Substitute and Magnet Rise are needed to reliably counter Bronzong. Magnet Rise will protect you from Earthquake, while Substitute will block Hypnosis and the threat of a last-ditch Explosion. Attempting to trap Metagross is quite risky, even with Magnet Rise. You have to switch in against it safely begin with, and on top of that, you need to be faster to be able to avoid Earthquake. Keep in mind that Metagross has 10 more base Speed than Magnezone, which it can easily use to its advantage in this situation.
This set exploits Magnezone's new-improved defenses in DP. Not only does it have a huge list of resistances, including the Electric and Ice combination, but it also has the potential to deal a lot of damage with its base 130 Special Attack. This set is a particularly effective means of countering Zapdos.
This set takes full advantage of Magnezone's high Special Attack. Flash Cannon offers a secondary STAB attack. Metal Sound will allow you to 2HKO Blissey with Thunderbolt if you carry Life Orb. Magnet Rise is useful should a Ground type switch in. As most rely on Earthquake to stop Magnezone, you can render them helpless to stop you in a lot of instances. The EVs listed in this set are for the Life Orb variant. If you opt for Leftovers instead, you may want more attack to boost Explosion.
Magnezone's base 130 Special Attack is the highest of any Electric-type, making Choice Specs an attractive option. Explosion allows you to severely damage Pokemon you otherwise you'd normally have a hard time against, such as Blissey. In a fast-paced battle, Choice Scarf is an excellent item for making life difficult for fast Pokémon with low defenses. In a stall war, it is generally more of a hindrance than a help, as it limits your attacking options without any practical advantage. However, Pokémon with Explosion are essentially impossible to stall. The EVs listed here are for Choice Specs. If you choose to use Choice Scarf, you will want to invest more in Speed. Other OptionsThunder Wave makes up for Magnezone's poor Speed, and works well with Substitute. You can set up Substitutes against a paralyzed Pokémon, and attack safely when it is Fully Paralyzed. Having a Substitute still intact after you KO a Pokémon will prevent an easy chance for Garchomp or Infernape to switch in against you. Toxic allows Magnezone to damage Ground-types it would otherwise struggle with. Protect works well with Toxic to allow you to recover HP while your opponent is slowly worn down. Reflect and Light Screen allow Magnezone to support its team. Mirror Coat is great for surprising special attackers. Screech can boost Explosion's damage, or alternatively, force a switch into a Thunder Wave or Toxic. Charge Beam gives Magnezone a way to boost its already impressive Special Attack. Tri Attack has a 20% chance to freeze, paralyze or burn, which could be prove to be useful in certain situations. Hidden PowerOne of the hardest decisions for a Magnezone is what Hidden Power to use. Grass obviously hits Rhyperior and Swampert a lot harder than Ice, but Ice will usually OHKO Garchomp, and hits Grass types for super effective damage. Hidden Power Ice is recommended in the sets because of its usefulness against the two most common Ground types, Garchomp and Gliscor. Keep in mind that Flash Cannon will still cover Rhyperior when combined with Hidden Power Ice, but you won't have anything to hit Swampert with. With Hidden Power Grass, Flash Cannon still hits Garchomp and Grass types Hard, but not as hard as Hidden Power Ice would. Hidden Power Ground can also be used; it hits Electric-types such as Electivire super effective. It allows you to trap and kill opposing Magnezones and severely damage Heatrans, depending on Special Defense investment. A Heatran with minimum HP and Special Defense investment is guaranteed to be OHKOed by Magnezone's Hidden Power Ground, so long as it is Modest and has 252 EVs invested in Special Attack. However, most Heatran will not be OHKOed, and often carry Choice Scarf to finish Magnezone off. Discharge or Thunderbolt?Thunderbolt and Discharge are your choices for your main STAB attack. Thunderbolt has 95 power and 10% chance at causing paralysis, whereas Discharge has only 80 power but a 30% chance of paralyzing. The difference in relative power between Thunderbolt and Discharge is almost identical to Return and Body Slam, however Thunderbolt keeps a 10% chance of paralysis whereas Return has none. In RS, it was traditional for Normal types with Choice Band to run Return whereas more defensive Pokémon such as Snorlax would use Body Slam. A defensive Pokémon has the ability to attack more times, allowing them more chances at paralysis. The paralysis chance can also thwart Pokémon trying to take advantage of the lower base power, as there will always be a higher risk associated with switching in. Magnezone is a Pokémon with impressive Special Attack, but it also has a very defensive typing and good defensive stats to boot. Basically, it come downs to preference; do you want to deal as much damage as possible as quickly as you can, or have a greater chance to cripple an enemy Pokémon with paralysis? EVsThe minimum Speed Magnezone should ever run is 177, which is enough to outspeed minimum Speed Skarmory. This requires 84 EVs when using a neutral nature. From there, you could run any Speed up to the maximum with a boosting nature. Any set with Explosion could have any attack up to max, for a better chance to OHKO Blissey. 224 Attack is a guaranteed KO on Blissey if it has taken a max Special Attack Thunderbolt already. 232 Attack guarantees the KO after a max Special Attack Discharge. When factoring in sandstorm, only 208 Attack with Thunderbolt, or 216 with Discharge is needed. If you have Life Orb equipped, you only need 199 Attack to guarantee an OHKO. OpinionMagnezone is still a hair short of genuine standardom. If it still had Magneton's Speed, or if its Special Defense was switched with its Defense, it would be a staple. It is kept in standard by its Magnet Pull ability, but it will never become too popular due to the fact that people can just use Shed Shell on their Steel-types if Magnezone becomes too threatening. On the other hand, it has an incredible, unique defensive type, and the highest special attack of all Electric-types. It is no longer the dead weight that Magneton could potentially be if it didn't trap Skarmory. CountersDugtrio can trap and OHKO Magnezone unless it carries Shuca Berry and quite a bit of defense. Electivire absorbs Magnezone's Electric attacks and can OHKO with Earthquake or 2HKO comfortably with Cross Chop if you have the Steel Trapper set EVs, otherwise it may OHKO. Lanturn also absorbs Hidden Power Ice, Magnezone's Thunderbolts, and resists all its other attacks. Garchomp, Swampert, or Rhyperior can counter it depending on what Hidden Power you use—as can most Ground types. Blissey is a reasonable counter to any set without Explosion. |
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