Garchomp still runs the ladder on usage, but its grip slipped hard this week as a wave of Fairy, Dragon, and Steel answers flooded in during the back half.

Up in the 2000+ band (66 teams), Mimikyu is co-#1 with Garchomp at 39% apiece, and the skill-skewed picks jump right out. Greninja is run 21% up top versus just 6% in the pack, and Mawile tells the exact same story at 20% vs 7%. Mimikyu itself skews high too, 39% up here against 27% lower down. These are the pilot-reward picks: fast pivots and Fairy breakers that pay off most when you actually know your matchups.

Down in the 1000-1999 band (305 teams), the meta leans on rawer, more forgiving power. Metagross is a huge 28% here versus 18% up top, Raichu is 16% vs 6%, and Ninetales sits at 11% vs 2%: all picks that overperform in the mid-band and thin out as rating climbs. Garchomp is actually most popular of all right here at 42%, so if you're grinding this range, expect a Ground shark in nearly every other lobby and pack your Ice and Fairy accordingly.

The back half of the week was all about punishing Garchomp, and the counters tell you exactly why the risers rose. Dragonite jumped from 6% to 15%, and it's not shy about the job: a Dragon-typed Draco Meteor lands super effective on Garchomp and blows straight past the #1 pick. Clefable climbed from 2% to 8% doing the same work from the other side, threatening a super effective Moonblast that Garchomp just can't sit in front of. Even Mimikyu, already the #2 pick, ticked up from 28% to 31%, largely because its Fairy STAB Play Rough is one more clean answer to the shark. And on top of all that Garchomp eats a brutal x4 from Ice, so the whole ladder brought a knife to that fight.

Here's where it gets fun: the same risers that beat Garchomp bred their own predators. Mimikyu's surge dragged Excadrill (2% to 8%) and Aegislash (4% to 8%) up right alongside it, both leaning on Steel to muscle the disguised sweeper off the field. Excadrill's Iron Head hits Mimikyu super effective, and Aegislash's King's Shield gives it a safe, Steel-typed way to plant itself in front of Play Rough and Shadow Sneak. So the web reads clean: Garchomp on top, Fairy and Dragon rising to check it, and Steel rising a step behind to check the checks.

On the way down, Garchomp shed ten points from 42% to 32% as all those answers piled in, and it took its friends down with it. Archaludon (13% to 6%), Delphox (13% to 6%), and Ninetales (11% to 4%) all cratered, and Corviknight slid from 18% to 12%. The ladder is visibly rotating off the early-week Dragon-heavy shells and onto teams built specifically to break them.

Steel is the real backbone at 82%, carried by Metagross, Corviknight, and Kingambit, which is no surprise given it walls both the Fairy and Dragon answers flying around the format. Dragon (74%, Garchomp, Hydreigon, Archaludon) and Fire (70%, Blaziken, Delphox, Charizard) drive the offense, while Ghost (70%, Mimikyu, Skeledirge, Gengar) and Fairy (66%, Mimikyu, Primarina, Mawile) both trace back to how central Mimikyu is to the whole picture.

With Dark (69%, Hydreigon, Meowscarada, Kingambit), Water (67%, Primarina, Gyarados, Greninja), and Ground (67%, Garchomp, Hippowdon, Swampert) all clustered up in the high sixties too, this is a broad, evenly spread type landscape rather than a two-type dictatorship. That lines up perfectly with the 65% of teams running balanced builds: the backbone is Steel plus Dragon, but almost every type earns a real seat at the table.