Magearna, the Artificial Pokémon. This artificial Pokémon, constructed more than 500 years ago, can understand human speech but cannot itself speak. Its mechanized body is merely a vessel. Its true self is its Soul-Heart, an artificial soul. It synchronizes its consciousness with others to understand their feelings. This faculty makes it useful for taking care of people. Built roughly 500 years ago by a scientist, the part called the Soul-Heart is the actual life-form.
Overview
One of the first mythicals introduced in Generation 7, Magearna is one of the best. Steel Fairy is a strong contender for best typing in the game have a fantastic defensive profile, and Magearna’s good 115 defenses is sufficient to abuse it. And this antique is not just durable, but powerful as well. Base 130 Special Attack is impressive and Soul Heart acting as a Special Attack Moxie enables Magearna to escalate out of control shockingly quickly. And Magearna has the movepool to abuse this too. It has shockingly wide coverage on top of its signature Fleur Cannon, a Fairy type Overheat whose side effect is less impactful thanks to Soul Heart leaving few safe switch ins. Boosting options in Shift Gear, Calm Mind, and Iron Defense add further breadth to Magearna’s game enabling it to outright beat checks like Miraidon and Chansey with the right move. And it is no slouch on support either, able to setup Trick Room and Spikes for fantastic speed control and chip damage.
Magearna does have its issues. Its slow speed outside of Trick Room has it rely on its bulk to tank a hit before acting, so it can struggle to find an opening against more offensive teams. Its bulk issues are further compounded by lack of recovery outside of the relatively weak Draining Kiss. And Magearna does find itself in an incredibly hostile metagame. Thanks to the dominance of Koraidon (who also melts Magearna with Overheat), Ground types like Clodsire, Ting-lu, Landorus-Therian, and Iron Treads are everywhere, and perennial legend Groudon enabling threats like Flutter Mane mean there is no shortage of Pokémon that can eat Magearna alive. Zacian Crowned provides further strain, being another wholly fantastic Pokémon that offers the same defensive niche as Magearna with superior base bulk. And while Magearna’s movepool is fantastic, it does struggle to fit every move it wants in a set, always leaving noticeable gaps in its coverage. And while Fleur Cannon is a fantastic move, especially when backed up by Soul Heart, its Special Attack dropping effect is exploitable and a well predicted switch can place Magearna in a bad spot. Despite hostile conditions, Magearna is wholly a force to be reckoned with and you never know what’s coming till this mechanical wonder starts moving.
Positives
Steel Fairy is one of the best defensive typings in the game, having a wide array of resistances and immunities with few weaknesses.
Impress 80/115/115 defenses, ensuring Magearna can tank resisted hits with ease and neutral hits moderately well as well.
Soul Heart is an insane ability, being backed by an impressive Base 130 Special Attack all but guarantees Magearna is never passive.
Incredible signature move in Fleur Cannon enables Magearna as one of the most potent
Incredibly wide movepool, with not only almost all the coverage Magearna could ever want, but a plethora of boosting and support moves as well that enable Magearna to fill a variety of team roles.
Negatives
Base 65 Speed is pitifully slow without Trick Room or setup, often forcing Magearna to tank hits before acting, cutting into its bulk.
Lack of reliable recovery outside the weak Draining Kiss further cuts into Magearna’s bulk, making it liable to being worn down.
Four Moveslot Syndrome strikes Magearna hard, and it can never fit all the moves it wants.
Extremely hostile metagame with teams often packing multiple answers to Magearna and it can be difficult to justify Magearna over the competition.
Lacks direct answers to Fire types.
Movesets
Dressed Up Doll
-Fleur Cannon
-Flash Cannon
-Ice Beam
-Volt Switch
Ability: Soul Heart
Item: Life Orb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP /252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Scarf Magearna is a terrifying revenge killer that can spiral out of control into a sweep if given the chance. Have Magearna come in on a weakened target, nab the Soul Heart boost and continue applying pressure with its boosted Special Attack, or pivot out to maintain momentum. Fleur Cannon is a fantastic clean up tool, offering incredible power against most targets, dealing about 40% to Kyogre and offensive Arceus forms. Flash Cannon is secondary STAB without the crippling Special Attack Drop, as well as smashing opposing Fairies like Arceus-Fairy and Flutter Mane hard. Ice Beam offers fantastic coverage into opposing Ground types that Magearna lures in as well as offering wide coverage in general making it a great move to be locked into. Volt Switch enables Magearna to offer valuable utility, acting as a fast pivot and counter predicted switches and enables mind games, drawing Ground types in to get blasted with Fleur Cannon or Ice Beam.
Tera Types:
With as fantastic as Steel-Fairy is as a typing, Magearna really does not like terastalizing, instead leveraging its good typing to tank hits. When that is not enough there are options. Tera’s Fairy is a good option, getting rid of Magearna’s Fire and Ground weaknesses while maintaining its fantastic Fairy typing and boosting Fleur Cannon to reach KOs otherwise not possible. Tera Water is another great option, providing a resistance to Fire and potentially valuable coverage against Fire and non-Clodsire Ground types. Tera Ground is a more offensive option, forming a fantastic Fairy-Ground combination that leaves few safe answers.
EVs and Items:
Max Speed and Special Attack are required to get the most out of Choice Scarf and Soul Heart. Timid Nature is mandatory -with that and Choice Scarf, you outrun offensive Arceus Forms, while without it, you are barely outsped by Hearthflame Ogerpon. Choice Scarf is the namesake of this set, and is mandatory. Choice Specs is worth considering, but Magearna’s poor speed and the general hostile surroundings make Choice Specs less palatable.
Partners:
Ribombee is heavily recommended for Scarf Magearna. Even with Choice Scarf, Magearna falls short of the many base 135 Speed Pokémon running around like Miraidon, Koraidon, Flutter Mane and so on. The Sticky Webs Ribombee provides is a great equalizer, enabling Magearna to perform its revenge killing more effectively, despite how redundant the two Pokémon are otherwise.
Koraidon appreciates Magearna for its ability to reliably handle opposing Fairy types, able to clean them up easily to enable a Koraidon sweep. Magearna’s ability to threaten opposing Dragons doesn’t hurt either. Magearna drawing in opposing Steel types or forcing a Tera Steel helps create opportunities for Koraidon to come in and threaten Fighting STAB, maintaining momentum. Other Dragons like Miraidon, also appreciate Magearna’s anti Fairy properties.
Other Options:
Dazzling Gleam -the power drop off from Fleur Cannon is severe, but not sinking your Special Attack makes Magearna harder to play around. Alternatively, you could swap out Flash Cannon, given it covers little outside of opposing Fairy types.
Thunderbolt -smacks Kyogre and Tera Water targets slightly less hard than Fleur Cannon, but without the Special Attack Drop
Psyshock -threatens Clodsire and other opposing Poison types as well as smacking Chansey harder than any other Special Attack Magearna has.
Aura Sphere -coverage against Arceus and opposing Steel types that otherwise soak up Magearna’s STABs quite well.
Dollhouse
-Trick Room
-Spikes
-Draining Kiss
-Dazzling Gleam
Ability: Soul Heart
Item: Shuca Berry
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
Magearna is a potent Trick Room supporter and low-key abuser, having fantastic Fairy Steel typing to come in on targets like Ribombee, Toxapex, Arceus, etc. and take advantage of their being forced out to freely setup Trick Room and/or Spikes to enable Magearna's team. Trick Room is great for immediate impact, enabling Magearna to weaponize its slow speed and act first setting up Spikes, or recovering damage incurred with Draining Kiss. Spikes pairs especially well with Trick Room, punishing normal stalling tactics like repeatedly switching to drain Trick Room turns. Draining Kiss is quite the boon, enabling Magearna to stay healthy and repeatedly setup Spikes/Trick Room. Dazzling Gleam may be redundant with Draining Kiss for coverage but is an important offensive move for capitalizing on Trick Room and Soul Heart for a Trick Room sweep in the late game. /p>
Tera Types:
Magearna gets a lot of mileage out of its already incredible base typing and rather save Terastalizing for its teammates. Teras Water and Fairy are good standbys, both removing Magearna's weaknesses and being all around good defensive types. Tera Water offers an actual resistance to Fire, but at the cost of weaknesses to Electric and Freeze Dry, while Fairy doesn't change Magearna's defensive profile much, but bolsters Draining Kiss and Fairy STAB for more damage.
EVs and Items:
Max HP and Special Attack while bottoming out speed are recommended as with most Trick Room attackers. Special Attack is recommended due to improving healing from Draining Kiss in turn. Otherwise you can go all in on setting up and forgo any offense by investing in Defense to better stomach attacks. Shuca Berry is recommended for the item, Magearna often draws Ground attacks so being able to blank a Ground attack to safely setup Trick Room or Spikes is invaluable. Occa Berry is also worth consideration, enabling Magearna to safely setup in front of Koraidon and non-Specs Miraidon. Other options include Leftovers for extended longevity and Eject Pack if using Fleur Cannon to quickly pivot out in Trick Room without giving up momentum.
Partners:
Calyrex Ice Rider is the king of Trick Room abuse and thus any Trick Room setter is greatly appreciated. The fact that Magearna does not rely on Terastalization to function is fantastic for Ice Rider, enabling it to shed the shackles of its Ice typing. Magearna threatening Dark types given the many Psychic types on Trick Room teams is also appreciated. Magearna setting up Spikes is another boon, given the previously mentioned synergies between Trick Room and Spikes. Other Trick Room abusers like Ursaluna (both Hisui and Bloodmoon) and Hatterene also make for excellent partners.
Other Options:
Fleur Cannon is an alternative to Dazzling Gleam as Fairy STAB, enabling Magearna to outright delete the Raidons, Giratina-O, and Ting-Lu as well as having niche synergy with Trick Room and Eject Pack.
Encore is a great way to punish opponents who try to use Magearna as a setup opportunity, locking them into a useless move and enabling Magearna to safely setup Spikes or Pivot to a Trick Room abusing Teammate.
Volt Switch is another pivoting option that provides chip during Trick Room's duration.
Terminator Doll
-Agility
-Dazzling Gleam
-Tera Blast
-Psyshock
Ability: Soul Heart
Item: Life Orb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
Agility Magearna is a game ending sweeper, taking advantage of the fact is checks are weakened or eliminated to pivot in, setup an Agility and then use Soul Heart to escalate out of control as it picks up KOs until the opponent can’t respond. Agility is key to this set, giving Magearna a massive speed boost, enabling it to outstrip even the Raidons and threaten them with Dazzling Gleam. Magearna’s good base typing and high natural defenses offer it plenty of opportunities to setup Agility. Tera Blast provides vital coverage in ensuring that Magearna is not walled out by Fire/Tera Fire Pokémon when going for the sweep. Psyshock rounds out the set, preventing Clodsire and Blissey from walling out Magearna. /p>
Tera Types:
Tera Ground is highly recommended for this set, giving Magearna near perfect coverage as well as removing its weaknesses to Fire and and Ground, while not being weakened by Groudon and Koraidon’s Sun. With Tera Ground, not only are Skeledirge and Chi-Yu threatened, but Steel types like Zacian Crowned and Iron Treads are as well. Tera Water is another excellent option offering valuable Fire resistance that facilitates setting up.
EVs and Items:
Standard sweeper array of Max Speed and Special Attack to get the most out of Agility and Soul Heart. Modest Nature is recommended as Magearna is favored to OHKO Miraidon with Dazzling Gleam and Life Orb, while still outspeeding after Agility, though a Timid Nature does enable Magearna to outspeed Scarf Kyogre up to Scarf Garchomp and max Speed Regieleki post Agility. Life Orb is recommended for as much power as possible, but if the HP sap is too much of a concern, Pixie Plate for boosting Dazzling Gleam is an acceptable alternative. Weakness Policy is another option, especially if running a Stored Power variant, but investment in HP and defenses to better survive super effective hits is necessary.
Partners:
Kyogre is a fantastic partner for setup Magearna, weakening Fire moves with its Rain and able to wash away opposing Fire and Ground types with its STAB and bolstering Tera Water Magearna. Being another Special Attacker also works well, able to lure in sponges like Water Absorb Clodsire and Blissey for early elimination.
Hazard Support is fantastic for any sweeper and setup Magearna is no exception. The chip from Spikes and/or Stealth Rock can be the difference between Magearna KOing a target and being KO’d. Arceus and Rayquaza are good offensive Stealth Rock setters, able to establish rocks while ripping holes in the opposing team for a later sweep. Having access to Extremespeed makes them ideal for checking opposing Scarf and priority users, removing offensive checks to the later sweep attempt.
Other Options:
Shift Gear + Stored Power -Magearna makes for a fearsome Stored Power sweeper, able to accrue boosts incredibly quickly thanks to Shift Gear offering an instant +60 in base power and being a natural Fairy type means that Dark types want nothing to do with Magearna due to STAB Dazzling Gleam or Fleur Cannon always being a threat.
Thunderbolt -great for Tera Ground Magearna as it gives coverage against Corviknight that otherwise takes pitiful damage from Magearna’s STABs and Tera.
Iron Defense + Body Press -another boosting option that is better on bulky variants of Stored Power Magearna that make it nigh unbreakable.
Doubles and VGC Options
Mythicals are not normally allowed in VGC, which is a shame as Magearna is one of the best doubles Pokémon around. Soul Heart is ludicrously power in a doubles setting, activating whenever a Pokémon faints, friend or foe, regardless of whether Magearna dealt the finishing blow. And Magearna’s strong traits are even better in Doubles, given the greater strength of Trick Room and Magearna’s incredible typing and defenses making it incredibly easy to accumulate Soul Heart boosts. As a result, Magearna’s presence in Doubles would be incredibly game warping in all but the strongest of formats.
Antique Arrangement
-Dazzling Gleam
-Flash Cannon
-Trick Room
-Protect
Ability: Soul Heart
Item: Weakness Policy
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature
Magearna would likely ply its trade as a fearsome Trick Room attacker in Doubles, having it or an ally setup Trick Room before going on the offensive. As Sylveon has proven time and time again, spread STAB Fairy moves are incredibly spammable, and Magearna’s Dazzling Gleam is no exception, quickly accruing damage and starting to take knock outs, leading Magearna to escalate out of control. Flash Cannon is secondary STAB and good insurance against opposing Fairy types like Flutter Mane as well as other targets like Cornerstone Ogerpon and Chien-Pao. Trick Room is potent speed control, and while Magearna would prefer to leave setup to a teammate, having the ability to setup Trick Room itself enables mind games on who the opponent needs to disrupt and Magearna’s typing and bulk makes it an incredibly reliable Trick Room setter in its own right. Protect provides its own utility, keeping Magearna healthy while Trick Room is setup and safely accruing Soul Heart boosts while stalling out opposing Screens and beneficial conditions, scouting for moves, etc.
Tera Ghost is to help with Trick Room setup, blocking opposing Fake Out’s that maybe used to stop it as well as being a decent defensive type in general. EVs are to flourish under Trick Room, while Weakness Policy takes advantage of Magearna’s own bulk to punish opponents trying to take it down before it gets out of hand, as well as Flutter Mane’s Mystical Fire.
Other Options & Partners:
Fleur Cannon/Steel Beam are powerful alternate STABs when you need to outright remove a threat from the field.
Imprison an amazing option for denying Protect, making it that much harder to stall out Trick Room and facilitating grabbing boosts with Soul Heart.
Encore is one of the scariest moves in doubles given the large number of attacks being thrown around that do nothing when repeated.
Cresselia is a fantastic partner given it can setup Trick Room on its own and Lunar Blessing keeps Magearna healthy for it to stick around to accrue more Soul Heart boosts. Farigarif is another excellent Trick Room setter that provides protection against opposing priority while being hard to disrupt itself.
The Ursalunas are incredible Trick Room abusers and naturally provide the coveted Fairy Ground offensive combo for very hard to resist damage.
Countering Magearna
Fire types are this antique’s bane, as Magearna has no super effective coverage for them and they resist both of Magearna's STABs while threatening back with Super Effective STABs of their own. Skeledirge, Hearthflame Ogerpon and Tera Fire Koraidon are prime examples that do well against Magearna, though all of them must be wary of Mageana accruing too many Soul Heart boosts.
After this, Magearna’s wide bag of tricks greatly complicates what does and doesn’t work against it, though Ground types have a good track record. Specially Defensive Clodsire tanks anything expect Psychic or Stored Power well and can threaten back with STAB Earthquake, as well as enjoying Trick Room being setup. Assault Vest Iron Treads can’t stand Aura Sphere, and does not do well under Trick Room, but removes Magearna’s Spikes and threatens it with STAB Earthquake. Arceus Ground dislikes Trick Room, and Life Orb Ice Beam and Life Orb Fleur Cannon will 2HKO, but otherwise threatens an unboosted Magearna quite easily.
Defensive Stored Power Magearna are tricky given that they will often boost up the appropriate defense and targeting Magearna’s weaknesses just triggers Weakness Policy to put you in deeper water. Taunt users like Arceus can stop Magearna from boosting up too much and endeavor to chip it down.
Revenge killing Magearna works well given its slow speed, though its many Speed control options due complicate this. Scarf Magearna is still outsped by max Speed Miraidon and Koraidon who can OHKO with Fire coverage, as well as Flutter Mane who can easily pick off a half health Magearna, though the need Choice Scarf/Protosynthesis to outspeed uninvested Magearna after Shift Gear. The Ursaluna’s outslow Magearna in Trick Room and their own powerful STABs are an easy OHKO.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Not in game
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Not in game
Sun/Moon:
Hau'oli City
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Hau'oli City
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Transfer from Pokémon HOME
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game
Legends: Arceus:
Not in game
Scarlet/Violet:
Transfer from Pokémon HOME
Anime Appearences
