Summary
- Psychic moves are reliable with good accuracy; they vary from status effects to stat changes and unique abilities.
- Over time, Psychic moves evolved with Dark and Ghost-types countering them; moves like Trick Room and Light Screen are still relevant today.
- Psychic moves like Lunar Blessing and Psycho Boost offer unique benefits and drawbacks, balancing power and strategy for players.
Psychic moves in the Pokemon games have always been wild cards to some degree. For the most part, the damaging Psychic moves all have fairly good accuracy ratings, making them very reliable. There are many non-damaging psychic moves, and they are quite varied in how they affect the game/opponents. Most inflict a status effect on the enemy, raise the user's stats, lower the opponent's stats, or have a unique ability like swapping stats or items with the opponent.
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In the earlier Pokemon games, Psychic moves were very popular. This was due to only Bug Pokemon being strong against Psychic-type Pokemon, and they did not have very powerful attacks. The more recent Pokemon games have corrected this by also making Psychic Pokemon weak against Dark and Ghost-types and by giving the Bug-type some more damaging attacks.
Updated on January 8th, 2025, by Ben Painter: Dating back to Generation 1, Psychic types were the real powerhouse of the Pokemon franchise; Mewtwo was comfortably the strongest Pokemon in the game. However, this changed in Generation 2 with the introduction of the Dark type, and Psychic types slowly became less overpowered over the years. However, the type is still awesome, with some really powerful (mainly Special) moves that can devastate opponents. There are also some really tricky status moves that gamers can use to boost their Pokemon and cause some chaos in battle. This update adds five more of the best Psychic-type moves.
30 Skill Swap
The User Swaps Abilities With The Target
- Category: Status
- PP: 30
- Power: N/A
- Accuracy: N/A
Status moves are useful in battle as they will give the user an edge. Some have more uses than others, though. Skill Swap can be used to swap the user's ability with the enemy Pokemon's; if they have an insane ability such as Moxie or Intimidate, then it can come in very handy in the heat of battle.
However, this will most likely not amount to anything — and it might even hinder the Pokemon. Gamers will have to read up on Pokemon's abilities to make Skill Swap a viable strategy. A perk of this move is that a lot of different 'mons can learn it, and this includes non-Psychic-type Pokemon too.
29 Trick Room
Speed Is Reversed
- Category: Status
- PP: 5
- Power: N/A
- Accuracy: N/A
If the player is coming up against a Pokemon with a high Speed stat, Trick Room may be the best option to get a quick change of pace. It may be what turns the tide of the battle.
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There aren't too many Pokemon who learn this move by level-up only: Galarian Articuno, Porygon-Z, Diancie, Hoopa, and Oranguru are the sole members of the list (although pretty much every Psychic-type Pokemon can be taught Trick Room by TM). Speed is crucial for battle, and going first is vital when up against heavy hitters. Trick Room can be a decent strategy.
28 Light Screen
Status Move That Doubles The Special Defense
- Category: Status
- PP: 30
- Power: N/A
- Accuracy: N/A
This move has been around since the early days of the Pokemon series, and it's still managed to remain relevant with the power creep that has affected the newer moves. Light Screen reduces the damage taken from Special moves by half. This is invaluable, as some of the most damaging attack moves in the series are Special moves.
Light Screen also protects any Pokemon on the user's side during multi-Pokemon battles. The only two moves that can take down (or bypass) Light Screen are Brick Break and Infiltrator, which is ideal since they are unlikely to be known by opponents.
27 Reflect
Status Move That Doubles The Defense Stat
- Category: Status
- PP: 20
- Power: N/A
- Accuracy: N/A
The partner to Light Screen is Reflect, which doubles the user's Defense against Physical moves for five turns. Combining both screens together can create a monster of a Pokemon, and it is a common strategy used in competitive Pokemon battling to boost the Defense stats.
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Gamers may want to look out for moves like Brick Break, Defog, Psychic Fangs, and Raging Bull as they ignore the effects of Reflect, and the damage done will be as normal. Another useful bit of information is if the Pokemon using the move is holding the Light Clay item, then Reflect will last for eight turns instead of five — this can make a huge different in a prolonged battle.
26 Lumina Crash
An Awesome Psychic Move, But Only One Can Learn It
- Category: Special
- PP: 10
- Power: 80
- Accuracy: 100
Despite its offensive-sounding name, Lumina Crash isn't an attack move. No, this move harshly lowers the target's Special Defense. "Harshly" lowering a stat means it is lowered by two stages as opposed to "severely," which lowers a stat by three stages.
Most Psychic-type moves are Special Attacks, and Lumina Crash ensures that the target will take absurd amounts of damage against Special Attacks. This creates an opportunity for an incredibly powerful two-move combo for Psychic types. However, there is a limit to how much a stat can be lowered, so players should only use Lumina Crash once against a Pokemon.
25 Agility
Boosting Speed Is Key
- Category: Status
- PP: 30
- Power: N/A
- Accuracy: N/A
Sometimes, in the heat of battle, whoever has the fastest Pokemon will determine the outcome of the battle. This is why increasing one's speed can be so helpful, and many choose to do it using the Psychic-type move, Agility. This is a move that is not exclusive to Psychic-type Pokemon, as many Flying and Bug types can go fast by using Agility.
Nobody wants to end up in a battle with a faster Pokemon that can take out most threats in a single hit, especially since it makes trainers feel powerless to stop the carnage of their carefully raised team of Pokemon. Luckily, Agility goes both ways, so may the fastest Pokemon win.
24 Photon Geyser
A Signature Move Of Necrozma That Can Switch Between Special & Physical
- Category: Special
- PP: 5
- Power: 100
- Accuracy: 100
Photon Geyser is an interesting move and one that not every Pokemon can use to its fullest. This move uses whichever stat is the higher between Attack and Special Attack. Most Pokemon do not have similar Attack and Special Attack stats; one is typically quite a bit higher than the other.
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Photon Geyser comes in handy if playing against Pokemon that lower either Attack or Special Attack with their moves. It ensures the damage will not be as affected as the other moves known to the user. Granted, only Necrozma can learn this move via leveling-up, but future Pokemon games might include it on their TR (TM) list.
23 Dream Eater
A Move That Only Works If The Enemy Is Asleep
- Category: Special
- PP: 15
- Power: 100
- Accuracy: 100
Healing moves have become a little more prevalent with each subsequent Pokemon game, but they are still far from common. There are only two healing Psychic-type moves. Healing Wish heals one Pokemon fully at the cost of making the user faint; the other healing Psychic move is Dream Eater.
Dream Eater has a power and accuracy of 100 and a PP count of 15. When used on a sleeping Pokemon, Dream Eater will heal the user by 50% of the damage dealt. The drawback is that this move only does damage to sleeping Pokemon.
22 Hypnosis
The Go-To Move To Make The Enemy Sleep
- Category: Status
- PP: 20
- Power: N/A
- Accuracy: 60
Hypnosis can be a battle-winning ability, but only if it hits. It puts an opposing Pokemon to sleep for one to three turns; while asleep, Pokemon are unable to perform any of their moves, with very few exceptions. The accuracy rating for Hypnosis is 60, but at least this gives a better chance than not working.
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Along with simply being a sound strategic option in battle, Hypnosis combines well with Dream Eater and Nightmare, the Ghost-type move.
21 Esper Wing
A Solid Psychic Move, But Only One Pokemon Can Learn It
- Category: Special
- PP: 10
- Power: 80
- Accuracy: 100
Esper Wing was so good that it was quickly nerfed. Even so, it's still one of the best Psychic-type moves in the game. Originally, this move had a power of 80, an accuracy of 100, and a PP count of 10. In Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Esper Wing has a power of 75 and an accuracy of 90.
Time will tell if this drop in power and accuracy will remain in future Pokemon games, but if history is a guide, the changes are probably permanent. Esper Wing also raises the user's speed and has a higher chance of landing a critical hit.