Pac
Team GO Rocket (TGR) Leaders have officially arrived! Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo are waiting for you, and then a little later on, Giovanni himself will want to fight! When you fight them, each team leader will always lead with the same Pokemon. Cliff leads with Meowth, Sierra leads with Sneasel, Arlo leads with Scyther, and Giovanni leads with Persian. After that, each subsequent Pokemon is random from a pool of three, with exception Giovanni, who will always throw out Articuno last.
Let’s take a look at what type 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.
| MEOWTH | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Any Fighting-type will lay a whoopin on Meowth, but Lucario with Counter and Power-up Punch is especially devastating. Spam out Power-up Punch to burn his shields. Then sit back and fast tap away and watch Meowth get nuked. | ||
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| Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Focus Blast |
| SNORLAX | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Snorlax is only weak to Fighting-types, but its bulk and ability to deal some damage makes Machamp a less than ideal option. Instead, we recommend trying out Lucario, Hydreigon, or Tyranitar. | ||
|  |  |
| Counter PuP | Bite Dark Pulse | Bite Crunch |
| SANDSLASH | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Sandslash is weak to Grass-, Ice-. and Water-types. Swampert, Leafeon, and Articuno all make excellent counters. | ||
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| Mud Shot Hydro Cannon | Razor Leaf Leaf Blade | Ice Shard Ice Beam |
| FLYGON | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Flygon is double weak to Ice-types. However, high-powered Psychic- and Dragon-types such as Mewtwo and Altered Forme Giratina can also lay down some hurt. | ||
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| Ice Shard Ice Beam | Lock On Blizzard | Charm Ancient Power |
| TYRANITAR | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Tyranitar REALLY dislikes Fighting-types. Using a Fighting-type than can quickly get off its Charged Move will cut through Tyrantitar like a hot knife through butter. | ||
| |  |
| Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch | Lock On Focus Blast |
| INFERNAPE | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Infernape is weak to Flying-, Ground-, Psychic-, and Water-types. Psystrike Mewtwo owns this matchup, while Garchomp and Origin Giratina also make for solid choices. | ||
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| Psycho Cut Psystrike | Mud Shot Earthquake | Shadow Claw Shadow Ball |
| TORTERRA | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Torterra is double weak to Ice-type moves. Our recommendations are Articuno, Regice, and Mamoswine | ||
| |  |
| Ice Shard Ice Beam | Lock On Blizzard | Powder Snow Avalanche |
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.
| SNEASEL | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Another Team Leader, another lead that’s double weak to Fighting-types. You know the drill: Lucario, Machamp, Blaziken | ||
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| Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Focus Blast |
| LAPRAS | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Lapras is weak to Electric-, Fighting-, Grass-, and Rock-types. If you stick with Fighting, Lucario should have enough health and some energy build up from Sneasel to do some serious damage. Should you choose to change typings, Melmetal, Magnezone, and Kyogre will get the job done. | ||
| |  |
| Counter PuP | Dragon Breath Dark Pulse | Snarl Focus Blast |
| SABLEYE | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Sableye is only weak to Fairy-types, however, you wont find any Fairy-type in our recomendations. Why? Fast Neutral Damage is more than enough to take out Sableye. | ||
| | |
| Bite Crunch | Bite Dark Pulse | Feint Attack Dark Pulse |
| HYPNO | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Hypno is weak to Bug-, Dark-, and Ghost-types. Our recommended 3 are: Tyranitar, Hydreigon, and Darkrai | ||
| | |
| Bite Crunch | Bite Dark Pulse | Feint Attack Dark Pulse |
| HOUNDOOM | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Houndoom is weak to Fighting-, Ground-, Rock-, and Water-types. Our recommendations are: Garchomp, Tyranitar, and Regirock | ||
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| Mud Shot Earthquake | Smack Down Stone Edge | Rock Throw Stone Edge |
| GARDEVOIR | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Gardevoir is weak to Ghost-, Poison-, and Steel-types. Our recommendations are: Metagross, Origin Giratina, and Dialga | ||
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| Bullet Punch Meteor Mash | Shadow Claw Shadow Ball | Metal Claw Iron Head |
| ALAKAZAM | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Alakazam is weak to Bug-, Dark-, and Ghost-types. Our reccomendations are: Darkrai, Hydreigon, and Tyranitar | ||
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| Snarl Dark Pulse | Bite Dark Pulse | Bite Crunch |
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.
| SCYTHER | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Scyther is double weak to Rock-type moves, taking that into consideratios, here are our recommended counters: Melmetal, Probopass, and Alolan Golem. | ||
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| Thunder Shock Rock Slide | Rock Throw Rock Slide | Rock Throw Rock Blast |
| MAGNEZONE | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Magnezone is double weak to Ground-types. With that in mind here our top choices for countering: Garchomp, Flygon, and Groudon | ||
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| Mud Shot Earthquake | Mud Shot Earthquake | Mud Shot Earthquake |
| CROBAT | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Crobat is weak to Electric-, Ice-, Psychic-, and Rock-types. Here’s our top 3 counters: Tyranitar, Melmetal, Mewtwo | ||
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| Smack Down Stone Edge | Thunder Shock Rock Slide | Psycho Cut Psystrike |
| GYARADOS | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Gyarados is double weak to Electric-types, meaning that Raikou, Jolteon, and Electivire would be our top 3 choices. | ||
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| Thunder Shock Wild Charge | Thunder Shock Discharge | Thunder Shock Thunder Punch |
| SCIZOR | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Scizor is double weak to Fire-types. Burn it. Burn it until it’s dead! Our top 3 counters are: Blaziken, Charizard, and Entei. | ||
|  |  |
| Counter Blaze Kick | Fire Spin Blast Burn | Fire Spin Flamethrower |
| CHARIZARD | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Charizard suffers from a double weakness to Rock-types, therefor our recommendations are: Alolan Golem, Regirock, and Tyranitar | ||
| | |
| Rock Throw Rock Blast | Rock Throw Stone Edge | Smack Down Stone Edge |
| DRAGONITE | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Dragonite hates Ice-types like oil hates water. Freeze him, seriously, make dragon-pops. Our recommendations are: Regice, Lapras, and Mewtwo | ||
| | |
| Lock On Blizzard | Ice Shard Ice Beam | Psycho Cut Ice Beam |
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. You know what that means? Yup! Lucario time again! Machamp and Toxicroak are also viable. | ||
| |  |
| Counter PuP | Counter Dy. Punch | Counter Dy. Punch |
| RHYDON | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Rhydon is double weak to Grass- and Water-types. With those weaknesses in mind here our top 3 counters: Swampert, Meganium, and Kyogre. | ||
|  |  |
| Mud Shot Hydro Cannon | Vine Whip Frenzy Plant | Waterfall Hydro Pump |
| HIPPOWDON | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Hippowdon is weak to Grass-, Ice-, and Water-types. Here are our top 3 counters: Swampert, Kyogre, and Feraligatr | ||
| |  |
| Mud Shot Hydro Cannon | Waterfall Hydro Pump | Waterfall Hydro Cannon |
| DUGTRIO | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Dugtrio, like Hippowdon is weak to Grass-, Ice-, and Water-types. This means we recommend the same 3 counters as well: Swampert, Kyogre, and Feraligatr. | ||
| | |
| Mud Shot Hydro Cannon | Waterfall Hydro Pump | Waterfall Hydro Cannon |
| ARTICUNO | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Articuno is double weak to Rock-types. Throw rocks at it. All. Day. Long. Our top 3 recommended are: Melmetal, Tyranitar, and Regirock | ||
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| Thunder Shock Rock Slide | Smack Down Stone Edge | Rock Throw Stone Edge |
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