What can Game Freak do to improve Ice types?

[DasManiac]

So Ice is often regarded as the worst type in the game because of it's crippling number of weaknesses and the fact that it only resists itself. It's my favorite type but I'm perfectly willing to except it's almost completely useless. I think Ice needs to be super effective against Water and resist Water defensively. It should also be strong against Fairy to give Fairy another weakness and should be immune to Poison like Steel. Ice also needs a Freezing type like Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp. So what does everyone think should be done to improve this type.

 

[PiccoloX]

Ice should be immune to ice type attacks and resist water, grass and earth attacks. As for its weaknesses, I don't know why Fighting is effective on it. I understand Fire and how Rock and Steel can break glass (Ice).

 

[Norzan]

They had the chance to change the type chart this time to make Ice type a better type defensively (offensively is one of the best types) but instead decided to buff Fire type wich pretty much confirms they have no intention of buffing Ice in the defensive department. But if i were to buff Ice defensively i would give a resistance to Dragon, Ground and Flying. Also an Ice type version of Thunder Wave/Will-O-Wisp would be a little to broken, at least if you are paralyzed/burned you can do something but you can't do crap when you are frozen.

 

[Team Gaara]

Well, they just changed the type chart, so I don't see them doing it again any time soon, but if they had, I'd have made it resist Grass, Ground, and Dragon. Maybe immune to Flying if not resistant.

Otherwise, they're just going to have to make better Ice-types in general. Give them some type combinations to help them out. Let them learn more moves for coverage. Give them some decent stat distributions so they can be at least somewhat usable! Prime example is Avalugg. His Attack and Defense are godly, but what's the post if he can't take a Special hit and is as slow as dirt? Make some abilities that make running a hail team worth it. In PMD, Ice types have their Speed raised in Snow, so why not make that the case for Hail in the main series? Especially since Ice moves don't get a boost like Fire and Water in Sun and Rain, respectively (which they should), and Rock types get a Defensive boost.

I don't really think the problem is with the type, itself, just that there are no good Ice-type Pokemon for the most part.

 

[bluestarfish]

I would make rock either ineffective to ice, or only do neutral damage, while at the same time making ice super effective against rock, because glaciers carve out entire swaths of land, moving and pounding rocks and earth into dust. Ice freezes up in the cracks of stone and pushes it apart even further.

As far as water vs ice, I would change it to a mutual resistance mostly because water doesn't freeze at freezing temperature, but it doesn't melt either. It has to be warmer to melt ice, or colder to freeze water. (change scald so that it not only burns but is SE against ice, similar to freeze dry)

That's just my thoughts from a thematic standpoint though, I have no idea if that would overpower ice, or do little to help, but I think it'd be a good start.

 

[DasManiac]

Well, they just changed the type chart, so I don't see them doing it again any time soon, but if they had, I'd have made it resist Grass, Ground, and Dragon. Maybe immune to Flying if not resistant.

Otherwise, they're just going to have to make better Ice-types in general. Give them some type combinations to help them out. Let them learn more moves for coverage. Give them some decent stat distributions so they can be at least somewhat usable! Prime example is Avalugg. His Attack and Defense are godly, but what's the post if he can't take a Special hit and is as slow as dirt? Make some abilities that make running a hail team worth it. In PMD, Ice types have their Speed raised in Snow, so why not make that the case for Hail in the main series? Especially since Ice moves don't get a boost like Fire and Water in Sun and Rain, respectively (which they should), and Rock types get a Defensive boost.

I don't really think the problem is with the type, itself, just that there are no good Ice-type Pokemon for the most part.

I definitely agree on Avalugg. It's basically a physically defensive Cyrogonal. Cyrogonal is fast and has great Special Attack and Sp. Def but is horribly weak to physical moves. One non STAB Brick Break and it's out. Also yes, Ice types need a boost in Hail but their power should be halved in Sun. As for type combos, I do wonder what types would benefit Ice. Dark certainly wouldn't and Ground hasn't helped Mamoswine much. Fighting would be good and Steel would benefit it. I'm not sure how a Pokemon could be both Steel and Ice but I'm sure Game Freak could feasibly design. Also Ice/Dragon would be a great combination. So far it's only been used once and that was on Kyurem. Electric/Ice has made Frost Rotom really cool and would serve Ice pretty well.

 

[Tood]

I agree with everything mentioned above. The Ice types have pretty bad everything, stats, typing, resistances, movepool,etc. If Ice resisted at least some the types it is super effective on, it wouldn't be that bad. Game Freak needs to maybe alter the type chart a bit, add something that benifits Ice in hail and add Ice types with good stat distribution and typing.

I don't see why Game Freak hasn't seen the problems with this yet. If they wanted to have a type that can go against the Dragon type, why couldn't they just boost Ice instead of adding Fairy? (I have no problem with the Fairy type, just saying.) Maybe they just hate the type.

 

[Team Gaara]

Also yes, Ice types need a boost in Hail but their power should be halved in Sun. As for type combos, I do wonder what types would benefit Ice. Dark certainly wouldn't and Ground hasn't helped Mamoswine much. Fighting would be good and Steel would benefit it. I'm not sure how a Pokemon could be both Steel and Ice but I'm sure Game Freak could feasibly design. Also Ice/Dragon would be a great combination. So far it's only been used once and that was on Kyurem. Electric/Ice has made Frost Rotom really cool and would serve Ice pretty well.

Ironically, Weavile and Mamoswine are the best competitive, non-legendary Ice-types. We really need more Ice-types that have a second typing to help remedy at least a couple of weaknesses. More Ice/Dragon-types would be good. Basically any type that could help its weaknesses AND that learns a lot of different types of moves, since that's also a problem a lot of Ice-types have; they have no moves that can kill the Pokemon they are weak to.

 

[GhostFingers]

Ice should resist grass, no question. the Swinubs and Spheals of the poke-world really need the benefit. As for water i think it should be SE against water (since sub-zero temps freeze water creatures like fish), and take normal damage from water (since ice eventually melts in water, but it isn't really a fast process like the application of heat from fire). I think it's crazy that we had to wait 6 generations before ice could freeze water.

As for Hail, i agree that some boost defensively would be useful and viable without being broken.

 

[DasManiac]

Also yes, Ice types need a boost in Hail but their power should be halved in Sun. As for type combos, I do wonder what types would benefit Ice. Dark certainly wouldn't and Ground hasn't helped Mamoswine much. Fighting would be good and Steel would benefit it. I'm not sure how a Pokemon could be both Steel and Ice but I'm sure Game Freak could feasibly design. Also Ice/Dragon would be a great combination. So far it's only been used once and that was on Kyurem. Electric/Ice has made Frost Rotom really cool and would serve Ice pretty well.

Ironically, Weavile and Mamoswine are the best competitive, non-legendary Ice-types. We really need more Ice-types that have a second typing to help remedy at least a couple of weaknesses. More Ice/Dragon-types would be good. Basically any type that could help its weaknesses AND that learns a lot of different types of moves, since that's also a problem a lot of Ice-types have; they have no moves that can kill the Pokemon they are weak to.

I love Weavile but it's so darn fragile. If you don't wipe out your opponent in one hit, Weavile is pretty much gone. It's the opposite for Mamoswine. He has a High Defense I believe and he gets STAB Earthquake. Unfortunately he gets pawned by Fire, water, grass, and fighting types. Thick Fat can help it resist Fire but that still can't counter water types. You could risk using Sunny Day with another Pokemon on your team but that negates Thick Fat. Unfortunately there's no viable to get around his weaknesses.

 

[Norzan]

Ironically, Weavile and Mamoswine are the best competitive, non-legendary Ice-types. We really need more Ice-types that have a second typing to help remedy at least a couple of weaknesses. More Ice/Dragon-types would be good. Basically any type that could help its weaknesses AND that learns a lot of different types of moves, since that's also a problem a lot of Ice-types have; they have no moves that can kill the Pokemon they are weak to.

Ice/Fighting type combo would be awesome, SE STAB against against two of Ice weaknesses Rock and Steel, Fighting type pokemon can learn a bunch of Rock/Ground type moves covering Fire type weakness and Fighting type pokemon can also learn some Flying type moves covering Fighting type weakness. Come on GF do a Ice/Fighting pokemon already.

 

[Ambipom666]

I think a resistance to Fairy and/or Water would be nice. Hail needs more perks than just 100% accurate Blizzards and Ice Body/Snow Cloak. Freeze Dry was a step in the right direction, but Ice-types are still kind of lukewarm. I would guess that Game Freak thinks Ice types as is are really powerful, and is worried about making them too powerful. That's funny.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Dunno... Ice as a concept is meant to be hard but fragile (and not, these concepts aren't contradictory). I can't see Ice being resistant to anything else. At best, types based after "living things": Grass, Bug, and maaaaaybe Fairy and Dragon.

 

[VioletFlashlight]

They had the chance to change the type chart this time to make Ice type a better type defensively (offensively is one of the best types) but instead decided to buff Fire type wich pretty much confirms they have no intention of buffing Ice in the defensive department. But if i were to buff Ice defensively i would give a resistance to Dragon, Ground and Flying. Also an Ice type version of Thunder Wave/Will-O-Wisp would be a little to broken, at least if you are paralyzed/burned you can do something but you can't do crap when you are frozen.

Yeah, the FROZEN statues condition is almost the same as the SLEEP statues condition. Luckily, frozen statues is easier to undo since many fire type moves can unfreeze an ally in a double battle. If they were to introduce a frozen move similar to Thunderwave it would have to have a crappy accuracy like Sing or Grasswhistle.
Yeah, Ice needs some more resistance in the game. I love my Aurorus and I really wish it wouldn't get one hit K.O'd so much. >.<

 

[Neon Borealis]

I think that first, water should be cut short on it's availability on Ice Type attacks, Especially tm attacks. (with the exception of water/Ice types for obvious reasons). Second, Ice should be given a tweak or two in regards to Type matchups so that it can do better defensively (eg, give it a resistance to grass moves and make Rock be neutral) or offensively (if they want to over emphatize it's glass cannon nature), and finally give it more utility moves with better distribution.

Also, some stat changes in gen VII could be welcome.

 

[Zkat]

I would make ice super-effective against rock, do normal damage to water, and resist grass and fairy.

I also like the idea of a freezing move, but it would probably have to have low accuracy so that it isn't too broken. I'd give it 75% accuracy, like sleep powder.

 

[G50]

Ice should be immune to ice type attacks and resist water, grass and earth attacks. As for its weaknesses, I don't know why Fighting is effective on it. I understand Fire and how Rock and Steel can break glass (Ice).

Fighting type's SEness on Ice is probably due to well-trained Martial Artists (master level and higher) being able to break ice targets so easily. Just a theory though, since I've seen so many instances of ice sculptures being pulverized in one hit.

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I think Ice and Rock should be SE against each other instead of one way or the other. The most important thing I think, is to raise a few of Ice's strengths and lower the amount of weaknesses. I don't mind the current typings of Ice for some reason.

 

[Geminpala]

Ice should be immune to ice type attacks and resist water, grass and earth attacks. As for its weaknesses, I don't know why Fighting is effective on it. I understand Fire and how Rock and Steel can break glass (Ice).

Oh, f**k no. Being resisted by 7 types is terrible already.

And it suck GF didn't give the ice types some buff this gen, but there's still hope they will in the future. I think it would be good if, like in Gen I, Ice attacks hit fire-types for neutral damage. It would also help if they got better movepools ie. water-types can learn ice moves.... why can't more ice types learn Surf? (ironically, Sneasel and Weavile can learn Surf but their special att. is too bad to make good use of it).

I think that where they are really lacking at the moment is in the resistances department. Giving them a resistence to water moves, ground moves (ground is already supper effective on too many types) and dragon moves (debatable, with fairies being immune to them) would definitely help them out a lot.

GF, give us a Compound Eyes Ice type, please!

 

[Capricious Equilibrium]

Let it resist Water. Water is like Dragon-Types' baby, but a bit worse.

And put in more 3 stage Ice lines. Or give them decent stats. Or make more dual typed Ice-Types. Or give them Water-Type attacks. Or more Ice Megas.

 

[Almonds]

There are too many Water-type pokemons that have access to most Ice-type moves.

Make the majority of Ice-type moves exclusive to Ice-types. And maybe a Freezing move like the OP said.