Heatran just will never be at the top of OU again after it lost Toxic and Eruption, two moves that were great for the trapping set and the Air Balloon offensive set respectably. It doesn't even beat Chi-Yu since Specs Dark Pulse cleanly 2HKOes.
IDK, been playing more balance lately and while Heatran isn't at the top it is still annnoying af with Taunt Magma Storm making easy progress + stopping Ting-Lu from setting up hazards + walling the main regen mon, Gking. That being said, Mola structures make Heatran struggle unless it runs some BS like Tera Blast Grass. Even if it had Toxic, there's nothing Heatran can really do to stop Mola from bottlenecking its progress with free flips.
Ironically, I see Heatran falling off even more if Ogerpon-Wellspring gets banned since Alomomola structures will be fully unleashed, which Heatran can't make progress against. I see Volcanion taking Heatrans place since it can more efficiently trap Mola due to being immune to flip turn.
As an aside, how do players currently feel about balance dynamics lately? I've been using a pretty generic structure that was discovered day one in DLC2 and when I am not autolosing to random stuff by turn 5 cause I'm bad, it feels like the gameplan is generally
- Spam hazards
- Try spamming Knock with Meow / Weav
- switch into metal bird to avoid Knock
- Take advantage of opposing metal bird with Dragapult for free Will-O to beat their checks with Hex late OR switch into GKing to setup Future Sight
- Take advantage of GKing with Ting-Lu to spam hazards
- Rinse and repeat
As a Meow fan, I am generally a fan of these structures, esp since it promoted a more methodical approach to breaking down the enemies team over time, but I'm not sure if Knock and Boots being so central to the gameplan of a balance like this is healthy for the game. It feels like whichever team loses the metal bird first is at a severe disadvantage since everything else just dies if they get Knocked, even Gking doesn't have the longevity to survive. I feel like Boots ironically worsens the problem, since the team that lacks boots is at such a distinct disadvantage in longevity compared to the team with Boots.
IDK, I probably am 2 month too late talking about this, but using a structure like this put into perspective a lot of other top players opinions, stuff like Garg being potentially OP, Zama being OP, Meow being broken -> falling off (still good imo), Kyurem potentially being broken because of freeze, etc. I also am not sure this style of balance is in favor in tournaments, seeing as a lot the balances I see others use don't have speed control or are running completely different mons like Apple to handle Woger, Dozo as a wincon, etc, which didn't seem to have much Knock off countermeasures barring Tusk, and those did fine. Its more than likely that this style just isn't the ideal way balance is meant to be played, esp since its so vulnerable to cheese (though the Gking / Ting-Lu / Metal Bird core is still quite excellent as a defensive backbone). It doesn't help that Ting-Lu is getting worn down too fast, so its really easy to auto lose to stuff like Volcarona.
Also using a team like this just put into perspective how amazing Utility Pult really is & why it is the best mon in the metagame. In practice, its longevity is actually amazing because of Boots & longterm, it gets multiple entry points on stuff like Skarmory, Tusk, etc. Fast wisp completely neutralizes a lot of mons -> Hex breaks down stuff over time, Pult is the perfect speed control mon, Darts breaks down special walls, and Fast Wisp is never not useful. It wins long-term interactions very easily.