Quoted By:
Ice is good offensively, but terrible defensively. This means that it's an interesting coverage type but a terrible type to be. Sure, it's nice to get that STAB boost to your Ice type attacks, but there are so few Ice types that can meaningfully take advantage of that it becomes obvious the type itself needs a buff.
>But wouldn't that push the already good Pokemon over the edge?
Game Freak has shown that they're more than willing to nerf individual Pokemon with targetted nerfs in Gens 8 and 9. Aegislash at an effective 40 base stat total nerf in Gen 8. Game Freak could easily move 10 base Special Attack points from Iron Bundle's Special Attack to its Special Defense so it can keep its blistering Speed and perfect coverage but it won't be able to one shot nearly as many Pokemon. Chien Pao could have 10 points of its Speed lopped off and transferred to Special Defense while nerfing Sword of Ruin to 20% from 25%. G-Darm's Gorilla Tactics could be made to not stack with other Choice items so it can't run Scarf + Band at the same time. Baxcalibur could lose access to Dragon Dance and/or Scale Shot. Those are really the only 4 standout problem Ice types, and the buff to their type would help patch over some of the effectiveness nerfs.
