Competitive Pokemon Meta Breakdown For All Formats in Generation 8

Incineroar and Regieleki have a stranglehold over the top two usage slots. That tells us they aren’t facing much competition as team leads. 

To anyone out of the loop, Incineroar packs a nasty turn one Fake Out flinch, which is compounded by his Intimidate ability that drops opposing Pokemon’s attack by 33% every time he jumps into battle. Regieleki tends to spit out Light Screen and Reflect then blow himself up with explosion to preserve momentum. Although, Regieleki has a signature trapping move and a pretty stout Special Attack rating. You may be surprised to know most sets aren’t using him for screens at all anymore.

You can most likely expect to see Regieleki running moves like Electroweb, Protect, and Volt Switch: All of which boast more than 75% usage.

Whimsicott shoots up to 5th place, letting us know that a ton of Tailwind teams are reaching for their torches and pitchforks. Whimsicott has officially sealed its title as Pokemon’s premier Tailwind user, as it tops each of these lists. This is namely due to his ability “Prankster” increasing the priority of support moves. Tailwind gets priority. Suddenly, Whimsicott’s teammate gets a speed buff and hits before the opponent has time to blink.

Speaking of Tailwind, Tornadus (11th) and Yveltal (21st) seem to have abandoned poor Talonflame in 79th place while fighting tooth-and-nail for that coveted “Flying-type Tailwind user” award.

Both forms of Urshifu made all three lists. I respect the increase in rapid-strike usage… but it still isn’t enough to edge out the classic single strike set. Single strike Urshifu takes home his most impressive award here: 6th place.

Landorus still reigns as the king of Rock Slide, with so much representation that the only other Ground-type brave enough to poke its head out in the top 50 is Groudon.