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 June 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aipom | Alakazam | Scizor |
| Mismagius | Magnezone | |
| Sharpedo | Snorlax |
Arlo's lineup is currently the easiest to prepare for, because, if you choose right, you may find that you don't even need to scout ahead. A strong team of Fighting, Fire and either Ghost or Dark-type Pokémon could bring you a quick victory!
With Aipom's only weakness being Fighting-type Pokémon, we recommend beginning the battle with either a powerful Terrakion, Machamp, Lucario or Keldeo. Depending on his choice of third Pokémon, you may find yourself returning to this Pokémon or including a second Fighting-type alongside it.
When it comes to Alro's second Pokémon, both Alakazam and Mismagius share a weakness to Dark-type Pokémon. Strong Dark-type counters, include Hydreigon, Yveltal and Guzzlord. (While they are also weak to Ghost-types, we recommend avoiding this type when scouting as, since Mismagius is a Ghost-type, you may find yourself taking a beating.) Meanwhile, Alakazam and Sharpedo share a weakness to Bug-type Pokémon, making Pheromosa, Yanmega and Genesect good counter choies.
Due to Alakazam being the centre of this type overlap, we recommend choosing either a Dark or Bug-type Pokémon as your scouting counter for Arlo's second Pokémon. This way there's a good chance you'll enter this part of the battle with a Pokémon who can deal strong damage against their opponent. If your choice backfires, you can then easily switch to the other type when you go re-do the battle.
A similar type overall occurs with Alro's third Pokémon, which both Scizor and Magnezone being weak to Fire-types. You'll want to have a Fire-type like Reshiram, Entei or Moltres when facing Scizor, because their attacks will be super effective against it.
Magnezone, alongside Snorlax, is weak to Fighting-type attacks. In fact, like Aipom, Fighting-types are Snorlax's only weakness. Due to this, you can easily bring the counter you used against Aiom back into the battle - if its not knocked out that is.
Again, like with Alro's second choice, we reocmmend choosing either a Fire or Fighting-type when scouting for this choice, because there's also a chance it will line up perfectly. If you do find yourself facing Magnezone, however, and having problems defeating the magnet, then trying using a Ground-type Pokémon. Attacks of this type from Pokémon like Garchomp, Rhyperior or Therian Landrous will all be super effective.
Cliff counters and line-up in Pokémon Go
Below you’ll find the current line up for Cliff in Pokémon Go, as of June 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Aerodactyl | Gallade | Tyranitar |
| Cradily | Mamoswine | |
| Slowking | Dusknoir |
While it's a good idea to scout ahead to enure your team properly counters Cliff's, if your team contains a selection of Pokemon from the Water, Steel, Bug, Ghost or Fighting-types then you made find yourself with a quick victory.
For Aerodactyl, we recommend choosing either a Water or Steel-type Pokémon because, depending on his other choices, this Pokémon may come in handy when facing Cliff's other Pokémon. Kyogre, Swampert and Feraligatr are good Water-type choices, while Metagross, Dialga and Zacian cover you for Psychic-types.
When it comes to entering the battle with Cliff's second Pokémon, we recommend choosing either a Ghost or Bug-type Pokémon due to how Slowking and Gallade are both weak to Ghost, while Cradily and, again, Slowking are weak to Bug-type. Choosing one of these two types therefore gives you a good chance of having the right counter for the Pokémon you're facing. (Though your Steel-type will still be useful if you're facing Cradily.)
For Bug-types, we recommend either Pheromosa, Yanmega or Genesect, while our Dark-type recommendations include Hydreigon, Yveltal and Guzzlord. Obiviously, if you loose the battle, you can select the perfect counter for the Pokémon he choose, because, as long as you don't leave the battle, Cliff won't change his choice.
For Cliff's third Pokémon, Tyranitar and Mamoswine are weak to both Steel or Fighting-type Pokémon. Again, this give you the chance to reuse your first Pokémon or simply include a second Steel-type Pokémon. We do highly recommend susing a Lucario, however, as it is a Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon, so you can have the best of both worlds. Keep in mind that Fighting-type attacks are super effective against Tyranitar!
Dusknoir, however, is only weak to Ghost and Dark-type Pokémon. Since Dusknoir is a Ghost-type itself, it will have a natural advantage against other Ghost Pokémon, so we recommend choosing a Dark-type Pokémon if you need to defeat it.
Sierra counters and line-up in Pokémon Go
Below you’ll find the current line up for Sierra in Pokémon Go, as of June 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Geodude | Steelix | Houndoom |
| Gardevoir | Gyarados | |
| Sableye | Victreebel |
Sierra continues her tradition of being a tough Team Go Rocket leader to defeat. (Or maybe I just have really bad luck with her team lineups...) This time round you'll want to scout ahead for both her second and third Pokémon, because her choices don't share many weaknesses.
We recommend using either a Water or Grass-type against Geodude, because both types will be super effective against this Pokémon. Ideally, we suggest using a Water-type - like Feraligatr, Swampert or Kyogre - because, depending on Sierra's choices, it may come in hand when facing her third Pokémon. Yet, if you'd prefer a Grass-type, then Zarude, Kartana and Chesnaught are all strong choices. Though, depending on her second choice, you may also want to go with a Fighting-type.
Sierra's second Pokémon is where things start to get tricky, because none of her choices have a type overlap.
Let's start with Steelix, which is weak to Fire, Water, Fighting and Ground-types. If you choose a Water or Fighting-type for Geodude, then you'll find that they will also come in quite handy here. We also recommend using a Fire-type here, such as Reshiran, Entei or Moltres, because, not only will their attacks be very effective, but, if she's chosen Victreebel as her third Pokémon, this choice will deal a lot of damage to it.
Moving on to Gardevoir, which is weak to Ghost, Steel and Poison-types, we recommend choosing a Poison-type Pokémon since they always deal excellent damage against any Fairy-type. When it comes to which poisonous Pokémon you should pick, we recommend Nihilego, Roserade or Overqwil. Though, choosing a Ghost-type Pokémon, makes this the perfect opportunity to show off your Origin Form Giratina or Confined Hoopa.
The final choice for Sierra's second Pokémon is an easy one to cover, because Sableye only has one weakness - Fairy-types. This means we can easily recommend Togekiss, Gardevoir or Sylveon as counters for this Pokémon!
While Sierra's third choices do have some small overlaps with her past Pokémon, they are not universal. (Especially in the case of one specific Pokémon...) This means you will still need to scout ahead and select a counter set aside for them.
Beginning with Houndoom, this hellhound is weak to Water, Ground, Fighting and Rock-types. If you used a Water or Fighting-type against Geodude, you can bring it back here to cause some good damage. We also recommend using a powerful Rhyperior as it is both a Rock and Ground-type Pokémon. Other good choices include Garchomp, Rampardos and Terrakion. You'll want to avoid Lucario though, as its part Steel-typing will make it weak to Houndoom's attacks.
Victreebel, which is weak to Fire, Psychic, Flying and Ice-types, can also be assisted by your previous choice if you choose a Fire-type for Steelix. Since Victreebel is part Grass-type, we recommend choosing a Fire-type Pokémon, even if your previous one has been knocked out. If you'd prefer to use a Psychic-type Pokémon, then bring out either Mewtwo, Unbound Hoopa or Lunala.
Finally, much like Sableye, Gyarados is the fly in your counter-choosing ointment. If you're facing Gyarados, you must choose an Electric-type Pokémon, such Zekrom, Xurkitree or Therian Thunderus. This is because Gyarados' Water-typing means it can easily defeat its other on paper weakness, Rock-types.
Thanks to Reddit user redwineandbeer for their work in collating these Team GO Rocket Leader teams!
The Season of Hidden Gems has arrived, bringing with it Routes, Zygarde, and a new Go Battle League season. Elsewhere, be sure to compete in Shadow Raids, 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!
