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Published:
2024-10-13
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2026-01-02
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15,479
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12/12
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Critical Role Shipping Statistics

Summary:

Collection of various ao3 tag usage and ship stats and graphs across all campaigns.

Notes:

This is an adaptation of a series of posts I've shared on tumblr (https://www.tumblr.com/malaismere/tagged/ao3%20stats) although with new figures using the same raw data.

All of this data was manually collected by counting fics on AO3, and I continue to use oldest possible counts to best represent what existed during the era, and therefore may not represent the actual number of fics available on the archive due to deleted fics and edited tags (such as longfics with updated ship tags).

The image embeds + tables may appear weird on mobile or in small windows, so reader beware! And if you have any requests, please feel free to leave a comment.

Chapter 1: C1 weekly

Chapter Text

Line graph of total fics/week from episode 10 to the week after the campaign wrap up. Fics are inconsistent, with only a single fics until episode 24. Starting low, it stays below 10/week until episode 40 with a lone peak at episode 31. From episode 58 on, it stays above 20/wek until episode 91, with an alltime high in the week before episode 80 with 63/week. Following until the end, it oscilates more wildly between values <10 and >30, with highs the week between 94 and 95, episode 102, between 110 and 111, the finale at 115, and a final high the week after campaign wrap. .

Alright, so, first things first, an overview of how much fic was being produced during the original airing of C1 - ending at 12/31/2017 following the Campaign Wrap Up and before C2 starts airing.

This was collected based on how many fics were posted, from the Friday following an episode was released to the Thursday the next episode came out. Data was collected in May 2021, and therefore includes fics with tags added on later but not any deleted after the fact.

The first year of CR's air is fairly low - it isn't until the start of the Briarwoods arc we get consistant posting of fic, and the first shipfic, with the fandom really starting to hit its stride with the Chroma Conclave arc, which boasts the highest levels of fic/week. Through the end of the campaign, it becomes more inconsistent, oscillating between less than 10/week to over 30/week sometimes back to back.

Overall Top Ships

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Perc'ahlia, Vaxleth, Perc'ildan, Vaxmore, Pikelan, and Vexleth from Episode 24 - The Feast to the week after the Campaign 1 Wrap Up. Most are under 5/week, with Perc'ildan having its highest peak at episode 59. Vaxleth is higher but usuall under 10, with highest peaks at episodes 55, 61, 104, 115, and the final week. Perc'ahlia is usually the highest, hitting above 10/week at episode 59, highest over 30/week at 68, and gradually decreasing from there, while remaining the highest peak. Due to the fact most ships only have single uses per week, we'll start with only the >50 ships count. Perc'ahlia is the overall top (886), followed by Vaxleth (335), Perc'ildan (133), Vaxmore (115), Pikelan (69) and Vexleth (58).

Through the early campaign, it's really the Vax ship show - the very first shipfic is Vaxmore, and Perc'ildan is briefly the top ship before Vaxleth begins to take more of the show. Perc'ahlia first shows up in e31, but starts to hit its stride with the Sunken Tomb, after 58 becoming the top ship consistently, with Vaxleth only beating it out for episodes 89 and the finale.

Vaxleth is overall less consistent - usually the second most popular ship, but with more vasillation - its highest peaks are episode 45 and the last week, with other notable peaks at 61, 103, and 115.Perc'ildan is generally lower, but has a notable peak in episode 59 rivaling Perc'ahlia. Vaxmore is highest in the week before 80.

Pikelan is generally fairly low - it first gets 3/week with A Bard's Lament, again with Scanlan's return in 99, highest in the week following the finale and the last week. Vexleth is similarly low, although it gets its 3/week high early with e31, highest in e59 at 4.

 

At the end of 2015 (follwing e36), the top ships were:

  1. Vaxleth (20)
  2. Perc'ildan (14)
  3. Vaxmore (7)
  4. Vexleth (5)
  5. Vex/Zahra (4)
  6. Percleth (3)
  7. Kashleth (2)
  8. Perc'ahila (2)
  9. Pikelan (2)

At the end of 2016 (following e79), the top ships were:

  1. Perc'ahlia (490)  +6
  2. Vaxleth (182)     -1
  3. Perc'ildan (91)    -1
  4. Vaxmore (68)     -1
  5. Vexleth (27)       -1
  6. Vex/Zahra (26)  -1
  7. Kashleth (20)
  8. Pikelan (19)
  9. Percy/Pike (17) 
  10. Percleth (11)      -4

At the end of 2017 - and the end of C1 - the top ships were

  1. Perc'ahlia (886)
  2. Vaxleth (335)
  3. Perc'ildan (133)
  4. Vaxmore (115)
  5. Pikelan (69)       +3
  6. Vexleth (58)       -1
  7. Vex/Zahra (41)  -1
  8. Kashleth (34)     -1
  9. Percy/Pike (30)
  10. Pikeleth (25)     +1

The top 5 are the same as present, save for Pikelan and Vaxmore swapping places.

 

Now, in order to really dig into these, instead of just looking at the top ships, I'll break these down character by character for all of Vox Machina, with all of the VM/VM ships that have fics, as well as any prominent guest or NPC ships.

Grog

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Grog with every member of Vox Machina, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. Only a few weeks of Vax and one week with Keyleth and Tary each make it above 1 fic/week.

Grog doesn't get much shipfic, so there isn't much to comment on. Vax is technically the most dominant ship, but not by much. Tary gets a good showing around episode 90, and Keyleth near the end of the campaign.

Keyleth

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Keyleth with every member of Vox Machina save Tary, as well as Kashaw Vesh, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. most are in the 1-2/week range, with Kashleth getting a peak of 3, Vexleth a few 3-4, and Vaxleth regularly higher, getting 10+ multiple times.

Vaxleth is to no surprise the big ship here. It's big peaks are around e45, e61, in the end of the Chroma Conclave/interstitial arc, and with Vax's initial and final deaths, but even then there are several weeks where they drop to getting no new fics.

Vexleth and Kashleth are the other major players - Vexleth stronger early on, during the Feywild arc, and around February where it and Pike/Keyleth also get some peaks. None of the other ships are any way consistent.

Percy

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Percy with every member of Vox Machina as well as Ripley, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. Most are in the 1-2 range, with Tary geting a 3/week peak, and Perc'ildan higher, and Perc'ahlia regularly going off the chart with 10+ values

Perc'ildan is the top ship early on, being some of the earliest ship fic, before battling with Perc'ahlia through the early Chroma Conclave arc around and following the Sunken Tomb, with the Feywild arc marking Perc'ahlia completely overshadowing it. Perc'ildan gets several few spikes, but generally falls more background after.

Tary gets a notable high following his introduction, that fades out after his departure. Pike and Keyleth both get the occasional peaks, with Pike being strongest through the Conclave arc.

Pike

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Pike with every member of Vox Machina save Tary, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. Most are only 1/weeek, Percy getting a few 2/week, Vex and Keyleth a few 3/week, and Scanlan getting occasional 2 or 3 before highs of 4/week near the end.

Unlike the other endgame pairings, Pikelan isn't very consistently written, nor is it clearly the top Pike ship. While it is the only Pike/VM ship through the early run, following the reveal of her crush on Percy, that ties out wit Scanlan fairly evenly, as do Vex and Keyleth during Femslash Februaries. Scanlan's strongest showings are around his death and Bard's Lament, and then his return, and following the finale.

Scanlan

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Scanlan with every member of Vox Machina save Tary, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. most are 1/week, wit Vex getting a single 2/week peak, and Pike more often in the 2-3 range, hitting 4/week near the end. Vax gets a single 4/week peak as well.

Pikelan is the dominant ship for Scanlan, but less due to consistency and more to the lack of any competitors. Vax is the only other real ship of note, although there are the occasional others, but even these are only a handful 1/week until peaking at e110, as Vaxlan's height during the campaign's end. Pikelan is generally strongest around Bard's Lament, Scanlan's return, and following the end of the Campaign.

Taryon

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Tary with Grog, Percy, Vex, Lawrence, and Gilmore, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. Most are 1/week, with Grog and Percy getting in the 2-3/week range.

Taryon has the least content, unsurprisingly due to his late arrival - aside from an outlier in his earliest appearance wit Vex, it's very limited to Grog and Percy, with Grog being the earlier front runner and Percy the strongest. Affter his mention, Lawrence gets the occasional fic, but Tary falls to the wayside following Scanlan's return.

Vax'ildan

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Vax with every member of Vox Machina save Tary, as well as Gilmore and the Raven Queen, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. Percy, Keyleth, and Gilmore are all regularly in the 5/week + range, Grog and Scanlan the only others to break 1/week.

Vax truly has the messiest graph of all Vox Machina, with three ships all vying for the top position. While Keyleth wins out by raw numbers, hitting the highest highs, Perc'ildan is not far behind, and both it and Vaxmore are regularly the higher - and Vaxlan notably beating it out around 110. Vaxleth is highest around the Sunken Tomb, e61, and around Vax's deaths, while Perc'ildan hits its peak during the Feywild arc, and Vaxmore e79. Still, neither truly fade out, and all remain fairly strong even around the finale.

Vex'ahlia

Line chart of weekly ship tag usage for Vex with every member of Vox Machina save Tary, as well as Zahra, from Episode 24 - The Feast to the end of 2017. Percy is the highest, regularly getting off the graph with 10+/week, and Keyleth, Zahra, and Pike the only other ships more than 2/week.

So, unsurprisingly, Perc'ahlia is truly the dominant ship, and there isn't really anything that rivals it, compared to Vax's warring ships. Zahra and Keyleth are the other big presences, but are more inconsistent. Interestingly, both appear before the first Perc'ahlia ship in episode 33 - Perc'ahlia having a slow start before dominating following the Feywild arc, becoming more variable following te end of the Conclave arc, with high peaks and low lows.

Keyleth and Pike both spike in February, with femslash February getting them them to the 3-4/week range, but Keyleth is more likely to show up outside of February in response to various campaign events.