In Pokémon GO, you’ll find that to get specific Pokémon, you’ll have to defeat the Team GO Rocket grunts and bosses. The leaders (Cliff, Arlo, Sierra, and Giovanni) are often the most difficult but provide the greatest rewards. In this guide, we will focus on how to defeat Giovanni in Pokémon GO and which counters are best to use against his new Pokémon.

Where to find Giovanni in Pokémon GO

To find and battle Giovanni, players must get their hands on a Super Rocket Radar. To get the Super Rocket Radar, players need to first defeat the three Team GO Rocket leaders Arlo, Cliff, and Sierra. To find these three leaders, players must battle Team GO Rocket grunts and pick up a Mysterious Component after their victory. Combining six of these Mysterious Components leads players to one of the leaders.

How to Defeat Giovanni in Pokémon GO

Quick Notes

  • The counters we include aren’t synonymous with weaknesses. Sometimes these counters will be mentioned for things other than being the opponent’s weakness. Other examples may include their movesets or the fact that they’re naturally resistant to their opponent.These lists are not ranked from best to worst. While we can provide the best counters to use in any match, there is no guarantee in which order they should fall. The effectiveness of each Pokémon largely depends on your play style and battle technique. This being the case, we have instead opted to list the counters alphabetically.

Best Team Setup Against Giovanni in Pokémon GO

Listed below are the potential Pokémon that players can be up against when fighting Giovanni. Based on these potential options, one of the best team setups is a team made up of a strong Fighting-type Pokémon (covers Persian and Rhyperior), a strong Electric-type Pokémon (covers Honchkrow and Gyarados), and a strong Fairy-type Pokémon (covers Honchkrow and Shadow Latias).

  • Round 1: PersianRound 2: Honchkrow, Gyarados, or RhyperiorRound 3: Shadow Latias

Round 1 of Giovanni’s battle

Giovanni can bring a few different Pokémon into battle, but he almost always starts with a Persian.

Persian

  • Type: Normal-typeWeak Against: FightingResistant Against: GhostNotes: If you don’t have any of the Pokémon listed below, we recommend using a Fighting-type Pokémon against Persian is the safest bet to a quick victory.

Best Pokémon and moves to use against Giovanni’s Persian in Round 1

Giovanni always starts out with his signature Persian in Round 1, which is a Normal-type Pokemon. This means you’ll want to use Fighting-type moves to take it out easily.

Round 2 of Giovanni’s battle

The Pokémon listed below for Round two are all of the Pokémon that Giovanni can have as his second battler. The Pokémon are Honchkrow, Gyarados, and Rhyperior.

Honchkrow

  • Type: Dark and Flying-typeWeak Against: Rock, Electric, Ice, and Fairy-typeResistant Against: Ghost, Grass, Dark, Ground, Psychic-typeNotes: Honchkrow has two weaknesses that it shares with other potential Giovanni Pokémon, Electric-type and Fairy-type, so if players don’t have access to the Pokémon listed below a strong Pokémon of one of those typings will be the best option.

Best Pokémon and moves to use against Giovanni’s Honchkrow in Round 2

Honchkrow is a Dark and Flying-type Pokémon, which means a Rock, Electric, Ice, or Fairy-type Pokémon is essential to taking this opponent down. Sticking with a strong Electric or Rock-type Pokémon is a great idea because it will cover players from some of Giovanni’s other potential Pokémon as well.

Gyarados

  • Type: Water and Flying-typeWeak Against: Electric and Rock-typeResistant Against: Fighting, Bug, Steel, Fire, Water, and Ground-typeNotes: Since Gyarados shares an Electric-type weakness with other opponents listed, taking one along into battle will give players a good chance of victory.

Best Pokémon and moves to use against Giovanni’s Gyarados in Round 2

Gyarados is a Flying and Water-type Pokémon, which means it has a double weakness to Electric-type moves. This means that an Electric-type Pokémon can defeat Gyarados in no time flat.

Rhyperior

  • Type: Ground and Rock-typeWeak Against: Water, Grass, Ground, Steel, Fighting, and Ice-typeResistant Against: Normal, Rock, Flying, Electric, Poison, and Fire-typeNotes: Since Rhyperior is weak to Fighting-type Pokémon (like Persian), players should take one of these Pokémon into battle if they don’t have one of the Pokémon listed below.

Best Pokémon and moves to use against Giovanni’s Rhyperior in Round 2

Rhyperior has a long list of weaknesses due to its Ground and Rock-typing, but taking a Fighting-type Pokémon into this fight covers even more bases and gives players a better chance of defeating this powerful Pokémon.

Round 3 of Giovanni’s battle

Giovanni’s current Round 3 Pokémon is Shadow Latias, a tough opponent with quite a few resistances.

Shadow Latias

  • Type: Dragon and Psychic-typeWeak Against: Bug, Ghost, Fairy, Dark, Ice, and Dragon-typeResistant Against: Fire, Fighting, Water, Grass, Electric, and Psychic-typeNotes: Bringing a Fairy-type Pokémon into this battle will give players an edge against this legendary Pokémon and other Pokémon in Giovannia’s lineup.

Best Pokémon and moves to use against Giovanni’s Shadow Latias in Round 3

A Fairy-type Pokémon is a great option for Giovanni’s Shadow Latias. Players will do well with just about any attacker with Fairy-type moves.

Once you’ve found Giovanni (which is no easy task), you’ll now be equipped to handle his Pokémon in battle! Check back with this page for occasional updates when Giovanni’s lineup changes!

Want to see how to counter Pokémon of each type? Check out our lists of Water Pokémon Weaknesses!