Smogon competitive Pokémon usage statistics for February 2020

February has come and gone with some big changes being made to the competitive meta for the Smogon competitive Pokémon tier lists, which are used by thousands of players around the world. 

Smogon is the main source of competitive Pokémon resources outside of The Pokémon Company, though it does operate separately from the official ruleset of the VGC.

With four main tiers that make up the competitive backbone of the entire Smogon community, the admins that keep track of usage statistics have provided the monthly wrap up for February. This was the first month with Pokémon Home adding in older Pokémon to the game, but the numbers still heavily favor the Galar natives who have been used since the game’s release in November. 

With the return of competitive staples like Incineroar, Garchomp, and many others, this will likely be the last time some of the early Gen 8 favorites see the light of day until the meta settles down again. But while the tiers are still fresh, here are the major statistics for Pokémon usage throughout the four main Smogon tiers – using the Top 10 from each chart. 

Overused

Only Clefable, Kommo-o, and Mandibuzz saw a rise in usage rate out of the Top 10 OU Pokémon, meaning that the addition of more options along with the removal of Dynamaxing has caused people to switch things up a bit. Dragapult is still sitting pretty at the top, but it has dipped below 40 percent usage for the first time this year. 

Older staples like Ditto and Rotom-Wash continue to fall and Galarian Darmanitan was also banned, so that opened the door for several other offensive Pokémon to take its place in the upper ranks. 

Weather War meta is also becoming more common as Torkoal and Hippowdon have both entered the OU tier, and Pelliper has risen into the Top 30 in usage over the last month. 

If a Pokémon reaches or falls below 4.52 usage in a tier, it will either rise or fall to the tier directly above or below it. There are circumstances where Pokémon can skip tiers entirely or be held in a “borderline” state for testing, but it is fairly common to see a large handful of drops out of OU into UU each month. 

Underused

Mamoswine took a slight drop from January while Galarian Weezing, Noivern, and Milotic have taken up the top three spots because of their versatility and strong stats that are the top tier in UU. Specifically, with the reigning UU top spot Galarian Weezing, it has good stats, great coverage, and can do a lot of damage to a team by itself given the right opportunity, even when using a more defensive set. 

Rarely used

RU is now officially out of beta after being tested for a month, and it is no surprise to see Gigalith sitting at such a high usage rate in a tier full of Flying, Fire, and Bug-type Pokémon. It is already being moved to UU after the conclusion of the data gathering, which means another sturdy body that can set up Stealth Rocks reliably will need to rise and fill the ranks. 

Torkoal and Machamp have also been moved out of RU, with Torkoal jumping all the way to OU and Machamp joining Gigalith in UU. 

Never used (Beta)

Replacing RU in beta is NU, the final tier that Smogon actually tracks and keeps statistics for to help relegation and balance for its main tiers. No statistics here really stand out, but Sandaconda and Rhydon might actually start to see some use in RU now that Gigalith is gone, just as testing for a solid replacement in some teams. 

Mantine and Silvally-Fairy are actually rising out of NU into RU already, while Froslass, Turtenator, and Eldegoss are falling to NU. You can find a full list of each statistic and tier change on the official Smogon forums.

Overall, the meta hasn’t changed too much, but March will likely see a huge shakeup with how many Pokémon are now available to use on the Smogon circuit.