Ice-type Pokémon come in all shapes and sizes.
They can be incredibly versatile, and can definitely keep you on your toes!
Famous Ice-type trainers include Gym Leaders such as Candice, Pryce, and Brycen, and the Elite Four members Lorelei and Glacia.
Although Ice-type moves were originally Special Attack oriented since the physical and special split in Generation IV their movepool has widened.
This means that you can be under threat from both physical and special moves!
Keep reading to learn more about how to avoid getting frostbitten by the Ice-type!
Ice Type Pokémon Weaknesses & Strengths Chart
| Weakness | Strong Against |
|---|---|
| Fire, Fighting, Rock, Steel | Flying, Dragon, Grass, Ground |
Ice-Type Pokémon Weaknesses
Ice-type Pokémon are weak to Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel-types. These types of moves will do double damage to them.
The Fire and Steel types also take half damage from Ice-type attacks, meaning that they are good against Ice Pokémon.
The same can be said for Water-types too, but their moves just do normal damage in return.
Often the Defense stat can be an Ice-type Pokémon’s weakest asset.
This means that a powerful physical attack is likely to shatter them!
Ice-Type Pokémon Strengths and Resistances
Ice-types only take half damage from their own type, Ice.
All other attacks will either do normal or double damage to them.
This makes them unique as no other type shares this characteristic!
Although you might think that this makes them weak, you would be wrong.
They can inflict super-effective damage against Ground, Grass, Dragon, and Flying types.
In fact, in early Generations, they were one of the best ways to beat Dragon-type Pokémon.
This was due to the fact that there weren’t many good Dragon-type moves which was the only other weakness for Dragon-type Pokémon until the Fairy-type came along.
Some Ice-type moves can also inflict the Frozen status effect, which will prevent your Pokémon from being able to attack until they can thaw out.
Pokémon Good Against Ice Types
There are plenty of Pokémon that can be good against Ice-type Pokemon, that either can exploit their weaknesses or resist their moves.
5 of the best Ice-type counters are:
Machamp
Machamp has great Special Defense for a Fighting-type, which makes it ideal for taking on a range of Ice-type Pokémon.
Its Attack stat is also pretty good as well, and its moves are super effective.
Machamp also gets access to Bullet Punch.
This is a Steel-type move that can inflict super effective damage on Ice-types and is also a priority move that almost always moves first.
Its ability Guts also means that if Machamp gets inflicted with a status effect such as Poison or Paralysis, its attack goes up to 1.5x!
Poliwrath
Poliwrath is a Water/Fighting-type, which means that its Fighting-type moves are super effective.
Its Water typing helps too, as this means it resists Ice-type moves and takes half damage from them.
Poliwrath has the ability to either run a special or a physical move set to allow you to adapt to different situations or threats.
Scizor
Scizor is a Steel/Bug-type. It has great Attack and Defense, which really help to give it great offensive power.
It also has access to the ability Technician, which powers up moves that have a power of 60 or less.
This is particularly useful as one of the moves it can use is Bullet Punch, which receives boosted power with this ability!
This Steel-type move can hit for super-effective damage, and also almost always moves first.
That fact is particularly useful to make up for Scizor’s Speed stat.
Lycanroc
Lycanroc is a Rock-type Pokémon with a normal forme, a dusk forme, and a midnight forme.
These formes have different base stats, but they have one thing in common: they’re all great against Ice-types!
Lycanroc has great Attack and Speed and also has a priority move in Accelerock.
The Tough Claws of Lycanroc-Dusk also allows it to deal 1.3x the damage when using a move that makes contact with the opponent as an added bonus!
Chandelure
Chandelure is a Ghost/Fire-type and has one of the best Special Attack stats in the game outside of some legendary Pokémon.
This means it can pack a punch even against some Ice-type’s Special Defense.
Its Speed isn’t too bad either, meaning against some opponents it can also move first.
There are plenty more Pokémon out there good against Ice-types.
See our list below for some top choices with some recommended movesets.
| Pokémon | Type | Moves |
| Machamp | Fighting | Close Combat Knock Off Facade Bullet Punch |
| Poliwrath | Water/Fighting | Scald Close Combat Darkest Lariat Circle Throw |
| Scizor | Steel/Bug | Bullet Punch U-Turn Bug Bite Swords Dance |
| Lycanroc | Rock | Accelerock Stone Edge Psychic Fangs Close Combat |
| Chandelure | Ghost/Fire | Fire Blast Shadow Ball Calm Mind Energy Ball |
| Coalossal | Rock/Fire | Stealth Rock Rock Blast Flamethrower Rapid Spin |
| Bewear | Normal/Fighting | Swords Dance Double Edge Drain Punch Darkest Lariat |
| Arcanine | Fire | Flamethrower Morning Sun Teleport Scorching Sands |
| Kabutops | Water/Rock | Swords Dance Liquidation Stone Edge Superpower |
| Rotom-Heat | Fire/Electric | Nasty Plot Overheat Volt Switch Will-o-Wisp |
| Gallade | Psychic/Fighting | Shadow Sneak Swords Dance Close Combat Psystrike |
| Passimian | Fighting | Close Combat U-Turn Stone Edge Knock Off |
| Copperajah | Steel | Heavy Slam Power Whip Stone Edge Heat Crash |
| Metagross | Steel/Psychic | Stealth Rock Agility Bullet Punch Meteor Mash |
| Darmanitan | Fire | Flare Blitz Earthquake U-Turn Rock Slide |
Attacks Super Effective Against Ice-Type Pokémon
Fire, Steel, Rock, and Fighting-type attacks will be your moves of choice to defeat Steel-type Pokémon quickly and easily.
It’s always key to remember that you don’t need a Pokémon that has Fire, Steel, Rock, or Fighting typing to use a super effective move.
Lots of different Pokémon can learn them and help you out in a pinch.
Here is a list of some of the top 10 moves to look out for.
- Bullet Punch (Steel)
- Flare Blitz (Fire)
- Stone Edge (Rock)
- Close Combat (Fighting)
- Meteor Mash (Steel)
- Flamethrower (Fire)
- Rock Blast (Rock)
- Drain Punch (Fighting)
- Heavy Slam (Steel)
- Power Gem (Rock)
Tips on Defeating Ice-Type Pokémon
One of the best ways to get a head start when fighting against Ice-type Pokémon is to use Stealth Rock.
Stealth Rock is a Rock-type move that sets a hazard on the field.
When a Pokémon switches into the battle, they take Rock-type damage from it even before making their first move!
As Ice-type Pokémon are weak to Rock, this means they take 25% damage right away.
As a result, Stealth Rock is a perfect tactic to use as it can even scare Ice-types into not wanting to switch in!
We spoke earlier about Water-types resisting Ice attacks and taking half damage from them. However, they need to be wary of the move Freeze Dry.
This special Ice-type move is super effective against Water-type Pokémon and can catch you by surprise if you are not careful!
Ice-type Pokemon may also bring the Hail weather effect into play during battle.
This weather damages non-Ice-type Pokémon at the end of every turn, and can also activate different benefits for Ice-type Pokémon.
These include activating the abilities Snow Cloak and Slush Rush, and increasing the accuracy of the move Blizzard.
The best way to counter this is either to set your own weather effects such as rain or sun or to use a Pokémon with a weather canceling ability.
Examples of these are Golduck who has the Cloud Nine ability, and Rayquaza who has access to Air Lock.
Some Ice-type moves also have the ability to inflict the freeze status effect.
This will immobilize your Pokémon and mean it cannot act in any way until it thaws out.
You could try to heal this with an item such as an Ice Heal or a Full Heal.
Alternatively, there are some moves that can help you out.
The moves Heal Bell and Aromatherapy heal all of the status effects suffered by your team.
This makes them great at protecting you and your Pokémon from a number of ailments.
Additionally, some moves when used by a frozen Pokémon will also thaw them out!
Any Fire-type move will work, alongside the move Scald.
We hope you enjoyed our Ice-type guide and hopefully, you are not getting cold feet about facing them anymore!
Are there any other types you are worried about facing? Let us and your fellow trainers know in the comments.