When you look at the colorful world of competitive Pokémon, almost every type has had its shining moment. From the dominance of Dragons to the sneaky antics of Ghost-types, the battlefield has seen them all.
Well, almost all. Ice-types, despite their chilling aesthetics and fearsome looks, have somehow remained more of a cold breeze than a blizzard in the competitive scene. Rarely, if ever, have they been truly remarkable, often left to freeze on the sidelines while other types heat up the metagame.
One of the biggest problems Ice-type Pokémon face is their astonishing lack of resistance. While most Pokémon types enjoy a nice collection of things they shrug off, Ice-types resist only themselves. That is it—just Ice.
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+ 5In contrast, they have four crippling weaknesses to Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel. In a battlefield where type advantages often decide games, being weak to four of the most common offensive types while resisting almost nothing is like entering a Blizzard in shorts and a t-shirt.
You might think that at least weather mechanics could have offered them a cozy corner to thrive in. After all, Sunny Day boosts Fire-type Pokémon, and Rain Dance makes Water-types nearly unstoppable. Unfortunately, Hail, now Snow, barely scratches that same surface.
Sure, it boosts Ice-types' Defense a little and chips at non-Ice foes, but it does not carry the sheer momentum or synergy that other weather types enjoy in competitive contests.
click to enlarge+ 5Freezing opponents would have been a sweet compensation, yet freeze status is notoriously unreliable, with abysmal chances of infliction and a constant threat of opponent Pokémon thawing out before you can capitalize.
Adding frost to the injury, Ice-types have a painfully small selection of reliable moves. Ice Beam is fantastic, but widely available to non-Ice Pokémon, robbing Ice-types of their exclusive glory.
Blizzard is powerful but saddled with shaky accuracy and a low PP count that discourages repeated use. Beyond these two, Ice-type move options that could actually shake the metagame are as rare as a snowstorm in July.
click to enlarge+ 5If that was not enough, hazards like Stealth Rock, a very common hazard strategy used in competitive battling, make their lives even more miserable. Losing a quarter of their health upon switching in, and sometimes even more, is brutal, especially when most Ice-type Pokémon lack the tools to avoid it.
Rock-types are thriving because of the metagame’s heavy reliance on Stealth Rock. Meanwhile, Ice-types with Levitate like Rotom-Frost and Cryogonal exist, but neither has been able to truly plant their frozen flags in competitive formats.
Speed is supposed to be an answer, yet most Ice-type Pokémon are painfully slow. While some can tank a few hits, they are only decent defensively at best.
click to enlarge+ 5Pokémon like Lapras, Crabominable, Walrein, and Regice have bulk but lack the speed to strike first or the versatility to outmaneuver opponents. Against today’s hyper-offensive competitive scene, "decently bulky but slow" might as well be a death sentence.
To be fair, Ice-types have not been all bad. There were glimmers of hope like Mamoswine, a bulky offensive threat that terrorized Dragons and Steels, and Weavile, a blazing fast glass cannon that could clean up weakened Pokémon teams.
More recently, Glastrier brought a touch of bulk and bruising power to the type. These Pokémon were not enough to turn the tide, but they did show that Ice-types could at least stand somewhere between bad and mediocre.
click to enlarge+ 5There is hope yet. With innovations like Terastalization breathing new life into type matchups, Ice-type Pokémon might finally be in line for a competitive renaissance.
It will not be easy, but for those of us who have been rooting for Ice-types since the beginning, the forecast is finally calling for a chilly, promising future.