GG META Report Update - Highest Single Team Usage % on gg Ever?

4/22 Bump....

https://swgoh.gg/meta-report/

Rex closing gap, now at 36% leader usage vs. zDM at 42%...still little movement for the 3rd place leader - zJinn, zDV, Wedge, DN, and GK fighting for the scraps (DN should be higher as a lead, but seems he's not picking up steam).

Rex / 3x cleanse + DN squad is up to 46% - it's growth has slowed recently so it may be peaking? Might not hit the 50% mark.

What is really jumping out now is DN usage % on all teams....74%! That's impressive.

4/29 Bump...

zDM continues to lose support, although slowly. Leadership usage now down to 40% for DM - his low since becoming elite - Rex holding steady at 36% from the last update on 4/22. Still no notable 3rd leader - everything else 4% or less.

Other notable items:
- 3x cleanse / DN team usage % up to 62% as a specific individual team. A whopping leap from 4/22 when it was at 46%! I'm honestly not 100% sure what that means given the # of teams and the percentages not totaling to 100%, but the relative comparison with the next closest team at 18% is impressive. Also, moving from 46% to 62% - clearly a big trend in favor of that team's usage. I have 5 of this specific setup in my top 15 currently.
- DN is now up to 75% usage in all squads - a modest 1 percentage point bump from 4/22...that's a really high usage.
- GK is putting some distance between him and Maul ...47% usage for GK vs. 41% for DM
- Rex is scarcely used as a non-leader....of the 797 Rex used in #1 squads, 765 are as a leader (96%)
- EP's usage of 39% marks the first time I can recall him under 40% - he's definitely slipping in favor of other toons....good ole Rex has almost passed the Emperor
- Going to keep an eye on Chaze in this as well...he's at 36/35% (Baze / Chirrut) usage. I assume this will only go up over time as the own / build rate for Chaze across the game population increases.

5/6/17 BUMP

zDM's slump continues and expectation is for that trend to sustain going forward. Leader usage now down to 35%. Rex's up to 40%, so Rex continues to take share from zDM. Rex may pop up a bit more, but as zDM fades away I think we will spread to some other leaders gradually. DN lead, as it should, seems to be gaining a bit of steam as it settles in to 3rd at 4%, passing zQGJ just barely. Possibly some former zDM users saw the easy conversion to a DN squad and went that route. Regardless, he's a solid lead in a well built team - just don't fight Vader leads :)

Also as expected, Chaze has now passed zDM in general character usage. Baze and Chirrut are at 39/38% usage respectively, with Maul at 36%. DN still leads in overall usage at 76%, but that's down from a 78% number I saw at his peak. I believe some R2 / pure LS squads may lessen his usage to a degree going forward. We will see - he's still really strong generally. GK stands strong in usage at 48%, currently 2nd place ahead of Rex at 42%. As mentioned above, it's Chaze rounding out the top 5. Actually just noticed...that's your 3x cleanse / DN elite meta squad right there.

And.....BEEP BOOP BOP...our little droid R2 D2 enters the report at 8% character usage overall- pretty impressive debut and that # is surely going to go up in the coming weeks. I'd set the over / under on R2's normal run-rate usage at 35%. I'd think 25% at a min - he's strong, but we will see. He's got upside to push with his wide versatility and great skill set.

Team wise, the 3x cleanse / DN squad is still far and away #1, but the % is down a bit at 59% (309 count) - seems it lost some steam in favor of a Rex / Chaze / Kylo / DN version. Next closest Maul team is at 17% - zDM, Savagae, EP, DN, SA. The highest squad featuring R2 is at 5% (26 count) and features Rex L, Chaze, R2 and DN.

5/15 bump - Monday Edition since weekend was busy with Mother's Day! Hope all the moms out there had a great weekend! :)

Pretty big changes are afoot in the Galaxy of Heroes....


Headlines & Hot Takes:
- R2MFD2....less than 2 weeks old and not an easy gear for many, the little droid cracks in the top 10 (#10) in character usage, passing Sith Assassin, Boba, and Vader at 19% usage. Definitely see R2 pushing to #6 most used eventually, moving past Kylo, Savage, and EP. This one will be fun to watch. He's already had a tremendous impact on the game and has actually brought back WIGGS to a degree - Wedge is the big winner in leader usage trend this week as noted below and that's all due to R2D2
- 3x Cleanse is still far and away your most used individual comp
- The components of 3x cleanse (DN, GK, Chaze, Rex) comprise your top 5 most used characters and the dropoff from them to zDM is getting very large (43% vs. 28%) - the game is opening up a chasm in terms of tiered character usage
- Rex leader usage is actually UP from last week at 42% (vs. 40% last week) - so even as DM plummets in to oblivion (down to 28% from 36% last week) Rex is GAINING share! Never doubt THE REX - he's been breaking backs for over a year now. Farm that man!
- Pure dark side is really on the ropes here - they are in terrible need of a strong Tarkin rework, a Thrawn release, or....I don't know :) If Luke's arrival is upon us.....turn out the lights...the party's over!


Arena Leaders:
- zDM continues his hard slide, now down to 28% usage - he's losing support daily and this number probably goes below 10% at some point not too long from now
- Rex is maintaining and modestly gaining support even as zDM fades away in to eventual irrelevance
- WEDGE!!! Yes, his orange pajama pants are back! His trend is on a huge uptick at the moment, going from irrelevance in the past months to the clear #3 leader at 7% usage. No other lead under the zDM / Rex era has been able to crack 5% that I've noticed, which is where DN and Jinn are currently. Absolutely Wedge is a direct benefactor of R2 and the huge stat push and smoke screen ability.

Rank 1 Squad Comp
- 3x Cleanse + DN is still far and away the #1 overall comp at 336 counts / 64%...those numbers are actually UP from last week, so this team is still pushing up
- zDM squad is 2nd at 85 counts / 16%
- Rex led squads make up 3 of the top 4 builds
- The top non-Rex / zDM lead is a wedge comp with GK / R2 and Chaze - 55 counts and 11% - 6th most popular overall
- R2 impact: 4 of the 10 most popular individual builds have R2 in the team - huge impact from R2

Character Usage
- DN still far and away #1 used character at 76% - his support has held above 75% for weeks now
- GK holding strong at 51% usage - steady from last week
- CHAZE - as expected, the dynamic duo continue to gain usage and are up to 44/43% compared to 39/38% last week. This number has potential to go much higher, but is just restrained to the extent more players can readily farm / build the duo, but this usage rate I would expect to get over 50% easily with legit upside even after 50%. These guys are solidly above the remainder of the roster and any player really serious about ranking 1 for now and in the long-term would do well to have them farmed and built.
- Rex rounds out the top 5 at 43% usage tied with Chirrut
- Your 6-10 are Maul, EP, Kylo, Savage and.....R2!!!! Impressive TOP 10 standing for the droid that's less than 2 weeks old. Already blew past superstars like Sith Assassin, Boba, and Darth Vader!!! Wow - huge release right there and for free to a large % of the playerbase.

5/22 bump -

Trends from the past few weeks are holding pretty steady, but there's some interesting movement within the trends...

Headlines & Hot Takes:
- R2MFD2....this bullet header is a repeat from last week...but absolutely deserves to remain the same. I mentioned last week I expected R2, riding the Chaze craze, to eventually get to #6 most used and pass DM / EP / Savage / EP...but I didn't think it would be in just one week! Yes, R2 is now the SIXTH most used character for rank 1 usage. Let me list of few of the incredibly strong characters R2 has passed already: Dooku, Vader, Wedge, Boba, Sith Assassin, Savage Opress, Kylo, EP and.....yes yes...he's even passed Maul! R2's usage # is now up to 27% and there's plenty of upside - R2 should push in to that elite 40%+ usage bracket. Huge gamechanger handed out for free. Impressive!
- The Gaping Chasm: There's a huge gap opening up from the top 5 most used characters. The 5th most used character, Chirrut, has 45% usage. The 6th drops all the way to 27% - which is R2. Now, R2 is tied to Chaze / GK, etc. and is definitely going up - so if you exclude R2 the next character is EP at 26%. EP and all the DS characters immediately below him are trending down - so this gap will only widen over time. Right now, with all the characters we have in the game, arena is honing in on a core 6 with everyone else getting pushed to the side: DN, Chaze, R2, GK, and Rex. It's interesting because while R2 has allowed more comps to get wins and be viable - increasing variety along with Rex by removing Maul - at the very upper elite portion of the game R2 has actually helped create this gap by making GK / Rex / Chaze / lightside that much stronger.
- GK has actually made a sizable move in the last week - the unlocks / build rates obviously are still happening on this noble Jedi. There may be substantial upside for GK still - he was 51% usage last week and is now up to 56%, opening up some distance now from the #3 Rex. I figured GK was fairly universally owned / built for rank 1s at this point, but apparently that's not the case. He will push in to historically elite territory by getting over 60% if that happens.
- Rex leader - this guy should be the first member in the Arena Hall of Fame right? Rex leader is now up to 46% usage - that's increased from 42% last week - so a very sizable move. Does Rex, even as old as he is ... still have ownership / usage upside? Are some still unlocking him in the rank 1 realm? Didn't expect him to keep pushing upward after Maul declined. Hard to argue that Rex's leader isn't the greatest arena leader created in the history of GoH. Doesn't even seem close.
- Pure dark side teams look to be in lots of trouble. The gap that's opening up is coming at the expense of the better DS characters and DN is largely there just because of GK / Chaze and hide the Nihilis, which is really mainly possible through the LS spam taunters Baze & GK. Let's see exactly how Tarkin's kit plays out, but pure DS teams are on the ropes. Will they fall like Frazier or bounce off Rope-A-Dope Ali-style?


Arena Leaders:
- zDM continues his hard slide, now down to 25% usage from 28% last week - still think this goes <10% at some point in the near future
- Rex! As noted above - still gaining share! Nothing can stop the Rex train!
- Wedge is still your #3 most used leader, but has stalled on the 8% number for the past week. He's fighting for best leader on the R2 / GK / Chaze squads with Jyn, GK, and DN among others, so maybe he parks around this 8% number for some time. QGJ, DN, and GK have all at least hit the 5% mark.

Rank 1 Squad Comp
- 3x Cleanse + DN is still far and away the #1 overall comp at 305 counts / 75%...the counts are down from last week, but the % is up? :) I'm paying more attention to the relative counts and the change in counts vs. the percent as it seems to make little sense. So counts are actually down on this comp from last week, but it's still far out and ahead of #2 squad with just 80 counts
- REX-led squads make up all of the top 3 builds
- First Maul squad is 4th at 65 counts - that's down from 85 counts last week - a 24% drop in one week! Ouch.
- R2 impact: 5 of the 10 most popular individual builds have R2 in the team - huge impact from R2

Character Usage
- DN still far and away #1 used character at 75% - his support has held above 75% for months now
- GK is actually trending up - didn't expect that - moving from 51 to 56% usage. There must be a material amount of folks that didn't have him built / unlocked - maybe this continues to go up? Not sure.
- CHAZE - as expected, the dynamic duo continue to gain usage and are up to 46/45% compared to 44/43% last week. Very consistently they are gaining 2 percentage points in usage per week. This number has potential to go much higher, but is just restrained to the extent more players can readily farm / build the duo, but this usage rate I would expect to get over 50% easily with legit upside even after 50%.
- Rex is 3rd highest usage at 48%
- Your top 5 is DN / GK / Rex / Chaze
- Your 6-10 are R2!!!!! (27%), EP (26%), Maul (26%), Kylo (25%), Savage (20%)

6/3 bump -

Two weeks since last update - trends have continued as expected without much change, so I'll be a bit more brief

Headlines & Hot Takes:
- R2D2....Still think R2's impact is pretty amazing - who knew R2 would be THAT good? Before hitting the game even seeing skills on paper, I thought a B+ kinda toon - but no question he's solid A character and truly elite. Arena and Raid viability combined - gamechanger for sure. Let's look at some of R2's impact: 6th most used character, up to 35% from 27% two weeks ago with upside to climb - is now in the 2nd most frequently used squad for #1 rank - also is used in 5 of the top 8 overall squads. His zeta uniques are better than most leader skills!
- The Gaping Chasm: No change here. DN still holds #1 usage at 75% (unchanged from 2 weeks ago), GK now is at 60%! (up from 56%), Rex (up from 46%) and Baze (up from 46%) are now at 50% for the first time that I can recall and Chirrut rounds out the top 5 at 48% usage (up from 45%). Chaze continues to gain 2 percentage points per week roughly. As noted above, R2 is at 35% and gaining usage share fast. There's no reason to think that these trends and the core 6 will see any meaningful reduction in usage anytime soon. Ahsoka may nibble some usage away from DN, but her own rate won't be high enough to register anything noticeable. After this core 6, the next highest usage character is Kylo at 24%.
- Rex leader - Still the champ - up to 48% usage from 46% two weeks ago - he's still climbing

Arena Leaders:
- zDM is now down to 23% usage from 25% two weeks ago
- Rex! As noted above - still gaining share! Nothing can stop the Rex train!
- Wedge is still your #3 most used leader and is up to 12% - very impressive for an older toon - your top 3 leaders are all pretty darned old heroes - Jinn (7%), GK (6%), DN and DV (5%) are all over the 5% usage mark for leaders.

Rank 1 Squad Comp
- 3x Cleanse + DN is still far and away the #1 overall comp at 283 counts. That's down from 305 counts two weeks ago however. This squad's counts have been slowly trending downward, but it is still holds a >4 fold advantage over the #2 squad of Rex / Chaze / DN / R2 at 68 counts
- REX-led squads make up all of the top 3 builds
- First Maul squad is 4th at 50 counts - that's down from 65 counts two weeks ago

Character Usage
- DN still far and away #1 used character at 75% - his support has held above 75% for months now
- GK is still trending up - moving from 56% to 60% usage. He's hit the magical 60% usage mark!
- CHAZE - as expected, the dynamic duo continue to gain usage and are up to 50/48% compared to 46/45% last week. Very consistently they are gaining 2 percentage points in usage per week.
- Rex is 3rd highest usage at 50%, tied with Baze who is also at 50%
- Your 6-10 are R2 (35%), Kylo (24%), EP (24%), Maul (23%), Savage (19%)

June 11 Bump...

My plan is to bump this every 2 weeks and then down the road as we sink deep in this meta maybe just once per month...but hit some big milestones on the meta report today that I thought were worth memorializing.

- Rex lead is now at 50% usage! Has any lead ever hit 50%? I don't recall Maul making it there - he was in the mid to high 40s at his peak I believe (someone can correct me here though) - that's up from 48% usage last week...there's no stopping the Rex train!
- Maul's leader usage is now sub-20% and sits at 19%...
- ....with Wedge!!! gaining fast at 15%! How's that for a meta shakeup from R2? So good he brought back Wedge as a lead and made Biggs viable again. Wedge is the 3rd most used lead now. Looks like it's inevitable that Wedge passes Maul in the next few weeks. Maul's usage likely is headed in the <10% range
- The Great Chasm of 2017 is in full swing with no signs of slowing...DN character usage is at 75%, GK is at 63%, Baze is 53%, Rex / Chirrut at 51%...and R2 has finally cracked 40% as expected and sits at 41%...the next highest usage character is Kylo at just 23%, then EP and DM at 20% each and sinking weekly

Now, unless Thrawn is really nasty The Great Chasm is only going to widen. We need to know more on his kit, but assuming Thrawn is good but not a gamechanger in arena like DN / Chaze / GK / Rex / R2 (so Tarkin-level arena), I think by the middle of July you'll likely see DN and GK both in the 70%+ usage range, Chaze will be 60%+, and R2 will be 50%+ ... Rex will hover in the 50% range and all except a handful of the rest of the roster will check in below 20% usage ... and nothing will slow this build's usage rate down unless a specific counter is released to address it. Drop in a jedi / rebel Luke in Aug with a great Jedi / LS / Rebel leader skill and you'll almost assuredly be looking at a locked-in meta of Luke/Chaze/R2/GK for 4-6 months after Luke's release. Quite possible we don't see any meaningful meta shift for another 6+ months until TLJ is released. Will be interesting to watch the numbers as always :)

July 22 bump (last update was 6/11 - so about 6 weeks). As noted before, I'll update this every 30-60 days for a living record of the game's meta. So what's changed in 6 weeks? Not much at a high level, but Thrawn has help shuffle the deck a bit.

Leads:
- Rex was 50% usage lead on 6/11, he's at 49% today. There's no stopping Rex 1 year + in to the game.
- Maul is next at 13% (down from 19%), followed by Wedge (12%), Jinn (11%), and Thrawn (9%)

Character Usage:
- DN is still most used at 78% - which is actually up from 75%
- GK is now at 70%!!! That's also up from before when he stood at 63%... people still unlocking / building GK
- Rex is 3rd at 50% - down a tad from 51% 6 weeks ago
- R2D2 - 4th at 46% ... very impressive
- Baze - 5th at 46%
- Of note - the 6th most used is Chirrut (40% down from 51%) - one half of the Chaze duo is lagging behind a bit, due greatly to the 7th highest usage toon...Grand Admiral Thrawn (not available before, at 39% currently)

Teams:
- Your #1 most used comp is....still the classic cleanse team (Rex, Chaze, GK, DN) and it's not very close as its 169 counts are more than double the next highest team which is...
- Rex, GK, R2, GAT, and DN at 82 counts.
- Overall, your top 3 individual team leads are all Rex, followed by a Wedge comp, 2 QGJ teams, another Rex, a GK comp, GAT with a dark side-based hide the Nihilius with GK strategy, and Maul rounding out the top 10.

Big Winners:
- QGJ - Jedi teams are strong, can take #1 against all sorts of teams, and are among the game's better arena teams due to their reliability to win and versatility. R2 + more GK unlocks has resulted in Jedi comps popping up at a pretty good rate
- R2! Solidly in the top 5 - 4th ranked toon and closing in on that rare 50% usage mark - helping to set the 2nd most used individual team comp WITHOUT Chaze ... R2 is truly elite.
- G.A. Thrawn - obviously he wasn't in the last update, but clearly another huge release. Close to passing Chirrut in usage overall, key part of the 2nd most used team, and even has a top 5 leader usage. Breaker of all raids. Thrawn is a beast. (He's my lead, double zeta'd and couldn't be happier)

Big Losers:
- Chirrut - his usage dropped pretty far from 51% to 40% and now out of the top 5 with Thrawn breathing down his neck ....he's nowhere near "done" in the way that Maul is, but it's clear that GAT has stolen, at least for now, some of the thunder from Chaze
- Maul - his slide continues and lead usage dropped from 19% to 13% - after being well represented in top 10 individual team comps, there's just 1 Maul squad in the top 10 and it has just 25 counts

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has some losers / winners over that time period.

8/2/17 unplanned bump -

Rex / GK / R2 / DN / GAT squad just passed 3x classic cleans squad of Rex / GK / Chaze / DN - huge as that had been #1 most used squad for months. 173 counts to 132. Thrawn and R2 replaced Chaze!

8/14 Mini-bump -

- Huge change - DN has been passed by GK for most used in the game 73% for GK and 71% now for DN ... the CLS impact that has pushed more damage up earlier in matches has made the slower winding up DN a lesser option in newer comps. Han + CLS also permit targeted sniping of DN, thus limiting the effectiveness of the long-used Hide the Nihilius tactic as a D slot
- R2D2 - along with GK - the new backbone of the game and the CLS squads in particular - is pushing toward elite Hall of Fame levels of usage now at 62% ... at least since I started tracking this in April no other toons beside GK and DN had crossed 60% usage and very few had crossed 50% (Rex and Chaze did as well) - my guess is this number continues to push up a bit and R2 approaches the 70% mark and eventually passes DN in usage
- GAT at 52% and Rex at 48% round out the top 5 most used characters
- Rex is still most used lead at 47%, but CLS is coming on very strong at 23% already - real possibility that he pushes Rex for the #1 most used lead in the near future. Rex isn't dead, but CLS led-teams can really present Rex squads with problems.