Today’s special feature will be about Ice-type moves, so I selected several useful Ice-type attacks, starting with the Special ones. If it interests you enough to read on, go ahead and let’s move on!
(All card images are credited to Bulbapedia)
Ice Beam
This is the quintessential Ice attack that dates back to Generation 1. It’s the most commonly used Ice attack because it’s very useful, and several Pokémon learns this move, especially Water- and Ice-types. As the quintessential Ice attack, its use in the Pokémon world is plenty, including freezing things in place and forming bridges. In fact, if you look at Bulbapedia’s Ice Beam page, the anime portion and Special portion are loaded with examples!
As an attack, its Freeze chance comes in handy, due to the status’ infamy of being difficult to recover from. It is also useful for hitting certain types super-effectively, mainly Dragon, Ground and Flying. For Water-types, the ability to hit Grass-types super-effectively proves to be an asset to them. Their ability to learn Ice attacks could possibly be that frozen water is ice, so they could do this too, but this is a one sided relationship, since Ice-types don’t get their own version of a quintessential Water attack. It’s not fair!
Blizzard
Also introduced in Generation 1, this attack is stronger than Ice Beam, and is the strongest Special Ice attack. It’s not hard to imagine that this would be quite strong, since the target is hit with a concentrated icy storm. If the weather is Hail, this attack will not miss, making it devastating in Hail. What’s even better is that it hits adjacent opponents in Doubles or Triples, making it a two/three for one, although the power is reduced, making it a bit less powerful than Ice Beam, but since you hit several targets, it’s overall more useful. Another thing to take into account with Blizzard is its low PP. With 5 of these (or 8 if maxed), you have to make every hit count. Like Ice Beam, there is a chance of Freeze, meaning there is a likely chance your opponent will miss a turn.
Icy Wind
This attack is not as strong as the others, but its effect makes up for it. If this attack hits, the Speed of the targets will be reduced by one stage, so this is best used in Doubles, Triples or Rotation where switching is much riskier. The Speed reduction is quite helpful in reality for slowing down any danger, so that the user is allowed time to escape, dodge or land a guaranteed strike. This is the better Speed-reducing spread move, because Electroweb doesn’t affect Ground-types and Electric-immunity abilities, while Mud Shot cannot affect those immune to Ground and it also hits your partner(s). So, while this attack is introduced the earliest (Generation 2), it managed to still find use today, unless we have new types and abilities with an Ice immunity.
Sheer Cold
Introduced in Generation 3, this move is the only One-hit KO attack that none are immune to, except a Sturdy user, so even Ice-types are not immune to this effect. Strange, isn’t it? Even Regice can die to a Sheer Cold, even though it is sheer cold personified. Sheer Cold is supposed to force a condition where the target cannot survive thanks to being too cold, so it’s odd that Ice-types aren’t exempt, even though they are supposed to be guaranteed an immunity.
The downside with this move is its accuracy. If both the user and the target are at the same level, it will have a 30% accuracy that isn’t affected by how much accuracy the user has or evasion the target has. If the user’s level is higher than the target’s, the chances are increased, although if the difference is too large, any other attack is better. With that said, if the target’s level is higher, this move will fail, which is another oddity with it, because surviving a cold condition just by being a level higher is arbitrary in real life. It’s how Sceptile is able to survive Glalie’s Sheer Cold in the Emerald arc in Special, which is a key plot point.
Frost Breath
In Generation 5, we are graced with another Ice-type move that only Ice-types learn. This move is executed by having the user breathe out a breath of ice, in order to cast a powerful chill on the target. The shrill chill might not avoid the weak spot of any Pokémon when it hits, so being always-critical is justified. This move could also be used to preserve food, thanks to the power of coldness slowing down food rot.
This move always scores a critical hit, which will always bypass Defence boosts, so the opponent cannot avoid taking major damage from it. You have to remember that if the ability avoids critical hits, this attack will be not quite powerful. Moreover, Ice Beam’s overall accuracy makes it the better move most of the time. The only way this move could be useful is if the power of the move is raised to something worthwhile, in order to give both moves a purpose.
Freeze-Dry
This is the newest move introduced in Generation 6, and its effect is unique. Basically, it is an Ice attack with a twist. Instead of hitting Water for not very effective damage, it hits them super-effectively. Being that it is freezing something to make the water go away, its type interaction made sense.
Because of this, it has a favourable type interaction with five types taking super-effective damage and three types taking not very effective damage. This allows this move to target things like Ludicolo, Kingdra, Swampert and Gyarados for massive damage. The thing is, this move is only found on Ice-types, as it should, so this gives Ice-types a huge asset. Good thing some important Pokémon get this, including Articuno, Cryogonal and Lapras.
That’s all for this one, folks! We will be looking at more moves next time, specifically the Physical attacks and non-attack moves. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing this article.
Thanks for reading.
