Heatran's EVs

Zystral

めんどくさい、な~
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Right, so we invest the 4 remaining EVs on Heatran into SpD most of the time so that the rare Porygon-Z won't get a Download boost.
But.... a lot of the Heatran sets list Naive as the nature of choice, which lowers SpD, meaning that even with investment Porygon-Z is nabbing that boost anyway.

Some sets have Timid as a preferred nature, in which case, okay. But surely in sets where Naive is listed as the prime option (Presumably to preserve Explosion's power), we should be investing those EVs into HP instead? Or better yet use a Hasty nature which still increases Speed without sacrificing Attack, and prevents Porygon-Z from getting that Download boost. And in that case, since the Def becomes naturally lower, we can still put those 4 EVs into HP. However, since any set with Naive has a second option, it should be mentioned "if using Timid, 4 EVs can be placed into SpD to avoid Porygon-Z obtaining a SpA boost." But the Scarfer's (the number 1 set) alternative is Rash, which also lowers SpD.

Apologies in advance if this has been brought up before, but it has only just occurred to me now.
 

November Blue

A universe where hot chips don't exist :(
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Heatran rarely uses explosion now, and porygon-Z doesn't see enough usage to be a problem.

I'd put the EVs in hp. 324, an even number, gives you an extra hit point of leftovers recovery.
 
Or better yet use a Hasty nature which still increases Speed without sacrificing Attack, and prevents Porygon-Z from getting that Download boost.
The choice between Naive or Hasty depends on your team and what you want Heatran to be switching into actually. Naive allows it to easily switch into Scizor without taking too much damage, while Hasty is to minimize damage taken from Thunderbolt from Rotom-A and Zapdos (if Heatran is the only answer to these on your team); so I would prefer if we don't make readers choose Hasty just to prevent Porygon-Z from getting that boost, because of how rare Porygon-Z actually is. It could be mentioned though, if Hasty is chosen for a specific reason.
 

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