After a long drought of new content in Pokémon UNITE, the meta continues to be roiled by new additions. With Delphox joining the game on the heels of a major patch, plus the introduction of Espeon, where do things stand among the top players?
S Tier:
- Hoopa – 20% (+1)
A Tier:
- Blissey – 14.5% (+1)
- Tsareena – 13.5% (+4.5)
B Tier:
- Delphox – 9% (NEW)
- Dragonite – 6.5% (-1.5)
C Tier:
- Greninja – 5% (+/-)
- Lucario – 5% (-4.5)
- Aegislash – 5% (+1)
- Cinderace – 3% (+0.5)
- Cramorant – 3% (+/-)
D Tier:
- Ninetales – 2% (+/-)
- Greedent – 2% (+2)
- Machamp – 1.5% (+1)
- Venusaur – 1.5% (-1)
- Wigglytuff – 1.5% (+1.5)
- Pikachu – 1% (-1)
- Absol – 1% (-2.5)
- Eldegoss – 1% (+1)
- Garchomp – 1% (+1)
- Talonflame – 1% (+1)
- Zeraora – 1% (+1)
- Snorlax – 1% (+1)
Blastoise, Trevenant (-1.5), Slowbro (-2), Azumarill (-2), Sylveon (-2), Decidueye (-2.5), Duraludon (-1), Gengar (-1), Gardevoir (-2.5), Charizard (-1.5), Mamoswine, Crustle, Espeon and Mr. Mime all saw no noticeable play among top players.
Below are the monthly moving averages for the top 10 Pokémon:
Lucario’s new low
Lucario has been the most consistently meta relevant Pokémon in this game. Outside of the first week of its release, it had never been lower than A Tier in usage. It has a lifetime usage rate among top players of 15.6%, the highest in the game. Normally, being on the higher end of C Tier is an impressive showing, but for Lucario it’s an all-time low.
Instead, Lucario’s role seems to be increasingly filled by Tsareena, who saw a small buff to its attack stat in the last patch. While Tsareena is not as good as it was upon release, a combination of a changing meta and slight Lucario nerfs from previous patches have finally allowed the ballerina to see its day in the sun.
Delphox spins into the game
The meta among bottom-lane attackers has been in a transitionary period. This role often had two competitively viable options to it, but after Ninetales received a buff in mid-March, there hasn’t been a strong, dominant presence. Cramorant, Gardevoir, Pikachu, Ninetailes, Sylveon and Venusaur all generally saw some level of play at the same time. Espeon, the last Pokémon released, was a dud upon entry and has yet to see competitive play. Delphox seems to be another story.
Delphox is logging the highest numbers for a bottom-lane attacker since the end of February, before the Pikachu vs. Venusaur meta collapsed. Whether or not this will hold is yet to be seen, but when combined with the uprooting of Lucario by Tsareena along with Blissey becoming the defacto bottom-lane defender Pokémon UNITE has been seeing massive changes in the competitive scene over the past month.
Methodology: This data is collected using both the rankings tab in Pokémon UNITE and the Pokémon UNITE API. A Pokémon is considered a “main” of a player if is it the most played Pokémon in their most recent 16 ranked matches. In the event of a tie or near tie the data will reflect that. If more than two Pokémon are tied, the 32 most recent matches will be considered instead.
