Almost Any Ability
Overview
Magearna is blessed with the excellent Steel / Fairy typing, granting it nine resistances and two immunities. This is further boosted by good defensive stats, letting it pivot into and wall common attackers such as Weavile, Noivern, and Hoopa-U. Magearna also has a good special movepool, which gives it excellent neutral coverage and access to Volt Switch to freely bring in frail Pokemon or activate Regenerator. This is backed further by a good Special Attack stat that allows it to deal solid damage, even when not invested. However, Magearna's weakness to Fire- and Ground-type attacks is exploitable due to their commonality, while Magearna’s lack of direct recovery sometimes forces it to switch out on Pokemon that it walls.
RegenVest Pivot
- Magearna @ Assault Vest
- Ability: Regenerator
- EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
- Calm Nature
- - Volt Switch
- - Fleur Cannon
- - Flash Cannon
- - Aura Sphere / Focus Blast
Set Comments
Moves
Volt Switch allows Magearna to switch out, letting it steal momentum from any switch-ins. This also allows it to prevent the foe from hitting whatever pivots in, gain momentum, and activate Regenerator to heal itself. Fleur Cannon is the most powerful STAB move that Magearna gets; since Magearna is constantly switching, the drop in Special Attack is largely a nonissue. Flash Cannon is a secondary STAB move to wear down opposing Pokemon and doesn't require Magearna to switch. Aura Sphere hits Steel-types that resist both Fairy- and Steel-type attacks reliably such as Ferrothorn while Focus Blast is a more powerful option to deal more damage to those Steel-types at the cost of accuracy.
Set Details
252 HP and Special Defense EVs in conjunction with a Calm Nature maximize Magearna's Special Defense, allowing it to better take neutral hits. The 252 HP EVs also increase Magearna's physical walling capabilities, allowing it to check weaker attackers and take mixed attackers such as Keldeo more easily. Assault Vest gives a 50% boost to Special Defense, further increasing the number of attacks Magearna can switch in on at little cost thanks to the lack of status moves. Regenerator is chosen as it heals Magearna every time it switches, letting it check Pokemon throughout the match, as well as making up for its lack of recovery.
Usage Tips
Magearna is a safe pivot into many offensive Pokemon, so aggressively use it to scout sets unless you need it at full HP to check something like Hoopa-U. If you don't know what move to pick, it's usually safe to click Volt Switch to gain momentum. If possible, you should keep spikes off your side of the field to allow Magearna to heal more easily. Should Magearna be low on HP, switch it in and out on things it beats, even if you don't need to do so to let it recover. It's often better to pivot out, but don't hesitate to hard switch and prevent Magearna from being damaged, such as when facing a physical attacker like Mega Metagross.
Team Options
Defoggers such as Skarmory, Zapdos, and Tapu Fini are handy to keep Spikes off the field and allow Magearna to do its job. Meanwhile, other pivots such as Zapdos and Landorus-T can form a powerful VoltTurn core with Magearna, as both take on Ground-type Pokemon, while the latter can use Regenerator to form switching loops with Magearna. Physical walls such as Skarmory, Buzzwole, and Hippowdon are useful to take those attacks, and Magearna can switch in on special attackers in return. Fire-type switch-ins such as Flash Fire Skarmory and Buzzwole are handy to take on those attacks for it; they can also handle Magearna's Ground-type weaknesses and lower physical bulk. Flying-types such as Zapdos and Landorus-T can take those attacks for Magearna, while it can take Ice- and Rock-type moves in return.
Strategy Comments
Other Options
A physically defensive spread is also viable, as it can better take on Weavile and physically oriented Hoopa-U; however, it is generally inferior to the specially defensive spread, as Magearna is much more adept at checking special attackers, because Fire- and Ground-type attacks are much more commonly physical, and Magearna can take on the majority of special attackers in the meta with investment. Shadow Ball hits Mega Metagross and Doublade, preventing them from switching in freely on Magearna's attacks, but the former is often better targeted by Volt Switch. An offensive Tinted Lens set can use Fairum Z or Choice Specs to deal heavy damage but comes at the cost of its excellent pivoting abilities.
Checks and Counters
- Trappers: Trappers such as Magnet Pull Heatran and Dugtrio can prevent Magearna from switching and deal heavy damage to it, KOing it after a bit of chip damage. While they don't like to switch into Magearna's attacks, Magearna cannot do anything to prevent the KO once they are in.
- Super Effective Moves: While Magearna is bulky, Regenerator only heals 33% per switch-out and nothing elsewhere, so even moderately powerful Fire- and Ground-type attacks from Pokemon such as Salamence can wear it down.
- Spikes Setters: Spikes deals 25% damage on the switch in, largely negating the healing effects of Regenerator. While this doesn't directly win, it makes it very easy to wear Magearna down with another Pokemon, so Pokemon such as Ferrothorn are a major threat.
- Electric-immune Pokemon: Electric-immune walls such as Volt Absorb Toxapex and Skarmory can take Magearna's hits and steal momentum. Offensive Ground-types can do the same while forcing Magearna out with Super Effective attacks but must be wary of its other moves.
- Tinted Lens Wallbreakers: Pokemon with Tinted Lens like Hoopa-U can largely ignore Magearna's resistances, allowing them to lure in and KO Magearna.
- Mixed Attackers: Mixed attackers such as Keldeo, Tapu Koko, and Hoopa-U prevent Magearna from doing its job as a special tank by hitting it on the opposite defense.