Heatmor MOTW

"Whip Me Harder"

Pokémon: Heatmor
Nature: Adamant
Ability: White Smoke
Item: Choice Band
EV Spread: 248 HP, 252 Atk, 8 Spe

- Fire Lash / Flare Blitz
- Knock Off
- Thunder Punch
- Superpower / Sucker Punch

Guten Tag, Freunde! It's MG, back with his first MOTW of Generation 7. Today, I'll be going over everyone's favorite Bug/Steel Pokemon, Dura-
Wait. Wait, what? I’m doing one on Heatmor?! Durant’s counterpart that is supposedly better but is worse in every way? Fine, fine.
This MOTW is going to be about Heatmor, a great Hone Claws user and . . . wait, no, this set is using Heatmor’s slightly lower, but still average, Attack stat, because we all know Heatmor isn’t that good anyway.

This set uses max Attack and Speed to capitalize on Durant’s amazing att- wait, no. This particular Heatmor uses max HP and Atk to make Heatmor’s horrifyingly low stats somewhat useable. A Jolly nature is used to maximize Durant’s speed to make it even more pot- er, Adamant is used to make Heatmor’s terrible 97 Attack stat somewhat better. The item, Life Orb, allows Durant to be even stron- no, no, no, we’re not doing Durant, despite it being better in EVERY WAY. This set uses Choice Band, making Heatmor’s pathetic Attack marginally better.

Durant . . . err, Heatmor, is made even stronger thanks to its powerful Hustle - no, decent White Smoke Ability, allowing you to get a free attack buff that goes away after a Hone Claws! Wait, wrong Pokémon, it allows you to avoid those irritating Intimidate drops (one of Heatmor’s ONLY selling points). This, however, does pair exceptionally well with Heatmor’s signature move as of Generation VII, Fire Lash (one move compared to all of Durant’s >.>). This Fire-type move, while only having 80 base power, is guaranteed to drop the Defense of what’s hit with it by one stage, allowing you to force switches or rack up damage on the opposing Pokémon. Knock Off provides useful utility in slapping items off of switch-ins to Heatmor, while Thunder Punch and Superpower provide nifty coverage for the sub-par Fire-type Pokémon. Despite Durant being better than Heatmor, I’d say Heatmor gets the better of the two’s movepools.

Of course, Heatmor is tragically slow, frail, and a Fire-type Pokémon, meaning it needs a lot of support to get going (unlike Durant). Any Rapid Spin or Defog user pairs pretty well with Heatmor so as to avoid its HP skyrocketing down from constant switching (Durant doesn’t need to switch), and anything with more HP than Shuckle is nice to tank a hit for this miserable piece of garbage (again, Durant doesn’t need that). However, it is possible to send in Heatmor on a slow U-turn or safe switch near the end of the game to continuously force switches thanks for Fire Lash (Durant can just 6-0 by the time Heatmor gets a kill, though).

Heatmor, while being cursed with the horrible below-average-ness of Generation V, is still somewhat useable and, to an extent, useful and fun to use (so is Durant!). Have fun getting a White Smoke Heatmor, though, they’re probably extinct because Heatmor is just that bad. You’d have better luck OHKO-ing a Chansey with a Shuckle’s Constrict than finding this thing, especially if you want to get kills with it. But, as always, happy trolling~ (but seriously, Durant is much better. Use it. I beg of you. Don't try to use this)

Written by: Mega Grievous