[OVERVIEW]
Heatran is a premier DPP OU Pokemon thanks to its fantastic versatility and offensive prowess. Heatran's unique defensive typing bolstered by Flash Fire and colorful movepool make it one of the best utility Pokemon in the tier. As a Fire-type with many resistances, a neutrality to Stealth Rock, and an immunity to sand, it can roast many of the common Pokemon weak to Fire—such as Jirachi, Bronzong, Scizor, Breloom, and Metagross—while having enough longevity to set up Stealth Rock, spread status, and KO a problem foe with Explosion. With Magma Storm, Heatran is a great trapper, as it can customize its moveset to lure in and KO not only offensive Pokemon like Swampert, Starmie, Gyarados, and Dragonite but also walls such as Latias, Clefable, Milotic, and Blissey. Heatran's versatility makes it the anti-metagame Pokemon: offensive teams despise dealing with burns and struggle to continually switch into its powerful attacks, while defensive teams tremble for this special attacker that can 2HKO Clefable with a boosting item, as well as exploiting stall staples such as Skarmory, Jirachi, defensive Zapdos, and defensive Rotom-A.
Heatran features on a wide variety of teams in almost any role. The most offensive of teams love it beating defensive Jirachi and weakening its switch-ins such as Latias and Clefable for other special sweepers, using its power, Taunt, and Explosion. More balanced teams can use Heatran as an excellent standalone wallbreaker with Choice Specs, a great revenge killer with Choice Scarf, or a devastating Substitute attacker backed by entry hazards. With Substitute and Protect, Heatran is a fantastic partner for Toxic Spikes, as it can wear down poisoned checks such as Tyranitar, Swampert, Suicune, Milotic, and Blissey. More defensive teams enjoy it spreading burns with Lava Plume, preventing Forretress and Skarmory from setting up entry hazards, or even sweeping with a Torment set.
Heatran is held back from breaking the metagame in two by its debilitating weaknesses and how the metagame has adapted to it. While Heatran has good defensive typing and bulk, Ground-, Water-, and Fighting-type attacks are extremely common from Pokemon such as Flygon, Gliscor, Swampert, Suicune, Starmie, Lucario, Infernape, Breloom, and Machamp; these Pokemon force Heatran to either run a resistance Berry or switch out. Even attackers that Heatran offensively threatens, such as Metagross, itself, Jirachi, Bronzong, and Magnezone, can easily run Ground-type attacks to at least 2HKO it. Heatran struggles against both very offensive teams, which have multiple Pokemon that can OHKO it, and slower defensive teams, where it needs to sacrifice itself to make progress. While they do not appreciate burns without a Lum Berry, Dragon Dance sweepers in Gyarados, Tyranitar, and Dragonite all resist Heatran's main attacks and can set up on it, forcing Heatran to use Explosion, or OHKO it. Heatran's mediocre Speed stat also it either gets outsped by these threats or loses a critical amount of bulk, depending on its EVs. Other Speed-boosting sweepers such as Agility Empoleon and Metagross can outspeed even Choice Scarf Heatran and OHKO it back. Against more defensive teams, Heatran often needs to take major damage, take status, or sacrifice itself with Explosion to KO Clefable, Blissey, and Latias, as these Pokemon are bulky enough to survive Heatran's unboosted Fire-type attacks. Heatran lacks reliable recovery, and with Spikes and Stealth Rock, it struggles to come in repeatedly to break open defensive teams. Heatran also has to rely on moves with subpar accuracy, such as Fire Blast, Will-O-Wisp, and especially Magma Storm, and it struggles to fit every option it wants; it often cannot fit Lava Plume or Flamethrower alongside its less reliable attacks.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Heatran’s offensive prowess and coverage make it a great user of Life Orb. The power boost makes Heatran’s coverage moves especially scary, as it can switch from blasting something with Fire-type attacks to eliminating the target with coverage or Explosion. However, Heatran isn’t quite fast enough to pull off such a set and does not appreciate the residual damage alongside Spikes and Stealth Rock. Heatran can shore up its lack of recovery with a RestTalk set. With Roar and Lava Plume, it can phaze the opposing team around while partially alleviating its weakness to Spikes and spreading status. It often is ineffective against Clefable and isn’t useful enough of a wall offensively to justify otherwise, however. Heatran is an excellent user of Metal Sound, either as an alternative move on Substitute or as a standalone attacker. It notably allows Heatran to 2HKO Clefable much more easily and is highly effective with entry hazards, but Heatran still struggles to actually do enough damage to prevent switching around it. Any Heatran set with Dragon Pulse is free to use Hidden Power Ice, as it is guaranteed to OHKO Flygon and offensive Dragonite without a Yache Berry after Stealth Rock, preventing Flygon from ruining it with a mixed set and allowing it to revenge kill Dragonite. Heatran can use a Substitute and Salac Berry set to maximize its coverage and try to sweep more offensive teams, but it struggles against Clefable and has trouble doing enough damage to Gyarados and Tyranitar.
Heatran can also effectively run a lot of physical bulk as well, especially with a Shuca Berry on utility sets. This allows it to survive Dragon Dance-boosted attacks after Stealth Rock and KO the user with coverage or Explosion. It also takes pittance from mixed Flygon and retaliates with Hidden Power Ice. Heatran is also a solid weather clearer, as with Sunny Day, it powers up its own Fire-type attacks and can use Solar Beam to wipe out Water-types, but it should watch out for Tyranitar switching in. Heatran can also use Dark Pulse as a coverage option to hit Latias as well as Starmie and Slowbro, but it struggles to fit it, and it is weaker than Dragon Pulse. Heatran can generally use Roar and Toxic on most of its utility sets to take advantage of entry hazards or effectively spread status. Offensive versions of Heatran can also run Hidden Power Electric. This gives a 93.8% chance to OHKO non-Wacan Berry Gyarados after sand and hits other Water-type Starmie and Suicune super effectively.
Checks and Counters
===================
Heatran is a difficult Pokemon to directly answer, as it can take advantage of any potential checks with its versatility and item choice. However, especially without Leftovers, Heatran often only gets a few chances to break through if entry hazards are up and has debilitating type weaknesses. Once its set is known, it becomes much easier to answer.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Swampert, Starmie, Milotic, Gyarados, and Suicune can at least scout out Heatran’s set. Without a Passho Berry, they all at least 2HKO Heatran. Swampert and Gyarados both have the choice to use either Earthquake or Waterfall to bypass the resistance Berry, while Starmie and offensive Suicune outspeed Heatran and hit it hard. None of these Pokemon enjoy Explosion, while Heatran can hit them all hard with the correct Hidden Power, although it only rarely carries Hidden Power Electric for Gyarados.
**Bulky Special Walls**: Heatran struggles to break through Blissey and Clefable without Choice Specs, Taunt, a Flash Fire boost, or Explosion. Both Blissey and Clefable can shrug off burns to wear it down with Seismic Toss. Blissey is much more resilient than Clefable, however, as Heatran can 2HKO Clefable with a Modest nature and a boosting item, while Taunt and Magma Storm shut both of them down. Heatran can sacrifice itself with Explosion to take them out, though it’s not a guaranteed OHKO on either of them.
**Dragon-types**: Latias, Flygon, Kingdra, and Dragonite are all good checks to Heatran. Latias and Kingdra both can survive even Choice Specs Fire-type attacks and either status or KO Heatran, while Flygon and Dragonite can switch into Heatran and threaten it out. Defensive Latias in particular can stall out any Heatran not designed to handle it. None of these Pokemon enjoy Dragon Pulse, Explosion, or Toxic, however.
**Ground-types**: Specially defensive Ground-type Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Nidoqueen, and Gliscor are bulky enough to take Heatran’s attacks and OHKO back with Earthquake. However, they can all be overwhelmed by the Choice Specs set and do not enjoy Shuca Berry weakening their attacks.
**Super Effective Coverage**: Water-, Ground-, and Fighting-type coverage is really common, and Heatran cannot have a resistance Berry for all of them. Earthquake is an especially ubiquitous move that Heatran is 4x weak to, meaning offensive teams might have multiple Pokemon that can OHKO Heatran. Some examples of super effective coverage include Choice Scarf Magnezone with Hidden Power Ground OHKOing bulkless Heatran after Stealth Rock; Scizor OHKOing Heatran with Superpower; Metagross OHKOing Heatran on the switch with Earthquake; and Choice Specs Latias hitting hard with Surf.
**Residual Damage**: Heatran is heavily limited by Spikes, especially if it doesn’t have Leftovers. While it can prevent common Spikers such as Skarmory and Roserade from setting them up, if they do go up, Heatran struggles to continually come in and wallbreak. This is especially troubling because defensive teams often have multiple Heatran switch-ins, while more offensive Spikes teams have mixed Flygon, which destroys most Heatran and Tyranitar. Even Stealth Rock can make it harder for Heatran to continually survive weaker attacks such as defensive Rotom-A’s.
**Fighting-types**: While they cannot really switch in, Fighting-types such as Machamp, Lucario, Breloom, and Infernape offensively threaten Heatran with either a OHKO with Close Combat or Superpower or a chance to 2HKO with Mach Punch.
**Tyranitar**: Especially with a Lum Berry, Tyranitar is a nice check to Heatran, as it has a resistance to Fire and Explosion, has enormous special bulk due to sand, and can retaliate with Superpower or Earthquake. Without a Lum Berry, it needs to be careful of status, as poison wears it down and burn cripples it. Heatran can also fight back with Earth Power, which commonly 3HKOes Tyranitar depending on stats of both.
**Faster Pokemon**: Even when fully invested, Heatran is outsped by a lot of the faster threats in the metagame. Flygon, Gengar, Lucario, Infernape, Starmie, Suicune, and Gliscor can all potentially outspeed Heatran and OHKO it. These should watch out for various resistance Berries, though.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[johnnyg2, 57904 ]]
- Quality checked by: [[Oiponabys,435540 ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ],
Heatran is a premier DPP OU Pokemon thanks to its fantastic versatility and offensive prowess. Heatran's unique defensive typing bolstered by Flash Fire and colorful movepool make it one of the best utility Pokemon in the tier. As a Fire-type with many resistances, a neutrality to Stealth Rock, and an immunity to sand, it can roast many of the common Pokemon weak to Fire—such as Jirachi, Bronzong, Scizor, Breloom, and Metagross—while having enough longevity to set up Stealth Rock, spread status, and KO a problem foe with Explosion. With Magma Storm, Heatran is a great trapper, as it can customize its moveset to lure in and KO not only offensive Pokemon like Swampert, Starmie, Gyarados, and Dragonite but also walls such as Latias, Clefable, Milotic, and Blissey. Heatran's versatility makes it the anti-metagame Pokemon: offensive teams despise dealing with burns and struggle to continually switch into its powerful attacks, while defensive teams tremble for this special attacker that can 2HKO Clefable with a boosting item, as well as exploiting stall staples such as Skarmory, Jirachi, defensive Zapdos, and defensive Rotom-A.
Heatran features on a wide variety of teams in almost any role. The most offensive of teams love it beating defensive Jirachi and weakening its switch-ins such as Latias and Clefable for other special sweepers, using its power, Taunt, and Explosion. More balanced teams can use Heatran as an excellent standalone wallbreaker with Choice Specs, a great revenge killer with Choice Scarf, or a devastating Substitute attacker backed by entry hazards. With Substitute and Protect, Heatran is a fantastic partner for Toxic Spikes, as it can wear down poisoned checks such as Tyranitar, Swampert, Suicune, Milotic, and Blissey. More defensive teams enjoy it spreading burns with Lava Plume, preventing Forretress and Skarmory from setting up entry hazards, or even sweeping with a Torment set.
Heatran is held back from breaking the metagame in two by its debilitating weaknesses and how the metagame has adapted to it. While Heatran has good defensive typing and bulk, Ground-, Water-, and Fighting-type attacks are extremely common from Pokemon such as Flygon, Gliscor, Swampert, Suicune, Starmie, Lucario, Infernape, Breloom, and Machamp; these Pokemon force Heatran to either run a resistance Berry or switch out. Even attackers that Heatran offensively threatens, such as Metagross, itself, Jirachi, Bronzong, and Magnezone, can easily run Ground-type attacks to at least 2HKO it. Heatran struggles against both very offensive teams, which have multiple Pokemon that can OHKO it, and slower defensive teams, where it needs to sacrifice itself to make progress. While they do not appreciate burns without a Lum Berry, Dragon Dance sweepers in Gyarados, Tyranitar, and Dragonite all resist Heatran's main attacks and can set up on it, forcing Heatran to use Explosion, or OHKO it. Heatran's mediocre Speed stat also it either gets outsped by these threats or loses a critical amount of bulk, depending on its EVs. Other Speed-boosting sweepers such as Agility Empoleon and Metagross can outspeed even Choice Scarf Heatran and OHKO it back. Against more defensive teams, Heatran often needs to take major damage, take status, or sacrifice itself with Explosion to KO Clefable, Blissey, and Latias, as these Pokemon are bulky enough to survive Heatran's unboosted Fire-type attacks. Heatran lacks reliable recovery, and with Spikes and Stealth Rock, it struggles to come in repeatedly to break open defensive teams. Heatran also has to rely on moves with subpar accuracy, such as Fire Blast, Will-O-Wisp, and especially Magma Storm, and it struggles to fit every option it wants; it often cannot fit Lava Plume or Flamethrower alongside its less reliable attacks.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Heatran’s offensive prowess and coverage make it a great user of Life Orb. The power boost makes Heatran’s coverage moves especially scary, as it can switch from blasting something with Fire-type attacks to eliminating the target with coverage or Explosion. However, Heatran isn’t quite fast enough to pull off such a set and does not appreciate the residual damage alongside Spikes and Stealth Rock. Heatran can shore up its lack of recovery with a RestTalk set. With Roar and Lava Plume, it can phaze the opposing team around while partially alleviating its weakness to Spikes and spreading status. It often is ineffective against Clefable and isn’t useful enough of a wall offensively to justify otherwise, however. Heatran is an excellent user of Metal Sound, either as an alternative move on Substitute or as a standalone attacker. It notably allows Heatran to 2HKO Clefable much more easily and is highly effective with entry hazards, but Heatran still struggles to actually do enough damage to prevent switching around it. Any Heatran set with Dragon Pulse is free to use Hidden Power Ice, as it is guaranteed to OHKO Flygon and offensive Dragonite without a Yache Berry after Stealth Rock, preventing Flygon from ruining it with a mixed set and allowing it to revenge kill Dragonite. Heatran can use a Substitute and Salac Berry set to maximize its coverage and try to sweep more offensive teams, but it struggles against Clefable and has trouble doing enough damage to Gyarados and Tyranitar.
Heatran can also effectively run a lot of physical bulk as well, especially with a Shuca Berry on utility sets. This allows it to survive Dragon Dance-boosted attacks after Stealth Rock and KO the user with coverage or Explosion. It also takes pittance from mixed Flygon and retaliates with Hidden Power Ice. Heatran is also a solid weather clearer, as with Sunny Day, it powers up its own Fire-type attacks and can use Solar Beam to wipe out Water-types, but it should watch out for Tyranitar switching in. Heatran can also use Dark Pulse as a coverage option to hit Latias as well as Starmie and Slowbro, but it struggles to fit it, and it is weaker than Dragon Pulse. Heatran can generally use Roar and Toxic on most of its utility sets to take advantage of entry hazards or effectively spread status. Offensive versions of Heatran can also run Hidden Power Electric. This gives a 93.8% chance to OHKO non-Wacan Berry Gyarados after sand and hits other Water-type Starmie and Suicune super effectively.
Checks and Counters
===================
Heatran is a difficult Pokemon to directly answer, as it can take advantage of any potential checks with its versatility and item choice. However, especially without Leftovers, Heatran often only gets a few chances to break through if entry hazards are up and has debilitating type weaknesses. Once its set is known, it becomes much easier to answer.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Swampert, Starmie, Milotic, Gyarados, and Suicune can at least scout out Heatran’s set. Without a Passho Berry, they all at least 2HKO Heatran. Swampert and Gyarados both have the choice to use either Earthquake or Waterfall to bypass the resistance Berry, while Starmie and offensive Suicune outspeed Heatran and hit it hard. None of these Pokemon enjoy Explosion, while Heatran can hit them all hard with the correct Hidden Power, although it only rarely carries Hidden Power Electric for Gyarados.
**Bulky Special Walls**: Heatran struggles to break through Blissey and Clefable without Choice Specs, Taunt, a Flash Fire boost, or Explosion. Both Blissey and Clefable can shrug off burns to wear it down with Seismic Toss. Blissey is much more resilient than Clefable, however, as Heatran can 2HKO Clefable with a Modest nature and a boosting item, while Taunt and Magma Storm shut both of them down. Heatran can sacrifice itself with Explosion to take them out, though it’s not a guaranteed OHKO on either of them.
**Dragon-types**: Latias, Flygon, Kingdra, and Dragonite are all good checks to Heatran. Latias and Kingdra both can survive even Choice Specs Fire-type attacks and either status or KO Heatran, while Flygon and Dragonite can switch into Heatran and threaten it out. Defensive Latias in particular can stall out any Heatran not designed to handle it. None of these Pokemon enjoy Dragon Pulse, Explosion, or Toxic, however.
**Ground-types**: Specially defensive Ground-type Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Nidoqueen, and Gliscor are bulky enough to take Heatran’s attacks and OHKO back with Earthquake. However, they can all be overwhelmed by the Choice Specs set and do not enjoy Shuca Berry weakening their attacks.
**Super Effective Coverage**: Water-, Ground-, and Fighting-type coverage is really common, and Heatran cannot have a resistance Berry for all of them. Earthquake is an especially ubiquitous move that Heatran is 4x weak to, meaning offensive teams might have multiple Pokemon that can OHKO Heatran. Some examples of super effective coverage include Choice Scarf Magnezone with Hidden Power Ground OHKOing bulkless Heatran after Stealth Rock; Scizor OHKOing Heatran with Superpower; Metagross OHKOing Heatran on the switch with Earthquake; and Choice Specs Latias hitting hard with Surf.
**Residual Damage**: Heatran is heavily limited by Spikes, especially if it doesn’t have Leftovers. While it can prevent common Spikers such as Skarmory and Roserade from setting them up, if they do go up, Heatran struggles to continually come in and wallbreak. This is especially troubling because defensive teams often have multiple Heatran switch-ins, while more offensive Spikes teams have mixed Flygon, which destroys most Heatran and Tyranitar. Even Stealth Rock can make it harder for Heatran to continually survive weaker attacks such as defensive Rotom-A’s.
**Fighting-types**: While they cannot really switch in, Fighting-types such as Machamp, Lucario, Breloom, and Infernape offensively threaten Heatran with either a OHKO with Close Combat or Superpower or a chance to 2HKO with Mach Punch.
**Tyranitar**: Especially with a Lum Berry, Tyranitar is a nice check to Heatran, as it has a resistance to Fire and Explosion, has enormous special bulk due to sand, and can retaliate with Superpower or Earthquake. Without a Lum Berry, it needs to be careful of status, as poison wears it down and burn cripples it. Heatran can also fight back with Earth Power, which commonly 3HKOes Tyranitar depending on stats of both.
**Faster Pokemon**: Even when fully invested, Heatran is outsped by a lot of the faster threats in the metagame. Flygon, Gengar, Lucario, Infernape, Starmie, Suicune, and Gliscor can all potentially outspeed Heatran and OHKO it. These should watch out for various resistance Berries, though.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[johnnyg2, 57904 ]]
- Quality checked by: [[Oiponabys,435540 ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ],
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