Pokémon Go: Prepare for trouble with the best Team Go Rocket Counters!

Team Go Rocket's leaders put up some of the toughest fights in the game. Here's the best Pokémon to challenge them with!

Editor's Note: Without spending real money and/or hundreds of PokéCoins, it takes beating six Team Go Rocket Grunts just to make a single Rocket Radar which can then be used to track down one Team Go Rocket Executive. This means visiting a minimum of seven different PokéStops just to fight a single Team Go Rocket Leader. This cannot be done safely if you live in an area with Shelter in Place or Stay at Home orders. Because of this, Niantic will not be adding new Team Go Rocket research before September, 2020. Please follow your local health department's recommendations, and don't risk getting sick over a game.

Now that Team Go Rocket is sending in more than just Grunts, defeating the villains of Pokémon Go takes more than just a handful of recommended Pokémon. Every month, you have a chance to battle your way through the three top ranked executives of Team Go Rocket, leading you to a battle with Giovanni himself, and a Legendary Shadow Pokémon! Even well-seasoned players, like myself, have struggled against the leaders of Team Go Rocket. Fortunately, we here at iMore know exactly what you need to take on each of these big bads!

What is Team Go Rocket?

Team Go Rocket is the current incarnation of the first criminal organization from the original Pokémon games and shows. Led by Giovanni, Team Rocket has always been lurking in the shadows of the Pokémon world, stealing any Pokémon they can get their hands on, along with all the Poké Balls and Pokémon related technology possible. They're the bad guys. Worse even, as Team Go Rocket, they've invaded the world of Pokémon Go along with Shadow Pokémon, formerly good Pokémon who have been corrupted through a crazy technique that leaves them in constant pain and forced to assist in Team Go Rocket's criminal endeavors.

How do I challenge the leaders?

While Team Go Rocket Grunts have been taking over PokéStops since July 2019, beginning in November 2019, their leaders have joined the fight. By fighting six Grunts, you can collect Mysterious components, which can, in turn, be used to create a Rocket Radar. Once in possession of a Rocket Radar, you can track down Team Go Rocket Hideouts, and challenge one of three Team Go Rocket Executives. These Executives are much stronger than the Grunts and actually know how to use their Shields, so prepare for a tough battle. Along with Special Research, if you defeat all three Team Go Rocket Executives, you can be rewarded with a Super Rocket Radar that will lead you to the Boss of Team Go Rocket: Giovanni! For more details on how to get to the Team Go Rocket Executives and Giovanni, check out our Looming Shadows guide.

Earning or purchasing Rocket Radars

After you've constructed your first Rocket Radar, additional Rocket Radar can be purchased in the PokéShop for 200 PokéCoins each. While $2 worth of PokéCoins (or less if you're able to earn them,) might seem like a small amount to pay for a Rocket Radar, the past two Community Days featured paid special research that included a Rocket Radar among the generous rewards for only $1. You will still need to track down the Executives to battle, but if you don't have to fight your way through several grunts each time, this could make completing the Team Go Rocket Special Research a little more doable.

Cliff

Cliff is the first of the Team Go Rocket Executives and their counterpart to Team Mystic's Leader Blanche. Cliff brings in a team of three Pokémon with the second and third being chosen from a pool of different strong Shadow Pokémon. Fortunately, you can battle an Executive as many times as it takes to beat them. So, if you lose the first time, take note of which Pokémon fill those second and third slots and plan your next attack accordingly.

• Cliff's first Pokémon is currently Pinsir. Fire, Flying, and Rock type moves do double damage, while Flying and Ghost type resist Pinsir's fast moves. The best counters include Moltres, Zapdos, Charizard, Entei, Dragonite, or Giratina in either forme will also work well.

• In his second slot, Ciff could send out Marowak. Marowak uses Ground and Fighting type moves and is weak against Water, Grass, and Ice. Gyarados is the best counter thanks to its resistances, but Lugia, Dragonite, Swampert, Kyogre, Venusaur, or Leafeon will all work well.

• If he goes with Omastar, you'll want to exploit its double weakness against Grass types. Torterra, Venusaur, or Leafeon are good common counters, but Abomasnow, Roserade, or Ludicolo also work well.

• If Electivire is in Cliff's second slot, its only weakness is against Ground, and its movepool includes a lot of potential for super effective damage to its counters. Good counters include Swampert, Garchomp, Rhyperior, Groudon, Gliscor, or Giratina Origin Forme.

• For the third slot, Cliff may bring Tyranitar, in which case, your Fighting-types like Machamp, Lucario, or Poliwrath will serve you well. Swampert with Hydro Cannon can also work well here.

• Swampert could be in Cliff's third slot, in which case Venusaur, Meganium, or Leafeon will do well, but you could also rely on a Torterra or Shiftry.
• Torterra can also be Cliff's third Pokémon. A Grass and Ground type with an interesting movepool, your best counters here are Heatran, Blaziken, Togekiss, or Dialga.

Sierra

Much like her counterparts, Sierra's team choices make all the difference in what you should bring to fight her, and her Shadow Pokémon have ridiculous CP. Be prepared to fight her more than once.

• Sierra's first Pokémon, Beldum is incredibly weak, regardless of the counter. If you bring in a Ghost type like Gengar or Giratina, you can burn through both Sierra's shields while resisting Beldum's attacks. You might also use this time to store up energy for charged attacks.

• For her second slot, she could go with Exeggutor which has a double weakness against Bug. It is also weak against Dark, Fire, Ghost, Ice, Flying, and Poison. Great counters here include: Giratina, Tyranitar, Darkrai, Weavile, Metagross, Typhlosion, Charizard, or Scizor.

• If she goes with Lapras, some good counters include Dialga, Giratina, Magnezone, Melmetal, Poliwrath, and Machamp.

• Sharpedo has several weaknesses, including Bug, Electric, Fairy, Fighting, and Grass. Good counters here include Poliwrath, Venusaur, Shiftry, Togekiss, Ludicolo, or Machamp.

• If Houndoom is her third choice, Tyranitar is your best counter, but Swampert, Kyogre, Darkrai, or Machamp all do very well.

• Shiftry could be in Sierra's third slot, in which case you want to take advantage of its double weakness to Bug types, like Scizor or Pinsir. However Togekiss, Charizard, Blaziken, Heatran, or Machamp will also do well while not being super vulnerable to Houndoom with Fire Fang.
• If Sierra sends out Alakazam, Tyranitar, Weaville, or Darkrai all do really well in resisting Alakazam's attacks while taking advantage of its Ghost and Dark weaknesses.

Arlo

Another challenging Executive, Arlo can bring out a wide variety of Shadow Pokémon with crazy high CP. Expect to fight a second or third time before you get the right combination to defeat him.

• Currently, Arlo's first Pokémon is always Mawile. Your best bets here are Fire types, but which Fire type will depend on Mawile's moveset. You might have to back out and restart with a different lead. Some good counters here include Heatran, Houndoom, Flareon, Magmortar, and Entei.

• In the second slot, Arlo could go with Charizard, which has a double weakness against Rock. Rhyperior, Tyranitar, Aggron, or Altered Forme Giratina have Rock type moves that take advantage of that. You could also bring in a Water type like Swampert or Kyogre.

• If Arlo goes with Blastoise, Grass types are best. Shiftry resists all of its moves, but You can also counter with Venusaur, or Meganium. Poliwrath can also serve well here.

• If Steelix is Arlo's second choice, his move pool is hard to counter. Excadrill is the only Pokémon that resists all of its possible moves well. Other possible counters include Garchomp, Swampert, Groudon, Charizard, and Kyogre.

• For his third Pokémon, if Arlo goes with Scizor, you should counter with Fire-type Pokémon, like Moltres, Heatran, Charizard, or Blaziken.

• For Dragonite or Salamence, you want to counter with an Ice type like Regice, Mamoswine, or a Mewtwo with Ice Beam, taking advantage of their double weakness. Another Dragon type, like Dialga or Dragonite could also work too, but will be taking super effective damage in the process.

Giovanni

The Founder of Team Go Rocket, Giovanni is the only one bringing in Legendary Shadow Pokémon. For the time being, however, his team is more limited than his Executives. His first Pokémon is always Persian and his last is currently Entei. While his last Pokémon usually changes each month, it will not be changing again until

• Giovanni's first Pokémon is Persian. The best Pokémon to counter Persian are Machamp, Lucario, Tyranitar.

• For his second Pokémon, Giovanni could bring in Kingler. Ludicolo, Venusaur, Meganium, Poliwrath, Magnezone, Swampert, or Dialga are the best counters here.

• If his second Pokémon is Rhyperior, you'll want to counter with a solid Water or Grass type, such as Kyogre, Vaporeon, Torterra, Venusaur, Swampert, Feraligatr, Leafeon or Roserade.

• If Steelix is Giovanni's second choice, his move pool is hard to counter. Excadrill is the only Pokémon in the game who resists all of its movepool well. Garchomp, Groudon, Charizard, Swampert, or Kyogre also perform well.

• Giovanni's third Pokémon is Entei, which will continue through Summer 2020. The best Pokémon to counter are Kyogre, Swampert, Rhyperior, Vaporeon, Feraligatr, Terrakion, Garchomp, or Groudon.

Team Go Rocket questions?

There you have it. Follow our guide, and you'll send Team Go Rocket blasting off again! Have any questions about fighting Team Go Rocket, Cliff, Sierra, Arlo, or Giovanni? Want to share your winning team? Drop us a comment below and check out our other Pokémon Go guides!