Heatran – Triumphant Light
Date Reviewed: March 12, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Heatran (A1a 013) is a (R) Type, Basic Pokémon with 110 HP, (W) Weakness, and Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C). Heatran has the Ability “Speed Link”, which does nothing unless Arceus ex or Arceus is in play. When that condition is satisfied, Speed Link zeroes out this card’s Retreat Cost. For (R)(R), Heatran can use “Ragin’ Mad Strike” to do 40 damage. Ragin’ Mad Strike does an extra 40 damage if the Pokémon using it has any damage on it. Heatran is only available as a ♦♦♦ rare.
The Fire Types only real support is Moltres ex (A1 047, 255, 274; P-A 025), who has a flippy attack that can attach (R) Energy from the Energy Zone to your Benched (R) Pokémon. At least the anti-(R) effect cards – Piloswine (A2 032) and Mamoswine (A2 033, 160) – aren’t seeing any competitive play right now. In terms of exploiting Weakness, the major (R) Weak Pokémon right now are Celebi ex (A1a 003, 075, 085), Exeggutor ex (A1 023, 252), Exeggcute (A1 021 or A1a 001), and Leafeon ex (A2a 010, 082, 091).
Exploiting (R) Weakness lets an uninjured Heatran OHKO Exeggcute, and can make it easier to power through healing with a 2HKO’d or 3HKO’d. Being a Basic Pokémon is still the best. You don’t need extra cards or to wait until you can evolve for Heatran to hit the field. Heatran can take advantage of Basic support like Poké Ball (P-A 005), though you’ll need to mind anti-Basic effects like Pokémon Flute (A1a 064); the former is a staple, the latter sees almost no play.
Heatran has 110 HP, which a good number for a non-ex Basic Pokémon. It’s enough to tank an attack or two early game, or other times when your opponent’s either can’t or won’t bring their “A” game. (W) Weakness does bring Heatran into OHKO range for some attacks/attackers, and makes it an easier OHKO or 2HKO for most other (W) attackers. The Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C) is bad, and would normally make it easy to strand Heatran in the Active position but…
…Heatran has an Ability to cover that! At least, while you have an Arceus ex (A2a 071, 086, 095, 096) or Arceus (A2a 070) in play. The former has proven quite competitive, even in decks that don’t rely on the various “Link” Abilities it can trigger, so this isn’t too bad of a requirement. When I first saw it, I thought this was the worst Link Ability for Heatran to have, but this is actually what gets it played.
Before that, though, let’s discuss Ragin’ Mad Strike. The (R)(R) Energy cost isn’t bad, but it definitely means you have to be running (R) Energy if you want to actually attack. 40 for two Energy is underwhelming, but 80 for two is good. It’d be better if Heatran had a little more HP, but that’s what Giant Cape (A2 147) is for!
Heatran isn’t overly impressive on its own; like I said, I didn’t expect it to really amount to much. Fortunately, I was wrong. It isn’t a staple for Arceus ex decks, but it could technically be used in any, and does see play in at least some of the Crobat (A2a 050), Infernape ex (A2 029, 181, 197), the Greninja (A1 089; P-A 019), and Magnezone (A2 053) variants, which run wholly or partially on Fire Energy. At least the Greninja variant is above the 50% point, and the others, though a little lower, show some promise.
Rating: 3/5
Heatran gives you a pivot Pokémon that may also act as a solid attacker, at least in Arceus ex decks. Which is why it received a review. If some of the other Link Ability Pokémon have as well, expect to see them in a future review.
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