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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.

It's up to you to hunt down Arlo, Cliff and Sierra by collecting Mysterious Components and a Rocket Radar in Pokémon Go.

Defeating each of these leaders will give you the chance to encounter a rare Shadow Pokémon! Currently in February 2025, Sierra has Skorupi, Arlo has Alolan Grimer and Cliff has Cubone.

Facing all three is also the route to a battle against the formidable Giovanni himself - and his even more formidable Shadow Palkia - if you take them down as part of the Team GO Rocket quest.

On this page:

• Arlo counters and line-up
• Cliff counters and line-up
• Sierra counters and line-up
• Team Go Rocket Leader rewards
• Team Go Rocket Leaders and strategies explained

Watch us battle Guzzlord - one of the Ultra Beasts in Pokémon GoWatch on YouTube

Arlo counters and line-up in Pokémon Go

Below you'll find the line up for Arlo in Pokémon Go currently running in April 2025.

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

Alolan Grimer	Gyarados	Scizor
	Dugtrio	Alolan Muk
	Slowbro	Metagross

Here's who we recommend to counter each of Arlo's Pokémon:

• Slot 1: Either forme of Landorus, Groudon, Garchomp, or your strongest Ground-types.
• Slot 2: Xurkitree, Zekrom, Meowscarada, Decidueye, or your strongest Electric or Grass-types.
• Slot 3: Reshiram, Heatran, or your strongest Fire-types.

Slot 1 covers you against Alolan Grimer, Alolan Muk, and Metagross; Slot 2 covers you against Slowbro, Gyarados, and Dugtrio; and Slot 3 covers you against Scizor. Unless you get lucky, you will most likely have to scout ahead to see if you need to play your strongest Electric or Grass-type against Arlo's second Pokémon.

Slowbro and Gyarados are both weak to Electric, and Dugtrio and Slowbro are weak to Grass. So just adjust your lineup as needed here!

Cliff counters and line-up in Pokémon Go

Below you'll find the line up for Cliff in Pokémon Go currently running in April 2025.

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

Cubone	Marowak	Tyranitar
	Machoke	Machamp
	Annihilape	Crobat

Here's who we recommend to counter each of Cliff's Pokémon:

• Slot 1: Meowscarada, Decidueye, Kyogre, Primarina, or your strongest Grass or Water-types.
• Slot 2: Tapu Lele, Rayquaza, Mewtwo, or your strongest Fairy, Flying, or Psychic-types.
• Slot 3: Tyranitar, Reshiram, Giratina, Groudon, or your strongest Dark, Fire, Ghost, or Ground-types.

Slot 1 covers you against Cubone, Marowak and Tyranitar; Slot 2 covers you against Machoke, Annihilape and Machamp; and Slot 3 covers you against Crobat. Unless you get lucky, you will most likely have to scout ahead to see what you need to play against Cliff's second and third picks.

For Cliff's second Pokémon, remember that Marowak is weak to Grass and Water (and Ice, but there's no weakness overlap here), and Machoke and Annihilape are both weak to Fairy, Flying, and Psychic-type moves.

For Cliff's third Pokémon, Tyranitar is weak to Grass and Water type-moves (although Tyranitar is much weaker to Fighting-types, if you're having trouble defeating it), Machamp is weak to Fairy, Flying, or Psychic-types, and Crobat is weak to Dark, Fire, Ghost, or Ground-type moves.

Sierra counters and line-up in Pokémon Go

Below you'll find the line up for Sierra in Pokémon Go currently running in April 2025.

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

Skorupi	Milotic	Houndoom
	Ninetales	Nidoqueen
	Ferrothorn	Drapion

Here's who we recommend to counter each of Sierra's Pokémon:

• Slot 1: Rhyperior, Terrakion, or your strongest Rock-type.
• Slot 2: Xurkitree, Meowscarada, Reshiram, Terrakion, or your strongest Electric, Grass, Fire, or Fighting-type.
• Slot 3: Either forme of Landorus, Groudon, or your strongest Ground-type.

Slot 1 covers you against Skorupi, Ninetales, and Houndoom; Slot 2 covers you against Milotic and Ferrothorn; and Slot 3 covers you against Nidoqueen and Drapion. Unless you get lucky, you will most likely have to scout ahead to see what you need to play against Sierra's second picks.

For Sierra's second Pokémon, remember that Milotic is weak to Electric and Grass-type moves, Ninetales is weak to Ground, Rock, and Water-type moves, and that Ferrothorn is especially weak against Fire-type moves, but it is also weak to Fighting-types.

The Might and Mastery Season and its seasonal quest has arrived. Sweet Discoveries is currently running in Pokémon Go. It sees the debut of both Applin and apples! You can now catch Dynamax Pokémon through Max Battles. First, however, you need to visit Power Spots to collect Max Particles and complete the To the Max! quest. Don't forget to try out Routes, Gift Exchange and Party Play while you're hunting down rare Pokémon, fighting in the Go Battle League or competing in PokéStop Showcases.

Team Go Rocket Leader rewards in Pokémon Go

Defeating a Team Go Rocket Leader will grant you:

• 1,000 Stardust.
• x1 red 'strange' 12km egg (if you have an open space in your Egg inventory).
• x1 Max Revive, Revive, Max Potion, Unova Stone, or Sinnoh Stone.
• Encounter with one of the leader's Shadow Pokémon.

Currently, you get the chance to catch Skorupi if you beat Sierra, Alolan Grimer for beating Arlo, and Cubone for besting Cliff. There's also a chance that these Shadow Pokémon could be shiny!

To catch these Shadow Pokémon, you'll receive a base number of five Premier Balls. Bonus Poké Balls are 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

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 January 2025, the latest chance to defeat Giovanni is included within the Fashion Week: Taken Over special research 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 Mysterious Components from Grunts along the way to completing it, 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 deal 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.

Pokémon Go Mysterious Components Gameplay - How to create a Rocket RadarWatch on YouTube

Good luck hunting down those evil Team GO Rocket leaders!

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