[OVERVIEW]
Magearna's incredible typing, well-rounded great stats, and deep movepool make it much more than just a cog in the metagame machine; rather, it is one of the most versatile and defining Pokemon in the tier. It has a wide array of coverage options like Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and Energy Ball to hit nearly everything it wants to, with an offensive presence good enough to make it count. It's commonly seen wielding an Assault Vest, checking special attackers like Ash-Greninja, Tapu Lele, and Mega Alakazam while linking up with common VoltTurn partners Landorus-T and Rotom-W to provide a defensively solid momentum core on offense teams. It can use Heart Swap on defensive Leftovers sets to prevent Calm Mind sweepers like Reuniclus, Cresselia, and Mega Latias from getting out of control, as well as other general utility options like Heal Bell and Thunder Wave. It can even make use of Calm Mind itself, utilizing Pain Split to stay healthy and comfortably beat Chansey one-on-one. Its offensive bag of tricks does not stop there, however, as it can utilize Shift Gear to outspeed and clean up weakened teams, with its ability Soul-Heart fitting this role like a glove and letting it snowball out of control. It can also make use of Trick Room, freeing itself up to invest in bulk and preventing the possibility of faster Pokemon like Sand Rush Excadrill and Swift Swim Mega Swampert revenge killing it. It additionally can support slower teammates like Mega Mawile, which also gives Magearna an instrumental role on dedicated Trick Room teams. Despite these massive upsides, Magearna struggles with its poor Speed and weaknesses to common offensive types in Fire and Ground. Additionally, Magearna can struggle to keep itself healthy, between needing to rely on the often unreliable Pain Split to heal itself and the prevalence of Spikes.
[SET]
name: Shift Gear
move 1: Shift Gear
move 2: Focus Blast / Fleur Cannon / Calm Mind
move 3: Fleur Cannon / Ice Beam
move 4: Thunderbolt / Calm Mind
item: Fightinium Z / Fairium Z / Leftovers / Wiki Berry / Electrium Z
ability: Soul-Heart
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Shift Gear gives Magearna a quick fix to its mediocre Speed, allowing it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame as well as common Choice Scarf users like Landorus-T and Victini, with Soul-Heart allowing it to quickly spiral out of control once it cannot be revenge killed. Focus Blast powered up into All-Out Pummeling allows Magearna to blow past Steel-types like Heatran and Ferrothorn after little chip damage. Fleur Cannon is Magearna's best STAB option, hitting neutral targets hard and complementing Focus Blast well. It can also be paired with Fairium Z to great effect, removing the Special Attack drop and allowing Magearna to start accruing Soul-Heart boosts. Thunderbolt allows Magearna to super effectively hit Toxapex and Celesteela, which are unbothered by Magearna's other moves. It could also be paired with Electrium Z to give Magearna an easier time versus the aforementioned Pokemon, especially when boosted by Electric Terrain, as well as hitting Pokemon like Victini and Mega Scizor neutrally. Ice Beam allows Magearna to safely dispatch Ground-types like Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Garchomp and heavily damage other Ice-weak Pokemon like Tapu Bulu and Zapdos without needing to use Fleur Cannon or Twinkle Tackle. Calm Mind can be used alongside Shift Gear to make the most of any setup opportunity it gets, forgoing its reliance on getting a KO to boost its power, usually utilizing a combination of Fleur Cannon and either Focus Blast to hit Ferrothorn or Thunderbolt to hit Toxapex.
Set Details
========
Either Fightinium Z or Fairium Z can be used on Magearna variants featuring both Focus Blast and Fleur Cannon; if your team already has sufficient measures to deal with Steel-types, Fairium Z is the best option for taking on the wider metagame. Electrium Z eases Magearna's toughest matchups against Fire-types like Victini and Mega Charizard Y and synergizes well with Electric Terrain. Leftovers can be used to help Magearna weather hits while setting up, which is useful for the Calm Mind variant, though variants using three attacks prefer holding a Z-Crystal to maximize their power. Wiki Berry can be used in a similar fashion, being much more helpful if Magearna takes a big hit like Choice Specs Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt, potentially putting it out of range of strong priority like Ash-Greninja's Water Shuriken.
Usage Tips
========
Shift Gear Magearna is best used as an endgame cleaner, with its ability Soul-Heart making Magearna the perfect fit for the role, as it punishes any sort of sacrifices that are made, even when Magearna doesn't claim the KO itself. Because of this, and because of its complete lack of investment in bulk, it's unwise to allow Magearna to take hits throughout a game. It's often a better idea to conserve HP to afford Magearna more opportunities to set up in the late-game, additionally affording it comfort against priority attacks. Common Pokemon that can outspeed and revenge kill Magearna after a Shift Gear boost can be counted on one hand; Unburden-boosted Hawlucha, Sand Rush Excadrill in sand, Swift Swim Mega Swampert in rain, and Choice Scarf Kartana, if Magearna has been chipped significantly prior. If any of these are present on the opposing team, it's wise to wait until they have been handled before going for a sweep. Magearna finds its ideal setup opportunities against Pokemon like Mega Alakazam and Rotom-W that cannot immediately threaten it, although due to its good natural bulk and wonderful typing, it can find setup opportunities against the majority of the metagame if it needs to. Thunder Wave from would-be setup fodder like Ferrothorn and Clefable can hinder Magearna's sweep attempt, so it should be scouted prior.
Team Options
========
This set is suited for offense and hyper offense teams that value its perfect toolkit as a cleaner. It's a good idea to pair Magearna with a defensive Steel-type, like Heatran or Ferrothorn, as it can't fulfill its typical duties as a defensive Steel-type when it has no bulk investment and needs to be preserved for the late-game. Wallbreakers like Choice Specs Tapu Lele and Mega Medicham can soften up opposing teams, with the former especially good at baiting in and weakening common switch-ins to Magearna, such as opposing defensive Magearna, Heatran, and Chansey. Rotom-W can check Mega Swampert and Sand Rush Excadrill, helping Magearna's team outlast them until it can boost and sweep. Ash-Greninja can chip away at Assault Vest Magearna and Ferrothorn as well as set Spikes, clearing a way for Magearna to sweep. Although niche, on hyper offense teams, Magearna appreciates dual screens or Aurora Veil support from the likes of Tapu Koko and Alolan Ninetales, respectively. Tapu Koko is another great hyper offense teammate, boosting the power of Magearna's Thunderbolt and Gigavolt Havoc and setting dual screens.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/cm-reuniclus.620979/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.103/
Magearna's incredible typing, well-rounded great stats, and deep movepool make it much more than just a cog in the metagame machine; rather, it is one of the most versatile and defining Pokemon in the tier. It has a wide array of coverage options like Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and Energy Ball to hit nearly everything it wants to, with an offensive presence good enough to make it count. It's commonly seen wielding an Assault Vest, checking special attackers like Ash-Greninja, Tapu Lele, and Mega Alakazam while linking up with common VoltTurn partners Landorus-T and Rotom-W to provide a defensively solid momentum core on offense teams. It can use Heart Swap on defensive Leftovers sets to prevent Calm Mind sweepers like Reuniclus, Cresselia, and Mega Latias from getting out of control, as well as other general utility options like Heal Bell and Thunder Wave. It can even make use of Calm Mind itself, utilizing Pain Split to stay healthy and comfortably beat Chansey one-on-one. Its offensive bag of tricks does not stop there, however, as it can utilize Shift Gear to outspeed and clean up weakened teams, with its ability Soul-Heart fitting this role like a glove and letting it snowball out of control. It can also make use of Trick Room, freeing itself up to invest in bulk and preventing the possibility of faster Pokemon like Sand Rush Excadrill and Swift Swim Mega Swampert revenge killing it. It additionally can support slower teammates like Mega Mawile, which also gives Magearna an instrumental role on dedicated Trick Room teams. Despite these massive upsides, Magearna struggles with its poor Speed and weaknesses to common offensive types in Fire and Ground. Additionally, Magearna can struggle to keep itself healthy, between needing to rely on the often unreliable Pain Split to heal itself and the prevalence of Spikes.
[SET]
name: Shift Gear
move 1: Shift Gear
move 2: Focus Blast / Fleur Cannon / Calm Mind
move 3: Fleur Cannon / Ice Beam
move 4: Thunderbolt / Calm Mind
item: Fightinium Z / Fairium Z / Leftovers / Wiki Berry / Electrium Z
ability: Soul-Heart
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Shift Gear gives Magearna a quick fix to its mediocre Speed, allowing it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame as well as common Choice Scarf users like Landorus-T and Victini, with Soul-Heart allowing it to quickly spiral out of control once it cannot be revenge killed. Focus Blast powered up into All-Out Pummeling allows Magearna to blow past Steel-types like Heatran and Ferrothorn after little chip damage. Fleur Cannon is Magearna's best STAB option, hitting neutral targets hard and complementing Focus Blast well. It can also be paired with Fairium Z to great effect, removing the Special Attack drop and allowing Magearna to start accruing Soul-Heart boosts. Thunderbolt allows Magearna to super effectively hit Toxapex and Celesteela, which are unbothered by Magearna's other moves. It could also be paired with Electrium Z to give Magearna an easier time versus the aforementioned Pokemon, especially when boosted by Electric Terrain, as well as hitting Pokemon like Victini and Mega Scizor neutrally. Ice Beam allows Magearna to safely dispatch Ground-types like Landorus-T, Gliscor, and Garchomp and heavily damage other Ice-weak Pokemon like Tapu Bulu and Zapdos without needing to use Fleur Cannon or Twinkle Tackle. Calm Mind can be used alongside Shift Gear to make the most of any setup opportunity it gets, forgoing its reliance on getting a KO to boost its power, usually utilizing a combination of Fleur Cannon and either Focus Blast to hit Ferrothorn or Thunderbolt to hit Toxapex.
Set Details
========
Either Fightinium Z or Fairium Z can be used on Magearna variants featuring both Focus Blast and Fleur Cannon; if your team already has sufficient measures to deal with Steel-types, Fairium Z is the best option for taking on the wider metagame. Electrium Z eases Magearna's toughest matchups against Fire-types like Victini and Mega Charizard Y and synergizes well with Electric Terrain. Leftovers can be used to help Magearna weather hits while setting up, which is useful for the Calm Mind variant, though variants using three attacks prefer holding a Z-Crystal to maximize their power. Wiki Berry can be used in a similar fashion, being much more helpful if Magearna takes a big hit like Choice Specs Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt, potentially putting it out of range of strong priority like Ash-Greninja's Water Shuriken.
Usage Tips
========
Shift Gear Magearna is best used as an endgame cleaner, with its ability Soul-Heart making Magearna the perfect fit for the role, as it punishes any sort of sacrifices that are made, even when Magearna doesn't claim the KO itself. Because of this, and because of its complete lack of investment in bulk, it's unwise to allow Magearna to take hits throughout a game. It's often a better idea to conserve HP to afford Magearna more opportunities to set up in the late-game, additionally affording it comfort against priority attacks. Common Pokemon that can outspeed and revenge kill Magearna after a Shift Gear boost can be counted on one hand; Unburden-boosted Hawlucha, Sand Rush Excadrill in sand, Swift Swim Mega Swampert in rain, and Choice Scarf Kartana, if Magearna has been chipped significantly prior. If any of these are present on the opposing team, it's wise to wait until they have been handled before going for a sweep. Magearna finds its ideal setup opportunities against Pokemon like Mega Alakazam and Rotom-W that cannot immediately threaten it, although due to its good natural bulk and wonderful typing, it can find setup opportunities against the majority of the metagame if it needs to. Thunder Wave from would-be setup fodder like Ferrothorn and Clefable can hinder Magearna's sweep attempt, so it should be scouted prior.
Team Options
========
This set is suited for offense and hyper offense teams that value its perfect toolkit as a cleaner. It's a good idea to pair Magearna with a defensive Steel-type, like Heatran or Ferrothorn, as it can't fulfill its typical duties as a defensive Steel-type when it has no bulk investment and needs to be preserved for the late-game. Wallbreakers like Choice Specs Tapu Lele and Mega Medicham can soften up opposing teams, with the former especially good at baiting in and weakening common switch-ins to Magearna, such as opposing defensive Magearna, Heatran, and Chansey. Rotom-W can check Mega Swampert and Sand Rush Excadrill, helping Magearna's team outlast them until it can boost and sweep. Ash-Greninja can chip away at Assault Vest Magearna and Ferrothorn as well as set Spikes, clearing a way for Magearna to sweep. Although niche, on hyper offense teams, Magearna appreciates dual screens or Aurora Veil support from the likes of Tapu Koko and Alolan Ninetales, respectively. Tapu Koko is another great hyper offense teammate, boosting the power of Magearna's Thunderbolt and Gigavolt Havoc and setting dual screens.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zinnias.569291/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/cm-reuniclus.620979/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.103/
Last edited:
