What is the best Electric type to use in ORAS?

Question

Any Hoenn game needs an Electric type, as it has "too much water"

The viable options are (in my view) Manectric, Magnezone and Cosplay Pikachu. I thought that Magnezone was the best, but New Mauville is too late, and it comes at Level 6 just before the 3rd gym (really GameFreak?). Cosplay Pikachu (especially Belle, BoltBeam is a thing for a reason) is really good, until it starts sucking. Manectric should be the best option, but am I missing something?

Answer 1

Your choices for an Electric type are Manectric, Plusle, Minun, Magnezone, Electrode, Pikachu-Cosplay, Raichu, and Lanturn. From experience, Plusle, Minun, and Electrode aren't very good, Raichu comes a bit too late, and there are better Water types than Lanturn. As you said, this leaves the list of contenders at three: Manectric, Magnezone, and Pikachu-Cosplay.

Manectric
- Electrike comes at a higher level than Magnemite, but lower than Pikachu-Cosplay
- Special Attack and Speed both over 100
- Has a Mega Evolution
- Evolves earlier than Magnemite
- Learns moves like Wild Charge, Signal Beam, Flamethrower and Overheat
- Movepool is pretty bad without breeding
- Medicore stats in everything except Special Attack and Speed

Magnezone
- Electric/Steel is one of the best type combos
- Higher Special Attack and Defense than Manectric
- Respectable Special Defense, but mediocre stats in the other categories
- Learns moves like Flash Cannon, Discharge, Volt Switch, and Signal Beam
- Like Manectric, it has a pretty bad movepool
- Found at the same time as Electrike but at a lower level
- Evolves later than Electrike

Pikachu-Cosplay
- Comes earlier and at a higher level than both Electrike and Magnemite
- Gets a free powerful move in three of its forms: Flying Press, Icicle Crash, or Meteor Mash
- Learns moves like Thunderbolt, Nuzzle, Strength, Iron Tail, and Quick Attack
- BoltBeam with Pikachu-Belle is an amazing combo for the early game
- Very poor stats
- Usefulness drops off quickly due to aforementioned poor stats
- Will be outclassed later on
- You have to participate in a Contest to get it, which can be a waste of time

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The best option is Magnezone. Magneton is acceptable until you get to the New Mauville electrical field (it's worked very well for me in the past), but it coming at such a low level can be problematic. However, due to the EXP Share, it'll catch up to the rest of your team quickly. If you want to use another Electric type to supplement Magnemite before it's usable, use Pikachu-Belle or Pikachu-Libre. As you said, BoltBeam is amazing, and Icicle Crash makes Belle arguably the best equipped at dealing with early-game opponents. Libre, however, is much better equipped to deal with Wattson's Magneton due to Flying Press.

Here's a set for Magnezone (All you need for the Pikachus is Electric STAB + Icicle Crash/Flying Press):

Magnezone @ Magnet
Ability: Sturdy
- Thunderbolt / Discharge
- Flash Cannon
- Tri Attack
- Thunder Wave / Volt Switch / Supersonic

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Good luck with your playthrough!

Comments

I can say in overall that Manectric is the best thunder type you can use because it can learn moves like iron tail(SE against steel and ice types) and bite (SE against ghost and psychic types) and if the item magnet is given to it, you can clearly expect a more powerful Thunderbolt if you think thunder is a bit risky because of it's accuracy ( it's ur choice if you want thunder or not). I say Manectric is a choice as it has helped me a lot too in Emerald. ( Believe Me It is useful in OR and AS too)

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Bite quickly loses its usage, as even a super effective hit against a Ghost or Psychic type deals less damage then a STAB Thunderbolt or Thunder. Iron Tail is also very inaccurate as one miss can ruin an important battle, meaning Flamethrower or Signal Beam are better coverage, and if you use only Flamethrower or Signal Beam, you still have open slots for Thunderbolt and Thunder, so you can choose between the two whenever you like. Manectric is much better to use in Emerald rather than ORAS, as the only other alternatives for Electric types are Plusle, Minun, Electrode, Magneton (which cannot evolve into Magnezone), Lanturn, and Raichu, which have their own problems.

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I am playing this game recently. Would like to make an addition.
You can get Magnezone after getting Surf and just entering New Mauville. I evolved my Magneton at New Mauville without having access to that gate.....I also have a Manectric with Mega stone but it's growth rate is slow compared to Magnezone.

Answer 2

Options:

Electrode

• Comes at Lvl. 40 in Lilycove hideout.
• Useful for the many Water-trainers at that point.

Plusle/Minun

• Cute, mascot Pokémon.
• Has Discharge, Charm, Nasty Plot, etc.
• Available before the 3rd gym.

Comments

Why is "cute" a good reason to use Plusle/Minun? OP wants the most viable, not the cutest or most iconic.

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For future reference, please refrain from using "cuteness" as a criteria to justify a pokémon's spot on a team, thanks.