Magna Charge and Nitro Magna Charge Upgrade Paths with Attack Damage Numbers Skylanders SWAP Force

Magna Charge Base Upgrades

Nitro Magna Charge Base Upgrades

Magna Charge Attack Damage Numbers

Nitro Magna Charge Magnetic Armaments Upgrade Path (Top)

Magna Charge Magnet Tuner Upgrade Path (Top)

Magna Charge Static Buildup Upgrade Path (Bottom)

Nitro Magna Charge Drag Racer Upgrade Path (Bottom)

Magna Charge has always been a very intriguing character for me...I have mentioned several times how he reminds me of a robotic paintbrush from The Learning Company's Super Solver's Midnight Rescue game...It is an old, Windows 95 educational game that some of you may be familiar with...I remember it, Morty Maxwell the Master of Mischief, and Shady Glenn Elementary School quite vividly...Magna Charge could easily take on the roll of one of Morty's 5 Robotic Paintbrushes...

So, nostalgia aside I just truly like Magna Charge's aesthetics.  I'm also a fan of his unique abilities.

His Base Upgrades are a lot of fun.  You can summon items (or pick up enemies) and slam them into other enemies to do impressive damage.  His Magnet Cannon does overheat fast, but that makes it do more damage and it fires off the small numbers very quick!  Down low you can drag enemies and throw them forwards, or backward to gain a dash forward that also damages enemies.  He is very well rounded and very fast!

Up top, you really can't go wrong.  Magnetic Armaments upgrades the Magnet Cannon and offers up a hard hitting Fireball after you've maxed out and overheated the cannon.  This shoots on command after the 3 second run time of the Magnet Cannon.  This path is probably best for rookie players, or those looking for a simple, yet effective path.  The Soul Gem further enhances all of Magnetic Armaments.

Magnet Tuner is my choice for the top end.  I mentioned you can't pick a bad path up top, and I stand by that statement.  However, to me, Magnet Tuner takes advantage of what is most unique about Magna Charge and capitalizes on it in a bigger fashion.  Magnet Tuner turns out some impressive damage!  I don't want to lean you this direction as Magnetic Armaments has to be taken seriously, despite the lesser numbers, due to the speed at which they fire off...That said, Magnet Tuner is something we've never seen before and I personally have a blast with it.

Down low, I'm a bit disappointed in both paths.  Given how fast he is (he is a Speed Swapper), I would have liked to see an electromagnetic field left behind while dashing that would damage enemies...Even the old Flameslinger idea of "making a circle" that might have ignited a huge electric column would have been welcome in my book.  What we got instead is some overlap on the base upgrades.  Static Buildup doesn't do much with Shock Stop, but Crash Test really amps up the damage output of Shock Stop AND Eject, which turns out to be massive numbers on the forward dash, which the game and strategy guide completely fail to even mention does damage at all...I think Static Buildup is probably best for Story Mode.

Drag Racer is the perfect path for Nitro Magna Charge (assuming you equate "Nitro" with racing).  This one disappointed me more than Static Buildup initially just because of the repetitiveness...Rapid Repel offers no increase in damage and Opposites Repel was marginal...Static Buildup bumping the damage on Eject is really the dividing line in my opinion.

Drag Racer could have bumped the speed slightly to offset the Static Buildup's gain on Eject...That would have been really cool.  Or, another idea I had was a "Burnout."  Down Drag Racer Nitro Magna Charge (or regular) could hold "A" (or the secondary attack button on your console) and do a burnout that fills the screen, or area behind/around him with smoke that damages enemies and he would then dash off and deal damage, or have a proportionate increase in speed to the duration the button was held.

That is just my take anyway...

That said, I think Drag Racer will actually turn out to be great for Arena Challenges.  It may not offer up much in terms of increased damage, but the ability to pickup 2 enemies, throw them out, and keep going will make quick work of large groups of weaker enemies.

Up top, you can't go wrong with either path...You either want the simple and effective Magnetic Armaments, or the unique Magnet Tuner Path.  Down below, you can go with the harder hitting Static Buildup, or quicker hitting Drag Racer Path.  I'd suggest Static Buildup if you just have one Magna Charge and enjoy story mode.  If you are done with story mode and just have Bonus Missions and Arena Challenges, consider Drag Racer.