Community POTW #70

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon. This time, it's an Unova Pokémon

Heatmor is an often ignored Pokémon but is actually a very decent Fire-type.

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/631.shtml

Go nuts

 

[Abizzel1]

First one to make it

Heatmor is a mixed attacker right off the back, but his low speed ruins his chances of sweeping, and not having access to "flame charge" forces him to be slow for life, unless you want to waste choice scarf on him.

Ant Terminator
Life Orb / Dark Gem 132 Atk / 252 SA / 124 Spe

Fire Blast
Sucker Punch
Focus Blast
Hidden Power Grass

This set gives Heatmor decent coverage, and most of all Fire Blast gives it power, while Sucker Punch gives it much needed priority. You can use Life Orb for power or Dark Gem to get off one strong sucker punch, because Heatmor "won't be back" (Terminator pun)



Feeling really lucky
Scope Lens / Leftovers 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4SA

Inferno
Hone Claws
Sucker Punch
Toxic

I wouldn't recommend this set, unless you're highly lucky. The purpose of this is to use Hone Claws to build up your attack stat for sucker punch. Hone Claws also builds up your acc. for Toxic giving you perfect acc. Toxic meaning anything trying to switch in is going to get poisoned or revenge killers are going to get massively sucker punched. If Heatmor manages to defy all odds and stay around after getting 2 or more Hone Claws, then you can turn to Inferno to inflict solid damage and guarantee burn. But the question is, "do you feel lucky Heatmor"?

 

[infernape612]

Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows Everywhere...
Modest - 252 SpA/252 Spd/4 HP
Wise Glasses/Heat Rock
Flash Fire

Flamethrower - Basic STAB move.
Solarbeam - For annihilating Politoed if it comes to ruin your day.
Focus Blast - Get rid of Blissey.
Sunny Day/Toxic/Fire Spin - A support move. Bring out the sun, poison your foe, or trap them there.

 

[ClefairyRox]

Heatmor is possibly the weirdest Fire-type Gamefreak has come up with yet. And I'm not just talking about its looks (though a fire-breathing anteater IS quite cool...). This Pokemon has the most bizarre moveset of any Fire-type I've seen. This guy...gets Rain Dance. RAIN DANCE! ON A FIRE TYPE! Other oddball moves include Bug Bite, Tickle, Stockpile, Swallow, Spit Up, Sucker Punch, Pursuit and Snatch. In nearly all of these cases, it is the only pure Fire type that gets these moves. It's weird; it doesn't even resemble a bug, and yet it gets Bug Bite... Oddball moves aside, Heatmor actually isn't a bad Pokemon. It's sort of slow, and its defenses are poor, but it has a high base 105 Sp. Attack and a nearly as high base 95 Attack. Plus, it gets Flash Fire, enabling it to switch in on Fire attacks and power up its own. This guy can end up hurting you a lot if you're not careful, and he deserves to be used a bit more often.

Recommended tiers: NU-RU

Gluttony is probably the ability to avoid. Heatmor with activate pinch berries at 50% of its maximum HP instead of 25%. Pinch berries haven't been legally released yet in Black and White, for one.
Flash Fire is what you wanna go for. Heatmor takes no damage from Fire attacks, and instead receives a 50% power boost to its own Fire attacks. This can make Heatmoor quite devastating.
White Smoke is okay, I guess. It prevents all stat reductions the opponent inflicts on Heatmor. Useful for blocking Intimidate.

Heatmor has an unfortunately shallow movepool to play around with, though it is unique in that it hardly resembles the movepool of any other Fire-type. Flamethrower or Fire Blast can serve as a primary STAB; it all depends on whether you want reliability or power. Heat Wave has a little more power but a little less accuracy than Flamethrower; it's more useful in Doubles. Inferno is a new choice; it has horrible accuracy but always causes a burn. With only 8 PP and 50% accuracy, I wouldn't recommend using Inferno as a primary move. Focus Blast can get you around Heatran, if somehow you end up facing one. Sucker Punch bypasses Heatmor's low speed and smacks the opponent with strong priority damage. Night Slash and Shadow Claw are slightly weaker but don't require prediction to pull off successfully. Will-O-Wisp causes a burn, which is always useful. Tickle lowers the target's Attack and Defense, which can be useful. Curse raises Heatmor's Attack and Defense while lowering its Speed, but its not bulky enough to be a good Curser (though it is one of the few 5th gen Pokemon who can use the Rest-Talk combo). Pursuit can catch a fleeing enemy. It's especially useful if you switch Heatmor in on a Banded Victini using V-Create. And of course, Hidden Power is always an option. HP Ice or HP Grass are probably the best on Heatmor.

Double and Triple Options: The only thing Heatmor's got going for it is Heat Wave, while it's weak to Rock Slide and Earthquake. I'd stay away from Doubles and Triples with this guy.

Countering Heatmor: It's weak defensively, so most decent Water, Ground, and Rock attacks will take it out. Beware of Sucker Punch if you're using a fast, defensively weak Pokemon. Bulky Water and Ground Pokemon will take most of what Heatmor can dish out, but beware of HP Grass. Stealth Rocks are important to have up, as Heatmor takes 25% damage every time it switches in on Stealth Rocks.

 

[Ttar's stone edge]

Ability Post :3

Gluttony: Consumes berry's at 50% hp or less. Ehh, useless. Maybe a speed berry set, but it would get killed too easily to sweep successfully with it's gawdawful speed fixed.
Flash Fire: Immunity to fire moves, and fire moves are boosted by 50% when hit by a fire move. Not bad, the best it's got ability wise.
White Smoke: Stat's can't be lowered. It's just better with flash fire, nothing really uses stat lowering moves anyway.

Next week: Bastiodon

 

[chap196]

MixedMor
Item Life Orb
Nature Lonely/Naughty/Mild/Rash
EV 252 Attack/ 252 Special Attack/ 4 HP
Ability Flash Fire
Move Set
Flamethrower/Fire Blast
Focus Blast
Sucker Punch
Hidden Power (Grass/Electric)
Flamethrower and Fire Blast is the only good STAB, Fire Blast for more power or Flamethrower for more accuracy. Focus Blast for a good coverage move, also it has a very high base power. Heatmor is slow so Sucker Punch will be useful because it will Attack first if your opponent Pokemon will Attack you. Hidden Power Grass or Electric for more coverage. Life Orb will gain both Attack and Special Attack which is useful for Mixed Attacker.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I think it lacks a few moves that other fire types do have, most notably Flare Blitz, Fire Punch, and Earthquake. It gets a lot of physical moves like Bug Bite, Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Shadow Claw, Night Slash, and so on, but no STAB moves on the physical side. It's special side is the reverse, it gets a lot of special fire moves but no other coverage apart from Solarbeam and Focus Blast.

It's tough to decide what it is supposed to do. It has good attack stats but lousy speed and its movepool isn't ideal, it has good defensive moves and support moves but lousy defensive stats and no recovery move. It's a bit like Ampharos, it doesn't have "I TOTALLY SUCK" written on its forehead like Luvdisc or Unown have, it's not completely bad, but it doesn't really find its direction and at everything it tries it is outclassed. As an attacker it is outclassed by Typhlosion (who has better speed, movepool, and similar offensive stats), as a defensive or supporting pokémon it really misses a recovery move and useful stats, and generally Ninetales does the supporting fire type role a bit better.

I think that Arcanine is better overall, even though Arcanine gets less tricks like Snatch, Sucker Punch, and Pursuit. Arcanine gets Flare Blitz, Morning Sun, a useful speed stat, better defences, and Extremespeed.

 

[Missingno. Master]

Heatmor, Win Less
Heatmor@Choice Scarf
Modest nature
Flash Fire
252 Sp. Atk/252 Spd/4 HP
~Flamethrower/Fire Blast
~Focus Blast
~Hidden Power (Ghost)
~SolarBeam

It's a sad state of affairs for Heatmor, it sure is. Outside of Round and its other Fire moves, this is, without exaggeration, its entire Special movepool. Flamethrower is for STAB, though Fire Blast is a more powerful option if you like taking risks. And if you're using Heatmor in the first place, you like taking risks Focus Blast and HP Ghost have unresisted coverage, and well, it was either SolarBeam, Round, or another Fire move for that last slot. SolarBeam at least gives Heatmor a decent chance on or against a sun team.

Item does what it can to salvage Heatmor's pitiful Speed, because GameFreak couldn't even be bothered to give this thing Flame Charge. I mean, what the hell? Ability is really the only useful one currently legal.


A Claws In My Contract
Heatmor@Choice Band
Brave nature
Flash Fire
252 Atk/252 HP/4 Def
~Shadow Claw
~Aerial Ace
~Bug Bite
~Return

Heatmor sports a respectable base 97 Attack stat. Its physical movepool, on the other hand, leaves a freakishly large amount to be desired. No physical Fire moves at all. No Fire Punch, no Flame Wheel, no Flare Blitz, no Blaze Kick, not even Flame Charge, which makes Heatmor the ONLY Fire-type that can't learn it in the entire game, while stuff like frickin' Zebstrika get the move! Ahem. That said, this Heatmor's more for a Trick Room team, though good freakin' luck with it there. Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, Bug Bite, and Return are its best moves. Please take a moment now to let the hopelessness of that previous sentence sink in, as I mentioned "Aerial Ace", "Bug Bite", and "best moves" in the same sentence without referring to Scyther or Scizor, or indeed anything with Technician.

Item is obvious, ability is obvious.


Defendmor
Heatmor@Leftovers
Careful nature
Flash Fire
252 HP/128 Def/128 Sp. Def
~Stockpile
~Will-O-Wisp
~Protect
~Wrap

It's far from ideal, given its facepalm-worthy 85/66/66 defenses, but Heatmor can attempt to go defensive. Stockpile ups its mournful defenses, Will-O-Wisp means extra help on the physical side of things, Protect allows for extra Leftovers recovery, and Wrap is for extra damage and stopping the opponent from withdrawing their crippled Pokémon

Item, ability, yadda, yadda, yadda.

Other options:
*Heatmor can learn Hone Claws, but none of its physical moves are really that wanting for better accuracy. Could be fun to use with Inferno, but almost definitely not too effective.
*Night Slash and Sucker Punch are decent options, but Heatmor already gets Shadow Claw as a TM, making Night Slash a tad redundant, and Sucker Punch is situational. Heatmor can't afford to fail even more than it already does.

Abilities:
*Gluttony: Heatmor consumes its pinch berries at 50% health. Useless, as not only is there no pinch berry in existence that can help Heatmor that much, but in what reality is Heatmor gonna be left at 50% health anyway?
*Flash Fire: When Heatmor takes a Fire move, its own Fire moves gain power. It is also immune to Fire moves. The better of Heatmor's abilities, as it does at least give it an immunity. Sure, it's an immunity to its own type which it resists anyway, but better than nothing.
*White Smoke: Heatmor's Hidden Ability. Not legal yet, but it's not really an issue. Heatmor's stats can't be lowered by its opponents. Heatmor's own actions, however, will still lower its own stats, which means no Overheat spammage. Nobody's gonna try to lower Heatmor's stats anyway, opting instead for the quick and easy KO.

Partners:
Smashpassing, Wish support, Rapid Spin, Magic Bounce, and in the case of the Choice Scarf set, Drought. And even then, there's still the matter of Heatmor's Arceus-awful movepool to contend with.

Counters:
Just play as normal. Chances are at least two of your Pokémon can function as a Heatmor counter.

Opinion:
An awesome concept of a Pokémon gone horribly wrong. I love Heatmor's design, but its stats are mediocre, and it's like they weren't even trying when they slapped its movepool together. Seriously, Heatmor is the only Fire-type on the face of the planet to not learn Flame Charge. What were they smoking?

Prediction for next week:
Durant

 

[grantholomew]

Fired Up Anteater
Heatmor @ Life Orb/Focus Sash
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP/4 Atk/252 SAtk
Rash (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Fire Blast
- Focus Blast
- Solarbeam/Hidden Power Ice
- Sucker Punch/Toxic
This thing won’t really survive that much. Maybe you can switch it in after your opponent killed your last Pokémon with Hyper Beam/Giga Impact. Poor Heatmor looks cool but it won’t be doing much. Maybe Generation V will give it something that will make it worthwhile. The Sucker Punch is for finishing off Sashed foes or just your final attack before going down.

 

[Ilan]

First one to make it

I am sure your parents are so proud of you right now.

And another crappy pokemon no one ever consider using except the gimmick lovers and noob fanboys.
Durant eater but I think Durant can beat him anyway with hustle rock slide LOL

Well what heatmor have:

Defensive: nothing
Support: nada
Ability: 2 useless one useful.
Ofensive:
Bulk and typing: sub par- frail and bad typing with weakness to SR
STAB: actually quite decent
Coverage: almost perfect coverage with sucker punch and focus blast but yep.. none of them are STAB.
Attack: decent
Sp.attack: decent but higher than the attack.
Speed: outspeed everything in NU... with choice scarf equiped (I mean everything none scarfed/none boosted in NU) 371 speed max.
Offensive boosting moves: hone claws and curse.

Totally outclassed by: every other fully evolved fire type except magcargo,flareon and camerupt which.. are at the same level of misserableness[/SPOILER][/SPOILER][/SPOILER]

Ok so now lets see what he is good at..
Tier: NU only
He have those moves:Focus miss Blast,Fire Blast,Hone Claws,Snatch,Hidden Power,Return,Pursuit,Sucker Punch,Solar Beam (sunny day teams only) Inferno + Hone Claws..
I don't see the rest usable..
Items: choice scarf,choice specs,life orb


So a scarfer set which will work as most people see this pokemon and think "why this noob is using this pokemon anyway?"

@choice scarf
Flash Fire
Naive/Hasty
252 speed, 252 sp.attack,4 attack
-Fire Blast
-Focus Blast
-Night Slash/Hidden Power Grass/Solar Beam
-Pursuit

ok like most people here love to say if the pokemon sucks and have some strengths anyway they use them and heatmor have only one good thing over other NU fire pokemon: he can run mixed.

Fire Blast is STAB,Focus miss coverage, NIght Slash against ghosts and psychics in NU, idden power grass against quagsmire, solar beam in the sun.
and finally Pursuit traps ghosts and psychics like gardevoir or grumpig.

 

[Blue Harvest]

Heatmor is an often ignored Pokémon but is actually a very decent Fire-type.

Decent? It's awful.

 

[Meowmeow]

I have trouble fashioning a moveset for Heatmor because it has such an awkward movepool and stat distribution. I will give an overview though.
Heatmor is a pure fire type. Statistically, it has a usable attack stat and decent special attack. Movepool, its actually quite defensive in nature. It consists of Curse, Will-o-Wisp, Taunt, Stockpile, and Sleep Talk. Through Dream World, it has the very cool White Smoke ability. Heatmor can counter physical attackers very well with Curse, Will-o-Wisp, and Fire Blast. Offensively, the movepool is lacking. It has zero physical STAB, and it has does not have Overheat.
All in all, Heatmor has a seve

 

[Blazios]

Decent? It's awful.

Hey, it takes a special Pokémon to be outclassed by its own prey.

 

[Abizzel1]

I am sure your parents are so proud of you right now.

OMG, they sure are. Maybe you can do it next time, so yours can be proud of you. Stick to the topic.

 

[ClefairyRox]

Whoa... So much Heatmor hate here...
Maybe you people should consider going the different route instead of using the same OU powerhouses all the time... Haven't you heard of "variety is the spice of life"? I, for one, love using lesser-used Pokemon... Even if I don't win, it's still fun. In fact, I think I'm gonna train up a Heatmor myself.
Admittedly, many of these lower-tier Pokemon are outclassed, but don't you guys ever get tired of battling the same few Pokemon over and over?

 

[Ilan]

Hey, it takes a special Pokémon to be outclassed by its own prey.

Durant was so strong it was banned to BL2.
Heatmor is so weak that no one looks at him except the RNG.


It is weird heatmor should have been a physical bulky with high sp.attack to fully counter durant.

@above: heatmor is too outclassed to be used corsola was better though..

 

[MetalCrow]

And another crappy pokemon no one ever consider using except the gimmick lovers and noob fanboys.

Totally outclassed by: every other fully evolved fire type except magcargo,flareon and camerupt

Umm...Idk about you, but gimmick trolls like me wouldn't even touch heatmor...Flareon4life!
But no, seriously now alll heatmor does is sucking and blowing smoke(and sometimes fire(if you're lucky))
I mean, it didn't even get anything from flame charge to hammer arm...heck, it got snatch...snatch, yes a pretty rare attack to see, being that it was a 3rdteambuilder gen tm but still, it has nobody to boost against it due to it having a target on it's back saying, "Insert Stone Edge Here" ...or maybe it says, "wash me, i need it cuz im homeless" ...or maybe even slap some mud in
It's face, after that, surely even you humans out there could take on a heatmor

 

[Airo]

Heatmor is a bit of a glass cannon. With somewhat low defenses (66), but somewhat high attack stats (97,105), Heatmor would have been suited for mixed sweeping, if not for its low Speed stat of 65. It also lacks Flame Charge, leaving Heatmor slow forever. However, not all is bad for Heatmor, because of its shallow, yet versatile movepool, even having some moves other Fire types don't have, like Sucker Punch and the 3 Stockpile moves.

Abilites:
Gluttony: It's alright, but eating a berry earlier than usual is not much help with Heatmor's low Defenses.
Flash Fire: Use it as a free switch in to Fire type moves, or for Double battles, have a teammate use a Fire type move on Heatmor. It will enjoy the boost for Fire type moves.
White Smoke: This might've been better for Heatmor if it had higher Defenses or Speed. Unfortunately, it does not, and opponents will more likely go for a quick KO on Heatmor.

Heatmor? Yes, There is More Heat On a Sunny Day

- Sunny Day
- Flamethrower/Heat Wave
- Solarbeam
- Focus Blast
Item: Heat Rock
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs and Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk); 4 HP/252 SpAtk/252 Spd

Yeah, that's right, I'm going to try using bad puns like everyone else. Anyways, Sunny Day powers up your Fire type move and lets you use Solarbeam to destroy Water and Rock types. Focus Blast is there for having super effective hits on Steel/Rock types, and also because it's the only other Special move that's worth to have on Heatmor.

The Mor Stock, the Better (And No, It's Not Misspelled)

- Stockpile
- Swallow/Focus Blast
- Spit Up
- Flamethrower/Heat Wave
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs and Nature: Timid (+Spd, -Atk); 128 Def/128 SpDef/252 Spd

A Stockpile set. Stockpile is the main move, and raises each Defense by 1 stage, making Heatmor's low Defenses somewhat respectable. Swallow and Spit Up are the obligatory moves to go with with Stockpile. Focus Blast and a Fire type move will give you other options to give damage other than Spit Up.

Heatmor, Not More Speed

- Sucker Punch
- Curse
- Aerial Ace
- Body Slam/Slash
Item: Life Orb/Choice Band
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs and Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpAtk); 252 Atk/128 Def/128 SpDef

Sucker Punch is a great move, having high base power and priority, allowing Heatmor to attack first. So as long as we're throwing Speed out of the window, Curse will increase Attack and Defense at the cost of Speed, which is fine in this set. Aerial Ace almost gives the same coverage as a Fire type move, but it's also there for a being a never-miss move. As for the last move, take your pick from two Normal type moves - Body Slam, for high power and parahax, or Slash, if you're feeling lucky with critical hits.

ResTalk

- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Flamethrower/Heat Wave
- Focus Blast
Item: Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs and Nature: Modest (+SpAtk, -Atk); 128 Def/252 SpAtk/128 SpDef

Fairly self-explanatory.

Other Options

Not many of actual significance. Like I said earlier, shallow movepool.

Snatch steals the effects of beneficial support moves. It's alright.
Flame Burst is a weaker Fire type move, but it deals slight damage to adjacent opponents in Doubles/Triples. Heat Wave, despite having lower accuracy, is still better.
Night Slash/Shadow Claw. Dark/Ghost type Slash.
Faint Attack. Dark type Aerial Ace.
Inferno is a great Fire type move with 100 power and 100% chance of burn. Too bad it only has 50% accuracy.

Double and Triple Battle Options

Heat Wave. Sunny Day, too, but to a lesser extent.

Partners

Droughtales allows Heatmor to take advantage of the sun without using Sunny Day. Speaking of Fire types, a Pokemon with a Fire type move can activate Heatmor's Flash Fire. Gravity makes Heatmor with Inferno a force to be reckoned with. A Rapid Spinner will get rid of the Stealth Rock that damages Fire types like Heatmor heavily.

Counters

Anything with decent Attack/Special Attack and Speed. Seriously, a super effective hit on Heatmor from a Pokemon with a good Attack stat is likely to OHKO (2HKO at the very least). And let's not forget Stealth Rock, the bane of Fire types.

 

[Charizard Lizzy]

It's weird; it doesn't even resemble a bug, and yet it gets Bug Bite...

That’s because it’s an anteater... so it eats (“bites”) bugs, silly

Heatmor is sadly yet another generic Fire-type that is simply brushed aside in the competitive scene. Actually, it may not even be “generic” because it is easily outclassed by its other Fire brethren. It’s got decent Attack and Special Attack but lackluster Speed to back it up as a sweeper. Poor defenses doesn’t help it survive long, either. Unfortunately like Vespiquen, Heatmor doesn’t have much in its movepool outside of a STAB move + Hidden Power. It’s practically the ONLY Fire-type that can’t use Flame Charge. It does have a few interesting support options (Will-o-wisp, Curse, etc), although they’re really more of a gimmick considering its lame bulk.

Abilities:
Gluttony - Heatmor consumes its held berry at 50% health rather than 25%. Someone mentioned how this would be most useful for “pinch” berries, meaning Heatmor could get an early Speed boost with the Salac Berry. That sounds wonderful! Unfortunately, pinch berries haven’t been released to Black and White yet. Shame, because this ability would become highly useful just for that. Until that happens, this ability is negligible.

Flash Fire - Is currently Heatmor’s only good ability. Get hit by a Fire attack, receive no damage and a boost in your Fire attacks. Always helpful when strategized just right.

White Smoke - Prevents the opponent from reducing Heatmor’s stats. No one does such a thing except for the AI or a total newbie. Since trainers are more concerned with raising their own stats instead of lowering others’, this ability is pointless.

:631:
Doesn’t really look that much like an anteater to me
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk / -Atk) / Quiet (+Sp. Atk, -Spd)

Flamethrower / Fire Spin
Focus Blast
Hidden Power [Ghost]
Solarbeam

Special set, aaand about all Heatmor has available in its Special movepool. Flamethrower or Fire Spin gets STAB - Flamethrower for great power and accuracy, Fire Spin for even more power but less accuracy. Focus Blast and Hidden Power Ghost give great coverage. Solarbeam is kinda filler, but great on a sun team and against Water, Rock, and Ground-types.

Leftovers is the only way for Heatmor to regain health.

:631:
Mixed
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Sp. Atk / 4 HP
Nature: Brave (+Atk, -Spd)

Flamethrower / Fire Blast
Sucker Punch
Focus Blast
Return

Flamethrower or Fire Blast for STAB. Sucker Punch gets priority when an opponent is trying to attack Heatmor, making it temporarily faster. Focus Blast covers Rock-types. Return... is kinda filler. There aren’t really any worthwhile Physical moves outside of Sucker Punch. Return at least gets a lot of power.

Ability and item are obvious.

:631:
When the Salac Berry is available...
Item: Salac Berry
Ability: Gluttony
EVs: 252 Sp. Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spd --OR-- 252 Sp. Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Nature: Modest (+Sp. Atk, -Atk)

Flamethrower / Fire Blast
Focus Blast
Hidden Power [Ghost]
Solarbeam

Again, I am aware the Salac Berry is not yet available in Black and White. But this is an idea for when it is.

Similar to the Special set in every way except for one thing: the Salac Berry. With Gluttony in effect, Heatmor will consume the berry earlier than usual and gain a much needed boost in its Speed. Then it has a better chance at sweeping.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Whoa... So much Heatmor hate here...
Maybe you people should consider going the different route instead of using the same OU powerhouses all the time... Haven't you heard of "variety is the spice of life"? I, for one, love using lesser-used Pokemon... Even if I don't win, it's still fun. In fact, I think I'm gonna train up a Heatmor myself.
Admittedly, many of these lower-tier Pokemon are outclassed, but don't you guys ever get tired of battling the same few Pokemon over and over?

It's just not that Heatrom is weak, it is also that it doesn't have any interesting options to work with, it struggles in making a moveset due to its bad movepool and fails to create any sort of niche in which it can work.

For example, personally I like Octillery very much, even though it is weak, because Octillery at least gets amazingly cool options like Bullet Seed, Seed Bomb, Psybeam, Flamethrower, and Thunder Wave. The only thing that Octillery misses to be placed in the Subzero department of coolness is Solarbeam. A firebreathing octopus is just cool, a fire anteater that can't even use a physical fire move simply is not, although I must admit that Heatrom getting Rain Dance is still quite awesome. It'd be so much further to the seriously uncool side of the board if it didn't get Rain Dance.

Sceptile is also not the best pokémon ever, but it is quite unique in being pretty much the only offensive Grass type that can sweep either physically, special side, or mixed, with good speed and decent offensive stats and a reliable movepool, it's the fastest grass type in the game, and that makes Sceptile cool, even though it is generally stopped by its fragility.