Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feature over 400 Pokémon, including a number of new Pokémon to collect. These include new and interesting Pokémon that are stronger, faster, and tougher than others, as well as a few old favorites. Here’s our list of the best Water-type Pokémon in both Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Some of them are version-specific, which means you’ll need to trade in order to play with them on other versions. Not all of these are new Gen 9 designs, but they’re found in the games.
A List of the Best Water Types in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Vaporeon
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One of Eevee’s Eeveelutions, Vaporeon can be found in the wild near bodies of water, or evolved from an Eevee using a Water Stone. Vaporeon possesses high base HP, as well as decent Special Attack and Special Defense stats. Its base Attack and Defense are quite low, but other stats make up for it. It also has an ability, Water Absorb, that allows it to restore HP when hit with Water-type moves. It is an uncomplicated Pokémon with strong Water attacks that plays best as a straight up tanky Special attacker.
Vaporeon’s pure Water-typing gives it decent defenses, weak only to Electric and Grass. Players who want to increase Vaporeon’s offensive capabilities should Terastallize it with Water as its Tera Type. Otherwise, you can enhance its tankiness using Grass or Electric as its Tera Type, negating any type matchup your opponent may have.
Cloyster
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Cloyster is a Water/Ice-type Pokémon that evolves from Shellder with the help of a Water Stone. While weak against Grass, Electric, Fighting, and Rock-type moves, it has very high defense and an ability — Shell Armor — that protects it from critical hits. Cloyster’s super-high Defense stats are meant to help it withstand most attacks and compensate for its low HP, but it can be vulnerable to Special attacks.
Cloyster’s Ice typing makes it a great attacker with same-type attack bonus (STAB) for offensively useful Ice-type moves. Pair that up with its signature move Icicle Spear, as well as its Skill Link ability that guarantees Icicle Spear hits five times every time, and you have a very strong offensive option on a strong defensive tank.
Quaquaval
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Quaquaval is a Water/Fighting-type Pokémon that evolves from Quaxwell at level 36. It’s the final evolution of the Gen 9 starter Pokémon Quaxly. It is weak against Grass, Electric, Flying, Psychic, and Fairy-type attacks, but has great resistances against common attack types like Fire and Water, among others. It has high physical Attack stats and is capable of defeating foes quickly with its powerful move pool.
Quaquaval’s Moxie hidden ability should take advantage of its strong offense by increasing its attack every time it knocks out an opponent. Powerful STAB moves like Wave Crash and Close Combat can knock out opponents fast, and its signature move Aqua Step can hit hard while also increasing its Speed stat.
Dondozo
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Dondozo is a Water-type Pokémon that doesn’t have any prior or succeeding evolutions. While weak against Grass and Electric types, it has a enormous base HP, Defense, and Attack stats. It can also ignore an opponent’s stat changes with its Unaware ability, rendering all of your opponent’s Defense boosting moves useless. Dondozo is a bulky defensive tank that can hit hard with powerful Water moves.
Dondozo really comes into its own when paired with the Dragon/Water-type Tatsugiri in double battles. Tatsugiri’s special ability Commander boosts all of Dondozo’s stats by two levels, and provides a slew of other benefits, including making Tatsugiri untargetable until Dondozo faints. The pairing takes a little bit of strategizing, and only works in double battles, but it is fun to learn and makes the already powerful Dondozo a lot more formidable.
Gyarados
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This Water/Flying-type Pokémon evolves from the notoriously useless Magikarp at level 20. It is very weak to Electric-type moves and weak to Rock-type attacks, but is immune to Ground-type moves in return. It has high Attack and Special Defense stats, and can lower an enemy’s Attack using its Intimidate ability.
Gyarados is a straightforward attacker, hitting hard with powerful Water moves like Hydro Pump or Flying moves like Hurricane. Gyarados can also learn the powerful Hyper Beam, as well as the Dragon-type attack Outrage. It can even learn the Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Flamethrower and Blizzard/Thunder/Fire Blast trios, giving it great coverage with powerful Special moves of a variety of types.
Iron Bundle
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Iron Bundle is a Water/Ice-type Paradox Pokémon, exclusive to Pokémon Violet. Iron Bundle does not have prior or succeeding evolutions, and is only found in the depths of endgame region Area Zero. It has some resemblance to Delibird, but they’re not related by evolution. Its high Defense and Special Attack stats make up for its low base HP. Iron Bundle’s standout stat is Speed, making it the fastest Ice-type and equal fastest Water-type, tying with Barraskewda.
You can take advantage of Iron Bundle’s high Special Attack and Speed points by setting its Nature to Modest or Timid, respectively, then teach it powerful moves like Blizzard or Hydro Pump. Iron Bundle also learns Freeze-Dry, which is an Ice move that is super effective against Water-types. If Iron Bundle is too slow for you, you can teach it the speed-raising status move Agility for laughs.
Palafin (Hero Form)
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Palafin is a Water-type Pokémon that evolves from Finizen. Getting Palafin can be tricky, since its evolution requires you to level up Finizen above level 38 while playing co-operatively with somebody else via the online Union Circle feature. If that’s too difficult to organize, Palafin can also be found in Tera Raids.
Palafin has two forms: the regular, weaker Zero Form, and the more powerful Hero Form. While Zero Form Palafin has mediocre base stats, the Hero Form has significantly better stats. Base Special Attack, for example, doubles, and physical Attack more than doubles. It’s worth noting that Hero Form is available in battle only, after switching Palafin out and sending it back into the battle for the second time. Players must remember that Palafin must be in its battle-only Hero Form before it can dish out devastating attacks. Couple its outrageous power with some powerful STAB Water moves like Wave Crash and Hydro Pump, or even the Fighting-type Focus Punch, and Hero Form Palafin is a force to be reckoned with.
And there you have it for our list of the best Water-type Pokémon in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Keep in mind that some of these are version-specific, unique, or require a strange evolution method, which means you will need to find someone with another version of the game to trade or play with. For more information and guides on Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, check out this article on the game’s breeding and our comprehensive beginner’s guide to competitive Pokémon battles.
