Despite these monsters usually being found late in the game, many players seek them out for their inventive designs and glass cannon builds. Whether you’re playing Gen 3 or the Gen 6 remakes, here’s the absolute Ice-types to add onto your team.
4. Froslass
Suggested Moves:
Shadow Ball Blizzard Destiny Bond Confuse Ray
If you’re playing ORAS and looking for a unique Ice-type, Froslass should be your top pick. While it’s a letdown in areas that Ice-types are usually built for, its extra Ghost-type makes up for that. So let’s look into a good moveset: For STAB moves, teach Froslass Shadow Ball at level 42, and Blizzard at level 48. These two moves will make up the bulk of what Froslass will be doing in battle. And since it doesn’t have any proper coverage for its weaknesses, we’ll use its last two move slots for some utility moves. As soon as you evolve your Snorunt into Froslass, take it to the Move Relearner in Fallarbor Town to teach it Destiny Bond. This will act as a last ditch attack against anything that Froslass is too frail to take down. And if you haven’t evolved Snorunt by level 32, hit the Move Relearner to teach Froslass another fantastic move: Confuse Ray. How to catch: Catch a female Snorunt in the ice room of Shoal Cave, just north of Mossdeep City. Get a Dawn Stone from Sea Mauville or Victory Road, then use it on your Snorunt to evolve it into Froslass.
3. Walrein
Suggested Moves:
Ice Fang Blizzard Surf/Waterfall Earthquake
Walrein is a much more traditional Ice-type, with well-rounded stats and a forte in one-shotting Grass-types. It’s also a mixed attacker, so we have a lot of offensive options to work with in its movepool. For Ice-type STAB, Walrein will learn Ice Fang at level 44 and Blizzard at level 49. While Blizzard is much more powerful, be sure to keep Ice Fang around, since Blizzard’s low accuracy can make it unreliable. For Water-type STAB, Walrein can learn Surf or Waterfall, depending on what you prefer. Both are found naturally as HMs during the story. Walrein gets some bonus points for being able to use these vital HMs, but don’t rely on it to be your water HM user for your playthrough – by the time you can catch it, you’ll have already spent hours traveling across the sea. Walrein’s Water-typing does give it a weakness to Electric-type attacks, so consider taking a detour to the Seafloor Cavern west of Evergrande City to pick up Earthquake (TM26). Note: if you’re playing ORAS then TMs are reusable, so check to see if any of your other Pokémon can learn it too! How to catch: Catch a Swinub in Shoal Cave, then raise it to level 32 to evolve it into Sealeo. Sealeo will then evolve into Walrein at level 44.
2. Glaceon
Suggested Moves:
Icy Wind/Blizzard Ice Beam Shadow Ball Mirror Coat
Glaceon is a pure Ice-type that makes up for its frailty with a giant special attack stat. To make use of its excellent special attack, we’ll kit Glaceon with moves that are all about damaging as many different types of Pokémon as we can. First up is Glaceon’s best STAB moves, starting with Icy Wind, which can be learned from the Fallarbor Move Relearner. We’ll be replacing this with Blizzard once Glaceon hits level 45. After beating the Mossdeep City Gym, make sure to head to Sea Mauville, and pick up Ice Beam (TM13). This will be Glaceon’s go-to Ice-type move. Shadow Ball is another great move for late-game flexibility, dealing double damage to Ghost and Psychic Pokémon. You can find Shadow Ball as TM30 on Mt. Pyre. And finally, we’ll teach Glaceon Mirror Coat to make up for its low speed. Mirror Coat is a retaliation move, dealing double the damage that Glaceon just took, regardless of the opponent’s typing. How to catch: Use the upgraded DexNav on Route 116 to catch an Eevee. Level it up in the ice room of Shoal Cave to evolve it into Glaceon.
1. Glalie
Suggested Moves:
Freeze-Dry Blizzard Bulldoze Shadow Ball
Glalie is the best Ice-type in Hoenn, and that’s without its mega stone. Add in its new mega evolution and Glalie will become one of the strongest members of your Elite Four team. It’s purely Ice-type, and is a true all-rounder, with 80 in every stat. So we can build it just about any way we want. But since Ice-types are available so late, it’s best to build Glalie around defeating the Pokémon League. Most members of the League have at least one Pokémon that can be taken out with one solid Ice-type move, so let’s start there. Glalie learns Freeze-Dry at level 42. This is a move that has a bonus effect of doing double damage to Water-type Pokémon. And this will act as Glalie’s primary STAB move, coming in handy against Sidney’s Sharpedo. We can also teach Glalie Blizzard for some stronger (albeit inaccurate) Ice-type damage. Glalie will learn Blizzard naturally at level 48. If you’re playing ORAS, make sure to head to Shoal Cave during low tide to pick up its mega stone for some extra power and speed. Then to give Glalie some more versatility, head to the Mauville City PokeMart to buy Bulldoze (TM78). This is a Ground-type move that’ll let Glalie tag into the final battle against Champion Steven. And finally, pick up Shadow Ball (TM30) to give Glalie some ammunition against Phoebe’s Ghost-type team, as well as Steven’s ace: Metagross. How to catch: Head to the ice room in Shoal Cave to catch a Snorunt, then evolve it into Glalie by raising it level 42.
