Top 5 Ice Pokémon

With the release of Pokémon Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby, and the ceremony of festive joy that is Christmas just around the corner, I’m having a look at a few of the best Ice-type Pokémon for your team. Ice Pokémon tend to be frowned upon – there are few of them, and they suffer defensively – but I’m a fan and I hope I can sell one or two of them to you – they certainly have their benefits, being super-effective against Grass, Ground, Flying and Dragon-type Pokémon, all of which are fairly common. Panic not, for although it is a Christmas piece, there will be no Delibird. [divider]

Froslass

Froslass is blessed with a unique type combination – as an Ice and Ghost-type, it is able to pack a very varied move set and it has the most resistances and immunities of any Ice-type. Froslass is not a Pokémon I particularly like the look of – its arms come out of its head, and it reminds me of a wind chime made by a socially abnormal child (according to its biography, it freezes its victims and displays them, so make of that what you will) – but it makes up for its upsetting design by being worth including in your team.

Lapras

Fan favourite and Ash Ketchum mode of transport Lapras is a good choice for a team member – it has a very high base HP and the capacity to learn a great many one-hit KO moves, as well as obligatory wasted move Surf, which is not a bad move in itself. Hidden Machines will be needed, and my advice is to catch a filler Pokémon on Route 101, ready to trade in and out of the box when it’s needed – I know you grow attached to your team, but it’s helpful to have what is essentially the equivalent of a Swiss-army knife so you don’t need to burden your team. When it comes to Water and Ice Pokémon, you could certainly do worse than a Lapras.

Piloswine

My favourite of the ‘swine’ bunch, although I advocate any member of the evolutionary family. Cousin Itt from The Addams Family with tusks, Piloswine is an Ice/Ground type and a fairly strong Pokémon, able to learn enough different moves to lay waste to six of the eight gym leaders all by itself. It is a very versatile creature, and could definitely form one of the members of a killer team.

Snowy Castform

Not strictly an Ice Pokémon, but I wanted to put him on – I’m very much a fan, with Castform potentially being my favourite Pokémon of them all. The premise of Castform is that it changes into different forms based on the weather conditions – Snowy Castform is the result of Hail, which in itself has the effect of damaging non Ice-types. It also has the potential to be Sunny (Fire) or Rainy (Water), remaining as a Normal-type if no weather changes are in effect.

I mention it from a contest point of view – my Sapphire Castform is an undisputed Contest champion, drugged up with Pokéblocks and a marvellous weather-based move set that enabled it to romp home to victory in the Beauty contest. Ice-type moves tend to be of Beauty-type, so they are good in the beauty Contests.

Weavile

Taking a break from working as an Assist Trophy in Brawl, Weavile returns for AS/OR – another unique type combination (though it shares it with its prevolution, Sneasel) that brings Dark-type moves to the table. Weavile is also a very quick Pokémon and, if trained well enough, it reduces the issues regarding its lack of strength and its type disadvantages to nought by simply being faster than its opponent and striking first. Again, it’s an interesting choice for a team and it’s worth considering.

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 Do you have a favourite Ice Pokemon you’d like to share with the world? Let us know on our Twitter at @Boargames.