Pokémon UNITE patch 1.5.1.7 saw an immediate rise in play for Absol. With good mobility but limited range and survivability is Absol doomed to be a flash in a plan? As the patch settles in, how have things changed?
S Tier:
- Hoopa – 19% (+0.5)
- Absol – 16% (+4)
A Tier:
- Blissey – 13.5% (-4)
B Tier:
- Delphox – 8.5% (+7)
- Lucario – 6.5% (+2)
C Tier:
- Tsareena – 5% (-9)
- Dragonite – 4% (-3.5)
- Snorlax – 4% (+3)
- Aegislash – 2.5% (-3)
- Pikachu – 2.5% (+1.5)
D Tier:
- Cinderace – 2% (+1)
- Slowbro – 2% (+1)
- Venusaur – 2% (+/-)
- Espeon – 1.5% (+1.5)
- Talonflame – 1.5% (+0.5)
- Wigglytuff – 1.5% (+/-)
- Zeraora – 1.5% (+1)
- Blastoise – 1% (+1)
- Cramorant – 1% (-1)
- Garchomp – 1% (+/-)
- Greedent – 1% (+/-)
- Ninetales – 1% (+1)
- Charizard – 0.5% (-1)
Azumarill, Crustle, Duraludon, Eldegoss (-1), Gardevoir, Gengar, Greninja (-1), Machamp (-1.5), Mamoswine, Mr. Mime, Sylveon and Trevenant all saw no noticeable play.
Below are the changes among the monthly usage rates among the top 10 Pokémon:
Patch 1.5.1.7’s slow changes
Patch 1.5.1.7 has felt like a delayed fuse. Absol was the clear point of the patch and remains heavily used, but several Pokémon saw large swings this week after seeing little change last week. Tsareena was at an all-time high last week despite seeing a minor nerf in the patch but has since seen its numbers plummet beneath a slowly recovering Lucario. Espeon also saw some considerable buffs in the patch, but it took a week before finally registering among the top 100 players for the first time. Likewise, Pikachu’s increased sustain lead it to a small bump up in usage rates.
These changes have led to a curious abnormality: this is first time the second patch update has seen a larger net change in usage rates than the initial patch update. The net change in usage rates for patch 1.5.1.7 (20%) is near the overall average (19%) and far below the average change for post-patch updates (27%). This second week update on the other hand is at 25%, far above the second patch update average of 17%. This indicates that the meta shouldn’t stagnate too badly after this patch as it has after others. As Lucario stays in the doghouse and Delphox is unable to fully consolidate the attacker role, there is plenty of variability in teams even with a meta that is so dominated by Absol, Blissey and Hoopa.
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. When more than two Pokémon are tied, the 32 most recent matches will be considered instead.
