Pokémon Go's latest update allows players to battle against the iconic adversaries: Team Rocket. It's headed by the big boss Giovanni himself, but don't expect to face him right off the bat. Like other battle events, you'll have to make your way through the ranks of Team Rocket before you face-off Giovanni himself.
To start, you'll want to finish the "A Troubling Situation" first. These Special Research tasks aren't that quite hard, so before you continue reading, make sure you've done the quest first. The questline also acts as a tutorial on how to play against Team Go Rocket, so make sure to pay special attention.
Once you're done with that, you'll be presented with "Looming in the Shadows". It's here where you'll have to face off with 3 of Giovanni's lieutenants. Cliff, Sierra, and Arlo all use different kinds of Pokémon, so make sure to diversify your team as you don't know which Pokémon you'll be facing. Once you defeat all three Gym Leaders once, you'll be able to fight Giovanni.
How to Find Team Rocket Gym Leaders
To find one of the three Gym leaders, you'll have to get six Mysterious Components. You can do so by battling and defeating Team Go Rocket Grunts who have invaded PokeStops. There are no limits as to how many Grunts you can defeat during a single day, but remember that you can only defeat one Grunt per PokeStop, so if you'll have to move around quite a bit if you want to get those Mysterious Components quick.
Once you get six Mysterious Components, they combine into a Rocket Radar. Remember that once you have Rocket Radar, you cannot collect any more Mysterious Components. You'll have to defeat a Gym Leader to collect Mysterious Components again.
The Gym leaders are quite tough, and you won't know which Pokémon you might encounter. Their first Pokémon always remains the same, but their second and third Pokémon will always vary. You'll be able to determine from the overworld map which Gym Leader you're facing so you can prepare quite a bit beforehand.
How to Defeat Cliff
Cliff uses a combination of Ground and Normal Type Pokémon. He uses the following in his battles:
First Pokémon: Meowth
Second Pokémon: Sandslash, Snorlax or Flygon
Third Pokémon: Tyranitar, Torterra, or Infernape
We suggest using Machamp, Swampert, Blaziken, and/or Mewtwo. Blaziken and Emboar are also good choices to deal with Torterra and Meowth due to their dual-type nature.
How to Defeat Sierra
Sierra uses a combination of Psychic and Dark Type Pokémon. She uses the following in her battles:
First Pokémon: Sneasel
Second Pokémon: Hypno, Lapras, or Sableye
Third Pokémon: Houndoom, Gardevoir, or Alakazam
We suggest using Lucario, Melmetal, Tyranitar, Darkrai and/or Machamp. Make sure to have a Fighting Type to easily dispatch of her Sneasel due to having a double weakness to that type.
How to Defeat Arlo
- Arlo uses a combination of Flying and Bug Type Pokémon. He uses the following in his battles:
- First Pokémon: Scyther
- Second Pokémon: Gyarados, Crobat, or Magnezone
- Third Pokémon: Charizard, Dragonite, or Scizor
We suggest using Melmetal, Mewtoo, Blaziken, Moltress, Zapdors, and/or Tyranitar. Melmetal is almost a must to take care of the Scyther easy. If you don't have Melmetal, another option would be Rhyperior. Keeping a fire type like Entei is also a good idea as most of his possible Pokémon are weak to fire.
