polbielytics

How type matchups work in Polandball Go

Every ball has one or two types, and the game's type chart decides how hard one type hits another. This covers the chart, the orb and item numbers stacked on top of it, and why battles don't always go the way the chart says.

Seventeen attributes

The game calls types attributes. There are seventeen: Agriculture, Balance, Chaos, Cosmic, Energy, Faith, Fire, Ice, Light, Metal, Mountain, Nature, Oil, Shadow, Storm, Water and Wind. Every ball has one or two of them.

The game publishes its own chart of how each attribute does against every other. We read it from the official API every day, so if the game changes the chart, the change shows up here without anyone typing it in.

Reading the chart

For every attacking type against every defending type, the chart gives +1 if the attack is strong, 0 if it's neutral and −1 if it's weak. Against a ball with two types you add both values together. A hit against a dual-typed ball can range from −2 (weak against both types) to +2 (strong against both). A +1 and a −1 cancel out to a neutral hit.

Only one of the attacker's types counts. The defender's two types both matter, but the attacker swings with a single attack type.

From the chart to the damage

Orbs turn the chart's total into a damage multiplier. Type Proficiency has three orb tracks:

A total of zero means a multiplier of exactly 1. Two examples using those rules: a +2 attack from a ball with level 10 attack orbs hits for 1.6 times damage (1 + 2 × 30%). A −1 attack into a ball with level 10 Resistance hits for 0.75 times (1 − 25%).

Both curves get steeper past the middle levels. The last few orb levels are worth more than the first few.

Which type a dual-typed ball attacks with

When you unlock a ball with two types, the game picks its primary type at random. It attacks with that type while you own it. A trade picks the type again.

So two players' copies of the same ball can be completely different matchups. That's why each primary typing of a ball has its own page, listing the players whose copy has it. If we've seen a copy in a battle or on a live profile, we know its primary typing and the answer is exact. If we haven't, either primary typing is equally likely, so the type calculator shows the average of the two with the range next to it.

Items

Every item has a resonance type, an attack stat and a defense stat.

In PvP and war duels, the item's attack is the Weapon move. It has two charges, and its hit gets the type multiplier for the item's resonance type against the target, so an item can land a strong hit even when the ball's own attack type can't. The item's defense adds to the ball's Protection, a shield that takes damage before HP.

Bonus effects, like double damage or execute, only work in raids. In PvP and wars an item counts only through its attack and defense.

What battles add

The chart is the rulebook, but a battle is more than one hit. PvP and war attacks are round-based duels. HP, Protection, Speed and the moves both sides pick all count, so a good matchup can still lose. The PvP Duels guide has the rules.

The game's battle feed says which side won, not what each ball did. So a ball's win rate here is really the record of the teams it was on, and that pulls every win rate toward 50%. Even a ball that's genuinely dominant rarely gets much past 55 to 60%.

Attackers also win far more often than defenders. That's why every win rate here counts attacking and defending separately first, then averages the two.

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