Skarmory or Magneton (for Pokemon Emerald)?

Question

So I just beat Wattson on my Emerald playthrough, and now I got to Route 113.

I caught a Skarmory and now I’m wondering...
I planned to use a Magneton as my Electric type because even if a Magnemite is found later in the game than an Electrike, Magneton has that Steel typing that gives an immunity to Poison types (my least favorite type) and is super effective on... what is Steel good against again?

I then realized that you need the Surf HM to get to where Magnemite is, New Mauville. And I don’t have that. Yet.

I caught a Skarmory that I think is rare on Route 113. And I checked the moveset in Emerald and it looked okay to me.

Here’s my planned team:
Sceptile
Pelipper
Flygon
Slaking
Absol
Magneton/Skarmory

And here’s my current team:
Grovyle
Pelipper
Vigoroth
Mightyena (because Absol is found late-game, I decided to use Mightyena as filler)

So do I keep the Skarmory on my team or wait until Magneton?

(Which reminds me... Why does Pelipper get access to Shock Wave?)

Comments

Skarmory will slow down your game a lot because it has weak attack stats. Use Magneton.

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you already are going to use a flyer so i say magneton

Answer 1

Magneton because you’ll get wrecked by Winona.

Answer 2

Use magneton because you already have a flying type, and in those games steel is powerful against ice and rock.

Comments

Magneton can't learn any steel attacks, though.