Giovanni, the boss of Team Go Rocket, can be fought in Pokémon Go.
If you are powerful enough to defeat it, you will receive great rewards, including the chance to capture a legendary dark Pokémon, such as Shadow Mewtwo or Shadow Regice.
However, Giovanni’s lineup, including his final Pokémon, which you can catch if you beat him, changed in March 2023, so now is a good time to brush up on your best Giovanni counters.
How to find Giovanni in Pokémon Go
If you want to fight Giovanni in Pokémon Go, you must use a Super Rocket Radar. The only way to get one is as a result of the last Go Team Rocket mission, in which you must complete the following stages:
- First, you must complete the special investigation story, A Worrying Situation, to unlock Giovanni’s final special investigation mission. One challenging development, for example, was Giovanni’s special research mission from December 2019, but Giovanni has been appearing in the game a couple of times a year since then!
- Next, reach and complete the fourth step of your current Giovanni’s special research task, which will ask you to defeat each Team Go Rocket leader, Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra once.
- Completing the fourth step will reward you with the Super Rocket Radar.
Now that you have the Super Rocket Radar, you can use it to hunt down the leader of Team Go Rocket: Giovanni.
The Super Rocket Radar works very similar to the Rocket Radars you create by collecting Mysterious Components.
Access your bag through the main menu and then scroll down until you find the Super Rocket Radar in your inventory. Here you can equip and unequip the Super Rocket Radar at any time.
The Super Rocket Radar, however, not only shows the location of Giovanni’s hideout, but also shows possible encounters with him. Several Decoy Grunts disguised as Giovanni will also appear on the radar, all hoping to prevent you from finding his boss.
These decoy grunts are no joke as they contain a combination of Bellsprout (always in the first slot) and Raticate, Weepinbell or Snorlax. Shadow Snorlax in particular can be a nightmare for the uninitiated. Still, you don’t need to fight them, so unless you want a Shadow Bellsprout, feel free to go ahead.
You’ll have to keep checking the PokéStops until you find the one Giovanni is hiding in, unless you’re feeling lazy; If you wait for your next Rocket Balloon after equipping your Super Rocket Radar, Giovanni is a guaranteed encounter!
Giovanni’s counterattacks in Pokémon Go
Once you find Giovanni, prepare for a fight. Their Pokémon are much stronger than the previous Team Go Rocket leaders you’ve fought, so make sure your team is just as powerful. Don’t be discouraged if it takes two or even three tries to defeat him!
Giovanni’s choice of legendary dark Pokémon and second party member rotates every few months, meaning you’ll often find yourself battling different Pokémon.
In June 2023, Giovanni was updated with the following lineup:
| first pokemon | second pokemon | third pokemon |
|---|---|---|
| Persian | hyperperior | Regirock |
| garchomp | ||
| nidoking |
Persian will always come out first and is weak against Fighting, so having a Lucario or Machamp is your best option here. However, the secret technology is to place this fighter in the second slot, which means that the first thing you need to do in battle is to switch it.
Your first Pokémon will probably take a hit or two from the Persian, so just put your tankiest Pokémon there.
The reason for this change in tactics is simple. Giovanni receives a two second delay whenever you use a Charged Move or switch Pokémon. This will give you a sweet two seconds to attack the Persian as much as you can before he pulls out his claws again. Giovanni also always blocks a charged move if he has shields left; If possible, you’ll want to force him to use both shields in this first matchup.
Since Giovanni’s second choice can be one of several Pokémon, you may need to scout ahead to make sure your team can defeat it.
Fortunately, this time all of Giovanni’s possible options for his second Pokémon share a common weakness: Ice-type Pokémon. This means you can simply pick your strong Ice-type Pokémon, like Glaceon or Galarian Darmanitan, and give your enemy a good beating. It’s also especially useful if you’re up against Garchomp, as Ice-type attacks will be super effective against him.
However, if you don’t have a strong Ice-type Pokémon, Garchomp will always be weak to both Fairy-type and Dragon-type Pokémon. Meanwhile, both Nidoking and Rhyperior are weak to Ground and Water types. However, if you have a Mamoswine, we recommend using it if you face Nidoking or Rhyperior, because its Ice and Ground type will give you the advantage.
Finally, Regirock is the latest Legendary to get the Shadow Pokémon treatment. We have a page dedicated to Regirock counters to help you defeat it, but in short, Regirock is weak to Fighting, Grass, Ground, Steel, and Water-type Pokémon. We recommend choosing a Grass, Ground, or Water-type Pokémon, because these types can be useful when facing Nidoking or Rhyperior if your second choice is knocked out.
Swampert may be a good choice to fight this legendary Shadow, as its Water and Ground typing targets two of Shadow Regirock’s weaknesses. Other good options for Water-type Pokémon are Kyogre or Feraligatr, while when it comes to Ground-type Pokémon you might want to try Therian Landorus, Garchomp, or Rhyperior.
For Grass-type Pokémon, you can try using Kartana, Chesnaught, or Zarude if you have one. You can also experiment with Fighting-type Pokémon, choosing Terrakion or Keldeo, or Steel-type Pokémon like Metagross, Zacian, or Dialga. These last two weaknesses of Regirock also mean that Lucario is a great counter option thanks to it being a Fighting and Steel-type Pokémon.
Of course, if you go against Giovanni and find that your team isn’t optimal, or you don’t have the best counters on this page, you can try again; you will not lose Super Rocket Radar if you lose to Giovanni. Just when you beat him! Check out our Best Pokémon page if you need help choosing your strongest Pokémon of a given type.
Get ready for its powerful Pokémon.
That should cover you for this match. In terms of best practices, as with leaders Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra, when it comes to forming a team to fight Giovanni, try to use a Pokémon that has an advantage over two Pokémon on your team. This will allow you to use the same Pokémon twice, keeping your choice of Legendary Shadow Pokémon safe from damage until needed.
It’s also important to remember that, like previous Team Go Rocket leaders, Giovanni has two protective shields at his disposal; This means that a debut Pokémon that has two quick charged moves and resists some damage will set you up well for the remaining encounters.
How often can you battle Giovanni in Pokémon Go?
As long as you have a Super Rocket Radar, you can fight Giovanni.
However, these are mostly locked in beyond the Team Go Rocket mission rewards, which only roll out every few months, along with an update for Giovanni, his Shadow Legendary, and each team leader’s lineup.
Super Rocket Radars also appear occasionally in other quests and events, so it may be worth saving them until a month when the available Shadow Pokémon reward is one you want to stock up on, like Shadow Mewtwo.
The Season of Adventure Abundance is here! He has brought the Timed Investigation: Master Ball quest, which offers you the chance to win another Master Ball. There’s also a new season of Go Battle League to participate in. Be sure to compete in Shadow Raids, complete Routes, use Daily Adventure Incense for a chance to encounter Galarian Articuno, Galarian Zapdos, and Galarian Moltres. This incense can also give you encounters with other rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.
Rewards for defeating Giovanni in Pokémon Go
You will receive a variety of rewards for defeating Giovanni. This includes 5,000 Stardust and a variety of healing items, such as Max Potions and Max Revives. There is also a chance that you will receive a Unova Stone.
Best of all, though, you’ll have the chance to catch a Legendary Dark Pokémon.
Each month brings a new Legendary Shadow Pokémon. This means that if there is a particular Shadow Legendary Pokémon that you want to add to your collection, you must complete the Team Go Rocket special research quest for that month.
Completing The Take-Over Continues in January 2020, for example, would reward you with Shadow Moltres, but if you completed the same story in another month, you’ll face a different Shadow Legendary Pokémon.
Here are the legendary Shadow Pokémon that Giovanni has had on his team:
Giovanni Shadow’s legendary Pokémon so far:
- Shadow Articuno – November 2019 and March 2021
- Shadow Zapdos – December 2019, April and June 2021
- Shadow Moltres- January 2020 and May 2021
- Raikou Shadow – February 2020
- Shadow Entei – March to July 2020
- Shadow Suicune – July 2020 (as part of the Go Fest Battle celebrations) and July-October 2020
- Shadow Mewtwo – October 2020
- Ho-Oh Shadow – June 2021
- Lugia Shadow – November 2021
- Latias Shadow – April 2022
- Latios Sombra – July 2022
- Shadow Mewtwo – November 2022
- Shadow Record – February 2023
- Shadow Regice – March 2023
- Shadow Regirock – June 2023
Defeating Giovanni will also help you level up the Ultra Hero medal, which tracks how many times you’ve defeated the Team Go Rocket boss.
Thanks to Chrales from Twitter, we know what this garment looks like:
As you level up the Ultra Hero Medal, you’ll unlock a variety of Giovanni-themed clothing for your avatar to wear.
Here are the clothes and medal ranks each piece is unlocked at:
- Shoes – Badge Tier Silver (Defeat Giovanni 5 times)
- Pants – Silver Badge Tier (Defeat Giovanni 5 times)
- Shirt – Gold Badge Tier (Defeat Giovanni 20 times)
- Gloves – Gold Badge Tier (defeat Giovanni 20 times)
Good luck defeating Giovanni in Pokémon Go!
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Categories: Guides
Source: ptivs2.edu.vn