May Finals Analysis (North America) - UNITE World Championship Series

Want to know a quick summary of the things that happened in the May Finals? Read on to see the most used Pokemon, the Pokemon with the best win rate, the most used battle and held items, lanes for each Pokemon, where to watch the stream, as well as highlights that defined this tournament!

Regional Finals Analysis
May Finals (North America)	May Finals (Japan)

May Finals Summary (North America)

Gaimin Gladiators are the NA May Finals Champions!

Gaimin Gladiators (GG) defeated IX Gaming in an awesome 2 - 0 series, taking the North America May Finals championship!

GG Suffered a 0 - 2 Defeat in the Grand Finals

Before taking the May Finals Championship, Gaimin Gladiators suffered a 0 - 2 defeat against IX Gaming, forcing a grand finals reset.

Championship Points Tally (as of May Finals 2022)

Meta Highlights (North America)

Tournament Core Picks

There were three recurring core picks that teams go for throughout the tournament. The first one is Lucario, acting usually as a solo top laner. The second and third are Blissey and Hoopa, taking the support duo role.

Trevenant as Lucario Alternative

In certain matches, there were teams that picked Trevenant as an alternative solo top laner pick to Lucario. They utilized the Pokemon's high sustain and disable with Horn Leech for team clashes.

Damage Stacking Strategy

One repeating strategy that teams do throughout the tournament is equipping stackable damage items like Attack Weight and Sp. Atk. Specs, and racking up damage as soon as possible by scoring in the early game, particularly for their main damage delears. This strategy fits well into the current burst damage meta, maximizing the Pokemon's damage output.

Absol Attack Weight Tech

The team IX Gaming was able to utilize this strategy to its full potential by consistently scoring points with Absol. The strategy proved to be effective as they were able to sweep the match against Full Send with Absol doing almost 100k damage in a single game!

Lucario Energy Amplifier Tech

Though Energy Amplifier does not have a high pick rate, its usuability seemed to have increased as it Lucario players are dabbling with the item. Here, Lucario players took advantage of the increased in damge after activating Aura Cannon to burst down targets with a deadly Power-Up Punch.

Objective-based Gameplay

North American teams have always adopted the tried-and-tested objective-based gameplay, focusing mainly in securing both Drednaw and Rotom as many times as possible in order to get a significant level advantage when Zapdos spawns. This strategy has not changed in this tournament as all matches have the same flow.

Aegislash as Jungler

For this tournament, the best pick for the Jungler role is Aegislash! We saw how it can effectively transition to lanes and pressure even highly durable Pokemon like Lucario and Blastoise. Moreover, Aegislash was able to go square-off against Absol in the damage race thanks to its Boosted Attack mechanic. With Aegislash being able to sustain itself with heals from its Shield Forme, The Pokemon proved to be a dependable jungler for competitive play.

Picks and Win Rates (North America)

Pokemon	Most Picked %	Win Rate %
Hoopa	100%	100%
Blissey	100%	100%
Lucario	83%	66.7%
Aegislash	67%	100%
Absol	50%	66.7%
Blastoise	25%	0%
Venusaur	17%	33.3%
Trevenant	17%	33.3%
Sylveon	17%	0%
Pikachu	8%	0%
Cramorant	8%	0%
Cinderace	8%	0%

Game8 Notes

Hoopa keeps it's top spot and now boasts a perfect pick-winrate ratio together with Blissey! We see an increase in usage for Aegislash and Absol, most likely to counteract Blissey's godlike sustain.

Pokemon not shown here were not picked during May Finals North America.

Most Picked Battle Item (North America)

Battle Item	Most Picked %
X Speed	60.0%
Eject Button	20.0%
Full Heal	16.7%
X Attack	3.3%

Game8 Notes

X Speed takes top spot as the most picked battle item in May Finals! Players now prefer a quick mobility move and is a perfect substitute for Eject Button.

Battle Items not shown here were not picked during May Finals North America.

Most Picked Held Item (North America)

Held Item	Most Picked %
Buddy Barrier	61.7%
Muscle Band	51.7%
Razor Claw	35.0%
Focus Band	31.7%
Attack Weight	30.0%
Exp. Share	20.0%
Score Shield	16.7%
Weakness Policy	13.3%
Scope Lens	11.7%
Choice Specs Energy Amplifier	8.3%
Sp. Atk. Specs Wise Glasses	6.3%

Game8 Notes

Aside from the usual suspects, Buddy Barrier and Muscle Band at the top, we see Razor Claw at third! This proved the emergence of the burst damage, quick kill playstyle in the current game!

Held Item not shown here were not used during May Finals North America.

Pokemon Lane Picks (North America)

Pokemon	Top Pick %	Jungle Pick %	Bot Pick %
Absol	--	--	100%
Aegislash	--	100%	--
Blastoise	--	--	100%
Blissey	--	--	100%
Cinderace	--	100%	--
Cramorant	--	100%	--
Hoopa	16.7%	--	83.3%
Pikachu	--	--	100%
Sylveon	--	100%	--
Trevenant	100%	--	--
Venusaur	--	--	100%

Pokemon not shown here were not picked during May Finals North America.

Where to Watch May Finals 2022 (North America)

For the start of the North American March Finals stream, skip to the 04:07:00 timestamp.

The full livestream for the May Finals is available in the official YouTube channel of Pokemon UNITE. They usually stream the Monthly Finals so try catching it on scheduled times!

For the full schedule of the Championship Series, check out this article:

UNITE World Championship Series 2022 Schedule

Pokemon UNITE Related Guides

UNITE World Championship Series 2022

2022 Championship Series Analysis

2022 World Championship Series Analysis
2022 World Championships
Regional Finals (North America)	Regional Finals (Japan)
May Finals (North America)	May Finals (Japan)
Aeos Cup (North America)	Aeos Cup (Japan)
March Finals Summary (North America)	March Finals Summary (Japan)
February Finals Summary (North America)

All Pokemon UNITE Tournament and Analysis