|
-
Sturdy
- OHKO moves will fail.
-
Magnet Pull
- Prevents Steel Pokémon from switching. Increases the chance of encountering a Steel Pokémon in the wild.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
50
|
- |
241 |
304 |
- |
| Atk |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Def |
95
|
203 |
226 |
289 |
317 |
| SpA |
120
|
248 |
276 |
339 |
372 |
| SpD |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
| Spe |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
Thunder Wave will spread status around your opponent's team and help the slow Magneton outpace some Pokémon. Thunderbolt is for the obvious STAB. Substitute is almost filler, but it still helps Magneton hang around longer since many Normal attacks won't break the Substitute in one shot. The Hidden Power choice is the most difficult one: Ice hits Grasses and will OHKO Salamence, Dragonite, and Flygon. Fire will still hit Grass Pokémon but will also OHKO the other popular Spiker, Forretress, who is also trapped by Magneton, as well as 2HKOing Steelix (only attempt this when Steelix is wounded, however, as it carries Earthquake, which OHKOs Magneton), and allows you to trap and kill other Magneton. Grass will hit Swampert, which alone is normally enough of a reason to use it.
Magneton's movepool is so bad, everything aside from Thunderbolt and the Hidden Power of choice is essentially filler, so using this to absorb Sleep lets it take on the likes of Milotic much easier, and gives it more of a use beyond simply killing Skarmory. It can take Choice Banded Flying, Rock, and Normal hits with a defensive EV spread.
Metal Sound Magneton can take on stuff like Snorlax without fear as long as the Snorlax doesn't have Earthquake, Flamethrower or Fire Blast. This is a great way to get Snorlax to switch out if you are having troubles. The Steel type keeps him safe from Return, and his defense isn't too shabby either.
Other Options
Screech is interesting if you have Dugtrio on your team: if you can Screech on a Blissey switch, you will be able to OHKO it with Dugtrio Earthquake. You can try this against Snorlax, Dugtrio sometimes survives Body Slam, but may get Paralyzed. Endure with Salac Berry saves you against Dugtrio...once. You need a Timid nature and max Speed to guarantee you outspeed Jolly Dugtrio, and Modest with max Speed for Adamant ones. However, once Dugtrio sees you get a Salac boost, he can just switch out for anything that survives Magneton's attacks, and come back whenever he wants, while Magneton will be KOed by any subsequent attack.
EVs
Magneton can go a lot of ways with his EV spread, and usually it won't matter that much. A few Speed EVs (8 or so) help you outspeeding Skarmory and enemy Magneton with no Speed EVs (or very few). With an approx 203 Speed stat you will outspeed some slow Dragon Dancing Tyranitar, Agility Metagross and most Pokémon with Chlorophyll / Swift Swim. 209 ensures you beat even Jolly Marowak, as well as a Suicune with no Speed at all. 222 outspeeds Adamant Tyranitar, 244 beats even Jolly ones. 240 ensures you outspeed any Magneton, Metagross or Skarmory without a +Speed nature, but you'll need Timid for anything above 239.
Usually you'll want Magneton to be Modest though, and load up on its Special Attack. To abuse Magneton's nice set of resistances, you will need to max HP and focus on one defensive stat. With a lot of investment in Special Defense Magneton can act as a Boltbeam resistance, while he can try to switch into things like Aerodactyl Rock Slide with some Defense. Don't expect it to be much of a Steel tank though, there's better options for that.
Opinion
The best Skarmory counter, a great deal of Special Attack to put a dent on most Pokémon, and an average Defense are some of the things Magneton has going for it. However, its cons are what make Magneton overlooked: a horrible Special Defense (and Special Defense is necessary for all Electric types), futile HP, and an insufficient Speed stat. Magneton just can't do enough to be dominant, though it is an excellent choice to pair with Pokémon like Gyarados and Tauros, who are most effective once Skarmory is out of the way. Magneton can also take out Metagross under certain conditions (mentioned in Metagross' Counters section), in addition to Forretress (if on low health, or if Magneton survives Earthquake, or with Hidden Power Fire) and Scizor (if it doesn't have a Speed boost and Baton Pass). Magneton's abilities come in handy in the Uber metagame as well, as Metagross is almost always Choice Banded there, and Forretress and Skarmory are pretty common there as well.
Counters
Dugtrio can get it after it kills Skarmory, but by then it has served its purpose. You can switch Dugtrio in on a Thunderbolt or Thunder Wave, as well. Swampert defeats those Magneton that choose Hidden Power Fire or Ice, but because the standard is Hidden Power Grass, you should wait until you have no other options or already know Magneton's Hidden Power type before sending Swampert in. Celebi can recover off damage done even by Hidden Power Ice and Fire, and Calm Mind up in Magneton's face. Tyranitar, and any other Pokémon with a decent Speed or Special Defense that packs Earthquake will easily kill Magneton. Special walls like Regice and Blissey beat Magneton rather easily as well, or at the very least nullify it. Resting Magneton can outstall Blissey, however, and eventually wins in a PP war.