Magearna Discussion

Oh, in that case you can't even think about a shift gear set.
That's why I'm erring on the idea of a mixed set. Fleur Cannon can knock out defensive walls and your physical attacks are actually benefitting from shift gear. Her passive will help restore some power back to Fleur Cannon when getting kills as well. Shift gear for an entirely special set is just a waste since, in my opinion, wasting a turn just to move faster, but not hit harder, isn't going to be enough to take out whatever counter just switched in.

Specs will be the premiere special attacking set when all is said and done. The same way Draco meteor spec sets work.
 
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That's why I'm erring on the idea of a mixed set. Fleur Cannon can knock out defensive walls and your physical attacks are actually benefitting from shift gear. Her passive will help restore some power back to Fleur Cannon when getting kills as well. Shift gear for an entirely special set is just a waste since, in my opinion, wasting a turn just to move faster, but not hit harder, isn't going to be enough to take out whatever counter just switched in.

Specs will be the premiere special attacking set when all is said and done. The same way Draco meteor spec sets work.
Magearna's physical move pool consists of Iron Head and Brick Break, which are not particularly impressive even at +1 given its 95 Atk.

Specs, offensive tank, and bulky support I think will be it's premiere sets.
 
I'd recon it'd still be able to pull off Shift Gear to pretty good effectiveness. It's still pretty strong and fast with SpA Moxie, and its movepool is good enough that it can definitely clean up lategame.

SubSplit also sounds like a cool idea to wear down things that straight up wall it (Moon / Aura coverage is pretty swank to boot).
 
Magearna's physical move pool consists of Iron Head and Brick Break, which are not particularly impressive even at +1 given its 95 Atk.

Specs, offensive tank, and bulky support I think will be it's premiere sets.
Mixed is the keyword. You only need two moves.

Also no one will know what you're running until their Blissey gets brick breaked in the face when it was expecting to eat your Fleur Cannon. Both sets include suggestions for the speed boost so they won't know until they get hit.

It was designed for doubles (the preview video shows it gaining special attack when its allies and enemies die) so ideally it would be able to spam Fleur Cannon without lowering its damage asking as something keeps dying. Not the case for singles.
 

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Oh, in that case you can't even think about a shift gear set.
I'm not sure how it follows that merely having a Sp. Att drop move makes one of the best boosting moves in the game unviable. Latios never used his because his base speed was already fantastic. Magearna, however, can realistically clean house with any two STABs + Aura Sphere. The meta may be looking a bit bulkier, but it also introduced plethora of Fairy-weak/neutral targets. I can see Magearna cleaning house.

Its most popular set will probably be Specs, though. It's the best way I can think of to take advantage of Magearna's power, defenses, and Volt Switch all at once.
 
Yeah it's gonna be specs or nothing in high tiers. Unlike Draco meteor you can't switch a fairy into its signature move and shrug it off.
 

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I'm not sure how it follows that merely having a Sp. Att drop move makes one of the best boosting moves in the game unviable. Latios never used his because his base speed was already fantastic. Magearna, however, can realistically clean house with any two STABs + Aura Sphere. The meta may be looking a bit bulkier, but it also introduced plethora of Fairy-weak/neutral targets. I can see Magearna cleaning house.

Its most popular set will probably be Specs, though. It's the best way I can think of to take advantage of Magearna's power, defenses, and Volt Switch all at once.
I said you can't use a shift gear set with that move, but it's the magearna's best move, so you have to rely on other sets.
 

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Specs will defenitely be very potent, however, I'm a bit more interested in some kind of bulky offensive pivot set. Something like this :

Magearna @ Leftovers
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 208 SpA / 48 Spe (speed creep for Skarmory so that it doesn't Roost on your Volt Switch)
Modest Nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire (hits Scizor and Ferrothorn, and while Aura Sphere does hit Hetaran, it doesn't hit it particularly hard, and Heatran gets worn down by Volt Switch anyway)

More than anything, Magearna reminds me a lot of Aegislash, the combination of its typing and offensive prowess making it an amazing glue Pokemon for really any playstyle besides hard stall. Checking Weavile, Latios, MGardevoir (or I guess Tapu Lele now) and Alakazam is an absolue godsend for a bunch of teams, especailly since it's not really giving away momentum, if anything, it's gaining it with Volt switch. It also forms really good cores with really good Pokemon, I imagine Landorus-T+Latios+Magearna will be the foundation for a lot of teams. You get Rocks, Defog, Voltturn, and a way of checking most of the tier, it seems like an amazing core on paper.

So to me, what makes most sense would be a set similar to Aegislash's bulky Leftovers set. Much like Aegi, Magearna seems like it's gonna be really good at switching in, dishing out damage, and slow pivoting out. Which Specs does pretty well, but the added Leftovers recovery seems like it woudl really help Magearna stay alive throughout the battle and keep pivoting, and being able to fire off a Fleur Cannon and then Volt Switch out is really helpful.

I'm not really buying Shift Gear for the same reason SD Aegi ended up being a dud: Magearna's typing and movepool makes it more suited to pivoting in and out than staying in and sweeping, no matter what its ability may lead you to believe. Plus, only having Iron Head as a physical move and 95 Atk strikes me as pretty bad for a physical booster, but we'll see.

But the main difference with Aegislash is that Magearna seems perfectly balanced, if absolutely top-tier. Really, really excited to try this thing out.
 
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Just my two cents, but a mixed Grind Gear could work as a cleaner. Your main attacks are special (Fleur Canon / DZ / AuraSphere / HP, pick two) and you keep boosted Iron Head for Fairy-massacre.
 
This thing looks amazing, I can easily see it being ou or at the worst top tier uu. As for sets, this is what I'm thinking

Magearna @ Choice Specs
Ability: Soul Heart
Evs: 212 HP / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
Modest nature
- Fleur Cannon
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Fire / Aura Sphere

Bulky heartbreaker. Step 1: spam Fluer Cannon. Step 2: watch stuff die.

Magearna @ Life Orb.
Ability: Soul Heart
Evs: 172 Atk / 84 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive nature
- Shift Gear
- Iron Head
- Fluer Cannon
- Hidden Power Fire / Brick Break

Late game cleaner. Shift Gear lets you outrun Scarf Landorus T. Iron Head is the main Stab. Fleur Cannon wrecks physical walls. HP fire kills Scizor. Brick Break hits opposing Steel types
 
Fantastic defensive typing, fairy good typing offensively, Fairy type Overheat, great coverage options and good stat distribution? Looks like a solid mon in OU. That speed stat is very low though, workable with Shift Gear. Don't know how good Fleur Cannon will be with Shift Gear considering the special recoil it gives. A pivot set with Specs and Volt Switch looks to be at a simple glance, the superior set.

If Magearna got Moonblast, that would have been a solid option for the Shift set. Alas, it doesn't. I'm a little disappointed it doesn't get Earth Power to smack Fire Types which will definitely be Magearna's main kriptonite. I guess it's Jirachi syndrome.

That decent 95 base attack is wasted even though it can boost it. I guess Brick Break is half decent to dent Chansey after boosting who otherwise laughs at Magearna. Though compromising it's neat special defense stat is appealing.
 
No problem we all make mistakes. Bulky fire types are an issue for Magearna but luckily OUs resident bulky Fire Heatran is weak to Aura Sphere and Focus Blast and Charizard X doesn't resist Fleur Cannon.
 
I really like this Pokemon. It's better Diancie without the 4X weakness to Steel

Being a mechanical Pokemon and all do you think we'll see Speed Form Magearna, faster (maybe 110/120) but less bulky
 
Although it's a uncommon playstyle in singles, Magearna is looking like a pretty good Trick Room setter. It has low speed, a great defensive typing, great Special Attack and access to Volt Switch and Explosion for momentum.
 
is this catchable or is it an event mon?

I hope its the former, i'd like to use this as soon as the games come out. Looks like a great pivot with volt switch and solid stats to fulfill that role, as others have mentioned already
 
is this catchable or is it an event mon?

I hope its the former, i'd like to use this as soon as the games come out. Looks like a great pivot with volt switch and solid stats to fulfill that role, as others have mentioned already
IIRC it was already stated it's a Mythical Pokemon, but it could be like BW1 Victini and have its event released very early.
 

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It's an event PKMN, but the QR codes that grant Magearna were already distributed as part of a recent movie promo.
 

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A defensive Special Attacker... with dead zone speed (but good Attack because it needs that...).

STABs are a clear choice (Fleur Cannon + Soul Heart sound like a deadly combination). Special side is slim but does get Aura Sphere, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, and Energy Ball. Utilities is Crafty Shield, Gear Up, Shift Gear, Lucky Chant, Mind Reader, Iron Defense, Pain Split, Heart Swap, Calm Mind, dual screens, Explosion, Volt Switch, Substitute, and Trick Room.

No reliable healing and low Speed (even with Gear Shift) hurts it a bit but if it can get Fleur Cannon going and knocking out opponents it can be a machine of destruction.
 
A defensive Special Attacker... with dead zone speed (but good Attack because it needs that...).

STABs are a clear choice (Fleur Cannon + Soul Heart sound like a deadly combination). Special side is slim but does get Aura Sphere, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, and Energy Ball. Utilities is Crafty Shield, Gear Up, Shift Gear, Lucky Chant, Mind Reader, Iron Defense, Pain Split, Heart Swap, Calm Mind, dual screens, Explosion, Volt Switch, Substitute, and Trick Room.

No reliable healing and low Speed (even with Gear Shift) hurts it a bit but if it can get Fleur Cannon going and knocking out opponents it can be a machine of destruction.
What do you mean by 'slim' - its special movepool is looking very solid to me.
 

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