Pokémon Magcargo

[Magcargo]

Base Stats: 60 HP / 50 Atk / 120 Def / 90 SpA / 80 SpD / 30 Spe
Abilities: Magma Armor | Flame Body | Weak Armor (H)

Learnset

Level-Up

0 Shell Smash
1 Ember
1 Rock Throw
1 Smog
1 Yawn
1 Earth Power
13 Harden
20 Clear Smog
22 Ancient Power
27 Incinerate
29 Rock Slide
34 Lava Plume
36 Amnesia
43 Body Slam
47 Recover
54 Flamethrower

TM

Take Down
Hyper Beam
Solar Beam
Fire Spin
Earthquake
Smokescreen
Light Screen
Reflect
Fire Blast
Acid Armor
Rest
Substitute
Curse
Protect
Mud-Slap
Sandstorm
Endure
Rollout
Sleep Talk
Sunny Day
Stockpile
Heat Wave
Will-O-Wisp
Memento
Facade
Overheat
Rock Tomb
Sand Tomb
Iron Defense
Mud Shot
Rock Blast
Gyro Ball
Guard Swap
Flare Blitz
Power Gem
Giga Impact
Stone Edge
Stealth Rock
Smack Down
Flame Charge
Inferno
Bulldoze
Heat Crash
Stomping Tantrum
Burning Jealousy
Tera Blast

Breeding

Smokescreen
Acid Armor
Curse
Rollout
Stockpile
Memento
Guard Swap
Inferno

Notable Moves:

Body Slam

Lava Plume, Power Gem, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Tera Blast, Earth Power, Clear Smog

Stealth Rock, Recover, Will-O-Wisp, Shell Smash, Yawn, Memento

Pros:

• Decent Bulk + Reliable Recovery
• Solid support options in Stealth Rock, Will-O-Wisp, and Yawn
• Flame Body + Lava Plume allows it to spread burns decently well
• Defensive-typing, while not great, allows it to check Fire-Types like Moltres and some variants of Volcarona (in the event that gets unbanned + only pre-Tera), as well as various Quiver Dancers such as Rimbombee in lower tiers
• Good Offensive STAB combination which one could potential make use of on a Shell Smash Set
• Will provide a crucial 10% power boost to Kingambit in most matches

Cons:

• 4x weaknesses to Water and Ground, in addition to fighting weakness are terrible and will leave it threatened by MANY of the top Pokemon such as Great Tusk, Iron Valiant, Samurott-H etc.
  • Even common defensive Pokemon such as Alolamola, Garganacl, and Ting-Lu are able to threaten it and use it as entry point to begin passing wishes or setting up
• Defensive sets are completely outclassed by Moltres, Heatran, and Garganacl, which will check the threats Magcargo is trying to check far more reliably
• Offensive sets are hampered by Magcargo's low initial poor, poor typing which will make it difficult to setup, and terrible speed, which is outsped by key offensive staples such as Iron Valiant, Sneaseler, Booster Energy Great Tusk, and Roaring Moon.
  • Even at +4 Speed, Booster Iron Valiant and Roaring Moon will outspeed, and it speed ties with Wake
  • Furthermore, defense lowering effect of Weak Armor and Shell Smash will leave Magcargo quite vulnerable to priority users such as Kingambit
• Forced to run HDB due to hazard vulnerability and higher Knock Off Distribution will make it easier than ever to remove them, though Magcargo can at least punish Knock Off users with Flame Body
• Overall Magcargo's low overall stats and terrible typing will ensure it will struggle in whatever lower tier it ends up in, let alone OU

Tera potential:

• As Magcargo's biggest flaw is its typing, Terastalization can help it in a great number of match-ups
  • 
    /
    
    : Tera Water- and Fairy- let Magcargo retain some of its base defensive utility while also removing its crippling 4x Ground and Water weaknesses
  • 
    : Tera Grass- lets Magcargo resist its two 4x weaknesses to Water and Ground, but will remove much of Magcargo's base defensive utility.
• While Magcargo will greatly benefit from Terastalization, its stats are still quite low relative to other Pokemon. As such the value of Terastalizing Magcargo will most likely be significantly lower than Terstalizing other Pokemon such as Garganacl or Gholdengo

Potential Sets:
Defensive:
Magcargo @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Water / Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Clear Smog
- Yawn / Stealth Rock
- Power Gem / Lava Plume

• Magcargo's defensive typing and access to Recover and Clear Smog enable it to answer Moltres, as well as certain variants of Cinderace, in a prolonged battle.
  • In lower tiers, this set could have similar utility against various Quiver Dancers such as Oricorio, Frosmoth, and Ribombee
• Yawn allows Magcargo to forces switches and ensures it isn't too passive. Will make Magcargo perform better against setup sweepers
• Stealth Rock can also be run if you lack hazard support elsewhere
• Power Gem will likely be the best option in the final slot to allow Magcargo to directly threaten the set up sweeper it is facing.
• Lava Plume is also a good option to fish for a burn on a potential switch-in like Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Ting-Lu
• Tera Water is the best to retain Magcargo's Fire Resistance while removing its crippling Ground and Water weaknesses.
  • In lower tiers, Tera Steel will be the best to allow Magcargo to retain its resistances to Flying, Bug, and Fairy

Shell Smash:
Magcargo @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Weak Armor / Flame Body
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Shell Smash
- Flamethrower
- Power Gem
- Memento / Earth Power / Tera Blast

• This set will likely not be good even in lower tiers, but Magcargo can make use of a Shell Smash set to threaten unprepared teams
• Hits 348 Speed after a Shell Smash, letting it outspeed Pokemon up until the 108 Speed tier after a boost
• Weak Armor can be used for more speed, but Flame Body allows Magcargo to punish Sucker Punch users like Kingambit with a potential Burn
  • Especially important since Kingambit will have no issues KOing Magcargo due to defense drop
    • 252+ Atk Supreme Overlord 5 allies fainted Kingambit Sucker Punch vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Magcargo: 249-294 (95.4 - 112.6%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
• Flamethrower and Power Gem are reliable STAB options with great neutral coverage. Can pick up surprising KOes after a bit of chip damage
  • +2 252 SpA Magcargo Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Samurott-Hisui: 288-339 (89.7 - 105.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
  • +2 252 SpA Magcargo Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 381-448 (87.7 - 103.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock and 1 layer of Spikes
• Memento is the best option in the last slot to play around sucker punch and Tera users, letting another teammate to pick up the slack and setup for free.
• Earth Power can be used to hit Heatran and Toxapex
• Tera Blast Fairy can also be used to hit various Dragons like Garchomp and Kommo-o hard
• Tera Fairy is used to survive Kingambit's Sucker Punch in a pinch

 

[Dipperjedster]

I'm glad Magcargo finally gets power gem instead of having to use the weak ancient power for a STAB special rock type move

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

TBH I do kinda wish they did more to help Magcargo out. 2 Pokemon came out with its exact typing and they managed to become FAR better than what Mag's been capable of (Coalossal outclasses it in lower tier contexts due to far better stats and utility, Hisuian Arcanine is way better than both due to leaning more on the offensive side among other things). Really wish they'd give it an evo or something in the next games but hey.

 

[Dipperjedster]

or give it a regional variant, just SOMETHING

 

[Eeveeto]

Non ironically, outside of Spin, this is better than Coallossal.