How to unlock Mudkip
Mudkip is one of the free starters: pick it from the starter selector at the start of a run and it costs no tickets. Later copies come from the Hoenn banner, where it sits in the 1★ pool. The 1★ band takes 45% of all pulls and holds 233 partners, so one specific Mudkip works out to about 0.1931% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Mudkip has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Mudkip refunds 15 coins at the 1★ rate.
Mudkip stats and rank
Mudkip reads 92 HP, 95 speed, ×1.08 attack, ×1.08 physical, ×0.97 special, 50 defense and 50 special defense, for a 310 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 21.6 out of 100, which puts Mudkip at rank 811 of 966 and in tier C. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is physical multiplier (42nd percentile) and its weakest is speed (17th percentile), so every one of its stats sits below the roster median, so its case rests on move pool and availability rather than raw numbers.
Best moves in Mudkip's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (114.6 effective DPS, ×1.08 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (96.8 effective DPS, ×1.08 multiplier), then Quick Attack at 44.8 damage per 0.56s (86.0 effective DPS, ×1.08 multiplier). 5 of its 12 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 7 with the special one, alongside 5 support moves. Its physical multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.08 against ×0.97), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 17.8 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. The figure is a ceiling for a single target: splash, piercing and knockback can outweigh a gap this size.
Evolution cards for Mudkip
Its starting move, Water Gun, evolves into Scald once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. A level 5 move without Power in the run is still just a level 5 move. 12 of its 17 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Body Slam at 114.6 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Mudkip compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Larvitar (+0 HP, +0 speed, -0.03 attack, -10 total) and Sizzlipede (+0 HP, +2 speed, -0.02 attack, -5 total). Against Larvitar, the two are level on speed and Mudkip hits harder by ×0.03, and the rank gap is 32 places. The exchange rate is the point: nothing here improves on both lines at once, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.