Best Pokémon water starters

Squirtle leads with an ELO of 1,334, ahead of Mudkip (1,303) and Totodile (1,264). Ranked over 853 duels between 9 contenders, last updated September 8, 2026.

What's your favorite Water-type Pokémon starter?

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.