[E17.1] Misc Bug: Magnet Pull

[Ricky 2]

I've found what I believe to be a bug.  While farming Alolan Sandshrews/Sandslashs in Citrine Mountain's 2F, I decided catching a Magnet Pull Magnemite would make things easier, since the Alolan Sandshrew/Sandlash encounter rates are pretty low.  After catching the Magnemite I verified that it had the ability Magnet Pull, then moved him to the front of the party.  It says on Bulbapedia that Magnet Pull should have a 50% chance to force an encounter with a Steel-type Pokemon if one is available, which should include Alolan Sandshrew/Slash since they're Ice/Steel type.  For some reason, Magnet Pull has not increased my Alolan Sandshrew/Slash encounter rates.  To test if Magnet Pull was not working at all on Reborn, I tested it in the Abandoned Power Plant to see if it increased the frequency of Magnemites/Klinks, and it did.  It seems the game is not considering Alolan Sandshrew/Sandslash to be Steel-type Pokemon, maybe because Sandshrew/Sandslash are Ground-type normally?

 

Is anyone else able to verify this bug in their own game?

[Guest Relinquished]

1 hour ago, Ricky said:

I've found what I believe to be a bug.  While farming Alolan Sandshrews/Sandslashs in Citrine Mountain's 2F, I decided catching a Magnet Pull Magnemite would make things easier, since the Alolan Sandshrew/Sandlash encounter rates are pretty low.  After catching the Magnemite I verified that it had the ability Magnet Pull, then moved him to the front of the party.  It says on Bulbapedia that Magnet Pull should have a 50% chance to force an encounter with a Steel-type Pokemon if one is available, which should include Alolan Sandshrew/Slash since they're Ice/Steel type.  For some reason, Magnet Pull has not increased my Alolan Sandshrew/Slash encounter rates.  To test if Magnet Pull was not working at all on Reborn, I tested it in the Abandoned Power Plant to see if it increased the frequency of Magnemites/Klinks, and it did.  It seems the game is not considering Alolan Sandshrew/Sandslash to be Steel-type Pokemon, maybe because Sandshrew/Sandslash are Ground-type normally?

 

Is anyone else able to verify this bug in their own game?

Yes and no. I used magnet pull myself, hoping to catch wild Klang, one of the rarest encounters in the game... And Mawile, which is fairly rare, but from the first level of Railnet. Guess what? I ended up luring hordes of Klink, instead. Same for Shade's gym, the second and final place, a Klang can be encountered... I lured hordes of Magnemite, likewise.

 

I believe the rarity of a pokemon's encounter, gets to play a role in this. Mawile which was rare, but not extremely rare, did appear... But Klang, i gave up on; and simply leveled my Klink, normally.

[Ricky 2]

Yeah, I figured the rarity would be taken into consideration when Magnet Pull forces a Steel-type encounter.  I've been farming the Abandoned Power Plant since posting this, and have only seen it force Magnemite and Klink, despite the fact that I know Klang can appear in here (though only at a 1% encounter rate).  I still only encountered Alolan Sandshrew at about a 5% rate, despite it (and its evolution) being the only Steel-type Pokemon available on that floor of Citrine Mountain.  Are you saying you think Magnet Pull might have a minimum encounter rate cut-off?  For instance, Magnemite and Klink's normal 30% encounter rate get boosted, but Alolan Sandshrew's 5% does not?  I'm not certain how exactly the ability works in the official handhelds, but I have seen a video of Pokemon Black 2 where a person used Magnet Pull to boost the encounter rate of Metagross in rustling grass from 5% to 52.5%, since it was the only steel type that could be encountered there.

 

 

[Ricky 2]

I've got some updates for this topic.  I took some time to test the effects of Magnet Pull, and documented the results.

 

 

The first place I went to was the east end Railnet entrance just below the Obsidia Ward. 

I surveyed the wild Pokemon WITHOUT a Magnet Pull Pokemon:

Noibat: 81/100 (81%)

Klink: 19/100 (19%)

 

Then again, WITH my Magnet Pull Magnemite at the front of the party:

Noibat: 3/100 (3%)

Klink: 97/100 (97%)

I'd also like to note that the first 3 Pokemon encountered were the 3 Noibat, followed by a subsequent 97 Klink in a row.

 

 

After that, I took survey of the central Railnet Pokemon.  WITHOUT Magnet Pull:

Noibat: 100/265 (~37.7%)

Klink: 60/265 (~22.6%)

Geodude: 30/265 (~11.3%)

Graveler: 29/265 (~10.9%)

Skorupi: 29/265 (~10.9%)

Mawile: 13/265 (~4.9%)

Klang: 4/265 (~1.5%)

 

WITH Magnet Pull:

Noibat: 1/100 (1%)

Klink: 89/100 (89%)

Geodude: 1/100 (1%)

Graveler: 1/100 (1%)

Mawile: 8/100 (8%)

EDIT: Forgot to mention, the first 3 Pokemon here were Geodude, Noibat, and Graveler, followed by 97 Klink/Mawile in a row.

 

 

Next, I traveled over to the Abandoned Power Plant.  These were the initial results WITHOUT:

Klink: 100/300 (~33.3%)

Magnemite: 86/300 (~28.6%)

Yamask: 54/300 (18%)

Duskull: 37/500 (~12.3%)

Voltorb: 19/300 (~6.3%)

Klang: 4/300 (~1.3%)

 

And again, WITH:

Klink: 52/100 (52%)

Magnemite: 46/100 (46%)

Yamask: 1/100 (1%)

Duskull: 1/100 (1%)

Again, the first 3 Pokemon encountered were: 1 Klink, 1 Duskull, 1 Yamask, then 97 Klinks/Magnemites in a row.

 

I also tried using a Pokemon with the ability Static here to see what would happen, since this was the only place I've discovered that contains wild electric Pokemon:

Magnemite: 42/100 (42%)

Klink: 48/100 (48%)

 

Last, I travelled back into the 2F of Citrine Mountain to see if Magnet Pull would have an affect.  First WITHOUT Magnet Pull:

Woobat: 102/340 (30%)

Swinub: 102/340 (30%)

Phanpy: 52/340 (~15.3%)

Cubchoo: 51/340 (15%)

Sandshrew(Alo): 17/340 (5%)

Donphan: 13/340 (~3.8%)

Sandslash(Alo): 2/340 (~0.6%)

Beartic: 1/340 (~0.3%)

 

WITH:

Woobat: 31/100 (31%)

Swinub: 50/100 (50%)

Cubchoo: 19/100 (19%)

 

 

After all this testing, there seem to be a couple of strange things regarding the 'Outside of Battle' effects of Magnet Pull, as well as Static.

1. The abilities don't seem to affect wild Pokemon until about the 4th encounter.

2. These abilities do not seem to work the same way as they do in the hand-held titles.  This is a direct quote from Bulbapedia's 'Magnet Pull' page:

 

"Outside of battle:

From Pokemon Emerald onwards, if a Pokemon with Magnet Pull is in the first place in the party (even if fainted), then there is a 50% chance the game will force an encounter with a Steel-type Pokemon, if one is possible."

The description of the ability 'Static' is the same, except instead of forcing Steel-type encounters, it says it forces Electric-type encounters.

 

This would mean there would be a 50% chance for an encounter with a steel-type pokemon, and the remaining 50% of encounters would be the standard encounter rates for that area.  For instance, the 80% Noibat/20% Klink in the east entrance of the Railnet would become 40% Noibat/10% Klink and 50% Klink, for a total of a 60% chance to encounter a Klink.  Instead, it seems to force every encounter after the first 3 to be a steel type Pokemon, as seen above in east Railnet, central Railnet and the Abandoned Power Plant.

3. The ability Magnet Pull seems to have no effect on Alolan Sandshrew or Alolan Sandslash in Citrine Mountain, despite them being part Steel-type.  The Magnemite in the Abandoned Power Plant appear to be affected, despite also having Steel as its secondary typing.

4. Static somehow forced all encounters in the Abandoned Power Plant to be Steel types, instead of forcing Electric-Type encounters (Pulled no Voltorbs, and more than half of encounters were Klink).

5. Magnet Pull DID seem to do something inside of Citrine Mountain, causing me to only encounter Woobats, Swinubs, and Cubchoos, despite none of them being Steel-types.

 

In conclusion, I'm not sure how exactly these abilities were programmed, but they do not seem to be working correctly.

[Walpurgis 501]

This information is really helpful, thank you for taking the trouble and the time to test this! I'm sure it'll be incredibly helpful to whoever takes care of this bug.