Pokémon’s Unused Type Combos Hint at Winds & Waves’ Biggest Twist

Game Freak has spent 25 years avoiding nine specific Pokémon type combinations—a fact dug up by data miners and now staring players in the face as Pokémon Winds and Waves looms. The omission wasn’t an oversight; it was a design choice, one that kept certain dual-types (like Fire/Fairy or Fire/Fighting) out of the competitive VGC meta for balance reasons. Enter Pombon, the leak-prone ‘mon at the center of this storm, whose typing could either be a cute novelty or the key to unlocking one of those forbidden combos.

The community’s already split into two camps: the ‘Fairy Fire’ optimists, who argue a Fire/Fairy Pombon would finally give Charizard a run for its money in the lore department, and the ‘Fighting Chance’ skeptics, who point out that Fire/Fighting would make it a direct counter to the dominant Steel-types clogging high-level play. Neither side is wrong—but both are ignoring the bigger question: Why now?

Reddit’s r/stunfisk subreddit, the unofficial think tank for competitive Pokémon, has spent the last 48 hours stress-testing hypothetical Pombon builds. Their verdict? If it’s Fire/Fairy, expect a Tera-type arms race. If it’s Fire/Fighting, say goodbye to your favorite bulkier ‘mons. Either way, Game Freak’s about to rewrite a rule it’s followed since Gold and Silver.

The real kicker isn’t just the typing—it’s the timing. Winds and Waves arrives in a post-Scarlet/Violet world where players are still recovering from Tera-type whiplash, a mechanic that let Pokémon temporarily swap types mid-battle. If Pombon’s base typing permanently occupies one of those untouched slots, it’s not just a new tool—it’s a meta reset button. And given how Game Freak’s balance patches have historically lagged behind player exploits, this could get messy fast.

Then there’s the ‘but what if it’s neither?’ crowd, floating theories that Pombon might debut an entirely new type—something like Wind or Sound—to justify the Winds and Waves theme. The evidence? Thin, but the dataminers are salivating. Leaks this cycle have been unusually accurate, so the speculation isn’t baseless. Still, the safer bet is that Game Freak’s finally dipping into its unused type reservoir, not inventing a new one.

What’s not speculative? The community’s hunger for meaningful change. After years of rehashed legendaries and DLC that underdelivers, players aren’t just asking what Pombon’s typing will be—they’re asking if it’ll matter. A Fire/Fairy mythical with a signature move? Game-changer. A Fire/Fighting early-game ‘mon with mediocre stats? Just another dex filler.