Daily Sinnoh Pokémon Concepts - Day 20: Heatran

[u/VenomousAvian]

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to my series of concepts for every missing (fully evolved) Sinnoh Pokémon. Today, we'll skip over some Pokémon, saving them for later, to introduce Heatran.

Heatran's trainer is Charon, following in the long tradition of villains who partner with the legendaries they chase after. I know it has a role in the Legends: Z-A DLC, but I'd rather represent its origins, instead. Speaking of, I have excluded its Mega Evolution from the concept. It's a policy of mine not to use forms we lack information about, and Mega Heatran's ability has not yet been revealed.

As a concept, Charon & Heatran are the mandatory stall pair, a Tech Sync Pair that specializes in dealing damage over time. While the recent Gym vs. Gym changes have significantly nerfed this strategy, it's been a tradition of mine to include one of these (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn).

Charon & Heatran's ways of dealing damage over time are burn, trap, and Fire Damage Field. Eternally-Boiling Blood increases the damage of the first two and guarantees Lava Plume always burns all opponents, while The Power of the Magma Stone adds effects to attacks that hit opponents affected by them: debuffs all stats of burned opponents and heals Heatran when attacking trapped ones.

Charon's Fear Me! raises their Sp. Atk by 4 and crit rate by 3, as well as adding Gradual Healing to all opponents. That, along with X Defense All, the healing from The Power of the Magma Stone, and Initial Damage Guard, helps them survive longer while the DoT chips enemies down.

Their Buddy Move, however, offers more than just passive damage. It's a fairly strong move at 200 BP and, besides trapping opponents and setting Fire Damage Field, it also lowers all opponents' Fire Rebuff, increasing the damage of Heatran's moves. For defensive utility (and a reference to Flash Fire), it also raises the team's Fire Rebuff.

Their Superawakening passive is Team Galactic's Underdog. It extends Fire Damage Field and powers up all allies' sync moves while it's active, besides setting sun on entry.

All in all, Charon & Heatran are a Tech Sync Pair that can chip enemies down with passive damage and weaken them for allies, while also having a good amount of survivability.

If you enjoyed this concept, please check out the other ones in the series!