Which move is better on Poliwrath?

Question

Poison Jab or Ice Punch?

Comments

What other moves does Poliwrath have?

Answer 1

I'm going to answer using Pokemon DB's (not-so-)amazing type coverage checker. My answer assumes you're looking for neutral coverage, while Jellohamster's answer assumes you're looking for super effective coverage. Select whichever answer you'd like. According to the checker...
Water, fighting, poison: 11 not very effective
Water, fighting, ice: 23 not very effective
Water, ground, fighting, poison: achieves neutral coverage (0 not very effective)
Water, ground, fighting, ice: 5 not very effective
If you're looking for neutral coverage, use poison jab.

Answer 2

This question doesn't really give enough information, so take this reply with a grain of salt.
Since Ice Punch is learnable in games prior to Gen VII (factoring out transferring Pokemon over), I'll imply that you're using Pokemon Showdown. This reply also applies to an all-offense moveset.

If you have a Fighting move and Water move in the moveset, as well as Earthquake, you'll already have decent coverage. Now, let's look at the moves in question...

Poison Jab - 80 Damage / Grass and Fairy coverage
Ice Punch - 75 Damage / Grass, Dragon, and Flying coverage (Ground is already covered by Water)

Ice Punch covers 3 types, compared to Poison Jab covering only 2. In addition, if they send out a Grass or Fairy type, you may want to be switching Poliwrath out anyways. Poliwrath can easily take a hit from a Dragon type and counter with Ice Punch, though. Now for some more numbers...

Poison Jab + Water + Fighting + Earthquake: Super-effective to 530 Pokemon (66% of all Pokemon)
Ice Punch + Water + Fighting + Earthquake: Super-effective to 625 Pokemon (78% of all Pokemon)

That's a big difference. Even if you run Rock Slide instead of Earthquake, Poison Jab lets Poliwrath cover only 574 Pokemon, while Ice Punch would cover 598.

In conclusion... Ice Punch would be the better option all-around. Movesets vary though, so this may not apply to you.

Comments

What if he doesn't care as much about being super effective against most things, and cares more about having neutral coverage against everything?

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Non-STAB moves do crap damage when only neutral. You should be aiming to hit what you need to supereffectively.

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sumwun is right.

Answer 3

Whichever one covers your team, or you can use both of them for great coverage.

These moves are good for covering Poliwrath. Ice Punch can do supereffective damage on Grass Types, while Poison Jab does super effective damage on Fairy Types. If you would like to use only one of these, pick which move will cover your team. If you have a steel/poison type on your team, you do not need Poison Jab. On the other hand, if you have a Fire/Ice Type on your team, you would not need Ice Punch.

Here's a Moveset I would suggest:

Poison Jab
Ice Punch
Mind Reader
Dynamic Punch

Great set for coverage, and after using Mind Reader, you can attack using Dynamic Punch for STAB and a chance to confuse.

Answer 4

I guess Ice Punch. Ice Punch is stronger than Poison Jab and super effective on flying types. But Poison Jab could defend against fairy types. You can decide what to do now.