Building the Perfect Ice Type Gym Leader

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Gym Leaders are some of the most powerful trainers in the Pokémon world and are the main hurdles a trainer most overcome throughout their journey. But the reality is that many of them are underwhelming, even during their post-game fights. To showcase what a Gym Leader should truly be, today I'm continuing my series where I build a "perfect" gym leader for every type in the game! A team that's not only challenging, but one that represents the type better than their in-game teams could ever hope to.

[@7DQuillion]

Why are ICE gyms ALWAYS LATE when you have SO MANY COUNTERS makes you wanna make an early ice gym

[@arielalejandrodelfabro1740]

It would be cool to have a region START with ice types instead of end Because Ice is super effective against flying, ground and grass

[@MerpMerpmerp-kq2xp]

Yes, with this you can also enjoy a earlier ice type

[@arielalejandrodelfabro1740]

@@MerpMerpmerp-kq2xp totally Is not a problem of strategy or designs or dificulty Is their placement Is soooo late that you found already 10 fighting types, 5 solid fire types and even could train steel types that take ages to train Ice types could be more fun earlier since you can defeat early types plus help you against types like dragon or ground that make some trouble

[@Spaget99]

I played a room hack where ice pokemon and hail were at the beginning. The first gym was ice and it was hard. It made ice types seem a lot better

[@jakariashafin8685]

Pokemon unbound did that and so much more

[@thegayghost872]

Every day I'm shocked that Ice doesn't resist Water

[@murozaki3547]

Yeah, the two types that absolutely should mutually resist each other.

[@Epicnetan]

I think Ice should be super effective against water but not resist water I think scald should be super effective against ice too because it’s basically hot water

[@LucarioredLR]

Well water does cause ice to melt...

[@EnbyOccultist]

@@LucarioredLR Trying melting the snow or ice on your driveway with a pot of water and report back how much ice there is after

[@jeremiecaban4243]

@@Epicnetanyeah then it could be Ice types freeze dry equivalent even if Ice doesn’t resist it. Just makes sense

[@InsertFunnyThingHere]

The real perfect ice gym leader is the one that doesn't show up like 70 hours imto the game when you already have like 5 different counters in your team to them

[@sailormarciano]

this!! i wish gamefreak would make an ice type gym earlier in the game, like the 3rd of 4th gym in a region, so that there is still some challenge and you dont just spam a fire or fighting move with any of the fully evolved Pokemon on your team lol.

[@iantaakalla8180]

I bet that if Ice was treated like Normal was treated, they would be known for being challenging. In the beginning of the game, there are plenty of Grass types and Flying types, so as to illustrate birds and plant-like Pokémon. That alone makes Ice types a good counter for supposed early-game stuff.

[@MaximVonarburg]

I love this vidéo idea!

[@rhinowithInternetaccess]

I find it funny that when you fight ice types you either have your entire team hard counter them or like half of you're team is 4x weak to ice There is no between

[@InsertFunnyThingHere]

@@rhinowithInternetaccess real and true actually.

[@superfrubblez6123]

A fun thing about thick fat is that while it halves fire damage meaning Mamoswine takes 1x damage from fire moves, it is still considered a super effective hit which would trigger the weakness policy without taking extra damage

[@zachpro5475]

Easily it’s a team of 6 dellibird

[@elkinvargas6481]

Future delobird or normal delibird?

[@tatianavignudelli8607]

@@elkinvargas6481 normal is the GOAT (seriously I beat Professor Sada's Roaring Moon with it)

[@legthieff]

nah a single level 3 snom better

[@itzspec123]

Nom nom the snom solos

[@hamdepaf6686]

@@elkinvargas6481 it's a gym leader with only delibirds and after the plot sends you into the future you have to rematch them with a full team of Iron Bundles that can newly learn scald that generation.

[@luluzin5022]

"Odds are Pokémon people will bring to this Gym wouldn't resist Ghost" *shows a picture of Garganacl*

[@shepskydad]

Still 2/3 😅

[@williamhowells806]

I'm glad some one said it cos I was going to

[@HeyLookAGun]

I came down here just to say that.

[@shinyarchen_39]

That Garganacl could have Sturdy, you never know

[@bulborb8756]

@@shinyarchen_39 but why run Sturdy when Purifying Salt is too good not to use as it gives garg an extra resistance and immunity to being statused

[@xRegretts]

Focusing on the types traits/brand is the way to go. It’s what diversifies this series. Anyone can go look at base stat totals and pick 6 pokemon but finding pokemon that fit the “brand” of a type and represent it as a whole is what makes this series so good.

[@xRegretts]

also idk if it is intentional yet- but i hope that you stray away from starters as most gym leaders don’t use them. just using regularly encountered pokemon that fit the branding of a type is such a cool and unique idea

[@clothieredward5248]

The only reason I can presume as to why Game Freak sees Ice as a late-game type is because of it’s super effective against Dragons, another late-game type.

[@mihai1997]

This type is LITERALLY the *coolest* type from all of them.

[@maniasonic5878]

Haha very ICE pun! get it?

[@Reitiranossaurobanguela]

LOL

[@thatdevdude]

Icy what you did there

[@Staarzz]

This is serious! Now is snow time for ice puns! The type’s reputation is below zero!

[@nolongeraperson]

Choosing Crabominable over one of the only Ice types ever sent to Ubers is why Ice Gym Leaders get a bad reputation. 😂

[@Solokeys-g7o]

Thats what i was thinking

[@specs.weedle]

yeah just ignore fast offensive mons like weavile or baxcalibur, time to throw in some crab people barely remember exists because like one trainer used it in its debut region, which also doesn’t allow you access to the area where it evolves until victory road which is when you’ll already have a fully established team

[@nolongeraperson]

@@specs.weedle While I understand your complaint, that doesn't really hold up in analogy as it being a weak choice. I.E. Tyranitar. You can't get Larvitar in it's debut generation until you've literally beat all 16 gym leaders and the Johto League. Yet it was on a lot of teams.

[@shinyarchen_39]

@@specs.weedleother Ice-types have offensive stat spreads, Crabominable’s just offensive to look at

[@specs.weedle]

@@shinyarchen_39 imagine what alola mons would be like if the mon designers didn't fall for the "island time is a thing so let's make everything really slow" meme

[@rg6637]

No Baxcalibur, Weavile, Frosmoth, or Cloyster is very surprising. Galarian Darm should have been in the team instead of an honorable mention.

[@shadycactus7896]

Cloyster instead of Lapras?

[@bulborb8756]

@@shadycactus7896 will shell smash, cloyster becomes quite terrifying with icicle spear and rock blast thanks to skill link

[@nolongeraperson]

@@rg6637 I could see the others being used on other teams, well except poor Frosmoth since Bug has already been done. G Darm not being in despite being pure Ice is a crime lol

[@Pi-eipp]

@@nolongerapersonthere can be overlap

[@nolongeraperson]

@@Pi-eipp I doubt it. You may be right, but since he's a content creator I feel like he's going to not use the same Pokémon twice.

[@deadriccow]

After all gym leaders are made you need a rom hack of your own game with all gym leaders you built them

[@TheHibiscus]

Definitely, I wanna play that so bad.

[@lucasn.m.755]

I have a suggestion… I think you should make a video at some point testing these teams. Don’t tell people what gym they’ll be facing. Just tell them to bring a balanced team and then surprise them. That’ll be the true indication of whether these teams are competitively viable.

[@arnae9532]

Ice monotypes are somewhat decent nowadays, still in my opinion I'd say your team can still be improved. Aurora Veil is an enabler for powerful offensive teams over more longer defensive playstyles. There is no better Pokemon than Baxcalibur for an Ice Monotype. The role of taking any physical hits would be best suited for something like avalugg, it becomes unbeatable on the physical side under the snow, and provides meaningful support with rapid spin, which is crucial since stealth rocks are a death sentence for ice teams, and has the possibility to heal. I'd say Weavile, Arctozolt, Arctovish, Cloyster are also honorable mentions.

[@specs.weedle]

I’d personally use Alolan Sandslash as a rapid spinner because of Slush Rush giving it a rather fast Rapid Spin, which also gives it a speed boost to sweep with while it gets pretty useful offensive moves in Ice Spinner/Triple Axel and Iron Head (to hit rock types), and Earthquake as coverage for fire types. Sure it’s 4x weak to fire and fighting but it has teammates to help with that, but it importantly only takes neutral damage from steel and importantly rock moves, with its rock resistance making it take less damage from the rocks it’s meant to spin away. It also gets Knock Off to hit fire types neutrally in case you want to swap out your steel STAB for something different (especially if you have earthquake to hit rock types super effectively), and it also has great synergy with Rapid Spin as it threatens spinblocking ghost types with a super effective 97BP dark move that removes their item. Oh yeah it also gets Swords Dance if you need a setup sweeper, but that’d be better off for a set without Rapid Spin due to 4 moveslot syndrome. You’d probably be better off with a different setup sweeper like Weavile or especially Baxcalibur, but I’m not dismissing SD Snowslash as a viable option, especially in hail. It also gets Spikes/Stealth Rock if you want to lean into the utility side.

[@shadycactus7896]

Also getting rid of that Crabominable is a must lol, it should be replaced by Weavile

[@iantaakalla8180]

Crabombinable only works if it has an ability to set up Trick Room on switch-in and also use abilities with priority and has Trick Room so it can always be in Trick Room.

[@hamdepaf6686]

I also think that saying "ice is a defensive type" is a bit of a weird conclusion. The type is what everyone says, a type that is best suited for glass cannon attackers being the single best offensive type in the game ESPECIALLY with a move like Freeze dry. That is also why the ice types that do succeed in making a splash are fast attackers and not bulky mons. And while I get the argument that most ice type pokemon are designed defensively and are supposed to be this weird "bad defensive type but super good defensive stats". However this exact design philosophy is also the reason why Ice is seen as such a bad type and trying to limit yourself to that is exactly what made so many gym leaders before such weak fights.

[@joshuapineda8708]

Agreed. Alolan Ninetales without Baxcalibur is a genuine waste. Crabominable is alright, but Bax and G-Darm should’ve been shoe-ins

[@artbox_7553]

Ok let’s get this over with before someone else does “Hail yeah”

[@novastar6112]

Hail H- [user was banned for horrendous joke]

[@stallalalla]

0:01 wow, this is dedication. Said he’d build the best ice type gym leader and literally shows footage of him right off the bat.

[@DCT-tt8ib]

So, I really like this "Creating hypothetical perfect Gym Leader teams for each type" series. And during the wait between the Bug-type video and this one, I got kinda bored and drafted up my own versions of teams for the remaining types (And made slightly modified versions of your teams; I swapped Smeargle for Bewear on the Normal-type team and Galvantula for Vikavolt on the Bug-type team). I'm a fairly causal Pokemon player, so I based my teams mainly around type coverage, some brief glances at competitive tierlists, and personal biases, so I've been excited to see how your teams differentiated from mine. And shockingly, my Ice-type team was very similar to yours; I had Mammoswine, Froslass, Lapras (Though it was originally Cloyster), and Alolan Ninetails on my team as well. As for differences, I had Galarian Darmanitan in place of Crabominable. I enforced a "At least one monotype per team if there's room" rule onto myself when making the teams, and Galarian Darmanitan met that rule on technicality, with its Zen Mode providing a counter for Ice's resistance to... well, Ice. I would've used Crabominable, had I not already used it for my Fighting-type team; I had a strict "Each Pokemon can only be used once per team" rule and was going in the order Bulbapedia has the types listed, and since Ice is listed way later than fighting... you get the idea. As for Cetitan, I had Alolan Sandslash in place of it. This is mainly because I had a couple extra spots left and wanted to place in some personal favorites, hence Froslass and Alolan Sandlash were included. Plus, I wanted to avoid type-overlap, and since I already had Galarian Darmanitan as an Ice-monotype, I didn't want to include anymore Ice-monotypes. And to be honest... I kinda forgot Cetitan exists; It's one of the less memorable new Pokemon from Gen IX, to me. I also decided to give each of my teams a Gym Leader, and for the Ice team, I went with Candice from Gen IV. I originally had Lorelei from Gen I (My actual favorite Ice-type trainer) in that spot, but it felt weird demoting an Elite Four member to trainer status. For my Normal and Bug teams, I picked Larry and Guzma (In my headcanon he becomes a Gym Leader somewhere after the events of Sun and Moon) respectively.

[@harrisontownsend910]

Can you tell me the members of your fire type team?

[@DCT-tt8ib]

@@harrisontownsend910 It's not one of my favorite teams, since Fire isn't one of my favorite types and I already used some of my favorite Fire-types earlier (Volcarona, Chandelure, Delphox, and Talonflame). But... -Arcanine -Blaziken -Turtonator -Charizard -Scovillain -Celuredge And Flannery is the Gym Leader. I had an earlier version with Torkoal as the token monotype and either Camerupt or Coalossal in place of Charizard for type coverage. I ultimately swapped Torkaol for Arcanine since I like the latter a smidge more, and I realized having a x4 weakness to water in the form of Camerupt/Coalossal (Two Pokemon I don't really like) wasn't worth it, so I replaced that spot with a Fire-type I actually liked I had a rule where for the three starter-type teams, I needed at least one starter on that team. Blaziken got priorty for being my favorite Fire-type starter. And while Charizard isn't one of my favorite Fire-type starters (I'd say it's tied with Infernape for 4th/5th place), it is an insanely iconic Fire-type, so I felt he deserved a spot. Turtonator and Scovillain aren't my favorite Fire types; They're mainly here for type coverage tbh. If I didn't care for type coverage that much, I think I would've included Incineroar and then either Armorouge, Salazzle, or Centiscorch in their place.

[@harrisontownsend910]

@DCT-tt8ib Thanks man. Blazikin is probably my favorite pokemon so I'm glad he got a spot. The fire type is probably one of my favorite types and I always go with the fire starter.

[@insertcreativename802]

I think that a type should focus more on their types traits, and I have an important reason for that. Gym Leaders are major obstacles yes, but they used to also be *Teachers* Erica & Koga show you how useful status effects can be Fantina shows you how important the Phys/Special Split can be Candice shows you the power of weather & evasion boosts Whitney teaches you what an annoying B*tch is. Norman teaches you to choose when to play offensively & defensively. The Striaton Trio show you the importance of Type Effectiveness Korrina shows the value of Mega Evolution in her 1 on 1 duel By making each team focus on the traits of the types, you can make each Gym Battle both a Challenging Milestone on a journey, but also a lesson for new players on how that types works & encourages the player to test it out. When a new play battles a Gym Leader, the Leader will sit them down, and tell them: “This is my type, here’s what it’s good at, here’s its weaknesses, and here’s how I worked around them. Why don’t you try experimenting with it yourself to see what you can do with it?”. This might just be a me thing, but that sounds much more interesting to both play around with, make a team around, & fight against then just making a team of the 6 strongest Pokémon you can.

[@AnonEcho98]

A bit confused about the Fantina bit, but yeah.

[@Buttonjira]

@@AnonEcho98Her team has mons that tank special moves, meaning you are forced to use physical moves if you want more effect. So pretty much, instead of using an alakazams shadow ball, use a Gyarados crunch

[@mastermarkus5307]

I agree that he's very much focusing on the kind of tech that feels only appropriate in late-game, when a person would definitely be familiar with type advantages and how most moves work, and I would've kind of liked to see how he would build a team that has a challenge, but wouldn't totally lock out first-time or very young players.

[@pedrocto9474]

The best way of teaching players about new strats is by beating the fuck out of them with said strats

[@TiagoRemixV3]

After this series of videos is over, you should totally do a "postgame rematch" or "elite 4" team, in which you actually do cross the line you set for the teams, such as the ace featuring a legendary/mythical pokemon. Having a mono ice team without articuno in it feels thematically lacking.

[@StarshadowMelody]

give it kyurem instead it'll be hilarious

[@shadowbladesabre1945]

Tbh these do feel like post game teams. They feel a bit too strong for even the 8th gym.

[@Stepingstoneforhope]

"The only pokemon people are gonna bring to this team dont resist ghost" Shows the ONLY PURE ROCK TYPE THAT CAN RESIST GHOST

[@joostkersjes4349]

I like the approach to weather in this video. Putting too many eggs into that basket would make the team very weak to any opponent with anti- weather tech.

[@kellyrants7673]

At the same time it's also in line with his philosophy that properly preparing for a gym should be rewarded.

[@vinsmoke9723]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do a tournament with these gym leaders when you’re done! I’d love to see which monotype leader is superior

[@lanaishamoore5524]

I feel like a truly elite gym leader would find a nice balance between the two analogies. Also great video I’m a new follower and have really enjoyed the content.

[@thepuppet4321]

Imagine picking the stupid yeti crab over the chad snowman with a built in Choice Band as an ability. SMH.

[@specs.weedle]

yeah this video felt like it was taking the "well there's a lot of defensive ice types" thing way too far having good defensive stats isn't going to matter if you're weak to common offensive types while resistant to just your own type, and if you're really slow then the majority of mons will be able to get off an extra hit before you do anything anyways and a lot of offensive ice types were just ignored, even though offense is one of the things ice is great at, and one of the things it's known for

[@shadycactus7896]

@@specs.weedleA good ice team NEEDS a Weavile, end of discussion

[@bulborb8756]

@@shadycactus7896 if not baxcalibur

[@coolskeleton3446]

​@@shadycactus7896 Arctozolt

[@fishyfishyfishy500akabs8]

@@shadycactus7896(or Chien Pao but that thing is a war crime)

[@TheRezyn]

85 BP Ice Shard isn't real, it can't hurt you monkaS

[@kidayuki9884]

Hear me out: A weather elite four

[@F14thunderhawk]

i would oneup that and say each E4 would have a specific weather + terrain. the obvious ones are Sun + grassy and Rain + electric.

[@rocketpenguin2207]

Giving Crabominable Iron-Fist boosted bolt-beam coverage was honestly kinda evil

[@iantaakalla8180]

I agree. Why give a Pokémon decent Arctozolt-ish coverage when it can never use it?

[@a_person5668]

Ghost is actually super useful on this team beyond even what you said. This is because of good ol’ brick break, a fighting move that instantly breaks reflect, light screen, and of course, aurora fail, making the team far less tanky once ninetales goes down… but given Froslass is immune, this can be stopped in a way

[@tangerinepaint3643]

Kid named Scrappy: Anyway I checked and wow, not many mons get both Scrappy and Brick Break, and the ones that do are either carried by a mega (Kangaskhan) or just kinda suck (Miltank, Hisuian Decidueye)

[@superfrubblez6123]

I personally feel like crabominable while strong and having a good typing, is far too slow and frail to put in this team. I think something like baxcalibur with, decent speed, high hp, and even higher attack would fit well. Not to mention its thermal exchange ability would dissuade enemies from recklessly clicking fire moves lest they boost baxcalibur’s power even further

[@KaysonVanOrman-ef4ku]

7:18 Ice Shard having 85 power and 90 accuracy is crazy.

[@IsaiahSuarez-g5z]

Extreme speed wishes it could be this strong, besides half accuracy isnt that bad

[@ninjakirby777]

I swear I’ve had a conversation with my friend about how good Crabominable’s typing would be on a fast sweeper type pokemon, like imagine if there was a third member of the Weavile, sneasler family who was Ice Fighting type with their sort of statspread.

[@Jeikobu]

That would be amazing. Even with snow making defensive ice types better, it's weaknesses just do not make it as suited to slower tanky pokemon, so going more with embracing the glass cannon style with maybe enough bulk to live a hit would be the best (Also the idea of making Weavile an evolution sounds so cool)

[@Adir-Yosef]

pretty much all ice type pokemon. the reason everyone except GF agrees with the "ice is glass cannon" opinion is because how the type is made.

[@BwanaCrab]

Idk if anyone else have said this, but one common set for Froslass is Triple Axel, Poltergeist, Will'O'Wisp, Spikes with a wide lens(?) to boost accuracy. 99% accurate triple axels are a threat, and so is poltergeist. Having an 82.5% accurate will'o is also very dangerous for physical attackers. Imagine the gym leader switches into Froslass on your close combat, only to then burn you, or threaten a burn when you switch. The chance it can also deal a lot of damage with triple axel OR poltergeist makes it hard to predict. The added threat of spikes means you can't let it be either. Although, some sets usually run focus sash to guarantee one layer of spikes

[@jefforear641]

3:01, Mikey scare! 😂😂

[@rhodescolossus8184]

Sheer Cold is such an iconic move I think an Ice type gym leader should use it. I build this abomination: *Walrein* Item: Leftover Ability: Thick Fat/Ice Body Stockpile Rest Sleep Talk Sheer Cold I understand that this might not be fun to play against in a game, my broader point is just that I think Sheer Cold should be used and I thought this would be a fun build to share.

[@Lorenzo-qx1bp]

Easy just use tera ice inceneorar

[@arininquotes8396]

Snow should have kept the HP chip of hail *and* gotten the defense buff for ice types only.

[@ikeeneye]

18:34 NOT Crabominable.

[@vojtech_ledvinka]

14:47 Another mistake, if garganacl have Purifying Salt ability (which is the most used ability in VGC, idk in OU), it resist ghost

[@darkestlight660]

Im ....pretty sure that would be intimidate, the best ability in VGC easy

[@KanderUdon]

@@darkestlight660hes saying its the most used ability on garganacl. Obviously its not the most used overall its on one pokemon

[@mistahjenkins4826]

@@darkestlight660 ... Buddy... Garganacl can't get Intimidate.

[@vojtech_ledvinka]

@@darkestlight660 i mean for garganacl

[@arcanegale285]

Frosmoth's a mon that adores the snow change so much, with veil and snow up it is living basically any unboosted hit that's not a crit and is getting that quiver off, which sets it up beautifully to sweep proof: "0 SpA Charizard Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Ice Scales Frosmoth with an ally's Aurora Veil: 114-135 (40.5 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO" 0 Atk Charizard Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Frosmoth in Snow with an ally's Aurora Veil: 224-266 (79.7 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO I also know from my days at the ladder, Eiscue is not a threat if its face is ice, it's dying to any special hit and it is almost never moving first, and while Cetitan is a good choice for slush rush, Sandslash is better as the extra speed is unnecessary for you with the ability active due to the fact that Sandslash in snow is able to outspeed every pokemon that has a base speed stat of 178 or less (spoiler alert the only 2 pokemon that have a higher speed stat than that are Regieleki and Deoxys Speed) and the 170 hp stat from cetitan isn't really usable due to the fact that you're losing half of the stat by using belly drum, which you still have to be able to set up on the other hand, Sandslash has SD, and a move that is able to hit all of ice's weaknesses, except fighting: iron head covers rock, earthquake covers steel, fire and rock, and then round up the moveset with the stab icrash and you're still probably likely to win against fighting types due to them not resisting your stabs/you can flinch them my team would be Alolatales with the same moveset except Dark Pulse is Encore, Sandslash with the aforementioned moveset and either a Life Orb or a Chople Berry, Baxcalibur with Glaive Rush, Ddance, Ice Shard and Ice Spinner with a Life Orb, a Mamoswine with EQ, Icicle Crash Stone Edge and Knock Off with a Choice Scarf, Cryogonal with Heavy-Duty Boots, Rapid Spin, Freeze Dry, Snowscape and Recover and finally round things up with a Frosmoth with Quiver, Ice Beam, Bug Buzz and Tera Blast (tera ground) with a Weakness Policy

[@coolskeleton3446]

I would suggest scale shot and icicle spear with Baxcalibur and a loaded dice and also earthquake and yea Ddance can be good

[@arcanegale285]

@@coolskeleton3446 it is also a set I forgot about

[@almighty-ampharos]

Your abbreviation of Assault Vest has me loling 😂

[@xicufwm]

14:50 I think "makes fun noises in Gen 3" should be held in priority when choosing moves for these Pokémon. I mean, who cares about accuracy or type effectiveness when it can go "voooooosh pripripripripripri"

[@abdulpadela4738]

I like this series so far but one thing I want to note is that it seems to be built with the impression these are the last gyms the player will face before the champion and not say, the first gym on the circuit. Imagine asking a kid with a level 13 starter to deal with this team lol. I understand you need to make assumptions but I’d appreciate if there was like some discussion of what you’d change if this was the first gym vs last gym.

[@gavinaaric]

You should definitely make Froslass the lead and make it like Haydunn's Frostitute

[@The1trueLeo]

I can’t believe D-man didn’t make it

[@TheForeignGamer]

The day will eventually come when pokemon gyms have dynamic teams and can be realistically tackled in whatever order you want, so ice monotype runs that don't fully suck will get their day!

[@7DQuillion]

12:08 bro knew that he was doing with the name

[@asaka616]

Simply picking the best of the type isn't enough. I like the idea of the team taking advantage of what that type can do and what makes them special is fantastic.

[@Dusxio]

I think Traits is the best thing to focus on. It makes the battles more interesting and memorable. Best Pokemon just ends up being 'who can hit or be hit the hardest'. Valid, sure, but I feel things like Whitney's Miltank get stories passed around more than just 'Norman's 2 slackings hit me hard'. And it makes the Type Specialist more impactful. It's not just 'having pokemon with the type'. It's 'using the type to present a specific challenge'.

[@vojtech_ledvinka]

7:19 There's mistake, ice shard is 40 base power and 100 accuracy

[@shepskydad]

whoops! the best part is that I did it twice lol

[@vojtech_ledvinka]

@@shepskydad yeah xd

[@iantaakalla8180]

Ice Shard doesn’t really feel like a 40 bp move on some of the more physical Ice Pokémon - it just feels like it can delete hordes of Pokémon.

[@dankicks]

I once theorised something like this and had Abomasnow holding Eject Pack as a second Snow Warning/Veil user. Fun!

[@alexbedel6320]

Great list. This is my favorite type. Glad you included frosslass, it is my personal favorite in the franchise. Looking forward to your Dark Gym.

[@mayday2237]

I think snow has genuinely done a lot to refine the type and it's identity. And snow even if it doesn't have perfect synergy with every ice type can still benifit all of them

[@DeftPetal]

Arctozolt always makes my list. A menace in the snow with its Slush Rush ability and its signature move Bolt Beak and don’t forget the classic Blizzard beatdown! Bolt x Beam coverage alongside a slew of ground, flying and water moves to pick from. An Ice Ace in the making!

[@model-ss7386]

I think its a bit silly and a bit ironic that you included Crabonimable into the team to represent Ice's strong natural bulk + offensive prowess, but thus inadvertently included the weakest/frailest link into the team. Crabominable is almost infamous for being too frail and slow to do the job of bulky offense outside of Trick Room, despite what its stats would like you to think. Drain Punch without setup is just not strong enough of a move to have him function that way, cause of its awkwardly middling BP and easily/widely resisted offensive typing (Fairys, Flying and Ghost just dunk it). Sure Aurora Veil + Assault Vest would make it bulky but like, he cant supplement his bulk if things can easily switch into his Drain Punch and outrun him into a neutral (or even positive) trade. And the rest of his move doesnt provide any utility besides dmg, like a Knock Off or Sucker Punch would. I think that Froslass and Mamoswine basically does what Crabominable does already but better. With that teamslot now up for grabs, the team here is now lacking an Ice Type represantative for what Ice is typically known for - Oppresive Offense. Think Weavile, Chien Pao, and well, the Ice Darmanitan you mentioned lol. You could argue that Crabominable represents that archtype for ice as well due to how high his Atk stat is and how wide his coverage is. But oppressive offense cant happen if youre too slow and frail to switch in for value or get multiple attacks off/set up something with massive value on a free switch. Sure, his dmg is nice. But its not choice band/scarf Darmanitan level nice. Its not Knock Off Weavile level nice. And its not Sword Dance Chien Pao level nice So TL:DR - Although Crabominable is an understandable choice to be included into an Ice Type Gym team to represent strong natural bulk and strong offense, it in practice is the worst for this role due to needing a game changing team support (Trick Room) that the rest of the team isn't already equipped to provide nor synergize with, just to function as we intended it to in the first place. This stems from a problem of trying to meet ice type's two gimmicks of strong natural bulk and oppressive offense in the middle too much. So instead of compressing both gimmicks into one pokemon slot to represent both at once, itd be better if there was just a healthier mix of mons that leans more on one side of both ends (which the rest of the team already fantastically does, btw) All in all, very nice list/team for an Ice Gym. I just kinda disagree with Crabominable being a good pick for the team, and wanted to go in depth with why I think so. So thank you if you (or anybody else) read this. But also like, sorry to subject ya with my rambling lol

[@buplix8890]

Counterpoint: Big fucking ice monster with boxing gloves is cool

[@mr.stomatopoda]

@@buplix8890True

[@carsonic_]

10:34 sounds like you were having fun making this video! N(ice) job!

[@brenlisondra3806]

thoughts about Avalugg? i know its SPD and SpDef are abyssmal, but I can't scratch the itch of landing a Body Press with 184 DEF (276 under Snow). It also has access to Iron Defense, which boosts this monstrous Defense further. in terms of utility, it also has Rapid Spin for hazard removal, Aurora Veil for screen and Ice Spinner for STAB and terrain removal.

[@dialog_box]

I definitely prefer the way you’re doing it where each teams is focused on the strengths of its type as a whole, rather than the best Pokémon of its type.

[@ForeverKite42]

Strengths and Usage! Imagine being in the Pokemon World, watching a battle, and seeing a type do what it does so well it inspires you to become a monotype trainer! For myself, as a fan of the series since day 1, that was Physic, Fighting, Water, Fire, Ground and Fairy. Each of my favorite types are very entertaining to make teams around and the endless diversity leaves you wondering how you can improve yourself and even cheer on those who manage to defeat you! A gym leader should be proud when they are defeated! Personally, I am not a fan of types that are mostly popular because of the designs, like dragon... They didn't even get good until Garchomp and I will die on this hill. Just being a type shouldn't make you popular. You need to REALLY add something to the type or have great ways to highlight how awesome it is! Any Pokemon that makes you think "WOW! This type is so awesome!" should always be high in consideration, like my Garchomp example.

[@johnny9vicente]

In regard to the weather, I'm all for making use of it, but I think you went way too hard on it. One ability setter like A-Ninetales would be fine, and an awesome highlight/use of it. But having added TWO others Pokemon with Snowscape to keep it going felt too much. I get it, making the most out of it. But it more comprehensive to bring all of different Ice Types characteristics and play styles, then to just heavily relying on the weather gimmick.

[@The1andonlySorom]

I think the non-weather Pokémon should be like the 4th or 5th Pokémon because by then the weather would have disappeared

[@generalwd40]

At 14:10 your bad pun counter was at 6, but in reality that needed to be 7 (you made the first pun at 1:12). Very good video ! At 7:18 you have write that the base power of Ice Shard is 85 with 90 in precision, WTFFF !!! It is 40 power and 100 precision 😢

[@oldscoolgaming6700]

My Ice Team has Alolan Ninetales, Mamoswine, Beartic, Baxcalibur, Lapras, and Froslass.

[@ASquared544]

Personally, gym leaders have never focused on using the “best” Pokémon. They’re meant to be a challenge to the player, but if you wanna challenge the best of the best of a type, go online and do competitive there. It’s more important from a single player game design perspective for gym leaders to be Interesting and a Learning Experience. Highlighting the types best traits is how you do that. Perhaps going all in on defense was not the best choice for ice. It was a good and unorthodox choice that will certainly teach a lot of players. But maybe one Glass Cannon would’ve been good, as the average isn’t necessarily representative of the types strengths. Still, reading about this team was a learning experience, so I’m sure being on the receiving end would be far more educational.

[@kargoncoppercoin2093]

Crabominable has been ruined for me after I tried to use one in my original playthrough of Moon and being stuck with a crabrawler until the end of the game instead because of its evolution method, only to be dissatisfied at how bad it still was after I finally evolved it. Jokes on me for seeing crabrawler and deciding that I liked it enough to use without knowing about the regions layout lol

[@shepskydad]

Can't wait to make my Worst Gen 7 Pokémon video so I can trash its reputation lol

[@specs.weedle]

i love waiting until victory road to get an evolution for my pokemon that's outclassed by so many other fully evolved pokemon obtainable much earlier

[@rayofhop3]

Can't wait for steel! I hope my boy aggron is there but if its not its still okay!

[@StormlordOG]

Still think Snow should have instead slowed down all non-ice types by 25%, since I'd assume non ice types would have trouble moving quickly whith all that Snow on the Ground

[@ASquared544]

I mean, if you’re building a team around a type, and you *aren’t* including their respective Terrain/Weather… what the hell are you doing? Weather only lasts up to 5-8 turns anyway, the whole team doesn’t need to be based around the weather, just the openers

[@robertoalexandermendezmore408]

the perfect ice type gym leader is just a bunch of glass canons with access to ground, fire and fighting moves.... and maybe a psychic terrain setter. and no, ice type isnt weard, is actually the most simple and straight foward type in the game, is glass cannon type, that GF just suck in designing ice mons until gen 8, is just another a different problem

[@KaysonVanOrman-ef4ku]

I hate to be the “Um, actually” guy and Shepsky does a really great job with these videos, 14:45 Garganacl will pretty often be resisting ghost.

[@JuniperLea]

Was hoping to see Froslass on the team, her fighting immunity and hail/snow synergy are really valuable for an ice team, though I might be biased since she's my favorite ice type.

[@bennyk384]

I think in future videos, it would be cool to see both a weather and non-weather team, because trying to strike a balance seems impossible. I'd also love to see if you used gimmicks (megas, z-moves, dynamax, terratype). Buuuut, i understand that'd take bloody ages.

[@ASquared544]

I would make Lapras have Perish Song for shits and giggles. But I guess that’s more Ghost Type’s deal.

[@dogishappy0]

I've binged this entire video series in one sitting and can't wait for the next one! Take my Sub!

[@ds2465]

Sorry but not feeling this team; feels like you are really missing some of the MVPs of the ice type. I get that not all ice types fit on a snowscape team, but not having Weavile feels wrong.

[@bigfudge2031]

I feel like you should have gone for bright powder on the froslass, combine that with snow cloak and thunder wave and you have yourself a nightmare of a Pokemon to deal with.

[@zplazma5557]

As someone who plays smogon monotypes… crabomnible SUCKS. It’s not the design it’s the getting one hit by anything and also being slowwww

[@pketr5]

Step 1 on making an ice type gym: make it doubles for double blizzard spam. That freeze chance would happen at some point.

[@FiniteMan1933]

Ignoring Bax,Weavile, Frosmoth and 2 Darmanitan forms is simply absurd.

[@waapi1914]

Cetitan design process was like: If we already have a sand shark, why not an snow whale

[@faby6515]

Time to build this in my Pokemon Violet run. God I love Pokemon.

[@AwesomeRaptor21]

Throwing this in when the series is still young. Normal is probably gonna be another challenging type to build a team around due to them not really having a cohesive strategy. That being said, if I ever had the opportunity to design a gym team for a pokemon game, it would a normal type baton pass team. Fast baton passers with boosting moves like ambipom, dodrio, and smeargle can pass to slower and bulker pokemon like ursaluna and farigaraf or frail powerhouses like exploud for them to wreck havoc. Cyclizar with shed tail or wish passers can also keep the team healthy as well for an absolutely harrowing fight. That mechanic is banned from smogon for a reason, it is too good. EDIT: Can you tell this was the first one of these videos I saw and didn't bother to check if there was a normal type video first?

[@arkhamj8181]

If you've fought red in SoulSilver you understand why Lapras is here.

[@EleanorPaine]

Everyone else: Boo Crabominable sucks! Me: Haha yeti crab go brrrr

[@strike732]

I just found your channel this series is really cool I’ll look forward to seeing all the other types of I’m going to try and build this team I would have loved to see articuno or glacion in the team but that is just because I like those two XD You earned my sub for sure :3

[@Zoroarkarceus123]

People may hate the **Crabb**, but honestly it's an extremely underrated Pokémon. I'd personally replace Cetitan with Zen!G!Dar instead of it being an alt for Crabominable, because I feel like it's too good a Pokémon to pass up, but Cetitan is a titan in its own right. Plus, Crabominable fits Ice's theming better of being an underdog powerhouse.

[@dracoberry]

3:03 HAIL YEAH! ...wait hail is no longer in the game? ...oh, snow no

[@simonteesdale9752]

Honestly, I like the idea of pseudo-weather teams for types associated with weather . The starting Pokemon having a weather-setting ability, then the next couple of Pokemon capitalising on the weather. Round that out with end of the team being able to operate in/out of their respective weather.

[@xavierfedoris9166]

I think this question should be half and half pick good Pokémon and focus on their type traits and I love the way that one ice type is a giant woolly mammoth and a woolly fuzzy crab that punches super hard love the vids and keep up the work my dog loving friend

[@Camus1025]

Nice thing about combining Thick Fat with Weakness Policy is that Fire attacks still register as Super Effective, despite the damage to Mamoswine being halved. Always nice to get better options to pop your WP.

[@thomasbuchheit8467]

Early into competitive VGC, before the paradox Pokemon were legal, I built a team focused around cetitan slush rush. He was a menace. Tried using it after each new season and he's fallen off. Now I think about it, I should update the team and see if I can still use him.

[@nullgator8073]

Would be interested to see "early gym" versions of these teams with 3-4 Pokemon and not all fully evolved

[@mediumchicago_pizza]

maybe when weather is involved just copout and make an alternate non-weather team lol

[@Zamasuthealmighty]

I think you should do rock type next! They seem like a very underrated type that have some unique Pokemon in it!

[@TinyDove1678]

HAIL YEAH. (Where are the Micky fans)

[@Blutexdoingsomething]

I'm kinda disappointed on how the team turned out, especially since you actively refused to use actually good ice types and instead stick to "defensive" mons the final one in particular feels like a missed opportunity as baxcaliburr would have been perfect as it can abuse snow to set up with sword dance and then snowball (pun intended) with scale shot boosting its speed and it also can't be burned due to it's ability

[@specs.weedle]

yeah i think he burnt down the kitchen so hard by including froslass and crabominable that it looped back around and made everything frozen the entire team would be better if he actually decided to play to each type's actual strengths and not just go "well this chart of a type's average stats has these stats as the highest ones, so I should build the team around these stats" even though that chart includes mons that are actually terrible bringing up the average for any given stat just because they have one or two good stats without any other capabilities that let them make use of it base stats are about as far from being everything as it gets; there are way too many examples to list of mons that are good in spite of low BST or bad despite having high BST due to all sorts of factors like typing, abilities, moves, how the stats are distributed, etc

[@angusfreemantle]

U should make a 19th video when u simulate every team battle and see they rank

[@nolongeraperson]

Welp, time to delete the other videos and redo them with hidden abilities unlocked.

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

Ice gyms always being late is a major issue, but making them early game can be a bit of an issue for balancing because it can lead into situations where you'd need to bring a specific Pokemon to the gym. I think if an Ice gym was 3rd or 4th it'd hit that sweet spot in my opinion

[@a.z.pantera5577]

I'm actually glad you went with what you did, rather than going full meta. It's more fun to bring out the potential of lesser used mons like the yeti crab. And also funny to see people mald about being smacked by the yeti crab rather than, say, Baxcalibur.

[@TheMovieSequelDude49]

You should do a dark type gym leader next because of how neglected the dark type is in terms of gym leader rep.

[@eesev2017]

these are just good monotype teams, not gym leaders. Need to be more thematic around the ace and less strict about defensive typing matching the specialty

[@eesev2017]

E.g., Lance and Claire being the “flying dragon” and “water dragon” masters