Best generation 1 Pokémon

Gengar leads with an ELO of 1,501, ahead of Mewtwo (1,499) and Arcanine (1,497). Ranked over 133,046 duels between 151 contenders, last updated September 6, 2026.

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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.