As part of the year long celebration of Legendary Pokémon, trainers around the world can effortlessly get their hands on either a Regigigas or a Heatran for the duration of March. Anyone who signed up to the Pokémon Trainer Club newsletter will already have had their download code sent to them.
Trainers playing either Pokémon Sun or Ultra Sun will receive a Regigigas. Trainers playing either Pokemon Moon or Ultra Moon will receive a Heatran. Two extremely coveted and popular legendary Pokémon, both make for a treasured addition to any collector’s Pokédex.
Like all legendary Pokémon, Regigigas and Heatran are blessed with a number of gifts that make them truly formidable opponents.
They are both officially categorised as Sub-Legendary Pokémon. This means that they are allowed in Battle Facilities and Video Game Championships.
But how do they fare competitively?
Heatran
Coming in with a similar total to most legendary Pokémon, Heatran has a decent spread across its stats. The total of 600 is fairly evenly split, peaking with an impressive 130 Special Attack stat.
Its typing is incredible. It is resistant to an immense nine different types of Pokémon, plus a total immunity to Poison. This is incredibly rare. In the current competitive climate, being resistant to Fairy type Pokémon is a particularly valuable asset to any team.
Its type advantages are boosted by its Flash Fire ability, which also makes it immune to Fire type moves.
It only has three weaknesses, but they’re not uncommon. Water, Ground and Fighting all boast some very powerful moves, too. You’ll definitely want to be wary of moves like Earthquake if you’re fighting with Heatran.
Generally, these weaknesses aren’t especially difficult to cover with a decent supporting team.
Heatran’s versatile move set means that you can use its advantages to complement almost any team.
The level 60 Heatran you’ll receive if you’re playing Pokémon Moon comes with a fairly basic move set. You’ll likely want to change it around if you want to take your Heatran to competitive battles. If you do, you’ve got a lot of room to be creative.
It comes with Crunch, Scary Face, Lava Plume and Fire Spin, which aren’t bad moves by any stretch. Lava Plum and Fire Spin both get an advantage through STAB, and could even get an additional boost through Heatran’s Flash Fire.
Heatran’s move pool includes attacks like Stealth Rock, Toxic, Taunt and Protect. These can all be very advantageous to a strategic team. You’re definitely granted plenty of scope to craft yourself an unpredictable Heatran that does a lot of lingering, long-lasting damage.
Pokémon Ultra Moon players will receive a level 100 Heatran equipped with a very powerful offensive set that is more suited to competitive play. It comes with Magma Storm, Earth Power, Heat Wave and Flash Cannon.
Again, its Flash Fire ability gives two of its moves a potential boost. Its combined Fire and Steel typing means that three out of four of these moves get assistance from STAB. The inclusion of Earth Power gives you a solid edge over anyone else bringing their Heatran to the competitive stage thanks to its weakness to Ground type moves.
There’s no denying the obvious reasons that Heatran is a popular pick for competitive teams. Whether you’re playing Moon or Ultra Moon, you’ve definitely got scope for an incredible addition to your strategy.
Regigigas
Despite not often being used in the competitive sphere, Regigigas is blessed with incredible stats. They even blow most other legendary Pokémon out of the water.
The whopping total of 670 means it gets a stunning 160 Attack stat and an impressive 110 on nearly everything else. The only exception is Special Attack, which sits at a still respectable 80.
These kinds of numbers are the type that would usually get a Pokémon banned from competitive play. Regigigas gets around this thanks to its ability Slow Stat. This halves Regigigas’s Attack and Speed stats for the first five turns of battle.
It makes it a little less terrifying for your opponent. But if you’re prepared to invest in your Regigigas, you can make its ability all but pointless. If you’re lucky enough to get a Regigigas with a nature that does it for you, you can boost these stats up to the maximum for some Pokémon that are popular competitively. If you don’t, you can still take some time to focus on your EVs that give those lowered stats a little bonus.
This will mean that even with Slow Start, Regigigas will still have respectable numbers. In five turns, when Slow Start wears off, they will become monstrous.
And Regigigas is enough of a tank that will definitely last that long.
Unlike Heatran, Regigigas doesn’t have the same kind of advantages due to its type. Its Normal typing isn’t amazing. It takes the usual damage from most types and is weak to Fighting. But that isn’t devastating given its bulk. It isn’t resistant to anything, but is immune to Ghost, which is a nice touch.
Trainers playing on Pokémon Sun will receive a level 60 Regigigas with Zen Headbutt, Revenge, Dizzy Punch and Confuse Ray. This isn’t a bad set up. It gives you a chance to lean into a strategy based on confusing the opposing team.
If you want to get a bit more creative with the move set, Regigigas has plenty of options. At level 100, it learns the STAB enhanced Giga Impact. It can also learn Knock Off and a bunch of elementary punches you can definitely make good use of.
The level 100 Regigigas available to Pokémon Ultra Sun trainers comes with a move pool consisting of Crush Grip, Drain Punch, Zen Headbutt and Heavy Slam. Like the Pokémon Ultra Moon Heatran, this version is more traditionally suited to competitive battles.
The inclusion of Drain Punch gives you a restorative option that can keep your Regigigas going through those Slow Start turns. This is particularly useful as Regigigas is one of the few Pokémon that can’t learn either Rest or Protect. The immensely powerful Crush Grip is boosted by STAB, making for another immensely powerful offensive set.
While typically not as popular in the competitive scene as other legendary Pokémon (including Heatran), Regigigas has a lot of potential if you know how to use it.
How to get your Legendary Pokémon
Anyone who signed up to the Nintendo newsletter before March 1st 2018 will be able to receive one of these legendary Pokémon through the Mystery Gift function. The code has already been emailed out to subscribers. It can be redeemed until March 24th 2018.
Neither Heatran nor Regigigas comes with an item that is advantageous in battle. However, Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon players will find their legendary Pokémon holding a Gold Bottle Cap.
In January, trainers could get their hands on Dialga and Palkia. Coming up in April, you’ll be able to get either Entei or Raikou.
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Images from Bulbapedia and PokemonLegendary.com