Pokémon Champions: Why this Pokémon appears on every other team

Since the end of the first Pokémon Champions tournament, it has become possible to make an initial assessment of which Pokémon are dominating the current meta. The VGC event, which featured $500 in prize money, was organized by Joel “NinoPokeBros” Nin. The analysis is based on data from Pikalytics that was posted on X by Pokémon Champions Stats. One thing stands out immediately: more than half of all players had one specific Pokémon on their team, namely the humanoid fire cat Incineroar.

Incineroar posted a pick rate of 53.76%, making it by far the most-played Pokémon in the current meta, and for good reason. With Intimidate, Fake Out and Parting Shot, Incineroar brings enormous utility while still being able to apply plenty of pressure with moves such as Flare Blitz and Darkest Lariat. Incineroar fits into almost any team composition, whether offensive or defensive. Its greatest strength lies less in raw damage and more in its role as a pivot.

Control-oriented teams in particular are often built around Incineroar. As a pivot, it can be switched in and out repeatedly to reactivate Intimidate and keep lowering the opponent’s Attack. Intimidate reduces the opposing Pokémon’s Attack on entry, Fake Out can shut down an action on the first turn and Parting Shot lowers Attack and Special Attack before Incineroar safely switches out again. Physical sweepers such as Dragonite or Garchomp can then come in and deal the decisive damage.

Also interesting

Also worth noting is Floette, which many players consider one of the strongest Mega Evolutions. Even so, it appeared on only 11.3% of teams in the tournament. That is likely because many players do not actually have access to it. At the moment, it is not available through regular recruitment in Pokémon Champions and instead has to be transferred from Pokémon Legends: Z-A, which means it is largely limited to players who own a Nintendo Switch 2 (currently $449 on Amazon).

The winning team provided another surprise. Tournament winner Ursaking took first place with Mega Delphox, which does not even appear on the list of the most-played Pokémon. That shows that more unusual picks can still succeed at the highest level with the right strategy, and it should encourage at least some players to experiment a bit more with their teams.