Been a looong time since I made a usage stats post, but with UU Open being the biggest individual UU tour of the year I couldn’t resist gathering usage stats to illustrate current meta trends for Round 2. I think there’s a fair amount to be said about these usage stats and I figured I would share my thoughts on some things that stood out to me. I also combined the multiple form Pokemon like Polteageist, Toxtricity, Florges, and Maushold since they’re basically the same Pokemon and tiered the same. I also merged the Indeedee since they’re also practically the same. Despite the large sample size, these stats aren’t perfect, as sample teams were used in a fair amount of games, but I still think they’re indicative of metagame trends for the most part and I think you’ll find that as well.
Round 2
Code:
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Use | Usage % | Win % |
+ ---- + ------------------ + ---- + ------- + ------- +
| 1 | Sandy Shocks | 127 | 35.28% | 53.54% |
| 2 | Tinkaton | 122 | 33.89% | 53.28% |
| 3 | Scizor | 119 | 33.06% | 47.06% |
| 4 | Talonflame | 105 | 29.17% | 53.33% |
| 5 | Gastrodon | 92 | 25.56% | 45.65% |
| 6 | Salamence | 91 | 25.28% | 52.75% |
| 7 | Wo-Chien | 87 | 24.17% | 52.87% |
| 8 | Tyranitar | 71 | 19.72% | 47.89% |
| 9 | Cyclizar | 66 | 18.33% | 63.64% |
| 10 | Hippowdon | 65 | 18.06% | 55.38% |
| 11 | Quaquaval | 63 | 17.50% | 36.51% |
| 12 | Slowbro | 58 | 16.11% | 58.62% |
| 13 | Decidueye | 55 | 15.28% | 45.45% |
| 14 | Iron Jugulis | 53 | 14.72% | 41.51% |
| 15 | Scream Tail | 42 | 11.67% | 47.62% |
| 16 | Alomomola | 41 | 11.39% | 51.22% |
| 17 | Greninja | 40 | 11.11% | 57.50% |
| 17 | Pelipper | 40 | 11.11% | 30.00% |
| 19 | Gengar | 35 | 9.72% | 51.43% |
| 19 | Quagsire | 35 | 9.72% | 51.43% |
| 21 | Donphan | 34 | 9.44% | 44.12% |
| 22 | Magnezone | 33 | 9.17% | 51.52% |
| 23 | Tauros-Paldea-Aqua | 32 | 8.89% | 53.12% |
| 23 | Polteageist | 32 | 8.06% | 55.17% |
| 25 | Hawlucha | 28 | 7.78% | 60.71% |
| 25 | Indeedee-F | 28 | 7.78% | 54.55% |
| 27 | Mimikyu | 26 | 7.22% | 69.23% |
| 27 | Slither Wing | 26 | 7.22% | 61.54% |
| 29 | Rotom-Heat | 25 | 6.94% | 52.00% |
| 30 | Pawmot | 24 | 6.67% | 50.00% |
| 31 | Haxorus | 23 | 6.39% | 43.48% |
| 32 | Gardevoir | 22 | 6.11% | 59.09% |
| 32 | Maushold | 22 | 6.11% | 50.00% |
| 34 | Noivern | 21 | 5.83% | 47.62% |
| 35 | Brambleghast | 20 | 5.56% | 45.00% |
| 36 | Armarouge | 19 | 5.28% | 68.42% |
| 36 | Gyarados | 19 | 5.28% | 26.32% |
| 38 | Sylveon | 18 | 5.00% | 55.56% |
| 38 | Kilowattrel | 18 | 5.00% | 38.89% |
| 40 | Floatzel | 17 | 4.72% | 35.29% |
| 41 | Florges | 14 | 3.89% | 83.33% |
| 41 | Toxtricity | 14 | 3.89% | 50.00% |
| 43 | Grafaiai | 13 | 3.61% | 30.77% |
| 43 | Rotom-Mow | 13 | 3.61% | 30.77% |
| 43 | Espeon | 13 | 3.61% | 30.77% |
| 46 | Tauros-Paldea-Blaze | 11 | 3.06% | 36.36% |
| 46 | Hariyama | 11 | 3.06% | 27.27% |
| 46 | Tsareena | 11 | 3.06% | 18.18% |
| 49 | Gallade | 10 | 2.78% | 70.00% |
| 49 | Lucario | 10 | 2.78% | 60.00% |
| 51 | Blissey | 9 | 2.50% | 55.56% |
| 51 | Oricorio-Pom-Pom | 9 | 2.50% | 22.22% |
| 51 | Barraskewda | 9 | 2.50% | 11.11% |
| 54 | Lycanroc-Dusk | 8 | 2.22% | 87.50% |
| 54 | Bisharp | 8 | 2.22% | 75.00% |
| 54 | Cloyster | 8 | 2.22% | 62.50% |
| 54 | Dragalge | 8 | 2.22% | 50.00% |
| 54 | Golduck | 8 | 2.22% | 37.50% |
| 59 | Weavile | 7 | 1.94% | 71.43% |
| 59 | Iron Thorns | 7 | 1.94% | 71.43% |
| 61 | Lokix | 6 | 1.67% | 16.67% |
| 61 | Forretress | 6 | 1.67% | 0.00% |
| 63 | Ditto | 5 | 1.39% | 60.00% |
| 63 | Tatsugiri | 5 | 1.39% | 60.00% |
| 63 | Altaria | 5 | 1.39% | 40.00% |
| 63 | Staraptor | 5 | 1.39% | 0.00% |
| 67 | Brute Bonnet | 4 | 1.11% | 50.00% |
| 67 | Coalossal | 4 | 1.11% | 25.00% |
| 69 | Froslass | 2 | 0.56% | 100.00% |
| 69 | Samurott | 2 | 0.56% | 50.00% |
| 69 | Klefki | 2 | 0.56% | 50.00% |
| 69 | Lycanroc | 2 | 0.56% | 50.00% |
| 69 | Grimmsnarl | 2 | 0.56% | 0.00% |
| 69 | Pincurchin | 2 | 0.56% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Glaceon | 1 | 0.28% | 100.00% |
| 75 | Lilligant | 1 | 0.28% | 100.00% |
| 75 | Abomasnow | 1 | 0.28% | 100.00% |
| 75 | Cetitan | 1 | 0.28% | 100.00% |
| 75 | Farigiraf | 1 | 0.28% | 100.00% |
| 75 | Mudsdale | 1 | 0.28% | 100.00% |
| 75 | Glimmet | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Drednaw | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Muk | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Murkrow | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Zoroark | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Braviary | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
| 75 | Flamigo | 1 | 0.28% | 0.00% |
Some things that stood out to me include
Gengar was sitting at 19th place tied with Quagsire, which is certainly a sight to see considering there were calls to ban it for a long time this generation that didn’t really disappear until the drops. Speaking of the drops, Cyclizar, who currently is in a phenomenal 9th place, really hinders it as a faster, Shadow Ball deterrent. In the top 10 there are generally a lot of Pokemon that hinder Gengar a lot as well. Sandy is bulky enough to eat a Choice Specs Shadow Ball and KOes back, Tinkaton handles it, Talon is faster and picks off Gengar after some chip, Scizor revenge kills it, Gastrodon checks it, Salamence also takes a Sludge Bomb and can punish an Energy Ball, Wo-Chien deters Shadow Ball spam, same with Tyranitar although most sets are offensive, and Hippowdon also checks it well. Its lack of bulk requires a lot of support to get on the field, and while that may not be an issue with our plentiful pivots, it still has to predict properly every time or risk getting punished hard. Doesn’t help Scream Tail or Alomomola which are very common on basically any balance structure scouts the move with Protect as well, foes that Gengar would normally love to KO. Other sets lack the immediate raw power and are more difficult to pull off. Seeing Gengar this low is a surprise, but comparing its place in the metagame to everything above it it’s not hard to see why.
I did not expect this Pokemon to be so high; I don’t use Decidueye too much and knew it was a good Pokemon but I was certainly surprised to see it above Pokemon like Iron Jugulis, Scream Tail, and Alomomola. After watching some games, however, I can get behind the hype. Useful defensive typing with valuable support in Knock Off and Defog, synergizing with common Pokemon like Hippowdon, Salamence, and Talonflame, and maintaining a good offensive presence all make Decidueye potent in the metagame right now. Most foes hate the combination of Leaf Storm + Knock Off, as without Wish support Tinkaton, Salamence, and Scizor can be worn down much easier without their items.
Seeing an A+ ranked threat be this low certainly raises questions about its ranking. More of a topic for the VR thread, but I’ll still talk about it in this post. While potent, Pawmot lacks the raw splashability seen by Pokemon like Wo-Chien, Scizor, Talonflame, and Tinkaton. It's got a good Speed tier but gets run over by offense badly. One of the scariest Pokemon in the tier but also is pretty mid-high risk despite the very high reward.
and
If tiering was based on usage stats, both of these Pokemon would make UU by usage. Gardevoir is both a great Choice Specs and Choice Scarf user, taking the route of a very offensive Fairy-type to drop anything that isn’t a Tinkaton really when using specs or being a rare good Choice Scarf user. Mystical Fire is still an option for Tinkaton as well, meaning it doesn’t need Magnezone support. As for Sylveon, we all know what it does so I won’t repeat it again, but it making the cutoff while Florges did not is due to the sample teams featuring Sylveon. Both are basically the same though with minor differences, so both Sylveon and Florges alongside Gardevoir are shown to be becoming a part of the UU metagame.
Closing the post off, I’ll go the other way and show Pokemon that would not be UU by usage using the thought experiment of usage being based on these stats:
These make sense for the most part, with the only surprise being Lucario, which makes sense because of Scizor’s dominance but it’s still a fairly strong sweeper right now. While a few others like Espeon and Fire Tauros are still solid Pokemon in the metagame that are just a little more niche, the rest range from mediocre to outright unviable. Toedscruel in particular didn’t get used once last round which shows just how dogshit it is. Please let it and the other shitters drop. I hope this post was enjoyable to read. Feel free to share your own thoughts on some cool trends shown from open as well as your own personal experiences. It’s tiring being upset about the tier so try to look for the good side of things.
I thought this mon would be dumb as hell but so far it's kind of whatever, it has a lot of the same issues as gengar in struggling to get onto the field at times, although its improved movepool and illusion mindgames makes it clearly superior to gengar in my opinion. I could still see this being ridiculously annoying long term when paired with mons such as maushold or quaquaval as it's a great lure for their checks but I haven't seen it do much yet. Definitely a solid mon but doesn't seem like anything special.
I wasn't really playing the first time this dropped so I'm not too familiar with it, I've also yet to see it on ladder. Maybe it can carve out a niche seeing as we have so few steel types but it seems very ordinary and I don't see much of a reason to use it.
I can't see this mon being able to run synthesis, even with pelipper rising likely making weather slightly less omnipresent. That leaves leech seed as its only recovery which could actually be pretty good given its ability to threaten wo chien and sit on a lot of defensive mons, making it kind of a massive nuisance for a lot of balance teams. The big problem is in order to make use of this you have to find some way of removing decidueye or else you have a completely dead slot if you face it. Seems very inconsistent and lacks longevity vs offense which will likely mean it struggles to make its presence really felt, but it seems ok.
Just use greninja.
1v1 and thus can keep spikes up against it. A solid ttar and wo chien check and can answer choiced gengars and zoroarks that only have shadow ball and focus blast for their attacks well. Fun mon and im looking forward to seeing what else people do with it
