How to unlock Popplio
Popplio 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 Alola banner, where it sits in the 2★ pool. The 2★ band takes 30% of all pulls and holds 171 partners, so one specific Popplio works out to about 0.1754% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Popplio has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Popplio refunds 30 coins at the 2★ rate.
Popplio stats and rank
Popplio carries 92 HP, 95 speed, a ×1.06 attack multiplier, ×1 physical, ×1.06 special, 54 defense and 56 special defense, 320 in total. On the three-stat percentile this is 19.9 out of 100, which puts Popplio at rank 838 of 966 and in tier C. What separates it from its neighbours is shape, not size: its strongest slot is special multiplier (49th 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 Popplio's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (106.1 effective DPS, ×1 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (89.6 effective DPS, ×1 multiplier), then Quick Attack at 44.8 damage per 0.56s (79.6 effective DPS, ×1 multiplier). 5 of its 12 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 7 with the special one, alongside 5 support moves. Its special multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.06 against ×1), so special moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 16.5 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call.
Evolution cards for Popplio
Its starting move, Bubble, evolves into Surf once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Sprint card, which boosts speed for that run. A level 5 move without Sprint 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 106.1 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Popplio compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Piplup (+2 HP, +0 speed, -0.02 attack, -6 total) and Vanillite (-6 HP, +1 speed, same attack multiplier, -15 total). Against Piplup, the two are level on speed and Popplio hits harder by ×0.02, and the rank gap is 28 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.