In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, the only way to get Magnets is by taking them as held items from Wild Magneton. If the Magneton is holding a Magnet (5% chance), then you can either catch it or steal from it to obtain the item.
To steal items, you’ll need the moves Thief or Covet. If the Magneton is holding a Magnet, then the Pokémon that uses Thief/Covet will steal the item, and will be holding it after the battle.
Note: The Pokémon using the stealing move cannot be holding an item already for this method to work.
Wild Magneton can be found in:
- The Power Plant above Lavender Town
- Or in Cerulean Cave in Cerulean City after beating the game
Prerequisites
Magnets are found solely as held items on Wild Magneton, so the main prerequisites involve being able to find Magneton.
Magneton are found in the Power Plant and in Cerulean Cave (end game.)
So, to find wild Magneton and get Magnets, you need to:
- Have Surf and be able to use it outside of Battle
- Have a Pokémon with the move Thief or Covet (optional)
- Clear space in your Party for the Magneton you catch (optional)
So really, the only hard-rule here is that you need Surf, and need to be able to use Surf. This is because Surf is the only way to reach Cerulean Cave and/or The Power Plant.
How To Get Magnets
In short, to get a Magnet, you need to find a Magneton and either catch it or use Thief/Covet on it.
Two things to note here are:
- Magneton only have a 5% chance of holding the Magnet. If you use Thief/Covet and that doesn’t steal the Magnet, then the Magneton doesn’t have one, so you don’t need to catch it.
- The Pokémon that steals cannot be holding an item. If they are holding something, then they will not be able to steal the Magnet from Magneton – and you’ll basically have to waste a perfectly good wild encounter, since you can’t remove held items while in battle.
Now that we’ve covered that, let’s go over where to find Magneton and how to get the Magnets from them.
Magneton Locations
SCROLL
| Location | Level | Encounter Rate | Magnet Chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Power Plant | 31 – 34 | 5% (FR) 9% (LG) | 5% |
| Cerulean Cave 1F | 49 | 20% | 5% |
| Cerulean Cave 2F | 52 | 10% | 5% |
| Cerulean Cave B1 | 55 | 10% | 5% |
As you can see, Cerulean Cave is by far the best place to find Magneton.
However, Cerulean Cave is only available at the very end of the game, after beating the Pokémon League and helping Celio.
To make this guide more accessible, I’ll be finding my Magneton in the Power Plant, just above Lavender & outside of Rock Tunnel.
Reaching The Power Plant
To reach the Power Plant, make your way to Route 10 by Rock Tunnel. You can reach Route 10 by heading east of Cerulean City, across Route 9.
Once you’re on Route 10, there will be a small river on the north side of the route. Use surf on this river.
Afterward, just follow the river, which makes a sort of U shape, until you make your way just under the white fence and can hop back onto dry land.
Once you’re walking on your feet again, walk around the rocky hill (past the Pokémaniac wearing the glasses) until you see the giant building.
This is the Power Plant, and home to many Magneton.
Once you’re at the Power Plant, just walk inside and start looking for Magneton.
The Power Plant works like a cave, so all you have to do is walk around and the wild Pokémon will come to you.
Method 1: Catching Magneton for Magnets
If you don’t have a Pokémon with Thief or Covet, then you can simply catch Magneton until you find one that’s holding a Magnet. Unfortunately, there’s only a 5% chance of a Magneton holding a Magnet, so you’re going to need a lot of Poké Balls and a lot of time.
I recommend depositing all but one of your Pokémon in the PC at the Pokémon Center.
This way, you can catch a Magneton and immediately check whether it’s holding a Magnet without having to head all the way back to the Pokémon Center.
Once you catch a Magneton, you can simply open up your Party and look at the bottom left corner of the Pokémon’s icon. If there’s a square yellow symbol there, then your Magneton is holding a Magnet.
If it’s holding a Magnet, simply select the Magneton, then choose Item > Take.
This will take the Magnet from the Magneton and put it in your bag.
As I said, there’s only a 5% chance of the Magneton having a Magnet, so you’ll likely end up catching 15+ Magneton before all is said and done.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t find a Magnet immediately – I had to take a few trips back and forth between the Power Plant and the Pokémon Center on Route 10.
Method 2: Stealing Magnets from Magneton
If you do have a Pokémon that knows Thief or Covet, then things become much easier.
You don’t need to worry about clearing your party, but make sure the Pokémon you plan to use isn’t holding an item already.
With this method, you simply need to walk around the Power Plant until you find a Magneton, then use Thief on it.
If the Magneton was holding a Magnet, then an animation will play showing a little bag hopping from the Magneton to your Pokémon. If the Magneton is not holding a Magnet, then Thief will do damage and nothing else will happen. Either way, you can run from the battle after using Thief.
If you saw the animation and stole the Magnet from a Magneton, then just open up your Party and select the Pokémon that stole the Magnet. Then select Item > Take to take the Magnet and put it in your Bag.
Once again, you may have to fight off 15+ Magneton before you finally find a Magnet, because they are pretty rare.
Tip: If you don’t find a Magnet for a while, double check that your Pokémon isn’t already holding an item.
Getting a Magnet may be a chore, but it’s well worth the time investment. Because it’s a fairly powerful item, especially for Electric-type Pokémon!
What Are Magnets Used For?
Magnets are held items that can be given to Pokémon to boost the damage of their Electric Type moves by 10%.
They’re usually primarily given to Electric-type Pokémon like Pikachu and Electabuzz, but you could give them to non-Electric Pokémon that happen to know an Electric-type move, like Thunderbolt or Thunder Fang.
10% is a pretty substantial increase in power. And it can make the difference between one-shotting and two-shotting a Pokémon with an Electric Type move.
And to top it off, you can get as many Magnets as you want if you’re patient enough!
Guide Navigation
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Pokémon FRLG
- Where To Get Magnets in Pokémon FRLG
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