Featured Pokemon: Magneton

ohm man, there are a lot of good
electromagnetism puns

Greetings trainers!

Today we'll be talking about an often-overlooked Pokemon: Magneton. Magneton is the polar opposite of a strong Pokemon. While it isn't remarkable in the Pokemon GO metagame, it does have a few niche uses that make it one of my current favourites. Simply put, Magneton is a fantastic low-CP Pokemon for the purposes of levelling up a gym's prestige, and you'll find ample opportunity to use Magneton for this role. Watt's my reasoning? Read on!

Recommended movesets

Magneton is not only pεrmittεd to
attack, it's optimal for attacking!

Attacking
Spark + Discharge

Magneton's has the capacity to be an effective attacker against Pokemon like Slowbro and Gyarados. The reason Magneton fills this role so optimally is because it can resist common psychic and dragon-type moves on these Pokemon, while firing back with super effective electric moves.

Flash Cannon technically does more damage-per-second than Discharge, but the utility of using Magneton is so niche that I wouldn't recommend it as an attacker other than for levelling up friendly gyms. Also, electric attacks are most useful for water Pokemon right now, and water Pokemon resist steel, so Flash Cannon is inferior for attacking the Pokemon Magneton is most likely to attack. Thundershock is alright, and the increased ability to dodge can be appreciated. But the cooldown on Spark is also fairly good, and it has a better DPS as a bonus.

Defending
Spark + Discharge

(Flash Cannon is actually better, but Magneton is supposed to suck at defending)

Magneton's poor Stamina makes it a poor defender, but if you want to take advantage of this fact and use it as level-up fodder then by all means! Magneton is doubly-weak to ground moves, so it makes a great Pokemon to leave at the start of a gym for grinding purposes. if you have a low CP Rhydon or Golem, then Magneton should be no problem, even if it is 400+ CP higher.

The most effective defending moveset would have to be Flash Cannon, as this charge move has the highest base damage (and DPS), and an appropriately-timed cooldown rate that allows Magneton to use Flash Cannon constantly on defence; that said, it will hit Rhydon and Golem super effectively, and Magneton is a crappy defender regardless, so you really want it to have Discharge anyways.

Base stats

Just like your phone playing Pokemon
GO, the battery on this thing just
doesn't last long enough

Attack: 186

Defence: 180

Stamina: 100

Magneton's base stats are pretty blasé, but it's got a pretty good attack and defence stat. Its Stamina is its biggest letdown, and Stamina is by far the most important stat for any Pokemon in Pokemon GO with the current battling system. This is actually why it makes for such a good grindable Pokemon for the purposes of gym prestige. The defending Pokemon's Stamina is boosted to make up for the gym AI, which is least effective for a low-Stamina Pokemon like Magneton. That makes for easier grinding!

That said, Magneton is a competent attacker, and its high Defence stat allows it to take resisted attacks relatively well. Magneton's greatest strength comes from having passable stats, and a fantastic typing.

Did you know they could break apart?
I did not know they could break apart.

Those stats are pretty "meh," is Magneton actually good?

Magneton's part-steel typing allows it to resist a a number of attacks that no other first-generation Pokemon can. Come generation two, we'll get Steelix, but for now Magneton is the only steel-type in the game. For those who don't know, steel resists the following types:

• Dragon
• Psychic
• Ice
• Fairy
• Grass
• Poison
• Bug
• Rock
• Flying
• Normal
• Steel

That list is so ridiculously long that you can start to understand why I'm writing about Magneton at all. Its typing allows it to resist so much that you'll undoubtedly find a use for it somewhere if you look hard enough. As I alluded to above, Magneton does have a couple uses that immediately spring to mind.

First off is Gyarados. If you or a friend have the misfortune of owning a Twister Gyarados, hold onto it! If you put Gyarados in as the first Pokemon in a gym, Magneton can tackle it for a ton of prestige earned; my 1140 Magneton can take out a 1700+ Twister Gyarados with room to spare, earning ~800 prestige in the process. Slowbro, Golduck, or Starmie with psychic/ice moves is also dealt with well by Magneton. Pokemon like Dewgong or Cloyster with ice moves can also be dispatched with easily by Magneton.

Finally, Blastoise and Tentacruel's optimal defending movesets are something Magneton resists, while hitting back for super effective damage. But these Pokemon are more niche, and other options exist to hit them more effectively. Lapras is a bit too powerful for most Magneton to overcome, but if you were at similar CP, Magneton is one of the Pokemon I would try out against an opposing Lapras to try and raise a gym's prestige.

Go my Magneton army!
Amp up our prestige!

Final say

Magneton isn't going to carry your team, but for the purposes of gym construction Magneton is one of the best Pokemon in Pokemon GO. If you want to charge it with being a defender, you can take advantage of its double-weakness to ground, making it easy to earn prestige. If you come across an opposing electric-weak Pokemon at the front of a friendly gym, Magneton is one of the first Pokemon you should consider for the purposes of levelling up the gym. While Magneton can't compete in the Lapras/Snorlax/Dragonite tier, it is perhaps more useful than any of these Pokemon when building up a gym.

So if you have a Magneton, hold on to it! Weber or not Magneton is good is up to your potential as a trainer. Ideally, I'd like a small army of electric-move Magnetons of various CP that can be used to level up a gym against any opponent. That'll really hit 'em where it hertz.

Cheers,
Let's GO!

p.s. If you don't now what a weber is, or what permittivity is, look it up.