Heatran Suspect?

[Stexe]

So... you knew the time would come (well, it has already in previous speculation), but when is Heatran going to be suspect for Uber? I think it is really the last possible suspect in the OU game and I'd really like to see this one pinned down before Black/White is released to the rest of the world.

While we only have statistics for the last few months, it is pretty clear that Heatran is easily the #1 most used Pokemon. While it does have counters (Earthquake?), it brings an enormous amount of flexibility and power through its amazing typing, access to great Special Attack moves, can devastate counters with Hidden Power (Grass / Electric), completely negates Fire attacks, and can retaliate with Explosion.

I don't have to go on anymore about how obscenely powerful Heatran is for any OU team. The real question here is when is he going to be put up for suspect like Salamance and Latias were? Or have we officially moved onto waiting for Black/White?

There is no other Pokemon in the current OU tier that is more suspect than Heatran, period. Can we finalize the OU tier by putting him to the ultimate test?

 

[RedMeowth]

Heatran is not an Uber and has no right to be at all. Yes, he has a lot of options that work for him in terms of items (Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Life Orb, Shuca Berry) and moves (Earth Power, HP Grass / Electric, Explosion, Stealth Rock, even Torment). But he is a pretty slow Pokemon and can easily be stopped by bulky Water Pokemon, especially those who are faster than Heatran (i.e. Gyarados or Suicune), even if he does have Hidden Power.

Like I said, Heatran is relatively slow, so he has to make sure that whatever he comes on will be slower than Heatran and A.) Heatran can beat it in one or two hits or B.) Heatran can actually survive the attack. You mention that with Hidden Power or Explosion, Heatran can beat its counters. That can be true, but you might be surprised how many Heatran come into a battle expecting to turn the foe's Shaymin into grilled broccoli, only to be outrun AND OHKO'd by Shaymin's Earth Power attack.

Even if people weren't wrapped up in Black and White, I doubt there would be much reason to suspect Heatran, seeing that he's pretty easy to control compared to Garchomp or even Salamence.

 

[ungulateman]

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Earthquake.

 

[Its_A_Random]

No. Reason: He doesn't "over-centralise" the metagame, & Heatran is easily dealt with with Earthquake.

 

[Athenodoros]

It is possible you were playing along when Mence was banned, and the reason people suggested Heatran being banned was that it was ridiculous: there are just too many Pokemon which stop it cold. It was a way of showing that people thought banning had gone too far. Banning is not to just keeping banning the Pokemon which is most used, because there will always be one. It is to ban Pokemon which centralise everything too much. Heatran doesn't.

 

[haunter]

Average speed, weakness to ground moves (with EQ being the most used move in the game), walled by most water types. Not broken at all.