Abstract. In this work we consider the magnetic NLS equationwhere N ≥ 3, A : R N → R N is a magnetic potential, possibly unbounded, V : R N → R is a multi-well electric potential, which can vanish somewhere, f is a subcritical nonlinear term. We prove the existence of a semiclassical multi-peak solution u : R N → C to (0.1), under conditions on the nonlinearity which are nearly optimal.