The best water-type starter Pokémon of all games

When any Pokémon journey begins, you have only one option: grass, fire, or water. This is the most important decision you will make in Pokémon. Your entree is your best friend. Your number 1. They start with you and most likely will be with you until the end of the game. So if you are a fan of water, which entree is your best option? The best water-type starter Pokémon of all games.

And not only that but which one is the most competitively effective? Let’s find out!

8 Oshawott / Samurott

While Samurott is by far the worst water starter, it is by no means a bad Pokémon.

He has great mixed attack stats and incredible volume but is disappointed in his average speed. It’s slow enough to be completely destroyed by most electric guys, and too fast to take advantage of the Trick Room competitively.

However, Smaurott has an incredible move pool that can take advantage of his mixed attack stats.

Some highlights you can learn are the Hydraulic Pump, Ice Beam, Water Jet, Megahorn, and Grass Knot.

The only thing that really disappoints me about Samurott is its design.

Go from lovable Oshawott to really cool Dewott. This shows that we are moving into more samurai territory, but instead, we get a seal with a helmet and facial hair. I would have loved for Samurott to be basically just Heihachi.

7 Sobble / inteleon

I was surprised when Drizzle turned into Intel Xeon.

I was expecting a more punk rock look, and instead, we got an incredibly thin James Bond. That said, Intel Xeon is the definition of a glass cannon:

Very fast special attack, very high, everything else quite low.

But what makes Inteleon really stand out is its ability: Sniper.

This causes each critical hit to deal 2.5x damage instead of 2x.

Combine this with Inteleon Sniper Shot’s signature move, Scope Lens element, and focused energy, and you’re guaranteed a critical hit every turn.

This gives Snipe Shot a guaranteed base power of 280!

While Intel Xeon is excellent at the game, and with only one gym leader he’s weak against, he’s disappointed in its lack of variety.

This is pretty much all you’ll do, and if your opponent has anything faster than that, it’s done. But Monteleone is still a great way to make sure your opponents in the game are shaken, not shaken.

6 Piplup / Empoleon

Empoleon comes with incredible steel and water writing.

This, combined with its great special defense, makes it a fantastic utility Pokémon. Competitively, Empoleon can place stealth rocks, defog hazards, roar to switch opponents and paralyze opponents with Toxic.

Also, Empoleon has a great special attack.

And Empoleon is a perfect user of Scald, a strong water attack that also has a chance to burn your opponent.

So why isn’t Empoleon higher on the list? Well, Empoleon is not that good at the game. It is weak for 3 of the gyms. And the two Elite 4 members he’s supposed to be strong against are just as strong against Empoleon!

All of Bertha’s team can take down Empoleon if he doesn’t take them out first, and Flint’s Infernape can take him down easily.

That being said, Empoleon is great! If you want a water type, you can do a lot worse than this penguin torpedo.

5 Totodile / Feraligatr

Easily the scariest of the bunch, Feraligatr is an absolute beast.

Don’t let its mediocre stats fool you. This can devastate teams. This is due to a combination of things. Sorry, but we’re going to have to do some math here.

While his attack is a decently high 105, Feraligatr’s true power comes from the Sheer Force.

Any move that has a secondary effect is increased by 1.3x but removes the effect. This also affects the Life Orb element, which increases attacks by an additional 1.3x at a cost of 1/10 of your hit points.

This means that the Liquidation move goes from a base power of 85 to 136!

Combine this with the Dragon Dance move and a decent defense stat, and you’ve got one of the best next-gen sweepers for Gen 2.

Feraligatr is equally effective in the game. While he’s only strong against two total gym leaders, his move group allows him to be effective against almost all of them.

You could easily bet with this alligator.

4 Popplio / Primarina

I love the Primarina line.

I remember when a lot of people didn’t like Popplio because he was a clown who made snot bubbles, but that made me love him even more. Not to mention, you get the amazing dual water and fairy writing.

It’s honestly a bit harder to justify Primarina in the game, as there are no gym leaders in Sun and Moon.

However, we have the 4 kahunas and the Elite 4.

So how many of those coaches does Primarina have an advantage over? 6 of the 8.

Premarin is easily the most useful starter in the Alola region.

So how about competitively?

Primarina is really good! He is a bulky special attacker who has excellent handwriting. With access to the moon blast and hydraulic pump, you can hit just about anything and do a ton of damage. Also, he has a perfect momentum move for himself – a calm mind.

The most important thing against it is that there is another water/fairy type Pokémon introduced at the same time that does the job better: Tapu Fini.

But this can’t take away from the fact that Primarina is one of the most useful starters of all Pokémon.

3 Squirtle / Blastoise

The OG water starter is the definition of a kid designing a Pokémon.

“How can we make this turtle cooler?”

Give him weapons.

“…Done.”

But you know what? It worked.

This thing is insanely cool. And when you think of a Pokémon that uses Hydro Pump, you think of Blastoise.

In the game, Blastoise is quite useful. He has an advantage against 3 gym leaders, while he is only weak for 2 of them.

This is fine, but where it really shines is in the competition.

For a time, Blastoise was one of the best fast spinners in the game due to his sheer volume. This was further increased with his mega evolution and his new Mega Launcher ability. This increases all movements with aura or pulse in the name.

That means Mega Blastoise essentially gets STAB for Dark Pulse, Aura Sphere, and Dragon Pulse, plus a double boost for Water Pulse.

While Blastoise also gets an impressive-looking G-Max, the best thing that can happen to it in Gen 8 is Shell Smash.

This is arguably one of the best momentum moves in the game and turns Blastoise into a terror.

Pokémon has come a long way since Blastoise was introduced. But this giant tortoise has held its own over the years.

2 Froakie / Greninja

Many people will be surprised that Greninja is not number 1. And I fully understand it.

He is incredibly fast and has a high special attack. Arguably, he also has the best ability in the game with Protean.

Protean automatically changes the user’s handwriting to whatever type matches the move they are using. That means every move gets STAB. It also has a great move pool.

Not only that, but he has another incredible ability with Battle Bond.

This transforms Greninja into Ash Greninja, increasing his speed and special attack even more, and providing a boost to his Water Shuriken signature move.

Water Shuriken is a multi-hit special move that also takes precedence.

There aren’t many Pokémon that can take on Ash Greninja. Easily the most competitive viable Pokémon on this list.

So why isn’t it number 1?

Well, it is not as useful in its debut game as it is competitive.

Sure, Greninja has an advantage against two of the gym leaders and one member of Elite 4. But he’s also weak against four gym leaders! That’s more than any other water starter, and essentially half the game!

Greninja is an incredibly competitive Pokémon, but it leaves a lot to be desired in the game.

1 Mudkip / Swampert

So I order U liek Mudkipz? I also!

This is not just my favorite starter Pokémon line, but possibly my favorite Pokémon of all time.

I’ve survived many Nuzlocke runs because of this bad boy here.

The final form, Swampert, makes for an incredibly competitive Pokémon.

Its typing combined with strong defensive stats makes it a great utility Pokémon with stealth rocks or wide guard. Not only that, Mega Swampert is one of the best rain sweepers out there.

Not to mention, it’s also one of the most amazing Pokémon you’ll ever see!

But what makes the Swampert line really great is how well they work in the Hoenn region.

Swampert has an amazing water/soil type, leaving it with only one weakness: grass.

In all of the main Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald battles, you will come across a total of 7 Pokémon that are Grass-type. Not only that, but Swampert has a STAB advantage over 4 gyms and most of Stephen Stone’s Pokémon.

And Swampert is an amazing HM user, having access to all types of water, plus force and rock crushing.

Am I biased? Absolutely.

But it cannot be argued that there is a water starter that has as much competitive and in-game utility as the Swampert line.

And that’s what makes it the best water starter ever.