Best shiny water starter Pokémon

Mudkip wins 57% of its duels and tops the shiny water-type starter Pokémon ranking ahead of Squirtle.

Just 13 ELO points separate Mudkip from Squirtle at the summit, with Totodile and Froakie tied at 1251 points for third place. The top five contenders cluster within a narrow 26-point range, suggesting the community finds these shiny water starters nearly equivalent in appeal. Piplup rounds out the top five with 1246 points and a 53% win rate across 129 duels. At the opposite end, Popplio sits last with 1090 ELO points and a 34% win rate, trailing eighth-place Oshawott by just 8 points. The bottom three starters share a pattern of below-average performance, revealing a clear split between fan favorites and less popular designs in their shiny forms.

This ranking draws from 517 duels submitted by 27 players across 9 contenders, updated on 12 October 2026. The tight margins at the top suggest that voter preferences remain fluid, with no dominant leader securing a commanding advantage. Whether you favor the charm of Hoenn's purple Mudkip or Kanto's green-shelled Squirtle, the TopList invites you to cast your own votes and shape the standings. Head to VAINKEURZ to weigh in on which shiny water-type starter deserves the crown.

Updated on October 12, 2026

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.

How our rankings are made →