DPPt/HGSS Earthquake or Magnitude?

[baratron]

I have one particular pkmn who I want to have a Ground attack, but only one. I have the choice of using Earthquake or Magnitude, and I can't decide which one to pick.

Earthquake is more powerful on average: it has a fixed power of 100. But it only has 10 PP. Magnitude can vary in power from 10 to 150 according to probability, with 70 being most common power - but it has 30 PP.

Which should I go for?

pokefor.tk gives the following probabilities for Magnitude, btw:

Magnitude  Power  Probability  4         10       5.5%	  5         30       9.8%	  6         50      19.9%	  7         70      30.1%	  8         90      19.9%	  9        110       9.8%	 10        150       5.0%

 

[Linkachu]

I'd definitely choose EQ. If you pump up its PP you can get a fair amount of turns out of it, and in a serious battle it's better to have the fixed 100 then risk doing a lesser amount of damage like 70. My advice is to use Magnitude if you're playing through the game, but once you decide to focus on battling replace it with EQ.

 

[dkates]

Yeah, especially since Magnitude's chances of doing more than an Earthquake would are so slim, Earthquake's the better choice for a battling team. There's a reason that Earthquake's all over the place on Netbattle...