenge on those who cast them aside! Mwhuahahaha!

Time for the legendary entry on this list.. and yes it is a legendary and no I do not care it is also called a mythical. While it never really became a part of my journey this pokémon really is a bit of a spirit animal for me.. well not really a spirit animal as it is more of a homunculus pokemon somewhat ..but still .. it reminds me a bit from the owl Clash of the Titans (1981 version) that was a great animal companion and Magearna is no different. The combination of Metal and Princess as well as parts mechanical pokeball make it a cute addition to the line up, and one of the cuter artificial pokemon out there, along with Ditto and Porygon….hmm Artificial pokemon sure come in pink often enough! Guess people really know what is the best colour in the pokemon world.

Lorewise this pokemon is a bit of an odd one you see it’s body is not the pokemon, that little round sphere in the center is the pokemon and not even that, this monster is basically what is inside that sphere. It is best comparable to a Kinder Egg, its not the chocolat, its not the yellow container it’s the toy that is inside..oh and its also banned in some places. Magearna is one of the few pokemon that fully understands human speech, while it may seem like all pokemon can this is not actually true, I guess Ash super specific instructions were just a lucky shot. Mageaena can not just comprehend language though, it can also understand peoples emotions, train of thought and can  even feel their pain, so it is always willing to help! The monster was made as a gift for a princess who lived about 500 years ago, over time her colour faded away and we get the metally grey pokemon we see today.

As with all legendaries this pokemon is not really usable in any form of battle.. Where pure in game legendaries are usually based around one or two incredible stats, the event distributed legendaries, also known as mysticals  always get a more even stat distribution. Magearna’s highest stat is it’s special attack which with 130 is nothing to cry about but compared to the Mewtwo’s and Arceus’s and it’s other peers out there it isn’t really to much to write home about. However it shines through because of it’s typing Fairy Steel is an incredible typing that allows many defensive bonuses.  First of all it negates ALL the fairy type weaknesses. Fairies are weak to poison, which steel type is immune to so cant damage this soul at all, it’s weak to steel..and steel resists steel so that hits neutral now. Metal has three weaknesses, fighting, ground and fire. The fighting weakness gets resisted due to it’s fairy typing so it has only 2 weaknesses , 9 resistances and 2 immunities. That is some good typing.  Almost as good as Water Ground! As a result Magearna is very beginner friendly. It’s signature move Fleur Cannon is like a counterpart of the Draco Meteor move, high power but lowers its own stat after use.  The ability Soul Heart negates this drop a bit however.. so i’d say pick up a robot and soul today!

A crowd favorite along Lucario I am sure but only my penultimate steel type! Metagross is a Pseudo Legendary that is known as the signature pokémon of Champion Steven Stone. One of the trickier champions to beat. (Lance was such a weak champion) The pokémon looks amazing has a great moveset and it evolves early enough to use endgame (level 45) but late enough so it really does feel rewarding. However there is one flaw that keeps Metagross from the number one spot here. Beldum’s Catch Rate of 3. This means that a Beldum (or any of it’s evolutions) have a 1.6% chance to stay in their pokéballs if you throw it at a pokémon with no status condition and green health. This catch rate.. is shared with Mewtwo… this means that a Beldum is as hard to catch as a MEWTWO! So imagine chibi pinkie playing her game, encountering this weird fist shaped pokemon with an eye… that just doesnt want to stay in it’s friggin pokébal! I did not know it was a pseudo back then! I wasn’t even allowed to play this game so I played it in secret! I was like.. well fudge this pokémon! I am out! It took me until Omega Ruby until I got myself a Beldum.. A shiny one from an event! I loved it! I named it ..Hi Ho..because it was silver.

Hi Ho would grow up from a little stubby fist like, missile looking thing to a four legged tank/super computer with one of the most badass mega evolutions out there, ever. Metagross is formed by the fusion of two Metang, (the stage 1 form of the pokémon) while it’s mega evolution is A Metagross, A Metang and Two Beldum forming together. So in other words this is the combiner robot of the pokémon world. It has four separate brains which allow it to analyse things faster and  better than a super computer does. Meanwhile it is still incredibly strong as well. It has the strength to pin an enemy on the wall with it claws after which it will begin devouring them alive. It will also use it’s big brain to win the fights it is in, analyzing it’s optimal moves. Making this a fearsome foe. When it Mega evolves it gets even smarter and leaves behind any decency it might have had before, now dictated by cruel cold logic. Any means of victory is now allowed and thus its fighting style becomes so gruesome most people can only avert their eyes and wait for it’s battle to be over. If it senses it can not win a fight it will impale an enemy’s limb with itself and then self detonate. Ouch

Metagross is fairly universally run as physical sweeper, and with a base attack power of 135 that isn’t too surprising. It doesn’t get much better than that.  The moves you’ll want to put on this monster is Earthquake, Agility, Zen Headbutt and Meteor Mash.  Agility and Zen Headbutt can be adapted if your team  specifically requires anything else, like calm mind if you need it to tank out a few hits for reasons or Grass Knot if your team is weak to ground but over all Zen Headbutt, and Agility will allow you to sweep if Meteor Mash gets one or two attack boosts. Meteor Mash is almost it’s signature move, only learned by Jirachi, Clefairy, and Lucario otherwise, a 90 base power physical attack that can boost up your attack stat.  Agility once or twice can take care of it’s meh speed and as an item a life orb can give you more damage output.  It’s not to uncommon to run aforementioned explosion either to kill something completely dead if Metagross is about to die! It is one of those pokémon that pressures your opponent into making the right call.. mess up once or twice and this pokémon has all the cards it needs to wipe your entire opponents team of the board.

This sword and shield pokémon was obviously introduced in X and Y.. huh that seems weird now huh! However this pokémon quickly became my favorite steel type. I have never really liked wall Pokémon much .. for the simple reason that I never found a wall that was better than Chansey. While Chansey’s physical defence isn’t great I’d use something like Shuckle. A pink egg and a worm in a rock.. those clearly are the superior tanks. I always like to mess with people when playing pokémon.  I don’t play with the pro’s so people never expect that Dugtrio is one of the fastest Pokémon ever.. they do not expect Chansey can  take a Draco Meteor like nothing has even happened, no one suspects Shuckle to survive a normal gem explosion..but they sure do! When people make mistakes people play poorly.  Aegislash is one of those guess what’s coming next pokémon I love so much because it is both a sword and a shield! It’s either a sword resting in a shield or a sword wielding a shield.. guestimate what it does wrong and you will be sorry! Also I really like object pokémon apparently!

Aegislash begin their live as Honedge. Honedge become pokémon when a person on the battlefield dies. Their soul becomes entangled with the blade that kills them and and the sort gains a blue  cloth that it can use to attach itself to those who dare touch the hilt. It will then begin to drain their life force completely. It evolves when it fed on enough life force, usually draining several people completely and it becomes two blades, who communicate with telepathy to form deadly attacking patterns that slice their foes to ribbons. After evolving it they become attendants of kings in history. Their past has allowed them to judge those who possess leadership qualities, hanging around those who it deems destined to be king.  However it does not do this from an altruistic stance it possesses over might spectral powers that allows it to manipulate people and pokémon alike and they use these kings to create a kingdom of their liking. One kingdom was particularly mentioned with a powerful king wielding an Aegislash creating an amazing kingdom, eventually however the sword drained all his life away and the kingdom since quickly fell. Aren’t ghost pokedex entries the best?

Like Metagross , Aegislash has a fairly widely accepted build. That being it’s signature move King’s Shield, which is a form of Protect (a semi perfect shield move)  that negates all damage and lowers your opponent’s special attack. It should know Swords Dance to heighten it’s already high attack, and Shadow Sneak and Night Slash or Sacred Sword as it’s attacking moves. Shadow Sneak is a move that always goes first and is boosted by the same type attack bonus and Night Slash or Sacred Sword you slap on there depending on what type of team your opponents run for maximum damage. What makes this pokemon so fun to use though is its ability, Stance Change. With this it can go from defensive mode into offensive mode and vice versa. In defensive mode it’s defensive values are 150 and in blade mode it’s offensive stats are 150. With all it’s other stats being only 50 though it’s a one trick pony… well it’s a one trick pony twice to be exact. However this does keep pressure on your opponent, if you sent it in against a physical attacker, the fun begins! Since its secondary stats are super weak it is a pokémon that does require you to know who is physical and who is not so it is a bit on the more advanced side of things. Yet it is through all of it’s quirks that and the brain game that this pokemon is so fun to play!

It was wonderful seeing so many steel types still have plushies! I would have been in trouble with how I handle my images otherwise! What is your Favourite Steel Type? Do you like this typing? Do you use it oftenly?! Can you guess which type is next? Let’s get those comments going! Now excuse me while I go feed my hair!