Ginger Princess
Girl moding so hard rn
[OVERVIEW]
Magnezone is one of the best Sturdy Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, with impressive Special Attack, excellent typing, and notable natural bulk. Thanks to its ability Sturdy, it is guaranteed to survive any singular attack - disregarding Mold Breaker - when it is at full HP and fire back with a powerful Gigavolt Havoc, immediately knocking out frail offensive Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Porygon-Z, Genesect, and Kartana. Magnezone also has an excellent matchup against bulkier offense and stall Pokemon, as it can utilize Metal Sound and Electroweb to lower the foe's Special Defense in order to OHKO with Gigavolt Havoc and outspeed opposing Pokemon to avoid them recovering health or boosting their own Special Defense before Magnezone can land a solid hit, which allows it to beat Pokemon such as Magearna, Tapu Lele, bulky Mega Gardevoir, Normalium Z Porygon-Z, and even Pokemon like Chansey, Blissey, and non-Amnesia Mega Venusaur. While Magnezone can get the job done mostly with those three moves, it also has access to useful utility options such as Protect and Mirror Coat, as well as a secondary STAB move in the form of Flash Cannon for consistent damage. Unfortunately, Magnezone's middling base 60 Speed means that it needs to invest heavily in order to outspeed relevant threats even after an Electroweb. Magnezone also has trouble against Pokemon that can tank the damage done through Gigavolt Havoc and Pokemon that prevent Magnezone from utilizing Metal Sound, such as Mega Charizard X, Dragonite, bulky Mega Metagross, and bulky Mega Tyranitar, as well as any Ground-type Pokemon, such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Donphan, Golem, and Excadrill.
[SET]
name: Electrium Z Offense
move 1: Zap Cannon
move 2: Metal Sound
move 3: Electroweb
move 4: Protect / Flash Cannon / Mirror Coat
item: Electrium Z
ability: Sturdy
nature: Modest
evs: 80 HP / 204 SpA / 224 Spe
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Zap Cannon is used to get the highest-Base Power Gigavolt Havoc possible from Magnezone to blast away Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Porygon-Z, and Mega Slowbro. Metal Sound is paramount in blasting through several viable bulky offense and stall Pokemon, such as Magearna, Tapu Lele, and even slow Mega Venusaur. Electroweb reduces an opposing Pokemon's Speed by one stage while also simultaneously dealing chip damage. This may seem irrelevant, but it is very important in some bulky offense matchups, such as against Tapu Lele and Magearna. After they have been hit by Electroweb, they will be slower than Magnezone, thus avoiding any potential mind games. Protect allows Magnezone to evade Fake Out damage coming from Pokemon such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Blastoise, and Mega Medicham, allowing it to preserve its Sturdy and blast these Pokemon with Gigavolt Havoc while living their attacks. Flash Cannon gives Magnezone consistent and relatively effective damage when compared to Electroweb and provides relevant Steel-type coverage to hit and reliably beat certain Fairy-type Pokemon such as Mega Diancie, slow Tapu Bulu, and Whimsicott. Mirror Coat allows Magnezone to counterattack Choice item Pokemon it could not beat otherwise, such as Naganadel, Necrozma, and Nihilego, as well as dissuading other special attackers from using their strongest attacks immediately, which can apply pressure against Pokemon such as special Dragonite, Hidden Power Ground Greninja, and Aegislash.
Set Details
========
80 HP EVs make sure Seismic Toss from Pokemon like Chansey and Blissey cannot 3HKO Magnezone, allowing it to decrease their Special Defense with three Metal Sounds and OHKO them with Gigavolt Havoc. 224 Speed EVs allow Magnezone to outspeed speedy Tapu Lele after one Electroweb and avoid potential mind games against it, as well as slightly slower Pokemon such as fast Magearna and Normalium Z Porygon-Z. The rest is put into Special Attack in order to make sure Magnezone can hit as hard as possible. Sturdy is run in order to prevent taking fatal damage from Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, Genesect, Choice item Victini, and Archeops.
Usage Tips
========
Magnezone should only use its Gigavolt Havoc when it knows that its foe is in range of being knocked out from it and will not be able to recover away any damage taken from Gigavolt Havoc or counterattack afterwards in any way. This is because Zap Cannon is very unreliable and therefore cannot be used to reliably beat anything. If you know that the opposing Pokemon cannot tank a Gigavolt Havoc, such as Mega Charizard Y, Primarina, or Genesect, use it immediately. If it can, Magnezone has two courses of action: if Magnezone is faster, it should start using Metal Sound immediately in order to get the foe in range of Gigavolt Havoc. This will ensure victory against Pokemon such as any slow variant of Magearna, Chansey, Blissey, and stall Mega Venusaur, as they will neither be able to do enough damage nor raise their Special Defense fast enough before Magnezone OHKOes them. If Magnezone is slower, generally the play is to use Electroweb before using Metal Sound to get the opposing Pokemon in range of a Gigavolt Havoc. Magnezone wants to be faster than its foe, as this allows it to properly react to recovery moves, Special Defense setup, or attacks and avoid several mind games. This will also get the foe in range of a Gigavolt Havoc while outspeeding the next turn, thus avoiding a 2HKO from Normalium Z Porygon-Z, bulky Magearna, Choice Specs Tapu Lele, and Choice Band Sawk. There are a few fringe cases where Magnezone's utility options come into play. Against Choice item special attackers, such as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, Naganadel, and Nihilego, the correct play is to always use Mirror Coat if you are running it, as this will neutralize them and give them no room to counterplay, as they are forced to attack. Against Fake Out users, such as non-Substitute Mega Lopunny, Mega Medicham, and Mega Blastoise, use Protect to block Fake Out, preserving Magnezone's Sturdy, and immediately attack them afterwards with Gigavolt Havoc. Against certain Fairy-type Pokemon that can tank Gigavolt Havoc, such as regular Diancie, slow Tapu Bulu, and Whimsicott, use Flash Cannon immediately to beat these Pokemon, cementing Magnezone's role as a check-all to Fairy-type Pokemon. In situations where Magnezone is in a losing matchup that can still be affected by Electric-type attacks, such as Mega Charizard X, Firium Z Victini, and Rock Tomb Sawk, the only possible way to win at this point is to use Zap Cannon and hope for it to hit and cause paralysis. If this happens, immediately use Gigavolt Havoc on turn two and continue attacking with the most accurate moves at your disposal afterwards. This is by no means a repeatable or reliable strategy, but it should be known how to handle these matchups, should you ever face them.
Team Options
========
Pair Magnezone with Pokemon that can defend it against the multitude of Ground- and Dragon-types that most often threaten it. Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Tapu Fini, Modest Greninja, bulky Tapu Lele, and defensive Mega Swampert all prove excellent in taking on a large range of threats, such as Dragonite, Mega Charizard X, Landorus-T, Donphan, Kommo-o, Golem, and Garchomp. In return, Magnezone can provide protection against overwhelming offensive threats such as Mega Charizard Y, Tapu Lele, Magearna, and Porygon-Z, which can give all of those Pokemon trouble. Magnezone can also work well in a Dragon / Steel / Fairy core, as it will appreciate the work put in from Dragon-type Pokemon such as Kommo-o and Dragonite, which can handle several threats to Magnezone such as Donphan, Golem, and offensive Mega Venusaur and in return appreciate the defense Magnezone provides against Fairy-type Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, and Mega Mawile. Fairy-type Pokemon such as Alolan Ninetales and Mega Gardevoir can beat Dragon-, Ground-, and Grass-type threats like Kyurem, Garchomp, and Tapu Bulu while appreciating Magnezone's favorable matchup against Pokemon that resist Fairy-type attacks, such as Genesect, Celesteela, and Durant. Also pair Magnezone with faster Pokemon such as Flame Charge Mega Charizard X, Greninja, and Mega Lopunny, as Magnezone is naturally slow and cannot outspeed Pokemon such as Jumpluff and even Smeargle, which take advantage of any slow Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Ice can be run on Electrium Z sets to OHKO offensive Landorus-T, but the lost utility of other moves is quite noticeable. Magnezone can also utilize a bulky Choice Specs set with an EV spread of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA and a Modest nature with Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Hidden Power Ice, and Mirror Coat in order to have stronger matchups against Pokemon it couldn't reliably beat before, such as Garchomp, Tapu Bulu, Zygarde, and Landorus-T. Choice Specs can also run Hyper Beam over Mirror Coat in order to lure and beat non-Substitute, non-specially defensive Mega Charizard X, but those variants of Mega Charizard X are unlikely to be found in high-level competitive play. Besides these few minor matchups, Choice Specs Magnezone is generally outclassed by Electrium Z, as it can no longer beat the bulky offense or stall Pokemon it could previously. An Air Balloon, in tandem with Electroweb and Thunderbolt, can be utilized in order to reliably beat one of the best Pokemon in the tier, Mega Gyarados. Mega Gyarados will often run Earthquake in order to OHKO Magnezone, as it is able to ignore Sturdy through Mold Breaker. Air Balloon prevents Mega Gyarados from immediately using Earthquake and allows Magnezone to instead lower Mega Gyarados's Speed through Electroweb and finish the job with Thunderbolt. Mega Gyarados, meanwhile, is unable to OHKO Magnezone, even with a boosted Waterfall or Crunch. Magnet Rise can also be used to lure and beat slow Ground-type Pokemon, namely Donphan and Golem, alongside either Hidden Power Ice or Flash Cannon for coverage; if you want Magnezone to maintain its Electrium Z, however, in running both Magnet Rise and a coverage move, Magnezone loses the ability to run either Electroweb or Metal Sound.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Pokemon with Electric-type Immunities**: Pokemon that are completely unaffected by Gigavolt Havoc will basically hard wall Magnezone, as any coverage move that Magnezone can muster will not be reliable against these threats. They include threats such as Donphan, Golem, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Garchomp, Mega Swampert, Excadrill, Zeraora, Thundurus-T, and Alolan Marowak. Choice Specs can handle a few of these, notably Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp, but the other Pokemon will soundly defeat Magnezone.
**Fast or Offensive Dragon- and Grass-type Pokemon**: Offensive variants of Pokemon that resist Gigavolt Havoc and can in turn knock Magnezone out with standard Fire-, Fighting-, and Ground-type coverage moves, such as Dragonite, Mega Charizard X, Kommo-o, Jumpluff, and offensive Tapu Bulu.
**Specially Defensive Offensive Pokemon**: Certain Pokemon that can naturally tank a neutral Gigavolt Havoc and follow up with super effective moves, such as bulky Mega Metagross, Mega Tyranitar, offensive Mew, and Choice Scarf Hoopa-U can beat Magnezone.
**Mold Breaker Users**: Pokemon such as Earthquake Mega Gyarados, Haxorus, Hawlucha, and Rampardos can all ignore Magnezone's Sturdy and OHKO it with strong super effective moves before Magnezone even has a chance to attack.
**Faster Sturdy Users**: The fastest Sturdy Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame possess the tools necessary in order to beat Magnezone, as they can naturally tank anything Magnezone can throw at them. These include Pokemon such as Carracosta, Sawk, and Magneton. Carracosta can hit Magnezone with a strong special Hydro Vortex followed up by an Aqua Jet, Sawk can either use a Choice Scarf to still outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb or use Rock Tomb to match Electroweb's Speed drop, and Magneton can utilize Electroweb and Hidden Power Ground in order to take care of Magnezone.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Chickenpie2, 305552], [Motogp, 412409], [Osra, 239997]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [deetah, 297659]]
Magnezone is one of the best Sturdy Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, with impressive Special Attack, excellent typing, and notable natural bulk. Thanks to its ability Sturdy, it is guaranteed to survive any singular attack - disregarding Mold Breaker - when it is at full HP and fire back with a powerful Gigavolt Havoc, immediately knocking out frail offensive Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Porygon-Z, Genesect, and Kartana. Magnezone also has an excellent matchup against bulkier offense and stall Pokemon, as it can utilize Metal Sound and Electroweb to lower the foe's Special Defense in order to OHKO with Gigavolt Havoc and outspeed opposing Pokemon to avoid them recovering health or boosting their own Special Defense before Magnezone can land a solid hit, which allows it to beat Pokemon such as Magearna, Tapu Lele, bulky Mega Gardevoir, Normalium Z Porygon-Z, and even Pokemon like Chansey, Blissey, and non-Amnesia Mega Venusaur. While Magnezone can get the job done mostly with those three moves, it also has access to useful utility options such as Protect and Mirror Coat, as well as a secondary STAB move in the form of Flash Cannon for consistent damage. Unfortunately, Magnezone's middling base 60 Speed means that it needs to invest heavily in order to outspeed relevant threats even after an Electroweb. Magnezone also has trouble against Pokemon that can tank the damage done through Gigavolt Havoc and Pokemon that prevent Magnezone from utilizing Metal Sound, such as Mega Charizard X, Dragonite, bulky Mega Metagross, and bulky Mega Tyranitar, as well as any Ground-type Pokemon, such as Zygarde, Landorus-T, Donphan, Golem, and Excadrill.
[SET]
name: Electrium Z Offense
move 1: Zap Cannon
move 2: Metal Sound
move 3: Electroweb
move 4: Protect / Flash Cannon / Mirror Coat
item: Electrium Z
ability: Sturdy
nature: Modest
evs: 80 HP / 204 SpA / 224 Spe
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Zap Cannon is used to get the highest-Base Power Gigavolt Havoc possible from Magnezone to blast away Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Porygon-Z, and Mega Slowbro. Metal Sound is paramount in blasting through several viable bulky offense and stall Pokemon, such as Magearna, Tapu Lele, and even slow Mega Venusaur. Electroweb reduces an opposing Pokemon's Speed by one stage while also simultaneously dealing chip damage. This may seem irrelevant, but it is very important in some bulky offense matchups, such as against Tapu Lele and Magearna. After they have been hit by Electroweb, they will be slower than Magnezone, thus avoiding any potential mind games. Protect allows Magnezone to evade Fake Out damage coming from Pokemon such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Blastoise, and Mega Medicham, allowing it to preserve its Sturdy and blast these Pokemon with Gigavolt Havoc while living their attacks. Flash Cannon gives Magnezone consistent and relatively effective damage when compared to Electroweb and provides relevant Steel-type coverage to hit and reliably beat certain Fairy-type Pokemon such as Mega Diancie, slow Tapu Bulu, and Whimsicott. Mirror Coat allows Magnezone to counterattack Choice item Pokemon it could not beat otherwise, such as Naganadel, Necrozma, and Nihilego, as well as dissuading other special attackers from using their strongest attacks immediately, which can apply pressure against Pokemon such as special Dragonite, Hidden Power Ground Greninja, and Aegislash.
Set Details
========
80 HP EVs make sure Seismic Toss from Pokemon like Chansey and Blissey cannot 3HKO Magnezone, allowing it to decrease their Special Defense with three Metal Sounds and OHKO them with Gigavolt Havoc. 224 Speed EVs allow Magnezone to outspeed speedy Tapu Lele after one Electroweb and avoid potential mind games against it, as well as slightly slower Pokemon such as fast Magearna and Normalium Z Porygon-Z. The rest is put into Special Attack in order to make sure Magnezone can hit as hard as possible. Sturdy is run in order to prevent taking fatal damage from Pokemon such as Mega Charizard Y, Greninja, Genesect, Choice item Victini, and Archeops.
Usage Tips
========
Magnezone should only use its Gigavolt Havoc when it knows that its foe is in range of being knocked out from it and will not be able to recover away any damage taken from Gigavolt Havoc or counterattack afterwards in any way. This is because Zap Cannon is very unreliable and therefore cannot be used to reliably beat anything. If you know that the opposing Pokemon cannot tank a Gigavolt Havoc, such as Mega Charizard Y, Primarina, or Genesect, use it immediately. If it can, Magnezone has two courses of action: if Magnezone is faster, it should start using Metal Sound immediately in order to get the foe in range of Gigavolt Havoc. This will ensure victory against Pokemon such as any slow variant of Magearna, Chansey, Blissey, and stall Mega Venusaur, as they will neither be able to do enough damage nor raise their Special Defense fast enough before Magnezone OHKOes them. If Magnezone is slower, generally the play is to use Electroweb before using Metal Sound to get the opposing Pokemon in range of a Gigavolt Havoc. Magnezone wants to be faster than its foe, as this allows it to properly react to recovery moves, Special Defense setup, or attacks and avoid several mind games. This will also get the foe in range of a Gigavolt Havoc while outspeeding the next turn, thus avoiding a 2HKO from Normalium Z Porygon-Z, bulky Magearna, Choice Specs Tapu Lele, and Choice Band Sawk. There are a few fringe cases where Magnezone's utility options come into play. Against Choice item special attackers, such as Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, Naganadel, and Nihilego, the correct play is to always use Mirror Coat if you are running it, as this will neutralize them and give them no room to counterplay, as they are forced to attack. Against Fake Out users, such as non-Substitute Mega Lopunny, Mega Medicham, and Mega Blastoise, use Protect to block Fake Out, preserving Magnezone's Sturdy, and immediately attack them afterwards with Gigavolt Havoc. Against certain Fairy-type Pokemon that can tank Gigavolt Havoc, such as regular Diancie, slow Tapu Bulu, and Whimsicott, use Flash Cannon immediately to beat these Pokemon, cementing Magnezone's role as a check-all to Fairy-type Pokemon. In situations where Magnezone is in a losing matchup that can still be affected by Electric-type attacks, such as Mega Charizard X, Firium Z Victini, and Rock Tomb Sawk, the only possible way to win at this point is to use Zap Cannon and hope for it to hit and cause paralysis. If this happens, immediately use Gigavolt Havoc on turn two and continue attacking with the most accurate moves at your disposal afterwards. This is by no means a repeatable or reliable strategy, but it should be known how to handle these matchups, should you ever face them.
Team Options
========
Pair Magnezone with Pokemon that can defend it against the multitude of Ground- and Dragon-types that most often threaten it. Pokemon such as Mega Gyarados, Tapu Fini, Modest Greninja, bulky Tapu Lele, and defensive Mega Swampert all prove excellent in taking on a large range of threats, such as Dragonite, Mega Charizard X, Landorus-T, Donphan, Kommo-o, Golem, and Garchomp. In return, Magnezone can provide protection against overwhelming offensive threats such as Mega Charizard Y, Tapu Lele, Magearna, and Porygon-Z, which can give all of those Pokemon trouble. Magnezone can also work well in a Dragon / Steel / Fairy core, as it will appreciate the work put in from Dragon-type Pokemon such as Kommo-o and Dragonite, which can handle several threats to Magnezone such as Donphan, Golem, and offensive Mega Venusaur and in return appreciate the defense Magnezone provides against Fairy-type Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Tapu Fini, and Mega Mawile. Fairy-type Pokemon such as Alolan Ninetales and Mega Gardevoir can beat Dragon-, Ground-, and Grass-type threats like Kyurem, Garchomp, and Tapu Bulu while appreciating Magnezone's favorable matchup against Pokemon that resist Fairy-type attacks, such as Genesect, Celesteela, and Durant. Also pair Magnezone with faster Pokemon such as Flame Charge Mega Charizard X, Greninja, and Mega Lopunny, as Magnezone is naturally slow and cannot outspeed Pokemon such as Jumpluff and even Smeargle, which take advantage of any slow Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Ice can be run on Electrium Z sets to OHKO offensive Landorus-T, but the lost utility of other moves is quite noticeable. Magnezone can also utilize a bulky Choice Specs set with an EV spread of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA and a Modest nature with Thunderbolt, Flash Cannon, Hidden Power Ice, and Mirror Coat in order to have stronger matchups against Pokemon it couldn't reliably beat before, such as Garchomp, Tapu Bulu, Zygarde, and Landorus-T. Choice Specs can also run Hyper Beam over Mirror Coat in order to lure and beat non-Substitute, non-specially defensive Mega Charizard X, but those variants of Mega Charizard X are unlikely to be found in high-level competitive play. Besides these few minor matchups, Choice Specs Magnezone is generally outclassed by Electrium Z, as it can no longer beat the bulky offense or stall Pokemon it could previously. An Air Balloon, in tandem with Electroweb and Thunderbolt, can be utilized in order to reliably beat one of the best Pokemon in the tier, Mega Gyarados. Mega Gyarados will often run Earthquake in order to OHKO Magnezone, as it is able to ignore Sturdy through Mold Breaker. Air Balloon prevents Mega Gyarados from immediately using Earthquake and allows Magnezone to instead lower Mega Gyarados's Speed through Electroweb and finish the job with Thunderbolt. Mega Gyarados, meanwhile, is unable to OHKO Magnezone, even with a boosted Waterfall or Crunch. Magnet Rise can also be used to lure and beat slow Ground-type Pokemon, namely Donphan and Golem, alongside either Hidden Power Ice or Flash Cannon for coverage; if you want Magnezone to maintain its Electrium Z, however, in running both Magnet Rise and a coverage move, Magnezone loses the ability to run either Electroweb or Metal Sound.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Pokemon with Electric-type Immunities**: Pokemon that are completely unaffected by Gigavolt Havoc will basically hard wall Magnezone, as any coverage move that Magnezone can muster will not be reliable against these threats. They include threats such as Donphan, Golem, Landorus-T, Zygarde, Garchomp, Mega Swampert, Excadrill, Zeraora, Thundurus-T, and Alolan Marowak. Choice Specs can handle a few of these, notably Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Garchomp, but the other Pokemon will soundly defeat Magnezone.
**Fast or Offensive Dragon- and Grass-type Pokemon**: Offensive variants of Pokemon that resist Gigavolt Havoc and can in turn knock Magnezone out with standard Fire-, Fighting-, and Ground-type coverage moves, such as Dragonite, Mega Charizard X, Kommo-o, Jumpluff, and offensive Tapu Bulu.
**Specially Defensive Offensive Pokemon**: Certain Pokemon that can naturally tank a neutral Gigavolt Havoc and follow up with super effective moves, such as bulky Mega Metagross, Mega Tyranitar, offensive Mew, and Choice Scarf Hoopa-U can beat Magnezone.
**Mold Breaker Users**: Pokemon such as Earthquake Mega Gyarados, Haxorus, Hawlucha, and Rampardos can all ignore Magnezone's Sturdy and OHKO it with strong super effective moves before Magnezone even has a chance to attack.
**Faster Sturdy Users**: The fastest Sturdy Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame possess the tools necessary in order to beat Magnezone, as they can naturally tank anything Magnezone can throw at them. These include Pokemon such as Carracosta, Sawk, and Magneton. Carracosta can hit Magnezone with a strong special Hydro Vortex followed up by an Aqua Jet, Sawk can either use a Choice Scarf to still outspeed Magnezone after Electroweb or use Rock Tomb to match Electroweb's Speed drop, and Magneton can utilize Electroweb and Hidden Power Ground in order to take care of Magnezone.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Alakazam, 276708]]
- Quality checked by: [[Chickenpie2, 305552], [Motogp, 412409], [Osra, 239997]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [deetah, 297659]]
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