Ice Ball Report

Move Name: Ice Ball
Battle Classification: Physical Attack
Type: Ice
Total number of affected targets: 1
Range: 1 adjacent target other than user
Direct contact needed to initiate attack: Yes
Base Power: 30, 60, 120, 240, 480
Accuracy Rate: 90%
PP: 20 (maximum 32)

Though it might not initially seem like much of a threat, the Ice Ball attack is an awe-inspiring and practically lethal strike that can easily annihilate anything unfortunate enough to get in its way more than a few times. In essence, the Ice Ball attack involves rolling or otherwise launching a round ball of ice into the opposition that grows in size and power with each successive blow. It may not be accurate enough to rely on for direct assaults, but with a little luck and a lot of defense, this move can easily turn otherwise offensively-subpar beasts into ball-toting wielders of absolute mayhem.

The Ice Ball attack is a fairly unique move that Spheal develop as a result of their intense association with round objects and is carried genetically into their evolved forms, eventually making it a devastating weapon in battle of any kind; though they and their evolved forms were once thought to be the only Pokémon capable of using this attack, recent studies have proven that the members of the Bergmite and Alola Sandshrew families share this capacity, though no one is quite sure why them and only them. In effect, an Ice Ball is literally what it sounds like, a round ball of frozen water that is repeatedly rolled into the opposition or potentially launched as a projectile over the course of several 'turns'. With each successive strike, the friction being generated between the Ice Ball and the ground beneath it, in conjunction with the user's natural Ice-type powers, causes the ball to melt, refreeze, grow in size and become more damaging with every blow. In practice, this causes the Base Power of the move to double every time it hits successfully for a total of four times before the object becomes too heavy to move, eventually increasing the move's otherwise weak Base Power of 30 to 480 over the course of five successful strikes. This easily makes the Ice Ball attack potentially the most damaging Ice-type move available to a Pokémon, but considering there is only a 59.09% chance of this actually happening, it's still a long-shot at best. Oddly enough, though, the move shares with the Rollout attack the capacity to have its overall damage doubled if the user uses a Defense Curl technique beforehand; since the user's body is rarely ever a true part of the Ice Ball attack, however, it leaves quite the predicament in practical applications. Nonetheless, it is more than clear that this attack can be a major problem in the right circumstances and can give the Pokémon that can learn it the chance to make the most of their otherwise limited physical offenses.

Countering Ice Ball: Since ice is used as the source of damage in an Ice Ball attack, a strong blast of fire can help destroy the attack at weaker power levels, though the effectiveness of this tactic tends to decrease exponentially as the Ice Ball grows in size; moderately agile Pokémon, however, shouldn't have much trouble dodging the attack with enough room. Strong metallic armor can help reduce or negate the damage dealt by this attack, but weaker metallic armor and rocky armor in general are unlikely to perform as well at higher power levels. The Ice Ball attack might be weak enough at first to be little more than a small bother to most, but if allowed to strike more than two times, the damage the attack is capable of inflicting can quickly become irreversible; as such, evasive tactics of the highest caliber are recommended for ensuring that the move never manages to reach such dangerous levels of power.

Professor Wormwood