What is Showdown Tier?
Showdown Tier is a comprehensive Pokemon competitive statistics platform that provides detailed analysis and tier rankings for various competitive formats. Our mission is to help competitive Pokemon players make informed decisions by providing accurate, data-driven insights into the current metagame.
We analyze thousands of battles daily to generate usage statistics, individual Pokemon win rates, tier rankings, and detailed matchup data for Pokemon across multiple competitive formats including VGC (Video Game Championships) and OU (OverUsed).
What distinguishes Showdown Tier from other statistics platforms is our emphasis on win rate tracking for each Pokemon. While many excellent sites focus on usage rates, move sets, item choices, and ability distributions, we specialize in answering the question: "How well does this Pokemon actually perform in battle?" This unique focus helps players identify not just popular picks, but effective ones.
Our Data Sources
Battle Data
All battle statistics are sourced from publicly available battles on Pokémon Showdown. We analyze real competitive battles to ensure our statistics reflect actual gameplay patterns and strategies used by players worldwide.
Data Collection Policy:
- Battle data is extracted only from publicly spectatable matches on Pokémon Showdown
- To minimize server load, we collect a sampled subset of available battles rather than all spectatable matches
- Analysis is limited to major competitive formats to reduce impact on Pokémon Showdown's infrastructure
Pokemon Images
Pokemon images are provided by PokéAPI, a free and open Pokemon data API. We are grateful for their comprehensive image database that helps us present Pokemon visually.
Data Limitations
Showdown Tier uses a sampled collection of publicly spectatable Pokémon Showdown battles, not a census of every battle. Sampling and small sample sizes can introduce statistical noise, so individual rates should be interpreted as estimates rather than guarantees.
The Pokémon Showdown ladder has its own player population and metagame. Its trends may differ from official battles played on Nintendo Switch, and the rating distribution in our sample may overrepresent the middle of the ladder.
A Pokémon's win rate is based on the outcome of the team that included it. It is therefore a team-level signal and does not measure that individual Pokémon's contribution in isolation.
Update Frequency
Our statistics are updated regularly to reflect the current competitive landscape:
- Daily Updates: All reports including tier rankings and statistics are updated daily
- Battle Data: Battle data is collected and processed daily
- Format Changes: New formats are added as they become available in competitive play
What We Provide
Tier Rankings
Comprehensive tier lists (S, A, B, C, D, E) based on usage rates and performance metrics
Usage Statistics
Detailed usage percentages showing how frequently each Pokemon appears in competitive battles
Win Rate Analysis
Individual win rate tracking for each Pokemon—a core feature that sets us apart. Understand which Pokemon are not just popular, but actually winning battles
Matchup Data
Favorable and unfavorable matchups, plus synergy analysis with common team partners
Trend Analysis
Time-series data showing how Pokemon usage and performance changes over time
Multiple Formats
Support for VGC, OU, and other popular competitive formats
Our Methodology
We document how we collect battle data, define each metric, and calculate tiers so that our statistics can be understood and evaluated in context.
Read our full methodology
Explore the data pipeline, aggregation filters, metric definitions, Tier calculation matrix, team archetype analysis, and known limitations.
Disclaimer
Important: Showdown Tier is an independent, unofficial fan-made project created for educational and informational purposes.
Pokémon and Pokémon character names are trademarks of Nintendo, Creatures Inc., and GAME FREAK inc. All Pokémon images and names are copyright of their respective owners.
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to The Pokémon Company, Nintendo, Creatures Inc., GAME FREAK inc., Pokémon Showdown, or PokéAPI. This is an unofficial, fan-created statistics platform.
Operator Information
Site Operator
Showdown Tier is operated by an independent competitive Pokémon analyst with more than ten years of experience in Pokémon Double Battles. The operator has participated in VGC qualifiers every year since VGC 2013, following the format through its changing rules and metagames.
Technical Background
The operator designs, builds, and maintains the data collection and statistical processing system behind Showdown Tier. The system collects sampled public battle logs, stores the data, calculates usage and win-rate statistics, and generates daily reports.
Why Showdown Tier Exists
Many existing statistics sites make usage rates easy to find, but do not show how often each Pokémon contributes to winning. Showdown Tier was created to address that gap by pairing usage information with Pokémon win-rate analysis and contextual matchup data.
Contact & Feedback
We value your feedback and are constantly working to improve our service. If you have questions, suggestions, or notice any issues with our data, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Visit our Contact page to get in touch with us.
Acknowledgments
This project would not be possible without the following communities and services:
- Pokémon Showdown - For providing the platform and publicly accessible battle data
- PokéAPI - For Pokemon images
- The Pokemon Community - For continuous competitive gameplay that generates the data we analyze