For a Pokemon to be strong in-game, it must have good matchups into important Trainers, a useful movepool, and not be a hassle to train. With that in mind, here are the top Ice types in Black 2 and White 2, listed in descending order of preference:
Beartic is the earliest Ice type you'll find... but only if you're playing in winter. You will need to set your DS clock if you want to catch this high-Attack Ice type, otherwise you'll accidentally skip it. Assuming you catch it, Cubchoo evolves quickly and Beartic learns the powerful Icicle Crash at Level 37. This makes it superb against Drayden and respectable against Skyla, and it can further its advantages by dipping into its wide TM pool for moves like Rock Slide and Shadow Claw. As every Ice type does, it struggles with Marshal, but this is negligible given its solid matchup into the rest of the Elite 4. Beartic has a low Speed stat and needs to take care around special attackers.
Mamoswine has the potent Ice/Ground typing that sets it up to be an offensive powerhouse, and it builds on this foundation with 130 base Attack and Earthquake at Level 46. With these traits, it does well against Colress, Ghetsis, and Iris. It's not without its shortcomings, however: Mamoswine requires significant movepool investment, needing a Heart Scale for AncientPower to evolve and another Heart Scale for the mediocre Ice Fang as its best Ice STAB. Its average Speed and defenses leave it prone to being KOed, but its sheer strength is often enough to get the job done against Ice-weak opponents even with a limp STAB move.
Walrein is another Pokemon only obtainable in the winter, but it boasts the highest bulk of the options so far. Water/Ice and Thick Fat make it a strong defensive pick for Marlon's fight and it continues to shine against Iris thanks to Surf by HM and Ice Beam by TM. Walrein is less suited to Colress than other options thanks to its Electric weakness and it struggles with mediocre Speed, but it's still somehow faster than Beartic and is less likely to be OHKOed.
Other Ice types like Weavile and Vanilluxe are decent, particularly if you don't want to wait for winter to roll around. That said, every other Ice type struggles with one of four things:
- Being outclassed (Lapras, Dewgong)
- Too frail (Weavile)
- Having a shallow movepool (Vanilluxe)
- Being Delibird
The three options detailed are the strongest for an efficient playthrough of Black 2 and White 2. Another strong option is to teach a Water type Ice Beam.
