Magnemite can be found in Virbank Complex. It is relatively common in both the inner and outer areas of the Virbank Complex, although it is slightly more common in the inner part of the Virbank Complex. Magneton can be found in the grass surrounding the P2 Laboratory, while Magnezone is a relatively rare shaking grass encounter in the same location.
As one of the best Electric types and possessing one of the best, if not THE best defensive typing in the entire game, the Magnemite line is a very good choice in any game, but it is never as early to obtain as it is in Black 2 and White 2. Right off the bat it has decent bulk and hits hard, while Magneton and Magnezone further exemplify this. The low base HP stat of Magnemite and Magneton can be slightly annoying, but by the time you get to Magnezone you will have a very bulky Pokémon on your hands. It doesn't have a diverse movepool and Magnezone is actually slower than Magneton, but it will handily deal with many opponents and can be used against almost anything without an obvious Ground, Fighting, or Fire move in a pinch. It also has support moves like Thunder Wave and Supersonic to be a real team player. The Magnemite Line has a great combination of bulk and power. Smogon put it in the Top Tier of the B2W2 ingame tier list, and for good reason.
Gym #2 - Roxie (Virbank City, Poison-type): Her Pokémon's main STAB does nothing to you and their coverage moves (other than Mud Slap Grimer on Challenge Mode only) will do bugger all as well while you whittle them down with ThunderShock and SonicBoom. When a guy outside a gym tells you to get a certain Pokémon to make that gym a cinch, you should probably listen to him.
Gym #3 - Burgh (Castelia City, Bug-type): Doesn't really do much, but Magnet Bomb can help beat Dwebble, who is fairly annoying if you don't have a Water-type or are reliant on Fire-types and/or Flying-types for his other Pokémon.
Colress (Route 4): You don't really do much of anything against his own Magnemite, but you'll probably be higher levelled and win. Klink can barely scratch you.
Gym #4 - Elesa (Nimbasa City, Electric-type): This isn't a very good matchup. Magnemite's Special Defense is lacking, and Zebstrika has Flame Charge to hit you for super effective damage. You might be able to use Thunder Wave to paralyze something, but there are plenty of better Pokémon to use. However, Magnemite can sufficiently wall Emolga, although its Volt Switch will still hurt.
Rood (Driftveil City): Herdier is best avoided unless you've evolved, as even though you resist it's moves, Magnemite lacks the stats to do a great deal or take too many repeated hits. Swoobat doesn't do a great deal, and is weak to Electric. Magnemite will still have some issues, but Magneton or Magnezone will easily win.
Gym #5 - Clay (Driftveil City, Ground-type): A Ground gym, so obviously a no-go.
Hugh (Pokémon World Tournament): Avoid Pignite and Simisear's Fire moves at all costs. Servine can be annoying with Leech Seed, but should be easy. Dewott has Revenge, but it should be easily dispatched. Simisage and Simipour are beatable, and Tranquill is no problem either.
Cheren (Pokémon World Tournament, Normal-type): Cincinno's Wake Up Slap will do the most damage to Magneton or Magnezone. Confuse Ray from Watchog or Stoutland's Work Up will be annoying, but your higher levels should make this easier.
Colress (Pokémon World Tournament): Magneton is more annoying than Magnemite was back in Route 4, but if you have a Magnezone, you should win. Best left to something else though. Elgyem and Klink are easily dispatched and can't hurt you much.
Gym #6 - Skyla (Mistralton City, Flying-type): Thunder Wave and Electro Ball works handily against all her Pokémon, and only her Swanna can really do that much damage to what should be a Magnezone by now, considering you had to pass through the area where Magneton evolves (Chargestone Cave) to get here. Magnezone can also learn Volt Switch, which you should've gotten the TM for from Elesa. That can be of great utility here.
Hugh (Undella Town): Unfezant is easy. Emboar and Simisear are absolutely terrible match ups, while Simisage is easily beaten thanks to be being unable to deal major damage to you. Simipour's Scald could be annoying, but not a major problem. Samurott should be outsped and beaten, but be careful of Revenge. Serperior has Coil, so you should try and beat it quickly. Without set up, Leech Seed will be the biggest annoyance.
Zinzolin (Lacunosa Town, tag battle with Hugh): None of the four Pokemon here can hurt Magnezone significantly. Cryogonal may take two Flash Cannons thanks to it's high Special Defense. Garbodor is the only one you have no Super Effective STAB against, but it can only Body Slam to inflict damage.
Gym #7 - Drayden (Opelucid City, Dragon-type): Not a great matchup, but not necessarily a bad one, either. Haxorus doesn't do a great deal to you and can be Thunder Waved. Druddigon is iffy, but if you have Flash Cannon (you should), you can do a bit of work. Flygon completely owns you, though, so don't even bother. You should have something else, preferably something with Ice Beam or Blizzard, to deal with that.
Zinzolin (Opelucid City): Cryogonals still have their annoying high Special Defense and Confuse Ray, but shouldn't be a major threat unless you get really unlucky with confusion and Ice Beam crits. Weavile is much easier, but may take two hits if one of the Cryogonal used Light Screen beforehand.
Shadow (Opelucid City): Absol has Swords Dance, but other than that, this should be no problem. Two Pawniard are not a threat.
Gym #8 - Marlon (Humilau City, Water-type): Pretty great, as you could potentially outspeed Marlon's slow team. Marlon is easy in general though. STAB super effective Discharge absolutely decimates his whole team, and if you want, you can even get greedy and try for Charge Beam-induced Special Attack boosts. However, do watch out for the nasty Shell Smash Sturdy Carracosta.
Zinzolin (Plasma Frigate, tag battle with Hugh): All physical hitters, except the two Cryogonal, with largely resisted moves. Magnezone has a field day here.
Zinzolin (Plasma Frigate): Again, two Cryogonal and a physical hitter. Not hard for Magnezone at all.
Colress (Plasma Frigate): This isn't a very good matchup, since Colress's whole team pretty much resists Magnezone's entire movepool. You can wall the shit out of Klinklang, though, even if it sets up. You can also Thunder Wave his Magneton and Magnezone as they can be very irritating.
Shadow battle #1 (Plasma Frigate): Absol has Swords Dance, just like last time. Should still be easy though.
Shadow battle #2 (Plasma Frigate): Banette is most dangerous, but can't significantly hurt you either.
Shadow battle #3 (Plasma Frigate): Accelgor might use Me First, but it won't help.
Black/White Kyurem (Giant Chasm): Both Kyurem are weak to Flash Cannon, but White is much more dangerous as it has Fusion Flare, so stay away. Black Kyurem in contrast is much easier. Beware of stray crits anyhow.
Ghetsis (Giant Chasm): Not that good of a matchup, but it could be worse. Cofagrigus can't do a great deal as it can't Toxic you, Seismitoad beats you easily, Eelektross will beat you with Flamethrower, Drapion has Earthquake, and Toxicroak beats you, but Magnezone can really shine against his Hydreigon, which doesn't have the brutal coverage of BW and can be walled with any bulky Steel-type such as Magnezone.
Hugh (Victory Road): Magnezone beats Unfezant, but its U-turn and Swagger can be really annoying. You can beat Samurott easily unless it crits you (however, you might even outspeed it, since Samurott is quite slow). Magnezone loses to Emboar, can stall out Serperior, loses to Boufallant as it has Earthquake, and only really beats Simipour of the three monkeys (although Simisage can be beaten with Signal Beam, if you went and got that from the Driftveil Move Tutor).
Elite Four Shauntal (Pokémon League, Ghost-type): Golurk and Chandelure beat you handily and should be avoided, but you can take Cofagrigus and especially Jellicent quite nicely.
Elite Four Marshal (Pokémon League, Fighting-type): Not worth the risk AT ALL. You could use Sturdy to get one hit off or something, but don't do anything else.
Elite Four Grimsley (Pokémon League, Dark-type): Krookodile and Scrafty beat you, but Liepard and Bisharp can be dealt with.
Elite Four Caitlin (Pokémon League, Psychic-type): Most of her Pokémon don't have the coverage to break Magnezone naturally (aside from Focus Blast Reuniclus), but Gothitelle has Calm Mind, so be extremely careful when dealing with that.
Champion Iris (Pokémon League, Dragon-type): Her three Dragons (Hydreigon, Druddigon and Haxorus) all have moves to easily beat you. Archeops can be tanked and beaten, Lapras can be annoying with Sing but is also beaten, and Aggron once again has Earthquake.
Post-Game: You can try I guess. Magnezone is as good as ever.
Gym #2 - Roxie (Virbank City, Poison-type):
Gym #3 - Burgh (Castelia City, Bug-type):
Colress (Route 4):
Gym #4 - Elesa (Nimbasa City, Electric-type):
Rood (Driftveil City):
Gym #5 - Clay (Driftveil City, Ground-type):
Hugh (Pokémon World Tournament):
Cheren (Pokémon World Tournament, Normal-type):
Colress (Pokémon World Tournament):
Gym #6 - Skyla (Mistralton City, Flying-type):
Hugh (Undella Town):
Zinzolin (Lacunosa Town, tag battle with Hugh):
Gym #7 - Drayden (Opelucid City, Dragon-type):
Zinzolin (Opelucid City):
Shadow (Opelucid City):
Gym #8 - Marlon (Humilau City, Water-type):
Zinzolin (Plasma Frigate, tag battle with Hugh): All physical hitters, except the two Cryogonal, with largely resisted moves. Magnezone has a field day here.
Zinzolin (Plasma Frigate): Again, two Cryogonal and a physical hitter. Not hard for Magnezone at all.
Colress (Plasma Frigate):
Shadow battle #1 (Plasma Frigate):
Shadow battle #2 (Plasma Frigate):
Shadow battle #3 (Plasma Frigate):
Black/White Kyurem (Giant Chasm):
Ghetsis (Giant Chasm):
Hugh (Victory Road):
Elite Four Shauntal (Pokémon League, Ghost-type):
Elite Four Marshal (Pokémon League, Fighting-type):
Elite Four Grimsley (Pokémon League, Dark-type):
Elite Four Caitlin (Pokémon League, Psychic-type):
Champion Iris (Pokémon League, Dragon-type):
Post-Game:
Moves[]
Magnemite will start with Tackle, Supersonic, and ThunderShock, and might have SonicBoom already. If it doesn't, it's only one level. SonicBoom will do great damage to things it can't really hurt, especially Audinos while grinding. A little later is Thunder Wave, which is useful on almost anything, and allows Magnemite to get some speed control. Magnet Bomb is a little later and is physical, but can tide you over until Mirror Shot, which is special. These will act as your primary Steel attacks for a while. You can get Metal Sound if you feel you're not doing enough damage, but it's not vital. At this point you're really struggling for Electric attacks. This is the weak point of Magnemite's level-up set, as you either need to teach it Volt Switch or use Electro Ball, which will become stronger if you use Thunder Wave. It's messy, but it's the best you've got, and Magneton/Magnezone can tank most hits easily anyway. At level 39 you finally get Flash Cannon, which is the best Steel move you get and it's better still due to not having to wait for the TM (which is postgame). The only level-up move to be concerned about from here is level 51's Discharge, which is the only reliable Electric move you get that does decent damage, as the TM for Thunderbolt is on the Elite Four's doorstep.
From the Move Reminder, Magneton (but not Magnezone) gets Tri Attack if you feel like it, but Magnezone gets Barrier if you're feeling you lack defense (somehow) and Mirror Coat, which could be amusing with Sturdy as your ability. Honestly, though, most Pokémon don't do enough damage for it to be worth it.
The main TMs this line will want, as stated before, are Volt Switch after beating the Nimbasa Gym, Thunderbolt which you get from your rival after beating him at the end of Victory Road, and Charge Beam from an NPC in Lentimas Town. These are the key ones. You could try for Hidden Power, but you need to go to the Battle Subway or World Tournament for those, making it not really worth it.
The Move Tutors give you mostly weak and/or physical moves, but Signal Beam in Driftveil City could be nice if you fancy the coverage. It helps you hit the pesky Grass-types that resist your Electric STAB, and can therefore be very helpful, especially during the mid-game when Grass-types are everywhere.
(Pokémon that work well on the same team with the one being analyzed)
Other[]
Magnemite's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
25
85 - 132
160 - 254
Attack:
35
36 - 95
67 - 185
Defense:
70
67 - 134
130 - 262
Sp.Atk:
95
90 - 161
175 - 317
Sp.Def:
55
54 - 117
103 - 229
Speed:
45
45 - 106
85 - 207
Total:
325
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Magneton's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
50
110 - 157
210 - 304
Attack:
60
58 - 123
112 - 240
Defense:
95
90 - 161
175 - 317
Sp.Atk:
120
112 - 189
220 - 372
Sp.Def:
70
67 - 134
130 - 262
Speed:
70
67 - 134
130 - 262
Total:
465
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Magnezone's stats[]
Stat
Range
At Lv. 50
At Lv. 100
HP:
70
130 - 177
250 - 344
Attack:
70
67 - 134
130 - 262
Defense:
115
108 - 183
211 - 361
Sp.Atk:
130
121 - 200
238 - 394
Sp.Def:
90
85 - 156
166 - 306
Speed:
60
58 - 123
112 - 240
Total:
535
Other Pokémon with this total
Minimum stats are calculated with 0 EVs, IVs of 0, and a hindering nature, if applicable.
Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and a helpful nature, if applicable.
Magnemite Line Ratings
Availability
Matchups
Movepool
Survivability
Type Usefulness
Team Role
Offensive Utility
Defensive Utility
Tankiness
Fun Factor
Overall
What Nature do I want? Anything that raises Special Attack is amazing. Modest is, of course, far and away the best, while Quiet is a close second. Rash and Mild are fine, as Magnezone is very bulky anyway. Anything that lowers Special Attack is annoying, and anything that raises Attack is also annoying, albeit slightly less so.
Which Ability do I want? Magnezone's two abilities are Sturdy and Magnet Pull. Sturdy is much better as you'll never be OHKO'd by stray Earthquakes or the incredibly rare OHKO moves (which are mostly restricted to wild Excadrill that you likely outlevel and have no business fighting anyway), but you generally have the bulk to take most of what the game has to throw at you, so Magnet Pull is by no means a write off. Magnet Pull can get you Steel-types a bit easier if you're into that or doing a mono-Steel run, as well. Sturdy is much better but not having it is not a deal-breaker.
At what point in the game should I be evolved? You should have a Magneton right around the time you reach Driftveil. Once you get a Magneton, just march straight up to Chargestone Cave and stick a Rare Candy into its nonexistent mouth.
How good is the Magnemite line in a Nuzlocke? Absolutely amazing. It resists pretty much any attack you'll encounter in the early game, and its typing and bulk are great assets in the late game as well. Not to mention it packs an insanely powerful Special Attack, too.
