Top Ladder Stats (2025-05)

---

Authors:

Alpe

Last updated: 2025-06-03

Page change log:

• Created: 2025-06-03

Page contents:

• About Season Stats
• Tower Troops
• Evolutions
• Evolution Unlock Rate
• Evolutions VS Normal Cards
• Champions
• Spells
• Win Conditions
• Checks and Balances
• All Cards
• Top 20 Countries

About Season Stats

The Path of Legends (PoL) leaderboard is a great place to consistently find the best players and to see how they adapt to the meta. The first Monday of every month, the season ends and a new one begins. While players are competing to reach the top, we are tracking their results and deck choices.

With this blog, we present a summary and a few insights of all the data that we collected during the last days of the season, with a focus on the decks that players used to obtain their final rank.

Stats Format Basics

These stats are based on the decks and card collections of the best players, the ones who finished among the top 1,000 players in Path of Legends.

Over this blog, we'll look at card stats with tables that use the following format:

• Usage refers to the share of players who used the card in their main deck. This stat is paired with a change %, which is the difference when compared to last season's usage.
• Average Rank is the mean of all the placements from players who used this card. The center point is 500, so if the value is below 500, it means the card is quite good.
• Have It Maxed refers to the share of players who have that card at Level 15, which is the ideal level to compete in PoL. The companion bar chart also shows the amount of players who have this card at Level 14 (in light blue). If the light blue range is wide, it implies that a lot of players don't consider this card worthy to spend Elite Wild Cards on it, because EWCs are a scarce resource.
• Usage/Maxed (U/M) shows the amount of players who use a card from those that have it maxed. Some cards can be harder to unlock and level up, so usage may not be a good indicator if it's being held down by other factors. It's also relevant to know that every season boosts a few cards, which allows players to use them without the need to level them up.

Win Rate VS Rank

Due to the nature of the ladder system, card win rates aren't useful to understand the strength of a card. We think a mix of the stats listed above can paint a more accurate picture of the state of each card.

The main reason for this is that system which are based in score matchmaking aims to pair players with others of similar strength. If the amount of battles played is sufficient, the score of the player stabilises, leading to a win rate of ~50%.

Better players stabilise at higher scores than worse players, but in the long term, the winrate becomes similar. This causes this metric to be fairly irrelevant when compared to rank and usage.

Tower Troops

• Royal Chef received an 8% HP buff, which has succeeded at making this Tower Troop more popular and on par with the others.
• Dagger Duchess seems quite strong based on the average rank.

Evolutions

• Evolved Witch scores #2 in evolution usage during the first season, with 14% usage.
• Evolved Ice Spirit becomes the most popular evolution, with 16% usage.
• Evolved Tesla has the best average rank (415).
• Evolved Cannon has the biggest drop in usage (-10%), after having the Barrage Radius nerfed from 2.5 to 2.0 tiles.

Top 3 evolutions:

1. Tesla
2. Goblin Barrel
3. Bats

Evolution Unlock Rate

Evolutions are arguably the most challenging progression limitation for players who don't purchase Pass Royale regularly. This means they are also a great indicator for seasonal revenue from the competitive players.

Over time, players find evolution shards through other means, so older evolutions lose that strong correlation with Pass Royale purchases. To avoid that, it's best to keep comparisons to very recent evolutions from the last 2 seasons.

Monetisation performance of recent evolutions:

• Hunter (S69): 36% on release
• Executioner (S70): 31% on release
• Witch (S71): 40%

Witch was a very popular evolution on release, the best out of recent seasons. This may be due to its strength and versatility.

Evolutions VS Normal Cards

Comparing evolutions to their normal cards is a great way to see how relevant each evolution ability actually is.

If we also look at the usage of the normal card, we can get a better sense of their place in the meta, helping us answer:

• Is the normal card strong and usable by itself?
• Is the evolution necessary and what makes it strong?

Several evolutions take this to an extreme, where the normal card is completely unused and only the Evolution has usage. For these cases, it seems fair to argue that the normal card has been weakened so that the evolution buff turns it into a balanced one.

It seems incompatible to have both the normal card and the evolution in a balanced state, at least as long as the evolution provides a relevant advantage.

What is LUR?

This chart introduces a new stat: Log-based Usage Ratio (LUR). This is a value that directly compares the usage of an Evolution with the usage of it's normal variant.

$$\mathsf{LUR}={\log }_{10}\left(\frac{\mathsf{Evolution}\mathsf{Usage}}{\mathsf{Normal}\mathsf{Card}\mathsf{Usage}}\right)$$

The basic way to read it is:

• A positive value means that the Evolution is more popular
• A negative value means that the Normal Card is more popular

The logarithm is simply used to translate this ratio into a simpler number that's easier to read. E.g.:

• LUR=1: Evolution is used 10x more
• LUR=2: Evolution is used 100x more

Cards that have been completely overshadowed by their evolutions:

• Witch
• Archers
• Barbarians
• Royal Recruits
• Electro Dragon

Most unappealing evolutions compared to their counterparts:

1. Goblin Drill
2. Skeletons
3. Bomber

Champions

Champions are always an interesting category because they exclude each other in decks. But players don't always have a Champion in their deck, so that's why "No Champion" is listed as well.

• After the Golden Knight rework, this Champion jumps to become the best in this category.

• Boss Bandit had a significant usage decrease, and has a mediocre average rank.

Spells

• Lightning had a very significant increase in usage, probably due to the popularity of Evolved Witch.

• Fireball had a big drop in usage, suggesting it was replaced by Lightning.

• Like last season, Rocket stands out with a great average rank, even if it wasn't very popular.

Win Conditions

Win conditions are one of the best ways to look at archetype performance. Unlike support cards, which can fit in several archetypes, these are the core cards that define them.

• Evolved Goblin Giant became very popular, although it didn't reach a good rank average.

Top 3 Win Conditions:

1. Evolved Goblin Barrel
2. Lava Hound
3. Evolved Wall Breakers

Checks and Balances

The start of the season introduced balance changes, what was their outcome?

Balance Changes

• Goblin Hut's rework turns it into a top tier card.
• Nerfs to Guards and Evolved Cannon successfully decreased usage.
• Buffs to Royal Chef and Evolved Pekka also had a visible impact.
• Cannon Cart's rework became a big nerf.

All Cards

This data can be used as long as we are properly credited as the source.

Data Dump

#		Card	Usage	Rank
1		Tower Princess	74.5%	499
2		The Log	42.1%	481
3		Lightning	28.3%	515
4		Skeletons	28.3%	477
5		Arrows	21.9%	491
6		Goblin Hut	18.3%	494
7		Evolved Ice Spirit	16.3%	473
8		Barbarian Barrel	15.3%	553
9		Guards	14.5%	528
10		Electro Spirit	14.2%	513
11		Evolved Witch	14.2%	552
12		Miner	14.1%	439
13		Goblin Gang	13.7%	497
14		Fireball	13.6%	475
15		Rage	12.5%	499
16		Tornado	12.0%	565
17		Evolved Zap	11.3%	507
18		Mega Minion	10.6%	487
19		Evolved Valkyrie	10.5%	508
20		Bomber	9.9%	452
21		Evolved Goblin Giant	9.7%	502
22		Spear Goblins	9.6%	480
23		Ice Spirit	9.5%	515
24		Cannoneer	9.4%	553
25		Fisherman	9.2%	487
26		Evolved Wall Breakers	9.2%	458
27		Evolved Knight	9.1%	500
28		Knight	9.0%	406
29		Hog Rider	8.9%	535
30		Poison	8.9%	471
31		Royal Hogs	8.8%	503
32		Evolved Cannon	8.4%	518
33		Graveyard	8.3%	552
34		Ice Wizard	8.3%	558
35		Evolved Bats	8.2%	439
36		Dagger Duchess	8.1%	459
37		Royal Chef	8.0%	494
38		Royal Ghost	7.9%	471
39		Berserker	7.9%	569
40		Balloon	7.7%	534
41		Golden Knight	7.5%	409
42		Evolved P.E.K.K.A	7.5%	481
43		Evolved Royal Giant	7.3%	516
44		Evolved Giant Snowball	7.3%	490
45		Bandit	6.7%	451
46		Bowler	6.6%	535
47		Rocket	6.5%	389
48		Goblin Curse	6.5%	543
49		Giant	6.4%	466
50		Mighty Miner	6.4%	437
51		Evolved Firecracker	6.4%	552
52		Evolved Tesla	6.4%	415
53		Prince	6.3%	518
54		Evolved Goblin Barrel	6.3%	427
55		Boss Bandit	6.3%	524
56		Princess	6.2%	422
57		Evolved Skeletons	6.1%	516
58		Evolved Executioner	6.1%	543
59		Baby Dragon	6.0%	481
60		Earthquake	5.9%	503
61		Inferno Dragon	5.9%	517
62		Evolved Archers	5.9%	491
63		Archer Queen	5.4%	496
64		Evolved Lumberjack	5.4%	440
65		X-Bow	5.3%	477
66		Monk	4.8%	549
67		Goblin Machine	4.7%	530
68		Ram Rider	4.6%	551
69		Evolved Goblin Cage	4.6%	531
70		Skeleton King	4.5%	567
71		Evolved Hunter	4.5%	460
72		Cannon	4.2%	441
73		Dark Prince	4.2%	590
74		Mother Witch	4.2%	508
75		Sparky	4.1%	539
76		Evolved Barbarians	4.0%	501
77		Ice Golem	3.9%	564
78		Zap	3.9%	557
79		Bomb Tower	3.7%	528
80		Electro Wizard	3.7%	545
81		Giant Snowball	3.7%	563
82		Heal Spirit	3.7%	498
83		Evolved Mortar	3.7%	570
84		Evolved Mega Knight	3.7%	572
85		Lava Hound	3.6%	438
86		Evolved Dart Goblin	3.5%	559
87		Inferno Tower	3.4%	407
88		Minions	3.4%	510
89		Skeleton Dragons	3.4%	481
90		Evolved Battle Ram	3.4%	448
91		Royal Delivery	3.2%	567
92		Wall Breakers	3.1%	450
93		Evolved Bomber	3.1%	532
94		Electro Giant	3.0%	512
95		Evolved Royal Recruits	2.9%	501
96		Dart Goblin	2.6%	467
97		Goblins	2.5%	479
98		Evolved Musketeer	2.5%	578
99		Elixir Collector	2.4%	500
100		Mini P.E.K.K.A	2.4%	517
101		Goblin Drill	2.4%	442
102		Freeze	2.3%	560
103		Skeleton Barrel	2.1%	484
104		Flying Machine	1.9%	430
105		Phoenix	1.9%	511
106		Magic Archer	1.8%	474
107		Tombstone	1.8%	534
108		Firecracker	1.8%	505
109		Elite Barbarians	1.6%	611
110		Evolved Electro Dragon	1.6%	669
111		Bats	1.5%	557
112		Fire Spirit	1.5%	629
113		Suspicious Bush	1.5%	721
114		Cannon Cart	1.4%	601
115		Golem	1.4%	644
116		Elixir Golem	1.4%	598
117		Goblinstein	1.4%	527
118		Night Witch	1.3%	539
119		Skeleton Army	1.3%	489
120		Zappies	1.0%	432
121		Little Prince	1.0%	253
122		Battle Healer	0.9%	677
123		Minion Horde	0.7%	407
124		Musketeer	0.7%	578
125		Rascals	0.7%	618
126		Tesla	0.7%	597
127		Lumberjack	0.6%	648
128		P.E.K.K.A	0.6%	330
129		Evolved Wizard	0.6%	508
130		Three Musketeers	0.5%	532
131		Valkyrie	0.5%	858
132		Battle Ram	0.4%	355
133		Giant Skeleton	0.4%	470
134		Mega Knight	0.4%	446
135		Mortar	0.4%	523
136		Clone	0.3%	460
137		Goblin Barrel	0.3%	625
138		Royal Giant	0.3%	537
139		Goblin Demolisher	0.3%	319
140		Executioner	0.2%	436
141		Goblin Giant	0.2%	549
142		Mirror	0.2%	686
143		Void	0.2%	372
144		Hunter	0.1%	608
145		Wizard	0.1%	995
146		Goblin Cage	0.1%	285
147		Evolved Goblin Drill	0.1%	843
148		Archers	0.0%	-
149		Barbarian Hut	0.0%	-
150		Barbarians	0.0%	-
151		Electro Dragon	0.0%	-
152		Furnace	0.0%	-
153		Royal Recruits	0.0%	-
154		Witch	0.0%	-
155		Rune Giant	0.0%	-
156		Inferno Dragon	0.0%	-

Top 20 Countries

This leaderboard sorts countries based on the amount of players in the Top 1,000.

The amount of players for each country is displayed in the "Count" column; to the right, you can see a ±value, which is the change compared to last season.

Signature Cards are cards which were disproportionately used in the region when compared to the global average. The 5 displayed cards are sorted, meaning that the first card is the Top 1 signature card. Usually signature cards hint towards a specific archetype that is unusually popular in the country.

---

Do you have any questions or requests for future content? Join our Discord Server and let us know!