Pokemon GO Heatran Raid Guide: How to Beat Heatran

Niantic Labs announced that Heatran, the volcanic mythical Pokemon that makes its home in Stark Mountain—off the northeastern coast of the Sinnoh region—will join its five-star Raid pool.

The Season of Heritage "Mountains of Power" event is in full swing this week with new tasks and wild encounters—including a Raid boss shuffle. From Friday, Jan. 7 to Jan. 14, Heatran will be the featured mythical Pokemon gracing five-star Raids in Pokemon GO. Even better: it has a chance to appear as its heavily-saturated shiny variant!

Also known as the "Lava Dome" Pokemon, Heatran's body is constantly boiling. Its blood is the temperature of magma—around 1400 to 4400 degrees Fahrenheit (700 to 2,400 degrees Celsius). Unsurprisingly, it is most comfortable living in volcanoes and volcanic habitats. Its PokeDex number is #485.

Heatran as a Raid Boss in Pokemon GO

Heatran will only appear in five-star Raids, meaning it will take at least five trainers to bring it down within the time limit. It can have a CP ceiling of 49,192. Additionally, its shiny variant is available, so trainers may encounter a shiny Heatran during the Bonus Challenge following the Raid.

It can have the following quick moves:

• Bug Bite (Bug-type)
• Fire Spin (Fire-type)

It can also have the following charged moves:

• Stone Edge (Rock-type)
• Iron Head (Steel-type)
• Flamethrower (Fire-type)
• Fire Blast (Fire-type)

Best Counters for Heatran in Pokemon GO

Heatran is a dual fire and steel-type. As such, it has a long list of strengths such as normal, flying, psychic, and dragon-types with double resistance to poison, bug, steel, grass, ice, and fairy-type. It is particularly vulnerable to ground-types so its counters will primarily be ground-type Pokemon.

The best counters against Heatran include:

• Therian Landorus (Mud Shot + Earthquake/Earth Power)
• Excadrill (Mud-Slap + Earthquake/Drill Run)
• Groudon (Mud Shot + Earthquake)
• Garchomp (Mud Shot + Earthquake/Earth Power)
• Rhyperior (Mud-Slap + Earthquake)
• Incarnate Landorus (Mud Shot + Earth Power)

Best Stats for Heatran in Pokemon GO

Congratulations! You've successfully captured Heatran.

Heatran has the following stats:

• Maximum CP: 4244
• Maximum HP: 188
• Attack: 251
• Defense: 213
• Stamina: 209

Like any Pokemon, Heatran's IVs can be tracked using its CP total at every level. We've listed the CP value for a perfect IV Heatran in 10-level increments, below:

• Level 1: 53 CP
• Level 10: 1073 CP
• Level 20: 2145 CP
• Level 30: 3218 CP
• Level 40: 3754 CP
• Level 50: 4244 CP

Best Moveset for Heatran in Pokemon GO

The best moveset for Heatran pairs the quick move Fire Spin with the charged moves Flamethrower or Fire Blast. These are both fire-type moves and, as such, benefit from the Same-Type Attack Bonus (STAB) 20% damage increase buff.

Fire Spin is the only move in Heatran's quick move pool that benefits from STAB which makes it the stand-out choice. It does 15 damage per second (DPS) and generates nine energy per second (EPS).

While Flamethrower does slightly less damage than Fire Blast—38 DPS to the latter's 40—it also costs an equal amount less energy to cast. In comparison to Fire Blast, Flamethrower only costs 22 energy per cast whereas Fire Blast costs 23. A large difference, we know. For this reason, the two are essentially interchangeable, and we'll leave this decision up to the trainer's discretion.