Calyrex (Ice Rider) Movesets and Best Builds

This is a guide to movesets and best builds for using Calyrex (Ice Rider) in competitive play for the games Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (SV). Read on for tips on the best Nature, EV spreads, Movesets, Tera Type, and Held Items to use with Calyrex (Ice Rider), as well as its strengths and weaknesses.

Calyrex (Ice Rider) - Related Guides
Evolution and Learnset	Tera Raid Build

Calyrex (Ice Rider) Base Stats, Type, Ability and Weakness

Nat. Dex #898.1		Type
Calyrex (Ice Rider)
		Abilities
		As One (Ice Rider)
Weak to:
	(2x)
Damaged Normally By:	(1x)
Resists:	(0.5x)

What is Type Effectiveness?

Base Stats

Best Nature for Calyrex (Ice Rider)

What are Natures?

Singles Movesets for Calyrex (Ice Rider)

Assault Vest Moveset & Best Build

Nature	Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
EV Spread	HP 252 / Atk 252 / Spe 4
Final Stat Values	HP 207 / Atk 238 / Def 170 / Sp. Def 151 / Spe 70
Ability	As One (Ice Rider)
Tera Type
Held Item	Assault Vest
Moveset	・ Glacial Lance ・ High Horsepower ・ Close Combat ・ Trailblaze

Summary

Has a great offensive movepool with a wide coverage range. Amazing natural bulk, that's further enhanced by an Assault Vest. Now has Terastallization to help with its many many weaknesses.

Ability and Held Item

Ability	Held Item
As One (Ice Rider)	Assault Vest

Calyrex Ice Rider's only ability is As One, which is a combination of Calyrex's Unnerve and Glastrier's Chilling Neigh. This makes it so that Calyrex Ice Rider prevents its opponents from eating a berry and it also gets an Attack boost whenever it knocks out its opponent.

The item chosen for this build is an Assault Vest. This boosts Calyrex Ice Rider's lower Sp. Def stat, making it even bulkier and harder to knock out.

Moves Breakdown

Glacial Lance is its strongest Ice-type attack with no downsides.

High Horsepower and Close Combat are its main coverage moves that hit a wide range of Pokemon for super-effective damage.

Trailblaze is another good coverage move, but its main purpose is to boost Calyrex Ice Rider's very low Speed stat to help it outspeed the opponent's Pokemon.

Best Tera Type: Water

Water Tera Type Matchup
Weak to:
	(2x)
Damaged Normally By:	(1x)
Resists:	(0.5x)

Water is the best Tera Type for this build because it's a good defensive type with its Grass and Electric weaknesses being countered by Glacial Lance and High Horsepower respectively.

Best Water (Tera) Type Pokemon for Ranked Battle

EV Spread and Nature

A full 252 EVs are placed in Calyrex Ice Rider's HP and Attack to make it as bulky as possible while still being able to hit hard. The extra 4 EVs are placed in its Sp. Def to help round out its bulk, especially with an Assault Vest.

An Adamant nature is preferred to maximize Calyrex Ice Rider's damage output.

Other Viable Moves

Loaded Dice Moveset & Best Build

Nature	Jolly (+Spe, -Sp. Atk)
EV Spread	HP 4 / Atk 252 / Spe 252
Final Stat Values	HP 176 / Atk 217 / Def 170 / Sp. Def 150 / Spe 112
Ability	As One (Ice Rider)
Tera Type
Held Item	Loaded Dice
Moveset	・ Icicle Spear ・ Bullet Seed ・ High Horsepower ・ Agility

Summary

Has a great offensive movepool with a wide coverage range. Has multiple ways to change its Speed tier. Now has Terastallization to help with its many many weaknesses.

Ability and Held Item

Ability	Held Item
As One (Ice Rider)	Loaded Dice

Calyrex Ice Rider's only ability is As One, which is a combination of Calyrex's Unnerve and Glastrier's Chilling Neigh. This makes it so that Calyrex Ice Rider prevents its opponents from eating a berry and it also gets an Attack boost whenever it knocks out its opponent.

The item chosen for this build is a Loaded Dice. This ensures that Icicle Spear and Bullet Seed hit a minimum of 4 times, making them at least 100 ~ 125 base power moves.

Moves Breakdown

Icicle Spear is its best Ice-type STAB move for this build. This is chosen over Glacial Lance so that Calyrex Ice Rider can bypass full HP items and abilities like a Focus Sash or Dragonite's Multiscale.

Bullet Seed is its other coverage move that helps it deal with Water-types like Dondozo that can comfortably tank its other two moves.

High Horsepower is its main coverage move to help it deal with Steel and Fire-types that resist both of its Ice and Grass-type attacks.

Agility is used to help Calyrex Ice Rider outspeed non-Speed boosted Pokemon after one Agility boost. For reference, only Regieleki can naturally outspeed Calyrex Ice Rider after it has its Speed boosted by two stages.

Best Tera Type: Grass

Grass Tera Type Matchup
Weak to:
	(2x)
Damaged Normally By:	(1x)
Resists:	(0.5x)

Grass is the best Tera Type for this build because it boosts the damage of Bullet Seed. Calyrex Ice Rider also has Icicle Spear and High Horsepower to deal with Grass' more common weaknesses.

Best Grass (Tera) Type Pokemon for Ranked Battle

EV Spread and Nature

A full 252 EVs are placed in Calyrex Ice Rider's Attack and Speed to make it hit as hard and fast as possible. The extra 4 EVs are put into its HP to help round out its bulk.

A Jolly nature is preferred to help Calyrex Ice Rider outspeed as many Pokemon as possible. This is also important to ensure that Calyrex Ice Rider can outspeed base 135 ~ 150 Speed Pokemon like Koraidon or Zacian after a single Agility Speed boost.

Other Viable Moves

Doubles Movesets for Calyrex (Ice Rider)

Regulation G Trick Room Attacker Moveset & Best Build

Nature	Brave (+Atk, -Spe)
EV Spread	HP 252 / Atk 252 / Def 4
Final Stat Values	HP 207 / Atk 238 / Def 171 / Sp. Def 150 / Spe 63
Ability	As One (Ice Rider)
Tera Type
Held Item	White Herb
Moveset	・ Glacial Lance ・ Close Combat ・ Trick Room ・ Protect

Summary

Signature Move, Glacial Lance, is amazing for Regulation G Doubles. Great HP, Attack, Defense, Special Defense and excellent Speed for Trick Room. Now has Terastallization to help with its many many weaknesses.

Ability and Held Item

Ability	Held Item
As One (Ice Rider)	White Herb

Calyrex Ice Rider's only ability is As One, which is a combination of Calyrex's Unnerve and Glastrier's Chilling Neigh. This makes it so that Calyrex Ice Rider prevents its opponents from eating a berry and it also gets an Attack boost whenever it knocks out its opponent.

The item chosen for this build is White Herb, which allows Calyrex (Ice Rider) to shrug off Incineroar's Intimidate Attack debuff.

Moves Breakdown

Glacial Lance is its strongest Ice-type attack with no downsides.

*Close Combat is its main coverage move, which allows it to KO Kingambit.

Trick Room can reverse turn order, allowing Calyrex to attack first because of its low Speed.

Protect is a great way to keep Calyrex (Ice Rider) healthy while you set up an advantageous situation for it.

Best Tera Type: Dark

Dark Tera Type Matchup
Weak to:
	(2x)
Damaged Normally By:	(1x)
Resists:	(0.5x)
Immune to:	(0x)

Dark is the best Tera Type for this build as it allows Calyrex (Ice Rider) to better tank Calyrex (Shadow Rider)'s Astral Barrage. This also gives it a better matchup against Kingambit.

Best Dark Type Pokemon for Ranked Battle

EV Spread and Nature

A full 252 EVs are placed in Calyrex (Ice Rider)'s HP and Attack to make it as bulky as possible while still being able to hit hard. The extra 4 EVs are placed in its Def to help round out its bulk.

A Brave nature is preferred to maximize Calyrex (Ice Rider)'s damage output and make it as slow as possible for Trick Room.

Other Viable Moves

How to Use Calyrex (Ice Rider) Effectively

Play Towards Calyrex Ice Rider's Strengths

Calyrex Ice Rider has amazing offensive and defensive stats, but very low Speed. This can make it an amazing bulky attacker with items like an Assault Vest or a Sitrus Berry, or it can be a formidably fast sweeper under Trick Room.

Make sure to build your Calyrex Ice Rider in a way that best complements your team, and make sure that its teammates can also cover for its weaknesses.

Save Your Terastallization for the Right Moment

Calyrex Ice Rider has a lot of weaknesses and only two resists in Ice and Psychic. It is important to save your Terastallization for Calyrex Ice Rider to ensure that it can live a super-effective attack.

The only time you don't want to use your Tera on Calyrex Ice Rider is when one of its allies is a more important Pokemon to Terastallize. Make sure to recognize which is the most important Pokemon to Terastallize against your opponent's team and save your Tera for that Pokemon.

How to Build a Team with Calyrex (Ice Rider)

Calyrex Ice Rider appreciates teammates who can support it by helping it stay alive or by making it move first with moves like Trick Room or After You.

Sample Singles Team

Screens Lead	Physical Attacker	Physical Attacker
Alolan Ninetales	Calyrex (Ice Rider)	Urshifu Rapid-Strike Style

Alolan Ninetales is an amazing Pokemon for this team because it can make Calyrex (Ice Rider) incredibly difficult to knock out with the combination of Aurora Veil and Snow Warning boosting its defenses.

With both screens and snow setup, this makes it safe for Calyrex (Ice Rider) to come in and easily tank hits, even if they're super-effective. This allows it to get massive damage off without taking that much damage in return, or to safely set up Speed boosts making it incredibly hard to stop, especially after getting Grim Neigh Attack boosts.

Urshifu Rapid Strike is used as a counter against a lot of the Pokemon that threaten Calyrex (Ice Rider) in the case that Aurora Veil is gone or the weather has been changed or removed.

Sample Doubles Team

Physical Attacker	Support / Physical Attacker
Calyrex (Ice Rider)	Incineroar
Special Attacker	Physical Attacker
Torkoal	Rillaboom

Incineroar is able to support Calyrex (Ice Rider) with Fake Out, while it sets up Trick Room. Incineroar and Tera Dark Calyrex (Ice Rider) will make for a difficult matchup for Calyrex (Shadow Rider).

Torkoal is also an excellent Trick Room attacker, who can only benefit with a partner that can set up Trick Room for it. It also matches up favorably against Zacian-Crowned, who may give our double Dark lead some trouble.

Rillaboom is added to the team because of its ability to outprioritize and 2HKO Calyrex (Shadow Rider) with Grassy Glide, and threaten both Groudon and Kyogre with a powerful Wood Hammer.

Counters for Calyrex (Ice Rider)

Knock It Out With Strong Choice Scarf Attackers

Best Pokemon to Use

Pokemon	Description
Calyrex (Shadow Rider)	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Glacial Lance doesn't OHKO unless Calyrex (Ice Rider) is Adamant with maximum Attack investment. ・Astral Barrage can OHKO through an Assault Vest after a Grim Neigh boost unless it defensively Terastallizes. ▶️ Calyrex Shadow Rider Best Movesets
Koraidon	Ranking: ★★★★ ・Orichalcum Pulse can remove Snow. ・Flare Blitz can OHKO Calyrex (Ice Rider) unless it defensively Terastallizes. ▶️ Koraidon Best Movesets
Chi-Yu	Ranking: ★★★★ ・Choice Scarf Chi-Yu outspeeds a Calyrex (Ice Rider) with max Speed investment and +2 Speed by 4 points. ・Tera Fire Overheat is guaranteed to OHKO Calyrex (Ice Rider) even through an Assault Vest unless it defensively Terastallizes. ▶️ Chi-Yu Best Movesets

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