Game8 Ranked Season 5 Recap

Ranked Season 5 in Pokemon UNITE is almost ending! Take a look back on the third Season of Pokemon UNITE with Game8's recap of Season 5. See which Pokemon was the best, the most improved Pokemon, the best New Pokemon, and more!

Most Valuable Pokemon (MVP)

Hoopa Takes the MVP!

Hoopa defends its throne and becomes Season 5's MVP. It continues to prove its effectiveness in winning games for both casual and professional games. It's still the most used Pokemon in ranked matches for many weeks now, and it remained in the SS Tier for a longer time.

Hoopa Guide: Builds and Best Items

MVP Criteria

Each of these factors determine which Pokemon deserves the Most Valuable Pokemon award for each season.

• Consistency: Refers to a Pokemon's effectiveness or impact in matches despite buffs and nerfs.
• Rank Usage: Refers to how frequent the Pokemon is used in Ranked Matches.
• Tier-List Ranking: Refers to a Pokemon's Tier-List placement throughout the season. If the Pokemon remained in the highest tier throughout the season, it's a contender for MVP.

Tier List: Best Pokemon to Use

Most Improved Pokemon (MIP)

Cramorant Takes the MIP!

Cramorant takes Season 5's MIP! It has taken its place in the current meta as a reliable damage dealer. Even though its claim to fame is solely because of its Dive and Air Slash combo, it's nonetheless a massive boost to its effectiveness, giving it a chance to show its potential. Moreover, it has even made its professional debut in the Pokemon UNITE World Championship Series.

Cramorant Guide: Builds and Best Items

MIP Criteria

Each of these factors determine which Pokemon deserves the Most Improved Pokemon award for each season.

• Significant Improvement: Refers to a Pokemon's sudden significant improvement after a patch.
• Increased Usage: Refers to the significant increase in a Pokemon's usage in matches.
• Tier-List Ranking: Refers to the Pokemon's increase in the Tier-List Ranking. If the Pokemon experienced a significant jump in its raking (S or SS tier), it's a contender for MIP.

Tier List: Best Pokemon to Use

Top Picks for the Season

Top 3 Picks for Season 5
Hoopa Pick Rate: 14%	Blissey Pick Rate: 13%	Tsareena Pick Rate: 13%

These are the top three (3) most used Pokemon by the Masters Top 100 in the leaderboards. These Pokemon helped the players achieve such a feat so give them a big round of applause!

Master Rank Top Pick List

Best Pokemon Per Role

Best Attacker: Cinderace

Game8 chose Cinderace as Season 5's best Attacker. It's one of the most reliable late-game carry in the game thanks to its rapid attacks and hard-hitting critical-hits. It can take on the jungler role or stay in one of the lanes. It can quickly take out objectives like Drednaw by itself, making it easier to secure them for the team. However, Game8's biggest reason for choosing Cinderace is because of its well-timed appearance in the World Championship Series, being one of the picks that gave BLVCKHVND their win and, ultimately, the title of the very first Pokemon UNITE World Champions.

Cinderace Guide: Builds and Best Items

Best Speedster: Absol

Game8 chose Absol as Season 5's best Speedster. Its insane critical-hits remain unmatched and can shred through even the toughest Pokemon. It's also fairly easy to use since players don't need to do much to utilize its damage other than to hit targets with attacks and moves.

Absol Guide: Builds and Best Items

Best All-Rounder: Tsareena

Game8 chose Tsareena as Season 5's best All-Rounder. It has always been a top pick for players ever since its release, but now that the meta favors All-Rounders, its usage skyrocketed and cemented its place in the meta. Not only is it the top All-Rounder pick, it's the go-to pick in general, beating even well-established Pokemon like Pikachu and justifying its SS-Tier placement. Morever, it's the most picked Pokemon in the recent World Championship Series, gaining an impressive 75% pick rate with a 72% win rate.

Tsareena Guide: Builds and Best Items

Best Defender: Snorlax

Game8 chose Snorlax as Season 5's best Defender. It has always been the quintessential Defender from the very start, but as new Defenders came into the scene, it got pushed back from the spotlight. When Hoopa joined the roster, players started to realize that Snorlax is the best direct counter to a Hoopa team comp, dragging Snorlax back into the meta. Its Block and Heavy Slam proved to be the most effective way to prevent Pokemon from teleporting away using the Hyperspace Hole and a great tool for defending goal zones.

Snorlax Guide: Builds and Best Items

Best Supporter: Hoopa

Game8 chose Hoopa as Season 5's best Supporter. This is an easy win for the Pokemon considering that it's also Season 4's MVP and best Supporter, and this season's MVP. It has become a staple pick in any team comp for both casual and professional games thanks to its ability to quickly teleport its team anywhere on the map, something that only the Pokemon can do.

Hoopa Guide: Builds and Best Items

Best Holowear

Best Holowear for Season 5
Band Style (Zeraora)	Band Style (Pikachu)

Game8 has chosen these two as Season 5's best holowears. The effects these holowears have is definitely satisfying to watch and experience. The electric guitar prop goes really well with the Pokemon since it alludes to their type in the Pokemon games.

Holowear List: All Pokemon Skins and Costumes

Best Newcomer: Tyranitar

Game8 chose Tyranitar as Season 5's best Newcomer. Ever since the game started releasing new Pokemon, Tyranitar has been in people's wishlist for a long time due to its reputation and popularity in other Pokemon games. When it was finally released, it surpassed people's expectations since it's crazy strong and, argubly, a broken Pokemon. To start things off, its passive ability changes as it evolves. The first two passives are standard ones. It's third passive is the unique Its ability to ignore shields and defenses via Ancient Power breaks the meta entirely as there hasn't been any answer to shields in the past aside from just dealing massive damage. On top of this, the damage it deals and the instant knockout effect during Tyrannical Rampage makes it a scary Pokemon to fight against as it can potentially defeat an entire team by itself.

Tyranitar Guide: Builds and Best Items

Notable Meta Changes

All-Rounder Meta

All-Rounders have made a comeback this season, filling out parts that are usually reserved for specific roles thanks to their well-balanced stats. They have become the go-to pick for junglers and the team's primary damage dealer. This is apparent in the recent World Championship Series, having All-Rounders taking half the spots in the tournament's top ten most picked Pokemon with one being the top spot.

List of All-Rounders: All All-Rounder Pokemon and Best Builds

Pokemon UNITE Related Guides

All Ranked Seasons and Rewards

Current Ranked Season
Ranked Season 19

Ranked Season Rewards

Ranked Season Rewards
Season 01	Season 02
Season 03	Season 04
Season 05	Season 06
Season 7	Season 8
Season 9	Season 10
Season 11	Season 12
Season 13	Season 14
Season 15	Season 16
Season 17	Season 18
Season 19	-

Game8 Ranked Season Recap

Game8 Ranked Season Recap
Season 01 Recap	Season 02 Recap
Season 03 Recap	Season 04 Recap
Season 05 Recap	Season 06 Recap
Season 07 Recap	Season 8 Recap
Season 09 Recap	Season 10 Recap
Season 11 Recap	Season 12 Recap
Season 13 Recap	Season 14 Recap
Season 15 Recap	Season 16 Recap
Season 17 Recap	-