Building the Perfect Ice Type Gym Leader

[Music] gym leaders are supposed to be major obstacles for a player to overcome during their Journey an experienced and knowledgeable trainer that challenges you and your team to see if you're ready for the Pokémon League while some fit this role very well many gym leader fights end with the player thinking it doesn't matter if we're talking about their weaker teams in the beginning or their so-called challenging ones in the post game a lot of the fan base agrees that the majority of gym leaders in the franchise are underwhelming that might just be because many of us play these games religiously but overall I think the point still stands while many of their teams struggle with incomplete move sets poor team composition or just flat out trash taste in Pokémon I feel like a majority of them fail in accurately representing their respective types in other words most of their type themed teams don't tend to highlight their type very well because of this I've decided to embark on a journey to craft the perfect gym leader for every typee in the game game I'll be going type by type to build a full team of six with thought out move sets abilities items and more than anything an emphasis on representing that type as best as possible last time we covered the bug type and today we'll have a chill time going over another type the fan base often overlooks ice despite being the rarest type in the franchise ice often gets a bad rep and to an extent it's easy to see why ice is Infamous for its defensive prowess or lack thereof as it's weak to four very prominent offensive types being fire fighting Rock and steel being the third most vulnerable type behind grass and rock is already a detriment but with many popular ice Pokémon having four times weaknesses over time the type has gained a reputation for being mediocre defensively mediocre and this Viewpoint is further supported when you remember that Ice's only resistance is itself this poor defensive positioning will always be the bane of ice Pokémon as many people view it as one of the worst types in the game solely based on these matchups but those people aren't looking at the big picture because the one thing ice type does better than anything else is wait being defensive it sounds strange but it's true while the type chart paints one picture base stats paint something completely different when comparing the average base stats of every type ice Pokemon have the third highest HP as well as the fifth highest defense and despite every other stat ranking lower than this is's sheer statistical bulk carries it to the fifth highest space stat total of all types as well so ironically the type people see as a glass Cannon is actually a glass Fortress I was never great at analogies if we were in any prior generation representing this defensive aspect of the ice type might prove a bit challenging but gen 9 made an important mechanic change that helps us highlight this pretty easily before scarlet and violet the weather associated with ice was hail and all it really did was damage non- I types for 1/16th of their Max HP it also made blizzard perfectly accurate and affected abilities like ice body and snow cloak but as a whole this weather condition was quickly seen as the worst of the bunch but as of gen 9 or technically Legends arus game freak replaced hail with snow similar to how rock types get a special defense Boost from Sandstorm the newly added snow Buffs the defense stat of all ice Pokémon by 50% this alone was a massive win for the type as the weather condition finally did something to assist all ice Pokémon not just the ones using Blizzard or utilizing ice body or snowcloak and along with a few other moves and abilities ice types got over the years building a well- constructed ice team went from being a joke to being somewhat viable I say somewhat because any monotype team is bound to have its faults but honestly at this point snow might be the best weather in the game although I guess we won't know for sure until we get through the fire water and rock videos that being said the ice type is more than just their weather condition this is something I had to Grapple with a lot during team building it seems appropriate for an ice gym leader to Center their team around snow but as is it worth excluding Pokémon who are good without the weather keep that in mind as we go on and let me know your thoughts at the end of the video as your comments will play a part in how I handle future types with weather conditions and on that note I think we should jump in in case you were in a haze and missed your chance to do it earlier Subzero slam that subscribe button for more Pokémon content it' be an ice thing of you to do and my dog and I would both appreciate it hope all these puns don't get chilly reception for this team to get off on the right foot our top priority is picking a Pokémon with snow warning the ability that summons snow the moment they hit the field while four evolutionary lines get the ability obam snow and vanilla are the only ones who get it naturally and not as a hidden ability which if you remember from the bug video I made it a point not to include but um yeah I changed my mind upon further research I found multiple instances of a gym leader having a Pokemon with a hidden ability both in the main story and in the post game plus in hindsight it feels silly to draw the line for these ultimate teams at hidden abilities so on that note the first Pokémon for the team is the fox Pokémon alolan Ninetails while it may seem like I chose this solely to avoid the other options this Frosty Fox does more than just set the snow being the speediest option of the bunch alolan Ninetails is in a great position to utilize one of ice type's best moves Aurora Veil only working under snow Aurora Veil essentially sets up both reflect and light screen in a single turn this move is a big part of making ice teams that much bulkier as they not only get the defense Boost from snow itself but then even more bulk from the veil and with Ninetails holding the light clay it lasts for a total of eight turns which is plenty of time for our upcoming team members to take advantage of it icy rock is also a fine option to increase the duration of snow but it's better to extend the Dual defense buff than it is the singular one the rest of alolan Ninetails is set is pretty standard blizzard which is perfectly accurate in the snow moonblast which both rounds out our dual stab and gives us a move for figh fighting types and lastly Dark Pulse as it gives us a neutral move for both steel and fire the only two types to resist are dual stab other moves like nasty plot or Cal mind may prove useful but I honestly think they're unnecessary alolan Ninetales isn't an amazing Pokémon stat wise and as such it's not meant to set up and deal damage instead its role is centered on setting up for the team and it does so beautifully with three of Ice's weaknesses being covered by ground one Pokemon immediately made its way onto the team the twin Tusk Pokémon mamos swine this beef cake is a top tier choice for the team as I mentioned its ground typing gives us an answer to fire rock and steel types which along with moonblast from Ninetales for fighting types already gives us an answer to all of our weaknesses but mamos swine's usefulness doesn't stop there as it also takes neutral damage from both Rock and fire thanks to mamos swine having thick fat for inability fire type attacks basically do neutral damage while mamos swine could have snowcloak for an ability thick fat is just too good of an option to pass up plus evasion boosting is obnoxious move set wise MMO swine is fairly standard icicle crashes first as it's the strongest ice move MMO can get second of course is earthquake because duh it's mamos swine next is ice Shard giving our team a much appreciated priority move remember ice types aren't typically the fastest so anything we can use to pick off a speedy opponent will come in very handy as for our last move you could either either go with heavy slam to take advantage of mamos swine's heft or with trailblaze to boost its speed both are good choices but I'd opt for trailblaze as having a move to buff your speed can be very helpful especially considering mamos swine's item while you may think a choice band life orb or even never melt ice would be the choice I've gone for something much more diabolical the weakness policy for those unaware weakness policy increases the user's attack and special attack by two stages if they're hit with a super effective move with mammo swine DEC natural defenses along with the defense Boost from snow and the defense Boost from Aurora Veil Mamoswine is basically guaranteed to live a super effective hit and if you boost your speed with trailblaze on the same turn you double your attack best of luck to anyone in your way the next obvious pick for this team is a Pokemon with the classic pairing ice and water it not only gives us an easy answer to fire but also helps with steel Types on the defensive end as it's the only weakness both Ninetails and mamos Swine share pretty quickly I was down to two choices the first of which was wall Rin this thing probably wasn't on your radar but it's actually a really solid option for the team it stats are well-rounded making it a really bulky team member especially if snow or Veil are still active in addition it gets ice body for an ability which acts like built-in leftovers in the snow as well as also getting thick fat which actually makes wall rain resist fire and with a fairly diverse move pool to boot this could easily be our third pick but after careful consideration I ended up going with my second Choice the transport Pokémon Lapras while a few of you may think this is a biased pick because Lapras is one of my favorite mons I promise there's a good reason for it lapis's stat spread is actually quite similar to wrain with the main difference being Lapras is higher HP and wal's higher special attack lapis's ability water absorb is also great for the team water types may not seem like a threat to us but as one of the types that resists ice we need to make sure they can't sit in front of us and spam surf but that said wall R's abilities were just as good if not better so what is it that pushes Lapras over the edge the answer two moves the first of which and the most important one is freeze dry one of the type's most unique moves freeze dry is an ice attack that hits water types for super effective damage and as I mentioned a second ago we don't want water types to sit in front of us and this helps combat that the second move Lapras gets over wall rain is snowscape which sets up the snow again it's reasonable that Ninetales of snow warning would have Faded by now and while it may not be essential to set it up again I think it's better to have the option to especially because Lapras can afford the move slot between freeze dry and our third move surf we hit every Pokémon in the game for neutral or super effective damage as for the last move both psychic and alluring voice provide us with extra coverage for fighting types and they both come with their own helpful side effects as well for a more defensive option you could give it heel Bell or Haze as truthfully the last slot is sort of filler with just the first three moves as well as well as leftovers for a held item Lapras adds some much needed bulk to the team representing how impressively defensive ice types are I'm sorry that still doesn't sound right to me between both base stats and snow I've talked a lot about ice types natural bulk and while that's a major part of the type it's also important to note its sixth place ranking and attack with all the you'd think ice was more specially offensive but it turns out many ice types skew to the physical side like our boy mamos swine and also our fourth team member The Woolly crab Pokémon crabominable before you start throwing virtual Tomatoes at the stus let's give him the benefit of the doubt Eisen fighting is a great offensive combo hitting half the types for super effective damage and with an attack stat that outdoes mammo swine this boxing crab can punch some holes in the opposition literally no I mean quite literally because it has Iron Fist an ability that powers up punching moves to be clear that doesn't mean a power up punch punch Powers up a bunch but any one of a bunch of punches Powers up a bunch good good crabominable first move is ice hammer it hits hard and is boosted by Iron Fist simple as that next up is drain punch while close combat may be more tempting drain punch is better over time as it'll keep us healthy as opposed to lowering our defenses next up is earthquake giving us a way to deal with fire types and last is Thunder Punch another Iron Fist boosted move that gives us extra coverage these four attacks cover an in insane amount of Pokémon and make it quite likely that crabominable will have an answer for anything that comes in as for an item I'm going with assault vest while either leftovers or expert belts are good substitutes I think the added bulk from AV is more in line with the bulky offense this team is going for I know some people won't be a fan of this mod for the team and i' wager a lot of that has to do with its design which you know fair but truth be told I thought about it for a while and ultimately crabominable is just too good to pass up it hits three of our four weaknesses for super effective isn't weak to rock and even fires its pincers like rockets no joke that's in the Pokedex the biggest downsides of crabominable are its low speed and its numerous weaknesses but to be fair speed is Ice's worst stat and we all know too well about its fragility in the type chart that all said if you really wanted to substitute crabominable for something else you could go with one of my honorable mentions gallerian darmanitan with its ability gorilla tactics acting like a built-in Choice band along with it being able to hold a choice band on top of that this thing does incredible damage with its base 140 attack and it gets the same ice fighting and ground coverage as the crab while also getting U-turn there's really nothing wrong with this Pokemon instead but I decided it was better to opt for something more representative of the type as a whole than it was to go with while our first four team members were fairly easy choices these last two took me the better part of a couple weeks to full F decide on no joke there are roughly 10 different Pokémon that almost filled these last two slots ultimately I found myself at the Crossroad I laid out in the beginning how much stock do I put into the snow mechanic for a while I thought I needed another snow warning user like vanilla then I thought about having a sweeper that doesn't need the weather like wee or frosmoth but after a lot and I mean a lot of consideration I realized I needed something in the middle something that can contribute to the weather cause while also being able to do other things and the Pokémon I chose for this was the snowland Pokémon Frost lass aside from being one of the coolest ice Pokemon pun totally not intended Frost lass is able to utilize two different strategies the first involves snow by giving it snowscape we can take advantage of its ability snowcloak now you might be thinking didn't you just say evasion is obnoxious while not my favorite mechanic I'd be lying if I said ice gym leaders haven't been using this strategy for years plus snowcloak is a lot different than spamming double team outside of the snow Frost lass can use the combination of Thunder Wave and hex to both its opponent and Deals solid damage with hex jumping to 130 base power ghost coverage isn't necessary for this team but odds are the Pokémon people would bring to this gym wouldn't resist ghost either lastly while blizzard may seem perfect to round us out I'd opt for Ice Beam instead as it doesn't require weather to be reliable again I'm trying to strike the balance where snow is an option but not the only Strate strategy in place that being said for an item I think icy Rock would be the best choice as our last Pokémon would appreciate a bit of extra time to play in the snow there was one Pokémon I was dying to put on this team my most honorable mention ice Q This Blockhead flies under the radar for some but anybody that's played around with its gimmick knows just how annoying it can be its ability ice face is pretty complex to explain and I don't want to waste a ton of time on it here but if you're unaware ice Q can take one physical hit for free with a ice face and once it melts it stats jump from defense oriented to speed oriented there's a lot of other Nuance to the way it works but the bottom line is that ice CU can be a pain in the butt if you're not prepared for it while some of you might be thinking belly drum for it the move set of snowscape Aurora Veil flip turn and Ice spinner can be utilized in some ridiculous ways it would take way too much time to explain how this move set Works in this video so if anybody wants to take the time in the comments to outline the combo of how setting up the snow and Veil flip turning out and regaining your ice face all works I'd greatly appreciate it while there are a few good choices left for the team one of which being the pseudo legendary back caliber there's one ability I still want to take advantage of and it's the reason for making sure Frost lass had the move snowscape that ability is slush Rush doubling a Pokémon's speed in the snow while bartick and alolan sand slash can use this ability well I think it's best if our last spot is taken by the newest slush Rush user the Tera whale Pokémon sa Titan despite this thing's impressive stature it's actually the fastest user of slush rush in the franchise while also sporting incredible HP and a solid attack stat under snow this thing can be an absolute Menace both tanking hits and dishing out tons of damage especially with one of the strongest setup moves in hand belly drum where the user Cuts their HP in half to max out their attack with sa Titan's massive HP stat along with the defense Boost from snow and even a citrus Berry equipped this behemoth is primed to take full advantage of belly drum similar to how Mamoswine takes advantage of weakness policy and with one turn of setup this thing can stare down its foes with Max attack boosted defense double speed and still have the majority of its HP talk about an ace Pokemon as for its other moves sa Titan would run ice spinner an accurate and strong ice attack earthquake for coverage on fire and steel types and either play rough for extra coverage or ice Shard just in case the snow runs out before Titan can clear the team while this move set is a great way to finish up my reason for picking sat Titan as the ace is a little deeper than just moves the recent change from hail to snow seems to Mark a turning point for the ice type it's almost like game freak wants the fan base to rethink the way they view the ice type as a whole instead of these fragile and offensive Pokemon from Generations prior the emphasis is more on bulky offense which can be seen through both the newer ice types and ice type moves honestly it's always been a bit of a weird type in the franchise it went from being seen as the dragon killer to the glass Cannon to the defensive laughing stock to now the defensive Powerhouse I'm yeah I don't know if I'll ever get used to that bottom line each type in the game has more to it than you may realize at first glance so just remember don't judge a book by its cover or I mean don't judge a type by its weaknesses I told you I wasn't good at analogies and there you go my perfect ice type team I wouldn't be shocked if I finished this series and Ice was still one of the types I considered the hardest there are just so many great Pokémon to choose from so be sure to let me know what would be on your ice team in the comments and don't forget to think about that question from the beginning as you're telling me but anyways thanks so much for watching be sure to click a couple of those buttons down below and as thanks for making it to the end of the video here's a picture of my dog talk to y'all soon [Music]

Channel: ShepskyDad

Views: 77,217

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Id: LZ-V0Ht1X-s

Length: 18min 55sec (1135 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 01 2024