TL;DR: Should You Pull?
Power Ranking: 9/10
The first and exclusive Ice Zone user complemented by illustrious stat drop utility, though her typing and surrounding synergies pale slightly in comparison to what is expected of her caliber.
Should You Pull: Quick Overview
Pulling her will generally not backfire due to the comparatively lacking strength of Ice types relative to the surrounding cast. However, she does have to compete with both Adaman and the upcoming Sygna Suit Silver, both of whom are strong competition powerlevel wise and the latter of whom shares her Ice typing.
How To Use It?
Sync Grid Considerations & Lucky Skills
Irida has one of if not the most valuable grid in the game due to nearly every tile in her grid being useful in some form as well as very streamlined paths and costs for the reward she gets. Uniquely for any other unit, Irida already has access to Invigorating Hail 5 at one copy alone, providing much potent offensive range for her otherwise poor output outside of her B Ice Beam.
Two copies brings primarily defensive and utility assortments; Ramp Up 2 on her Trainer Move is notable for allowing her to maximize her Special Attack and match the efficiency of Adaman’s own Trainer Move, while the primary yield on the bottom quadrant allow her to function as a robust semi tank with options such as Wise Entry 2, First Aid 2, Winter Coat 2, and Hail Immunity. While not completely horrible, Quick Tempo and Sync Freebie should generally be avoided, as they tend to be less useful outside of scenarios where she greeds gauge heavy compositions and when her base acceleration and Free Move from B Ice Beam are inadequate, such as when anchoring heavier units such as Hala and Ghetsis together.
Three copies is where the piece de resistance of Irida’s kit arrives, as it expands her utility significantly beyond an otherwise linear zone and hail setter. Access to both Mind Games and Satisfied Snarl 9 means that Icy Wind debuffs Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed by one stage in an AoE, making her an excellent debuffer. Moreover, it also further accelerates the Special Defense drops from B Ice Beam, such that she also has synergizes with units that employ either Smarty Pants or Brainteaser. Brainpower is a key offensive tile that synergizes well with her instantaneous setup, fast Special Defense buffs, and cheap nuke cost for its reward. Probably her most appealing options are those that provide even better rigorous control of her signature terrain effects, namely Artic Arrival, Ice Zone Extension and Hail Alert 3, which provide a free round of Ice Zone and Hail and extend the duration of the move respectively.
Irida’s EX increments her already excellent nuke to even more staggering levels, notably being more useful for difficult content or for players who enjoy seeing big numbers. Her EX colors also being excellent is the icing on the cake.
Weathered Warrior 3 is Irida’s ideal skill due to her propensity to function in Hail for the extra kick over Critical Strike 2. Head Start 1 is viable to round-off Sync acceleration for some of her corresponding users, namely Sygna Suit N and the upcoming Sygna Suit Silver and Sneasel.
Games Modes
Irida’s excellent profiles across the board allow her to excel in a variety of moves, chiefly the Champion Stadium and the Legendary Arena. Her incredibly fast rotations allow for Ice compositions to be competitive where their lack of a steroid were previously slower compared to the surrounding beneficiaries of zones, while her Master Passive and debuffs also provide her components in longer, higher point clears. Irida’s ability to set up zone, weather and provide debuffs in particular makes her a great choice against the more difficult and specific Legendary Arenas of the roster, namely Latias and Moltres.
Team Compositions
As much of a no brainer as it is for Irida to be matched with Ice types, Irida faces the conundrum of the best Ice types being physical, contrasting her penchant for Special compositions. While units such as Hala & Crabominable, Winter Leon & Calyrex as well as Sygna Suit N & Black Kyurem get a much appreciated, undeniable benefit, their inability to make as much use of her qualities such as her Master Passives and her debuffs may be considered a bit of a letdown, but don't get fooled as they still make great use of her overall.
Relatively, the Special Ice cohort is significantly less impressive, with a non Ice type, Sygna Suit Hilbert & Genesect, being the best of that group outside of Ghetsis & Kyurem, who benefits from an accelerated sync demand with Irida’s Icy Wind and increments from both zone and debuffs. Candice & Froslass are another pair that gets notably incremented due to not only zone by also further synergies with Irida’s Sinnoh Spirit Master Passive.
Irida should not be exclusively confined to Ice comps, however. Her ability to debuff Special Attack, Special Defense and Speed makes her an solid component for units that scale off these drops. Nevertheless, the raw power and cheap cost of Irida’s nuke means that she’ll often nuke better than most abusers of Smarty Pants, Devastation and Cakewalk short of Renegade Cynthia, who happens to stack Master Passives with her. Other units that notably benefit from her presence include more sufficient AoE Strikers that better contend value with her, namely Alder & Volcarona, Raihan & Duraludon, as well as Summer N & Zoroark, all of whom benefit from Devastation or Cakewalk in addition to Special Defense drop increments.
Showcase Video
Is It Worth Pulling?
Irida’s descent from Hisuian space was a much needed ray of light for what is arguably the weakest and most neglected type in the game, and as the last of the zoners outside of Normal Zone, players would definitely lose nothing by pulling her even in the face of strong competition such as Adaman and Sygna Suit Silver. While not necessarily as powerful as the aforementioned pairs, her unique qualities and stellar nuking performance on her own will surely not disappoint.
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