Post by Ludo on Jun 1, 2014 22:08:41 GMT -5
In the tournament I recently attended there was a mono-dragon user that was having a hard time dealing with Ice Beam Greninja. This prompted me to think of ways to counter Ice threats using a mono-dragon team. These are the ideas I came up with:
Counter #1: Kingdra + Disable
I found out that Disable is an egg move for Kingdra. If you have Kingdra's partner use protect and then use disable on Greninja (or really any Ice attack user) you can ensure that it can’t use that ice attack against you. This strategy also has the added bonus of possibly forcing a switch in turn 2. Ice beam is also hits neutral on Kingdra so you shouldn't have to worry about Greninja OHKOing Kindra on the turn you’ll be disabling Ice Beam.
Counter #2: Multiscale Dragonite
This is pretty standard meta stuff, Multiscale will prevent the OHKO onto Dragonite, combine that with Weakness Policy and a Fire Punch and you’ll be able to take out most ice types.
Counter #3: Yacht Berry
Again, this is pretty basic stuff and honestly it’s the counter I recommend the least. Your opponent could just as easily target a Dragon that isn’t holding the berry and if your opponent has a pokemon with the ability unnerve the berry won’t activate at all. I recommend saving it for after playtesting your team and if a certain dragon stands out as a magnet for Ice beams I’d give it the berry.
Counter #4: Scarfed Salamence (special set)
I’ve seen this little strategy used a lot in VGC recently and it seems to work a solid Ice being able to outspeed pretty much everything in the game while having access to moves like Fire Blast and Draco Meteor (which has a 75% chance to OHKO Greninja). It also doubles up as a solid Dragon/Steel counter as well, unlike some of the other entries on this list.
Anyways that’s all I was able to come up with. Feel free to share any ice counters you can think of along with any comments you have on the counters listed here.
Counter #1: Kingdra + Disable
I found out that Disable is an egg move for Kingdra. If you have Kingdra's partner use protect and then use disable on Greninja (or really any Ice attack user) you can ensure that it can’t use that ice attack against you. This strategy also has the added bonus of possibly forcing a switch in turn 2. Ice beam is also hits neutral on Kingdra so you shouldn't have to worry about Greninja OHKOing Kindra on the turn you’ll be disabling Ice Beam.
Counter #2: Multiscale Dragonite
This is pretty standard meta stuff, Multiscale will prevent the OHKO onto Dragonite, combine that with Weakness Policy and a Fire Punch and you’ll be able to take out most ice types.
Counter #3: Yacht Berry
Again, this is pretty basic stuff and honestly it’s the counter I recommend the least. Your opponent could just as easily target a Dragon that isn’t holding the berry and if your opponent has a pokemon with the ability unnerve the berry won’t activate at all. I recommend saving it for after playtesting your team and if a certain dragon stands out as a magnet for Ice beams I’d give it the berry.
Counter #4: Scarfed Salamence (special set)
I’ve seen this little strategy used a lot in VGC recently and it seems to work a solid Ice being able to outspeed pretty much everything in the game while having access to moves like Fire Blast and Draco Meteor (which has a 75% chance to OHKO Greninja). It also doubles up as a solid Dragon/Steel counter as well, unlike some of the other entries on this list.
Anyways that’s all I was able to come up with. Feel free to share any ice counters you can think of along with any comments you have on the counters listed here.
