Welcome back to another stats post! As we often do, today we're looking at the class and ascendancy breakdown of the leagues. As we don't often do, we're including stats from both the Flashback leagues (which are extremely fresh!) and from players on the Xbox One and Playstation 4 realms.

First up, however, we're looking at the popularity of Ascendancies across all of our Synthesis leagues. The cutoff for this list is level 70, so characters that have not reached maps (or at least neared the end of the campaign) are not included.

Synthesis Leagues 70+
Trickster	15.259%
Occultist	14.148%
Elementalist	12.949%
Inquisitor	7.385%
Juggernaut	6.631%
Hierophant	6.522%
Necromancer	6.089%
Pathfinder	5.248%
Deadeye	4.387%
Ascendant	3.695%
Assassin	2.358%
Champion	2.335%
Saboteur	2.167%
Chieftain	2.149%
Raider	2.088%
Guardian	1.863%
Gladiator	1.798%
Slayer	0.955%
Berserker	0.584%
Templar	0.547%
Witch	0.287%
Ranger	0.204%
Shadow	0.203%
Duelist	0.078%
Marauder	0.050%
Scion	0.022%

It probably comes as no surprise to see spell-focused classes take the top spots. Besides the rebalance that spells underwent, we also introduced a handful of new spell skills in patch 3.6.0 -- in particular some very suited to the Trickster and Occultist. It's interesting to note that even in this league, the Juggernaut is still reasonably popular, likely due to the broad and flexible nature of its primarily defensively-oriented passives.

Synthesis Leagues 90+
Trickster	21.604%
Occultist	19.307%
Elementalist	14.462%
Juggernaut	7.735%
Inquisitor	6.236%
Deadeye	4.633%
Ascendant	3.932%
Necromancer	3.576%
Hierophant	2.719%
Pathfinder	2.679%
Assassin	2.571%
Saboteur	2.075%
Champion	1.772%
Gladiator	1.705%
Raider	1.514%
Guardian	1.361%
Chieftain	1.335%
Slayer	0.517%
Berserker	0.256%
Witch	0.004%
Templar	0.003%
Shadow	0.002%
Marauder	0.001%
Scion	0.001%
Duelist	0.000%
Ranger	0.000%

Once the cutoff is raised to level 90, we start seeing some interesting changes. At this lofty level, the Inquisitor drops behind the Juggernaut, and the gap dividing the top three builds from the rest grows even wider. This difference between classes at 70 and classes at 90 is often a good indicator of class performance, rather than simply popularity. But things get even more interesting when we look specifically at the high level characters in Hardcore leagues.

Synthesis Hardcore Leagues 90+
Trickster	25.918%
Occultist	22.552%
Juggernaut	12.209%
Elementalist	7.612%
Inquisitor	5.194%
Guardian	3.817%
Gladiator	3.542%
Necromancer	3.496%
Hierophant	2.417%
Deadeye	2.050%
Saboteur	2.020%
Ascendant	2.012%
Champion	1.951%
Chieftain	1.836%
Pathfinder	1.492%
Assassin	0.696%
Raider	0.681%
Slayer	0.283%
Berserker	0.207%
Marauder	0.008%
Witch	0.008%
Shadow	0.000%
Templar	0.000%
Ranger	0.000%
Duelist	0.000%
Scion	0.000%

The Elementalist lacks the strong survival tools that Hardcore players prefer, whereas the Juggernaut is all about that life (recovery). The Trickster also gained some powerful survival tools in the form of Ghost Shrouds, which Hardcore players have clearly recognised.

Synthesis SSF Leagues 90+
Trickster	30.527%
Occultist	25.687%
Elementalist	12.557%
Inquisitor	7.073%
Juggernaut	4.582%
Necromancer	2.835%
Hierophant	2.448%
Gladiator	2.377%
Saboteur	2.133%
Chieftain	2.062%
Ascendant	1.503%
Pathfinder	1.145%
Champion	1.103%
Deadeye	1.074%
Assassin	0.902%
Raider	0.788%
Guardian	0.558%
Berserker	0.415%
Slayer	0.186%
Marauder	0.029%
Witch	0.014%
Templar	0.000%
Duelist	0.000%
Scion	0.000%
Ranger	0.000%
Shadow	0.000%

Looking at leagues where trade is not an option is another helpful way to assess the relative innate power of both skills and classes, and in Synthesis, the Trickster absolutely reigns supreme. Almost a third of all characters in SSF leagues are Tricksters, and more than half are either Tricksters or Occultists.

Now let's look at the class breakdown in the Flashback leagues. These stats were collected at Midnight NZT, Sunday the 12th, meaning the great majority of players had not yet reached maps or, as you'll see, even chosen an Ascendancy.

Flashback Synthesis All Levels (Monday 12am)
Witch	19.989%
Shadow	14.076%
Templar	9.877%
Ranger	7.905%
Trickster	6.887%
Marauder	6.379%
Scion	5.814%
Elementalist	5.564%
Duelist	4.242%
Occultist	3.033%
Hierophant	2.506%
Pathfinder	1.899%
Necromancer	1.814%
Inquisitor	1.568%
Juggernaut	1.206%
Deadeye	1.044%
Chieftain	0.962%
Saboteur	0.859%
Ascendant	0.834%
Raider	0.725%
Assassin	0.634%
Champion	0.582%
Gladiator	0.476%
Guardian	0.465%
Berserker	0.364%
Slayer	0.296%

The most interesting thing to see here is the prominence of Witch over Shadow. Despite Trickster being so dominant, players (thankfully) still want to play things that aren't Trickster, and between the Occultist and Necromancer's strong defensive options and the Elementalist's offensive options, the Witch still offers plenty of power in its three Ascendancies. Early stats like these are good indicators of player preference and class perception.

Now let's take a look at our Console Community:

PS4 Synthesis Leagues 70+
Elementalist	18.828%
Necromancer	12.114%
Trickster	10.118%
Juggernaut	8.610%
Deadeye	6.652%
Inquisitor	5.451%
Occultist	5.349%
Hierophant	4.420%
Champion	3.387%
Ascendant	3.234%
Pathfinder	2.981%
Chieftain	2.751%
Assassin	2.368%
Gladiator	2.192%
Berserker	2.096%
Slayer	2.090%
Raider	1.975%
Guardian	1.612%
Saboteur	1.561%
Witch	0.927%
Ranger	0.342%
Marauder	0.264%
Templar	0.255%
Shadow	0.215%
Duelist	0.132%
Scion	0.077%

It's interesting how drastically different the meta on Playstation is for Synthesis. Trickster, which has dominated every list so far (except the too-early Flashback leagues), is third! In fact, the class balance on PS4 is flatter across the board! Berserker is not only not in last place, it makes up 2% of the 70+ characters!

Part of the reason for this difference is likely the difference in control scheme, but most of the difference is probably due to a new audience lacking the years of exposure and experience that PC players have.

PS4 Flashback Leagues All Levels
Witch	24.601%
Shadow	16.155%
Ranger	12.666%
Marauder	11.576%
Templar	9.588%
Scion	8.991%
Duelist	6.554%
Trickster	2.213%
Elementalist	1.950%
Occultist	0.943%
Hierophant	0.654%
Inquisitor	0.571%
Juggernaut	0.494%
Necromancer	0.468%
Chieftain	0.391%
Deadeye	0.321%
Ascendant	0.282%
Saboteur	0.276%
Pathfinder	0.257%
Guardian	0.186%
Champion	0.180%
Raider	0.173%
Assassin	0.160%
Gladiator	0.141%
Slayer	0.115%
Berserker	0.096%

The Flashback leagues are a little bit closer to what we would expect to see, though like the PC Flashback stats, it's still very early days. For stronger evidence of the difference experience and community exposure can make, let's look at the Xbox stats:

Xbox Synthesis Leagues 70+
Elementalist	14.863%
Trickster	13.938%
Occultist	12.596%
Inquisitor	8.403%
Necromancer	6.861%
Juggernaut	6.475%
Hierophant	5.720%
Deadeye	4.980%
Ascendant	3.885%
Chieftain	3.145%
Champion	2.991%
Pathfinder	2.636%
Saboteur	2.451%
Assassin	2.282%
Raider	1.958%
Gladiator	1.866%
Slayer	1.372%
Guardian	1.156%
Berserker	1.048%
Witch	0.601%
Ranger	0.200%
Templar	0.185%
Shadow	0.139%
Marauder	0.123%
Scion	0.108%
Duelist	0.015%

While not exactly the same as the PC Synthesis stats, the Xbox Synthesis stats are much closer than the PS4 Synthesis stats. Berserker, for example, once more takes its crown as the least popular Ascendancy pick.

Xbox Flashback All Levels
Witch	22.141%
Shadow	14.869%
Marauder	10.498%
Ranger	10.417%
Templar	8.742%
Scion	7.190%
Duelist	5.637%
Trickster	4.126%
Elementalist	3.227%
Occultist	1.797%
Hierophant	1.511%
Inquisitor	1.389%
Chieftain	1.103%
Juggernaut	1.062%
Champion	0.858%
Necromancer	0.817%
Saboteur	0.776%
Pathfinder	0.694%
Ascendant	0.613%
Assassin	0.572%
Gladiator	0.531%
Guardian	0.327%
Raider	0.327%
Slayer	0.286%
Berserker	0.245%
Deadeye	0.245%

Like all Flashback stats, it's still too early to draw significant conclusions from the Xbox Flashback stats, suffice to say the pattern adheres quite closely to the PS4 stats. Though much of the PS4 audience is new to PoE, not all of it is, and those playing Flashback are likely more experienced, leading to stats similar to those of the experienced Xbox players.

Will we see a divergence in the future? Who knows!