Update: since I completed my testing of this Pokemon, many of Showdown’s replays were lost (occurred Nov/Dec 2023). Consequently, some of the replays I used as a showcase may no longer work- apologies!
Having freed myself from the torture of trying to achieve a basic level of competence on ladder while using Ditto, I set my sets on an array of other Pokemon to test. I decided to test Golbat and Hitmonchan as the most popular rivals to Ditto, Butterfree and Seaking, which I regarded as sleeper picks for next-worst in the game, and Magneton, purely because I had no idea how I could ever justify using Magneton. So what makes Magneton so troublesome?
Finding a niche
I posed that as some grand question, but it’s a question with an extremely simple answer- its movepool is entirely barren. It gains access to Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave, standard fare for Electric types, and basically nothing else. It has basically no support options, the only other attacking moves it learns are Normal, which are unusable given Magneton’s pathetic attack and lack of STAB. Even other Electric types that are still considered unviable have more going for them- Electrode has Explosion, Electabuzz has a usable Attack stat as well as better coverage options.
So how could you ever possibly justify using Magneton? Well, one thing Magneton has over other mono-Electric types is superior defense. This is somewhat undermined by its terrible HP, but it still works out to be more resilient against physical attacks than other mono-Electrics. The difference is small, but on further inspection it’s extremely significant. I’ve popped the calcs below, followed by those for Jolteon, the next best bet for pulling off a Reflect set among mono-Electrics
- Snorlax Body Slam vs. Magneton through Reflect: 51-61 (16.8 – 20.1%) — possible 5HKO
- Snorlax Earthquake vs. Magneton through Reflect: 81-96 (26.7 – 31.6%) — guaranteed 4HKO
- Snorlax Body Slam vs. Jolteon through Reflect: 67-79 (20.1 – 23.7%) — guaranteed 5HKO
- Snorlax Earthquake vs. Jolteon through Reflect: 105-124 (31.5 – 37.2%) — 85% chance to 3HKO
As you can see, Magneton is capable of RestLooping Lax with Reflect support until it eventually FPs, while also being a mono-Electric, and therefore capable of walling Zapdos and other Electric types. Reflect is intended to make it less exploitable by Normal attackers while Resting, while it can be used as a Lax check if you’re desperate (there are better options on that front). On top of this, its HP is just barely enough to not be 3HKOd by Seismic Toss (303 HP), meaning Chansey can not reasonably break through it. With its niche discovered, the fact that it has excellent power and decent speed means that it actually outperforms expectations.
Teambuilding
Magneton may have unexpected defensive utility, but its lack of coverage is still an issue when building a team. Getting countered by Ground types is expected, but having no way of threatening Exeggutor and Chansey is also frustrating. After adding Magneton to the team, I followed up with Tauros and Snorlax, as you’d expect. Tauros is running a standard set to maximise coverage, while Snorlax is running Reflect/Ice Beam to maximise its utility against physical attackers. Exeggutor was an obvious choice for anti-Ground support, which I followed up with Starmie and Chansey, however I deviated from the norm by running Chansey as a lead rather than Starmie.
Through my testing I wavered back and forth on whether Chansey or Starmie should be the lead, and on the sets for Chansey, Starmie and Exeggutor. I started with BlizzBolt on Starmie, Seismic Toss/Sing on Chansey and Double-Edge Exeggutor. I subsequently swapped Starmie into the lead position with Blizzard/Psychic and swapped Chansey to a Raish set. I ended up reverting this change though- Raish Chansey isn’t that great against Don, while it also encroached on Magneton’s niche, meaning I wasn’t getting nearly as much value from that teamslot. I also think Starmie has excellent synergy with Magneton, given how they complement each other defensively- leading Starmie undermined this by exposing it to sleep
When I reverted that change I also tweaked some sets. I really missed having paralysis from Egg, so I dropped Double Edge for Stun Spore. Chansey dropped Seismic Toss for Ice Beam to maximise its anti-Ground coverage- it does under-perform against Jynx, but I can always go to Starmie. Starmie dropped Blizzard for Surf, as i found myself missing STAB damage output vs neutral targets (mostly Lax), but wanted to retain super effective coverage against Grounds. This does cause issues vs opposing Exeggutor as I lack coverage, but I find this is surprisingly manageable. If you’d like a full version of the team, it can be found here.
Performance
My experience using Magneton was that although it can’t really be called good, it’s still usable and I’m confident in bringing it to tournaments despite its severe limitations. By far the biggest drawback to using it is its poor offensive potential. Being countered by Don sucks, but isn’t that different from the top Electrics in the metagame. Completely dropping offensive pressure against Chansey and Exeggutor though, that really disappoints. The other factor is that although Reflect Magneton is resilient against Normal attackers, its poor HP means that strong special attackers can still break through it. This is especially notable for a Pokemon that wants to be a soft check to Water types- attacks such as Cloyster Blizzard or any of Starmie’s STAB options are generally threatening.
Despite this, it still occupies a unique defensive position, and with heavy amounts of support it can be a respectable offensive threat thanks to its great power and a speed stat that’s still sufficient to outpace many staples of RBY.
I don’t have too many replays of it unfortunately, as I simply forgot to save many of my ladder experiments. Furthermore, not all of them are great examples of Magneton’s performance. I did however bring Magneton to 2 tournament matches, so we might as well take a look at those
My match against TehTayTeh saw Magneton facing off against a Rhydon team. This is obviously a brutal matchup for most Electric types, and this match was no different. In order to get value out of Electric types, you’re generally looking to use them defensively, either to tank hits, or by threatening substantial damage. This would then force Rhydon into play, which you should anticipate and exploit via a double switch. This then leads to mindgames where the opponent will start to predict your double switches and not bring in Rhydon, allowing your Electric to deal damage directly. Of course, the risk-reward involved with these mindgames are heavily stacked against the Electric user, so this is still an uphill battle. That’s exactly what we saw here- I tried to get value out of Magneton, but it didn’t really achieve much and I ended up losing. Not the best showing for Magneton, but other Electric types wouldn’t have fared much better.
My match against Unowndragon for the RBY Invitational play-in couldn’t have been any more different. Not only did Magneton perform extraordinarily well, it was a major contributor to my victory. My opponent brought a team that dropped Chansey, which when paired with an early Explosion from their Exeggutor meant that Magneton was primed to pose an offensive threat. Not only that, but its ability to wall Lax was on full display and it ended up beating it single-handedly. I think my lategame execution was subpar though, as I had to rely on winning a Tauros ditto to close the game out.
In conclusion, Magneton is a really cool option that is worth trying. It’s still not something you’ll want to use if you’re being ultra-competitive since its flaws are noticeable enough that it’s far from an optimal choice, but I firmly believe that it’s good enough that a skilled player can reasonably bring it to a tournament and expect to be competitive with it. In other words, Magneton is viable, which is certainly a surprise to me.
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