Main Pokémon of top 100 players in Pokémon UNITE — Feb. 13 update

Aegislash joined Pokémon UNITE last week and is already seeing a lot of play among top 100 players. Last week saw Lucario rebound from a recent low, Wigglytuff continue to lose players to Slowbro and Cinderace establish a dominant position in the jungle. While there hasn’t been a new patch to cause any disruption of these trends, a new Pokémon and a continually evolving meta continue to keep things dynamic going into Valentine’s Day.

So where do things stand now?

Other placements include:

C Tier:

• Gardevoir – 4% (+2.5)
• Cinderace – 3% (-8)
• Mr. Mime – 3% (+2)
• Snorlax – 2.5% (+1.5)

D Tier:

• Wigglytuff – 2% (-3.5)
• Machamp – 1.5% (-2)
• Blissey – 1% (+/-)
• Blastoise – 1% (+/-)
• Garchomp – 1% (+/-)
• Trevenant – 1% (+1)
• Decidueye – 0.5% (+0.5)
• Cramorant – 0.5% (-0.5)

Absol, Charizard (-1), Crustle, Gengar, Mamoswine (-1), Ninetails, Sylveon, Tsareena, and Zeraora all saw no noticeable play among the top 100 players.

Aegislash arrives

Pokémon UNITE released Aegislash this week right before Valentine’s Day. While not a Pokémon commonly affiliated with the holiday it marks the 31st playable Pokémon in the game and seventh all-rounder introduced. People are still tinkering around with the optimal held item and moveset combinations with it, but that hasn’t stopped it from entering the game with a splash at the high-level meta. Overall, Aegislash is tied with Blissey for sixth place in first-week showing:

• Dragonite – 19
• Sylveon – 16
• Blastoise – 12
• Tsareena – 11.5
• Greedent – 11
• Aegislash & Blissey – 8
• Gardevoir – 3
• Trevenant – 1
• Decidueye & Mamoswine – 0

Every Pokémon placed above Aegislash received heavy nerfs in the patches following their release. Blissey is the only Pokémon to receive buffs in the patch following its release.

A historically healthy meta

Throughout Pokémon UNITE the number of Pokémon played in any week has varied from a low of 10 (Aug. 27) to a high of 22 (Dec. 10 and Feb. 12). As the number of Pokémon in the game expands it would make sense that more Pokémon would see play in the high level meta, but in an environment with high competition and low number of players that isn’t necessarily the case.

Dragonite’s introduction was timed with a shrinking of the meta. Following a peak of 22 Pokémon on Dec. 10, by Jan. 6, only 15 were seeing competitive play. Following the most recent balance patch, the numbers not only jumped back up to the old high but have remained steady since. Right now the meta is not only stable with the amount of Pokémon seeing play each week, but historically diverse.

There are a lot of niche picks that regularly fluctuate on-and-off the list (Decidueye, Mamoswine) and several that see consistent but low play numbers (Mr. Mime, Snorlax). Many Pokémon are in direct competition with each other as they compete as the optimal option for their role (Cinderace vs. Greninja, Pikachu vs. Venusaur). Sure there are some dominant presences (Eldegoss, Lucario) but they are less numerous in number and are still seeing play numbers below their historical averages. Overall, balance Patches 1.4.1.2 and 1.4.1.3 have delivered a more structurally diverse meta than previous patches.