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Overview
Magearna @ Sablenite / Venusaurite
Ability: Soul Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Heart Swap
- Pain Split
Moves
CMSplit Stallbreaker
Magearna @ Cameruptite
Ability: Soul Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Pain Split
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Moves
Set Details
Usage Tips
Other Options
Groudon-Primal: Groudon-Primal can take any one hit from Magearna and hit it hard with one of its STAB moves. its common usage severely limits the roles that Magearna can take within the metagame, especially within offensive teams.
Blissey: Blissey walls all variants apart from the Cameruptite variant, and can deny momentum if it is running minimum speed. However, it must watch out for Pain Split. Despite this, Blissey still gives many free turns to teammates due to Magearna's low immediate damage output with its BoltBeam coverage, allowing it to beat the Cameruptite set.
Arceus-Ground: Arceus-Ground takes any one hit from Magearna, and hits it hard with a Judgment, dealing upwards of 70% to Cameruptite variants. However, it takes heavy damage from a specially invested Fleur Cannon, and a +1 Ice Beam is able to OHKO it.
Fire-types: Ho-oh can safely switch into Magearna if Stealth Rocks are not up, even if it does click Volt Switch. However, it does lose offensive momentum in the process. Raikou and Venusaur can also OHKO Magearna with Weather Ball unless against a Venusaurite variant, and Venusaurite variants are unable to KO either one back. Ho-oh is the switchin with the most utility here, as it can run various sets, all of which beat Magearna.
Physical attackers: Physical attackers are able to deal with Magearna in many ways, due to hitting it in a weaker spot. Their strong STAB moves are able to deal significant damage to Magearna, making it easily pressured.
- Magearna is an amazing defensive glue that can keep teams together
- It checks a myriad of threats in the metagame due to its insane special bulk and fantastic Steel/Fairy typing
- Magearna can offer offensive and defensive sets to break stall and offense alike, making Magearna incredibly diverse
- Magearna's access to Volt Switch and its very low speed allow it to be one of the best pivots in the metagame, allowing it to bring in more offensive threats unharmed
- Heart Swap allows Magearna to check Xerneas and play around other setup sweepers such as Manaphy. It is also able to cripple special attackers by passing special attack drops from Fleur Cannon
- Magearna has many common answers that limit its offensive potential, such as Groudon-Primal, Arceus-Ground and Blissey
- Unfortunately, a lack of a reliable recovery move forces Magearna to utilize Pain Split, making it easy to wear down in longer matches and making Magearna prediction reliant
Magearna @ Sablenite / Venusaurite
Ability: Soul Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Fleur Cannon
- Volt Switch
- Heart Swap
- Pain Split
Moves
- Fleur Cannon allows Magearna to KO Pokemon that it checks such as Tapu Lele and Deoxys-Speed and chips switchins such as Support Arceus forms and Groudon-Primal
- Volt Switch allows Magearna to preserve momentum and bring in teammates safely on Pokemon that they defeat
- Heart Swap allows it to check one of the most threatening Pokemon in the tier, Xerneas, as well as other threatening setup sweepers. It also helps out transferring Fleur Cannon SpA drops
- Pain Split is a form of recovery for Magearna that helps to wear down opposing teams and helps Magearna take on Blissey, however, it is exploitable, leaving Magearna more vulnerable to offensive teams
- A Sablenite stone gives Magearna a huge increase in bulk and Magic Bounce, allowing it to check some of the most threatening sweepers in the tier
- The given spread entirely maximizes special bulk, however, this is practically customizable between SpA and SpD, showing how diverse defensive sets can be.
- A Venusaurite stone can be used to make Magearna less vulnerable to Fire type attackers such as Entei and Ho-oh whilst preserving the Sablenite stone as well better checking Weavile, coming at a cost of overall special bulk
- A Quiet nature and 0 Speed IVs can be used to pivot out of uninvested Sablenite Blissey and makes this the slowest pivot in the tier
- A load of spreads for Magearna are viable - for example, 252+ SpA is usable if wearing down Groudon-Primal is an objective, and a spread of 96 SpA/160+ SpD is usable if increased special bulk is desired. 144+ SpA can be used to OHKO 0 HP Pidgeotite Deoxys-Speed
- This Pokemon should be preserved for strong offensive threats that it has a favourable matchup against, such as Tapu Lele, Deoxys-Speed, and Xerneas
- Magearna should be sent out as a lead versus Deoxys-Speed hazard setting variants, as it checks both forms
- Fleur Cannon should be your most used move, allowing Magearna to chip switchins into Groudon-Primal and Arceus-Ground
- Pain Split should be used against Blissey mainly, especially if Magearna's health gets low - this allows it to heavily damage Blissey and regain all of its health so that it can check some stronger threats later on in a match
- It fits very well on Bulky Offense and Balance teams as a go to check for some of the most powerful Pokemon in the tier
- The majority of Hyper Offense leads, such as Deoxys-Speed and Shuckle are unable to set up two layers of hazards versus Magearna – just make sure that the opponent doesn’t bluff a non-Sablenite variant if you lack that stone
- If a threat is about to sweep your team, playing Magearna after another teammate has fainted and clicking either Fleur Cannon or Heart Swap depending on the defenses and typing of the Pokemon in question. Just make sure Magearna isn’t OHKO’d by the next attack
- Arceus-Ground and Venusaurite Hippowdon make excellent teammates for Magearna as they are able to check the Pokemon that threaten it so much, like Groudon-Primal and Raikou
- Water-type attackers like Kyogre-Primal, Pidgeotite Keldeo and Blue Orb Golisopod can make excellent team-mates as they can shut down defensive glues that might wall Magearna or make it too passive to do anything to the opposing team. Magearna also handles other Dragon-type Pokemon which may wall the two mentioned, whilst all three can deal with Fire and Ground-type attackers such as Ho-oh, Groudon-Primal, and Arceus-Ground
- Frail, offensive Pokemon such as Kartana love the Volt Switch utility that Magearna gives, and Pokemon such as Zygarde appreciate its ability to handle Tapu Lele. As well as this, Magearna can handle Deoxys-Speed for slower sweepers such as Terrakion
- Magearna loves revenge killers like Zygarde for targets it has weakened with Fleur Cannon
- An answer to Blissey pairs excellently with Magearna as Magearna can pivot out of Blissey and allow the target to answer Blissey unscathed
- Gothitelle removes both Blissey and Arceus-Ground from the opposing team, appreciates Magearna's ability to check Weavile and appreciates the slow pivot.
CMSplit Stallbreaker
Magearna @ Cameruptite
Ability: Soul Heart
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Pain Split
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Moves
- Calm Mind allows Magearna to get increasingly powerful and bulky throughout the match, making it tough to take down at times
- Pain Split acts as a secondary attack if Magearna’s health gets low, sapping health from bulky threats like Blissey
- Thunderbolt hits Ho-oh, Toxapex, and a myriad of other threats that like to switch into Fleur Cannon
- Ice Beam completes the BoltBeam coverage, allowing it to hit threats such as Zygarde and Groudon-Primal if chip damage is needed
- Focus Blast is an option that hits Steel-types and previous switchins incredibly hard, but leaves Magearna vulnerable to Toxapex if it does not opt for Thunderbolt
Set Details
- 252 HP and 252 SpA with a Modest nature maximize Special Attack whilst keeping bulk high
- Magearna’s speed tier is negligible with the Cameruptite stone
- A Cameruptite stone gives Magearna access to Sheer Force, powering up its BoltBeam coverage, whilst giving Magearna a great bulk and Special Attack increase
- 4 Defense EVs ensure that Download users get a Special Attack boost versus Magearna, weakening the power of Blaze Kick
Usage Tips
- This Pokemon should be played in the early/mid-game, breaking open defensive cores
- Calm Mind should be used versus passive targets that have no way to deal with Magearna. However, Pain Split overrides this if Magearna's health is low
- Attack if the opponent has a switchin that dies to Magearna's BoltBeam coverage but can heavily damage or OHKO in return, like Ho-oh and Groudon-Primal
- This Pokemon fits very well on Bulky Offense that needs a way to shut down stall/balance cores
- If Magearna’s health gets low, clicking Pain Split on the next turn is advisable unless Magearna lacks utility through the rest of the game
- Versus offensive teams, this Magearna should opt to act as a defensive switchin to threats such as Tapu Lele rather than try to clear the team up
- Against defensive teams, try to abuse the turns of setup that you can get - versus Ditto teams, you may also need to make sure that you can boost enough to resist its coverage against you well enough
- As is with the defensive set, having Pokemon that can deal with Groudon-Primal are paramount – partners such as Arceus-Ground and Hippowdon can deal with it much better than Magearna can
- Pokemon that can deal with offense well support Magearna immensely – Zygarde, Terrakion, and Weavile are all just examples of how this set can be supported
- Walls to opposing physical attackers can work - for example, offensive Pokemon like Arceus-Ghost can be walled by Hippowdon and Mandibuzz, just two mentions of what you could use
Other Options
- Flash Cannon is a possible use over Volt Switch, but often times does the same job as Fleur Cannon would, and removes the opportunity to preserve momentum
- Heart Swap can be removed on the defensive set but it is immediately preferred over another move due to the ability to check Xerneas
- A Trick Room set involving the moveset Trick Room, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Focus Blast can be used, but Magearna doesn't do the best against offensive teams due to the common usage of Arceus-Ground and Groudon-Primal
Groudon-Primal: Groudon-Primal can take any one hit from Magearna and hit it hard with one of its STAB moves. its common usage severely limits the roles that Magearna can take within the metagame, especially within offensive teams.
Blissey: Blissey walls all variants apart from the Cameruptite variant, and can deny momentum if it is running minimum speed. However, it must watch out for Pain Split. Despite this, Blissey still gives many free turns to teammates due to Magearna's low immediate damage output with its BoltBeam coverage, allowing it to beat the Cameruptite set.
Arceus-Ground: Arceus-Ground takes any one hit from Magearna, and hits it hard with a Judgment, dealing upwards of 70% to Cameruptite variants. However, it takes heavy damage from a specially invested Fleur Cannon, and a +1 Ice Beam is able to OHKO it.
Fire-types: Ho-oh can safely switch into Magearna if Stealth Rocks are not up, even if it does click Volt Switch. However, it does lose offensive momentum in the process. Raikou and Venusaur can also OHKO Magearna with Weather Ball unless against a Venusaurite variant, and Venusaurite variants are unable to KO either one back. Ho-oh is the switchin with the most utility here, as it can run various sets, all of which beat Magearna.
Physical attackers: Physical attackers are able to deal with Magearna in many ways, due to hitting it in a weaker spot. Their strong STAB moves are able to deal significant damage to Magearna, making it easily pressured.
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