Regice PvP Guide: A Comprehensive Analysis

Regice

With the return to raids during the “Colossal Discovery” event, Regice gained a new fast move that you’re able to TM old ones to. Thanks to this new move, Regice has gone from a simple dex entry for all players to a PvP powerhouse across all leagues!

Regardless of which league you play in, it is highly advised to have answers to Regice now as it got the fast move any Pokémon only dreams of having. So why is Regice so good in PvP and how should it be used within each league? Let’s go ahead and see for ourselves!

PvP Overview

Regice Ice
Max CP 3122
ATK 179 DEF 309 HP 190
Weak to Strong Against
Fighting Steel Fire Rock Ice

Movesets

Regice has or has had access to the following moves in Pokémon Go:

Fast Moves Charged Moves
Frost Breath Ice Blizzard Ice
Rock Smash Fighting Earthquake Ground
Lock-On Normal

Moveset analysis

Fast Moves

Move Damage Per Turn (DPT) Energy Per Turn (EPT)
Frost Breath Ice 3.5 2.5
Frost Breath has pretty good Damage Per Turn (DPT) but due to the high cost of Regice’s charge moves, the low Energy Per Turn {EPT} really holds it back. This is generally not worth using as there are far better Ice type attackers in each league. 
Rock Smash Fighting 3 2.33
Rock Smash is a poor move in every way for Regice. Even worse damage and energy gains than Frost Breath.
Lock-On Normal 1 5
This is the move that has taken Regice from the dumpster to the main scene. With an unheard of 5 Energy Per Turn, Regice can easily get to its powerful charge moves. Just be aware that you will be unable to faint much of anything down with fast moves to save charge moves for the next Pokemon due to the minuscule 1 Damage Per Turn.

Charge Moves

Regice wants a second charged move in order to cover the most possible targets. As with all other Mythical and Legendary Pokémon, the cost for this is high with 100k stardust and 100 candy..

Move Base Power Energy Cost
Blizzard Ice 130 75
Blizzard is the only STAB charge move Regice has, and it packs a serious punch. With Ice being a strong offensive type, Blizzard should be used on Regice in almost any situation or team composition, regardless of the league it’s being used in.
Earthquake Ground 120 65
Earthquake is a fantastic coverage move for Regice. With super effective coverage on three of Regice’s 4 weaknesses, this is the easy choice for a second move as it allows Regice a strong option to beat some of its would-be counters.
Focus Blast Fighting 150 75
Focus Blast may be the strongest base power move Regice has access to, but it lacks the counter coverage Earthquake has. While it still covers Rock and Steel type counters, Earthquake requires a little less energy and has the added bonus of hitting Fire types. When looking for a second move, just go for Earthquake, but don’t be surprised if Focus Blast turns up as a good option in a future Silph Arena cup.

If it hasn’t been made obvious by now, Regice almost always wants to be using Lock-On with Blizzard and Earthquake. While Focus Blast might have future Silph Arena cup use, Blizzard has the strongest damage output among all of Regice’s charge moves while Earthquake offers the best counter coverage. Lock-On is chosen for its whopping 5 Energy Per Turn to help Regice reliably get to those powerful, but expensive charge moves.

General Regice PvP Tips

While Regice’s targets and teammate options will change with each league, there are a couple of key things to keep in mind that can help you across all leagues. First and foremost is that Regice absolutely needs to be in even shielding scenarios, or better yet, given the shield advantage. Due to Lock-On’s pitiful 1 Damage Per Turn, a Regice at shield disadvantage will perform very poorly as its extremely reliant on charge moves for its damage output. Due to this reason, Regice prefers to be a lead or closer. While it may seem poor as a lead option, this is the only time in a battle where it’s guaranteed to be an even shield scenario. When using it as a closer, try to keep a shield available to ensure an even shield scenario at worst. Should Regice be in a 0v0 shield scenario, this is where it truly shines as its bulk and extremely powerful charge moves allow it to overcome the vast majority of foes it faces.

The other is much more advanced and not as easy to pull off without practice. While it’s generally impossible to take down an opponent with Lock-On alone when they are low on HP, being able to move count to get as much extra energy as possible before they can use a charge move will lead to truly optimal use of Regice. Remember that even 2 or 3 extra Lock-Ons before finishing a target with Earthquake can give Regice up to 15 extra energy heading in to the next Pokémon, which is often times the difference between getting to an extra charge move before the next Pokémon can use a charge move of its own.

Regice in the Great League

Regice is a borderline top 10 pick in the open Great League. While it has severe weaknesses to the numerous Fighting and Steel types in the meta, such as Medicham, Bastiodon, and Registeel, it is one of the worst nightmares for Dragon and Grass types such as Altaria and Tropius. Due to its high energy gains and powerful charge moves, Regice is a phenomenal closer as very few Pokémon resist the combination of Ice and Ground type moves.

Its biggest counters are Lucario and legacy iterations of Primeape and Machamp due to their incredible Fighting type damage. Due to this, a Fairy type like Clefable or Togekiss and a Flying type such as Skarmory or Altaria can help mitigate these problems. The biggest issue for Regice will be getting one to use. Even when traded, a raid level Regice cannot qualify for the Great League. You will either need to have saved one from a research breakthrough box or trade for one that came from a research box. You will want to look for the following IV spreads to maximize Regice’s stat product depending on the friendship level you are trading with:

  • 2 / 15 / 15 – #1 overall
  • 3 / 15 / 13 – Ultra Friend
  • 5 / 8 / 13 – Best Friend
  • 10 / 12 / 11 – Research Box

Regice in the Ultra League

This is where Regice hits its peak due to its stat spread and shape of the meta as it sits at or near the top 5 among all Ultra League options. Regice continues being a Dragon slayer with its powerful STAB Blizzards while keeping Steel type counters on their toes with Earthquake. Unfortunately for Regice, Lucario has followed it up to the Ultra League and remains a premier counter capable of overwhelming Regice with Fighting type damage. However, aside from Lucario, Blaziken, and Charizard, Regice has playable losing matchups and can beat both Giratina forms, Lugia, and Venusaur handily. It also has neutral matchups against Blastoise and Swampert and slight winning matchups against Alolan Muk and Armored Mewtwo.

Due to having favorable or neutral matchups against a wide array of top meta threats, Regice fits well into most Ultra League teams. Its best partners are Giratina forms to handle the big 3 counters to Regice as well as a Fighting or Fire type of your own to take pressure off of Regice needing to hit an Earthquake to overcome the numerous Steel types in the meta. Getting Regice into the Ultra League is fairly easy as any caught in raids can qualify. Should you be looking to maximize Regice’s stat product for the Ultra League, here is a list of some important IV spreads to look for based on the method you obtain it:

  • 1 / 14 / 15 – #1 overall
  • 2 / 13 / 13 – Great Friend
  • 3 / 13 / 14 – Ultra Friend
  • 6 / 14 / 14 – Best Friend
  • 10 / 13 / 13 – Raid & Research Box

Regice in the Master League

The Master League is where all of the Regi trio is generally weakest due to their subpar Attack stats. However, Regice is the strongest of the trio due to its strong matchups on the multitude of Dragon types found in the league and is able to hang around among the top 15 options overall. It still beats both Giratina formes, Groudon, Lugia, Dragonite, Garchomp, and Togekiss. Charizard isn’t as common in Master League, but it still does well against Regice while Machamp has taken over Lucario’s role as the top Regice killer. Similar to Ultra League, all of Regice’s losing matchups outside of these two are playable and can be won in the right energy or shielding situation, which makes it a relatively safe pick on Master League teams.

The Giratina formes remain good teammates to handle Regice’s biggest weaknesses while a Fighting type of your own can help against Steel types like Melmetal and Dialga. As there is no CP cap in the Master League, simply aim for a 15 / 15 / 15 IV spread when using Regice here.

Conclusion

While Swampert may be the poster Pokémon for being great across all PvP leagues, Regice is certainly in that conversation. Being a top 15 pick in all three leagues makes it one of the best PvP Pokémon to date. Whether you focus on Great League because of the Silph Arena cups or you’re just an avid PvP player across all leagues, Regice has become one of the best investments in the game from a PvP standpoint.

Registeel might be better in the Great League and Ultra League, but Regice is the most consistent of the Regi trio across all 3 leagues and its great offensive coverage helps to ensure that even most of its counters will have something to think about when taking the big block of ice down.

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EonX
EonX
An avid Pokemon player for the majority of his life. He is always excited to share knowledge, learn new things, and do what he can to help others with how they play the game. He is always willing to answer questions about certain aspects of the game, particularly raids and PvP

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