How to unlock Psyduck
Psyduck 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 Kanto banner, where it sits in the 2★ pool. The 2★ band takes 30% of all pulls and holds 171 partners, so one specific Psyduck works out to about 0.1754% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Psyduck has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Psyduck refunds 30 coins at the 2★ rate.
Psyduck stats and rank
Psyduck reads 92 HP, 101 speed, ×1.06 attack, ×0.99 physical, ×1.06 special, 48 defense and 50 special defense, for a 320 base-stat total. On the three-stat percentile this is 26.1 out of 100, which puts Psyduck at rank 743 of 966 and in tier C. The relative picture matters more than the total: its strongest slot is special multiplier (49th percentile) and its weakest is HP (19th 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 Psyduck's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (105.0 effective DPS, ×0.99 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (88.7 effective DPS, ×0.99 multiplier), then Quick Attack at 44.8 damage per 0.56s (78.8 effective DPS, ×0.99 multiplier). 5 of its 13 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 8 with the special one, alongside 5 support moves. Its special multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.06 against ×0.99), so special moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 16.3 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call. Compare it as throughput, not as damage per hit, because the cooldown is already divided out.
Evolution cards for Psyduck
Its starting move, Confusion, evolves into Psyshock once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Reflexes card, which boosts cooldown for that run. The permanent menu cannot substitute: only a Reflexes card picked during the run unlocks the evolution. 13 of its 18 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Synthesis). The strongest of them is Body Slam at 105.0 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Psyduck compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Oshawott (+3 HP, -4 speed, -0.01 attack, -12 total) and Joltik (+0 HP, +4 speed, -0.05 attack, -1 total). Against Oshawott, Psyduck is 4 speed faster and Psyduck hits harder by ×0.01, and the rank gap is 23 places. Every one of those numbers cuts both ways, so the decision is about which stat the run needs, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.