How to unlock Totodile
Totodile 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 Johto banner, where it sits in the 1★ pool. The 1★ band takes 45% of all pulls and holds 233 partners, so one specific Totodile works out to about 0.1931% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter only applies to 5★ results, so Totodile has no floor of its own and no targeted pull. A duplicate Totodile refunds 15 coins at the 1★ rate.
Totodile stats and rank
Totodile carries 92 HP, 96 speed, a ×1.06 attack multiplier, ×1.06 physical, ×0.94 special, 64 defense and 48 special defense, 314 in total. On the three-stat percentile this is 21.2 out of 100, which puts Totodile at rank 815 of 966 and in tier C. What separates it from its neighbours is shape, not size: its strongest slot is defense (43rd 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 Totodile's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (112.5 effective DPS, ×1.06 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (95.0 effective DPS, ×1.06 multiplier), then Quick Attack at 44.8 damage per 0.56s (84.4 effective DPS, ×1.06 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 (×1.06 against ×0.94), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 17.5 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call.
Evolution cards for Totodile
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 112.5 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Totodile compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Pumpkaboo (+0 HP, +3 speed, same attack multiplier, +21 total) and Larvitar (+0 HP, -1 speed, -0.01 attack, -14 total). Against Pumpkaboo, Pumpkaboo is 3 speed faster and the two carry an identical ×1.06 attack multiplier, and the rank gap is 42 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.