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In a vacuum, Blaziken and Luchalitten/Beltigre/whatever are the best, but fire's pretty homogeneous in that they're all bipeds and 3 or 4 are Fire/Fighting. I don't even have a problem with Infernape or Emboar, it's just that it seems like they kept doing variations on one concept.
Water has various different ideas each gen, so the variety is there. The main problem is that the quality drops off after Gen 4. Blastoise/Feraligatr/Empoleon are the best of their respective generations, and Swampert is top tier as well. Samurott being quadrupedal ruins his design for me, Greninja is alright but I think he's been pushed so much that I'm a bit soured of seeing him all the time, and the Gen 7 one outright sucks.
Grass also has variety in concept, but is inconsistent in quality. Venusaur, Sceptile, Torterra, and the Gen 7 one are all good/great, but Chesnaught is just good, Meganium is mediocre, and Serperior is trash.
I'll give it to Water overall, but Fire has the highest highs. If Serperior was replaced with a great design, Grass might be the best, but Serperior drags the whole thing down a lot.
