RECENT ARTICLES
Pokemon 101: Effort Values

Effort Values make up a large portion of a Pokemon’s “total stats.” Mostly hidden from the game’s interface, EV’s exist for all 6 of the main stats (HP/Atk/Def/SpA/SpD/Spe) and each range from 0-252 per stat. For a simplistic calculation of EV’s, once a Pokemon has reached level 100, it will receive 1 stat point for every […]
Pokemon Needs Game State Recovery

A double game freeze is a case in which both players’ games lock up mid-match due to some form of game error. We’ve already seen this before now in VGC 18, with the Snorlax Curse bug causing enough trouble that the move was outright banned before Dallas Regionals. Due to the immediate pressure on Game Freak to have this issue resolved before a number of larger tournaments coming, an outright ban was a relatively fair solution. The move wasn’t dominating the meta by any means (though putting up good results when used), and so forcing Snorlax players to instead utilize Belly Drum wasn’t the end of the world.
Pokemon 101: Stats

While we may want to dive right into selecting members for our team, there are a few topics worth discussing before doing so. Get ready to learn some Pokemon math, and how it applies to the competitive game!
LATEST NEWS
December's Top VGC 18 Teams January 13, 2018
Our latest article is out, and it's based on some pretty cool data! We've recently been working on a new data pipeline for Pikalytics, and have just been able to show it off this past week! Our new data processing allows for some heavy data mining, allowing us to find trends and information which were never before possible. If you're not already following us on Twitter, head on over and check us out! We've been posting our latest findings for our community there, with this most recent article following up on our data. We've gotten an outpouring of support from our community via Twitter, and that's so great to see! You're the reason we do this, so it means a lot!

Have you come across any major teams we missed in the article? Are you working working on a team you want to discuss? Share with us on Twitter!
Usage Stats Coming Soon, and Pokemon 101 December 30, 2017
As you may have noticed, usage stats are pretty behind at the moment on Pikalytics. Unforutunately our VGC 2018 section is still referencing Battle Spot Doubles data from before USUM was released (this is why you may see things like Static Zapdos), due to some troubles with Smogon's Showdown data collection. Antar has been working hard at getting things fixed up, and has provided a recent status update that we are to expect the Showdown data dump in early January. Exciting stuff! We're very appreciate of all of the hard work that the Showdown team puts in, they do a lot for the community!

In other news, Pokemon 101 has received a new installment in the series! This discussion covers the early VGC 2018 format, and breaks down the lead archetypes, so that you know what to build, and build against when beginning on a team.

Did we miss any dominant archetypes in our overview? Have a rogue team that you think beats the field? Share with us on Twitter!
October Usage Stats and Ultra Sun and Moon! November 15, 2017
The new releases are just around the corner! We're only a couple of days away from Ultra Sun and Moon, be sure to check in for data around the new VGC format as the meta emerges. Have a cool team you're trying out? Share with us on Twitter!
May Usage Stats Are Here! June 8, 2017
It's that time of month again, Showdown Usage Stats are out! Head on over to our Pokedex and feast your eyes on the changing (still Arcanine dominated) meta!

As we've shouted out before, big props to the Showdown team for working through their server troubles, awesome to have the usage data back in action.

A small aside, we've also brought the NU Alpha into the Pikalytics pokedex to help you all team build and define out the format. Go nuts with it!

What do you think about the latest VGC data? Are we going to have to wait for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon before Arcanine is dethroned? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter!
The Birth Of Pokemon 101 June 7, 2017
While many of us that frequent Pikalytics for information are very familiar with the competitive side of Pokemon, there are still many out there who are pushed out of playing competitively by how daunting things seem when trying to get started. From the get-go, Pikalytics' purpose has always been to try and help newer players digest what data there is out there. Well if that weren't enough, we're starting on a guide series to try and get new trainers up to speed in no time flat! The first segment of the guide is live in our Pokemon 101 section, so head on over there and give it a read!

Has Pokemon 101 already helped you out? Anything that could be improved on it? Let us know on Twitter!
Pikalytics V2 Is Live! May 29, 2017
Things looking different around here? You bet they are, Pikalytics v2 is now live! This is a big change to the website layout, so we'll be watching closely to make sure things are operating as normal.

User feedback will be huge in getting v2 to the best iteration Pikalytics has seen. Let us know what you think of the new look, and let us know on Twitter if you're having any troubles/annoyances!
Formats Galore May 22, 2017
VGC formats are pretty cool, but is that all there is to competitive Pokemon!? As of today, you can now find some of the most popular unofficial-format usage stats on Pikalytics! Visit the Pokedex to find data for the Monotype, Under Used and Rarely Used formats!

Enjoying the new formats? Let us know on Twitter!
March Showdown Usage May 21, 2017
March data is up! The Showdown team has been working hard to recover from their recent server troubles, and thus we have some usage stats for March! Major kudos to them for gettings things back to a functioning state, server problems are never fun.

On the data side of things, players have finally found a way to dethrone Arcanine from the number 1 spot

... no, just kidding. We've seen Gigalith proceed to slowly move up in the ranks, maybe it will continue to put that firey dog in its place while anti-Arcanine innovation keeps evolving. Find another solution to the Arcanine problem? We want to hear it on Twitter!
May Update May 14, 2017
Hey there Pikalytics fans! As you may have noticed, data has moved a lot over the last couple of months. For those of you that follow the Smogon/Showdown scene, you may be aware that Pokemon Showdown had some server issues in April/March which has since halted data extraction (data which we use here for usage stats). If you're curious to follow along yourself, a discussion on the matter may be found here.

In the meantime, the Tournaments section of the website has been updated with some of the most recent major tournaments on the Regional circuit! Check out the teams that are taking the titles, and let us know what you think on Twitter!
February Showdown Stats March 10, 2017
Pokemon Showdown Usage Stats for February are up on Pikalytics! Thanks to Pokemon Showdown and Antar for compiling and releasing the stats as always!

Arcanine needs to be stopped! Do you have a solution? Let us know on Twitter!
January Showdown Stats February 4, 2017
The latest Pokemon Showdown Usage Stats are available on Pikalytics! Thanks to Pokemon Showdown and Antar for compiling and releasing the stats as always!

See any spicy new sets or team comps? Let us know on Twitter!
Today's aDrDoS, and moving forward January 19, 2017
As many of you may have seen, Pikalytics recieved a big shoutout from Twitch/YouTube personality aDrive during his stream today! This directly brought in a large amount of new users and followers, which was awesome to see!

Of course, with this major influx of users, came a slew of performance issues resulting from an all-time high concurrent connections for the site (which really is a tough thing to complain about, regardless of the instability it may have caused).

So how can Pikalytics push forward through this traffic you might be asking?

Let me tell you! Since the influx of traffic today, we've been hard at work to build an all new cache layer into the site, as well as moving our hosting to a more stable option on Amazon Web Services' EC2. This should provide major performance benefits for the website, as well as allowing us to do a better job scaling sideways when any future user surges may occur. Thank you for all of the support that the site has recieved, and we'll do our best to keep things running nice and smoothly as we push on!
Pikalytics Damage Calculator January 12, 2017
We've got our very own damage calculator, based off of the tried and true tool from Honko that you're all familiar with! Check it out in the header and get to calculating your precise sets for VGC2017.

Anyone who frequents our Team Builder may also notice the new "Damage Calc" button visible on each of your teammates. This button allows you to take the sets you're currently working on in our team builder, and crunch the numbers with just the click of a button!

Like the calculator? Let us know on Twitter, we'd love to hear from you!
Twitter, and Dallas Regionals breakdown January 11, 2017
We've found our way onto Twitter! Hit us with a follow so you don't miss our competitive Pokemon of the day, as well as news and updates regarding the site.

In game news, head on over to our Tournament Reports section to find full team breakdowns of the recent VGC2017 Dallas Regionals! Players brought some sets to the tournament which looked to mix things up since San Jose. With appearances from Mandibuzz, Vikavolt, and Mudsdale, it's clear the the format still has a lot of room to grow and be innovated upon. Jump in for the full scoop, and see how your team compares to the ones already putting up respectable finishes.
Home page, and tournament reports January 7, 2017
If you're reading this, you may have noticed that we now have a home page! Here you'll be able to find recent news about Pikalytics, as well as the day's top Pokemon on the site. Check in frequently to see what Trick Room setters, Special Sweepers, and Walls are being looked at! These rankings will update throughout the day, so get to viewing Pokemon and see how they stack up against each other.

Along with the home page there is now a Tournament report section, where you can find the top teams, moves and strategies from recent official tournaments. See what Pokemon the top players in the world are using, and how they're using them. Tournament information will be posted as soon as it's available from the official sources.