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

Full update - 8/19 - last full update was July 22 with a few mini bumps in between

Unlike last update, we have seen tremendous changes in the meta over the last 4+ weeks. Mainly, Rex has now given up his most used leader status to CLS and...DN is no longer the most used hero in the game - in fact he's now no longer even the 2nd most used. That honor belongs to R2! Speaking of R2 - he's now achieved hall of fame usage status and is in 70% of all rank 1 squads. Since tracking the report, only DN and GK have been able to cross the 70% usage mark. Go little droid go! We've also seen the Classic Cleanse team of Chaze / GK / DN / Rex displaced by a Thrawn + R2D2 version. Huge meta shifts here across the board.

Leads:
- CLS at 42% with 1198 counts is now the #1 most used lead in the game per GG - displacing Rex is impressive and shows how strong a character release this was
- Rex at 40% (that's down from 49% last update) with 1161 counts is now the #2 most used lead - likely this pushes down a bit more still as CLS continues to take hold, but expect Rex to maintain a solid hold on the #2 most used lead .. none of the other leads are even close and don't bring as much to the table
- Wedge is 3rd at 8% with 242 counts, QGJ 4th at 7% with 203 counts, and DM users are hanging on for dear life at 7% with 194 counts
- GK is of interest as a lead combined with zeta Barris to counter rebels and is the 6th most used lead with 190 counts
- The 8th most used lead - Thrawn - is incredibly powerful when zeta'd and what I've been using with 100% success against all CLS-led teams ... definitely think that's the most underutilized lead in the game.

Character Usage
- Most used character is... GK! 74% usage for GK, that's up from 70% last update
- Second most used is... R2 and he has done it in style hitting that legendary 70% usage mark - that's up from 46% from July; huge move by R2
- DN ... now falling like a rock in this fast speed Rebel meta ... relegated now more to a counter squad tactic, he's still at a respectable 62%(down from 78% last update) .. but expect that to continue to drop.
- Thrawn is 4th most used at 51% followed by CLS at 50%. Thrawn's value should still hold, I don't see him dropping or jumping up a lot from here - CLS though should continue to push up in usage.

Rex is fully out of the top 5 and stands at 7th now, behind Baze at 6.

Of note, Han and Leia are at 9th and 10th most used respectively as a result of CLS and the strong updates they received. Overall, huge Rebel pass that pushed CLS to #1 lead and brought 2 more classic rebels in to the top 10 and...helped R2 break 70% usage.

Teams
- Most used team is Rex lead, R2, Thrawn, DN, and GK - this team has 117 counts and displaced the long-standing classic cleanse, which is still at #2
- At 72 counts, second most used is the Classic cleanse squad - that's a huge drop from the 169 counts in the last update - the Thrawn meta shift from before combined with the in-progress CLS meta shift has finally eroded the viability of this comp that roamed free of threat for months
- CLS-led teams make up the 3/4/7/8/9 most common teams
- First DS lead is at 10, Thrawn + Shore +GK +DT +DN with 19 counts --- DS users trying to hold strong but it's a tough hill to climb
- No specific Maul team even registers in the top 25 for individual teams

Big Winners:
- REBELS! CLS takes over #1 lead, Han and Leia enter top 10 in usage, R2 breaks 70% mark usage and passes the long-standing king of SWGoH DN - 6/10 of the top used characters are rebels, 1 Sith, 1 Clone, 1 Jedi, and 1 Empire
- Thrawn - still a key piece in top-tier meta teams and also in counter-Rebel comps
- zeta Barriss - She will be critical for many players as a counter to these very powerful crit-based Rebel squads
- GK - still a staple with Rebles, now also a key cog in the counter to them with zBarriss (or also with Shore in a Thrawn led team) -

Big Losers:
- Rex ... huge hit to his usage and it's reflected in the #s pretty clearly - still viable but definitely steps down a notch from before
- QGJ / Jedi - CLS teams can hold on D vs. non-CLS Jedi squads - CLS+Thrawn+GK+R2+zSolo in particular is tough for a Jedi comp to get past - Luke wants to eliminate the Jedi in TLJ moving coming up so it seems...and he's helped do just that in GoH as well
- DN - massive drop in his usage from almost 80% down to 62% - the game sped up a lot and makes it more of a challenge to utilize his slow wind-up annihilate
- Tanks - pew pew pew - without proper support a lone Baze / GK defending an entire team won't cut it anymore as they can get burned down pretty fast vs. these high damage rebels .. additionally, with Han and CLS you now have two pretty high damage dealers that can avoid taunts completely, which limits their effectiveness

9/2 mini bump

- CLS lead now up to 60% - unprecedented leader usage level, Rex is 2nd at 14% and then GK at 13% as the CLS counter with GK ... this is potentially the least diverse arena meta we've had since the game's very early days when there were few characters. You essentially have CLS led-teams and then GK / zBarriss CLS counter teams. Aside from those 3 leads above, all the remainder of the leads COMBINED are just 13%. Between CLS and his counter PVP arena has been totally taken over by the CLS + ANH rework toons.
- CLS + Han + GK + R2 +Thrawn is #1 most used team with 331 counts - that's among the higher counts for an individual team I ever recall. 6/10 of the most used squads are CLS leads, 3/10 are GK and 1 is Rex
- R2 has now cracked 80% usage! I'll have to look back and see what DN's peak was, but he is either the first or the second to crack 80%
- CLS is at 75% usage and GK is at 73% - CLS joins the ranks of DN / GK / R2 as the only heroes to crack 70%+ usage in #1 squads.
- DN is down to 44% usage, Thrawn steady at 50%

What a dominating take-over of arena by CLS. For the most part, you're either running him or you're running his direct and narrow counter (GK + zBarriss). Dark Side leads combined look to be just 5-6% total!

9/10 mini-bump...

Main item of note is CLS has now hit that 80% usage mark in #1 teams and along with R2 at 82% creates the first instance since tracking gg that two characters are at or above 80% at the same time. He now joins DN and R2 as the only toons to hit 80%+ on #1 rank usage.

R2 at 82% has the highest usage I've seen.

"JohnnySteelAlpha;c-1264193" wrote:
9/10 mini-bump...

Main item of note is CLS has now hit that 80% usage mark in #1 teams and along with R2 at 82% creates the first instance since tracking gg that two characters are at or above 80% at the same time. He now joins DN and R2 as the only toons to hit 80%+ on #1 rank usage.

R2 at 82% has the highest usage I've seen.

R2 is great with and vs luke. Him being so common was to be expected.
I got to admit, this is one of the least diverse "meta's" we've had in a while, even on my usually quite diverse leaderboard. The gear tier increase probably isn't helping much either since most will upgrade their current arena team first and will be reluctant to swap out a g12 character before having a g12 replacement.

I can’t believe that developers look at less than 5% of top leads being DS and think that is balance, unless of course they’re trying to make that 0%...

"dad2my3;c-1264311" wrote:

"BrtStlnd;c-1264264" wrote:
I can’t believe that developers look at less than 5% of top leads being DS and think that is balance, unless of course they’re trying to make that 0%...

Why do you think that there is supposed to be a balance between light and dark arena leads in this game?

I don’t think it needs to be equal but I feel like there should be dark side options that aren’t just tackling dummies for Rebels.

"dad2my3;c-1264311" wrote:

"BrtStlnd;c-1264264" wrote:
I can’t believe that developers look at less than 5% of top leads being DS and think that is balance, unless of course they’re trying to make that 0%...

Why do you think that there is supposed to be a balance between light and dark arena leads in this game?

That's obviously never going to happen, but anything more extreme than 30/70 is just ridiculous. It's not the Dark Side verses the Light Side anymore. It's the Light Side version the exact same Light Side.

"SpadeFreeman;c-1264796" wrote:

"dad2my3;c-1264311" wrote:

"BrtStlnd;c-1264264" wrote:
I can’t believe that developers look at less than 5% of top leads being DS and think that is balance, unless of course they’re trying to make that 0%...

Why do you think that there is supposed to be a balance between light and dark arena leads in this game?

That's obviously never going to happen, but anything more extreme than 30/70 is just ridiculous. It's not the Dark Side verses the Light Side anymore. It's the Light Side version the exact same Light Side.

It’s a contest of whose Rebels have the best mods.

What's even more depressing is if you look at ranks 1-10, light side is 97% of all leads, with CLS at 62%, Rex with 15%, and GK at 14%. The only dark side leaders at 1% or higher are Thrawn at 2% and Zaul at 1%.

This is getting ridiculous.

Several light side hurricanes have hit the shores of swgoh in the last few months. Off the coast of whatever island they’re on, hurricane Jedi Rey and tropical depression Grand Master Luke are forecasted to arrive in early December. Dark side insurance agencies are still sending out checks to troopers living in temporary housing for category 5 CLS devastation.

I just hope at some point they’ll let some men in black hats wreak some havoc in Rebelville.
https://i.imgur.com/CZUmJHA.jpg