Project OU Next Best Thing V2 Week 4: Landorus-T

[MANNAT]

approved by Colonel M
banner by MamOwOswine
Taken over from Jordy

What is Next Best Thing?
The Next Best Thing is a project where people search through a Pokemon of my choice's movepool and post about it, explaining what it does and why it should be used over other more standard sets. The sets posted at the time may not be standard, however, they can become standard in the future, its not guaranteed for every set that will be posted to see success.

How does it work?
Every week a new Pokemon will be chosen for participants to create a new creative yet effective set, this set may not be in progress of being written or already uploaded on smogdex. The participants will get 5 days to make their set and create their post, people may discuss the set posted during 5 days, the following two days there will be a vote to represent the most creative yet effective set. After the voting and the winner has been announced their post will be archived.

Rules

• Be as creative as possible, however, you must be able to prove the viability of the posted set.
• The posted set can't be changed after the voting phase has started.
• Feel free to include replays in your post, this helps the players to understand what the set does and how it works exactly.
• You may only submit one set per week.
• Do not vote for your own set.
• Do not post sets that have already been reserved.
• You may take a post that's been reserved if 24 hours have passed since it's reservation
• And for the love of god DO NOT submit a set already on the analysis

The nomination phase will start on Sunday.
Nomination deadlines will be due Thursday.
Voting deadlines will be due Sunday.

 

[MANNAT]

Hall of Fame:

Week 1: Metal Sound Trapper by Prisoner952

Week 2: AV Zygarde by Finchinator

Week 3: Z-Work Up Greninja by KuraiTenshi26

 

[MANNAT]

Week 1's Pokemon will be Heatran! This guy has a fairly expansive movepool with some neat options and definitely has some cool sets that aren't on the analysis. The deadline to submit sets will be Thursday, February 15th and the voting period will end on Saturday, February 17th. Get to posting!
​

 

[Dondyxd]

Hello friends,
Today I'm here to talk to you about a pretty garbage set I stumbled upon in a SPL game
Binding Band TrapperTran

Binding Band:
Causes binding moves (i.e. Magma Storm) used by the holder to inflict damage equal to 1/6 (rather than 1/8) of the target's maximum HP at the end of each turn.

Heatran @ Binding Band
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 160 HP / 136 SpA / 8 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

Binding Band ups the damage taken between turns from Magma Storm, which allows Heatran to more reliably beat stall 'mons like Pex and Chansey without the use of a Z-move, meaning that you can use your z-slot on something else which is always nice I guess. It also means that normally safe switch ins to Heatran like Keldeo or Zygarde are taking a TON of damage on switch in, punishing them a lot harder for just scouting the switch in and chipping them down for later. With Rocks up, Chansey's now taking ~40%+ every time that it switches in to Heatran, and if I'm not wrong you can kill Chansey with just two Magma Storms instead of three with Binding Band, which is kind of nice (http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-703103466 test game demonstrating what I mean, Chansey was never really a safe switch in to Heatran but with Binding Band it can more reliably beat it 1v1).

EVs are my standard for Heatran, this spread is a bit bulkier than the standard Timid TrapperTran but if the speed is a must then 252 Timid is also a very solid spread I guess. The last move can be whatever you need it to be really, Toxic gives Heatran a semireliable way of beating stuff like defensive Landorus while Stealth Rocks are just... really good in any scenario. Not much more to say here.

 

[Martin]

Heatran @ Chople Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 232 HP / 24 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

With a Chople Berry, a healthy Heatran is able to take on a range of Pokemon a lot better than it'd be able to otherwise:

• It turns Heatran into a solid answer for Kartana, being able to tank a +3 Sacred Sword from full health (still a very favorable roll after Stealth Rock thanks to the EVs, which aim to minimise the chance that said move kills after SR) as well as an unboosted All-Out Pummeling, and it can (obviously) one-shot back with Magma Storm.
• Tanking random Focus Blasts from stuff like Tapu Lele, Gengar, Magearna and Alakazam is a nice boon for a 'mon like Tran, as is taking adamant Bulu's unboosted All-Out Pummeling.
• It allows Heatran to take a +2 Close Combat from Mega Pinsir as well as taking an unboosted High Jump Kick from Hawlucha very comfortably (it's also a roll in Heatran's favor vs boosted Lucha, but realistically you won't be at full health by the time it tries to sweep).

The listed EVs are just to minimise the % chance for +3 Kart to KO after SR while maximising HP, reducing the chance to 18.8%. Rest is standard.

Bonus calc just 'cuz I find this funny for no good reason

252 Atk Pure Power Medicham-Mega High Jump Kick vs. 232 HP / 24 Def Chople Berry Heatran: 330-388 (86.6 - 101.8%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO

 

[BlueLobster]

Defensive TrapTran

Heatran @ Leftovers / Chesto Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Rest

So, this heatran functions very similarly to the standard utility heatran, in trapping defensive threats and killing them with trap + taunt combo. However, with some of the threats you trap, Tran can get worn down very easily, limiting it to trapping only one, or maybe two, threats per game. That's where a more defensive trapper tran is used. The EVs are from the SpD set, but with added speed to creep it so you can reliably KO a weakened one with earth power. This allows Tran not only trap Pex better, as it takes far less from Scald, but also makes it a more reliable check to threats such as Blacephalon and Lele. The other, more unorthodox part of the set is rest. Often, you want Tran to help break through stall, and stall means Chansey. Chansey, however, has stupid special bulk and seismic toss, which Tran barely breaks through before dying, and can even die in the process. Rest allows tran to heal off damage while your opponent is trapped and taunted, and then wake up just before their taunt runs out. This is somewhat situational, as you have to have taunted them the turn before or you will not wake up in time, and you also are relying on magma storm chip to wear them down as you are asleep. If you think this is too risky, a chesto berry is an option to secure a guaranteed rest when you need it, without having to worry about the timing being perfect to stop the opponent healing the damage you just dealt. This set is best used with a heal bell/aromatherapy user, as it allows you to rest on other random mons you force out (like Blacephalon) without invalidating your check.

 

[stuuful12]

Reserving Torment Heatran
All right, time, for the ultimate form of fun, Torment Heatran

First the set

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Torment
- Magma Storm
- Toxic / Earth Power

The general gist of this set is simple. Do what most Trapping Heatrans do, but with a little twist. Instead of using Stealth Rock, this set makes use of Torment to fun effect. Just like most Trapping Heatrans, it can get rid of passive threats by trapping them and removing them from the game. However, it utilizes Torment to give most walls a pseudo-Truant status, where thanks to Torment and Taunt, they can't use their status moves and they also can't use their singular attacking move ever single turn, having to use. An example of this is Chansey, who thanks to this setup is much more easily trapped since it can no longer win against Heatran by playing aggressively and can lose about 1/4 of their health each time they Struggle after the use of Torment. The same holds true for other tanks with a singular attacking move.
Calc to highlight this difference:
Vs Standard Trapper Tran
Chansey Seismic Toss vs. 0 HP Heatran: 100-100 (30.9 - 30.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Vs Torment Tran
Chansey Seismic Toss vs. 248 HP Heatran: 100-100 (25.9 - 25.9%) -- guaranteed 5HKO after Leftovers recovery-- This doesn't sound impressive until you realize that with full setup, this 5HKO can turn into a 7HKO
Thanks to the stacking of Struggle, Magma Storm chip, and Toxic Damage, this Heatran can be incredibly ruthless to opposing walls.

Torment also has another niche: Disrupting opposing Choice locked pokemons. Pokemons like Greninja, Tapu Koko, and Kartana can run amok without check, and thankfully this Heatran can stop most of them in their tracks with Torment, even with minimal chip. This alone can ruin moment for enemy pokemon and force them to switch out, or use Struggle, which is a daunting prospect especially if you have a Rocky Helment User.
As for the set/ moves, the set is ripped from the specially defensive Heatran, since this Heatran likes Bolstered longevity and the ability to check certain pokemons, while also retaining the ability to force pokemon into "struggling" situations. The rest of the set is standard, but the choice between Toxic and Earth Power is the choice between hitting Toxapex, or hitting Chansey, Mantine, or Zapdoes for meaningful damage.

 

[Prisoner952]

Metal Sound Trapper

Heatran @ Firium Z / Steelium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Metal Sound
- Toxic / Taunt / Stealth Rocks

This version of trapper heatran uses metal sound to lower the targets special defense by 2 once trapped. Even after metal sounds, however, you still won’t be doing too much damage to Chansey, so you’d need toxic to break through it. You kill a -2 pex in one shot with an earth power after magma storm damage. Mega venu will die to one magma storm at -4 or an inferno overdrive at -2. 75% accurate magma storm and 85% accuracy metal sound together do make this set pretty frustrating to use... Aside from metal sound, it’s pretty much the smogon set for trapper heatran.

Edit: I forgot to mention, but z-metal sound is another option, giving the user +2 sp.atk and allowing heatran to kill pretty much anything it traps. Namely this option allows it to kill Mega Venusaur after one turn of setup, which helps against earthquake variants. However, keep in mind that the chances of hitting 2 magma storms and a metal sound in a row are less than 50%. Against chansey, who requires two magma storms to kill after hitting it with a z-metal sound and a taunt, the chances of hitting all moves consecutively is ~35%. This coupled with the limited turns of magma storm make this a rather unreliable option, especially against chansey.

 

[Felixx]

Reserving nature power Tran

Heatran (F) @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Nature Power
- Taunt

(Pair this with Tapu Koko for Electric Terrain Support)

The idea of this Heatran set is to abuse Electric Terrain Nature Power to be able to deal with bulky waters more easily while being able to nuke defensive Lando-T with Inferno Overdrive. A modest nature isn't necessary since Heatran gets the revelant OHKOs on offensive switch-ins like Ash-Gren and Keld, while defensive Lando-T, AV Magearna and Mantine only need a little chip to get taken down by the appropriate move. Tran can also 2HKO Toxapex with Electric Terrain Nature Power, while Earth Power can't and makes Tran take more damage in the process.

Revelant Calcs

252 SpA Heatran Nature Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Greninja-Ash in Electric Terrain: 392-462 (137.5 - 162.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Heatran Nature Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Keldeo in Electric Terrain: 322-380 (99.6 - 117.6%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Heatran Nature Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Toxapex in Electric Terrain: 168-198 (55.2 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

252 SpA Heatran Inferno Overdrive (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 343-405 (89.7 - 106%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Heatran Inferno Overdrive (180 BP) vs. 248 HP / 56 SpD Assault Vest Tapu Bulu: 386-456 (112.5 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Grassy Terrain recovery

252 SpA Heatran Inferno Overdrive (180 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 258-306 (70.8 - 84%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Heatran Nature Power vs. 248 HP / 220+ SpD Mantine in Electric Terrain: 348-412 (93.2 - 110.4%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[Zokuru]

Grip Claw Trapper

@ Grip Claw
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 56 SpA / 128 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm / Fire Spin
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Toxic
​

 : When held by a Pokémon, it causes binding moves used by the holder to always continue for 7 turns.

The defensive investisment allows Heatran's Sub not to be broken by Sableye's Knock Off, the speed aims at outspeed 252 Neutral 70 Base stats Pokemons, the leftovers goes to SpA. Fire Spin is actually a strong option for the extra PPs, but you'll lose a lot of raw power versus anything that isn't stall.

Grip Claws allows Heatran to beats SpD Sableye ( which cannot be trapped but it will stay cause that's the main answer stall have versus Heatran ) and its most common switchs-in on a long run due to the extra trap turns, ( The lowest damages input from full Grip Claw trapping damages are ~87% + the Magma Storm damages + some few Epowers damages ).

Everything else is pretty straightforward, pair it with Tapu Bulu for even more efficiency, another option is to use Binding Band ( Discover the set here! ), better overall but way less fun versus stall !

 

[Jucherz]

Z-Sunny Day Heatran

Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam / Lava Plume

Z-Sunny Day raises Heatran's speed by 1 and makes his Fire attacks stronger. So it works as a sweeper. If it is facing a fat Pokemon with recovery, it can set up regular Sunny Day and then use sun-boosted Inferno Overdrive to kill it.

 

[Prisoner952]

Z-Sunny Day Heatran

Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Lava Plume

Z-Sunny Day raises Heatran's speed by 1 and makes his Fire attacks stronger. So it works as a sweeper. If it is facing a fat Pokemon with recovery, it can set up regular Sunny Day and then use sun-boosted Inferno Overdrive to kill it.

why does it have both fire blast and lava plume? And on a sunny day set doesn’t solar beam deserve to at least be slashed on?

 

[matthewc20090]

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Secret Power

Are you tired of Zygardes and Keldeo getting free switches into your Heatran? Do you enjoy winning all of your ladder games by fully paralyzing your opponent's Toxapex 5 turns in a row? Does getting a 7.25% (30%*25%= 7.25%) roll happen often for you? If the answer is yes for all of the above, then ur an awful person lol lucky noob. But yeah, secret power can paralyze stuff on the switch and makes it hard for your opponent to do anything because paralysis is broken. If you pair it with bulu, you can put stuff to sleep as well since grassy terrain does that. Overall a cool move that ive also used on jirachi and lando.

 

[1_TrickPhony]

Not a super secret set, but here's Bloom Doom Tran

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Solar Beam
- Toxic
- Taunt

Depending on your team needs, you can forgo toxic for earth power if you are pex weak. Bloom Doom helps you secure kill on any grass weak mon. With grassy terrain (highly recommended pairing for ground minimizing and extra damage), you get kills on Gyarados, Landorus, and several other mons that wouldn't die to Mag Storm/Earth Power. Can help fill out a team, and the surprise may be worth it if you are missing a Z-move mon. Unfortunately the days of physically defensive bulky waters/grounds is gone, but for those that still exist and cause Heatran a headache, this set is for you.

 

[volx757]

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 216 HP / 12 SpA / 120 SpD / 160 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar

With leftovers, hazards, and the presence to force out a large number of meta pokes, Heatran can function as a shuffler. Get up hazards, get heatran in, and roar as they go to their counter. Once roar is revealed, it becomes a mind game, will you roar on the ferro (predicting keldeo to come in) or will you attack?
Roar is also a great measure against setup sweepers, especially those that think they can set up on tran for free.

Not the best set, but roar is a good move and tran is a good user.

 

[Martin]

Not a super secret set, but here's Bloom Doom Tran

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Solar Beam
- Toxic
- Taunt

Depending on your team needs, you can forgo toxic for earth power if you are pex weak. Bloom Doom helps you secure kill on any grass weak mon. With grassy terrain (highly recommended pairing for ground minimizing and extra damage), you get kills on Gyarados, Landorus, and several other mons that wouldn't die to Mag Storm/Earth Power. Can help fill out a team, and the surprise may be worth it if you are missing a Z-move mon. Unfortunately the days of physically defensive bulky waters/grounds is gone, but for those that still exist and cause Heatran a headache, this set is for you.

Honestly on BloomTran I would never, ever forgo running Earth Power; having it in the set is important to prevent Tran being total bait for both Toxapex and opposing Heatran, both of which are omnipresent and just invalidate the set you've listed, and especially given that one of the big roles of taunt+Magma Storm Heatran is to be a fire-type which can still easily pressure Toxapex with the threat of trapping+removal if it's healthy, running any max SpA set without Earth Power is just straight-up unviable and totally misses the point of running the set in the first place. Swap out Toxic 'cuz BloomTran really doesn't need it; it still pressures Chansey reasonably well without it and the fat waters that it helps Tran break through are already lured by Bloom Doom.

 

[1_TrickPhony]

Honestly on BloomTran I would never, ever forgo running Earth Power; having it in the set is important to prevent Tran being total bait for both Toxapex and opposing Heatran, both of which are omnipresent and just invalidate the set you've listed, and especially given that one of the big roles of taunt+Magma Storm Heatran is to be a fire-type which can still easily pressure Toxapex with the threat of trapping+removal if it's healthy, running any max SpA set without Earth Power is just straight-up unviable and totally misses the point of running the set in the first place. Swap out Toxic 'cuz BloomTran really doesn't need it; it still pressures Chansey reasonably well without it and the fat waters that it helps Tran break through are already lured by Bloom Doom.

I use it with tapu bulu, which is why earth power I forgo for toxic, but perhaps I should change the set to Earth Power / Toxic (that being said made a note in my set that depending on team needs use EP.)

 

[BlueLobster]

I use it with tapu bulu, which is why earth power I forgo for toxic, but perhaps I should change the set to Earth Power / Toxic (that being said made a note in my set that depending on team needs use EP.)

FYI, earth power isn't affected by grassy terrain, so you are fine using earth power with bulu.

 

[MANNAT]

The voting phase has started!

Nominees:

Heatran @ Binding Band
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 160 HP / 136 SpA / 8 SpD / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Taunt
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

Heatran @ Chople Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 232 HP / 24 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Stealth Rock / Toxic

Heatran @ Leftovers / Chesto Berry
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Rest

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Torment
- Magma Storm
- Toxic / Earth Power

Heatran @ Firium Z / Steelium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Metal Sound
- Toxic / Taunt / Stealth Rocks

Heatran (F) @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Nature Power
- Taunt

Heatran @ Grip Claw
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 56 SpA / 128 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Magma Storm / Fire Spin
- Earth Power
- Substitute
- Toxic

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Earth Power
- Taunt
- Secret Power

Heatran @ Firium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sunny Day
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Solar Beam / Lava Plume

Heatran @ Grassium Z
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Magma Storm
- Solar Beam
- Toxic
- Taunt

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 216 HP / 12 SpA / 120 SpD / 160 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roar

The Voting Phase Ends on Sunday, February 18th

I'm gonna kick off the voting by voting for Metal Sound Heatran because it's actually a creative set that isn't completely bollocks; although, 85% accuracy along with the 70% that Magma Storm already has can screw you over lol.

 

[MultiAmmiratore]

nature power heatran

 

[Martin]

Metal Sound Heatran 'cuz it's an actually good set without being as lazy as [other type coverage option].

 

[BlueLobster]

Torment Tran

 

[Leo]

Metal Sound

 

[stuuful12]

Nature Power Heatran

 

[aaee]

Metal sound. I think torment has potential but that set isn't using it to its full potential