Different types of Pokémon excel depending on your choice of arena in Pokémon Go. Because of these differences, former Pokémon Go World Champion MEweedle knows exactly which Pokémon he thinks are underrated and overrated, and which upcoming addition he’s anticipating most for the current meta.
After winning his second European International Championship on April 7, MEweedle reflected on his title run and the current Pokémon Go meta, which he called “the healthiest meta in a long time.” Despite feeling like the game is in a good place, there is still a focus on Pokémon like Gligar and Lanturn, which are viewed as safe picks at the highest level. With that in mind, MEweedle thinks two key Pokémon are underrated and overrated in the Show Six format used on the competitive circuit.
According to MEweedle, Chargabug is an underrated Pokémon in the current meta despite it already being in 33.3 percent of all teams on day one at EUIC 2024. “Given how many Pokémon are weak to it and how neutral it is into some [meta] teams, as long as you don’t see a Gligar, it’s pretty solid,” MEweedle said to Dot Esports. With its Bug/Electric typing, Chargjabug fits perfectly into a meta with multiple Flying and Water-type Pokémon, though calling it underrated might be a bit of a stretch.
Looking back at the last few events this year, Charjabug had a 44.8 percent usage rate across all teams at the Vancouver Regional, 43 percent usage at Goiânia Regionals, 44 percent at Dortmund Regionals, and 47 percent usage at Liverpool Regionals dating back to January. This is on top of being a general top threat in the Great League in the current balanced meta, though even with those stats, MEweedle thinks there is untapped potential for the Battery Pokémon.
The same can’t be said for Annihilape, however, who MEweedle calls an overrated pick despite appearing on over 45 percent of all teams at EUIC, and seeing other high-usage appearances since it debuted in January.
“Annihilape is [overused] for me personally, at least in Show Six. I think in GBL it is pretty solid, but it’s so easy to cover for in Show Six,” MEweedle said. “It’s neutral against many [Pokémon] but neutral is losing because it gets out bulked by stuff like Lanturn and Wishcash. I don’t think it’s bad, just a bit overrated.”
Annihilape likely won’t drop off too much heading into NAIC in June since it has such a strong position, though that doesn’t mean top players aren’t already looking toward what could be the next big addition to the meta.
According to MEweedle, he is most excited to see what Niantic does with Aegislash when its evolutionary line is finally added to the game. We’ve seen that Aegislash will have its signature Shield and Blade Forme variants, thanks to datamines, though we still don’t know if those will be treated as separate Pokémon or if Niantic will include a way to swap mid-battle, as it does in the main series thanks to its Stance Change ability.
