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Magma Armor
- Cannot be frozen. Halves the amount of steps required to hatch eggs.
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Flame Body
- Enemies' contact moves have a 30% chance to burn them. Halves the amount of steps required to hatch eggs.
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Statistics
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Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
50
|
- |
241 |
304 |
- |
| Atk |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
| Def |
120
|
248 |
276 |
339 |
372 |
| SpA |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| SpD |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| Spe |
30
|
86 |
96 |
159 |
174 |
You can say a lot of bad things about Magcargo, one more offending than the other, but he does have quite a lot of good support moves. Both Reflect and Light Screen serve to protect Magcargo and his mates. Lava Plume has a 30% chance to burn opponents on the switch, which is of course welcomed as you'll find an awful load of Earthquakers flocking to the battlefield when Magcargo makes his (rather ugly) appearance. Quite a lot of Pokémon are weak to Stealth Rock, especially in NU environment. There's Bugs, Fliers, there's even Pokémon who happen to be both. And let's not forget about the irresistible force that is Delibird!
If Magcargo is facing something straight up, use Protect to see what they're up to. If you're not liking what is coming your way, get Magcargo out of there as fast as you can (considering he's a snake AND has to carry a boulder around, he'll need some help here) and come back later. When Magcargo is back in action, preferably facing a Choice Bander locked into some move that is doing diddly squat, you can set up Stealth Rock. If you did that already, commence the Yawning. Protect after a Yawn and your opponent will have to face the dilemma of staying in and being put to sleep, or switching out and eating Stealth Rock. Overheat is a preferable attacking move since Magcargo is going to go in and out a lot and Lava Plume's burn chance might get in the way of Yawn, but then again Protect works nicely to linger burn damage. Fire Blast is there if you want Magcargo to be able to attack repeatedly with decent power.
Magcargo's base Special Attack is rather average, but with Choice Specs and decent type coverage he may actually put a hurting. We're talking about an effective 426 Special Attack here, ladies and gentlemen. Earth Power is going to OHKO enemy Magcargo, Ancientpower beats up Pelipper and Hidden Power Grass is for Whiscash and other Waters.
Other Options
Magcargo can now officially Recover in Diamond/Pearl. God knows how useful it'll be with two quad weaknesses and 50 base HP, but you never know. Leftovers should do their job at keeping Magcargo alive most of the time, but it's obviously nice to shrug off repeated damage or hostile Stealth Rocks. Of course, if you can't stand looking at his ugly back for too long you can consider blowing up Magcargo. You better pick your target well though, because his Attack stat can be described as "pitiful" (if you're in a good mood, that is). Will-O-Wisp can be used to burn enemies more reliably, in which case you'll want to use Flamethrower, Fire Blast or Overheat for your Fire attacking moves. Body Slam is worth mentioning to paralyze things with, but if you're not into burn I suggest you go with Toxic instead. Sunny Day weakens Water moves, strengthens your own Fire moves and can support your Cherrim, Sunflora or whatever kind of sun abuser you have on your team. Amnesia or Acid Armor shouldn't be considered as Reflect and Light Screen will be infinitely more useful—the stacking effect doesn't help as Magcargo usually still dies in two Earthquakes or Surfs. Don't kid yourself with Curse or any physical attacks either.
EVs
Just max out his HP so he lives through a couple of hits. The EVs suggested in the sets are simple but most effective, you have little business pumping anything else.
Opinion
Magcargo in the higher tiers is an obvious no-no. He will get slaughtered by Earthquake, Surf or Waterfall the moment you bring him in, not to mention his weakness to Fighting moves and Rock in general (Stone Edge and Stealth Rock most notably, his horrid Speed and HP, etcetera etcetera. Heatran completely outplays him there. In UU play, there's still Camerupt waiting on you there for your "slow Fire Pokémon with crap Special Defense and Explosion" needs and Magcargo is still not all that practical. He is just too easy to wall and dispose of.
That leaves us at the bottom of the barrel: NU. And this is where Magcargo can actually (gasp) shine. He can switch in and harass Bug, Flying and Normal types of about any size, lay down Stealth Rock (eat this, utterly threatening Ledian and Beautifly!), set things on fire or throw up some barriers. You still have to worry about his common weaknesses, but at least they're not on 99% of the competition in this environment.
Counters
At the risk being labeled Captain Obvious: Magcargo is a Fire/Rock type. Both of these types are weak to Water and Ground. Coupled with Magcargo's Speed (or lack thereof), that means that anything that carries some kind of Water or Ground move and lives through more than one or two hits of Magcargo's 80 Special Attack can be considered a counter. Whiscash and Gastrodon are probably his best counters, but Sudowoodo, Pelipper, Wailord and any other Water or Rock type deserve to be labeled "Magcargo counter" as well. Magcargo's weakness to Stealth Rock doesn't help either.