OU [SS] Specially Defensive Heatran [DONE]

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[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt, and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Heatran's Fire / Steel dual typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with its fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele, as Heatran resists both Psychic and Fairy. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona, while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile as well as punish multi-hit contact moves, such as Double Iron Bash from Melmetal. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre Speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and offense.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon, and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, which can stomach Heatran's hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery and status moves such as Soft-Boiled and Thunder Wave from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro, and Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame, as it can beat the majority of Defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. If its team has another entry hazard setter, Toxic can be used as an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. Heavy Slam also takes out Steel-weak Pokemon that Heatran checks like Tapu Lele and Weavile. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves. Otherwise, Flame Body is incredibly effective against physical threats that Heatran's typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom, and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran, as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate, as it sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, the former of which removes Heavy-Duty Boots and makes its switch-ins take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock, while the latter gives Heatran safe switch-in opportunities. Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T, while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting, such as Slowbro and Zapdos, are also great teammates: Slowbro in particular comes with the bonus of checking or threatening Ground- and Water-types such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole, while Heatran can handle Pokemon that trouble Clefable, such as Victini and Volcarona; Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon, while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also stonewalls Rotom-W, which greatly annoys Heatran, as Rotom-W resists Magma Storm and is immune to Earth Power while being able to hit Heatran super effectively with its STAB Hydro Pump. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Spikes synergizes extremely well with Heatran's Stealth Rock, as both entry hazards can combine to take away over a third of a grounded Pokemon's health upon switching in. This makes Ferrothorn and Skarmory excellent partners, as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon, and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon, while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used on specially defensive sets, especially when paired with a Grassy Terrain setter like Rillaboom or Tapu Bulu, to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain as well as racking up extra passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on Heatran's switch-ins. Nature Power can be run on Grassy Terrain teams to hit Heatran's Water- and Ground-type switch-ins at the cost of a status move. Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB move if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but it is generally inferior to Magma Storm, as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power, and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on sun teams, as Heatran sits in a decent enough Speed tier to be a somewhat effective Choice Scarf user, and Choice Specs Heatran is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat, but such sets are easily worn down due to lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Tyranitar**: With a Fire resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran. Specially defensive Tyranitar variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit Heatran super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. As for Choice Band variants, they can run Superpower or Earthquake to threaten a KO on Heatran while punching holes through its team with Stone Edge or Crunch. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burn from Will-O-Wisp and Lava Plume, while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a medium-term check at best.

**Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking Heatran with their Water-type STAB moves, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO it with their Ground-type STAB moves. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic, except for Tapu Fini, which is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda, and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

**Dragon-types**: Garchomp, Dragonite, and Hydreigon all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type attacks, but it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three, unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long run while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by using Roost.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake or Earth Power for some Gastrodon variants, but they are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage, while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks.

**Fighting-types and Coverage**: Buzzwole, Blaziken, and Galarian Zapdos threaten Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but they cannot switch into it. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom, Kartana, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but they risk missing or activating Flame Body, and they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

**Residual Damage**: A neutrality to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to Spikes, and lack of reliable recovery make Heatran vulnerable to residual damage from entry hazards as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly from Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex, and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pulsar512b.469728/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/adorluigi.528364/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
 
Last edited:
add remove highlight comment

Good work. Please tag me after implemented so I can give it another look before 1/2. Ty!

[OVERVIEW]
With access to amazing (different wording like "a variety of utility") moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Fire / Steel dual-typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances to some of the strongest offensive types in the game, which is paired with fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, (You are saying you can take on offensive stuff twice here. Try to reword it to cut it down to only one mention) most notably Tapu Lele as it resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who can stomach its hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame as it can beat the majority of defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. Toxic is an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, (AC) and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Fairy-types (You can just say Tapu Lele and Clefable instead) and Weavile without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. Please note that an EV spread of 252 HP / 12 Atk / 236 SpD / 8 Spe should be run with a Sassy nature so Heatran can outspeed Calm Mind Clefable and Corviknight while having very good odds to 2HKO the former, while the EV spread with a Calm nature allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole. (First explain xe given EV spread in the set itself. You can then say in a different sentence how an alternative set X can let Heatran do Y. Keep in mind the numbers have to match here. The 12 Atk EVs for a "roll" to 2HKO Clef isnt a good explanation. While Heatran only needs 4 Speed EVs with Sassy to outspeed Corviknight. Feel free to reach out to talk about alternative spreads) Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves, otherwise Flame Body is incredibly annoying against physical threats that its typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom and Tapu Bulu are exemplary teammates as they also set up Grassy Terrain to weaken Earthquake and provide Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Both Pokemon also hit bulky Water and Ground-type Pokemon super effectively with their Grass STABs, with Rillaboom being a more offensive option that provides Knock Off and even U-turn support for some sets while Tapu Bulu foregoes the aforementioned traits for a sturdy Fighting-type check, another type that hits Heatran for super effective damage. (I get this part but Tapu Bulu is so very niche, there are more common partners you can mention here. Kartana for instance is another Grass-type which appreciates Heatran taking on the likes of Zapdos and Tornadus-T, while in turn being able to take on Pokemon like Urshifu and Tyranitar for it) Naturally, Pokemon that resist fighting type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: both Pokemon have the bonus of checking or threatening Ground and Water-types as well. (Make sure to mention examples, such as Urshifu-R) Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran - Dragapult, Tapu Lele and Weavile all appreciate Heatran wearing down shared checks (mention said checks. For example Dragapult appreciates Gastrodon and Hippowdown being Toxic, Weavile appreciates Toxapex being trapped, and Tapu Lele enjoys Heatran's good matchup into the Steel-types) to they can sweep late-game.

Expanding on this section would be good. Clef is a great partner for which Heatran does a ton, while Clefable takes on the likes of Dragonite and Buzzwole. Gastrodon can form a nice core with Heatran, making sure the other doesnt get overwhelmed by repeated attacks from Dragapult, and Tapu Lele, while Gastrodon particularly takes on Volcanion.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used to recover even more HP from leftovers Leftovers and Grassy Terrain while racking up even more passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its switch-ins. (Protect can also help scout moves from choiced users like Tapu Lele and Volcanion. The physically defensive set mentions Protect, so you can actually move this part up to the specially defensive set also as just a mention) Will-O-Wisp is an interesting status move alternative that guarantees a burn on offensive checks such as Choice Band Tyranitar. (The physically defensive set mentions this so you can just remove this) Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB if Heatran cannot dedicate an entire moveslot to Will-O-Wisp but still wants to cripple the aforementioned offensive checks, (Make sure to reowrk this part once Will-O-Wisp is removed) but is generally inferior to Magma Storm as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Both Lava Plume and Magma Storm can be run, but this is an unusual set that takes up a valuable moveslot that can be otherwise allocated to moves such as Stealth Rock, Taunt and Toxic. (Not sure on this part. I would probably remove instead) A Choiced set with Eruption / Magma Storm / Earth Power / Solar Beam (no need to slash the moves in this way, you can just separate them by commas) or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun teams as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer and is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

Tyranitar: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran as Specially Defensive variants can stomach a lot of hits while making progress with access to Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave and Toxic while Choice Band variants threaten to punch through Heatran's teams. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns from Will-O-Wisp or Lava Plume while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term check at best. Mentioning that Tyranitar can actually hit Heatran with Earthquake is important

Water-types: Bulky Water-types such as Slowbro, (see note below) Rotom-W and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it with their Water STABs, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground STABs. STAB moves. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Moreover, Slowbro requires a mixed spread to reliably check Heatran as its otherwise mediocre Special Defense is vulnerable to Earth Power when combined with Magma Storm chip damage as well as Taunt support. (Think you can actually remove Slowbro since well, it is one of the Pokemon you want to trap) Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

Dragon-types: Garchomp, Hydreigon and Dragonite all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type coverage or STAB. (You can just say Earthquake and Earth Power respectively) But it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long-run while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking Roost. You can also mention Rest Garchomp here

Ground and Fighting-types + Coverage: Bulky Ground-types such as Hippowdon and Landorus-Therian can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake, but are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks. Zapdos-G and Buzzwole threaten to OHKO Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but cannot switch into Heatran. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Kartana, Rillaboom, Tornadus-Therian and Slowking-G can carry Fighting or Ground-type coverage to nail Heatran, but that may not result in a OHKO and they are greatly threatened by Heatran's attacks in return.
(You could divide this section into 2 parts instead, one for Ground-types and one for Fighting-types / coverage. This will let you actually include Gastrodon in the Ground-types section without making this part super big; it would also let you put a lot more Water-Fighting types)

Residual Damage: A neutrality to Stealth Rock and lack of reliable recovery makes Heatran susceptible to residual damage from entry hazards, Hail, Leech Seed from Ferrothorn as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Slowking-G Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame to remove items such as its Leftovers, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check. (Perhaps here you could mention how in particular Pokemon that it wants to trap like Clefable and Toxapex can at least Knock Off its Leftovers in the process. Other Pokemon that Heatran heavily threatens like Ferrothorn and Scizor can also Knock Off its Leftovers, thus making it undesirable for it to switch into these foes)

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/

Quality checked by:

Grammar checked by:
 
add remove highlight comment

Not QC 1/2 yet, still waiting on implementation on a few parts from the first check

[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Fire / Steel dual-typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele as it resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who can stomach its hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while (AP) . Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves. recovery moves such as Toxapex's Recover, Slowbro's Slack Off, Blissey's and Clefable's Softboiled, as well as... (Mention whatever else you deem important like Teleport, Thunder Wave, etc) Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame as it can beat the majority of defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. Toxic is an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable, Tapu Lele and Weavile without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, an EV spread of 252 HP / 12 Atk / 236 SpD / 8 Spe should be run with a Sassy nature so Heatran can outspeed Calm Mind Clefable while improving its rolls against physically defensive variants. (Still not worth a mention. Remember is important to have concrete explanation for the EVs. 12 Atk EVs having "rolls" isnt a good nor concrete explanation. I would just remove the EV spread part and keep the Sassy mention saying how it doesnt cut into Heavy Slam's damage output unlike Calm) Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves, otherwise Flame Body is incredibly annoying against physical threats that its typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate as it also sets up Grassy Terrain to weaken Earthquake, providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. (This reads a bit odd, like weakening Earthquake is what grants Heatran with passive recovery. Both ideas are fine just try to word them so its easier to read) Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support. (Explain why this is important for Heatran, otherwise you can just remove) Kartana is another Grass-type that (doesnt have to be this way but make sure to connect the idea that Kartana is well, a Grass-type that can deal with the Ground and Water-types you mentioned above) appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist fighting type Fighting-type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: both Pokemon have the bonus of checking or threatening Ground and Water-types as well, such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole (Also mention what Heatran does for Clefable, such as taking on Melmetal, Victini, and Volcarona) while Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also checks Volcanion, which greatly threatens Heatran due to its four-times resistance to Magma Storm and STAB Steam Eruption. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult, Tapu Lele and Weavile all appreciate Heatran wearing down shared checks so they can sweep late-game, with Dragapult appreciating Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefitting from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loving Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. (Try to reword this so its more to the point. You are repeating twice how offensive Pokemon appreciate Heatran, first by saying "offensive Pokemon" and then by going into specifics". No need for more words than needed)

You could mention Ferrothorn and Skarmory as Spikes setters that complement Heatran's Stealth Rock, with them appreciating Heatran taking on Fire-types like Volcarona, Blacephalon, and Victini. In turn Skarmory can take on the likes of Garchomp, Dragonite, and Excadrill, while Ferrothorn can serve as a secondary check to the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko preventing them from overwhelming Heatran (similar to Gastrodon). Ferrothorn can also take on Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, and Gastrodon that may annoy Heatran.
 

Slowpoke Fan

Slow?
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Community Leader
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Not QC 1/2 yet, still waiting on implementation on a few parts from the first check

[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Fire / Steel dual-typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele as it resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who can stomach its hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while (AP) . Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves. recovery moves such as Toxapex's Recover, Slowbro's Slack Off, Blissey's and Clefable's Softboiled, as well as... (Mention whatever else you deem important like Teleport, Thunder Wave, etc) Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame as it can beat the majority of defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. Toxic is an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable, Tapu Lele and Weavile without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, an EV spread of 252 HP / 12 Atk / 236 SpD / 8 Spe should be run with a Sassy nature so Heatran can outspeed Calm Mind Clefable while improving its rolls against physically defensive variants. (Still not worth a mention. Remember is important to have concrete explanation for the EVs. 12 Atk EVs having "rolls" isnt a good nor concrete explanation. I would just remove the EV spread part and keep the Sassy mention saying how it doesnt cut into Heavy Slam's damage output unlike Calm) Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves, otherwise Flame Body is incredibly annoying against physical threats that its typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate as it also sets up Grassy Terrain to weaken Earthquake, providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. (This reads a bit odd, like weakening Earthquake is what grants Heatran with passive recovery. Both ideas are fine just try to word them so its easier to read) Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support. (Explain why this is important for Heatran, otherwise you can just remove) Kartana is another Grass-type that (doesnt have to be this way but make sure to connect the idea that Kartana is well, a Grass-type that can deal with the Ground and Water-types you mentioned above) appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist fighting type Fighting-type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: both Pokemon have the bonus of checking or threatening Ground and Water-types as well, such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole (Also mention what Heatran does for Clefable, such as taking on Melmetal, Victini, and Volcarona) while Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also checks Volcanion, which greatly threatens Heatran due to its four-times resistance to Magma Storm and STAB Steam Eruption. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult, Tapu Lele and Weavile all appreciate Heatran wearing down shared checks so they can sweep late-game, with Dragapult appreciating Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefitting from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loving Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. (Try to reword this so its more to the point. You are repeating twice how offensive Pokemon appreciate Heatran, first by saying "offensive Pokemon" and then by going into specifics". No need for more words than needed)

You could mention Ferrothorn and Skarmory as Spikes setters that complement Heatran's Stealth Rock, with them appreciating Heatran taking on Fire-types like Volcarona, Blacephalon, and Victini. In turn Skarmory can take on the likes of Garchomp, Dragonite, and Excadrill, while Ferrothorn can serve as a secondary check to the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko preventing them from overwhelming Heatran (similar to Gastrodon). Ferrothorn can also take on Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, and Gastrodon that may annoy Heatran.
Done :woop:
 
add remove highlight comment

QC 1/2
after implemented ty vm!

[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Fire / Steel dual-typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele as it resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who can stomach its hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves such as Soft-Boiled from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro, Thunder Wave from Clefable and Ferrothorn (Remove Ferrothorn cause you can just OHKO it. You also mentioned Clefable with Softboiled, so maybe hyou can do "Thunder Wave and Soft-Boilded from Blissey and Clefable" and remove this par) as well as Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame as it can beat the majority of defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. Toxic is an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable, Tapu Lele and Weavile without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves, otherwise Flame Body is incredibly annoying against physical threats that its typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate as it also sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, which enables Heatran's Stealth Rock and gives it safe switch-in opportunities. (Still unclear how you "enable" Heatrans Stealth Rock. You can go into more detail and say how it removes Heavy-Duty Boots from foes and thus making them take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock) Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting-type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: both Pokemon have the bonus of checking or threatening Ground and Water-types as well, such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole while Heatran handles Melmetal, Victini and Volcarona for it (doesnt have to be this, just an indication that these Pokemon can be troublesome for Clefable); Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also checks Volcanion, which greatly threatens Heatran due to its four-times resistance to Magma Storm and STAB Steam Eruption. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Ferrothorn and Skarmory are Spikes setters that synergize well with Heatran, (Complementing Heatran's Stealth Rock is part of the synergy, make sure to mention it) as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain while racking up even more passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its switch-ins. (You can specify how this is an "other" option on Specially Defensive variants since the PhysDef set will already mention it. Remember to also mention how it can help Heatran scout moves from choiced users like Tapu Lele and Volcanion) Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but is generally inferior to Magma Storm as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. A Choiced (probably should mention Choice Scarf and Choice Specs) set with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun teams as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer and is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

Tyranitar: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran as Specially Defensive variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit it super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with access to Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave and Toxic, (AC) while Choice Band variants threaten to punch through Heatran's teams. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns from Will-O-Wisp or Lava Plume while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term check at best.

Water-types: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, (AC) and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it with their Water-type STAB, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type STAB. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

Dragon-types: Garchomp, Hydreigon and Dragonite all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with Earthquake or Earth Power. (You could reorder this to have Garchomp and Dragonite first, and Hydreigon last, and then the second part can say "threaten to OHKO Heatran with Earthquake from the former 2, and Earth Power from the latter".) But it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long-run while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking Roost. (You could also mention Rest Garchomp in a similar way you mentioned Heal Bell Dragonite)

Ground-types + coverage: Bulky Ground-types such as Garchomp, (already above so you can remove from here) Gastrodon, Hippowdon and Landorus-Therian (might be good to put this before Gastrodon and Hippowdon since its the OU one. Could specify specially defensive Landorus-T) can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake (also Earth Power in the case of Gastrodon), but are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks. Pokemon such as Tangrowth and Galarian Slowking may run Earthquake to hit Heatran super effectively, but that may not result in a OHKO and they are greatly threatened by Heatran's attacks in return.

Fighting-types + Coverage: Zapdos-G and Buzzwole Buzzwole, Blaziken, and Galarian Zapdos threaten to OHKO (would rather not deal with weird calcs, since for example bulky Buzzwole doesnt OHKO physically defensive variants) Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but cannot switch into Heatran. Urshifu-R holds the distinction of resisting Magma Storm while having access to Fighting-tyoe STAB, but its mediocre bulk and lack of reliable recovery limits the amount of times it can switch into Heatran. (You already mentioned Urshifu-R above. I would remove but will let you decide) Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom and Kartana and Tornadus-Therian Tapu Lele, Rillaboom, Kartana, Weavile, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but risk missing or activating Flame Body while they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

Residual Damage: A neutrality to Stealth Rock and lack of reliable recovery makes Heatran susceptible to residual damage from entry hazards, Hail, Leech Seed from Ferrothorn as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/

Quality checked by:

Grammar checked by:
 

pulsar512b

ss ou fangirl
is a Pre-Contributor
qc, mostly good, dm me on discord after implemented
[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Fire / Steel dual-typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele as it resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile and... there's other uses too, other things it can fish vs. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who can stomach its hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves such as Soft-Boiled and Thunder Wave from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro as well as Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame as it can beat the majority of defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. Toxic is an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable its really just mostly clefable w other things as side effects - make that clear , Tapu Lele and Weavile without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves, otherwise Flame Body is incredibly annoying against physical threats that its typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate as it also sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, the former of which removes Heavy-Duty Boots and makes its switch-ins take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock while the latter gives Heatran safe switch-in opportunities. Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting-type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: both Pokemon have the bonus of checking or threatening Ground and Water-types as well, such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R zap is kinda dodgy, probably just specify bro has those bonuses. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole while Heatran can handle Pokemon that trouble Clefable, such as Melmetal, Victini and Volcarona; Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also checks Volcanion, which greatly threatens Heatran due to its four-times resistance to Magma Storm and STAB Steam Eruption volc isnt super relevant id cut this, mention that it can take on other waters in the tier for it instead. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Ferrothorn and Skarmory are Spikes why is spikes good w tran setters that synergize well with Heatran's Stealth Rock, as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used on specially defensive sets (especially when paired w rilla/bulu) to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain while racking up even more passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its switch-ins. Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but is generally inferior to Magma Storm as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Choice Scarf or Specs sets with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun teams as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer and is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers. mention nature power

Checks and Counters
===================

Tyranitar: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran as Specially Defensive variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit it super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with access to Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic while Choice Band variants threaten to punch through Heatran's teams but how do they do that? how do they force tran out/make it not wanna stay in. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns from Will-O-Wisp or Lava Plume while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term check at best.

Water-types: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it with their Water-type STAB, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type STAB. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

Dragon-types: Garchomp, Dragonite and Hydreigon all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with Earthquake from the former two, and Earth Power from the latter. But it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long-run while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking Roost.

Ground-types + coverage: Bulky Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake or Earth Power for some Gastrodon variants, but are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks. Pokemon such as Tangrowth why is tangrowth getting involved here? that isnt a very good mon and isnt relevant here. also probably spin off gking into its own section if you want to talk about it checking tran and Galarian Slowking may run Earthquake to hit Heatran super effectively, but that may not result in a OHKO and they are greatly threatened by Heatran's attacks in return.

Fighting-types + Coverage: Buzzwole, Blaziken and Galarian Zapdos threaten Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but cannot switch into Heatran. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom and Kartana, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but risk missing or activating Flame Body while they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

Residual Damage: A neutrality to Stealth Rock and lack of reliable recovery makes Heatran susceptible to residual damage from entry hazards, Hail, Leech Seed from Ferrothorn as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check. spikes is maybe the most oppressive and should get a mention in particular - maybe make entry hazards rocks + spikes?

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/

Quality checked by:

Grammar checked by:
 

pulsar512b

ss ou fangirl
is a Pre-Contributor
mostly good just needed to emphasize a couple points again
[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Fire / Steel dual-typing also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele as it resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile briefly mention other positive attributes of flame body. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who can stomach its hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves such as Soft-Boiled and Thunder Wave from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro as well as Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable hazard setters in the metagame as it can beat the majority of defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. Toxic is an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter, while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. Heavy Slam also takes out Steel-weak Pokemon that Heatran checks like Tapu Lele and Weavile. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves, otherwise Flame Body is incredibly annoying against physical threats that its typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate as it also sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, the former of which removes Heavy-Duty Boots and makes its switch-ins take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock while the latter gives Heatran safe switch-in opportunities. Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting-type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: Slowbro in particular comes with the bonus of checking or threatening Ground and Water-types such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole while Heatran can handle Pokemon that trouble Clefable, such as Melmetal i dont love this example, you have 2 already you dont need to stretch for a third, Victini and Volcarona; Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also stonewalls Rotom-W, which greatly annoys Heatran as it resists Magma Storm and is immune to Earth Power while being able to hit Heatran super effectively with its STAB Hydro Pump. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Spikes synergizes extremely well with Heatran's Stealth Rock, as both hazards can combine to take away over a third of a grounded Pokemon's health upon switching in. This makes Ferrothorn and Skarmory excellent partners, as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used on specially defensive sets, especially when paired with a Grassy Terrain setter like Rillaboom and Tapu Bulu, to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain while racking up even more passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its switch-ins. Nature Power can be run on Grassy Terrain teams to hit Heatran's Water- and Ground-type switch-ins at the cost of a status move. Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but is generally inferior to Magma Storm as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Choice Scarf or Specs sets with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun teams as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer and is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

Tyranitar: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran. Specially Defensive variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit it super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. As for Choice Band variants, they can run Superpower or Earthquake to threaten a KO on Heatran while punching holes through Heatran's team with Stone Edge or Crunch. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns from Will-O-Wisp or Lava Plume while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term check at best.

Water-types: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it with their Water-type STAB, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type STAB. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

Dragon-types: Garchomp, Dragonite and Hydreigon all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with Earthquake from the former two, and Earth Power from the latter. But it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long-run while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking Roost.

Ground-types: Bulky Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake or Earth Power for some Gastrodon variants, but are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks.

Fighting-types + Coverage: Buzzwole, Blaziken and Galarian Zapdos threaten Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but cannot switch into Heatran. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom and Kartana, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but risk missing or activating Flame Body while they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

Residual Damage: A neutrality to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to Spikes and lack of reliable recovery makes Heatran vulnerable to residual damage from entry hazards, Hail, Leech Seed from Ferrothorn i think you could honestly cut hail/leech, they arent that common and it makes the sentence make more sense. you could just put them in another section w like 'in addition, sometimes...' as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/

Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pulsar512b.469728/

Grammar checked by:
 
amchecks
Add Remove Comment
[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt,(comma) and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Heatran's Fire / Steel dual-typing(remove hyphen) also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with its fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele,(comma) as it Heatran resists both Psychic-(hyphen) and Fairy-type moves. Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona,(comma) while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile as well as punish multi-hit contact moves, such as Double Iron Bash from Melmetal. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed Speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon,(comma) and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who which can stomach its Heatran's hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or status moves such as Soft-Boiled and Thunder Wave from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro, and as well as Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable entry hazard setters in the metagame,(comma) as it can beat the majority of defoggers Defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. If its team has another entry hazard setter, Toxic is can be used as an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter(moved it back to make it a bit easier to read), while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. Heavy Slam also takes out Steel-weak Pokemon that Heatran checks like Tapu Lele and Weavile. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves,.(period) oOtherwise,(comma) Flame Body can be used as it is incredibly annoying effective(repeated a few times) against physical threats that its Heatran's typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran,(comma) as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water- (hyphen) and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate,(comma) as it also sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, the former of which removes Heavy-Duty Boots and makes its switch-ins take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock while the latter gives Heatran safe switch-in opportunities. Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T while.(period) In return, Kartana it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting-type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos:.(period) Slowbro in particular comes with the bonus of checking or threatening Ground- (hyphen) and Water-types such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole,(comma) while Heatran can handle Pokemon that trouble Clefable, such as Victini and Volcarona; Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon,(comma) while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also stonewalls Rotom-W, which greatly annoys Heatran,(comma) as it Rotom-W resists Magma Storm and is immune to Earth Power while being able to hit Heatran super effectively with its STAB Hydro Pump. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Spikes synergizes extremely well with Heatran's Stealth Rock, as both hazards can combine to take away over a third of a grounded Pokemon's health upon switching in. This makes Ferrothorn and Skarmory excellent partners, as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon,(comma) and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon,(comma)while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used on specially defensive sets, especially when paired with a Grassy Terrain setter like Rillaboom and or Tapu Bulu, to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain as well as racking up extra passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its switch-ins. Nature Power can be run on Grassy Terrain teams to hit Heatran's Water- and Ground-type switch-ins at the cost of a status move. Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB move if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but is generally inferior to Magma Storm,(comma) as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power,(comma) and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun teams,(comma) as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed Speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer Choice Scarf user, and Choice Specs Heatran is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

Tyranitar: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran. Specially defensive Defensive Tyranitar variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit it Heatran super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. As for Choice Band variants, they can run Superpower or Earthquake to threaten a KO on Heatran while punching holes through Heatran's its team with Stone Edge or Crunch. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns from Will-O-Wisp or and Lava Plume while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term check at best.

Water-types: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it with their Water-type STAB moves, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type STAB moves. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic,(comma) except for Tapu Fini, which while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda,(comma) and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

Dragon-types: Garchomp, Dragonite,(comma) and Hydreigon all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type attacks Earthquake from the former two, and Earth Power from the latter.,(comma) But but it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three,(comma) unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long-run while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking using Roost.

Ground-types: Bulky Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake or Earth Power for some Gastrodon variants, but are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage,(comma) while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks.

Fighting-types and Coverage: Buzzwole, Blaziken,(comma) and Galarian Zapdos threaten Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but cannot switch into Heatran. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom, and Kartana, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but risk missing or activating Flame Body,(comma) while and they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

Residual Damage: A neutrality to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to Spikes,(comma) and a lack of reliable recovery makes Heatran vulnerable to residual damage from entry hazards as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly from Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex,(comma) and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/

Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pulsar512b.469728/

Grammar checked by:
 
Last edited:

SolarBeam

not on fire (yet)
is a Contributor to Smogon
1/1, GP Team done
Crediting adorluigi too, checked over his. Left explanations in comments primarily for his benefit. My adds and removes are lighter blue and red, and my comments are (orange).
Add Remove Comment

blue = add
red = remove
(orange) = comment


[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt,(comma) and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Heatran's Fire / Steel dual-typing(remove hyphen) also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with its fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele,(comma) as it Heatran resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves (convention is that mons resist types, not x-type moves). Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona,(comma) while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile as well as punish multi-hit contact moves, such as Double Iron Bash from Melmetal. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed Speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack offense (don't want to confuse with Attack if possible).

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon,(comma) and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who which can stomach its Heatran's hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or and status moves such as Soft-Boiled and Thunder Wave from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro, and as well as Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable entry hazard setters in the metagame,(comma) as it can beat the majority of defoggers Defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. If its team has another entry hazard setter, Toxic is can be used as an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter(moved it back to make it a bit easier to read), while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. Heavy Slam also takes out Steel-weak Pokemon that Heatran checks like Tapu Lele and Weavile. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves,.(period) oOtherwise,(comma) Flame Body can be used, as it is incredibly annoying effective(repeated a few times) against physical threats that its Heatran's typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom, (AC) and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran,(comma) as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate,(comma) as it also sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, the former of which removes Heavy-Duty Boots and makes its switch-ins take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock, (AC) while the latter gives Heatran safe switch-in opportunities. Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T, (AC) while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting, such as Slowbro and Zapdos, (best to have the example immediately after the category) -type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: (colon can be used here, directly linked independent clauses) Slowbro in particular comes with the bonus of checking or threatening Ground- (hyphen) and Water-types such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole,(comma) while Heatran can handle Pokemon that trouble Clefable, such as Victini and Volcarona; Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon,(comma) while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also stonewalls Rotom-W, which greatly annoys Heatran,(comma) as it Rotom-W resists Magma Storm and is immune to Earth Power while being able to hit Heatran super effectively with its STAB Hydro Pump. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Spikes synergizes extremely well with Heatran's Stealth Rock, as both entry hazards can combine to take away over a third of a grounded Pokemon's health upon switching in. This makes Ferrothorn and Skarmory excellent partners, as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon,(comma) and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon,(comma)while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used on specially defensive sets, especially when paired with a Grassy Terrain setter like Rillaboom and or Tapu Bulu, to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain as well as racking up extra passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its Heatran's switch-ins. Nature Power can be run on Grassy Terrain teams to hit Heatran's Water- and Ground-type switch-ins at the cost of a status move. Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB move if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but it (comma before coordinating conjunction, so need to make it an independent clause) is generally inferior to Magma Storm,(comma) as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power,(comma) and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun sun (weather is lowercase) teams,(comma) as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed Speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer Choice Scarf user, and Choice Specs Heatran is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Tyranitar**: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran. Specially defensive Defensive Tyranitar variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit it Heatran super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. As for Choice Band variants, they can run Superpower or Earthquake to threaten a KO on Heatran while punching holes through Heatran's its team with Stone Edge or Crunch. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns burn from Will-O-Wisp or and Lava Plume, (AC) while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term medium-term check at best.

**Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it Heatran with their Water-type STAB moves, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran it with their Ground-type STAB moves. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic,(comma) except for Tapu Fini, which while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda,(comma) and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

**Dragon-types**: Garchomp, Dragonite,(comma) and Hydreigon all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type attacks Earthquake from the former two, and Earth Power from the latter.,(comma) But but it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three,(comma) unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long run (RH) while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking using Roost.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake or Earth Power for some Gastrodon variants, but they are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage,(comma) while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks.

**Fighting-types and Coverage**: Buzzwole, Blaziken,(comma) and Galarian Zapdos threaten Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but they cannot switch into Heatran it. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom, and Kartana, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but they risk missing or activating Flame Body,(comma) while and they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

**Residual Damage**: A neutrality to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to Spikes,(comma) and (you don't need the added "a" here, the first one applies to the whole list) lack of reliable recovery makes make Heatran vulnerable to residual damage from entry hazards as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame (i prefer to remove "in the metagame" and similar when it's unnecessary to the sentence, since it's normally implied) to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly from Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex,(comma) and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
(remove line)
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pulsar512b.469728/
(remove line)
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/adorluigi.528364/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
 

Slowpoke Fan

Slow?
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributor
Community Leader
1/1, GP Team done
Crediting adorluigi too, checked over his. Left explanations in comments primarily for his benefit. My adds and removes are lighter blue and red, and my comments are (orange).
Add Remove Comment

blue = add
red = remove
(orange) = comment


[OVERVIEW]
With access to fantastic utility moves such as Stealth Rock, Magma Storm, Taunt,(comma) and Toxic, Heatran is one of the best progress-makers in the metagame. The aforementioned movepool makes it almost impossible to stave off in the long run and allows Heatran to invariably make some kind of foothold for its team whenever it hits the field. Its Heatran's Fire / Steel dual-typing(remove hyphen) also bestows it with a bevy of key resistances, which is paired with its fantastic natural bulk so it can check some of the strongest offensive threats in the metagame, most notably Tapu Lele,(comma) as it Heatran resists both Psychic and Fairy-type moves (convention is that mons resist types, not x-type moves). Two incredible abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body help it check even more of the metagame, with the former stonewalling Volcarona,(comma) while the latter allows it to be an annoying stopgap to Weavile as well as punish multi-hit contact moves, such as Double Iron Bash from Melmetal. Despite its lack of reliable recovery and mediocre speed Speed tier, the guardian of volcanoes is a metagame-defining presence by burning bright in both defense and attack offense (don't want to confuse with Attack if possible).

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Magma Storm
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Taunt / Stealth Rock
move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic / Heavy Slam
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire / Flame Body
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 236 SpD / 20 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

With Special Defense investment, Heatran turns into a special tank that can check powerful special attackers such as Dragapult, Blacephalon,(comma) and Tapu Lele. Magma Storm is what makes this set tick, as it can trap would-be checks such as Blissey and Toxapex with Taunt support while racking up crucial chip damage on Pokemon like Garchomp and Tapu Fini, who which can stomach its Heatran's hits while forcing it out with their respective STAB moves. Earth Power is a wonderful coverage move that allows Heatran to hit Toxapex, Blacephalon, Victini, and opposing Heatran super effectively, while Taunt rounds out the trapping strategy by denying its targets recovery or and status moves such as Soft-Boiled and Thunder Wave from Blissey and Clefable, Slack Off and Teleport from Slowbro, and as well as Recover from Toxapex. Stealth Rock turns Heatran into one of the most reliable entry hazard setters in the metagame,(comma) as it can beat the majority of defoggers Defoggers in the tier, such as Corviknight and Zapdos. If its team has another entry hazard setter, Toxic is can be used as an alternative to Stealth Rock to cripple Heatran's long-term checks such as Dragonite, Garchomp, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon if its team has another hazard setter(moved it back to make it a bit easier to read), while Heavy Slam can be run in the fourth moveslot as well if nailing Clefable without risking a Magma Storm miss is desirable. Heavy Slam also takes out Steel-weak Pokemon that Heatran checks like Tapu Lele and Weavile. The EV spread above allows Heatran to outspeed uninvested Buzzwole while maximizing special bulk. Please note that when using Heavy Slam, a Sassy nature should be used so Heavy Slam is not weakened against targets like Clefable and Tapu Lele. Heatran should run Flash Fire if it desires to blank Volcarona and cause other Fire-type threats such as Victini and Blacephalon to second-guess their moves,.(period) oOtherwise,(comma) Flame Body can be used, as it is incredibly annoying effective(repeated a few times) against physical threats that its Heatran's typing naturally checks such as Weavile, Rillaboom, (AC) and Kartana.

Team Options
========

Grass-types are natural partners for Heatran,(comma) as they resist two of its most glaring weaknesses: Water and Ground-type attacks. Rillaboom is an exemplary teammate,(comma) as it also sets up Grassy Terrain, which weakens Earthquake as well as providing Heatran with another form of passive recovery. Besides hitting Water- and Ground-types super effectively, Rillaboom also provides Knock Off and U-turn support, the former of which removes Heavy-Duty Boots and makes its switch-ins take damage from Heatran's Stealth Rock, (AC) while the latter gives Heatran safe switch-in opportunities. Kartana is another Grass-type that appreciates Heatran taking on Zapdos and Tornadus-T, (AC) while it can threaten Tyranitar and Urshifu-R in return. Naturally, Pokemon that resist Fighting, such as Slowbro and Zapdos, (best to have the example immediately after the category) -type moves are also great teammates, such as Slowbro and Zapdos: (colon can be used here, directly linked independent clauses) Slowbro in particular comes with the bonus of checking or threatening Ground- (hyphen) and Water-types such as Garchomp and Urshifu-R. Clefable and Gastrodon are also noteworthy defensive partners: Clefable can take on Dragonite and Buzzwole,(comma) while Heatran can handle Pokemon that trouble Clefable, such as Victini and Volcarona; Gastrodon forms a strong defensive core with Heatran, preventing Heatran from being worn down by taking repeated attacks from Choice Specs Dragapult and Blacephalon,(comma) while Heatran can take on Tapu Lele. Gastrodon also stonewalls Rotom-W, which greatly annoys Heatran,(comma) as it Rotom-W resists Magma Storm and is immune to Earth Power while being able to hit Heatran super effectively with its STAB Hydro Pump. Offensive Pokemon that appreciate the progress Heatran makes throughout the course of a game form potent offensive cores with Heatran. Dragapult can take advantage of Toxic support against Hippowdon and Gastrodon, Weavile benefits from Heatran trapping Toxapex, and Tapu Lele loves Heatran crippling bulky Psychic-types like Slowking with Toxic or trapping special walls like Blissey. Spikes synergizes extremely well with Heatran's Stealth Rock, as both entry hazards can combine to take away over a third of a grounded Pokemon's health upon switching in. This makes Ferrothorn and Skarmory excellent partners, as Heatran can take on Fire-types such as Victini, Blacephalon,(comma) and Volcarona for them. In return, Skarmory stonewalls Ground-types such as Garchomp and Hippowdon,(comma)while Ferrothorn serves as a sturdy stopgap against Water-types like Tapu Fini and Rotom-W. Ferrothorn can also be a secondary Fairy-type check against the likes of Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko, preventing Heatran from being overwhelmed.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Protect can be used on specially defensive sets, especially when paired with a Grassy Terrain setter like Rillaboom and or Tapu Bulu, to recover even more HP from Leftovers and Grassy Terrain as well as racking up extra passive damage from Magma Storm and Toxic on its Heatran's switch-ins. Nature Power can be run on Grassy Terrain teams to hit Heatran's Water- and Ground-type switch-ins at the cost of a status move. Lava Plume is an alternative Fire-type STAB move if Heatran wants to cripple offensive switch-ins such as Choice Band Tyranitar, but it (comma before coordinating conjunction, so need to make it an independent clause) is generally inferior to Magma Storm,(comma) as the latter is important for Heatran to generate progress in most games. Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets with Eruption, Magma Storm, Earth Power,(comma) and Solar Beam or Flash Cannon can be run on Sun sun (weather is lowercase) teams,(comma) as Heatran sits in a decent enough speed Speed tier to be a somewhat effective scarfer Choice Scarf user, and Choice Specs Heatran is difficult to wall due to its high Special Attack stat when equipped with a Choice Specs, but such sets are easily worn down due to it lacking defensive investment as well as the passive recovery of Leftovers.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Tyranitar**: With a Fire-type resistance as well as terrific special bulk under sand to shrug off Earth Power, Tyranitar is a fantastic check to Heatran. Specially defensive Defensive Tyranitar variants can stomach a lot of hits and hit it Heatran super effectively with Earthquake while making progress with Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. As for Choice Band variants, they can run Superpower or Earthquake to threaten a KO on Heatran while punching holes through Heatran's its team with Stone Edge or Crunch. However, all variants of Tyranitar are crippled by Toxic and burns burn from Will-O-Wisp or and Lava Plume, (AC) while its lack of reliable recovery sentences it to being a mid-term medium-term check at best.

**Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Slowking, Rotom-W, and Tapu Fini can shrug off Magma Storm while chunking it Heatran with their Water-type STAB moves, and Water / Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can even threaten to OHKO Heatran it with their Ground-type STAB moves. However, almost every Pokemon in this list is vulnerable to Toxic,(comma) except for Tapu Fini, which while Tapu Fini is easily worn down due to its lack of reliable recovery. Offensive Water-types such as Urshifu-R, Barraskewda,(comma) and Keldeo can switch into Heatran's moves while threatening it out with their strong attacks, but their lack of bulk limits the amount of times they can switch in.

**Dragon-types**: Garchomp, Dragonite,(comma) and Hydreigon all resist Magma Storm and threaten to OHKO Heatran with their Ground-type attacks Earthquake from the former two, and Earth Power from the latter.,(comma) But but it should be noted that Toxic cripples all three,(comma) unless Dragonite is carrying Heal Bell, and chip damage from Magma Storm wears down Garchomp in the long run (RH) while forcing Hydreigon and Dragonite to lose momentum by clicking using Roost.

**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon can take hits from Heatran before retaliating with Earthquake or Earth Power for some Gastrodon variants, but they are vulnerable to Toxic and residual damage,(comma) while more offensive Ground-types such as Excadrill and Nidoking do not appreciate taking any of Heatran's attacks.

**Fighting-types and Coverage**: Buzzwole, Blaziken,(comma) and Galarian Zapdos threaten Heatran with their STAB Fighting-type moves, but they cannot switch into Heatran it. Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Rillaboom, and Kartana, and Tornadus-T can run Fighting-type coverage to nail Heatran, but they risk missing or activating Flame Body,(comma) while and they do not appreciate taking Magma Storm in return.

**Residual Damage**: A neutrality to Stealth Rock, susceptibility to Spikes,(comma) and (you don't need the added "a" here, the first one applies to the whole list) lack of reliable recovery makes make Heatran vulnerable to residual damage from entry hazards as well as items such as Black Sludge and Sticky Barb from Trick Clefable and Galarian Slowking. When combined with the ubiquity of Knock Off in the metagame (i prefer to remove "in the metagame" and similar when it's unnecessary to the sentence, since it's normally implied) to remove items such as its Leftovers, particularly from Pokemon that Heatran wants to trap or offensively threaten like Clefable, Toxapex,(comma) and Ferrothorn, Heatran can easily be chipped into range of the strong attackers that it is supposed to check.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
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Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pulsar512b.469728/
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Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/adorluigi.528364/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Implemented :woop:
 

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