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December has brought us a great many gifts, among them is a new set of Pokémon Team GO Rocket (TGR) Leaders can use in battle! When you fight them, each team leader will use one of two possible sets of Pokémon from which they can draw from. Cliff leads with Meowth or Stantler, Sierra leads with Sneasel or Absol, Arlo leads with Scyther or Bagon, and Giovanni leads with Persian only. After that, each subsequent Pokemon is random from a pool of three, except for TGR Boss Man, Giovanni, who will always throw out his shadow Legendary Bird last.
Let’s take a look at which Pokémon you should be taking into battle against each possible battle you could face. You will notice that Team GO Rocket counters are a little different than Raid counters. The ability to spam out super-effective Charged Moves is extremely important; you have to burn up those shields to take down the TGR leaders!
CLIFF
What can we say about Cliff? Lay off the protein powder homie! And maybe don’t shave a ball into your chin? Somewhere out there Will Smith is referring to you as a Ballchinion. Cliff is by far the easiest of the TGR Team Leaders. Here’s an in-depth look at how to defeat everything Cliff can throw at you.
| STANTLER | ||
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| Stantler is weak to only Fighting-types. Know what that means? Yup, Lucario time. Waste those shields away with Power-up Punch and make short work of Stantler. | ||
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| Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Dy. Punch |
| ELECTIVIRE | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Electivire is weak to one thing, and one thing only, Ground-types. Therefore, unsurprisingly, we recommend Garchomp, Excadrill, and Groudon | ||
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| Mud Shot Earthquake | Mud-Slap Drill Run | Mud Shot Earthquake |
| MAROWAK | ||
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| Marowak is weak to Grass-, Ice-, and Water-types. Kingler, Kyogre, and Mamoswine should all make short work of it. | ||
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| Bubble Crabhammer | Waterfall Surf | Powder Snow Avalanche |
| ONIX | ||
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| Onix is DOUBLE weak to Grass- and Water-types, and as such, we recommend using Kingler, Kyogre, and Roserade. | ||
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| Bubble Crabhammer | Waterfall Surf | Razor Leaf Grass Knot |
| TYRANITAR | ||
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| Tyranitar REALLY dislikes Fighting-types. Using a Fighting-type that can quickly get off its Charged Move will cut through Tyranitar like a hot knife through butter. | ||
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| Counter Aura Sphere | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Dy. Punch |
| SWAMPERT | ||
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| Swampert HATES Grass-types, as it suffers from a double weakness to them. As you might guess, Grass-types make-up all three top counters. | ||
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| Razor Leaf Grass Knot | Vine Whip Frenzy Plant | Bullet Seed Frenzy Plant |
| TORTERRA | ||
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| Torterra is double weak to Ice-type moves. We Recommend either Glaceon, Weavile, or Articuno. Ice Ice Baby! | ||
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| Frost Breath Avalanche | Ice Shard Avalanche | Frost Breath Blizzard |
SIERRA
Sierra, girl, you got that sass, but we got sass of our own! Ain’t nobody got time for that whole “Mean Girl” routine! BYE FELICIA! Sierra is probably the 2nd hardest TGR Team Leader. Here’s our breakdown of how to say goodbye to everything Sierra can offer.
| ABSOL | ||
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| Absol is weak to Bug-, Fairy-, and Fighting-types. We recommend using either Lucario, Conkeldurr, or Machamp to take it down quickly. | ||
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| Counter PuP | Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch |
| LAPRAS | ||
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| Lapras is weak to Electric-, Fighting-, Grass-, and Rock-types. Most of them should be able to get the job done, but here are our top 3 recommendations. | ||
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| Counter Aura Sphere | Counter Dy. Punch | Thunder Shock Wild Charge |
| KADABRA | ||
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| Kadabra is weak to Bug-, Dark-, and Ghost-types. For this reason, we recommend using Hydreigon, Tyranitar, or Darkrai. | ||
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| Bite Dark Pulse | Bite Crunch | Bite Shadow Ball |
| CACTURNE | ||
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| Cacturne is DOUBLE weak to Bug-types. For this reason, Yanmega, Scizor, and Pinsir are the top 3 counters we recommend. | ||
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| Bug Bite Bug Buzz | Fury Cutter X-Scissor | Bug Bit X-Scissor |
| HOUNDOOM | ||
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| Houndoom is weak to Fighting-, Ground-, Rock-, and Water-types. Swampert, Kyogre, and Terrakion can all beat it with relative ease. | ||
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| Water Gun Hydro Cannon | Waterfall Surf | Smack Down Rock Slide |
| GALLADE | ||
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| Gallade is weak to Fairy-, Flying-, and Ghost-types. We recommend using Moltres, Origin Giratina, and Mewtwo in this battle. | ||
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| Wing Attack Sky Attack | Shadow Claw Shadow Ball | Psycho Cut Shadow Ball |
| SHIFTRY | ||
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| Shiftry is double weak to Bug-types, but also has weaknesses to Fairy-, Flying-, Fire-, Fighting-, Ice-, and Poison-types. Our recommendations are Scizor, Yanmega, and Pinsir. | ||
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| Fury Cutter X-Scissor | Bug Bite Bug Buzz | Bug Bite X-Scissor |
ARLO
Arlo; poor, misguided, slightly Emo Arlo. You’re angry at Candela; we get it. But, perchaps you’re going about dealing with it poorly? In our view, Arlo is the most difficult of the three TGR Team Leaders, here’s how to deal with him properly.
| BAGON | ||
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| Bagon is weak to Dragon-, Fairy-, and Ice-types. Rayquaza, Garchomp, and Haxorus can all make short work of Bagon. | ||
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| Dragon Tail Outrage | Dragon Tail Outrage | Dragon Breath Dragon Claw |
| BLASTOISE | ||
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| Blastoise is only weak to Electric- and Grass-types. As such, we recommend using Raikou, Electivire, or Roserade | ||
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| Thunder Shock Wild Charge | Thunder Shock Wild Charge | Razor Leaf Grass Knot |
| CHARIZARD | ||
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| Charizard is double weak to Rock-types and as such, all 3 top counters fit into this sub-typing. | ||
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| Smack Down Stone Edge | Smack Down Stone Edge | Smack Down Rock Slide |
| STEELIX | ||
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| Steelix is weak to Fighting-, Fire-, Ground-, and Water-types. We recommend using either Lucario, Blaziken, or Conkeldurr. | ||
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| Counter Aura Sphere | Counter Blaze Kick | Counter Dy. Punch |
| SCIZOR | ||
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| Scizor is double weak to Fire-types. Burn it. Burn it until it’s dead! Here are our top 3 recommendations. | ||
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| Fire Spin Overheat | Fire Spin Blaze Kick | Fire Spin Blast Burn |
| SALAMENCE | ||
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| Salamence is double weak to Ice-types but also suffers from weaknesses to Dragon-, Fairy-, and Rock-types. Here are our top 3 counters. | ||
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| Psycho Cut Ice Beam | Powder Snow Avalanche | Frost Breath Avalanche |
| DRAGONITE | ||
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| Dragonite is double weak to Ice-types and also has weaknesses to Dragon-, Fairy-, and Rock-types. The same counters for Salamence also work well here. | ||
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| Psyco Cut Ice Beam | Powder Snow Avalanche | Frost Breath Avalanche |
GIOVANNI
FINALLY! The TGR boss man himself, big daddy G, the evil genius, Giovanni. Unless it isn’t? Decoys aside, Giovanni isn’t all that difficult, you know what the first and last battles will be, and all three Pokémon you could face in the 2nd Battle, have the same weaknesses. Here’s our take on how to lay the beat down on Giovanni and send him back to the shadows.
| PERSIAN | ||
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| Persian is only weak to Fighting-types. Do you know what that means? Yup! Lucario time again! Lucario offers a pretty wide range of resistances against Persian’s moves, as well as a rounded fighting type move set. Power-up Punch is generally better for PVP, but Aura Sphere is a good option as well. Machamp and Toxicroak are also viable. | ||
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| Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Dy. Punch |
| Cloyster | ||
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| Cloyster is weak to Electric, Fighting, Grass, and Rock types, giving you an array of options to choose from. Against an Ice move set, Grass is not the top priority of counters, but it will resist a Water-type set. Sceptile with Bullet Seed / Frenzy Plant would be your go-to grass-type. | ||
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| Counter Aura Sphere | Counter Dy. Punch | Thunder Shock Wild Charge |
| Kangaskhan | ||
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| Kangaskan, like Persian, is a pure Normal-type and, therefore, only weak to fighting. The counters for Kang are going to be exactly the same as Persian. If you choose to use Lucario, keep an eye out to see if the Kangaskhan has a Fighting-type move set that may take your Lucario down quickly. No shame in fighting Giovanni a second time with a different Pokémon if the move set odds were not in your favor! | ||
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| Counter Aura Sphere | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Dy. Punch |
| Garchomp | ||
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| Garchomp, though a powerful dragon, radiating the aura of Cynthia herself, is not an awfully difficult battle. It is weak to Dragon, Fairy, and 2x weak to Ice types. Dragon-types are advised against because they can be hit for super-effective damage right back. Your best bet is using an Ice-type, but Fairy-type Pokémon are pretty safe to use overall. | ||
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| Powder Snow Avalanche | Ice Shard Avalanche | Frost Breath Avalanche |
| Moltres | ||
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| Moltres is weak to Electric, Water, and 2x weak to Rock-type moves. Rock is a pretty safe and solid bet for taking on Moltres as it does not have any moves that are detrimental to your precious Rock pets. You can, however, get away with using Pokémon, such as Raikou or Kyogre, in this battle. Rampardos is advised against, as it does not have the bulk that PVP thrives on, but it is not a bad choice if you are willing to give it a try. | ||
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Smack Down | Smack Down | Smack Down Stone Edge |
To see the original list of counters for all TGR Leaders, you can see our article here.
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