OHKO moves will fail.
Magnet Pull
Prevents Steel-type Pokémon from switching. Increases the chance of encountering a Steel-type Pokémon in the wild.
Type Tier
Electric / Steel OU
Level 50 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
Min- Min Max Max+
- 125 157 -
72 80 112 123
103 115 147 161
126 140 172 189
81 90 122 134
81 90 122 134
  • Overused


The concept of Magneton is a very simple one. Magneton is used on teams which benefit from the removal of Skarmory, and to a lesser extent the removal of Forretress; generally those teams centered around physical sweepers, such as Gyarados, Substitute + Swords Dance Heracross, and CurseLax, which struggle with Skarmory. Magneton can also be used to compliment teams which use Skarmory to lay down Spikes, removing the common Rapid Spin user Forretress with Hidden Power Fire, and allowing Skarmory to lay Spikes freely. However, those sorts of teams will massively struggle with a smartly played Cloyster, and as such are rather unreliable. Magneton overall should not be seen as a linchpin of a team, but as a tool used to increase the damage output and overall offensive effectiveness of a team's key members by removing their largest counters.

Unfortunately, other than its designated Steel-trapping role, Magneton struggles to counter anything notable, despite its slew of resistances. This is largely due to very mediocre stats, and a crippling 4x weakness to the very common Ground-type moves. A RestTalk set can check most Gengar variants and RestTalk Zapdos with the correct investment, but otherwise Magneton, especially offensive variants, is largely a one-for-one trade if there are Steels to trap, and if there are not, it can often be a burdensome waste of a teamslot. The way to play Magneton in general is to play very conservatively before it has completed its function of Steel-type trapping and removal, and very aggressively after it has done so, freely sacrificing it unless it is needed to take a sleep-inducing move, or act as death or Wish fodder. RestTalk Magneton is an exception to the above statement. In a world of ideals, Magneton should attempt to get in on the Steel-type which it needs to trap on a predicted double switch. This is because high-standard opponents are likely to Whirlwind first with their Skarmory—or even worse, Earthquake with their Forretress—to check for the magnetic trio as opposed to blindly using Spikes, and if Magneton is switched into Skarmory again, it could be possibly met with a well-timed switch to Dugtrio.

Name Item Ability Nature


Leftovers Magnet Pull Modest / Timid
Moveset EVs
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Fire
~ Substitute
~ Toxic / Metal Sound / Thunder Wave
68 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe

This is your bog-standard Magneton: it "does what it says on the tin", efficiently trapping and removing Skarmory and / or Forretress from the fray to allow powerful physical attackers to muscle their way through the opposing team with no pesky Steel-types stopping them. Thunderbolt is a quintessential attribute for every Magneton set, providing a powerful STAB move for it to utilize, and is a good way to dispatch Skarmory. The choice of Hidden Power is dependent on Magneton's teammates. Hidden Power Grass is a valid option, though Magneton should be used to form defensive holes in a team which is designed to accomodate Dragon Dance Salamence or CurseLax; the former sets up all over Forretress, and the latter forces it to unleash a weak Explosion. Both are checked by Swampert (the latter only by Curse variants though), which Magneton can almost make short work of with Hidden Power Grass; it does around 90% to it, although Swampert will most likely be weakened enough for Hidden Power Grass to kill, as the most likely scenario is that it has switched into one Hidden Power Flying from Salamence. However, Hidden Power Ice is also somewhat workable if Magneton is being used to support something like Dragon Dance Gyarados, which simply loves switching into both Forretres and Swampert, but won't enjoy taking Flygon's Rock Slides as much; Magneton is slower than Flygon, so Hidden Power Ice must be used from either behind a Substitute or on a predicted switch. Another reason to use Hidden Power Ice is that it covers Celebi and Dugtrio at the same time. Hidden Power Fire is a decent option in that it allows Magneton to also vanquish Forretress. Hidden Power Fire Magneton is most suited for support teams which utilize powerful physical sweepers such as Metagross and Choice Band Normal-types that are stopped by Forretress and Skarmory. Hidden Power Fire also gives Magneton-based teams a way to handle any Forretress using Spikes, as it is very uncommon to see Magneton alongside a spinner.

Substitute is in the third slot because Magneton is able to force a decent amount of switches offensively, and then either hit switch-ins powerfully or status the opponent from its safety behind a Substitute. One of Magneton's few uses after Steel-type removal is switching in on a predicted switch to a bulky Water-type such as Milotic or Suicune, Substituting on the predicted switch out to the appropriate Magneton counter, and then choosing the appropriate move with no need to predict and strain the mind. The fourth slot can be filled with a variety of moves and is comparatively unimportant, as Magneton will often only get the chance to use one of its moves in a game situation due to the ubiquity of Dugtrio. As Magneton beats the majority of common Steel- and Poison-types, Toxic is a decent option to cover things which it cannot fell with its attacking moves. Toxic is also notable because SubToxic Magneton can either almost kill Swampert or force it to Rest as long as Swampert switches in. Metal Sound is also fairly viable; it works best alongside Spikes support, but can also act as a deterrent to Calm Mind users, such as Celebi, Raikou, Jirachi, and Blissey to an extent, who see Magneton for the most part as setup fodder. Thunder Wave is also viable, although less so than other moves as Thunder Wave Magneton will often have no way to fight back against teams with the correct Ground-type. However, it is great for taking the smirk off that Superachi's face, and will often find other uses in battle situations.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Name Item Ability Nature


Leftovers Magnet Pull Modest
Moveset EVs
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Fire
~ Rest
~ Sleep Talk
240 HP / 252 SpA / 16 Spe

Rest and Sleep Talk increase Magneton's staying power throughout the game by giving it a recovery method, albeit an unreliable one, and also allowing it to absorb Milotic and Gengar's multiple uses of Hypnosis and Jynx's Lovely Kisses, certainly a desirable attribute if your team lacks a sleep absorber. A Magneton with the given bulkier spread is able to switch in relatively safely on all of the aforementioned three (with the exception being if Gengar carries the rather uncommon Fire Punch or Focus Punch). Thunderbolt and a Hidden Power of choice is preferred. Grass is preferable if Magneton is being used to assist something such as Dragon Dance Salamence, which positively sets up on Forretress (even surviving an Intimidated Explosion), but will struggle to deal with Swampert; Ice is also quite useful if you need Magneton to be able to hurt both Celebi and Dugtrio at the same time, but Fire should be used if Magneton is being used to support something like Metagross or Tauros which will struggle muscling past Forretress, and also stopping Forretress from easily laying down Spikes against the team. RestTalk Magneton is able to deter special attackers, such as non-Fire Punch or Focus Punching Gengar, RestTalk Zapdos, and Porygon2, due to its handy resistance to the BoltBeam combination, an attribute otherwise only held by the relatively uncommon Lanturn and Shedinja, whose viability is massively nerfed due to the ubiquity of Tyranitar and the sandstorm it brings about.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Name Item Ability Nature


Salac Berry Magnet Pull Timid
Moveset EVs
~ Thunderbolt
~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
~ Endure
~ Screech
52 HP / 252 SpA / 204 Spe

The main trouble with the common Magneton is the tendency to be seized by Dugtrio's moley clutches at inopportune times. What if Magneton could turn the tables on Dugtrio and send it tunneling away back to its Poké Ball? This set is designed to complete exactly that function, and also after doing so potentially set up a revenge kill for your own Dugtrio. It is probably easiest to contextualize the moves on this set by inventing a common game scenario. After powering through Skarmory with a merciless Thunderbolt, the opponent brings in Dugtrio with a twisted grin smeared across his face as he clicks Earthquake. However, upon seeing the activation of a Salac Berry, the Dugtrio user adopts an expression of pure unadulterated terror. Dugtrio then proceeds to switch out as Magneton uses Hidden Power Grass or Ice, as both are viable options; Ice more so than on other sets due to Magneton's ability to outspeed Flygon after the activation of its Salac Berry. Hidden Power Fire should not be used on EndSalac Magneton due to the fact that Dugtrio is not OHKOed by it, and as such the purpose of the set is defeated. Most likely, the opponent will then switch out to Snorlax, Blissey, or Celebi to finish Magneton off while taking comparatively little from its attacks. As Snorlax, Blissey, or Celebi finishes Magneton off, Magneton Screeches so that the Adamant Dugtrio which follows up after Magneton's death can OHKO the aforementioned walls in sand—and Celebi—out of it.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>

Other Options

There are two moves that should be universally resident on Magneton sets—Thunderbolt and a Hidden Power of some ilk. Most of the viable options for the remaining two moveslots are listed in the above sets, but there are a few viable moves which could potentially be used. Protect has potential to be used above Substitute in conjunction with Toxic on Magneton's offensive set, but many things which Magneton connects with Toxic on the switch—Swampert and Claydol—are slower than an invested Magneton, and as such Substitute generally works better to stall for poison damage or force a Rest, due to the fact that Substitute can be used repeatedly without risk. However, Toxic in conjunction with Protect can potentially be effective for getting "chip damage" on a Flygon switch-in. Magneton can potentially use two status moves—Thunder Wave and Toxic—on the same set. Despite the supposed "increased utility" of such a set, in fact a double status set is rather pointless due to the fact that Magneton, in a normal game scenario, will generally only be able to use a status move once (or not at all) due to its frailty and as such poor switch-in capability on offensive moves. Magneton can also set up your screen of choice to help provide support for a sweeper after it bites the dust, although dual screens setup offense is a poorer strategy in ADV than later gens due to the fact that the immediate power of the offensive powerhouses of ADV is comparatively lower, as well as the ubiquity of bulky phazers. Magneton certainly isn't going to work as a bulky screening pivot. Screech can be used on non-Endure sets, but it is nowhere near as effective as on Endure sets.

Checks & Counters

Like many other commonly seen Pokemon, Magneton carries the onus of being trapped and killed by Dugtrio. The moley cluster can either get in on Magneton on a predicted Thunderbolt, a smart double switch, or when avenging the death of its Steel-type teammate, prevent it from escape with its excellent ability Arena Trap, and bump it off with Earthquake. However, when switching into the magnetic trio, Dugtrio must take care to avoid coming in on Hidden Power or Substitute, especially if it has been revealed previously to the Magneton user. Magneton can also force Dugtrio back out of the fray with Endure and a Salac Berry. Magneton is stopped cold by special walls such as Blissey and Snorlax (especially Earthquake versions), although the latter will eventually be forced to Rest by repeated Thunderbolts, and may have a hard time, especially in sand. Calm Mind Celebi merrily sets up on Magneton, but may struggle against Metal Sound variants with Hidden Power Fire or Ice.

Other Ground-types also work well to counter Magneton due to its 4x weakness to their STAB Earthquakes, although they must be wary of super effective Hidden Powers. Flygon is probably the best to switch straight into Magneton, as Hidden Power Ice is the least seen listed Hidden Power on Magneton, and Flygon outspeeds Magneton and as such cannot be SubToxic stalled. Claydol makes an excellent Magneton counter due to its lack of 4x weaknesses to certain Hidden Powers and its high Special Defense stat. However, a Claydol without Rest may struggle against Magneton if the Magneton uses Toxic on the switch. Swampert, especially RestTalk variants, work well enough against Magneton as long as the possibility of Hidden Power Grass is respected. Ironically enough, Steelix works very well against Magneton with its immunity to both Toxic and Thunderbolt, and the fact that Magneton hits it only neutrally with Hidden Power Grass or Ice. Fire Punch or Focus Punching Gengar can lure Magneton in and hurt it badly. A good sector of the metagame can come into Magneton after it has trapped and killed a Steel-type and revenge kill it. In reality, it's not so much a case of countering Magneton, but a case of simply attacking when it is predicted to switch in and beating it down continually.