Today’s special feature will be about more Ice-type moves, so I selected several useful Ice-type attacks, continuing with the Physical and non-attacking ones. If it interests you enough to read on, go ahead and let’s move on!
(All card images are credited to Bulbapedia)
Icicle Spear
This move is introduced in Generation 3. By shooting a barrage of sharp icicles, the user will hit the target as much as they can. As for why there isn’t a consistent chance for all hits to land (unless the user has Skill Link), I think that the spears are all shot at once, so there isn’t a guaranteed hit for every one of them. In Generation 5, this move received a 150% power boost, making it a viable attack on any Ice-type for its potential to hit even after a Substitute is broken. The best user of this attack is Cloyster, because it has Skill Link and STAB, so it will have five hits, which is very powerful with a Base Power of 125. The only user not affiliated with an Ice-type is Corsola, who is incidentally the weakest user of them all, unless Corsola got a Hustle boost.
Icicle Crash
A stronger Physical Ice-type attack is introduced in Generation 5. It’s more powerful than Ice Punch and Ice Fang, making it a must have for two of its best users Mamoswine and Beartic. Cloyster also learns it, but Icicle Spear is generally better. Anyway, Icicle Crash also has a chance of flinching, so it’s great for gaining free turns. This attack is executed by having the user drop an icicle on a target, possibly bigger than Icicle Spear since it’s got more power. Cloyster’s already able to create spiky projectiles, Beartic could just breathe out a weapon to use, and Piloswine and Mamoswine will use their ice tusks to hit. As for Swinub, it’s more of a case where it seems too young to learn it, but it learns it anyway, with similar examples being Gastly learning the elemental Punches and Seedot learning Quick Attack. If this attack has better distribution among Ice-types, it would be better because there are other Physical Ice-types who would love the knowledge of this attack.
Ice Shard
Generation 4 is graceful with increased priority attacks, including Ice Shard. It seems strange that the name of this move doesn’t imply any kind of swiftness, but it does because it’s a fast projectile caused by flash freezing. This is a nice marksman attack since the chunks might even travel like bullets, except it affects different things. Another way is to make ice chunks out of it, due to how the shards are processed as them.
It’s one of the most useful Ice-type attacks for the combination of a first strike and the ability to hit Dragon-types for super-effective damage, making it a top choice for dispatching a possibly unstoppable dragon. Of course, this attack could be used on other things too, especially if they are weak to it. The best users are Physical attackers, since their power is compatible with this move. Donphan, the only user not affiliated with Ice-types, could sometimes be seen using it to make up for its low Speed.
Avalanche
When there is an avalanche, you can expect there to be a landslide of ice tumbling down, due to the sound that shakes the foundation of the snow in high places. It is a dangerous occurrence, so it is discouraged from purposefully causing it. It’s possible that the Pokémon using this attack isn’t affected because they are either immune to the collateral damage, or they are well-aware of what’s going to happen. When Rock Slide is used in the anime, rocks are teleported from the sky. It’s possible that Avalanche could have the same effect, since this attack could be used anywhere, even when there’s no snow.
Introduced in Generation 4, the basic effect with Avalanche is to do double damage if the user is attacked on the same turn this move is used, which does a lot of damage as a result. Its negative priority ensures that most attacks will have a chance at the user before unleashing a powerful blow. It’s great for bulky attackers, such as one that employs Curse in their strategy, such as Lapras. However, being a slower attack has negative consequences, since the user is open for a stronger assault.
Ice Punch & Ice Fang
These two attacks are put in the same section because they are similar in both function and form. Ice Punch was introduced in Generation 1, while Ice Fang was introduced in Generation 4. It basically takes a Pokémon main form of offence, which are either their fists or fangs, to attack, but this time, that attack is infused with freezing. It’s not an innate attack to every Pokémon even though a lot of them have fangs or fists, so they acquire it either through a Move Tutor or breeding.
Ice Punch is stronger and has a 100% hit rate, so it’s more useful. Ice Fang is not as accurate or strong, but it has a flinch chance. Both of these moves have a freeze chance, which comes in handy as well. It goes without saying that Ice Punch is overall more useful, although those without Ice Punch but learn this move is stuck with it (still, flinching is handy). Since both are more of melee attacks, it seems that’s their only function.
In Generation 1 to 3, Special attackers appreciate Ice Punch because it was a Special type, so you may see Gengar and Alakazam using it as a coverage move to get past certain Pokémon that are weak to Ice, since they cannot learn Ice Beam to do that.
Hail
Hail is a weather condition that is introduced in Generation 3, later than the first three weather conditions last Generation. It is meant to complement Ice-types by hurting anything that is not an Ice-type (or those with the appropriate abilities). Not only that, it benefits abilities that require Hail to activate, which are Ice Body and Snow Cloak. Perhaps that most important thing Hail does is to make Blizzard fully accurate regardless of any accuracy or evasion modifiers. The best way to set up Hail is using Snow Warning, since Hail is set up automatically, without a need of one move.
In real life, hail is a deadly weather compared to snow, because hailstones will fall from the sky and damage anything it lands on. In fact, those hailstones could be big, which in turn means the damage done is greater. For the hailstones to form, the cloud needs to be the thunderstorm variety, have enough height, having high liquid water content with large water droplets, and of course, the cloud needs to be below freezing. This makes thunderstorms even more dangerous. Based on this, I am surprised Electric-types don’t automatically get Hail (although they got automatic Rain Dance) based on how Hail works.
Haze & Mist
Generation 1 gave us two counterpart moves, known as Black Mist and White Mist respectively (which is why Haze is depicted as black in the anime). Both of them deal with obscuring, which is what mists are for. Haze’s effect is to remove any stat boosts or reductions on everybody, so it’s great for removing an opponent’s boosts in a pinch. From how I understand with how this works, Haze does this by making everybody lose focus, so their boosts or reductions will be back to normal. It’s interesting to note that Haze does more than that earlier, but the way it works is complicated. Basically it also removes all sorts of effects such as confusion and stat reductions due to Burn and Paralysis, as well as healing the opponent of their major status ailment (think Poison, Burn and Paralysis). As such, it was much more of a gamble compared to now.
For Mist, its effect is to prevent any stat reduction on your side by your opponent for five turns, so it’s like the mist is your protection from the negative effects of those kinds of attacks. Do keep in mind that it does not prevent the user from reducing their stats, so they must suffer from Superpower’s Attack and Defence reduction, for example. Personally, I think Mist could use an improvement. It could also prevent the opponent from raising their own stats, or perhaps raise your evasion while this move is still in effect.
That’s all for this one, folks! Stay tuned for the next Ice-type article, where we will be looking at the first batch of Ice-type Specialists, consisting of the ones in the first three Generations. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing this article.
Thanks for reading.
