How Pokemon Saved the Ice Type

[@MilkJugA_]

i think the way the ice type was in gen 1 made sense, it was this seemingly useless type, but is actually the only way to deal with dragon types. it was like a secret mechanic with the specific reward of having an easier time against lance

[@107Pedro]

I can see that, specialy since dragon was a defense only thing in gen1 since it only had 1 move 😂

[@henlohenlo689]

also they was more powerful pokemon. so ice wasnt weaker only the graph was but the type made up for it other ways.

[@simonteesdale9752]

Ice also wasn't that bad in gen 1. Offensively: Fire didn't resist ice, and steel didn't exist yet. (So only Water and Ice resisted Ice). Blizzard was 120BP and 90% accurate, so Ice had one of the best attacks in the game. Defensively: Freeze was basically an OHKO, so being immune to it was really good. There were no good fighting moves (that weren't exclusive to Hitmonlee). The only relevant rock move was Rock Slide. Steel didn't exist yet.

[@hindelsoft4650]

Also all ice types were dual types with a good secondary type. This made sense.

[@Aquilenne]

Even competitively, Ice's weaknesses in gen 1 also didn't matter as much. Fire was a type that most people were hesitant to use attacks from because it didn't offer much in the way of coverage against relevant threats, and it gave opponents the chance to unfreeze their pokemon. Fighting moves sucked with Submission being the best one, and all the fighting type pokemon being bad. Steel didn't exist The only relevant weakness Ice had was Rock Slide, which was generally only used by the also ice weak Golem and Rhydon, making it a mutual weakness while the Ice type outspeeds (and in the case of Lapras/Jynx has good odds to OHKO). Meanwhile its ice resistance was good when Blizzard was one of the best offensive attacks in the game that also had a reasonable distribution, and possibly even more importantly, being ice type gave immunity to the secondary effects of ice attacks, so no random permanent (until hit with a fire move) random freezes from an enemy's blizzard. Then with Blizzard being such a great attack, getting STAB with it is strong.

[@mcpuzzler1368]

Gotta love how the biggest buff to Ice Types is the fact that they can not be Ice Type

[@bagonsoul]

That's... pretty sad when you think about it.

[@justsightseeing1]

this beg a question... is there any pokemon that have tera ice as its first preference of tera?

[@Juan_-em5py]

​@@justsightseeing1regieleki with tera blast and some others, but not many

[@mcpuzzler1368]

Regieleki@@justsightseeing1

[@justsightseeing1]

@@Juan_-em5py ah yes. the good combination of electric ice coverage

[@shigesohma]

One thing that always bothered me was ice types were typically restricted to late game. By the time I got access to catchable ice types I'd already settled on a team.

[@matthewroberts198]

That always bothered me too. Also didn't help that (especially Gen 1) some are part water and you gain access to Ice Types after learning Surf. By that point just teach your Water type Ice Beam and call it a day

[@YamatoFukkatsu]

I guess the idea is that hostile environments such as snowy mountains aren't exactly the sort of thing that, from an RPG design standpoint, is the sort of thing you immediately set foot in from your starting town. Problem with that is, while they might seem aesthetically and thematically intimidating, it falls completely flat when the wild encounters that would give you trouble are prone to dying from the slightest pebble thrown their way (it's all the worse when the Ice-type Gym Leaders tend to be among the last Gyms you go against in any given region that features one). Though one generation where this especially didn't make sense was gen4....... so the snowy region based off of Hokkaido, the northern-most major island of Japan, features a grand total of TWO Ice-type lines (one of which, Sneasel, isn't even new, though did have a new evolution introduced), both of which are relegated to only appearing late-game? Sure, Platinum helped a bit, but it was still a pretty abysmal display (and made even less sense when Platinum added snow along almost every route). For Christ's sake, Ice-types seemed more plentiful in Hoenn and Alola, god damn tropical islands, than they ever did in the northern-most region.

[@matthewroberts198]

@@YamatoFukkatsu I feel like they could do it if they started near a mountain/ous area. Like a village at the foot of a mountain where it snows but still has the regular forests and grass. That way its not too harsh but you get the feel of a starting area.

[@Codraroll]

@@YamatoFukkatsu I actually think the idea that Ice-types are exclusive to hostile environments is an issue in itself. You often see Fire-types running around the grasslands, far from their native volcanoes, Water-types chilling on the water surface instead of the dark abysses of the sea, or Electric-types frolicking among trees instead of inside destroyed power plants. But Ice-types seem to be exclusively relegated to snowy mountains found in the late-game. In one way, I get it. They need to fill those late-game mountains with *something*, and Ice-types are perfect for the job, so they cram the game's entire quota of Ice-types in there leaving none for the early-game. Not to mention that few Ice-types evolve before the mid-level-30's anyway. But then we are stuck in that vicious cycle where the Ice-types default to late-game Pokémon, so that's the role they design new Ice-types to fit in, and so there are no Ice-types that feel suitable for the early-game, so they kind of have to relegate them all to the late-game again, and once again the snowy mountain becomes the last biome of the game, where all the new Ice-types are ...

[@YamatoFukkatsu]

@@Codraroll I guess another thing worth considering is that, back in gen1, Ice seems to have been designed as a sort of hidden type. Tama Hero did a fantastic video on the way gen1 games were designed with the single-player RPG aspect in mind, but for the long and short of it, Ice was pretty much designed as a hard counter to Lance's Dragonite (which serves as a semi-final boss), and they would be your reward for going out of your way to explore the Seafoam Islands, an area which is otherwise completely optional. But of course, much like how Dragon has been expanded upon immensely since being "final boss monster", they likewise should've made better alterations to the Ice type (especially since, from gen3 onward, pure Ice-types would begin to be a thing, whereas in gens 1 and 2, it solely existed as a sub-type, mostly just being there to add the benefit of STAB and little else), but they didn't. Even worse, the introduction of Fairy made Ice comparatively obsolete in its old role as the Dragon-killer. Sad thing is, the introduction of Fairy in gen6 would've been as good a time as any to rework Ice's disgustingly lacking resistances, since gen6 was the only time they bothered to update the type chart since Steel and Dark got added in gen2...... but no, screw that. Let's just add Fairy, make Dark and Ghost even more similar to one another than they already were, and do absolutely nothing else.

[@ChipDrewPog]

I still think that ice and water should have the fighting/bug interaction where both types are not very effective against eachother, water resists ice and ice resists water

[@TheRealBlazingDiamond]

I feel like it would make sense to make water weak to ice, since water becomes ice when it freezes, and ice doesn't flow, obviously.

[@Legault397]

ice and fire should be mutually super effective, I think that would be really fun (and also make sense - ice stops being ice when fire hits it, and it also stops being ice when it hits fire - and becomes water)

[@samirevilasio9741]

@@TheRealBlazingDiamond Water is a thermal insulator, which is why it is resistant to fire and ice.

[@staringatthesun861]

Yep. I've believed this for a long time. There's no reason Water should get to resist Ice but not vice versa.

[@jmhguy]

@@staringatthesun861 I've seen ice melt in running room temperature water.

[@mettataurr]

Oh my God give this editor a raise. What a great job

[@ashyzup]

It's so good. The level of quality is through the roof.

[@3D-6]

It's on game theory level good

[@EarthSpirit.easyzdota]

Insane power level

[@hefancy6921]

I could watch Wolfey invent stories of game freak employees for hours

[@kheireddineattala1281]

I am schocked that you are implying that not every single one of those stories is not 100% factual.

[@senny-]

I was there. I saw them kissed.

[@dustrose8101]

We love them evil gays

[@Cryonicity]

We. Need. A. Supercut.

[@tonymacaroni955]

Wdym 'invent' 🤨

[@iamaperson886]

“ And then they kissed”

[@gadielinutil]

And then I die

[@AaronTats]

Now kith

[@player_too]

Brother?

[@sinfall5280]

Not the best of jokes

[@AbandonedAccount-v7x]

Lmao

[@galaxystudios370]

Even in the other major competitive format, Smogon singles, ice types are at the best they've ever been (mostly thanks to Tera, but also thanks to the snow buff) More ice types have been banned from OU in this generation than in any other: Iron Bundle, Chien-Pao, Regieleki, and Baxcalibur.

[@Ropalme1914]

Lol Regieleki being counted since it was just never Electric outside of the first turn. But, to be fair, the actual Ice-types that got banned aren't even that related to Tera - Iron Bundle used it, but wasn't the reason for its ban, and Baxcalibur barely cared about Tera at all, since it actually wanted to keep its base type

[@GeekYogurt-ev8sq]

I see what you did there :)

[@godofwar2011]

😂😂😂😂

[@kayagorzan]

Regieleki is my favorite paldean mon. I just love its design and competitive viability

[@grunkleg.2934]

All those guys are extremely overtuned is the problem

[@Moakmeister]

Ice types being slow and bulky reminds me that Gamefreak did this with Dark type too. They’ve always had high Attack, even in gens 2 and 3… when all Dark moves were SPECIAL.

[@Connowot387]

Lapras and Jynx were good Ice types in Gen 1 due to having High Special stats before they split into two stats. And yeah I agree with the dark type thing, unless Houndoom is in the picture. Houndoom SpAtk is pretty good, but yeah. At the time, it was probably the only Dark Type Special Attacker.

[@dontaskmeaboutmyday4839]

Funny because EVERY dark attack from gen 1-3 became a physical move when gen 4 came out

[@YamatoFukkatsu]

@@Connowot387 Its special offense lagged quite a bit behind its physical, but I recall Tyranitar's being decent enough to run mixed sets and take advantage of both STABs (mixed Tyranitar seemed all the more tempting since, before gen4 introduced Stone Edge, Rock STAB was somewhat lacking, with Rock Slide being about the best they were capable of). But yeah, a lot of Pokemon in gen2 and especially gen3 have stat spreads that leave you feeling that the physical/special split should've happened yesterday at the time. Off the top of my head, the only Pokemon that seemed to have stats designed with the type-alignment in mind were Sceptile (visual design suggests physical, but got higher special to take advantage of its signature Leaf Blade...... which then got a power boost in gen4 to make up for the switch) and Shedinja (higher physical attack let it use both Shadow Ball and Silver Wind, its only relevent STABs at the time..... sadly, while gen4 gave it no shortage of new physical STABs to take advantage of, the poor thing now had to contend with physical contact being yet another thing that could insta-kill it, made all the worse with gen5's introduction of Rocky Helm...... even more F'ed up is that its Special Attack and even its Speed are lower than its Defense, which is literally unusable).

[@tritone2276]

Yeah a lot of people don't realize pretty much all dark types were crippled pre gen iv when 99% were all physical attackers but dark was a special type. Mon like Absol had to choose between running moves that worked with their better attacking stat OR STAB. The opposite was true for Ghost Types too, iirc. Most of them were special attackers but Ghost was a physical type.

[@winter9242]

​@@tritone2276 i wonder what the devs were smoking back then

[@Citizen5101]

Ice was designed to be a Dragon Killer that was added onto other Pokemon types like they did with Flying and partially to an extent Poison. Hence why a single type Ice type didn't show up until Hoenn. As a dual type exclusive type having a lot of resistances would have been pretty powerful. Also when it was created, Steel wasn't a type so three weaknesses wasn't unusual.

[@AceAviations2]

Also Fire Types didn't resist Ice until Gen2, so Charizard and Moltres were actually WEAK to Ice moves in Gen1.

[@av2279]

Hydro Pump is not 85% accurate. It's 80%. It's never been 85% in the main line games in the almost 30 years that it's existed.

[@gamenation1251]

Did people not know this? I’m so confused

[@gamenation1251]

Nvm I didn’t watch the video fully

[@Castersvarog]

One extra great change from Hail to Snow that wasn’t mentioned was the removal of hails chip damage. That’s huge for team building, as it means you’re not gonna be overlapping on your many weaknesses anymore.

[@gianlucaangeli]

it's mentioned at 6:09

[@raysay1818]

I think hail would be fine if it did the chip damage as well as the defense boost. The problem with the chip damage is that only ice types and pokemon with overcoat were immune. Unlike sandstorm where more types and abilities were immune. So if they made something like water or normal type or something immune to hail you would be able to use a more diverse set of pokemon on hail teams. The chip damage works even better with the hyper offense nature of ice types.

[@Friendly_Neigborhood_Astolfo]

But where does that leave abilities like overcoat?

[@superzockertvyt9630]

​@@Friendly_Neigborhood_Astolfoimmune to spore

[@goddessdeedeebubblesofimag7789]

Alolan ninetales w/Snow Warning -> Aurora Veil -> switch to Lunala -> Lunala holds weakness policy -> Cosmic Power until policy activates -> *sweep*

[@nunoarmond3973]

Still could use more resistances. I like the idea of it resisting electric and water and losing the rock weakness, (works for thematical and balance reasons) no need to change the offenses.

[@FoxxPlushie]

Why electric? I would personally make it fairy. Since fire and poison are good against fairy is because they destroy the nature that fairies live in. Ice can definitely use the same reason, and fairy can definitely use a nerf.

[@asdf852asdf]

Since i was a kid ive been scratching my head at why is ice not resisting to water, it just....makes sense

[@nunoarmond3973]

@@FoxxPlushie I don't think it makes too much thematical sense for Fairy to be weak against Ice, my fairy nerf would be bug types having their role reversed and being super effective against fairy. Electricity implies electrons moving around at high charge and high speed, and being cold means particles are moving less, on top of the fact that Ice is a bad conductor of electricity. It would give Ice an important defensive niche of being the only type resistant to bolt-beam, plus be decent since electric has so few resists.

[@Muchinger]

@@nunoarmond3973 he meant, ice resiting fairy, because fire also resists fairy, so a defensive buff and not an offensive one

[@Golden_Deus]

I would say Ice should resist Grass, Water, itself, and maybe Bug. Electricity lore wise actual works better in the cold (see superconductors from Nile Red), but it should lose either the rock or steel as a weakness to help balance it *also agree with thinking that Fire should resist fairy defensively

[@Superfarmerx]

I still dont understand why ice does not resist grass

[@Roy_Dudson]

Or why ice is not good against water?

[@king_of_rats_Monfernep]

In Coromon our type is resisted from poison,water,itself and wind. It's fair ,but we have a picture,where in Coromon's database we have only 1 bulky ice coromon and 1 universal ice coromon ( it is starter ) . Conclusion: human stupidity knows no bounds

[@AdvaitGulhane]

Ice is hard Water

[@AdvaitGulhane]

@@Roy_Dudson It's literally HARD WATER

[@omnipresentl1316]

​@@Roy_Dudson ice is just really cold water. Besides they have a unique move for that called Freeze-Dry

[@zgrzgr-ud3iy]

I really like that Wolfey uses chilling reception multiple times throughout this ice type video😆

[@serifAizawa]

Funnily enough I think ice types in RBY were genuinely excellent. Defensively you basically only had 1 weakness to Rock which wasn't common - Fire and Fighting are atrocious offensive types. Ice resisting itself is also super valuable because of how commonly Blizzard is spammed as well as giving you an immunity to being frozen. Pokemon like Cloyster and even Lapras can genuinely make good use offensively and defensively out of their type, while fast, glass cannon Pokemon like Jynx are unsurprisingly good

[@Dragonoid269]

All true, though to be fair, I'd consider rock about as much a non-weakness gen 1 as fire type was. Rock slide is a fairly weak move and the best gen 1 rock types are part ground and won't come in against an ice type as they'll get outsped and oneshot. Other gen 1 rock type like Kabutops and earodactyl don't even learn a rock move gen 1 (Aerodactyl actually runs fire blast gen 1as it has nothing better). Meanwhile, moves like flamethrower and fire blast hit hard enough, and fire spin has some uses, though I agree fire is an uncommon coverage choice as most good mons weak to fire (except Jinx) could just be handled by either ice beam and thunderbolt (and fire types themselves had no useful resistances to work with and thus uncommon).

[@groudonvert7286]

@@Dragonoid269 Well an Ice Pokémon can't switch on Rhydon or Golem either.

[@serifAizawa]

That's what makes it even stronger - Rock Slide is not a commonly seen move in RBY due to its limited distribution and most of the rock types with STAB Rock Slide match up horrendously vs the ice types in RBY

[@darienwest4748]

Ice is genuinely a top 3 type in RBY, only behind normal and psychic.

[@guiteshima]

Unrelated but.. What's your pfp from?

[@murphyc15]

I hope they bring back the Frostbite status condition from PLA because i think it would both really help ice types, but would more importantly also be good for game balance in general

[@Jay7707]

Those two games have been made around the same time so it’s very likely that it will appear in the next generation.

[@BusinessSkrub]

Hey, there's one other Pokemon that can learn belly drum and a priority move: Kommo-o. Only issue is that it learns Vacuum Wave as the priority move, which doesn't use that boosted attack lol

[@DarthNoshitam]

Linoone is GOAT

[@SourSalmon]

Triage kommo-o in almost any ability still destroys me

[@Yayonzo]

This is Linoone erasure and I won't stand for it

[@coma7623]

Bloodmoon and szangoose too

[@LucasFleming-lq2ry]

I think bug rework should involve certain abilities setting up a swarm to use bug attacks twice while its on the field. With vespiquen being the best bet to set up the swarm

[@KingKayro87]

Best Bug rework would just be to make it super effective against Fairy instead of resisted by it. I don't understand why when GameFreak made this ultra powerful type, they made the Bug type worse than it already was. Seriously, we thought it was getting a massive boost with all the amazing Bug-Type Moves and Pokémon introduced in Gens 4 and 5 respectively, but then they come out with this shit and now it's in the gutter again! What the fuck?!

[@linksora7120]

Bug should in my opinion: 1. Be resistant and super effective on fairy types it fits them thematically and would make bug way better if it beat fairy. This helped poison and steel become attacking threats so bug should follow and fairy will still be viable but fairy is currently one of the most busted types and needs this nerf the most while bug needs this buff. 2. Bug should get a type specific immunity (electric can’t be paralysed, poison can’t be poisoned, fire can’t be burned, ice can’t be frozen, dark is immune to prankster ability), so what if bug was the only type immune to speed lowering? Then bug would be able to set up sticky web AND be immune to opposing sticky webs too. And moves like rock tomb icy wind bulldoze and low sweep could no longer slow a bug which would be useful support. 3. Added to this, bug should remove sticky web upon switch in. Weird to nerf this entry hazard but it would make more people consider bug for being able to take an entry hazard away similar to toxic spikes. A small buff but it would help. 4. Stat buffs across the board for bug types who need it. There are too many bug types who have lopsided stats but to name a few examples: Ledian should gain much more attack that relates to its special defence being so high. Seriously this needs something to be useable. Ariados should have way better speed or defensive stats. Either way its way too slow and not bulky enough to do anything with its admittedly fun movepool of support moves. Beedrill needs similar stats to mega beedrill to make it able to fight without mega coming back or at least get its speed and attack up there to be useful on its own. Butterfree could be buffed in speed and special attack and it would be great since its already good. Thats a few examples of how stat buffs could help bug types. The last change I think bug could have to really help it stand out is just give us new strong bug types. Gens 5 and 7 both have superb bug types and there are a lot of good bug types but the type itself just doesn’t benefit enough to be used over better types. Changes like these would really buff bug up and make it a threat.

[@t.7124]

they should buff bug types if the ever do an Australia region

[@stephenkrahling1634]

wait that'd actually be kind of insane... like a mega kangaskhan type effect on 'bug type terrain' - A swarm that makes all bug type pokemon hit twice for like an extra 25% damage

[@zarc4d]

0:18 the same twisted coworker is probably the monster who looked at shiny armarouge and shiny ceruledge and approved them

[@ktntwireless]

I felt like this is a perfect mix of the great editing and Wolfey’s older more unhinged content. Love it.

[@myhairhasamindofitsown]

It's nIce that it's getting love. imo it still could get at least two more resistances. Otherwise, I think importing the frostbite status effect to replace freeze would still be a benefit to Ice types. A special attack equivalent of burn would probably make the status effect more common and would incentivise GF to add it to more moves. The ice types being immune to this would give them an edge, specially the special attackers. Now we only have to pray for bug.

[@connorradcliffe1769]

ice should resist flying, water and normal too. Flying because Flying is weak to ice but also because wind only enhances cold rather then weakening it. Water because of oblivious reasons, freezing the water. and Normal because without some level of warmth, most normal things freeze or get covered in ice, plus hardened ice is surpirsingly tough and you can't break it through the usual means

[@yessirski1672]

or add small frostbite damage along with freeze

[@ave-taka]

Frostbite shouldn't replace Freeze imo it should be a poison/toxic poison kinda deal if anything. You could have moves deal frostbite now instead of freeze, and if the opponent already has the frostbite status applied, you can freeze them with the same move. And Freezing Glare should just never have Frostbite as its secondary effect because that doesn't work

[@TrixterTheFemboy]

@@ave-taka just... no. Do not make a non-volatile status that works the same as poison but can stack with other statuses.

[@NuclearNecro]

@@connorradcliffe1769 honestly, i'm more on the case of normal resisting ice, as most normal types are equipped with fur or other ways to protect against freezing. plus, it would give normal types an extra treat as for ice types themselves, IMO they should resist water, ground and maybe flying. you mentioned water and flying, but for ground, well, ice and cold temperatures make soil unable to be used for stuff like farming or building, and once the ice melts, you're left with a bunch of mud

[@paradoxtm8911]

All these ice types and Wolfey’s still the coolest one in this video

[@Parmeseanz]

thats fire 🔥🔥

[@FoxxPlushie]

That's pretty cool of you to say.

[@Plasmawavemicrowave]

Ice cold 🥶

[@RaeCrazyGaming]

This change single handedly made Ice my favourite type in the game (overtaking Grass.) There have always been so many cool Ice types but now that they don't suck I actually get to use them, it's the best

[@UltimatViolet]

I think it would be really cool to see you make a video about possibly buffing the bug type, similar to the ice type vid you made. Would love to hear your ideas on how it could be made better.

[@cupcakemedia1143]

Wolfe giving us his own Game Freak romance fanfic in the first minute was unexpected, but appreciated.

[@owl8185]

One thing to note is that Hydro Pump is actually 80% accurate instead of 85%. Hydro pump has approximately only a 51% chance to hit successfully 3 times in a row. If Iron Bundle got scald then they would be perfect

[@vyor8837]

It would also be even more overpowered.

[@alexandrelima2766]

You forgot to mention the introduction of freeze dry prior to gen 9 which gave a great coverage move for ice types

[@TaLeng2023]

They now just need to add a move to inflict Frostbite. This should cover special attackers since Snow already boosts the DEF.

[@Technizor]

@@TaLeng2023 Replace freeze with Frostbite and it's gonna be pretty much perfect. Ice moves that freeze are low probability so it's pretty much only relevant when you RNG cheese an opponent, or if you are using Sheer Force + Life Orb combo.

[@TaLeng2023]

@@Technizor I always wanted Frostbite to be a thing in the main games but they must put measures to prevent Water types (which all pretty much learn Ice Beam) going ham with the status. 10% Frostbite chance on moves that used to Freeze. If user is Ice type, x2; then if Snow is active, additional x1.5. Water types stay at 10%, Ice types can get it up to 30%

[@UnownPeepOffical]

The lil headpats to cetitian is so wholesome and i love it

[@I_ExistIG]

This might be the most humorous wolfey video I’ve seen, and it all comes off as effortless with smooth transitions while still remaining on topic. Well done

[@worthlesshuman5041]

To be fair to game freak, ice was actually one of the better types in RBY. Access to stab blizzard (a completely busted move at the time with 120bp, 90% accuracy, and a 30% chance to freeze) alone was enough to make several ice types viable, most notably Jinx, Cloyster, Lapras, and Articuno. Unfortunately for the ice type, the nerfs to its moves and status condition, the change of fire resisting ice (it used to be neutral), and the addition of stealth rocks basically killed the ice type over time

[@iantaakalla8180]

It should also be noted that in singles, some Ice types could be usable before Stealth Rocks. Yes, one of them is Jynx and that is more that it is a fast sleeper, but it should be noted Articuno and Regice were at least usable before Stealth Rocks.

[@itspikachutime5624]

I do wish Ice types could pick up a few more resists … or even just one resist. Quite frankly grass and bug not being resisted by ice just confuses me. But I’m happy they’re better now :) I love ice Pokémon designs so it was a shame they’re usually awkward to use.

[@rileyackison4495]

I believe that water and grass changing to become resisted would be a balanced changee

[@windhelmguard5295]

i think the main issue for ice types has always been that the good types it could be paired with have the same weaknesses, making a lot of potentially good ice types instantly die to common coverage moves. for example: pair ice with rock and now it has a 4X weakness to steel and fighting pair ice with steel and it's fighting and fire.

[@clowntown5426]

It's great to see the notorious ice-type finally get some time to shine in the modern meta, being a huge fan of the unique typing myself. I still kinda wish we could get just one or two more defensive resistances though.

[@MisterGabyVk]

With ice being one of my favourite types and Glaceon my favourite pokemon, I see this as an absolute win

[@BestgirlJordanfish]

I think they could still let it resist fairy, kinda for how much it can block or resist light. Also feel like it can have more interactions outside of ice type, in the same way that rain buffs hurricane and thunder, and can diminish fire moves to protect same mons

[@CaulkMongler]

I feel like the stories I read are always talking about Fairies being frozen in ice too

[@miyane994]

agreed, I would make it super effective to Fairy, which would make it the definition of a glass cannon

[@connorradcliffe1769]

ice should resist flying, water and normal too. Flying because Flying is weak to ice but also because wind only enhances cold rather then weakening it. Water because of oblivious reasons, freezing the water. and Normal because without some level of warmth, most normal things freeze or get covered in ice, plus hardened ice is surpirsingly tough and you can't break it through the usual means

[@senny-]

Sound also travels slower in colder temperatures so maybe Gamefreak can make them resist sound-based moves? Idk

[@taylornicty1170]

Fairy needs to be nerfed

[@groudonvert7286]

About Freeze Dry+Water move, there are actually a few Pokémon that can resist it thanks to their ability : Walrein, Dewgong and Shedinja.

[@caseyjones8153]

Like there’s someone who would use Walrein or Dewgong.

[@groudonvert7286]

@@caseyjones8153 Walrein could be used now with the help of Snow and his healing ability

[@caseyjones8153]

@@groudonvert7286 Just because someone COULD use it doesn’t mean that anyone would willingly use it.

[@groudonvert7286]

@@caseyjones8153 I agree.

[@Hydro_Aero]

​@@caseyjones8153yeaaaa, walrain on that content creator type beat

[@josepharmstrong1788]

In Gen 1, Ice and Normal were actually broken strong thanks to 90 accuracy Blizzard, Fire NOT resisting Ice, Hyperbeam spamming upon KO’s, critical hits tied to the speed stat, and no Steel types. All of that changed in Gen 2.

[@animejerk05]

Ice type wasn’t broken in RBY you can easily run teams that doesn’t have lapras cloyster or articuno on it

[@Julius72958]

Ice was good , but not broken when u had normal and psychics . And it was mostly ice moves being good ( blizzard and perma freeze ) than ice types themselves tbf

[@CaptianKatsura]

I agree that Ice types weren't broken, but they were absolutely strong in Gen 1. Getting STAB on Blizzard is phenomenal, its weaknesses were rare (Fighting had no good moves, the only good Rock types were part Ground, and Fire coverage was too risky to run since it could thaw frozen opponents), and the immunity to Freeze is very helpful.

[@10Gpixels]

I love Cetitan so much. Belly-drum ice shard is so satisfying, and the actual bulk hp and thick fat makes it a solid presence despite the ice typing.

[@sebastianherrera4011]

I don’t really follow competitive Pokémon, but can’t stop watching your videos! Absolutely love how much passion you have in this! Cheers from Colombia 🇨🇴

[@Edujs23]

Defensive Ice types could use a boosting + recovery move Like a move that encases them in Ice restoring like 30% of Hp while boosting special defense, and maybe it also lowers speed

[@anitoongaming5554]

Call it Iceberg

[@myhairhasamindofitsown]

This is just Mei from Overwatch

[@leoshi8453]

That would make empoleon insufferably difficult to break through

[@dbull620]

The Ice type is my personal favorite and it's great seeing them finally get some love and competitive usage after all of these years. One of the things that helps Iron Bundle stand out so much is being the first ice type whose speed and special attack stats both broke base 100. A historic problem with prior fast special ice mons like Ninetails and Froslass was lacking the raw offensive power to properly threaten KOs with their high speed stats, and Iron Bundle made up for this in spades.

[@Dadbot]

I don’t watch competitive Pokémon. I never even heard of Wolfey until S&V. But man is he awesome. Great videos with a real passion for the Pokémon ip. Love it

[@skv0ra]

Never have I questioned much of anything you said, but your presentation given your research and life depth on all of this - most excellent vid!

[@VirtuesOfSin]

My only question is: Why couldn't they keep Hail damage? Sandstorm does both damage and stat buff. Feels weird to justify having to remove the damage for a stat buff when it already exists with another better typing.

[@nigheananndradubh]

Makes more sense with sandstorm. 3 common types compatible with it compared to just 1 rarer type for hail

[@BaconNuke]

Yeah and even if they were "worried" about the chip damage.. make it so hail/snow related abilities also gave an immunity to the chip in same way some mons aren't any of the sand types but still immune.. it'd at least then let some mons be in the hail and not be an ice type

[@thisisausername9356]

My best guess is because it probably would mess with the user just as much? Only Ice types ignore it compared to sandstorm where you could easily make a rock/ground/steel centered team to take advantage of the chip damage. With ice... That's a lot harder to avoid

[@Dokurider]

I really hope they give Bug types the same level of buffs they gave Ice types the next gen. It'd be neat if Bugs got their own Freeze Dry, but multiple of them. Perhaps one that hit Fairies super effectively?

[@typemasters2871]

One idea I have for helping bug types is to add a new field effect called “Swampy Terrain” which buffs Bug and Poison type Pokemon offensive capabilities

[@glitch9643]

@@typemasters2871 Swamp already exists by virtue of Grass + Water Pledge.

[@xyliet]

Yes. Bug should be super effective against and resist fairy.

[@typemasters2871]

@@glitch9643 I am aware of that, but when it comes to poisonous animals and bugs, the first location people think of are swamps, full of bugs and poisonous animals like poisonous frogs

[@Corsharkgaming]

hopefully they take u-turn away from all the pokemon without an exoskeleton.

[@marcelosandoval4206]

Now GF... Buff the bug types!!! *WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR????!?!?!!?* Necessary buffs to bugtypes: -Bug typing gives you immunity to confusion -Bug has Resistance to Fairy type -A few new Bug type moves (i suggest a Bug Type Fake Out and Outrage) and * B O O M !!!* Thays it! Bug types go from being mediocre Pokémon on defense To Good on defense and decent ofensive pokemon Moves like Swager can be punished if your opponent has a bug type

[@typemasters2871]

For ice types I do hope that Snow stays for good and that Frostbite replaces Freeze and becomes Sp. Attack version of Burn For Bug types and Poison type, one idea I have that could help lift them from being the bottom two types is to add a new field effect called “Swampy Terrain” or “Swamp Gas” which buffs Bug and Poison type Pokemon offensive capabilities in some way, considering how Poison and Bug types are mostly defensive but lack offensive capabilities

[@YoJoRockThaBeat]

Aside from the buff, how would the terrain also protect them? Electric prevents sleep, Grass lowers Ground and increases health, fairy lowers dragon and prevents statuses and psychic prevents priority. How would your idea work?

[@Kaifunsiu]

@@YoJoRockThaBeat1.2 atk boost

[@YoJoRockThaBeat]

@@Kaifunsiu would that attack buff apply for all pokemon on the field? Because the swamp terrain would already be giving poison and bug type moves a boost already according to the OP

[@jimkas3606]

I think poison types are fine without a buff, since poison is already a great defensive type with many resistances including fighting and only 2 weakness. Only buff I would give it is make Ghost not resist it but that's more to just nerf Ghost

[@typemasters2871]

@@YoJoRockThaBeat if “Swampy Terrain” was a true terrain then it could prevent regeneration effects (I.E. Leech Seed and Left Overs) But Black Sludge and Poison Heal ability ignore this effect of Swampy Terrain because the user has to be poison type or have poison status effect to gain any benefit

[@scarletaurora78]

This video format is so amazing.. Huge shootout to the editor.. 10/10

[@psychicjellyfish9466]

Okay, now imagine Gamefreak does the unthinkable and actually gives Ice one or two relevant resistances (Say, Fairy and/or water). That'd be an unreal complement to all of these buffs. Some might call it...the icing on the cake.

[@theukon-dos7271]

I can't believe you didn't mention the god-slaying menace from Gen 8 that was Galarian Darmanitan with it's free, built-in choice band.

[@gusteen3292]

Probably because he focuses on doubles and G-Darm isn't that good in doubles

[@ghostofmoredishesmorebitch1507]

@@gusteen3292eiscue is also a menace in singles but trash in doubles

[@TunaBear64]

​@@gusteen3292To be fair, I don't think GameFreak even recognizes Singles as an actual competitive format. At least not 6v6

[@imxffin]

i hope game freak hasnt forsaken us bug bros

[@garchompelago]

Alolan Ninetales is my favorite Ice Type. ❤ The 50% defense boost in Gen 9 from snow is glorious.

[@snas7954]

Tbh i think the biggest buff ice types got in gen 9 is that they can no longer be ice type

[@MonkeyzofGold]

10:36 Don’t forget about Hariyama, who learns bullet punch. Belly Drum + Tera Steel + Bullet Punch is a great combo. Also, Extremespeed Linoone

[@rex_melynas]

Hey, Ice wasn't as bad in the very first generation. While there was almost no competitive, or not like it's today. Fire not resisting ice and Steel not being a thing, made Ice have 3 weaknesses (being two of those fighting and fire that do not really matter), and only 2 resistances (Ice and water) So pokemon like lapras and jinx are actually quite decent, their secondary typing was helping them too, but still.

[@Smart1529]

Blizzard's accuracy was also 90 in Gen 1 making it superior to Ice beam for the most part.

[@gravity_cow]

Ice moves being good didn't really affect ice mons' viability since nearly every viable thing that wasn't Ice type also had those moves that being said, Jynx, Cloyster, and sometimes Articuno were absolutely good in gen 1

[@iantaakalla8180]

So I guess Ice types being good, until now, was always just a coincidence and more that there were well-designed Pokemon with the Ice type?

[@Hoduken27]

There should be an ability for ice types that when hit with a fire moves it loses ice and becomes water type. Dont know what to name it but seems useful.

[@notster7114]

Melting Point?

[@ahkwaheart]

ice breaker

[@MedicalBillz]

Thaw Out

[@chonflis3834]

This sum cassette beasts shit

[@camillaquelladegliaggettiv4303]

It should be a gimmick for a Pokémon more than an ability, honestly

[@DaFlyingSeal]

You know, there are 3 main things I would do to make ice have a better relationship with rock and make it better. 1. Have ice be super effective on rock. 2. Give back hail chip. 3. Replace the freeze status with frosbite and add a ice type will o wisp or scald, and maybe even a flame body like ability called flash freeze.

[@zyxey]

11:37 Poor Cetitan, I'm glad it's one of the best ice types though, as a Cetitan lover that makes me happy ^-^

[@YermanVelasco]

Ok, Ice needs more fixes, like: - Ice is supereffective against fire (chilly wind just shush fire) - Ice is supereffective against bug (i mean, bugs don't like cold just like reptiles... just saying) -Ice resists water (if water is resistent to ice because of its thermal properties, ice should be to, ice resist the friction of water and freezes it) -Ice resist plant (ice engulf everything when it snows) -Ice resist flying (c'mon, chilly wind is more powerful than... just wind) And yeah... just keep fixing ice type please!!! Is great! I swear it :c

[@dblshenanigans9352]

I love this they did this There are so many cool ice types like Weaviles Mamoswine Froslass Lapras Alolan Ninetales

[@YankeeYænkeeYankee]

Froslass should have more SpA

[@dblshenanigans9352]

I agree cause Ice beam and shadow ball are better than ice fang and shadow claw

[@MissinDaSylveon]

Ice was generally a great type in Gen 1 as well. Not only were they immune to the most deadly status condition, but they were one of the few types with highly powerful moves like Blizzard. Their 3 weaknesses were also pretty inconsequential, as there were no good fighting types and very few good fire and rock types.

[@BlackReshiram]

i would really love to see a wolfey video on how to fix/save the bug type as well, cause its one of my favorite types but man is it bad balance wise

[@typemasters2871]

One idea I have for helping bug types is to add a new field effect called “Swampy Terrain” which buffs Bug and Poison type Pokemon offensive capabilities

[@BlackReshiram]

that could be a good idea but i feel like they should also get some defensive buffs but idk if that would make them too op@@typemasters2871

[@Cuestrupaster]

My second favorite type, I actually always thought it was pretty good, although I never played PVP so that's a very different story when it comes to PVE...

[@monkeman8759]

"add a couple bulky ice types that will never get used" uses *cloyster*, one of the best shell smashers since it gained the move and a top 5 gsc pokemon as an example of a terrible ice type

[@Deadflower019]

Okay, Cloyster is actually a Gen 1 and 5 staple so I don't think it actually counts as a bad Ice type. Also Cryogonal and Avalugg were shockingly usable.

[@halfpace1462]

Articuno was pretty decent in gen 1 and Lapras had a valuable niche as well. Ice was actually pretty good in gen 1

[@Deadflower019]

@@halfpace1462 I mean there were 5 Ice types in Gen 1, all of them are late game 'mons, all of them have another type, and Blizzard was fucking busted. It was bound to be great given those circumstances 🤣

[@scottcrysel]

Ice should definitely resist water. And it would be really cool to make Frostbite a thing in the real games. Get rid of freeze chances and make it all Frostbite to act as the Sp. Att. version of fire types and burn. Then, keep introducing massively OP mons like Chien Pao and Bundle and ice will be great lol

[@connorradcliffe1769]

ice should resist flying, water and normal too. Flying because Flying is weak to ice but also because wind only enhances cold rather then weakening it. Water because of oblivious reasons, freezing the water. and Normal because without some level of warmth, most normal things freeze or get covered in ice, plus hardened ice is surpirsingly tough and you can't break it through the usual means

[@YoJoRockThaBeat]

Until Physical Attackers no longer run the Meta, frostbite would be a terrible Idea IMO. Ting-Lu with Assault vest would make special attackers not named Fluttermane or legendary status go extinct. If things are more balanced than sure.

[@vanjagalovic3621]

​@@connorradcliffe1769Don't make it resist normal, normal types are already doing really poorly RN

[@SuperSonic-9999]

Ice should resist 4 types: - Ice - Water - Fairy - Flying

[@rockowlgamer631]

6:20 I wish they would've kept the Hail damage part, then it'd be on equal term with sandstorm. Now if only they could bring Frostbite status instead of freeze to make it even better.

[@HotFootBunny]

The hail damage part is something that made that weather bad, sense Only ice types are immune to it and nobody is gonna run a full ice type team (Unlike sandstorm which has three types being immune to it,with two of those types being very common,steel and ground) making snow do no damage was a good decision

[@jjohnsonnccc]

“One of the biggest buffs I’ve types got is that they no longer have to be ice types” -Alpharad

[@Frstypwngaming]

Wowow. Mega-level digimon can one-shot a Galaxy, with Ultimates being complex multiversal range. Aint no way anyone is thinking Articuno is a Digimon

[@shinespider]

I think it's easy to see how the original design was ideated. At some point very early in Gen1's development Dragon was meant to be the supreme type, the king of types, and Ice was meant to be the "assassin" type that can kill dragons. Then... a whole lot of design happened, and it never really worked out that way.

[@SerDerpish]

They also “designed” Onix to have a terrible attack stat for very little reason. I think you give them too much credit. They straight up just didn’t know what they were doing. Which, in fairness, they were essentially inventing a new subgenre of RPG so there wasn’t a lot of precedent, but damn. 9 gens is a long time to wait for a buff

[@Oreca2005]

@@SerDerpishand yet Smt existed before theme But I get the idea already that it was more about singles back then before doubles was implemented

[@Corsharkgaming]

Imagine if there was a type with Ice's weak defensive profile and was also resisted by 7 types. That would be crazy huh.

[@bent_forek696]

Isn’t this basically bug?

[@thesandguardianofthesand]

​@@bent_forek696You missed the fact that this was sarcasm

[@ShawFujikawa]

Bug is much better defensively than Ice is lol.

[@thorveim1174]

bug isnt bad defensively. grass is widely used, and fighting and ground are two of the most oppressive offensive types in the game. As for its weaknesses rock and fire weakness really hurt, and flying less so. so 2 very good defenses ad 2 very bad weaknesses, overall its defensively balanced and can become crazy as a dual type (bug/steel is especially notorious for ending up with only a single double weakness left)

[@MeargleSchmeargle]

Bug is terrible not because of its defense (which actually isn't that bad), it's that seemingly everything resists bug moves, and said bug moves are almost always hot garbage to begin with.

[@abhimanyugarg2450]

I remember playing gen V as a 5 year old and realising that ice types were shite but couldn't express precisely why. This video is a thesis on type balancing, kudos to gamefreak for making improvements

[@ExDementia666]

The effort and detail put into the editing of this video is insane and completely unnecessary. I love it

[@fulgurobaboon1321]

If Articuno was a Digimon, it would be stronger but less popular, not straight weaker

[@wumpmas2]

One other small buff the ice type got was finally getting a reasonable 100% accurate physical move in ice spinner

[@banobobot]

7:53 Dude what the hell. I will not tolerate any Digimon slander.

[@ANuzlocker]

Chien-pao is a fast hard hitting ice type yet everyone forgets it

[@iantaakalla8180]

Chien-Pao is only available now. That is still a twenty-to-fifteen year gap on Ice types that are good in VGC-like battles.

[@pdub3167]

Script for this episode 1. Detailed breakdown of changes 2. Attempt at a joke 3. Expel gas 4. Repeat 1-3 LOL had me rollin during this. Great video

[@toast_busters]

I remember your ideas for buffing Bug, but curious what anyone thinks of mine: -Let it resist Fairy -Let it resist itself -Remove Fairy's Bug resistance and make it SE against Fairy -Improve distribution of Bug type moves like First Impression, cut back on U-Turn going to non-Bugs -Give the type an innate immunity to forced switches (Dragon Tail, Roar, etc) because bugs are meant to be pesky pests -Alternatively to that, create a Bug type "Aurora Veil" or field effect that directly benefits Bugs by increasing something. Something like "Silk Screen" which could just be their Veil, "Chrysalis" which could be a reverse Shell Smash that also heals, "Hivemind" which is an Aurora Veil for offenses, or "Phero-Trail" which is basically a better Tailwind that only works for Bugs. I think this would go a long way toward tipping the balance of power for bugs without changing the general idea that they are not a super strong type. It would create situations where Pokemon like Grimmsnarl or Gardevoir would think twice about staying in against a U-Turn, and with Bug type attacks generally being a little bit more common than Poison or Steel it would give Bugs a more pronounced status as a check to fairies. Defensively it would also help all of those Bug types who are weak to Bug, like Lokix or Parasect, by removing the weakness, and it would also make Pokemon like idk Frosmoth feel just a little bit safer staying in against rival Bugs.

[@elgar7252]

I never realized that Terrastalizing didn't lose your STAB bonus, thought it did for some reason. Also, what would the impact of making Ice an actual glass cannon be? I mean by giving it significantly more types that it'd be super effective against. Rock, Ground, Flying, Dragon, Fairy, Steel, Grass, and Idk maybe some of the other non-elemental types. Just feel like making it ACTUALLY glass cannon would be cool (no pun intended).

[@s.colins2050]

That was Froslass's role for a while. It had really high speed, and could do one devastating set up before most things before getting KOed in prior gens.

[@Ice-yp4wg]

**ice fairy awakens**

[@NerdySatyr]

How ICE doesn't have a resistance to WATER or GRASS I will never know. Also weak to GROUND? Frost absolutely destroys rock and ground... and freezing/slowing down Fighting types? But NOPE

[@HuTaoFrom1934]

The jokes that Wolfey is making in this video is not causing me the laughter but the wheeze he makes after he makes the jokers are😂😂😂.

[@franco-rh9wo]

These historical video essays have been your best content for me. Keep them up!

[@kennyxx]

Its not a coincidence they heard the champ loud n clear 1:39

[@Angwiser-zk7vk]

The Biggest ice type buff is literaly being able to not be ice

[@Diamond_Aura]

I was initially a bit confused that Hail was deleted, but it really did pay off! In my opinion, Snow and Hail should coexist, but make it so that Hail passively buffs both defense AND power of Ice moves, while keeping its old effect of damaging non ice types. Perhaps let Snow buff speed and/or accuracy of Ice types, but Hail boost power (and both boost defense). Having choices between the weather types with specific niches would fun to play around with.

[@daweidaweibljat1928]

Give the editor a raise asap. This was pure comedy gold xD

[@healsbadman3414]

I love how Alpharad put it: The biggest buff Ice type pokemon got this generation is that they dont have to be Ice type pokemon anymore.

[@hitmontophat6126]

Frostbite was way better than freeze and I wish it stuck around

[@lumensmith9787]

Wolfie's inexperience with Gen 1 competitive is kinda crazy. He called Jynx the worst and Cloyster mid, you know, the OU staples. X3

[@feihceht656]

That shit came out in the nineties, it's fair

[@lumensmith9787]

@@feihceht656 I know, I just have a particular fascination with Gen 1 and its funny to see people not realize things such as the ice type being genuinely great.

[@eastonvaughan5631]

I’m so sorry for interrupting you

[@7DQuillion]

What

[@maxspecs]

15:11 Great use of the move Chilly Reception to set up hail, champ.

[@ArtisChronicles]

Hail actually helped me in shield. It actually got me through some battles with horse. Not sure i like losing the ice damage at the end of the turn, but defensive boost was also helpful.

[@Chelarino]

it's always funny thinking about how the biggest buff they gave to ice types was to make them not have to be ice type anymore

[@pauloing1pauloing167]

04:24 click here to skip the add

[@mrmjfly]

why digimon catching strays 😭

[@Vivat_Veritas]

"Trying to get rid of Baxcalibur in the snow with Aurora Veil up is like trying to take cheese out of a cheesecake" is one of the funniest ways to describe something difficult I've ever heard. I'm immediately adding it to my vocabulary.

[@adyasethiaxarollno.4112]

YAY ANOTHER WOLFEY VIDEO❤❤❤