Pokémon Go Leader counters: Arlo, Cliff, Sierra counters and strategies in Pokémon Go
How to defeat the three Team Go Rocket Leaders during the Rocket takeover event.
The Team GO Rocket takeover event is back, which means the Team Go Rocket Leaders Arlo, Cliff and Sierra are invading PokéStops in Pokémon Go with a whole new line-up of Shadow Pokémon. And as of February 2023, there’s a brand new, long awaited Steel-type Team Go Rocket Grunt to mix things up a bit!
It's up to you to hunt down Arlo, Cliff and Sierra by collecting Mysterious Components and a Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go, which will also help as part of the Shadowy Skirmishes quest.
Defeating each of these leaders will give you the chance to encounter a rare Shadow Pokémon – and as of Febraury 2023, all three of these can be shiny, meaning you can get your hands on an ultra-rare shiny Shadow Pokémon!
Facing all three is also the route to a battle against the formidable Giovanni himself, if you take them down as part of the Team GO Rocket quest.
On this page:
Team Go Rocket Leaders and strategies explained in Pokémon Go
With each Team GO Rocket takeover event comes a quest that gives you a chance to take down Giovanni and catch a legendary Shadow Pokémon. As of February 2023, the latest quest is Shadowy Skirmishes quest, which earns you a Super Rocket Radar, which is effectively your ticket to take on the head of Team GO Rocket, Giovanni. But, to do that, you first need to defeat his three Team GO Rocket leaders, as part of the aforementioned quest.
This requires you collect six Mysterious Components from Grunts, which you combine into a Rocket Radar that reveals the location of a Team GO Rocket Leader. The choice given to you is random, so if you are after a specific Leader, keep checking until the one you need appears.
These will be tough battles, so a brute force strategy will not always work. Instead, consider the following strategies:
- Since you need to lean on countering with types, it’s best to go in with a prepared team with strong counters.
- A Leader’s line-up will be somewhat unique for that encounter – it’s made of a small selection of creatures, so you can’t exactly be sure which Pokémon you’ll be facing. You might have to face them once to learn their line-up, then change yours to counter it.
- Leaders will always use their two shields for your first two Charged moves, which will be followed by a two-second delay before they can attack. This same delay occurs when you switch Pokémon. Ideally, this means your lead Pokémon must be strong enough to survive long enough to deliver two Charged moves, and do so as fast as possible, so you can then dealing out damage properly. For example, Melmetal is a good candidate for this.
- You can face a Leader as many times as you like, so don’t worry if you lose the first time!
Ultimately, victory depends on your ability to create a team that takes advantage of as many of the Team GO Rocket Leader’s team’s weaknesses as possible, so having a wide roster of Pokémon available will help you form flexible teams.
Below you’ll find the current possible lineups for each Team Go Rocket Leader during the Team GO Rocket takeover event.
Arlo counters and line-up in Pokémon Go
Below you’ll find the current line up for Arlo in Pokémon Go, as of February 2023.
Remember – the first Pokémon is always the same, and is the one you’ll be given the chance to catch if you win. The rest are randomly selected from a pool of three:
| First Pokémon | Second Pokémon | Third Pokémon |
|---|---|---|
| Nidoran Male | Steelix | Scizor |
| Cradily | Charizard | |
| Crobat | Armaldo |
Arlo has one of the easier line-ups, but also the worst reward in the form of Nidoran Male. While there isn’t a common weakness across the whole set, there's two types that will utterly destroy his team when used in combination. Nidoran Male and Crobat are both weak to Psychic types, while Cradily, Steelix and Scizor are weak to Fire.
Armaldo and Charizard, conveniently, are both weak to Rock and Water, which means that your third slot can be your strongest of either type, but Mega Blastoise will be a good shout.
To beat Arlo, simply bring your strongest Mewtwo, coupled with your strongest Fire-type – Reshiram or Charizard and a Mega Blastoise will do nicely!
Cliff counters and line-up in Pokémon Go
Below you’ll find the current line up for Cliff in Pokémon Go, as of February 2023.
Remember – the first Pokémon is always the same, and is the one you’ll be given the chance to catch if you win. The rest are randomly selected from a pool of three:
| First Pokémon | Second Pokémon | Third Pokémon |
|---|---|---|
| Magnemite | Omastar | Camerupt |
| Venusaur | Tyranitar | |
| Pinsir | Sharpedo |
Cliff's line-up is a little trickier this time, and will require a little more planning than Arlo’s, thanks to him bringing a more varied roster to the table.
Magnemite, Venusaut and Pinsir are all weak to Fire, but that won’t help you against Omasatar, Sharpedo or Tyranitar (depending on its moveset). Here, you want a strong Grass-type Pokémon that can break through these type-based defenses. But again we have a problem, in the form of Camerupt, which will nerf your Grass-type attacker, meaning you ought to have a Water type in the back line to finish off the match.
To beat Cliff, this means you'll need to fall back on the original trifecta of types. Start with your strongest Fire type – Charizard or Reshiram – followed by a strong Grass-type attacker, like Kartana or Venusaur. Finally, keep a Swampert or Blastoise in third position to take out the Camerupt and you’ll be done in no time.
Remember, you can Mega Evolve any of these three starters if you're concerned about any of the match-ups!
Sierra counters and line-up in Pokémon Go
Below you’ll find the current line up for Sierra in Pokémon Go, as of February 2023.
Remember – the first Pokémon is always the same, and is the one you’ll be given the chance to catch if you win. The rest are randomly selected from a pool of three:
| First Pokémon | Second Pokémon | Third Pokémon |
|---|---|---|
| Beldum | Lapras | Houndoom |
| Flygon | Alakazam | |
| Sharpedo | Shiftry |
Sierra is likely the most sought-after boss here, thanks to Shadow Beldum evolving into one of the most powerful non-legendary Shadows in the game: Shadow Metagross. This means that being able to take her down quickly and easily is something you will want to focus on.
Beldum and Alakazam are both weak against Dark-type attacks. Flygon and Shiftry are both weak to Ice, while Lapras, Sharpedo and Houndoom share a weakness to Fighting-types.
To beat Sierra, start with your most powerful Dark-type attacker – Hydreigon or Yveltal – followed by a strong Fighting type – Terrakion or even Machamp. Finally, your strongest Ice-types Mega Abomasnow, would make Flygon into Shiftry amusingly easy!
Thanks to Reddit user SilphScience for their work in collating these Team GO Rocket Leader teams!
The Season of Mythical Wishes has seen Kecleon finally being released in Pokémon Go! The Crackling Voltage event is currently running and it has brought as a new Team Go Rocket quest - Shadowy Skirmishes! The team lineups for Giovanni and the Team Go Rocket Leaders has also changed. Don't forget to partake in the new Go Battle League season. Elsewhere, be sure to use Daily Adventure Incense for the chance of encountering Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos and Galarian Moltres. This incense may also give you encounters with other rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.
Team Go Rocket Leader rewards in Pokémon Go
Defeating a Team Go Rocket Leader will grant you 1,000 Stardust, a red ‘strange’ 12km egg (if you have an open space in your Egg inventory) and one of the following items:
- Max Revive
- Revive
- Max Potion
- Unova Stone
- Sinnoh Stone
Thank you to skewtr from reddit with the help with this information.
You will also have the opportunity to catch one of the Team GO Rocket Leader’s Shadow Pokémon. For Arlo this will be his Shadow Nidoran Male, for Cliff a Shadow Magnemite and Sierra’s Shadow Beldum.
Best of all, there’s a chance that these Shadow Pokémon could be shiny!
To catch these Shadow Pokémon, you'll receive a base number of 5 Premier Balls. Bonus Pokéballs will be rewarded depending on several factors, including:
- How many of your Pokémon survive the Trainer Battle
- Your Purify Pokémon (Purifier) medal rank
- Your Defeat Team Rocket (Hero) medal rank
Good luck hunting down those evil Team GO Rocket leaders!
