10 Best Water Type Pokemon In The Series

The Water-type is probably one of the most preferred or used types in the Pokemon series. In fact, it is one of the Starter-types and is even prominent in Gen 3. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of the 10 best Water-Type Pokemon in the series. To know more about Water-types, such as Strengths and Weaknesses, we have a guide here to help you.

10) Primarina

We’re starting our list of the 10 best Water-Type Pokemon with Primarina. Introduced in Gen 7 starting as Popplio, Primarina to this day holds the title as the only starter to have a Fairy-type. However, we’re to talk about how good of a Water-type it is.

Primarina has impressive Special Stats. It has a high Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense. The Fairy-type complements its offensive nature but at the same time, has room for defense. Building your Primarina to be a damage dealer or durable Pokemon is up to you.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Primarina

Hydro Pump is the ideal Water move for Primarina and Moon Blast for the Fairy aspect. Both these Moves get a 50% boost due to Primarina having those types as they would call them as STAB moves.
Ice Beam or Blizzard aren’t bad Moves to add to its repertoire if you don’t have an Ice-type in your team.
For a defensive combo, you can have Aqua Ring and equip Primarina with Leftovers. This combination can allow Primarina to have HP restoration at every turn.

09) Starmie

We’re going back to the past all the way in Gen 1 with Starmie. This evolved form of Staryu is a Water and Pyschic-type. If you watched the anime, you would always think of Misty with this Pokemon and she also uses this in the games.

Starmie’s deadliness comes in its Speed stat. This Water-type can hit fast and hit hard when it needs to. It’s SP. Attack is also good so have this Pokemon at the top of your party to dish out damage first and possibly wipe out enemy teams.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Starmie

Ideal Water-type moves for Starmie are either Hydro Pump or Surf. That depends on the game as well as how you position Starmie. Having it as a minor member can be ideal to teach Surf so you can have it for utility and damage as well.
It would also be a good idea to teach it Psyshock or Psychic if you need a good Psychic-type arsenal in your team but don’t want to add another Pokemon.
Giving Starmie Choice Specs or Life Orb is ideal if you want to dish out a lot of damage but give it Recover if you pair it up with Life Orb since it will lose HP for every successful hit.

08) Vaporeon

We’re still in Gen 1 with Vaporeon, one of the three earliest evolutions of Eevee. This one is a pure Water-type and seems to be based on the mythical creature the Undine.

Vaporeon is a Pokemon that excels in being somewhat durable. Compared to the first two on this list, Vaporeon has impressive defensive stats, such as high HP and SP. Defense. This is an ideal Pokemon that you would want when you want to soak in some damage, especially in the early Gen games.

The SP. Attack that it has is also impressive, so it isn’t just for defensive purposes. Mix it up with its Ability Hydration and Hidden Ability Water Absorb. It is one of the better Hidden Abilities in the game being able to absorb and heal Water Moves.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Vaporeon

We mentioned that Vaporeon can be a good tank, so arm it with Rain Dance so it gets benefits from its ability Hydration. Give it other Moves like Aqua Ring or Wish to give it more healing and stay alive longer in battle. Don’t forget about Leftovers, never forget this Item for your tanking Pokemon.
In terms of offense, arm it with the usual Moves that benefit from SP. Attack such as Surf, Ice Beam, and even Hydro Pump if available.
Optional Moves to give it for utility are Acid Armor, Muddy Water, and Scald.

07) Gyarados

Gyarados is definitely a Pokemon that you would want in your party at least early on. That’s because players can get a Magikarp early on in most games.

Just have the patience to grind that thing up to 20, then you can get a strong Pokemon in the form of Gyarados at an early part of the game. The Gyarados is a Water and Flying-type Pokemon but it has one thing going for it compared to the rest and that is it can learn Dragon-type Moves.

How that is possible could be because it is based on mythical giant serpents that have affiliations with Dragons. Gyarados can be both good for offense or defense.

For starters, its Attack stat is the highest in its arsenal, and for defensive measures, it has good Special Attack and Special Defense as well.

Don’t forget about its Intimidate ability where it cuts the Attack stat of the enemy. Also, at the point of this list, it is the only one that has a Mega Evolution form.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Gyarados

Strangely enough, despite this list being the 10 best Water-type Pokemon, Gyarados best Water Move is Waterfall. That’s because it is a Physical attack that benefits from its high Attack. The other and most Water-type moves are Special so they aren’t suitable for Gyarados.
Teaching it Dragon Dance is a good Move to boost its Attack and Speed making it hit fast and harder. Also, add Dragon Pulse in there as a good Dragon move to boot.
Teach it other good Physical Moves like Earthquake, Ice Fang, and Crunch.

06) Suicune

The first Legendary Pokemon on this list belongs to the Gen 2 Water-type Suicune. There’s no dual-typing going on with this beauty, and they recently released a Paradox Form for Suicune in Scarlet and Violet which has some of the fans going yes and some scratching their head.

Regardless, Suicune is good when it comes to being defensive. Having high Defense and Special Defense, you would want this in your party. While other Legendaries have it, Suicune has the ability Pressure which makes enemies use more PP than normal.

Plus, if you have Suicune at the front of your party, you will encounter stronger Pokemon than usual.

It may be a bit tricky to catch this one due to the fact that it is a Legendary, and encountering it is a bit low. This Legendary can arm itself with Ice and Water-type moves to boot.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Suicune

This is another one where a lot of players use Suicune in a very eccentric way. Instead of focusing on high damaging Water Moves, players use Suicune defensively due to its high Atk and SP. Atk. Simply teach it Rest and Sleep Talk. Rest fully heals the HP and Sleep Talk allows it to attack while Sleeping.
If you have access to it, go for Aqua Ring as well as Scald. Scald is used as an opener since it has the chance to Burn the target despite it not being one of those Fire-type attacks but a Water Move. When the target is under Burn and Suicune has low HP, just Rest and Sleep Talk to deal damage while Burn adds insult to injury. Plus, don’t forget about the Leftovers.
If you really want some damage, then go for the usual like Surf, Hydro Pump, or Ice Beam since Suicune’s SP. Attack is decent.

05) Blastoise

We’re halfway through our list of the 10 best Water-type Pokemon in the series. We have an OG right here in the form of Blastoise. This giant cannon-wielding turtle is pound-for-pound one of the best tank Pokemon in the game.

Blastoise is like Suicune, but you get it as a Starter in the right Gen. It has high Defense and Special Defense much like Suicune. The only thing it falls on is that it isn’t as effective in terms of offense, but that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

However, with its ability Torrent, it can pump up Water-Type attacks or moves when its HP is in a pinch. The only problem now would be its Speed, but good luck to the enemies trying to take it out.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Blastoise

For a defensive build, go for the usual like Aqua Ring, and add Protect or Iron Defense into the mix. Don’t forget about Leftovers, it will always be a good item to have. Even add Muddy Water and Scald to add to the offensive lineup.
For Water moves, considering Blastoise has a balance in terms of Attack and Special Attack, use either Hydro Pump, Surf, or even Waterfall. Utilizing its Torrent ability, these Water-type attacks will become powerful attacks.
Add some of these Moves for a bit of a diverse offense like Dark Pulse, Dragon Pulse, and Ice Beam.

04) Greninja

Greninja is probably one of the most popular Water-types in the game. It first appeared in Gen 6 as the starter Pokemon Froakie and evolves at level 36, being a Water and Dark-type.

Greninja also appears as one of Ash’s most popular Pokemon and also appeared in other Nintendo games. That being said, Greninja is all about offense and dishing out damage. It has an impressive Attack and SP. Attack, plus its Speed is its highest stat.

This allows the Greninja to attack mostly first all the time and deal out good damage output, depending on what you put into it. It’s a cool Pokemon when you think about it, and the scarf that you see is actually its tongue since it is a frog Pokemon.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Greninja

Utilizing its Speed and ability Torrent, arm the Greninja with the strongest Water moves such as Surf, Waterfall, Hydro Pump, or Hydro Cannon. Use one of those powerful attacks since the Greninja has good Attack and Special Attack to complement them in battle.
Having Ice Beam and Dark Pulse wouldn’t be such bad options as well to pair up with your Water moves of choice. Choose to have Choice Scarf or Choice Specs as well depending if you want speed (Scarf) or damage (Specs), but you’ll be locked into using one move.

03) Lapras

Rounding out the top 3 spot is the Gen 1 Lapras which is a Water and Ice-type Pokemon. Lapras first appeared in Gen 1 with games such as Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow.

Lapras can be considered a rare Pokemon back then since you could only get it through the main storyline and not anywhere else, but you at least got it no matter what version of the game you played.

It is based on the Loch Ness Monster which is a mysterious sea creature with a long neck peeking out of the water. Lapras is a Water-type that is balanced in all of its stats. It has high HP and low Speed and the other stats are pretty much in the middle, so this means you can use Lapras in so many ways.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Lapras

Most players go for a tank or support Lapras, so they teach it Rain Dance and paired with the Damp Rock item. Rain Dance syncs well with Lapras’ Ability and Durability. Players also mix it up with Rest to last longer.
If you’re dealing with a deadly enemy, use Perish Song, and just wait for both of you to get knocked out but when you do that, your Lapras should have already pulled its weight early on.
If damage is what you’re looking for, Ice Beam and Blizzard are good for the early Gen games. Try to also use Surf for Special or Waterfall for Physical. These are some powerful Moves to arm Lapras utilizing its Water and Ice-type. If you’re also able to breed a Lapras with Dragon Dance, then that’s another good thing.

02) Milotic

Let’s get this out of the way first, and yes, getting a Milotic can be hard. The hard part is getting the Feebas, and the harder part is that you have to evolve it with high beauty.

Driving your beauty high is hard on its own but when you manage to do all of that, you get a strong Water-type Pokemon in the form of Milotic. Considered one of the best Water-type Pokemon in competitive fights, Milotic is worth the grind.

Its stats are strong in the Special aspect. It’s strong in the Special Attack and defensive stats allowing it to be a good support Pokemon. Its ability Marvel scale is a good one to have since its base Defense is just alright. Use your Milotic for its defensive capabilities.

Ideal Moves for Strategies for Milotic

When it comes to defensive Moves, always use the basics such as Aqua Ring and maybe even Rest. Recover is also your best friend here where it is pretty much a straight-up heal. Don’t forget as always our good friend Leftovers.
Have defensive buff Moves like Mirror Coat, Protect, Light Screen, and Safeguard. You don’t have to teach all of them but have one of them to buff up your Milotic.
In terms of offense, the high SP. Attack can benefit moves like Surf, Ice Beam, and even Dragon Pulse.

01) Kyogre

The number one Pokemon on our list of the best Water-type is none other than the Legendary Kyogre from Gen 3.

If all the previous Pokemon on this list have good stats in some aspects, Kyogre is on steroids since it has a lot of impressive stats. For starters, it has decent Attack and Defense. Its Special aspect is where it really excels since it has very high Special Attack and Special Defense.

Even if the Defense and Special Defense are a bit apart, Kyogre is still a bat tanky due to having high HP as well. It’s a Legendary for a reason, and the lore around it makes it a bit more devastating.

It also has a Primal Form which jacks up its Attack, making it a monster in terms of offense as it wasn’t already impressive in defense.

Ideal Moves and Strategies for Kyogre

By default, it has one of the strongest Water-type attacks which is Water Spout. Kyogre is the only one that has this, but if you want to add other Water-type attacks, go for Surf or Hydro Pump.
Other useful Attack moves to add are Ice Beam or Earthquake if you want to go on the Physical route. Players also use Thunder for some reason, and it does deal a lot of damage. Pair your Moves with Choice Specs for higher damage output.

Conclusion

That concludes our list of the 10 best Water-type Pokemon in the series. There are a lot of them out there, but these are the ten that we consider the best.

We’re not saying that you should get all of these or use them. We’re merely suggesting how good they really are.

The other thing is that it depends on the game you are playing. There are some games where these Pokemon may not be available.

What’s your favorite Water-type Pokemon? Hit it up in the comments for everyone to look at.