Anywho, enough of my ice type rant. Brycen is the seventh gym leader, so by this point in the game you should have quite the arsenal of pokes at your disposal. I don’t see how you could go through the game this long and not have something either in your team or in your box that will contend well against Brycen. Darumakka, Excadrill, Scrafty, Gigalith and Conkeldurr are my personal favorites to use for this battle, each sporting moves that can take out Brycen’s team in a single hit. You also have the opportunity to access Cobalion, a steel/fighting type in Mistralton Cave. Catching this Pokemon will just about guarantee you a win against Brycen, as it not only comes with high stats but also two powerful moves (Iron Head and Sacred Sword) that will wipe the battle floor.

There’s quite a bit you can explore now at this point, so I won’t go into tremendous amounts of detail explaining possible preparation methods for the fight. However, Icirrus City does provide a few helpful tools that you can use at your disposal. Speak with the lady in the Pokecenter to obtain TM31 Brick Break; a fighting type move that breaks through barriers like Light Screen and Reflect. Also, the PokeMart sells three of the most powerful TMs: TM14 Blizzard, TM25 Thunder and TM38 Fire Blast (Really? Fire Blast? They might as well just give you the badge). Snag whatever you can afford, buy some more Lemonades and you’ll be set to go.

Now, on to the actual fight. Brycen will start out with a level 37 Vanillish. This suckers signature move is “Frost Breath”, which happens to be the reward for beating the gym. This is a low power special ice attack, but it will land a critical hit 100% of the time. As interesting as this move is, it really only fills a niche role. Critical hits ignore defense boosts, so it’ll bypass any buffed special defense. Moves such as Ice Beam, Blizzard and Icicle Crash are far more useful. The prior two have a chance to freeze while the ladder can flinch, so it’s not too big of a threat. Strike with a swift super effective move to take it out quickly before he pumps up his defense with Acid Armor! Moving on, we have a level 39 Beartic. This polar bear is a much higher threat than the previous contender. He’s one of only a handful of physical based ice type Pokemon, which is a refreshing addition to B/W. He comes with the move Icicle Crash, which should be considered quite the threat. Not only does it compliment his high attack stat and comes with a STAB, but it also has a 30% chance of flinching opponents. This can be a game changer if Beartic happens to be faster than your active party member. Beartic also comes with the irritating Swagger and the less-threatening Brine; a water type attack that does double damage the opponent’s HP is below half. Attack with your most powerful fighting or steel type Pokemon (Brine can be a threat against any fire or rock types). Lastly, he’ll send out a level 37 Cryogonal. I think it’s safe to say that this particular teammate is probably less of a threat than the previous two. Not only does its list of attacks stink, but it’s also quite frail on the physical side. Frost Breath is its strongest attack with the weak Aurora Beam coming in second. He can build up some defense with Reflect, but it won’t be helpful with its base 30 defense. Any (and I mean any) physical attack will more than likely KO it in at the very max two hits.