marilli
With you
[OVERVIEW]
Heatran is able to fit on a variety of teams in the Doubles OU metagame due to its unique Fire / Steel typing and a combination of good power and bulk. It has an excellent set of resistances and immunities due to its Steel typing and ability in Flash Fire, which allows it to check a variety of top-tier threats such as Mega Charizard Y, Mega Salamence, and Tapu Lele. Its Fire typing, on the other hand, allows it to check Steel-types such as Aegislash and Celesteela. Furthermore, Heatran has a sizable movepool, which allows it to fulfill a variety of roles and adapt to a team's needs.
However, Heatran faces difficulty against generally specially defensive threats such as Tapu Fini, Zapdos, and Snorlax that can recover off damage dealt by Heat Wave and find opportunities to set up. In addition, Heatran's weakness to the common Water- and Ground-type attacks can allow opposing Pokemon to bypass its defensive capabilities and deal irreparable damage to it. Furthermore, a Speed stat of base 77 leaves Heatran outsped by a large portion of the metagame.
[SET]
name: Protect + 3 Attacks
move 1: Heat Wave
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Solar Beam
move 4: Protect
item: Shuca Berry / Grassium Z
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 8 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
STAB Heat Wave provides consistent spread damage capable of denting the majority of threats. Earth Power is a great coverage move used for hitting opposing Heatran, as well as Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Terrakion. Hidden Power Ice targets Mega Salamence, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. On the other hand, Bloom Doom from Solar Beam allows Heatran to KO Water-types such as Tapu Fini and Milotic. Finally, Protect is a staple of the Doubles OU metagame, as it provides free turns for its partner, scouts moves, and stalls out field conditions.
Set Details
========
Shuca Berry allows Heatran to survive an Earth Power from opposing Heatran or a Ground-type STAB move from opposing Landorus and Zygarde. On the other hand, if Heatran has Solar Beam, Grassium Z is required in order for Heatran use Bloom Doom without wasting a turn charging Solar Beam. Firium Z is an alternative item choice for a strong Inferno Overdrive, and it has the added benefit of bypassing Wide Guard.
The given EV spread allows Heatran to survive a Superpower from standard Deoxys-A and maximize its speed and damage output, outspeeding most Zapdos and Tapu Fini. A Timid nature is used for trying to outspeed other Heatran and outspeeding most Zygarde, while a Modest nature maximizes Heatran's damage output. Bulkier EV spreads can be used in the set as well; maximum Speed is not necessary for Heatran to function, so feel free to make additional defensive investments instead of investing in Speed.
Usage Tips
========
Heatran can take advantage of its various resistances in order to safely switch into resisted attacks. However, it also needs to stay healthy in order to take advantage of Shuca Berry, as otherwise it will still be KOed by Ground-type moves. Thus, it is often necessary to choose between the ability to switch into resisted hits and the ability to take a Ground-type move. For instance, against an opponent that does not have much Ground-type coverage or wields Pokemon pairs like Misty Seed Zygarde and Tapu Fini that do not let Heatran make much progress on the turn it can stomach a Ground-type move, Heatran has more opportunities to switch into attacks and take advantage of its resistances, as staying healthy to use Shuca Berry is of lesser priority. In contrast, it would be inadvisable to take an Earthquake if Heatran must stay healthy to check Ferrothorn or Metagross later in the match. Offensive Shuca Berry Heatran is very effective at spreading damage, as it becomes much harder to OHKO using Ground-type attacks. This ability to wear down the opposing team can easily pave the way for another sweeper such as Dragon Dance Mega Salamance or Zygarde. However, be advised that Tectonic Rage Zygarde and Landorus-T can hit hard enough to take out a healthy Heatran in one hit, even with Shuca Berry. If using a Z-Move on Heatran, especially Bloom Doom, it is important to remember that it is one-time use, so don't waste the move too early.
Team Options
========
Heatran is quite a flexible Pokemon because it does not require specific support and is rarely dead weight. Speed control is important, as Heatran sits at a middling Speed tier. Mega Salamence and Zapdos can use Tailwind, and Zapdos in particular threatens Mega Salamence and Landorus-T with Hidden Power Ice. Water-types such as Tapu Fini and Milotic threaten common checks to Heatran such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Tyranitar. Also, Grass-types such as Tapu Bulu, Amoonguss, and Shaymin-S threaten Ground-types like Landorus-T and Water-types like Tapu Fini that beat Heatran. Tapu Bulu also provides Grassy Terrain, which halves damage taken from Earthquake.
[SET]
name: Eruption
move 1: Eruption
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: Protect
item: Firium Z / Shuca Berry
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 7 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
STAB Eruption provides a very strong spread attack and allows Heatran to act as a sweeper in Trick Room. As long as Heatran can stay healthy, Eruption gives Heatran the additional power to become a significantly larger threat to specially defensive Pokemon such as Zapdos, Hoopa-U, and Snorlax. Earth Power is used for hitting opposing Heatran as well as Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Terrakion. Heat Wave is a more consistent Fire-type STAB move that allows Heatran to remain threatening at low health, as it will inevitably take some damage.
Set Details
========
A Quiet nature is required for Heatran to use Eruption. The given EV spread allows Heatran to maximize its bulk and damage output, and 7 Speed IVs allow Heatran to minimize its Speed while outspeeding minimum Speed Hoopa-U. This allows Hoopa-U to move first in Trick Room and break Wide Guard and Protect with its STAB moves before Heatran fires off its attack. If Hoopa-U is not used, 0 Speed IVs allow Heatran to fully minimize its Speed. Firium Z allows Heatran to use a strong Inferno Overdrive, taking advantage of Eruption's high Base Power even when it is weakened. However, remember that Inferno Overdrive can only be used once, so be careful not to waste the move too early. On the other hand, Shuca Berry allows Heatran to survive Ground-type moves in an emergency.
Usage Tips
========
The additional damage from Eruption allows Heatran to be an efficient wallbreaker or a late-game Trick Room sweeper. Thus, managing Heatran's health is very important, as Eruption directly translates its health to damage output. With the extra damage, it becomes easier to KO foes before they can dent Heatran, preserving Eruption's high Base Power for more KOs. In addition, speed control becomes even more important; if Heatran moves after its foes, it becomes realistically impossible to consistently keep Heatran at full health to use Eruption. Heatran can still take advantage of its various resistances in order to safely switch into resisted attacks, but switching into attacks means that Heatran cannot use its full-powered Eruption, letting it miss out on KOs and costing you further resources. In general, Heatran should try to preserve its health as much as possible for the extra damage on Eruption, but it can use its defensive typing more liberally to take neutral and resisted attacks against frail Pokemon that take plenty of damage from Heat Wave.
Team Options
========
Hoopa-U is one of the best Trick Room users in the metagame; not only can it set up Trick Room for Heatran to make the best use of Eruption, but it can also break Wide Guard for Heatran. In addition, Fake Out support from the likes of Scrafty makes it much easier for Hoopa-U to set up Trick Room. Tapu Bulu and Amoonguss are great teammates for taking advantage of Trick Room, since they can take care of Water-, Ground-, and Rock-types such as Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, and Tyranitar, paving the way for Heatran to wreak havoc. Tapu Bulu summons Grassy Terrain, which halves damage from Earthquake and keeps Heatran at higher health for Eruption. Amoonguss can outspeed most threats in Trick Room and allows Heatran to preserve its health with Rage Powder. Tapu Fini is another notable teammate, as it beats Ground- and Rock-types, has fantastic synergy with Hoopa-U, and has access to Heal Pulse to keep Heatran healthy.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Heatran has many options, but it struggles to find moveslots to use them; having a Fire-type STAB move, Earth Power, and Protect is crucial for Heatran to function, leaving only one flexible moveslot. Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Overheat are effective alternative STAB moves that bypass Wide Guard without having to use Firium Z. Due to prevalence of Wide Guard Steel-types such as Celesteela and Aegislash, ensuring that Heatran can truly check them by directly KOing them can be useful. Substitute is a great move on Heatran, usually used in conjunction with Leftovers to regain health lost by Substitute. Heatran can easily earn free turns due to its great offensive and defensive typing, but Substitute can be useless against specially defensive Pokemon such as Snorlax and Tapu Fini that can ignore it and set up. Taunt can be a useful move to stop support moves such as Tailwind, Calm Mind, and Trick Room, as well as denying Wide Guard from Celesteela. Stealth Rock is an option to check opposing Mega Charizard Y and Salamence, as Heatran usually finds a favorable position to set it against both Pokemon. Flash Cannon is a super effective STAB move against Rock- and Fairy-types such as Tyranitar, Tapu Lele, and Diancie, as well as hitting Dragon-type Pokemon for neutral damage. Finally, Stone Edge can be used to KO Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona but is quite useless outside of that. Heatran can also use Life Orb or Charcoal for consistent additional damage or use Safety Goggles on the Eruption set to become immune to Spore from Amoonguss.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-T and Zygarde are immensely threatening because they can OHKO Heatran due to its 4x Ground weakness. Shuca Berry Heatran can take an Earthquake or Thousand Arrows, but a Tectonic Rage will KO despite the Berry. Hidden Power Ice is also not enough to get the OHKO against Zygarde and Assault Vest Landorus-T. Ground-type coverage moves such as High Horsepower from Snorlax and Earth Power from Kyurem-B, Shaymin-S, and opposing Heatran are also threatening.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Tapu Fini, Azumarill, and Milotic take negligible damage from most of Heatran's attacks and can then proceed to set up or simply attack with a super effective STAB move.
**Dragon-types**: Dragon-types such as Mega Salamence, Zygarde, and Hydreigon are rather threatening because they take negligible damage from Heat Wave and Earth Power. However, Mega Salamence and Zygarde take significant damage from Hidden Power Ice.
**Fighting-types and Fighting-type Coverage**: Fighting-types such as Terrakion and Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Deoxys-A, and Fightinium Z Tapu Lele that use Fighting-type coverage moves do a lot of damage to Heatran.
**Opposing Weather**: Pelipper and Politoed cripple Heatran, as Drizzle halves the power of Heat Wave and its other Fire moves, while Swift Swim Pokemon such as Kingdra and Ludicolo threaten to OHKO Heatran with super effective Water-type moves in rain.
**Wide Guard**: Wide Guard users such as Araquanid block Heat Wave, Heatran's primary attacking move. Steel-type Wide Guard users such as Aegislash and Celesteela are also threatening, although they can't switch in on Heat Wave and certainly can't take an Inferno Overdrive.
Heatran is able to fit on a variety of teams in the Doubles OU metagame due to its unique Fire / Steel typing and a combination of good power and bulk. It has an excellent set of resistances and immunities due to its Steel typing and ability in Flash Fire, which allows it to check a variety of top-tier threats such as Mega Charizard Y, Mega Salamence, and Tapu Lele. Its Fire typing, on the other hand, allows it to check Steel-types such as Aegislash and Celesteela. Furthermore, Heatran has a sizable movepool, which allows it to fulfill a variety of roles and adapt to a team's needs.
However, Heatran faces difficulty against generally specially defensive threats such as Tapu Fini, Zapdos, and Snorlax that can recover off damage dealt by Heat Wave and find opportunities to set up. In addition, Heatran's weakness to the common Water- and Ground-type attacks can allow opposing Pokemon to bypass its defensive capabilities and deal irreparable damage to it. Furthermore, a Speed stat of base 77 leaves Heatran outsped by a large portion of the metagame.
[SET]
name: Protect + 3 Attacks
move 1: Heat Wave
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Solar Beam
move 4: Protect
item: Shuca Berry / Grassium Z
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 8 HP / 4 Def / 244 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
STAB Heat Wave provides consistent spread damage capable of denting the majority of threats. Earth Power is a great coverage move used for hitting opposing Heatran, as well as Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Terrakion. Hidden Power Ice targets Mega Salamence, Landorus-T, and Zygarde. On the other hand, Bloom Doom from Solar Beam allows Heatran to KO Water-types such as Tapu Fini and Milotic. Finally, Protect is a staple of the Doubles OU metagame, as it provides free turns for its partner, scouts moves, and stalls out field conditions.
Set Details
========
Shuca Berry allows Heatran to survive an Earth Power from opposing Heatran or a Ground-type STAB move from opposing Landorus and Zygarde. On the other hand, if Heatran has Solar Beam, Grassium Z is required in order for Heatran use Bloom Doom without wasting a turn charging Solar Beam. Firium Z is an alternative item choice for a strong Inferno Overdrive, and it has the added benefit of bypassing Wide Guard.
The given EV spread allows Heatran to survive a Superpower from standard Deoxys-A and maximize its speed and damage output, outspeeding most Zapdos and Tapu Fini. A Timid nature is used for trying to outspeed other Heatran and outspeeding most Zygarde, while a Modest nature maximizes Heatran's damage output. Bulkier EV spreads can be used in the set as well; maximum Speed is not necessary for Heatran to function, so feel free to make additional defensive investments instead of investing in Speed.
Usage Tips
========
Heatran can take advantage of its various resistances in order to safely switch into resisted attacks. However, it also needs to stay healthy in order to take advantage of Shuca Berry, as otherwise it will still be KOed by Ground-type moves. Thus, it is often necessary to choose between the ability to switch into resisted hits and the ability to take a Ground-type move. For instance, against an opponent that does not have much Ground-type coverage or wields Pokemon pairs like Misty Seed Zygarde and Tapu Fini that do not let Heatran make much progress on the turn it can stomach a Ground-type move, Heatran has more opportunities to switch into attacks and take advantage of its resistances, as staying healthy to use Shuca Berry is of lesser priority. In contrast, it would be inadvisable to take an Earthquake if Heatran must stay healthy to check Ferrothorn or Metagross later in the match. Offensive Shuca Berry Heatran is very effective at spreading damage, as it becomes much harder to OHKO using Ground-type attacks. This ability to wear down the opposing team can easily pave the way for another sweeper such as Dragon Dance Mega Salamance or Zygarde. However, be advised that Tectonic Rage Zygarde and Landorus-T can hit hard enough to take out a healthy Heatran in one hit, even with Shuca Berry. If using a Z-Move on Heatran, especially Bloom Doom, it is important to remember that it is one-time use, so don't waste the move too early.
Team Options
========
Heatran is quite a flexible Pokemon because it does not require specific support and is rarely dead weight. Speed control is important, as Heatran sits at a middling Speed tier. Mega Salamence and Zapdos can use Tailwind, and Zapdos in particular threatens Mega Salamence and Landorus-T with Hidden Power Ice. Water-types such as Tapu Fini and Milotic threaten common checks to Heatran such as Landorus-T, Zygarde, and Tyranitar. Also, Grass-types such as Tapu Bulu, Amoonguss, and Shaymin-S threaten Ground-types like Landorus-T and Water-types like Tapu Fini that beat Heatran. Tapu Bulu also provides Grassy Terrain, which halves damage taken from Earthquake.
[SET]
name: Eruption
move 1: Eruption
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: Protect
item: Firium Z / Shuca Berry
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 7 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
STAB Eruption provides a very strong spread attack and allows Heatran to act as a sweeper in Trick Room. As long as Heatran can stay healthy, Eruption gives Heatran the additional power to become a significantly larger threat to specially defensive Pokemon such as Zapdos, Hoopa-U, and Snorlax. Earth Power is used for hitting opposing Heatran as well as Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Terrakion. Heat Wave is a more consistent Fire-type STAB move that allows Heatran to remain threatening at low health, as it will inevitably take some damage.
Set Details
========
A Quiet nature is required for Heatran to use Eruption. The given EV spread allows Heatran to maximize its bulk and damage output, and 7 Speed IVs allow Heatran to minimize its Speed while outspeeding minimum Speed Hoopa-U. This allows Hoopa-U to move first in Trick Room and break Wide Guard and Protect with its STAB moves before Heatran fires off its attack. If Hoopa-U is not used, 0 Speed IVs allow Heatran to fully minimize its Speed. Firium Z allows Heatran to use a strong Inferno Overdrive, taking advantage of Eruption's high Base Power even when it is weakened. However, remember that Inferno Overdrive can only be used once, so be careful not to waste the move too early. On the other hand, Shuca Berry allows Heatran to survive Ground-type moves in an emergency.
Usage Tips
========
The additional damage from Eruption allows Heatran to be an efficient wallbreaker or a late-game Trick Room sweeper. Thus, managing Heatran's health is very important, as Eruption directly translates its health to damage output. With the extra damage, it becomes easier to KO foes before they can dent Heatran, preserving Eruption's high Base Power for more KOs. In addition, speed control becomes even more important; if Heatran moves after its foes, it becomes realistically impossible to consistently keep Heatran at full health to use Eruption. Heatran can still take advantage of its various resistances in order to safely switch into resisted attacks, but switching into attacks means that Heatran cannot use its full-powered Eruption, letting it miss out on KOs and costing you further resources. In general, Heatran should try to preserve its health as much as possible for the extra damage on Eruption, but it can use its defensive typing more liberally to take neutral and resisted attacks against frail Pokemon that take plenty of damage from Heat Wave.
Team Options
========
Hoopa-U is one of the best Trick Room users in the metagame; not only can it set up Trick Room for Heatran to make the best use of Eruption, but it can also break Wide Guard for Heatran. In addition, Fake Out support from the likes of Scrafty makes it much easier for Hoopa-U to set up Trick Room. Tapu Bulu and Amoonguss are great teammates for taking advantage of Trick Room, since they can take care of Water-, Ground-, and Rock-types such as Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, and Tyranitar, paving the way for Heatran to wreak havoc. Tapu Bulu summons Grassy Terrain, which halves damage from Earthquake and keeps Heatran at higher health for Eruption. Amoonguss can outspeed most threats in Trick Room and allows Heatran to preserve its health with Rage Powder. Tapu Fini is another notable teammate, as it beats Ground- and Rock-types, has fantastic synergy with Hoopa-U, and has access to Heal Pulse to keep Heatran healthy.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Heatran has many options, but it struggles to find moveslots to use them; having a Fire-type STAB move, Earth Power, and Protect is crucial for Heatran to function, leaving only one flexible moveslot. Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Overheat are effective alternative STAB moves that bypass Wide Guard without having to use Firium Z. Due to prevalence of Wide Guard Steel-types such as Celesteela and Aegislash, ensuring that Heatran can truly check them by directly KOing them can be useful. Substitute is a great move on Heatran, usually used in conjunction with Leftovers to regain health lost by Substitute. Heatran can easily earn free turns due to its great offensive and defensive typing, but Substitute can be useless against specially defensive Pokemon such as Snorlax and Tapu Fini that can ignore it and set up. Taunt can be a useful move to stop support moves such as Tailwind, Calm Mind, and Trick Room, as well as denying Wide Guard from Celesteela. Stealth Rock is an option to check opposing Mega Charizard Y and Salamence, as Heatran usually finds a favorable position to set it against both Pokemon. Flash Cannon is a super effective STAB move against Rock- and Fairy-types such as Tyranitar, Tapu Lele, and Diancie, as well as hitting Dragon-type Pokemon for neutral damage. Finally, Stone Edge can be used to KO Mega Charizard Y and Volcarona but is quite useless outside of that. Heatran can also use Life Orb or Charcoal for consistent additional damage or use Safety Goggles on the Eruption set to become immune to Spore from Amoonguss.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground-types**: Ground-types such as Landorus-T and Zygarde are immensely threatening because they can OHKO Heatran due to its 4x Ground weakness. Shuca Berry Heatran can take an Earthquake or Thousand Arrows, but a Tectonic Rage will KO despite the Berry. Hidden Power Ice is also not enough to get the OHKO against Zygarde and Assault Vest Landorus-T. Ground-type coverage moves such as High Horsepower from Snorlax and Earth Power from Kyurem-B, Shaymin-S, and opposing Heatran are also threatening.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Tapu Fini, Azumarill, and Milotic take negligible damage from most of Heatran's attacks and can then proceed to set up or simply attack with a super effective STAB move.
**Dragon-types**: Dragon-types such as Mega Salamence, Zygarde, and Hydreigon are rather threatening because they take negligible damage from Heat Wave and Earth Power. However, Mega Salamence and Zygarde take significant damage from Hidden Power Ice.
**Fighting-types and Fighting-type Coverage**: Fighting-types such as Terrakion and Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Deoxys-A, and Fightinium Z Tapu Lele that use Fighting-type coverage moves do a lot of damage to Heatran.
**Opposing Weather**: Pelipper and Politoed cripple Heatran, as Drizzle halves the power of Heat Wave and its other Fire moves, while Swift Swim Pokemon such as Kingdra and Ludicolo threaten to OHKO Heatran with super effective Water-type moves in rain.
**Wide Guard**: Wide Guard users such as Araquanid block Heat Wave, Heatran's primary attacking move. Steel-type Wide Guard users such as Aegislash and Celesteela are also threatening, although they can't switch in on Heat Wave and certainly can't take an Inferno Overdrive.
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