Tokyo Tom
Somewhere between psychotic and iconic
GP [2/2] - The Dutch Plumberjack / Weebl
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Dragon Pulse
move 4: Toxic / Stone Edge
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Timid
evs: 112 HP / 172 SpA / 224 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
With acceptable Speed, good coverage, and a high Special Attack stat, Heatran's Choice Scarf set makes a good utility check to some of the metagame's most powerful setup sweepers, namely Volcarona, Dragonite, and Scizor. Fire Blast is Heatran's STAB move and strongest attack, dealing huge damage to any Pokemon that doesn't resist it. Earth Power is Heatran's primary coverage move, hitting Rock- and Fire-types as well as opposing Heatran that attempt to switch into Fire Blast. Heatran's third moveslot is dedicated to hitting Dragon-types. Hidden Power Ice is the best option and hits Garchomp, Dragonite, and Salamence extremely hard while also netting coverage on Ground-types such as Gliscor and Landorus-T. Alternatively, Dragon Pulse hits Latios, Latias, and Hydreigon harder and has better neutral coverage. Finally, Toxic hits bulky Water-types such as Jellicent on the switch and also cripples Pokemon such as Mew and Volcarona. Alternatively, Stone Edge allows Heatran to OHKO Volcarona and is also Heatran's best bet against Gyarados.
[ADDITIONAL SET COMMENTS]
The given Speed EVs allow Heatran to outspeed everything up to Adamant Choice Scarf Heracross, including Pokemon such as +1 Dragonite, +1 Gyarados, Choice Scarf Politoed, and Jolteon. If outspeeding the aforementioned Pokemon isn't necessary, a Modest nature with 236 Speed EVs can be used to increase Heatran's damage output while still allowing it to outpace base 120 Speed Pokemon such as Alakazam and Dugtrio. In either case, 112 HP EVs should be used to increase Heatran's durability; for instance, Life Orb Latios cannot OHKO 112 HP Heatran with Surf even after Stealth Rock damage.
Heatran has a few other options that it can use in its moveset. Lava Plume can be used in the fourth slot for a more reliable STAB attack if the team doesn't have problems with Volcarona; it also has the added bonus of potentially crippling switch-ins such as Tyranitar and Terrakion with a burn. Hidden Power Grass is Heatran's best bet against Water-types such as Rotom-W, Politoed, Keldeo, and Gastrodon, and Heatran can still use Dragon Pulse alongside it to retain coverage over Dragon-types.
Nasty Plot Celebi has great synergy with Heatran because of its ability to check and remove Water-types that can easily switch into Heatran. In return, Heatran can beat almost all of Celebi's checks—Scizor, Volcarona, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Gengar are all non-issues for Heatran. Depending on its set, Celebi can even Baton Pass boosts to Heatran to give it a shot at sweeping. Latios also has great synergy with Heatran, being able to check Fighting-types such as Keldeo and Breloom, which could threaten Heatran with their STAB attacks, while Heatran can remove Pokemon such as Scizor, Jirachi, and Ferrothorn, all of which can check or wall Latios. Finally, Heatran appreciates residual damage to help break down the opposing team, and for this reason Tyranitar is another good partner, as it can wear down the opposing team with Stealth Rock and sandstorm while also removing common Heatran switch-ins such as Latios, Latias, and Jellicent with Pursuit. Choice Scarf Heatran fits very well on sand teams in general because of its ability to beat sun teams, checking dangerous sun sweepers such as Venusaur while also being less prone to being trapped by Dugtrio, due to outspeeding it.
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